Pinwheel Shower for Baby Powers

What a lovely weekend in Atlanta! Friday and Sunday were low key, while Saturday was spent throwing a baby shower with girls I love for a friend we adore.  Our friends Kristen and Joe are expecting their first bundle of joy, a bouncing baby boy, in early June, and I simply cannot wait to watch them become parents. They are two of the most thoughtful, loving and fun people that I am blessed to call friends, and I just know that they will make incredible parents. Baby Boy Powers is one lucky little guy!
 

To celebrate his impending arrival, five of his anxiously awaiting "aunts" threw him a navy blue and kelly green pinwheel-themed shower. I just love how it all turned out!

The Walshes graciously allowed us to use their home for our seated luncheon - and Maggie is ever the wonderful hostess.  We wanted the shower to have a familial feel to it, and thought a seated luncheon would allow for that.  We used their dining room and adjoining formal living room to seat all 24 guests.  (Thanks for moving the furniture, Tim!)
 

 

 

The table elements were our primary decor.  We used white linens as a base, and I made navy and white stripe runners for all of the tables. (Thanks for serging all of the edges, Mom!)  Maggie made personalized place cards for each guest.  She also designed note cards to tuck into each napkin for guests to fill out for Baby Powers' shower scrapbook.  (Isn't she talented?)  The guest of honor had a personalized pinwheel baby bib tucked into her napkin that Miss Ashley J just "whipped up" - such a great memento! 

 

 

 

We clipped gorgeous, seasonal azaleas from Maggie's yard for the table vases which were also festooned with the adorable pinwheels Laura handmade.  (We're a crafty bunch!)

 

 

The cake was my absolute favorite detail!  We ordered a plain tiered cake (the lady at the bakery could NOT understand why we would want it plain), and Laura created more precious pinwheels for decor.  Absolutely love. 

A pinwheel wreath was placed on the door.  My mom keeps Emily two days a week for me - and made these (along with the pinwheel banners) while she napped last week.  Now that's good help!

The entry table featured a pinwheel and twine banner along with baby pictures of Kristen and Joe (so cute!) and a scrapbook for Baby Powers that Ashley J created.  It will include the guests' wishes, photos, and other shower memorabilia.

More pinwheels were waiting in the family room where we enjoyed pre-lunch champagne.

 

 

...And where guests could play a game about Kristen and Joe as babies - game cards also designed by Maggie.  Leigh had a great time working with the moms to get these answers!

 

 

The menu was an assortment of salads intended to be served family-style.

 

 

 

 

Every guest was sent home with gladiolus bulbs as a favor.  If planted now, the flowers should bloom just as Baby P is making his grand entrance.  Welcome little one!

 

 

..and no shower is complete without stacks of presents wrapped in a lilywrap gift wrap!

Sorry that my photos are only of the shower setup!  Ashley J had camera duty during the shower with all of the people shots!

What do you think?

{recipe} Crock Pot Creamy Tortellini Soup

I love to cook and try out new recipes, but during the week I am a big fan of quick, easy recipes that I know forward and backward. 

I am an even bigger fan of recipes where I can just toss all of the ingredients in the crock pot in them morning and have a delicious dinner come evening.  However, I have found a lot of the crock pot recipes I've tried to be just okay.  They are either super heavy, bland or just "meh". (That's a real technical term.)

I came across this unbelievably easy (as in so easy that I am almost embarrassed to share it) recipe for Creamy Tortellini Soup from the Little Fellows blog on Pinterest recently. 

I tried it out exactly as posted and thought it was good - but I made a few changes to better fit our family's personal tastes.

• Added an extra 1/2 cup of chicken stock (can sub vegetable stock or water), because I wanted it to be a little less heavy and more soup-like.
• Did not drain the tomatoes.  Again, I wanted the final result to be a little thinner.
• Subbed shrimp for the sausage to lighten up the recipe a bit. To make sure that the shrimp is not overcooked, I added raw shrimp with 45 minutes left to cook.
• Added a full bag (6oz) of spinach - but think it could take even more.

You literally just dump a bag of frozen tortellini, two cans of diced tomatoes, raw spinach, cream cheese, shrimp, and chicken stock into the slow cooker and let it cook for 4 hours - no chopping, browning or anything.  It takes less than 5 minutes - how great is that?

Photo taken part way through cooking.  Cream cheese is still melting.

Crock Pot Creamy Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:
1 19oz bag of frozen cheese tortellini
1 6oz bag of fresh spinach
2 (14.5 oz) cans of Italian style diced tomatoes
1 8 oz block of reduced fat cream cheese (cut into smaller chunks)
4.5 cups of chicken broth
1/2lb to 1lb of raw shrimp (I thawed whatever I had in the freezer)

Add all ingredients except shrimp to crock pot.  Cook on low for 4-6 hrs.  With 45 minutes left of cook time, add raw shrimp.

Serves 6-8

I thought that this recipe would be perfect to share on this rainy, cold (April!) day in Georgia.   Here's to a warm weekend!

Hoppy Easter!

 

 

The Easter bunny came to our house and was good to Miss Emily with a book, floor mirror, bubbles and all the necessities for our May beach trip -- sun hat, sunscreen, swimsuit and sunglasses.  (Hey, I like to plan ahead!)  The treats are for Ryan and I, and her CiCi sent the sweet bunny. 

...and I have to share a few of the hilarious outtakes from my "photo session" with Emily earlier this week.   She gives me about two minutes of smiles before she's over it!

We are celebrating with church and family picnic in the park -- pending good weather.  I'll share my mom's sure-to-be-lovely spread as well as Easter dress pictures tomorrow!  Until then...

Featured on Isn't She Lovely

Today's post is going to be my shortest ever -- and I am sending you elsewhere!

Fellow blogger, Jana Burrow, featured me on her beautiful blog, Isn't She Lovely, as a "New Mompreneur".  I love the concept of Jana's blog where in a world full of negativity and self-doubt she is dishing out praise and recognizing the loveliness in others.  I am honored to be chosen.  Now go check it out!

 {There is a super cute picture of Emily's mohawk and a lilywrap giveaway too, in case you need extra incentive.}

A Fresh Start in 2013

Oh hi there, blog followers!

I am attempting to make yet another come back since my last post in October - which also claimed a come back.  A lot has changed since then -

Ryan and I welcomed this precious little one into our lives on November 20, 2012.  Emily Britt Edmonds weighed in at 9lbs. 5oz. and was 22 inches long.  Our hearts were (and are still) happy.
 

Photo: Heather Carraway Photography

Photo: Heather Carraway Photography

Photo: Heather Carraway Photography

We are loving life as our little family of three.

Photo: Heather Carraway Photography

Photo: Heather Carraway Photography

Photo: Heather Carraway Photography

She is now four months old and has grown and changed so much.  She is so alert and very, very busy.  She is smiling and laughing and just so much fun at this age.

After a lot of soul searching, praying, and discussions on the best path for our family, I decided to resign from my position as Marketing Director for the University of Georgia MBA Programs.  (More on that in a future post.)


(I know that taking a cooking class in Beijing with a friend doesn't look like "work",
but that's what was so great about my job!)

I am now taking on our entrepreneurial venture, lilywrap, on a full-time basis.  The company is finally getting the attention it needs, and I am able to do it from home with Miss Emily (and help two days a week from the best nanny & decorator around, my mom.)


January 2013 Atlanta Gift Show

I hope that you will read the blog as I continue to share my adventures in entertaining, cooking, decorating, and family -- with a little bit of entrepreneurship and motherhood added in.  I plan to go back and post about some highlights from 2012 - as there were numerous parties hosted that can't go unrecognized!

Stay tuned --