Where Have We Been?!?! :)

It has been nearly two months since my last post...and there is no excuse for my absence, so I am not going to try and list the reasons we have been M.I.A...Whit's Birthday, Christmas, New Years, Work, Sister's Wedding Plans, Car Issues, Traveling ...Let's just pick up where we left off and start again in this New Year!!

What we've been up to...

Whit's Birthday! :)

On December 16th, we celebrated Whit's 28th birthday by going to hear one of our favorite local bands at one of our favorite local venues! We spent his birthday with some great friends at The Station Inn listening to 18 South...we had a blast!

And Betsy and I even got to meet the one and only Aidan Shaw (a.k.a. John Corbett)...

It feels like we spent all of college watching Carrie and Aidan so we were excited to meet him!

Christmas! :)

The Christmas tree we decorated the first week of December warmed our house for the entire Christmas season! I loved coming home every night and seeing the glow of our tree there to greet me. I think Christmas trees are an automatic source of beauty in a house and if I could, I'd have one up all year long! Lollie especially enjoyed the tree...it seemed like everyday we would come home and Lollie would have added another ornament to her "special" collection. By the end of Christmas, the bottom half of our little tree was undecorated. Needless to say, Lollie thoroughly enjoyed her first Christmas!

This year, Whit and I hosted Christmas at our little house on the ridge for my side of the family. Since we knew we would be having so many delicious dinners during the holidays, we decided to have a brunch. It turned out to be such a wonderful morning full of laughter and warm, hearty breakfast treats that everyone seemed to enjoy...

This was our table for the Christmas Brunch...

Our yummy menu...Ham & Rolls, Sausage Balls, Fresh Fruit,

Breakfast Casserole and Grits! :) 

Lollie was exhausted after all of the fun and presents, so she took a nap in her Christmas sweater...

This is the Donnelly Christmas Eve Gift Exchange...

half of the room anyway...

believe it or not, there are many more of us :)

This is always a wonderful time! :) 

The Gorhams and their "Nashville" grandchildren 

on Christmas Day...so sweet :)

New Years Eve!! :) 

We spent New Years Eve a few houses down the street at the Currans. They hosted a game night and it was a blast!!

Betsy's beautiful table full of delicious food!

Part of the group at midnight ringing in 2012!!!! 

Love them all! :)

Cute boys :)

Pretty Stephanie and Allison with their New Years crowns!! :)

Who knew that the very next day 

sweet Avery Kate would be on her way :) :) 

(More to come about Avery Kate - she deserves her own post :)

We had a wonderful ending to 2011 and have had a great beginning to 2012!

I cannot wait to see what this new year has in store for us! :)

Stay tuned...I promise not to stay gone for too long this time!

Showering Baby Ritt... :)

Last Saturday, it was finally time to shower  Baby Ritt!! :) We had all been looking forward to this shower and it was the perfect, beautiful October afternoon to celebrate a much loved baby! :) 

Here were the cute invitations we chose from Tiny Prints...

love that website!

Since the Ritter's are not finding out whether 

the baby is a boy or a girl, 

we wrote a poem asking guests to choose 

a blue cookie or a pink cookie 

depending on what they thought the baby would be...

*Thank you to my wonderful Tennessippi friend, Sarah Ann,
for her creative writing skills*

These were the cutest and most delicious cookies! 

Compliments of a wonderful local bakery called Baked! 

(Ashley was great to work with and her cookies were wonderful!!)

They were individually wrapped baby carriages 

adorned with a "R"...

and for people who are keeping count, 

at the end of the shower we were almost 

out of baby boy cookies...

looks like most people are betting on a boy for The Ritts!! )

Tiers of tea sandwiches and fruit were brought to each of the guests' tables as Kaneil opened gifts...

Yummy fruit...

The shower was at a Tea Company in Germantown, so each guest had the option to enjoy a fresh cup of tea...

(Thank you for letting me snap a pic of your teacup, Caroline Murphree... :)

Kaneil and most of the hostesses... :) 

Leslie came all the way in from NYC to celebrate Baby Ritt... :) 

So, one of the cutest parts of the day was when Kaneil gave us our hostesses gifts!!

She made these cute "cookie kits" for each of us with the ingredients for delicious Cowboy/Cowgirl Cookies!

I cannot wait to try these!! 

So creative Kaneil! :) 

After the shower, 

we went to The Ritts house to help Kaneil unload the gifts...

a.k.a. to have an excuse to spend time in the nursery and continue the baby celebration... :) 

Look at these sweet gowns for Baby Ritt...

More sweet and cute gifts...

(Thank you for your creative display of gifts Betsy Curran...are you in advertising?)

Betsy with a stroller...LOVE this look on her!! Don't you?? :) 

The shower was just the beginning of the celebration for Baby Ritt! We are all so excited for Andrew and Kaneil! They are going to be wonderful parents and Whit and I are looking forward to babysitting for their sweet baby!! :) Thank you for letting us be a part of this special time!! Lots of Love to The Ritts! :)

Hope everyone has had a wonderful November weekend and enjoyed that extra hour of sleep this morning!! :) Happy Sunday!

Pure Barre NYC!! :)

Today is a very exciting day! It is the opening day of Pure Barre, NYC!! One of my oldest and dearest friends, Leslie, moved to New York to open her studio and we are all so happy and excited for her new adventure!

Leslie has been working on her studio tirelessly for over a year and I cannot believe that opening day is finally here!! :) If you or any of your friends/family live in NYC or visit there, please stop by the studio to enjoy the best workout of your life!!

We are all so proud of you, Leslie!!! Lift Tone Burn! :)

Lot of Love Sent from Music City to the Big Apple!!

xo

A Wonderful Saturday Night at the Ritts... :)

This Saturday, Whit and I got to spend some much needed quality with our great friends, The Ritts! :)
We had both been so busy for the past few weeks, so it was so much fun to finally get together! They are expecting a sweet little baby in January and we are so excited for them!!! :)

As you can see, Whit and Andrew had a little beer tasting fun during our visit...and also both happened to be sporting their college alma mater polos!
Very cute boys! :)

Thank you to the Ritts for hosting our little Saturday night football party! Can't wait for many great nights to come...with Baby Ritt joining us! xo

A Blessed Baby and a Beautiful Bride... :)

This past Saturday was packed full of wonderful celebrations! First, we were invited to share in the beautiful baptism of Brayden Parker Dunn, my cousin, Melissa's, baby. It was a truly beautiful and touching ceremony...followed by a fun celebration!

The cute invitation to Brayden's Baptism!
And all of the decorations at his party matched this invitation - very cute!!

David, Melissa, and Sweet Brayden :)

Brayden being baptized by Father Breen...
Brayden was so good throughout the entire ceremony!

The Donnelly Family - part of us anyway :)

Our picture with the newly baptized baby :)

Brayden with his Godparents, Drew and Genie :)

Brayden's beautiful and yummy cake!

Brayden's baptism was such a wonderful celebration and we were all so happy to be there for
Melissa, David, and sweet Brayden! :)

From there, Whit and I joined our good friends, Anna and Santi, at their home for an engagment party in honor of Mary Elizabeth and Evan. I went to high school with Mary Elizabeth and she met her fiance, Evan, in college at Spring Hill. They are getting married next April and we are so excited for them!!

The beautiful bride! :)

The delicious dessert stand!
Anna did such a great job displaying her
homemade fudge tarts, lemon squares,
brownie bites and many more amazing desserts that
her guests thoroughly enjoyed!

The tables were pretty in pink!

The gorgeous sunflowers that Anna chose for her centerpiece!

The beautiful Hance sisters - Anna and Elizabeth! :)

Anna and Santi did a great job hosting this beautiful party on Saturday!! It was such a fun way to kick off the celebration of Mary Elizabeth and Evan's upcoming wedding!
We can't wait for April 2012!

Babies and brides...my idea of a wonderful Saturday! :)