May 2011

So I have a lot of making up to do in the blog world. I feel terrible that I fell off the blogging wagon right as life was getting exciting! I guess that is what happens when you are travelling non-stop, preparing for a wedding and trying to finish the final year of your PhD right? That is the excuse I am going to go with anyways:)

So over the next week or two....maybe three I am going to try and catch back up and get back into blogging:)

Here is what happened in May of 2011: I travelled home to Ontario for the most amazing wedding shower and stagette hosted by my nearest and dearest! The wedding shower was hosted by my Mum and Aunt's Linda and Sharon. It was absolutely wonderful and full of all of the ladies in my life who have made me into the Kelly Larkin (now Kaiser) I have become! Here are a few pictures from the special day.

 All of the girls

The adorable cake!

One of my favourite guests, Cala!

The following weekend I was spoiled rotten by my girlfriends with the most creative and fabulous Stagette! This stagette was a "house crawl" through some of the most influential parts of my life. I will start at the beginning at Melissa's house. This is where we all gathered to start our adventure!

These girls went all out and even made the most adorable shirts as you can see. Chris loved the little touch "Best served on a Kaiser". This tee is definitely a keepsake that I will adore for alot of years to come!

Next stop was Carrie's house and took me down memory lane and back to Chicopee ski club. These girls definitely were clever and thought of everything!

Another one of my guests of honour! The Sut man:)

The next stop on the crawl was Lauren's house. This was a trip back to St. James High School and our glory days.....we even drank rum and diet......definitely not as good as we used to think it was haha

Next up was my current life in Florida at Mary's house as a Florida gator!

Finally we went back to Melissa's house, a little tipsy perhaps, and played some games. This night was absolutely one I will never forget. It was a great walk down memory lane and I did what I love most, which is spending quality time with my favourite ladies. My Ontario Bridesmaids gave me a wonderful gift of pearl earrings in that little blue box that every girl loves. These will definitely be earrings that I treasure always. (my reaction below)

I left Ontario the next day feeling like the most spoiled and loved lady on earth:) I definitely didn't expect getting married to be full of such constant celebration and attention. I'm not usually one that enjoys being the centre of attention but I have to admit these were some of my favourite days of life yet!

Sunday Sew Day........

Today I had a random urge to sew some goodies for two of my favorite girls. I made my niece Lenari a little sundress that was super easy and inexpensive to make. I have been noticing lately, a lot of fabric stores and even Wal-mart, have bolts of this kind of fabric. It has the elastic top part of the dress already sewn into it and sometimes even a hem! All this dress takes is a measurement of the new owners chest and one quick pass with a sewing machine....and Wa-la a cute little sundress:)

My next project was to make a blanket for my gf at home's little princess Cala. Of course I couldn't resist the urge to make something Florida-esque.....although I don't like the overbearing gator gear. I thought this was the perfect compromise. I used the UF fleece on the front and a cute flower flannel for the back and border. I'm really happy with how this turned out and think it will be a cozy little blanket for Cala!

A bridal shower.......

I'm a little late with this post but life has been a bit hectic lately. A couple of weeks ago the lovely Florida ladies threw me a bridal shower. I had no idea anything that we were doing......just jumped in the car and trusted them. It turned out to be a super fabulous day. We started out by going on a winery tour and tasting at San Sabastien winery in St. Augustine. St. Augustine is an absolutely beautiful city, not to mention the oldest city in the US,  if you haven't been put it on your list of places to see one day.

Our tour guide Nickey was amazingly informative and very sweet and attentive to our group of girls. The other people in our group were also great and even did a toast to Chris and I!


After we were done at the winery the girls took me to St. Augustine beach for a great picnic and spoiled me with some really fabulous gifts!

Here are a couple of pictures of the ladies at the beach.

It was a little bit windy but overall an absolutely gorgeous day in Florida

This was my first official celebration as a bride-to-be and made me feel unbelievably special. I've said it before but I will say it again.....I just cannot believe how lucky I am to be so far from home and surrounded by such amazing ladies!

Save the Date!!!!!!

Another announcement by Smilebox

Engagement picture sneak peek......

Last Sunday Chris and I got our engagement photos taken. Neither of us are fans of having our pictures taken but we actually ended up having a great time. Here is one of my favorite pictures the landscape is very florida-esque

stay tuned for more pics:)

xoxo
Kelly

In with the new.....re-purpose the old.......

Our lovely friends, Kim and Danny, pulled a BIG surprise on us this weekend. Our friend Danny  is an amazing carpenter and they both surprised us by designing and making us an amazing tv stand as an engagement present. These pictures do not do the wood detailing justice at all but will give you an idea of what the new set-up looks like. We were so surprised and thrilled with the finished product. This certainly was a huge surprise as we had no idea that they were up to this. Chris even tried to pay Danny for it haha

Our tv used to be on an old desk of Chris's so we, well really I, decided that I should take the desk and re-purpose it into a vanity. We had one big empty corner in our room so I decided that was the perfect spot. Besides, it will just keep me out of Chris's hair in the bathroom when I'm getting ready:) Everyone is happy with the new arrangement!!! Here is the final product

A perfect little place to get ready in the morning

Moose at the beach

This weekend we took the puppies to the beach. Florida heated up this week into the high seventies so we figured it was time to tackle the beach with the dogs. They had an absolute blast running around in the ocean. Although, Moose did get spooked by some pretty big waves......but don't worry he bit them back haha. Here are some fun pics from the first of many beach days of 2011

Salty Dog

best friend tackle

Beach Moose