Let’s talk about bad decisions… I know I’m not the only one who has been there and done that!  This past weekend, I made a string of bad decisions.  No, not the ones that landed me in jail or kicked out of my house or even in the hospital (although I kind of feel like I should be there right now!)

I made some of the WORST eating decisions of my life…. and folks, I’m paying for that crap!  I’m sure I made some other bad decisions this weekend, but I am feeling the gross-ness of what I chose to eat this weekend while at home on “vacation” or “stay-cation” I guess.  I went to the movies twice where I indulged in the buttery goodness of popcorn, although it doesn’t feel like goodness right about now.  While indulging in that, I also had my fair share of candy snacks.  I don’t know about you, but I buy my snacks at the store and sneak them into the theatre.  I can’t pay 4x the amount for some candy, I’m sorry… it’s ridiculous!  I did a lot of lounging around also, so that didn’t help that I was weighing myself down with junk.  Then on Friday night, I ran a super fun flash race at night.  I mentioned that I would be doing that, but it was one of those races that had beer.  So I had a small beer afterwards which didn’t help.  Then hung out with some friends another night and had my fair share of a frozen pizza and quite possibly another beer.  Then there was the late lunch, snack, and early dinner day where I crammed a crap ton of food into my pie-hole probably within 4 hours tops.  Oh my bad, I actually had 2 lunches that day…

So yeah… welcome to my life of disgusting!  So I feel like crap today and I felt like crap last night, but I made the drive back to Starkville so I could be back in time for ROTC workouts and I did my hour of yoga.  It felt great, but I felt gross doing it.  Then I woke my tired butt up this morning to do the 5AM thing… yeah, can I just admit RIGHT NOW, that the workout this morning was the worst workout I’ve had in a really.long.time!  Granted, before ROTC this month, I wasn’t doing much working out period, but still… I struggled on the run, had the biggest side stitch of my life when I got done, heaved my way to the water fountain (pretty certain I was about to hurl all my junk food out) and then made my way through the rest of the workout… It hurt.

So here’s what I’m thinking… get through the workouts this week (with a lot of pain) and only drink juice for the next 2 days to cleanse my poor junk-ridden body so that I can be prepared for the drinking and eating I’ll be doing this weekend at a rehearsal dinner and wedding.  I’m sure I don’t have to mention the fact that I’ll indulge in cake, but yeah.. gotta get ready for that too!

The upside is that I’ll hopefully perform some sweet moves like this to help burn some of those calories off!

Southerners know how to throw a good party!  I just got done planning and throwing a wedding shower recently and I’m so excited to show y’all the details of the event!  I’m also going to walk you through a basic step-by-step of “How to Plan a Party!”  Keep in mind that it can be simpler or more intricate than this, but these basic steps will definitely get you a good party!

{1} Pick a theme & venue.
You need to decide what kind of party you want to throw!  Depending on the theme, that may make your venue location easier to decide on.  We went with a Bridal Shower Tea Party & Brunch theme because we’re southerners and that’s how we roll.  Because we knew the party would be in the summer and we knew that since it was a tea party we wanted everyone in their sun dresses and sun hats, we decided to pick an outside location. *Tip: Have a rain location on hand ALWAYS!*
There are not a lot of places in Starkville, MS that have beautiful views and can accomodate for an outside event, but luckily, the Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum had just renovated their outside landscape and they have a beautiful venue.  We had never seen people use the space before so we weren’t sure if it was even a possibility, but ALWAYS ASK!  They were extremely excited that we wanted to use their venue and we got it for a great price – $100! 

We set up outside under this beautiful tree for gift opening!

{2} Order your Invitations!
Invitations should be sent out at least 3-4 weeks before the party, so make sure you have them made or ordered in plenty of time.  I used VistaPrint for mine and they turned out great!  Since we were doing a tea-party, we decided to make mini teabags to insert in the card that displayed where the bride was registered at.

{3} Pick your menu
Again, this goes with your theme!
Our theme: Tea Party & Brunch
Ham & Cheese Corn Muffins
Caprese Baguette Stacks
Cheese Tray
Raspberry Crumble Bars
Petit Fours
Red Berry Sangria
Raspberry Lemonade Tea



L to R: Cheese, Baguette slices, Baby Gherkins, Tomato/Mozzarella/Baguette Tray



{4} Pick your Decorations
You can go as far out as you want on decorations!  For our party we chose toothpick holders that had her “future” last initial on them, cute signs to display what each food item was, small tea cups and saucers, and a boquet of flowers.  When you do a party outside, the scenery becomes part of your decoration and so there isn’t as much that you need to do!

This was my favorite creation!  You can add a little extra something with cup decorations.  I used our colors, coral and mint to create these cup decorations.  I had to use hotglue to help keep it together.  I’ll probably do a DIY tutorial on these because I absolutely LOVED how they turned out!

{5} What else might you want?
We decided to add a little game into ours, we played bridal bingo.  You can come up with games based on the type of party you’re throwing or you can incorporate other activites.  It’s all up to you!

Calling out the BINGO words

BINGO card!  Try to incorporate your color scheme as much as possible!

{6} Last minute things to remember!
Ice
Serving Ware (plates, silverware, cups, napkins, serving platters)
Have a guest book if you need one
Have someone in charge of writing down who brought which gifts
Have fun!
Take lots of pictures!

There are obviously so many things that can go into planning a party, but these were the basics for the wedding shower I threw this weekend!  We had a great time and it was fun to dress up in these large sun hats!  It was a beautiful touch of southern classic!

The bridesmaids with the Bride.