Happy Birthday, Victoria!

I promised Victoria a special birthday blog post.  : )  She was not quite as excited about it as I was.  Victoria's birthday was Saturday, September 9, so on Friday, I went up and met Victoria in Homewood for lunch.  We had Saw's barbecue, one of our favorite barbecue places, and Dreamcakes, our absolute favorite cupcakery!  

Chocolate peanut butter for V, and strawberry for me!

Yummy strawberry cupcake

On Saturday, we all went to dinner at The J. Clyde for burgers and a beer selection that reads like a novel.  I am not a beer drinker, but I am pretty sure the others enjoyed their choices.  The lighting was not so great, so my pictures are not the best, but thankfully, the pyromaniac Colin was able to set fire to a napkin and enhance the ambience while everyone made arson jokes.

Victoria, with Riley ignoring me

Colin and Lauren

The birthday girl

Ryan didn't want his picture taken

Chris and Drew

It's That Time Of Year Again! Roll Tide Roll!

Chris and I are fortunate to have season tickets for Alabama Football, so we never have to miss a game (well, except that we missed the first game because we were up in Murfreesboro meeting baby Alayna!). Chris is even going down to Gainesville this weekend to cheer on the Tide against Florida!  Here are a few photos from the games so far:

Bama vs. North Texas
Mother and Rita had tickets for The Zone!

Bama vs. North Texas

Bama vs. Arkansas
View from our seats

My Favorite Potato Soup

It has been a little chilly this week (c'mon, it's all relative), and I have been craving some potato soup.  I absolutely love this recipe, so I thought I would share.  I usually add a few carrots and some shredded cheese (either in the soup or on top of your bowl).  Make sure to add lots of black pepper--even better if it's freshly ground!  I sometimes use about a cup of french onion dip--yeah, like you eat with potato chips--instead of the chopped onion; you can add it after you've added the milk mixture in with the vegetables.  DO NOT use onion soup mix!  I tried it once and the soup was the most disgusting thing I've ever put in my mouth.  This soup is great with fresh bread or a sliced and toasted baguette.  I'm making it for dinner tonight, so I'm currently using my bread machine to make some bread to go with it!  
Enjoy!

Here's the delicious finished product!

Delicious Ham and Potato Soup

  from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes  (I leave the peel on! More nutrients and less work!)

1/3 cup diced celery

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

3/4 cup diced cooked ham

3 1/4 cups water

2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste

5 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

Directions

1.  Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.

2.  In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

3.  Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

Serves 8.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 195 | Total Fat: 10.5g | Cholesterol: 30mg

Powered by ESHA Nutrient Database

Labor Day weekend

Chris and I had a great Labor Day weekend!  We went to the Alabama tornado relief concert on Friday night and we loved hearing some of our favorites.  They played "Dixieland Delight" with "Will the Circle be Unbroken" in the middle, and they played all of their biggest hits.  Then they brought out the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra and performed a song they wrote about the April 27 tornado called "Raising Alabama." Also with TSO, they played "Christmas in Dixie" and "Angels Among Us," and ended with "My Home's in Alabama."  For an encore they lined up and played each other's instruments for a part of "Wildwood Flower," and then they finished the show with "I'll Fly Away."  It was a wonderful show, and the band repeatedly reminded everybody that they were here to raise money to help Alabamians and thanked the sponsors of the show and the audience for being there.  

At the Alabama tornado relief concert at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater

On Saturday we headed up to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to see Chris's brother, Ben, his wife, Daeon, their daughter, Kaelyn, and their new baby, Alayna.  Chris's parents, David and Lu Ann came to visit too!  We had a great time playing with Kaelyn and watching Alayna do cute baby things.  On Sunday afternoon, Chris's mom and I went to Old Time Pottery to look for a pot for her and we made the poor guy load and unload 3 different giant (and very heavy) pots before we had the one we wanted!  He earned his pay that day!  The boys spent most of their time out in Ben's garage/workshop/man cave, building storage cubes for Kaelyn and a step stool for Kaelyn's best friend Reagan (or so I thought!).  Sunday evening, Chris asked me to come out to the garage, and they showed me the finished step stool and said it was for me!  Ben had built a step stool for Kaelyn to use for her bathroom sink and I told Chris I needed a step stool to reach things in my kitchen cabinets.  After they finished the storage cubes, sweet Ben started working on the step stool for me.  I still have to paint it, and I plan to use stencils, so a post on that process will follow!   Take a look at a few pictures from our visit:

Grandmama with Alayna

Me with Alayna

Sleepy baby

She's so long!

Stretch!

Long legs and toes! 

Teaching Kaelyn the art of the one-handed self-portrait

Kaelyn decided to give it a shot.  It's a steep learning curve when you're 2.

We watched Dirty Dancing, and Kaelyn and Uncle Chris decided to give the lift a try.   They gave Johnny and Baby a run for their money.  

Alayna sleeping

This girl was so hungry, she started sucking on my finger, and boy is she strong!  

Our Wedding

Our wedding was perfect.  Chris had the good sense to let me have my pink ballerina princess wedding, and it was more amazing than I ever imagined.  I was never one of those girls obsessed with having a wedding getting married, but like every other southern girl, even I had a dream about what my wedding would look like.  Chris understood that, and he let me run with it!

Scot Wedgeworth created the overall design and arranged the gorgeous flowers.  Kathie Simpson of One Stop Weddings deliciously catered the reception.  Barb Sullivan (who you may have seen on TLC's Ultimate Cake Off) created both amazing cakes.  The Lamb Family provided ceremony music, and both Joseph Summerlin and Blue Denim played for the reception.  Cloth Connection and Atlas Party Rentals provided table linens and chair covers.  Rita Hyche coordinated the whole fabulous shindig!  These and countless others worked for months to make my dream wedding come true!  

Here are a few photos, taken by Rob Culpepper of 509 Photo:

My dress was by a tulle ballgown with intricate beading at the bust and dropped waist by Kenneth Pool, purchased from Bridals by Lori in Atlanta

Me and my girls
left to right--Matron of Honor, Jamie Gardner; Bridesmaids Devin Khoury, Holly Simpson, Rhyse Nance, Victoria Smythies, and Molly Tomberlin
Dresses by Lula Kate, Bella Bridesmaid

Chris and his guys
left to right--Best Man, David White; Groomsmen Michael White, Randy Rossignol, Benjamin White, Ira Hill, and Josh Tyson
Ties by Vineyard Vines and Tuxedos by Burch and Hatfield

Us in front of the marquee

In the '52 Thunderbird we borrowed from Dennis Gurganus, a coworker of my Daddy's.

Precious ballerina flower girls on their tippy toes (2 of 13!).  Tutus created by my cousin Robyn Lunceford.

Here comes the Bride!

Ceremony

Rose petals fell after our kiss!

The marquee

Our Playbill program, designed by Meshell Tingle

Ballerina ice sculpture by David Bromley

Chris's cake (you can't really see it, but the numbers on the jerseys up top are 6 18 11, our wedding date)

My ballerina cake

Our first dance, to I'll Be by Edwin McCain

Victoria, Riley, Drew, and Jamie dancing!

Pink cotton candy!

Too much fun

It's proof! Will Joslin DOES dance!

My girls!

Get ready single ladies!

Leaving!

Just Married

In addition to the design, one thing that was very important to me was thanking our guests, and I put a lot of emphasis on the food and entertainment, so I hope that everybody had a wonderful time!

Beware, there is a lot of stress involved in planning a wedding, and there were quite a few days that I wished that we had just eloped, but the wedding could not have turned out any better, and we were so happy with everything (but mostly just happy to be married!).  Most importantly, you have to keep your priorities in check.  As my new sister-in-law (check out her blog at benanddaeonwhite.blogspot.com) reminded me every time I got stressed out, the wedding is not the important part; the marriage is what matters.  I still recommend eloping as an alternative unless you have your heart set on a big wedding at home!  ; )  

In other news, our wedding was filmed for a new Food Network show that follows Scot Wedgeworth as he designs weddings and other events.  As far as I know (subject to change), the show is titled Bama Bash, and will air on October 23 with our wedding as the first episode (and it's supposed to be a full hour episode too!).  

Film Crew

More film crew

All my love,

Jillerina : *

Welcome to the World, Alayna Grace!

We have a new niece!  Congratulations Ben and Daeon! 

Born August 29, 2011 at 10:33 a.m., 9 lbs 1 oz, 21 in

Oooh I wanna take you to Bermuda, Bahama, Come on pretty mama

Chris and I had an incredible trip to Sandals Emerald Bay in Great Exuma, Bahamas.  It was everything I imagined and more--an absolutely perfect honeymoon.  Here are some highlights from our trip:

Welcome to Exuma! Exuma International Airport

Our lovely resort

Beautiful sunset on the golf course

Fancy French dinner from La Parisienne brought to our room by our butler

Chocolate buffet!!

We visited another gorgeous beach on our way out

Just enjoying paradise

Our sweet butlers left us messages in flowers almost every day.  Roll Tide!

We learned to sail!

We snorkeled!

We attempted (quite unsuccessfully) to windsurf!

Chris managed to fit 27 holes in ; )

We learned to play the steel drum!

The fabulous main pool
Sad to leave : (