Its the Great Cupcake!

Our good friend Jen celebrated a birthday this week. To celebrate, we headed to Cyclone Anaya's for margaritas and dinner followed by a giant cupcake and peartinis at Jen's afterward. Another great night with great friends!

The Great Cupcake

Reading List

I get asked to recommend books sometimes so here is a list of what I've read since the Christmas holidays...

The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud

In a Perfect World: A Novel by Laura Kasischke

Dream When You're Feeling Blue: A Novel by Elizabeth Berg

Somebody Else's Daughter by Elizabeth Brundage

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

and currently reading Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen

As you can tell... I read a lot. The two I enjoyed the least were The Emperor's Children and Dream When You're Feeling Blue. The first didn't pull me into the story and the second had an ending I just didn't get on board with (still a good story).

I'm just beginning Water for Elephants... its about a traveling circus during the great depression. The characters are pretty odd (which probably isn't a surprise) so it should turn out to be an interesting book!

Pizza Pizza

A few weeks ago, I made pizza dough from Ina Garten's recipe collection (get the recipe). I only made the dough from this recipe... not the toppings. I went through all the dough making steps and froze it in individual pizza rounds once it finished rising.

Today, I took the dough out of the freezer and let it thaw and rise a little on the counter in an oiled bowl. I baked a cheese pizza with olive oil and garlic for myself and pepperoni with tomato sauce for Mike.

The dough is really good! I'll be trying out new toppings when I bake the other two dough rounds that are still in the freezer.

Nan's New Book

I loved the book The Nanny Diaries. And, while browsing the airport shop this past Sunday I ran across the follow-up Nanny Returns. While the movie was not something I enjoyed, not a Scarlett Johansson fan at all, I am really excited about getting the new book!

Glee!

I love the show Glee. It cracks me up and let's face it, I love shows where people spontaneously burst into song. As I listen to the soundtrack (thanks Jen!), I sadly remember the show won't be back to finish the season until April!


Also, if you know me, you know that I never plan for Halloween. I'm usually scrambling at the last moment for a costume and half of the time, I end up in regular clothes. However, this year... there just might be a brunette Emma Pillsbury costume in my future. Germ-free gloves included.
aaa

Some Inspiration

Here's some of the big day inspiration...

ALSO... we've done some updating to our wedding website, www.theknot.com/ourwedding/katieoubre&michaelhardisty

New Year!

Quick and random post today! I can't believe we are already a week into the new year! I also can't believe these temperatures... the weather is so cold and windy here!

Its been so nice coming home to these this week... thanks Mike!



And a few snapshots from NYE...





AND in wedding planning news... we got so much done over the holidays! We signed with a caterer and photographer, talked to a DJ and waiting for the paperwork, I ordered my dress and figured out what the bridesmaids and flower girls will wear. Lots of big things marked off the to-do list!