SummaTime! - I've been tagged

Boo-hoo…The summer is coming to a close this next weekend.

So, in honor of this time of the year I was tagged by Non-Nannie Mommie to share some of my summer favorites.

Here we go:

Favorite Summer Cocktail: I’m definitely a wino at heart but this summer I have enjoyed my share of champagne cocktails. Peach Bellinis, Mimosas, etc. Maybe it’s because I got engaged too? Celebration!

Favorite Summer Movie: By far my favorite movie to see this summer was the Hangover. Talk about a good laugh!

Favorite Summer Song: I have to say with the death of MJ this summer– I have been a sucker for his music. I think the my favorite has been his music from Off the Wall. Takes me back to my Jr. High years.

Favorite Summer Time Outfit: Fun, cool sundresses and of course my Tucker Blair flip-flops.

Favorite Summer Reading: Anything bridal – go figure – right? Oh, can’t forget People and US Weekly too!

Favorite Summer Moment: Getting engaged!

Now for my tags:

The Starnes Family

Allyson and Dave

Coco

The Lenzers

Life with my Brown-Eyed Girls

Sassafras Jane

CIAO – Happy Monday! I have someone coming to look at renting my place tonight. Wish me luck!

More Birthday Fun!

The picture above is a few of the things I received for my 34th birthday. Lots of flowers, cards, gift cards, a nice bottle of wine and a GPS.

It was a fabulous weekend full of food, wine, friends, family, fiancee and fun!
Here are few highlights.

Dinner at Fig Tree - here is Brad and I in front of the fireplace. Then me with my Flora Springs cab!

After dinner we met up with friends for cocktails. Here's me and my buddy Kelly.

I'm not much for shots but did one that night! Our friend Bill.

I look happy eh? That is because I was!

The next day - my actual bday - Mom and I went and met with the florist then hit up a wine tasting. She bought me a nice bottle of wine.

Then we did dinner at this local Italian eatery with my parents. A wonderful weekend!

Now the countdown is on until we hit Lake Eerie on Thursday!

Happy Sunday!

Birthday Weekend Wrap

First - let me say - I'm STUFFED!!! We ate Italian with my rents tonight and I feel preggers. I'm already in my robe and in bed writing this blog at 9pm on a Saturday night! how lame!

Anyhoo - I won't bore you with details but we drank, ate and were merry! oh...yes! My rents gave me a GPS too!
More pictures to come!

My last bday as a Wallace! Crazy to think....

Funny Foto Friday and Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, my birthday is really tomorrow but the celebrating starts today! YAY!

In honor of my 34th birthday I thought I would share a baby picture of yours truly.

I found this during my scanning for the wedding. This is the actual picture my Mom sent out for my birth announcements. Doesn't look like me in my opinion?

As for as the celebrating? Brad is taking me to eat here!


I have passed by this restaurant for 8 years and have never been. So, tonight is EXCITING!!

Tomorrow - my parents will be in town and we'll go to dinner with them.
BTW - the chicken spaghetti was slammin'!

Living Life to the Fullest

Just spent the day in a town an hour north of Charlotte shooting a video about a couple in their 80’s who got a reverse mortgage.(Again, I work in Bank TeeVee).

I SOOO WISH I had brought my camera. This would have been AWESOME blog material people!

The couple have this fabulous house in this fabulous historic district with gardens to die for! Their 1920’s home was packed to the rim books and antiques that had me in awe! Not to mention a 1959 Jaguar from England that has a sunroof sitting in the driveway!

Anyway – getting back to this story – the couple decided on a reverse mortgage(for those unfamiliar), basically if your house is paid off – the bank will give you the $$ that it’s appraised at to live off or do whatever you want with. Well, this couple wanted to open a book store and tea room and now they’re doing it.

Can you imagine venturing onto something like that in your 80’s – not to mention the wife still works as an overnight nurse at a hospital on the weekends!

Such a lovely couple who is determined to live life to the fullest– and so awesome that they’re still doing what they love at their age. They said it’s their dream come true to do this. They invited us in for tea and wanted us to stay and chat after we captured their story on tape.

Oh yeh – the best part is – afraid that their 2 Yorkies would annoy us? They locked them in their other Jaguar on the street with the car running for the 2 ½ hours that we were there!

Well, CIAO now. Brad is making Pioneer Woman’s chicken spaghetti tonight! More to come on that…

RIP Ted

Boohoo.. Okay, I shed my tear. Not to sound cold but I’m already tired of hearing about super, fabulous, whatever you want to call him Ted Kennedy passing away.

Maybe it’s because I have a TV at my desk here at work to monitor news such as CNBC, etc – but pllzzz. I’ve heard over and over again how he was the family matriarch, blah, blah, blah.

My question is – Doesn’t anyone remember the Chappaquiddick incident?!! I wonder how Mary Jo Kopechne’s family feels today!?

WOW! I can't wait to watch Larry King tonight. My favorite show will be all Teddy all the time..for the rest of the week.

Wedding Planning Update

Ok – I’m just under 6-months out and everyone at work is surprised I’m so calm? Seriously peeps…

Maybe it’s because I accomplished my goal of getting everything done on the front end and am now just waiting on the breaking news? Well, for the most part.
Here’s the checklist:

Venue – check
DJ – check
Lighting vendor – check
Photographer – check
Videographer(who will do our memory video as well) - check
Cake – check
Florist – check (My Mom is back in town this weekend and we’re sitting down with the 2 fabulous gay guys to ‘design’ my look. Yes, I know what I want!)
Officiate – check
Dress, shoes, and jewelry – check
Colors chosen – check
Maid of Honor dress – check(well, I guess – I sent her a fabric swatch and she’s picking out whatever dress she wants but in that color)
Monogrammed napkins – check
Gift bags for out-of-towners –check (well the items I want to include in them. Of course, it’s too early to put them together)
Save-the Dates sent out – check
Wedding website – check(I beefed it up too!) www.mywedding.com/deannaandbrad
Registries - check

And the drum roll please!

Party Favors – check
Thanks to Coco’s suggestion I decided on Krispy Kreme doughnuts! I called the headquarters – which is based here in NC and they said they have a 2 doughnut box for $2! Brad isn’t totally crazy about the idea but I know our guests will love them and eat them! Plus, since so many of our guests are not from NC – they’ll get a taste of NC!
Cool or what? check them out below! This will avoid the wrapping of the do, etc!

What’s left?

Ceremony musicians(trying to find graduate students to be cheaper)

Invitations

Calligraphy - still deciding on what to do?
Wedding bands ordered
Rehearsal Dinner location
After rehearsal dinner party location
Gloves and headpiece
And lose 10-pounds by the beginning of November so I can take my bridal portraits early before it gets cold!

Then there’s my bachelorette party! I’m doing it early and I’ll post about it later!
Happy Humpday!

Frozen Tomato Sauce

For all of you ladies who grow your own tomatoes. I don't but Brad's mother does and she loaded me up a few weeks back when we went to visit. So - instead of trying to eat 10 or 20 tomatoes before they went bad. I made a co-worker's tomato sauce that she always talks about that you can freeze.

It's more of a base for soups, and sauces. I used it when I made chicken parmesan this last week and just added some mushrooms. We LOVED it!

So, here you go! Enjoy! BTW - I had 10 tomatoes so I cut the recipe in half!

Frozen Sauce
20 med tomatoes chunked and peeled (for easy peeling..drop a tomato in boiling water for about :30.then into a bowl of ice water. Skins will split and peel off easily)

3-4 carrots peeled and sliced

2 stalks celery roughly chopped

1 green pepper roughly chopped

3 med onions diced

2 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

Cook together for about an hour. Let cool and process through blender until smooth. I freeze this in freezer bags and use as a base for spaghetti sauce, chili or soups.

Beach Wrap Up

I didn't take a lot of pictures at the beach believe it or not. And.. really none on the beach. I left my camera at the house the first day then the 2nd day I brought it but didn't take many especially since we were railroaded off the beach late in the day due to a storm.

But.. here is what I do have. Above is some crazy fish dinner Brad got the first night out. Still not sure what it was? Pretty cool though!

He thought so too since he ate most of it...

Eric and the rest of the bunch hanging on the porch.

We cooked dinner at home the 2nd night. Here's me and Brad aftewards!

We cooked shrimp, corn, salad and bruschetta. MMM..good.

Now looking forward to our Labor Day trip to Lake Eerie! YAY!

Fleur De Lis in da House..

So, a few posts ago I told you how much I like fleur de lis and have tons of them in my house.

So... are you ready? Here we go...

crystal bowl my Mom gave to me. See the fleur de lis on the rim? Don't judge me for my Ann Coulter book--interesting reading..

This is my FAV! A watercolor painting done by a Louisiana artist. A crawfish in the shape of a fleur de lis. In case you don't know - crawfish is a Louisiana staple! All the money made off this print was donated to Katrina relief.

My sorority sister and b/f/f Jodee gave me a set of these dish towels one Christmas. They are Jon Margeaux as well. Love them!

Another..my friend Jodee gave me that book underneath as well.

Found this treasure on one of my trips to Baton Rouge...That picture is from the LSU vs. Arkansas game. Me, my Mom and Dad and my nephew who just recently turned 19!!

In my bathroom.. don't think I'm weird. I like pix in the bathroom though :)

In my office. I found this canister at Tuesday Morning. One of my fav stores!

The Outdoor Shower

I'm actually blogging as I ride along in the car on our way back from the beach. Cool or what?? Thanks Verizon aircard.

Anyhoo -- today's blog post courtesy of Brad once again.

The topic? The Outdoor Shower!

Our friend's house we stayed at has one and even though I didn't use it last year -- this year I did and I am now a huge fan!

There's nothing better than showering outside in the fresh air and not having to worry about all that sand building up in the bottom of the tub!

It's so funny -- as we were showering Brad decided he was going to start a fan of outdoor shower page on Facebook! I about died laughing! BUT.. I figured out there are already 3 fan pages on Facebook.

What about you. Are you a fan of the outdoor shower?

The dressing area in the outdoor shower.

The actual shower.

Beaching It

We're at the beach - Holden Beach to be exact. That's in between Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC for those who are interested.

Hurricane Bill isn't giving us any rain but rough tide! They're still letting us in the water but the undertow is rough.

We stayed up WAYYY too late last night boozin it and we're all tired today! Hope you all are having a great weekend!
CIAO!

Funny Foto Friday and Beach Bound!

So, I hesitated posting this/these pictures but I thought.. why not?
Not real funny like last week but cute and interesting funny? Kind of a glimpse into the past...

Brad and his childhood best friend Eric. I found this picture and manyothers when scanning for our wedding memory video.
We're headed to the beach here in just a bit to spend the weekend with Eric at his parent's beach house.
We made this same trip last year and it was so fun!

We rode bikes, ate crab-legs and of course.. enjoyed cocktails! I have to say -- Eric is one of the nicest guys -- and his laugh just makes me want to laugh.

Well, TGIF and thanks for all the feedback on the calligraphy!

Eric and Brad in Jr. High?

Last August at the beach.

Calligraphy

I know.. I've been posting a lot. I've just had a lot going through my head these days. So, question...calligraphy for wedding invitations? Brad and I addressed our own save the dates but I want the invites to be more formal.

BUT..I don't want to pay $150 for someone to do the calligraphy for me. Any other ideas? I read somewhere about labels and print out a nice font on the computer.

Ideas married ladies??

Little Debbie Snack Cakes

Today's blog post courtesy of Brad. He told me last night that he and his co-workers got in a discussion about what their favorite Little Debbie snack cake was back in the day?

Remember back in the day when Little Debbie's were the sh--t? I think the novelty has worn off since the 80's where every kid enjoyed one at least 3 or 4x's a week -- along with those cool Capri-Suns in the little bags(remember when those first came out?)

Maybe I'm dating myself? Well, back to the topic at hand.

Brad's favorite Little Debbie growing up was the Nutty Buddy and mine?

Well, take a look below. The Swiss Cake Roll. I always had a special way of eating them too. Peeling off the chocolate and eating it -- then unrolling it and licking the filling then eating the rest of the cake.

How about you? What was/is your favorite Little Debbie snack cake?
BTW -- My Mom always had oatmeal pies in our house because she felt they were healthier. LOL!

Hurricane Season

So as you may know hurricane season is in full force and let me tell you – I don’t have much luck with hurricanes. It seems I always schedule vacations around this time of year and get screwed because of it. BUT…needless to say – we’re attempting to go to the beach this weekend despite Hurricane Bill that’s churning in the Atlantic right now. Cross your fingers kids!

So, here’s a little history of me and storms –(keep in mind my birthday is August 29th – generally Labor Day weekend):

Labor Day weekend 2008 – Booked airline tickets months in advance to New Orleans/Baton Rouge to have a fun-filled weekend celebrating my birthday by going to the first LSU home game and reuniting with about a dozen sorority sisters at dinner.
I am scheduled to leave Thursday night but earlier in the week Hurricane Gustav is predicted to hit the city of NOLA and everyone starts flipping out and there is talk of evacuating the city. Me? Plzzz…let’s all calm down and wait and see where this thing is going. I’m determined to go in anyway – I figure I can evacuate to BR(where my brother and his kiddos live) if nothing else.
I board Buddy and go to the airport. Flight is delayed 1 hour. Great! I’ll grab a cocktail! Come out 30minutes later and the flight is gone? Yep, they moved the time back up and left without me.
I was devastated but decided it was a sign. Brad and I had only been dating a few months so I decided to stay in Charlotte and hang with him. Good thing I did. They shut NOLA down, including the airport, and Gustav actually SLAMMED BR worse than it did NOLA.

Labor Day weekend 2005 – This was my big 30-birthday weekend! Actually, I made it a whole week celebration. Months in advance airline tickets were booked to go to NOLA/BR for a weekend with friends – again, enjoying the first LSU game, etc.
I was scheduled to leave Thursday, August 31st. I actually spent the earlier part of the week in San Francisco and Napa with all my west coast besties and my Mom drinking and living it up in the Bay area(just LOVE it out there).
Then – I started getting calls from friends who were scheduled to be at my big birthday bash saying they couldn’t come anymore because talk of a storm named Hurricane Katrina that might hit NOLA.
I’m like – yeh right. Let’s all calm down and wait and see what happens. I do nothing to reschedule my ticket even though all my friends have left the city of New Orleans.
I continue to booze it up in Napa and we watch the coverage and we’re like – YEAH!! The storm missed NOLA!!
It was my actual 30th birthday that day – so I went on and lived it up and when we got back into the city of SF – I turned on the tv and was SHOCKED To see people hanging off roofs! WTF happened?

The levees broke.

Needless to say – it was one of the worst things(in my opinion) that has ever happened aside from 9/11. I had friends and family who lost everything except their lives. NOLA will never be the same. And of course.. I’ll never forget my 30th birthday.

I, of course, didn’t go to Louisiana but instead stayed in CA and me and my Mom drove down the PCH hitting Carmel, Big Sur and Pebble Beach. It was fun – but not that fun due to the fact we could barely stay in contact with my brother and his kids because phone lines were down and jammed.

Well, that’s it sorry for the long post kids.
Happy Humpday?

Highway Robbery

So, here's the photo that both Brad and I agreed on for our engagement announcement for our hometown papers. That's right hometown and hometown only.
Know why?

The Charlotte Observer wants $135 to run 100 words and our picture. Are you freaking kidding me??!!! Maybe it's because the world of print media is broke???!!

I know Hot Springs, Arkansas is smaller than Charlotte as well as Warrenton, Virginia but neither are Mayberry small -- and they're running it for FREE!

That's my rant for today. I thought about spending the $135 for a minute and then said forget it. I figure -- everyone here knows we're engaged anyway because of Facebook. Right?

BTW - here's the actual announcement:

Wallace-Stephens
Wally and Linda Wallace of McDonough, Georgia, are proud to announce the engagement of their daughter DeAnna Leigh Wallace to Bradley Scott Stephens, son of Joe and Becky Stephens of Salisbury, North Carolina.

DeAnna graduated from Lake Hamilton High School in Hot Springs, Arkansas and from there went on to graduate from Louisiana State University where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication. She is a member of the Junior League of Charlotte and volunteers with the USO of North Carolina. DeAnna works as an associate producer for Bank of America’s internal TV department and is the associate producer of the show Carolina Business Review that airs on PBS.

Brad graduated from Fauquier High School in Warrenton, Virginia. He went on to Virginia Tech where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and a Bachelor of Science degree in Management. He is employed as a government contractor.

The wedding is planned for February in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Depressing TV

Who else watched the premiere of A&E's Hoarders last night? Not sure why I did -- but I did and geez was it a downer.

I seriously cannot imagine having such a problem. In one of the cases the couple had small children and even one of the kids was sad about throwing things away.

Again, it just blows my mind people being able to live in all that stuff and not recognize how disfunctional it is.

Me -- on the other hand -- has a problem with throwing too many things away.

Not sure I'll be watching this next episode or not.....but you never know.. I seem to get sucked in just like with A&E's show Intervention.

It's all sad, depressing teevee....
Happy Tuesday!

Fleur De Lis

Anyone who knows me knows that I just LOVE, love fleur de lis! Maybe it comes from my years of living in Louisiana? I have paperweights, lamps, dish towels, earrings, necklaces, etc with this symbol on it.

So, I decided to register for a set of four of these champagne flutes from Jon Margeaux's collection. It's the only glassware I registered for.

I have tons of crystal that was given to me by my Mother and didn't see the need to register for more -- but believe it or not? I don't have one champagne glass.

Brad told me when we were looking at glassware ofn Saturday. "Do you know why you don't have champagne flutes? Because you only drink champagne twice a year!".

LOL!

NOT!! I love having mimosas on special holidays but have always served them in my wine glasses. So, can you say Cheers!?

Happy Monday!

Some things are better done online...

Brad and I went and registered for gifts this weekend. We chose Crate and Barrell and then Dillards.

Crate and Barrell was fine and the whole process was made easy. BUT.. when we got to Dillards?
I could use all sorts of explicits but will spare you. The little scanner thing just didn't seem to work properly and Brad and I finally got frustrated and left.

Today - I went online and finished our registry. Can I say 'much easier'? Uh.. yes! I believe the selection is better too.

We both have a lot of stuff since we have two households but I am signing up for fine china and lots of new bedding!

Anyhoo.. I think next time I'll just stay out of the stores and stay at home and click instead. Happy Sunday!

Funny Foto Friday is Back!

Brad's reaction to this Jr. High modeling picture? Hey..Hey..what up Blossom! I about laughed my butt off!
TGIF!

Party Favors continued...

Thanks so much for the feedback kids! I really liked CoCo's idea! I mean, Krispy Kreme is based here in North Carolina!

I have two concerns though:
#1. Who is going to wrap 200 donuts the day before the wedding or the day of?
#2. Would the donuts be soggy or still good if it's done beforehand?

I am going to look into doing something with Krispy Kreme and see what type of packing they offer. It is very NC! Maybe in my welcome bags for my out of town guests? I already know other NC items that will be included in those and they include: Lance crackers, Cheerwine and maybe something from Burt's Bees.

Thanks for all the input. I like the candy bar too Ms. Fitz! I have already been shot down on that though by Brad and my Mom!

Wedding Party Favors - Opinions Needed

I know.. I know.. probably too early to be thinking about this just yet but I am and I'm a bit torn.

To give chatzy party favors at our wedding or make a donation to charity in honor of everyone coming and have notes to let them know?

I'm leaning towards giving the $$ we would spend to a good cause giving that most people just toss the little gifts generally given at weddings -- away.

BUT... a part of me thinks it's cute to have little bags of personalized M&M's what about a lottery ticket?
The bad part is - those little bags of M&M's? $1,000 -- that's just retarded! Again, I could find something more affordable but would it be better to just give money to say -- The USO -- whom I volunteer for? One of my fellow volunteers, who just got married, did that.

Let me know your opinion. What would you think as a guest??

Lottery tickets would be more affordable and fun -- but we're not doing a sit down dinner so how to you distribute and make sure one person doesn't grab 10 of them?

No Wonder I'm a Republican!

Internship at the Arkansas statehouse when he was Governor.

Am I showing my age? Well, no big if so. I was 15 in this picture...

He was voted in as President my Senior year of high school. Thought it was the biggest joke!

Monograms

Don't you just love this cake topper? Oh well, if you don't. It's what I want! LOL!

Seriously, I'm going to order one just like this except of course our initials DSB!

I haven't mentioned it on here but we're having another wedding reception in Hot Springs, Arkansas where all of my extended family lives - the weekend after the wedding.

We are doing that because my extended family is HUGE and they are all getting older and all live in HS and it will just make it easier.

Anyhoo -- I'm told we're are going to have a cake there so I can use this topper twice!

How fun - right?
Happy Tuesday!

My New Big Thing

My new big thing? To get Buddy to stop sleeping in my bed and instead sleep on his pet bed on the floor.

As much as I like snuggling with the little furball I'm really tired of all his fur all over my bedding. One of the main things I want to register for is new bedding so when I move in with Brad I can redecorate ;)

BUT.. while, he's been doing okay for the past few nights -- he's totally a creature of routine and habit.

Never fails.. when he sees me lower my shades at night he bolts to the bedroom to jump on the bed.
Last night was no different but this time I yelled! NO! and moved his bed in the room and told him to lay on it. He did but seemed a bit peeved.

Oh -- help me Lord to stick with it! I'm not going to give in! Happy Monday!

The shades..

Buddy on his bed. It's an Orvis so it's not like it's not comfortable!

Birfday Pawty good enough for a Human!

Isn't she a cutie?? All of you moms with human children probably think I'm a nut about Buddy and dogs in general -- but hey -- I'll be the same way about my human children when I have them. Right??

So, this is Lilly, she's my friend Stephanie's dog, and she had her 7th birfday pawty last night at Charlotte's very cool 'Dog Bar'.

The Dog Bar is just like any other bar but you can bring your dog! They don't serve food but they allow you to bring in your own and then there's a fully stocked bar! They have doggy treats for purchase and a big area for the dogs to run and play.

Keep in mind......you must really like dogs to go here because they might cuddle, jump, or bark at you.

Stephanie did such a great job with this pawty! She made my party for Buddy's birthday look lame! LOL!

The theme: Vegas -- Lucky 7. Check out the pictures below. She made her own party favors for the dog(that was full of treats), cupcakes for the humans and she bought a doggy birthday cake for Lilly.

Soo.. very, very fun! Happy Birfday Lilly!! YAY! Happy Friday! We're headed to the lake this weekend!

The venue

Love..love this idea..

A wide shot of her party favors.

She wrote each dog's name on their favor.

Stephanie getting her own cocktail!

Me and Stephanie

Cupcakes for the humans to enjoy with their cocktails!

Lilly enjoying her birthday cake! check out the faux candles! She kept the theme going!

Buddy was all over the place as usual. See what I mean you better like dogs? I didn't even know this woman.