new blog!

As some of you may know, I just moved to Washington, DC (which explains the lack of posts)!  Head on over to my new blog (which, I promise, will include lots of pictures) to keep following me around!

http://laurenandlincoln.blogspot.com/

amanda's bachelorette party invitations

Oh my goodness, it has been two weeks since I posted!  Summer school has taken over my LIFE.  But, now that I have all of these mailed out, I'm so excited to share the bachelorette party invitations I made for my best friend's bridesmaid beach weekend!  Getting to be creative (i.e. the far less talented but just as eager version of Martha Stewart) is my favorite part of being Maid of Honor, and I absolutely cannot wait to celebrate the last months of her singlehood!

First, I found a picture of the lingerie on Google Images that I wanted to trace, cut out, and put on the invitation.  I had bought some beautiful light pink cardstock at Swoozies (R.I.P.) a few weeks before.

Then, I cut out the seven that I needed for all the bridesmaids and Amanda.  I used kids' craft scissors since I needed to cut out the little space between the hanger and the lingerie.

I had also bought several small boxes of sample ribbon from the dollar section at Target (The Promised Land.  Seriously.) and used them to tie seven bows.

Then, I applied super glue to each of the bows and lingerie cut-outs.  I also ended up getting it in my hair, which I do not recommend.

Next, I applied each bow to a lingerie cut-out and let them sit for a while.  I made more than I needed because you just never know.  Especially if you're prone to things like getting glue in your hair.

After printing out the party info on more cardstock using, of all things, PowerPoint and a photo printer, I super-glued the info to longer, darker pieces of pink cardstock and used 3M sticky squares to mount the lingerie cut-outs.  I don't want to show the info just because this is the internet and you can't be too careful, but this will give you a vague idea of the finished product!

I can't wait!

parkison family (again!)

A few days ago, the Parkison family asked if they could meet me at Joyner Park in Wake Forest to get some family photos taken.  This family has been so precious to mine over the past couple of years, so of course I said yes!  Their boys are two bundles of energy, which meant I never ran out of opportunities to snap a picture!  I wish the sun hadn't gone down so quickly so we could have taken a few more, but I absolutely loved the time I got to spend with them!  So, here's their encore!

This captures the boys' personalities perfectly!

I love this family.  Seriously.

 

We're headed to their house tomorrow night for a cook-out, so they may even make a third appearance!  Get excited!

artsplosure!

Every spring, Raleigh hosts a downtown street festival called Artsplosure, and it is so much fun!  Tons of artists come from all over the country to sell their photos, pottery, paintings, you name it!  Leanna and I had a blast just looking around (we didn't bring a ton of money on purpose... let's just say we would not have come home empty-handed).  And there were a ton of amazing music acts, too!  I felt awkward taking pictures of a lot of the art since they're the property of the artists who don't want to be copied, but downtown Raleigh is scenic enough on its own, so I probably took more pictures of the atmosphere, but one of our favorite artists was a lady who took pictures of little action figures in nature... it's hard to explain, but go here!  And enjoy!

This guy was actually Leanna's Intro to Jazz professor at UNC!

I love this church!  It looks so Greek!

casey & bo's wedding: part one

This past Saturday, my cousin, Casey, and her fiance, Bo, tied the knot in Greenville, SC at the gorgeous Furman Chapel!  It was a beautiful weekend, and it's always so nice to have our family all back in the same place.  Plus, we are so excited to add Bo to our family... he's a fantastic guy!  These are just a few of the hundreds of pictures taken this weekend, so to see all of them, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/lauren.winstead.  In fact, I took so many that I'm just covering the rehearsal dinner tonight, so come back for the wedding reception later this week!  Casey and Bo are off to Antigua now... jealous!

This is the son of my other cousin (Allison, Casey's sister and the maid of honor)!  His name is James, and he is PRECIOUS!

The delicious groom's cake at the rehearsal dinner...

...and his awesome cake topper.

so true!