Recapping Jen's Visit!

My bestie departed late last night to return home to her beautiful family. To say that we had a fun time together would be an understatement. While although our "thrills" are more mild-mannered now that we're mommies, there was definitely no shortage of bellyaching laughter!! We did A LOT while she was here....and while although we aren't in our 20's anymore, we had energy as if we were!! Ha!!

Jen arrived [last] Thursday afternoon and we drove straight from the airport to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch. We don't mess around when it comes to food. You will see A LOT of it in this post! We have no shame in our game.

I have had many friends throughout my life but none like Jennifer. There really needs to be a word besides "friend" to describe the bond that we share. The term "best friend" doesn't even describe it, because she's in a ranking all on her own. I refer to her as my closest girlfriend - we have shared real life together and she exudes every positive trait that I described in this post.

We have been friends for 13 years {I'll save you from doing the math; I was 19 when I met her - we used to work together}. Our friendship was pretty instantaneous, and as it evolved, Jen became the ONE friend that I confided in...about everything, and continue to do to this day. I can be vulnerable with her and open up and share the innermost parts of me that I never would do with anyone else. She is my safe place - every woman needs that in a friend. She has never been disloyal. She has always been there for me when I have needed her the most. She tells me like it is, and doesn't just tell me what I want to hear. She is non-judgemental. She is an amazing motivator and encourager. She genuinely shares in my life's joys. She helps me to see things plainly. She is all that, and so much more. She is the friend that I could never do without. I have LOVED having her here the past five days...and I have loved having her in my life every day.

Ok, let me turn the page of this sappy chapter.

Friday afternoon we headed out and had lunch at my favorite Hibachi place. When we arrived, we saw a sign informing patrons that tomorrow would be their last day in business. Noooo!!!! We love that place!! I am so bummed that it's now closed, but at least we got there in the nick of time to enjoy a meal there together. Afterwards I needed to make a run to the grocery store and then it was onto the yogurt shop for a little treat! We hung out at home for the rest of the late afternoon and then Friday night, after Ilah went to bed, Jen and I went to a local Cuban spot by my house. We shared a few different appetizers and laughed like crazy that night!!....

Saturday morning I made a big breakfast and then we had a late lunch at Panera Bread before going to go see "I Don't Know How She Does It". The theatre was EMPTY, so we had the place to ourselves. We loved it cause we could talk out-loud during the scenes as if we were watching it in my living room! Ha!

That night for dinner, we made BBQ Chicken Pizza, salad and bread....

Sunday morning we went to church and then went on to Alon's for lunch. I took Jen there the last time she visited Atlanta and she fell in love with the spot so a repeat visit was on the agenda!! After we ate lunch, we naturally had to follow it with a pastry ; ) With full belly's we then went on to go get pedicures!! After our pedi's, we went to Starbucks....

...rockin' the foam sandals they give you. We had no shame strutting these through Starbucks. Ha! We hadn't planned on getting pedicures - it was a spontaneous decision, so we didn't have sandals with us.

Afterwards we went home, changed clothes, and hopped back in the car to head out again! I went and showed Jennifer some homes in some nearby subdivisions and she fell in love with one of them {I have wishful thinking that she and her family will move here!!}. After looking at homes, we went to the movies!!....yes, again : )

We saw another chick flick..."What's Your Number". It was a cute movie ...and in my opinion, better than "I Don't Know How She Does It".

After the movies I took Jen to my favorite Mexican restaurant!...

And then on the way home, we stopped at Yogli Mogli to enjoy some frozen yogurt while watching our favorite Sunday night shows together!...

Monday {yesterday} was Jen's last day in the A.T.L. : ( We had lunch at Brio and again, had a super fun time together!!

Jennifer and I are both stay-at-home mom's and wish that especially during this time in our lives, that we lived close to each other. It would be so nice to get together for walks in the morning, do play dates with our little ones, and escape every so often and have dinners, pedicures and go to the movies together....so during this visit, we did all that. We will miss it.

Jennifer is always hearing about Jilly's - my favorite local cupcakery - so I had Dele bring some home from work yesterday as our final hoorah to share : )

No, we didn't eat all of these - just the majority of them ; ) Dele and Ilah shared with us : ) Jen packed up a few of the mini's for her plane ride home. What a nice treat to have on an airplane. I need to remember that!

One little girl will surely miss Jennifer too....Princess Ilah. Aunt Jen bought this little princess outfit for Ilah in California and brought it to her as a present. Now Ilah has the entire outfit to go with her "mouse ears crown" that Jennifer also bought her when she visited Disneyland over a year ago.

It was SO NICE having my awesome friend Jen here with me for 5 days. Normal life resumes today...and man, has it already been a busy day!!! Our church's Women's Retreat is this Thursday and I still have quite a bit to do to prep for it {packing up my platters and decor to take, baking all the desserts, packing my clothes, etc}. I told ya....October is a super packed month!...and I haven't even mentioned what Dele's been up to! I'll have to squeeze that in another post.

Have a great day everyone!!

Our July 4th Party!

Monday, the 4th of July, was a LOT of fun!! And it started off quite eventful...when our neighbors back yard [brush] caught on fire! The flames were high and the fire was starting to spread as their wooden fence caught fire. Dele ran to their house pounding on their door....I grabbed our fire extinguisher out of our garage and ran it over to him. Just then, our neighbor opened their door and Dele ran through their house and out their back door attempting to put it out. I called the fire department and they arrived just minutes later!

We live in an attached townhome. Thank God {literally} that Dele had gone outside to bbq when he did and saw the fire. At the time, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction so the flames were staying away from our home, but they had started to jump to the townhome next to the house that was on fire and had Dele {and our friend who hopped onto our other neighbor's patio and grabbed their hose} not had put it out...well, it would have been a very bad day for many people. The cause? Cigarette butts that weren't entirely put out. Nice. Once the excitement was all over {I'd say flames trump firecrackers! Ha!}, we went on to start our fun-filled 4th of July celebration!

My tablescape was exactly the same as last year. I pulled everything out from storage and mirrored the same look; in fact, the first few photos are last years pictures.

I got these napkins at Hobby Lobby last year. Love them! So patriotic! Here's a close up so you can read some of the words on them....

A few weeks ago I spotted these red placemats that are the same design as the blue ones that I bought last year {the blue ones were the last ones and on clearance; at the time I wish they would have had more - preferably red so that I could interchange them}. What are the odds of getting the exact same pattern placemats, in a different color, an entire year later? Score!!

Let the party begin!.....

For a festive look, I wrapped my pitchers in red, white and blue ribbon....

We had sweet tea, raspberry lemonade, bottles of coca-cola and water with lemon.

Dele was the grill master! The patio was the guys' spot....us ladies stayed inside where it was nice and cool ; )

I made two dishes of mac-n-cheese, because I know how fast it goes!...

We had three different types of chicken/steak....bbq, jerk, and suya {that is made in Nigeria}. I'm not into spice so I passed on that one!

I realized {after it was gone} that I forgot to add cucumbers and blue cheese to my salad! Woops! The other things I added were avocado, cranberries, homemade candied pecans and croutons.

BBQ baked beans!....

The dessert side of the table.....

Refreshing fruit cups comprised of watermelon, strawberries and blueberries....

Get your dessert plate!....

I can't take credit for making these. They were done by KaLice Events. I sent them an image of a cupcake design that I wanted replicated and they did a great job! They were Red Velvet.

I put them in star cupcake wrappers to spruce up the look even more!

Onto cheesecake shots!! I saw them here and just had to make them!! They were a BIG hit and were super easy to make!! A delicious dessert that will be a staple one in my home now!!

It was my first time working with puffed pastry sheets {to make the stars}. Even though my stars didn't come out perfect {I think it more had to do with my cutter}, not too bad for a first timer ; )

I made some peanut butter cookies and packaged them for guests to take home as favors....

After our belly's were all full, we whipped out the games and started with Taboo {guys against girls!} - and then went on to play Cranium!....

Where was Ilah? She was having a fun-filled afternoon with my mom! Here are some shots that I got of her in her July 4th attire!....

For someone who doesn't even know it was the 4th of July, she sure was pretty excited about it! Ha ha!....

The bow that I made to match her festive attire.....

My happy little firecracker!....

We had a wonderful 4th of July! Hope you did too : )