S+L Hitched: Laura's Bridal Shower

In addition to my sister's couples shower this past weekend, we also celebrated my cousin Laura's bridal shower! 

The ladies in our family did a wonderful job with decorating and everything came together so nicely. We watched the weather radar religiously all weekend and thankfully everything dried up just in time to have the shower outdoors at my parent's house. 

Mama Z had me print out their wedding invite that I had designed on some tracing paper so she could mod podge it onto a candle. High five mama, well done!

The beautiful bride-to-be... looking stunning as always! 

Shameless plug... Laura blogs over at Relatively Offbeat, so make sure you go check out all her chic outfits, recipes and adventures with soon-to-be hubby, Steve, and fur child, Syrus!

Beautiful bridesmaids! 

Brody was a huge fan of bridal shower bingo. He helped Grandma Z with her card... and then he proceeded to pour the jars of buttons out all over the yard. Thanks, kiddo. Mama appreciates it.

Lil Man also took a page out of Ryan's playbook and decided to pursue this older and taller cute blonde at the party. Ermahgerd... adorable. Someone's gotta teach that kid some subtly though. He practically followed her around the yard the entire shower and never took his eyes off her. Aww, to be young and twitterpated. 

Anyways, it was another beautiful shower spent celebrating with family. I can't wait to celebrate with these lovebirds in September! Side note, does anyone else binge relentlessly on those butter mints at showers and then slip into a food coma? Well, I guess if your weekend ends in a food coma, then you were doing something right. Right?

Happy Thursday kids! The weekend is near...

Love and Goulets: Couples Shower

T-minus one month until my little sister ties the knot! Wait... one month?! Well shit, I guess I better get going on that MOH speech and figure out how I'm going to squeeze into my bridesmaid dress after all the wedding festivities these last couple weeks. What a pig.

Anyways, Adam's family hosted a couples shower this past Saturday evening. Sadly, I went stag. My main men were too busy with sleepovers at Aunt Cindy's house and working out of town. Boooooo. :(

The evening got started with a hilarious round of "whose leg is this?" Adam and Ashley took turns being blindfolded and groping everyone's legs. The goal was to identify one another. 

Ashley narrowed it down to Adam, his dad and his uncle. Hmm... apparently the Goulet men have very similar legs. However, she successfully singled out Adam after further uncomfortable groping. 

Adam managed it narrow it down to Ashley..... and his sister Ashley! Oooooh, that's awkward. Thankfully, he chose the right Ashley (for his own sake.)

Best photo of the night!

Most of the bridesmaids...

And then there's these dorks. Awkward touching and flipper arm, judgmental Ben and those two lovebirds in the middle sharing a special moment. No dull moments anticipated at this wedding.

Obligatory maid-of-honor and best man photos. Ash and I look cute... well, I guess so do those two weirdos.

And of course the mamas and the papas...

Overall, the evening was wonderful. The rain let up just enough to have some of the celebration outside, the food was amazing and there was booze. Duh. Plus I got to briefly catch up with Adam's people who are all guys I graduated from high school with. Welp, better get going on that MOH speech. Uncomfortable stories about why we nicknamed Ashley "Stinky" and her laundry list of ex-boyfriends are acceptable topics, right? ;)

Artprize is for Lovers

This weekend was full of beautiful works of art, love and happiness. If only every weekend could be this wonderful.

Saturday afternoon, I was invited to join Sarah's family as they celebrated Asa's first birthday! Brody and Asa were only born two months apart, so it really was an eye opener to see Asa walking around and already one year old. Crazy how fast time flies.

After the birthday party, I accompanied my parents to Artprize since they had never been there before. We managed to check out seven of the top ten and spent most of the day walking around downtown. I'm not much of a city girl, but I love how alive Grand Rapids becomes this time of year.

My parents are super adorable, just saying.

I absolutely loved the "Polar Expressed" piece by Anni Crouter. Beautiful.

Mama and Papa Z celebrated their anniversary back in June, but my dad has been holding onto this incredible diamond ring all summer waiting for just the right opportunity. He summoned his inner romantic and got down on one knee down by the river and gave my mom this amazing rock.

Thirty-two years later and more in love than ever. xoxo

Speaking of lovers, congratulations to my cousin Laura on her engagement to Steve! They met us downtown on Saturday to share the wonderful news... I'm so thrilled for the both of them. Looks like this upcoming summer is going to be packed with wedding festivities between my sister and Laura getting ready for their nuptials.

Photo credit: Tieka of Selective Potential and Eric MJ Ellis

Photo credit: Tieka of Selective Potential and Eric MJ Ellis