oh glorious day.

So this is a touch late, but I still wanted to recap our glorious celebration of Easter Sunday last month.

I was so excited for Ressurrection Sunday, probably more so than ever before. I got to experience a really beautiful Good Friday service which included stations of the cross. It was such an incredible experience and really prepared my heart for the Easter weekend.

Our day started with an Easter hymn and dance party (true story) in the kitchen before we headed to church. After that, we celebrated with grapefruit mimosas and a lovely display of cheeses and appetizers.





Elisa and I dyed about 2 dozen eggs the day before, so we had to get a few pics with our creations. Our basket 'o eggs served as a great centerpiece for our dinner table.



We enjoyed a lovely Easter dinner of beef tenderloin, roasted asparagus, potatoes, salad, bread and wine. After our feast, we took advantage of the beautiful night and sat outside on the back patio for hours.




It was a glorious day, a time for reflection on the hope we have in Christ. There is true freedom in Him when we throw our hands up in surrender and accept His free gift of mercy and grace.

"God has landed on this enemy-occupied world in human form...The perfect surrender and humiliation was undergone by Christ: perfect because He was God, surrender and humiliation because He was man."
-C.S. Lewis: The Case for Christianity

to have and to hold.

(**Disclaimer: this post is picture-heavy, narrative lacking.)

Several weekends back, we attended the wedding of one of Michelle's oldest friends, Wendy. We actually lived about five houses down from her back in the day and Michelle and her have been friends for probably almost 27-28 years. She happened to be marrying the stepson of John Paul Dejoria (of the Paul Mitchell empire) and the wedding was held at his home in the ATX.

The wedding took place outside with cocktails on the lawn and reception inside a beautiful white tent. I wish I had better photography skills, because the pictures below really do not do it justice.








I made sure to get a good paparazzi shot of the "celeb" host as they made their way down the aisle. Michelle was on bridesmaid duty, so I tried to get some ceremony photos, although it was fairly tricky from my angle.











Cocktails took place on the lawn. They had a variety of cheeses, crackers, local honeycomb(!) and various other passed items to pair with the wine and champagne.



After cocktail hour, it was time to head into the tent for dinner and dancing. The tent was truly spectacular and definitely reminded me of something from "Platinum Weddings." The florals, chandeliers, centerpieces...it was all so lovely. Dinner was equally delicious, but really only served as fuel for the serious dancing that was going to take place.









The band was hot, but we were hotter (as in seriously sweating). I did not want to leave the dance floor, but forced myself to rehydrate when necessary.




Congratulations to the newlyweds and thanks for such a fun party!

eggstravaganza 2011

Since Easter was so late this year, there was plenty of time leading up to Resurrection Sunday in which to dye eggs, make Easter cutout sugar cookies and reflect on the passion of Christ.

First up, there was the 2nd Annual Easter Egg Throwdown: Battle of the Sexes. It was guys vs. girls and the competition was intense. We worked fast and furiously on decorating some 30+ eggs. The guys definitely won points for creativity, but in the end, the girls took home the prize and after looking at the pics, I think you'll see why.














And just in case I didn't get my fill of egg decorating, the very next day was spent with my favorite four-year-old. Miss Haylee Grace and I decorated our own Easter eggs (complete with tons of princess stickers because nothing says Christ's death and resurrection like a Cinderella sticker). They weren't exactly on par with the previous night's creations, but we had fun together. After our adventures in coloring eggs, we made a few Easter cookie cutouts. As usual, Haylee's cookies were more of a vehicle through which she could consume about 1/2 cup of sprinkles per cookie, but can you blame her?





Up next, I'll recap a wedding fit for hair care royalty (literally) and our celebration of Resurrection Sunday!