Pop Up Dinner Party For Two

This past Saturday Ben and I had the opportunity to help our friend KC propose to his girl friend Misty.

We have known Misty for a couple of years and she was actually one of my bridesmaids when Ben and I were married. We met KC when they started dating and quickly became friends with him. At the beginning of the summer Misty told me they were talking marriage. I was ecstatic. Soon after Misty and I started going to bridal fairs and doing some wedding shopping. At that point though, Misty and KC were not officially engaged.

About a month ago they started looking at rings and things were progressing nicely. Even though they both knew they were getting married and they had already kind of started planning the wedding, KC wanted to propose in a special way but he wasn't quite sure how. He asked us how Ben proposed and was gathering ideas. A couple days later I thought of having a pop up dinner party which I saw here. I have wanted to throw one of these since I read that post. I texted KC and prayed he would like my idea and...HE DID!! We got together to go over a few things, location, food, table and chairs, etc. Pretty much KC told me what he wanted and Ben and I made it happen.

Ben and I have a small four person table so we decided to use our table and chairs. The only problem was they are several years old and they look it. So I decided to give my table a makeover. I saw this on Pinterest a while ago and had been wanting to try it. On my way home from work I picked up some black and ivory spray paint and a clear coat. I already had lace I found at the DI for a couple bucks. Fifty dollars and a second trip to Walmart, for some more paint, later...and we have a brand new table. I was really worried about how this was going to turn out. It just seemed to easy. You put a piece of lace on the table, spray paint it, take the lace off and bam, you have a lacey table. It turned out a lot better than I hoped it would. 

As for the location, we went with Thanksgiving Point. They have beautiful gardens and it doesn't cost a thing to get in...well at least the part we went to. Thanksgiving point is huge and has tons to do and some of it cost money. Anyways, Ben and I left about 3 o'clock to make the half hour trip to Thanksgiving point. I wanted to have plenty of time to find a spot and get everything set up (our table with the legs on it was too big to fit in our car so we had to take them off and put them back on once there). The first section we went in to was called Hidden Falls. Amazing. There was a gazebo with an awesome chandelier, surrounded by beautiful flowers and had a back drop of a waterfall. Both Ben and I knew that was the spot. We walked around the rest of the gardens just in case there was something as equally cool but there wasn't. We headed back to Hidden Falls and got to work.



Ben started putting the table together and I got to work on the flowers. I hadn't seen the table and chairs all put together yet so I stood there in awe for a couple seconds. It looked so good. Once I had recovered we got back to work and before I knew it we were done and it was only 4:30. We had to pick up the food around 5:30 at the Olive Garden in American Fork but that was only 10 minutes away. We had an hour to kill so we sat and enjoyed the gardens.

Ben went and picked up the food. When he returned we took the food out of the containers and put them on the china. All we had left to do was wait for the text that they were in the parking lot, uncover all the food, put the pie out and then run away before they saw us. Well that text never came. Ben and I were sitting there enjoying each others company when I spotted them walking up. I don't think Ben had ever seen me move so fast, but I wasn't fast enough. We greeted each other, took a picture and got out of there.

Ben and I went to the cafe that is at Thanksgiving point and waited for KC to let us know when they were done. That text did come and we went to clean up. We were done pretty quickly and we headed home. About half way home Misty called to let us know that KC had proposed and they were officially engaged! Yay!

When I think about all that needed to be done in order to make this pop up party a success, I get tired. It was a lot of work, but so worth it. The dinner was beautiful and it was great to be able to help out friends with such a huge moment in their lives.

Congratulations Misty and KC! Marriage is the bomb!

Courtney

DIY Braided Rug

I am finally finished! I have been working on my very own braided rug for a couple weeks now. I have always loved this type of rug and dreamed of making my own, but I had no idea where to start (story of my life), until I saw this tutorial on A Beautiful Mess.

The hardest part about making this, is the braiding. It took forever. I could only braid for so long before my hands would start to ache. After the first braiding session, I realized this might take a while. So in the evening I would put in a movie and braid. I even persuaded Ben to help braid (he was surprisingly pretty good).

In the end, I am extremely happy with the results. It turned out good enough that I can't stop showing people pictures of it. I can't wait to move in to our house and find the perfect spot for this.

Courtney

The Chocolate: A Dessert Cafe

On Tuesday Ben and I were able to go to the Jordan River Temple, which happens to be one of our favorite things to do together. On the way there we saw a cute little house, that has been turned in to a dessert cafe, on the side of the road. Ben and I love food (understatement) and I love dessert. We decided that we would stop by on our way home. Best decision ever! The Chocolate: A Dessert Cafe, is amazing in pretty much every way. It sits on a very busy road surrounded by strip malls and restraunts so, it brings a little breath of fresh air to the area. The customer service was great. The guy gave us tons of free samples and was super nice. I finally decided on the salted carmel frosted brownie with a tall glass of milk and Ben got the turtle brownie with a root beer. Sooo good. Seriously like heaven in your mouth. I think about that brownie all the time. I will definitely be going there again. Soon.

Courtney

One down, forever to go.

Hello! This week has been a really crazy busy week. We are trying to buy a house and are waiting for a few things to finalize before we can start the closing process. Our lease ended on our apartment so we moved into the basement of Ben's parent's house until we can move into our house. We have known that we were going to do this for almost the whole month of August and yet the end of the month has come and gone and we still are not finished completely moving out of the apartment. Ugh. But on a happier note, Monday marked our one year anniversary!

After I got home from a very long day at work, I was surprised with  anniversary roses! Ben arranged them himself! He is so proud. Ben also got me a beautiful bow necklace from here. That too was supposed to be a surprise but I had the iPad when he bought it and a notification popped up that there was an Esty sell so naturally I assumed I sold something from my Etsy shop. I stared at that email for a while very confused until I read the note from my husband to the seller stating that it was an anniversary present. Oops. I felt really bad until the exact same thing happened when I purchased his present from Etsy. I guess we shouldn't buy each other things from Etsy if it is supposed to be a surprise. 

After gifts we headed down town to The Blue Lemon for some yummy food. From the outside this place looks pretty fancy and it kinda is. It is like a fancy cafe...that sells steak. I don't know but Ben and I decided that we would go back for their delicious salads. For dessert we went to Kneaders. I LOVE Kneaders. Their food is so fresh and amazing. Ben ordered a Boston Cream Cupcake and I ordered a Burnt Almond Fudge Cheesecake (Heaven) to go. 

We had made these plans a couple months ago when we were walking around down town one day, and our plan to finish our day was to take a horse drawn carriage ride. Neither one of us had ever done it and wanted to try it at least once. The only problem was that they were no where to be found when we were ready. We walked around for a while trying to find one and finally gave up and were heading back to the car when we spotted one. Hooray! We ate our yummy dessert and enjoyed each others company as we rode around Temple Square and through Memory Grove. It was beautiful. Our horse was named Rex and he was hilarious. He almost ran over an old lady in the cross walk. Which I guess maybe I shouldn't find funny...oh well.

We headed home kinda early since both of us had to work the next day but we had such a great time together. This past year has been a huge learning experience but so worth it. People say the first year of marriage is the hardest and I will definitely say that marriage takes work, but I also believe that this past year has been the best of my life. I can't wait to spend forever with this man. 

Courtney