Poolside/Beachside Dip

In honor of 4th of July being 1 week away I thought I'd post this yummy Pinterest recipe that I  love.

Since temperatures will be reaching 105+ degrees in the south (and let's not even discuss the humidity) this recipe won't involve a lot of work but it's cool, creamy flavor will hopefully give you a bit of reprieve from the outdoor heat.

Poolside Dip Statement Pieces:
2 Jalapenos - get rid of the veins and seeds (unless you like a lot of heat) then chop
16 oz. cream cheese softened (2 blocks)
1 can corn (I used summer corn) drained
1 red bell pepper-get rid of seeds and veins then chop
1/2 of a small jar of green olives- leave pimentos out and chop up olives
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip Mix

Once ingredients are mixed all together refrigerate for a little bit so the flavors meld and it cools off.

Aren't these colors pretty!

Serve with wheat thins or crackers but really it could go with a lot more! This makes a lot more dip then it appears to at first. We were headed to the lake with about 14 people and kids and still had some left over for a nice breakfast snack :)

As I was making this I was thinking how I love the colors of the olives, jalapenos, and red bell peppers.  After racking my brain of what it reminded me of, ding ding, a light bulb went off.  If you read Urban Grace Interiors or if you saw May's Southern Living then you should recognize this picture:

That's designer Erika Powell's home and this might be one of my favorite rooms ever.  I love the unusual color combination and fabrics to start.  Then you get to the custom headboard for the daybed and paint by number pictures of dogs and I die. 

The dark green on the pillow in the back clearly represents the jalapenos:

via

The chartreuse in the headboard design is obviously the olives, while the pops of tomato red might as well be "red bell pepper red" instead of tomato red.  And just for kicks the corn = Erika's fun jeans.

via

Such a fun room, I'd love to know what exactly it's used for and I'd probably pay a ton of money to tour her home in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida coincidentally right near our family beach house.  Erika, call me, maybe???

P.S. Want to follow me on Pinterest or find me on Instagram under arbowden

Some people get jewels, I get appliances...

Being busy this June is an understatement because it has not only included our anniversary, 2 wedding showers, a trip to the lake, dinner parties, a trip to Scott's, and ending the month with a long trip to the beach... all have been successful except the trip to Scott's.


Ryguy and I made the hike down towards the airports 2 weeks ago but I really wasn't "feeling" it, I guess I wasn't on a mission for anything in particular and I wasn't seeing anything that caught my eye.  I ended up buying one measly little thing, wait for it.... a matchstick holder.... oh yeah! However, this isn't any ordinary matchstick holder, it's an Hermes matchstick holder.

I know you are thinking, "wow that's random".  I have tons of Lafco candles all over the house so matches come in handy and ever since I saw where Abode Love talked about matchstick holders I have wanted one. So when I saw that perfect little orange box with the "H" I knew that sucker was forever mine.

Since this was a bit of a frivolous purchase I decided this could count as an extra anniversary gift. We've been wanting to upgrade our white dishwasher and refrigerator to stainless steel and decided to for-go anniversary gifts and buy a dishwasher.  Woo Hoo! Get E-X-C-I-T-E-D!

It looks so much better than our old one and really compliments the colors in the marble counter tops. Hopefully we can get the matching refrigerator here soon :)

Back to our anniversary, we celebrated a the night after with a trip to Chastain Park Amphitheatre to see Colbie Caillat and Gavin DeGraw play.  My sweet Dad got us a table so we could take friends and set up a spread which was really fun.  You can bring your own food and drinks into the amphitheatre or have it catered which is really cool.

The girls... 

 My handsome groom... 

Our spread... that is until the skies opened over Chastain Park and the rains came in.... 

 

Luckily, we were done eating for the most part when it started raining... there wasn't any rain on the radar so we assumed it was a quick pop-up shower.  Clearly, the right option in that case is to use the tablecloth as a rain shield.... 

 

Unfortunately after about 20 minutes of constant rain the tablecloth was no longer effective and half of us ran for cover... the other 3 tried to weather the storm... you can see how that worked after an hour and a half... 

Soaked to the bones...

The rain finally went away and the show started... Colbie Caillat was great as usual, she has such a good voice!  Andy Grammar (below with Colbie) opened for her and he actually was really good too. 

A few nights later, Ryan and I celebrated alone by going to one of our favorite restaurants Rathbun's Steak.  Wish I had a better picture because I loved my outfit from TopShop, oh well... 

All in all a great anniversary!


As for any new house updates, I don't have a whole lot else except a new outdoor addition that I am pretty pumped about.  Ryan and I both love a good porch swing, I guess it's a southern thing... nothing beats sittin' on your front porch swaying back and forth, drinking a margarita sweet tea and gossiping chatting about life. In college my 6 roommates and I were always porch sittin' on the Pink House front porch on James Agee Avenue in Knoxville. 


Our front porch is a little narrow but I was bound and determined to find a solution.  Thank heavens for google because I finally found the perfect single person swing at 26" wide.

 

I was so excited when it shipped quickly, now all I have to do is prime, paint, put together, and hang, no biggie!...

I'll be sure to post pics of the final product, might be in a couple weeks so hold tight. Now I've been on the hunt for the perfect outdoor pillow or cushion to adorn my white swing.


Other than that this month, I've been hoping to finally start painting the hallway to the basement so we can hang all of our football stuff in it but the days just haven't been long enough.  Between unpacking, laundry, and repacking I'm hoping to get a head start this week.


I have an awesome pinterest recipe I found and have made a couple times which I'll try and post before we head to the beach.

2 Year Anniversary Post...

June's been busy because 2 years ago Ryan and I said "I Do" on a nice, sunny {hot} day in June, so we've been busy celebrating. 

Besides the heat we had the most perfect day I could have dreamed of.  I am a slacker and just now working on my wedding album and it's funny how many pictures and little moments I've already forgotten about in just 2 short years.  Since it's my wedding month (and probably many of yours since June = weddings) I thought I'd recap our special weekend:

We kicked things off Thursday night with some of my girlfriends who made it to town and we had a private shopping party at a boutique called Fabrik, 20% off the whole store. Awesome!

 

Friday we had my bridal tea at Anis Bistro in Buckhead.  It was thrown by my Mom's 4 sisters, my Aunts, and it was perfect! They did a great job with the decorations and the food was yummy too! 

Some of my bridesmaids...

 Not too long after that we headed off to our church for the rehearsal, one Southern tradition I didn't do is have a stand-in (clearly).

 

This is one of my bridesmaids, Sarah, a good friend from high school who now lives in NYC. Across the streeet from our church is a trifecta of well-known Buckhead bars like Peachtree Tavern, Hole in the Wall, and Moondogs.  Almost everyone I know has spent at least 1 crazy night at these establishments and everyone (esp. the groomsmen) thought it was so funny to get a picture with that in the background.  

 

My lovebug and I in front of the church, about to head to our next stop, the rehearsal dinner at Canoe! My rehearsal dinner dress was a gift from my Aunt, we ordered it from Bridals by Lori and then I had a fabulous milner, Nicholas Kniel, attach the peacock feather ribbon as a belt.

 I wish I had more personal pictures of the rehearsal dinner because it was perfection! Luckily my photographer {Tina Rowden} was there and has some great shots that I can have once I order my wedding album.  :)

This is Ryan's sister and our brother in law out in the gardens on the Chatahoochee River at Canoe. The weather was amazing and the view here is one of the best in Atlanta as is the food.  Ryan's mom did a great job with the dinner, flowers, and decorations.  I definitely recommend Canoe for a special dinner in Atlanta. 

 At the end of our rehearsal dinner before we head our separate ways...

....Ok I'm lying we made a pit stop at the bars like East Andrews to hang out with all of our friends and family before the night was over...

Here are some of the girls and I getting ready to head to the church...

 

My dress {Francesca} and veil were from Priscilla of Boston by Melissa Sweet... My mom's dress was a Priscilla and I always imagined picking out a dress there.
I had one of those cute metal hangers that said "Mrs. Bowden"...

 

Squeezing into the dress... amazing what wedding stress can do to a girl's figure... it just melts right off ya like butter... 

 Getting everything just right with my mom and photographer Tina Rowden...

My beautiful bridesmaids in their bright pink & chiffon Amsale dresses from Bridals by Lori... 

I wish I had a pic of my sweet little flower girls... the front of their dresses had their monograms in pink, so perfect.

I was uber traditional in that I did bridal portraits... this was one of my favorite things I did... it gave me a chance to test run everything and see if anything needed tweaked for the actual day.  The pictures are also aahhhmazing... 

Portraits at Summerour Studios near Atlantic Station in Midtown.

 My handsome groom... his heart is even better than his good looks! Love him! XOXO

 

 My cousins were the ring bearer and and the flower girls... my photographer captured 2 of my all time favorite pictures from the whole wedding that happen to be of Jonah. 

 Don't you wonder what he's thinking here?

 

 And would you like to know what in world my brother and Jonah were talking about?

 

Ryan's parents, loved his mom's dress too... you can see where he gets his looks from...

 

My beautiful mother, loved her dress, it was soooo perfect for her. stunning.

Here is my first prince charming, my Dad, about to walk his little princess down the {long} aisle at our church.

No turning back... 

 It's official, Mr. and Mrs. Bowden!

After some pictures we headed off on the trolley with our crew to the reception, one of my favorite things.  Sidenote: I apologize to anyone following our trolley for the guys hanging out on the back as we rode down Peachtree... 

 Our first dance to one of "our songs" from when we first started dating, Colbie Caillat's Bubbly. Love the hot pink BM dresses with my mom's jewel tone blue dress against the black and white floor.

 

Our reception was at Park Tavern Garden Tent on Piedmont Park in Midtown, here we are out in the park with the Atlanta skyline. 

 

 In the vegetable gardens at Piedmont Park...

Our estate tables... each table was named either an ACC or SEC school name like Tennessee, Clemson, FSU, etc... This went with our southern theme... we had southern food like shrimp and grits, Kentucky bourbon pork tenderloin, and a hashbrown station to name a few... oh, and did I mention the southern heat we had that day? Yeah, that was part of the theme too...

 
We had a lounge area in the meadow next to the tents and had these custom pillows made and scattered around the reception. Custom linens was one of the other best decisions I made.

After that got the party started...

Cuttin the cake....

Our grand sparkler exit... up the narrow staircase... one person may or may not have caught their bridesmaid dress on fire...

Off we go in our London taxi... hello Mexico...

Like I said, I am finally working on our album right now and it's made me realize what a wonderful and special event this was.  Ryan and I were truly blessed to be surrounded by so many people that love and cared about that day and over the weekend.  Our parents really did make every bit of the weekend perfect and full of lasting memories. God has really blessed us in so many ways.

I also had a fabulous crew of people like my wedding planner, Ashley Baber, who's one of the best if not the best planner in Atlanta.  My photographer Tina Rowden is equally as amazing and talented. She not only did our engagement pics, bridal portraits, rehearsal dinner, and actual wedding but has gone on to do some of our Christmas card pics as well, I'm sure she will be used for big milestones in the future as well! :) Our florist Julie from Floral Expressions, Tamara from I DO Linens, and the band Moxie were also a huge piece to our wedding and awesome to work with. 

The week before the wedding, it said 100% rain and 95 degrees, the day of the rain held off and it was sunny as could be with a little heat but who cares?... It's a day that I'll never forget...

If you're like me and like looking at wedding videos and pictures of your friend's weddings or even perfect strangers (c'mon, you know we all do it!) here's a couple quick highlight videos of our big day...

http://vimeo.com/16402765  by videographer Shaun Clearie

http://slideshows.tinarowden.com/amyryan/ by Tina Rowden Photography


Thanks for letting me post about my wedding, it's been fun looking back on all of the memories. More on how we celebrated our 2 year anniversary in our next post... plus a couple house updates...