My friend Lofton got married last year in a nice-but-quickie “let’s sign some papers before he enlists in the Army” ceremony, so they’re doing a big one this year close to their 1-year anniversary. That means we get to have showers for her!
Lofton loves Guinness and stout beers in general, so Kaycee made her some Guinness cupcakes (I made the picks!)…

Guests each got their own martini glasses…
And I made a punch of cranberry juice, pineapple juice, and diet ginger ale to which guests could add vodka and/or rum.

Obviously our colors were teal blue and red!
Lofton’s not much for cooking and baking, so our favors included her favorite cookie and its recipe…
Kaycee made mini-meatloafs with mashed potatoes piped on like frosting. AH. MAH. GAH.
We also had green beans and mac ’n’ cheese – all classic comfort foods!
We dressed in 50s-ish attire (those red paper lanterns make great hats for Kaycee and myself…)

I want to get married for many reasons, but mostly so I can put a KitchenAid mixer on my registry…
I love these gals!

I’ve been having a tough time lately, and I hate that I can never predict when a day will be good or bad (I know, I know – I should be the one to dictate whether I’ll have a good or bad day). I spent some time with my good friend Joy the other night who was visiting from NYC and had a great time with her, but after she and I parted ways, I encountered someone I didn’t want to see, and I let it ruin my night. I’ve gotta learn to let things go, to let it roll off my back, to not hold onto grudges and anger. I’ve found I’m more likely to self-soothe with food when I’m upset like that, and I’ve spent way too much time being upset over the past few months. I can’t backslide and fall into the same patterns I did years ago. I refuse.
I’ve picked up knitting again and have spent some time coloring mandalas, both in an effort to distract me from thinking too much. And of course I’m hanging out with my friends a lot, but it’s tough not to compare myself to them, their relationships, their jobs, their appearances. Not good. I am finding the urge to exercise again, so that’s awesome. Now that I can look forward to the weather getting cooler soon, I’m hoping to take up running again.
Now I’m faced with the dilemma of where to meet people. I don’t hang out in bars and don’t go to church, so I have no idea where to make new friends now that several of mine are moving away, tied up with relationships and marriage, busy with kids, etc., and I definitely don’t know how to meet guys. Meetup groups? Online dating? Just walk up to random strangers on the street? This was so much easier in college…