Best 7 Years

Written by Shannon Leigh

Yesterday marked 7 YEARS since Matt and I's first date.

How is that possible?

We went to Steak n' Shake late at night after some sorority event and we talked into the wee hours of the morning.

I'm pretty sure my face hurt from smiling so much.

I already new I was going to marry him.

He asked me to be his girlfriend.

Actually he said:

"so are we going to do this or what?"

What a hopeless romantic.

{scanned fuji BW film from the fall of 2005}

Somehow I fell for him anyway.

Best 7 years of my life, for reals.

Ain't Too Proud Monday

Written by Shannon Leigh

This is what Ruby's armoir and closet looked like last week (before they got cleaned).

WHOAH.

Some maintenance on these bad boys was long overdue.

It's funny how fast babies transition out of things.

I got them clean and organized but I haven't taken pictures of them yet.

Stay tuned for pictures at some point.

In other news our house is under seige by the snot army.

Matt gave me his nasty cold and I have been miserable since Friday night and it only seems to be getting worse.

Couple that with an extremely fussy baby (who is teething) and my days have been really long.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

It can only go up from here right?

Featured on A Darling Day!

Written by Shannon Leigh

Tea for Ruby has been featured on another great party planning site, A Darling Day!

You should check out Jessica's amazing Etsy Shop too!

Check out the feature by clicking on the picture below.

Featured on The Sweetest Occasion

Written by Shannon Leigh

Guess what?

Tea for Ruby has been featured on The Sweetest Occasion!

I feel beyond honored!

Check out the feature by clicking on the picture below.

Tortola is for Lovers

Written by Shannon Leigh

(back to cruise posts)

Matt and I celebrated Valentine's Day this year in the BEST way EVER.
We laid on the beach and snorkeled in Tortola, a British Virgin Island.
Ahh, a relaxing holiday for lovers indeed.

{View of the bay from the top of the mountain}

Oh and we watched lots of birds.
Pelicans mostly.
I apologize for the large amount of photos.




When we got back on the boat that day Matt and I decided to climb the rock wall.
Why not?


We look pretty stunning in our climbing gear.

Matt went first.
His athleticism and long legs working to his advantage.

I went second.
Against my better judgment I wore a dress (with shorts underneath).
I look like some kind of frumpy cave woman in a jumper.

Oh well. I made it to the top.
I wasn't trying to impress anyone.
The view from up there was amazing.
Truly a bird's eye view.

Before dinner Matt and I ventured around for good photo ops (my pastime) and Matts' by association.
We found a decent one.
Look at that handsome man! :)

Ain't Too Proud Monday

Written by Shannon Leigh

It took me a week to clean up Ruby's party decor.
I just didn't have the energy.
So in order to entertain Ruby while I picked up I let her help me clean.

Here she is "dismantling" some of the decorations.
At least I got the kitchen cleaned while she was doing this.

In other news Matt cleared the yard of Izzy poop.
It is officially spring and now that we will be spending a lot of time in the yard it was a MUST.
We weighed the bag after he was done.
It was 11 pounds!
11 pounds of JUST POOP.
Gross (not sure if it's more gross that there was this much or that we actually weighed it).
We should have ground it up and used it as fertilizer.
People pay a lot of money for that stuff.
Maybe we should start a side business.
Sigh.

Why Ruby...

Written by Shannon Leigh

Photo taken February 3, 2009.

Written by me on the Hilton's frosted window on Michigan Avenue.

4 Months before we were pregnant.

8 months before we knew we were having a girl.

In honor of sweet Ruby's birth month I thought I'd write the story behind her name.

Ruby Evangeline

I'll start from the beginning.

The week before Matt and I started dating he invited me (and a few other people) to his grandparents church for high attendance Sunday. I was touched that he invited me (I already had a major crush). And I was also excited that he was close to his grandparents. I have always been close with mine.

That Sunday was the first time I met Grandma Ruby.

The only thing I remember about her from that Sunday was her closed-mouth smile and her beautiful complexion.

She was sweet, quiet and reserved.

Matt always spoke very highly of Grandma Ruby so I was excited to get to know her.

Grandma Ruby

After Matt and I started dating we visited his grandparents in Marion every now and again.

We would sit and chat. I learned a lot about Grandma Ruby that way.

I learned that she went to Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky in hopes of becoming a missionary. At that time unmarried Baptist women couldn't be foreign missionaries so she stayed back.

Grandma Ruby & Grandpa Gene met at the Baptist ministry on campus (just like Matt's parents and just like Matt and I).

She taught ESL classes at the BCM where Matt and I attended and sewed flags for every nation that had been represented there.

Unfortunately Ruby got sick not too long after Matt and I started dating.

I only had the pleausure of knowing her a year before she passed away.

I'll tell you this though.

You find out a lot about a person when they die.

You see into their heart. You can see their deepest desires and Ruby's ONLY desire was to meet Jesus.

She couldn't meet him soon enough.

The more my mother in law told me about her the more I admired her.

She was a woman who loved Jesus more than anything in this world and kept her mind on things above. She was creative, one heck-of-a seamstress, a servant, a hard worker, and she was funny. I like women with a good sense of humor.

Matt and I talked about using the name Ruby years before we had children.

It would be the perfect tribute to Grandma Ruby and it's cute (at least we think it's cute).

We hope our Ruby is half the person Grandma Ruby was.

Now the trick was finding a name that went with it.

In college I watched the movie Nanny McPhee with some of my roommates and fell head over heals.

I am a huge Emma Thompson fan and the videography, colors, and overall feel of the film made my heart flutter.

It was also the first time I heard the name Evangeline.

It was just so pretty.

I was in love. My bff Megan also loved the name. I think we struck a deal that whoever had children first could use it. :) I won!

Many years later as Matt and I discussed future children names (even before we started trying) Evangeline came up. Matt liked it and I couldn't believe it.

Then came Evangeline Lilly in the form of Kate from Lost.

Matt was sold.

We also loved the meaning of the name Evangeline. It means to spread the good news.

We hope with all of our heart that that is JUST what she'll do.

So Ruby Evangeline was the name we had picked out long before we were pregnant. We didn't really talk about boy names until much later, after I was pregnant. I wonder if that was God's way of telling us we would be having a girl.

There is a lot wrapped up in a name.

We hope our sweet Ruby carries a little piece of Grandma Ruby with her where ever she goes in life.

We mostly hope that she knows and loves Jesus and spreads the good news until the end of her days.

Tea for Ruby

Written by Shannon Leigh

I apalogize for the overload of pictures.

BUT my first child only turns one once.

We celebrated with a tea party last Saturday.

After all Ruby's favorite book is Tea for Ruby.

I made the invitations in photoshop and printed them on card stock.

I scanned floral fabric and then fashioned it into the teacup. I also scanned burlap to give the background a little bit of texture.

The fabric on the outside of the invitation is from a vintage pillowcase from a thrift store.

The gold and white medallions were left over from a project long ago.

The party was at our house.

It was a tight squeeze but everyone managed ok in our humble abode.

We used vintage tea cups (including some from Grandma Ruby, Grandma Dudley, my mom & my mother-in-law).

I even had my Great Grandma Hagen's teapot.

We also had real lumps of sugar (I was really excited about that).

I made Paula Dean's Strawberry Cake for the center of the table.

Ruby's smash cake came from Cakes on Walnut, of course..

I made embellished party hats for EVERYONE.

and EVERYONE wore one.

It was awesome.

I wish I would have gotten a pictures of the whole group.

I also made Ruby a party hat with a matching bib to wear while she ate her smash cake.

She wasn't thrilled with the hat.

O the menu for the day:

Strawberry cake

Chocolate cupcakes with whipped cream cheese frosting

Lemon cupcakes with lemon icing

Teapot shaped sugar cookies

Strawberries & grapes with whipped cream

Cucumber sandwiches

Broccoli sunflower salad

Cheeseball & crackers

Hot tea

Ice tea

Lemonade

&

Coffee

The chair swags are made out of doilies.

I got the idea from Martha, of course.

I LOVE that my grandma wore here party hat and sipped on tea.

So cute.

Kellen dressed up like a cowboy because... he's awesome.

I also made the garland on the window.

It's just fabric & ribbon tied to twine!

This one took some trial and error since I didn't have any kind of tutorial but I eventually got it looking the way I wanted.

Cake time.

We stripped down Ruby's dress (more on that later) and put on her hat and bib.

She wasn't SUPER excited over her smash cake.

We stuck her hand in it a few times trying to get her to go crazy but she just kind of nibbled on the icing.

She certainly didn't dig in.

It WAS a tea party after all.

She was just being a lady.

Since Matty turned the big 3-0 last week and he didn't celebrate with anyone, other than me, I decided to make him a cake and surprise him at Ruby's party.

I made him a baked alaska (one of his favorites).

I think he enjoyed it!

Then of course it was present time!

She was so spoiled by our families.

We feel so blessed to have so many people who love Ru like we do.

A special shout out to all who came and made Ruby's first birthday special.

(Especially my mother-in-law who slaved away in the kitchen with me for hours before the guests arrived. I couldn't have done it without her).

Over all the party was a great success.

I'm already dreaming up plans for birthday #2.

Dun dun dun...

Don't tell Matt.