San Diego Wedding at The Ultimate Skybox

Casey's childhood friend, Clayton got engaged back in October. It was such an exciting time, we had gotten engaged 5 months earlier, and my heart was just exploding with love. Our lives are growing and changing at an insane rate, it's nice to have people that are on the same crazy train.

Whoa time warp--2009! Fun fact the couple in the middle recently got engaged--in June.
Almost everyone in our group is married or about to be, it's a really fun time in our lives.
P.S. What am I wearing? I have come a long way since 22.
This is really humiliating and I am regretting putting this picture on here!

That is Clayton and Melissa far right. They met at the NASA gym, Melissa worked in Mission Control and Clayton was working in the gym at the time and the rest as they say is history! I think they had been dating about 6 months in this photo, we were just getting to know Mel, but she fit right in. To say I have throughly enjoyed getting to know her over the years, would be an understatement. She is such a good friend, from helping me with wedding crafts, to coming to the many wedding events we had, to emailing and venting to each other. I just love her, so when I found out Clayton was proposing I wanted to do something nice for her. He proposed in Dallas at a winery. I sent him with a little care package for her to open the proposal night, I wish I had taken photos : (. I sent a wedding magazine, nail polish in a bridal blue shade similar to their favorite baseball team, the Texas Rangers blue, and a T-Shirt I made:

Sweet Cake Cornbread

Cornbread is a very personal thing here in the South. Generally you will find that us folks South of the Mason-Dixon like our cornbread crispy on the outside; buttery and salty on the inside. My number one comfort food is a bowl of slow-cooked pintos with a slice of salty cornbread soaked in with beans. My mama and I ate this more times than I can count, and she ate it when she was a little girl with her mama, and so on and so on. In my brood we dont have any antique hand-me downs, or a lot of black and white pictures of days gone by; but we do have a few recipes that keep us connected to our family past, present and future. I know it sounds silly but when I sit down and eat pintos, cornbread and fried potatoes, all is right in the world.

When I first introduced this meal to Casey he was flabbergasted. "Where is the meat!" he demanded. I said "Well its kind of a traditional meal, Southerns were often going through hard times and didn't have a whole lot to eat. The beans have protein so they are the "meat" or the main course. "Yeah ok, but can we have some meat?" He just didn't get it! I am glad to say 7 years later, he gets it and actually enjoys our penny-less pintos. One thing he hasn't caught on to is our salty cornbread, he a sweet cornbread (corncake) man through and through,

We have gone back and forth on this, and I have asked his mother about it. They are Cajun, but still Southern, what gives with putting sugar in your cornbread. Even though this goes against everthing I believe in, I made this cornbread for him after I found it on The Sister's Dish. They said it tasted like Boston Market cornbread, and I knew Casey would love it, so it had to be done.

I have to admit I could not stop eating it. You have been warned. Continue Reading...