Wine and Cheese and Cheese and Wine

A post dedicated to my fourth and final bridal shower. 

(You can see the others here: One, Two, Three)

Don't worry about my being a diva, it seems absurd to me too. But I guess that doesn't really pose a good case for my not being a diva. In order to make excuses and start rambling just so the jury can find me guilty: if you remember one was a surprise from my DC friends, and the second held by my aunts at my grandmothers home three hours north of here primarily for family members, the third all Tim's side, and this one was for the local crew. Does this make it seem less ridiculous? Nope.

So this group shot if full of St. Joe High School women.

And though this was my fourth shower, this was Torey's first because she was in Florida all summer.

She's my sister and my MOH and my best friend. She planned this whole beautiful event in the 4 days after she got home... Everyone, join me in singing her amazingness.

This is my home transformed into party central. It's funny to see what three balloons can do.

I had such a great wine and cheese filled evening. And I was so blown away by the generosity of so many women whom I love and have know me at various point of my life but have formed me in Christ in all things. Gratzie!

Meg made the sash, do you love it? Good because shortly it will make a reappearance. 

Here's a game, guess my age in these photos. I was 5/10. 

This poor cripple waited patiently all night just so everyone would leave and she could put her foot up.

Everyone, seriously, cast your vote: should she scoot or crutch down the aisle?

My godmother came in all the way from Indy. 

It was a pinteresty affair

If all of these parties have done one thing, it's showered me with beautiful women. Externally, sure, but also as human persons. I am so blessed to be able to fill four parties with women who care about me and show me what authentic female relationships look like. These are women who constantly show unconditional love and are always making themselves a total self-gift to any and all. These are women who recognize the dignity of each other and never stop affirming it. It's as if these women in my life are the models for all of JPII's theology, or the other way around, it's beautiful.

Ready to wear another white dress? Yes I am. Yes I am. 

Thanks to everyone who made this night perfect. Cheers to August 9th.

Y'all or You Guys

The reason for our Texan Tour was my beautiful cousin Kelly was getting married. Here's some documentation of the festivities, heavy on the images:

My mom didn't actually mean to take this picture but in a weird way, I think it's beautiful.

She was definitely beautiful.

Blog, meet my brother Ryan and godson Gaines.

Thomas is never amused by my moms photo taking obsession. My blog, on the other hand, appreciates it greatly.

This little flower girl has perfected the art before the big day next week.

Copeland walked around dropping petals and enjoyed it so much that she scooped them back into her basket just so she could do it all over again.

It was a great and beautiful celebration but by the end of the night we were all feeling like Cope, ready to hit some Zzz's before waking up at 5 to hit the road. Again, last road trip, bitter or sweet?

San Antonio

Last Magee family road trip, tearing up. Tears of sadness or tears of joy? That's one secret I'll never tell. 

We did a tour of northern Texas on the way to a family wedding in Austin. We hit up Dallas on the way south. We got there just in time for our European style dinner. And by that I mean we went out in search of a restaurant who's kitchen was still open at 9:30 and not that the meal was in any way European inspired. In fact, the menu  of my various family members included Deep Fried Pickles, Mac' n' Cheeseburger, Fried Green BLT, Peach Cobbler, Banana Pudding, Dr. Pepper Chicken, Chicken Fried Steak, and Dr. Pepper Float... Welcome to Tejas?

We got up early the next day so we could spend a full 24 hours in San Antonio. It was so worth it. Well, I guess I really can't speak for the city aside from the River Walk because we never left it. But the River Walk was great and I highly recommend it!

It seemed as if every corner you turned presented a different style of bridge or decor. You would come to a bend in the river and feel like you were transported into Venice and then another riverbend and you were in New Orleans and then another riverbend and you were in Texas again and another just around the riverbend, beyond the shore...

Tex-Mex Cuisine at it's finest. But srsly.

They could be singing a really depressing song, and we would have no idea... Newbs.

Smaller than I thought it would be. And Tim will be so proud to know that I read 60% of the plaques and watched the informational video even when the majority of my family left me behind. I'm a museum and historical site goer in training.

And they had a store just for me. Truly everything was purple.

I have the most beautiful sister. The three of us other Magee girls not so secretly hate her for being the prettiest, I'm sure you can see why.