BABY COLE

See, this is how late I am on photographing my design work -- I just posted pics of the baby shower invitation and the baby was actually born last Friday, June 8th!! But none the less, I am super excited to share with you my first nephew, Coleman (Cole) Allen Shirley! He was born at about 10 in the morning weighing 7 lbs 5 oz and measuring 21.5 inches. He is such a doll and I just couldn't get enough time with him over the weekend. I am beyond excited for my brother and his wife and he is such a blessing to us all. Congrats Allen and Taten! Here are some pictures I snapped of him!

When I first arrived at the hospital, Cole had just been born and Taten was in recovery. I immediately got to see his precious face through the nursery window and it just made my day!

They put this sweet little crocheted hat on him that was donated for the new babies.

My first time holding him!

My brother, Allen, holding Cole.

I can't get enough of him in this adorable hat with ears! 

My Mom and Dad

Three generations of Shirley's - My Dad, My Brother, and Baby Cole.

My little bundle of joy!

Cole loves his Uncle B all ready!

 You can tell Allen was exhausted after being up all night!

 My two favorite boys ... wink, wink!

BEST OF 2011

I discovered a sweet surprise last week while back tracking through one of my favorite wedding blogs, Ruffled - our wedding reception was featured as one of their top 15 of 2011! How awesome is that? I was very excited to see this knowing how much time, effort, and creativity was put into making our night special. 

click here to see the full post and a link to more of the wedding pictures from the talented Heidi of Our Labor of Love

note - for some reason they say "Georgia" wedding in their listing ... !?!?! ... but it was definitely in Alabama!

Although our wedding has come and gone, I still love to thumb through wedding blogs for design and party inspiration. It is amazing how creative some people can be and I love to watch trends evolve. You never know where you will find inspiration these days!

Our first wedding anniversary is less than two months away and I still can't believe how fast the time has passed. Brandon and I have planned a little something special to celebrate the date, but I'll post more about that later. I am anxious to see how our frozen wedding cake has kept over this past year - should be interesting. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions from past experiences? Hope you all have a great start to your week!

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

This past weekend we headed to the beach for a sun filled relaxing weekend. We had a great time with friends and I can't wait to head back. 

I enjoyed a lot of this

and spent a lot of time loving on this sweet girl

The Morgans welcomed precious Mary Rutledge about six weeks ago and brought her to the beach for her first trip away from home. She is so sweet and adorable! I just designed her baby announcements and will be sharing those this week as well. Here are a few more pictures from the weekend.

(like mother, like daugher ... )

(this is her intelligent face)

(and her scared face)

ABODE LOVE : guest post recap

In case you missed my guest post at Abode Love last week on the wedding photos then here is your chance to catch up! If you want the full scoop with all the nitty-gritty details, then check out Laurel-Dawn's fabulous post on it!