third times a charm

our (being the futrells) dearest family friends have had three special weddings in less than two years. all three siblings have gotten engaged and married, to wonderful people i might add, and we've had the pleasure of being involved with each one. it should also be made known that this family gave hours and hours of service to us for my wedding. that's just how we roll, we help.

so for carly's wedding my mom and i stepped up one last time to do flowers. carly chose vibrant pink peonies for her bridesmaids, delicate white flowers for herself, and gorgeous gladiolas and orchids for the arrangements. carly's bouquet also included lily of the valley, which was part of kate middleton's bouquet, as a tribute to andrew her husband who is from england. if i do say so myself hers was just as pretty as kate's!

i'll let the pictures below tell the story, it was a lot of work, well worth it to celebrate a dear friend i've known most of her life:

from clipping greenery and filling up the back of my trusty old explorer i had in highschool, to crashing on the floor with lacey it was all worth it! the arrangements complimented carly's vision and wedding colors so well.

she was an absolutely stunning bride as you can see and her sister (my longest best) was the matron of honor. the wedding was also special because i got to meet corinne's (my other best) boyfriend 2 days before he became her fiance. so many things to celebrate!

and all of the flowers could not have been done without my wonderful mother who designed, ordered, cut, trimmed, clipped, carried, filled, and poured her heart into the project. i am only a lowly assistant.

for beautiful photos and recap of the day check out chupp photography who just happens to carly and erin's brother and his wife. can we say one talented family?!

if april showers bring may flowers, then what do may flowers bring?

may flowers bring finals, snoballs, house guests, and crawfish.

spring was an absolute blur (that sounds like the best excuse i can come up with for not blogging, i know it's not a good one :)

between full time jobs, teaching, taking finals, administering and grading finals, setting up our house and having people staying with us almost every weekend since we moved in there have been few moments of down time!

when we did get a break we spent it outside because spring in new orleans is the most beautiful season, eating loads and loads of crawfish, and enjoying our friends and family.

summer is a nice time in the dunaway house because we are both at work without "kids," the mister without 4-10 year olds and me without tulane students so we get to ride to work together, come home early, and i get to work out at the gym without waiting 30 min for an elliptical, its the little things!

monday meals easter edition

happy easter! we had joe's parents here for the weekend and decided to make an easter brunch because they had to get on the road and wanted a light(er) meal. the menu included:

grape salad with feta

goat cheese bruschetta

sweet pea grits

shrimp, spinach, tomato, and goat cheese frittata

we broke out the china, crystal, silver, and even the linen napkins for the occasion! i must say i've never made a frittata before and it was easy and delicious. it's in the background of this picture but it was one of the highlights of the meal. joe's mom found the recipe in a magazine and it was so easy

shrimp, spinach, tomato, and goat cheese frittata

4 eggs

4 egg whites

1/3 cup chopped tomatoes

dash of chili powder

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons canola oil

12 shrimp

1 small shallot, chopped

1 cup packed fresh spinach chopped

1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

you whisk the eggs, egg whites, tomatoes, chili powder, basil, salt and pepper

saute shrimp with the canola oil, salt, pepper (1 min) add shallot (2 min) add spinach

pour egg mixture over shrimp, shallot, and spinach

sprinkle goat cheese on top

let frittata set in the skillet then bake at 400F for 13-15 minutes

it was like a quiche, only better if that's possible :) the sweet pea grits and grape and feta salad were from the edible school yard here in new orleans, if you want the recipes let me know!

monday meals

i've seen monday meals on other blogs, and with our love for cooking it only makes sense to share the recipes we find. our first year of marriage we tried new recipes every week. now we still try to make new things, but allow ourselves to rely on old favorites. here are two of our recent favorites:

the pioneer woman's pasta salad with tomatoes, zucchini, and feta

this was a perfect friday dinner meal. easy to fix, and light and fresh. we used whole wheat shells because that is what we had and added some chicken sausage for good measure. it also makes a lot of leftovers, if you only have two to feed, and tastes even better the second time!

real simple's chipotle pork loin with black beans

i've been on a spicy/lime/carribean kick and this recipe covered all those! the pork was super easy to make, and the black bean salad completed the meal. we've already made the black bean salad again, and actually the second time ate it more like a salsa, great both times! we added extra avocado (because we eat more avocados per week than most people) and more lime juice just because.

i'm hoping most of the recipes i choose have good pictures online because i strongly dislike the food pictures i take, and wouldn't want to subject you to them. maybe erin can help me learn how to take better ones :)

great date experiment

i've been wanting to do this for a while, and right before things got crazy with mardi gras, the move, and midterms we finally went out on date one. north point community church in atlanta has a ministry called marriagelife which developed the great date experiment. it is a series of dates designed to get married couples out of their routine, spending more time with each other, and a little fun thrown in. we went out on date one and had a fabulous time!

the dates consist of activities in stages and questions to go along with them. this date included a different place for an appetize, dinner, and dessert along with a few surprises. it was quality time at its best. check out the marriage life website to experiment on your own!

28 and feeling great. and loved.

a birthday post is over a month over-due but definitely in order. my birthday was extra special this year because my parents were here helpling us move into our house, and for the first time in five years i got to spend it with them. although the day started out rough with a trip to three dmvs (not worth hearing believe me) my family quickly made up for it with a makeover with my mom, a new dress, tulips, dinner at our favorite thai restaurant, doberge cake (if you don't know what this is, look it up!) and sweet gifts. mr. d suprised me with my first longchamp bag, my parents with gifts for the house, and my aunt with beautiful jewelry and house gifts as well. it wasn't about the gifts at all but being surrounded by those most important to me. my cup runneth over.

These Days

February was a blur! Preparing to close on our house, packing, classes, teaching, working, family in town, going out of town for work, a wedding, getting ready for Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras...Just thinking about it vexes me! (to quote Gladiator which Joe made me watch last night).

So far in March we have started off with a bang!

Mardi Gras. A wonderful whirl wind of king cake, beads, friends, floats, parties, parades, and indulgence. If you haven't experienced it, you should, and if you have a bad impression of it, you shouldn't. It's a wonderful time of celebration, but we are all a little excited to see it end. You can only have so much fun :)

This has nothing to do with March, but it's reason #14567 why I love Chick-Fil-A. I love ketchup almost as much as I love CFA, but I despise the packets. The solution, a dip and squeeze! Leave it to CFA to solve the packet dilemma :)

Last, but certainly not least, our cute new house! Well new to us, it was built in the late 1800's. We are officially New Orleans homeowners and we couldn't be happier! I sincerely apologize for the poor phone picture quality, it is in now way reflective of how I feel about the house.

More pictures to come, and pictures of the inside when everything is unpacked, if that ever happens :) We do have a nice guest room though for anyone wanting to visit!