Kelly and I met through friends at church. Shortly after I met her, I attended her birthday party and there were all of these guys there who wanted to date her. I thought, “There must be something to this girl!”. I began training her at our gym, and our friendship turned into mutual affection for each other. We took it slow, and a year and 8 months after our first date, I proposed.

NATE’S PROPOSAL:

My wife Kelly is a portrait artist, and had won the Best of Show award, as well as other top honors at the Williamson County Fair Art Exhibit. She invited me to come to the awards reception on August 6^th. We had been ring shopping earlier that week, and I was looking for the perfect opportunity to surprise her with a proposal. The afternoon of the reception, I contacted the people in charge of the show and arranged for the mayor of Franklin to present Kelly with the ring box on stage in front of about 250 people. This was no easy task, as we arrived together. It involved a sneaky hand-off of the keys to the car, a performing group to give us 10 minutes of their stage time, and more. She went on stage to accept her award money, and the mayor asked her to open this other gift in front of everyone because he “wanted to see where his tax dollars were going.” As she opened the box and saw my note with the ring that said “You are my sunshine,” I came up on the stage and got down on my knee. I had completely surprised her, and for the first time since I’ve known her, she was speechless. She let out a breathy “YES” and we hugged and cried. The media was there, and they captured photos and video of the whole event. They interviewed us afterwards, and we were featured on the news and in two different newspapers in the following days. We celebrated that night at J. Alexanders and called all of our family and friends.

The best time to begin picking the flowers that will become your bouquet is after you have chosen your dress. You want to make sure your bridal bouquet compliments and enhances your dress. This will be determined by the style, intricate details or lack of details and formality of your dress. Once that decision is made you can begin picking flowers for your bridal bouquet!

Like most of the components in your wedding, the way to get started is to look at pictures. You probably won’t know exactly what your style is or the exact flowers you want. But look, look on the web, look in bridal magazines and browse the wedding bouquet gallery we built just for you!

Did you know that there are a ton of money saving resources on the web. If you know where to look you can save money on gas, cars, clothes, videos, shoes, textbooks and a bunch of other stuff. My mother just started a coupon club for women at her local church and they call themselves the Deal and Dollar Divas. These women know how to be thrifty and are learning to be good stewards of there money by not paying too much when a deal is to be had.

The websites I use the most are www.mommysavesbig.com, www.currentcodes.com and www.bradsdeals.com. These sites are good for downloading coupons for things you would buy either online or that you can print off coupons to shop in stores. The Deal and Dollar Divas recommend www.couponmom.com and www.grocerydeals.com which are great for planning your meals with the deals of the week at local stores, as well as downloading coupons. www.smartsource.com is the source for downloading coupons found each week in the newspaper. For more about the best secrets for finding a good deal be sure to read “Get a Great Deal on Anything” by Andrea Cooper by clicking here.

I have been gathering research on beautiful Wedding Cakes for our new Simplicity Brides Squidoo Lens! Here are some helpful things to know about choosing your cake icing.

Buttercream: This is a favorite of many brides. Its great flavor comes from the creamy mixture of butter, sugar, and egg whites. Different fruits and liqueurs can be added to buttercream to add extra panache. Buttercream can be used for frosting as well as filling. This frosting is best suited for indoor weddings. Buttercream breaks down and melts in heat and humidity.

Fondant: Rolled: Is either made by the cake artist or is ready made. The icing is dough like and is rolled with a smooth clay like appearance and is chewy to taste. The great asset to fondant is that it can be used successfully for outdoor weddings, because it can stand up to the heat.

Sugar Paste or Gum Paste: A stiffest type of fondant, it is a sweet sugar dough that is moldable. It is used to make those beautiful flowers and fruit that adorn cakes. A wonderful benefit of using sugar paste is that you will be able to save some of those beautiful flower creations from your cake and put them in a glass keepsake case you can enjoy for a lifetime.

Chocopan: This frosting is chocolate! It comes in milk, dark and white! This is another good choice for outdoor weddings.

Ganache: This rich, yummy frosting is created by combining chocolate with heavy cream. Be sure not to use this frosting at an outdoor wedding - it will not stand up to heat.

Royal Icing: Can be used for an indoor or outdoor wedding. Royal icing is a combination of sugar and egg whites. This is often used for lace and latticework.

Again, on behalf of the Simplicity Brides bloggers, we would like to congratulate Kasie Bryant for being one of our winners of the “Name our Girl” contest. Kasie sent her submission for the name “Bella” on June 10, 2008. The marketing team at Simplicity Brides, narrowed the submissions down to the top 5 names and, at our National Conference in June, our teammates and partners voted for the most fitting name for our new brand icon. We agreed that the name meaning “Beautiful” best described the girl who wants to be healthy both on the inside and out. She wants to create a healthy home that lasts a lifetime. Ms. Bella Gourmet is the name! Kasie will receive a $50 American Express Gift Card.

Here is Kasie’s entry:

“No matter what persona we try to show, women are naturally sensitive and delicate. This “new girl” image is the perfect picture of our inner delicacy. Inside, there is beauty in all of us just waiting to be discovered and released. I think her name should be “Bella” which means beautiful. We can be beautiful brides, beautiful wives, beautiful mothers, beautiful lovers, beautiful teachers…… There are endless possibilities to what we can do as women. And the most beautiful part is that this is true and unique for each one of us!”

We would like to thank everyone who submitted their ideas.

On behalf of the Simplicity Brides bloggers, we would like to congratulate Sabrina Rodriguez for being one of our winners of the “Name our Girl” contest. Sabrina sent her submission for the name “Bella” on June 3, 2008. The marketing team at Simplicity Brides, narrowed the list to the top 5 submissions and at our National Conference in June our teammates and partners voted for the most fitting name for our new brand icon. We agreed that the name meaning “Beautiful” best described the girl who wants to be healthy both on the inside and out. She wants to create a healthy home that lasts a lifetime. Ms. Bella Gourmet is the name! Sabrina will receive a $50 American Express Gift Card. We would like to thank everyone who submitted their ideas.

I’m not sure if I’m alone on this but personally, I get confused in grocery stores. Even with the clearly marked aisles, I still have spent many trips aimlessly searching for an item that just doesn’t seem to be where, in my mind, makes the most since. I tended to do most shopping spur of the moment, so, when I would go grocery shopping, I tended to be wearing my work clothes and uncomfortable heels that seem to add more frustration to my searching. I just wasn’t a planner.

I decided to change my ways. In fact, planning ahead has made the entire grocery shopping experience more fun and efficient. Planning is two-fold. First, I know you have heard it before, but making a list helps me prevent forgetting something that I really need and that I would have to return for later. Something else that has been key to my new grocery shopping outlook is mapping. I have mapped my local Kroger. I recently sketched a picture of the aisles and what is found down each one. I used the signs as help but I also indicated those items that I frequently need that seem to be in an unusual spot. This way, when I take time making my list, I simply group the items by where they are found. I make my shopping list section-by section and get through the aisles much quicker without having to back track for items that I forgot.

It may sound simple but, hey… sometimes it takes me a while to catch on.

Juicing can have powerful healing benefits and rejuvenating properties that can give you a skin care makeover for your wedding day.  As women we want to know simple things we can do to promote good health and beauty…especially on our wedding day when we want to look our absolute best and of course our honeymoon. Evidence has shown that juicing helps the organs and the body cleanse itself, which results in a softer and healthier looking complexion. We also know that berries are one of the best natural sources of antioxidents for our skin. These are a few juicing ideas.

If you have a lot of breakouts, you may want to cleanse your blood. For this, you’ll need:

3 sweet apples
8 strawberries

To enhance your complexion, you’ll want to use:

8 strawberries
2 bunches of grapes

And, to improve your skin overall try mixing:

6 carrots
½ green bell pepper

For all these juicing options simply wash and cut fruits and veggies so they’ll fit into the top of your juicer. Remove any moldy and bruised portions. Here’s to a more beautiful you!

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Here is a creamy gourmet Southwest tortilla soup with the heat turned up! I got this one from my friend Callie who loves to invent new soups to soothe the soul. Be warned though… this one is spicy.

Here are your ingredients:

3-4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts,

cooked w/Darn Good seasoning (or all purpose seasoning) and shredded

2 Bags of Lipton Taco Rice

2 Cans of Tomato Soup

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup

3 Cans Chicken Stock

3 Cans of Cream (may sub milk)

1 Cup of Salsa, any kind

1/2 Pkg McCormick Chili Seasoning

4-5 Green Onions, chopped

1/2 Cup Butter or Margarine

1 Cup Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded

1 Cup Sour Cream

TO START: Season the chicken liberally with Darn Good Seasoning. Heat the large skillet on medium heat, place the chicken in the pan and cover, whistle open, When the whistle sounds, flip the chicken and replace the lid. Close the whistle and turn the burner to low. Allow to cook 10 more minutes. Shred using a fork and set aside.

SOUPS: Combine the soups, cream, water, salsa, green onions, chicken and chili seasoning in the plan and heat on medium low heat until simmering. Add the rice and cover, whistle open. When the whistle sounds, reduce the temperature to low and continue to cook for 10-12 minutes.

TO FINISH: Uncover and add the cheese and sour cream, stir until the cheese melts. Sprinkle with green scallions.

This is great served with quesadillas. I love the simplicity of this recipe. For some Darn Good seasoning that will put some Cajun in ya visit http://www.darngoodseasoning.com