Double Trouble

Both parents are in town now. They got in on Tuesday and will be staying for 2 weeks. LOTS of stuff is planned, including not one but two bridal showers! We aren't able to invite a lot of people to the wedding, so my mother and her sister are throwing a shower for me out east so that friends and family out there will have a bit of celebrating in advance. The following week my father's sister is throwing a shower for me and her daughter (aka my cousin), who is getting maried in September. On Wednesday Mom and I went out on the town, getting invitations printed, looking at envelopes and shopping for assorted accessories and accoutrements. We also found the time to stop by Capen Garden to see what it looked like in late spring. Guess what? It looks AWESOME.

For those of you who don't know, my middle name is Laurel. Hence the online alias. I was named after the actual mountain laurel tree, as it was growing on my parents' property when I was born, along with many, many, many rocks, giving me the name "Rocks and Laurel". For many years now, June 15th has been a date for significant life events: moving to foreign countries, starting new jobs, things like that. It is also the date when mountain laurel is in bloom. My mother decided to schedule my Out East bridal shower on that date, for that reason, so it has now become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

We did not realize it at previous visits, but the entrance to the rose arbor, which is the aisle that I will walk down, is framed by two enormous mountain laurel trees. They were in bountiful bloom, and we responded with an expected level of slightly irrational excitement.

Following this, the only logical thing to do was go downtown and try on crazy fascinators. So we did.