High Five for Friday - Week #9

Four-day work weeks really fly by, don't they? And of course we're all grateful for that! Or at least I can speak for myself and say that I'm grateful for that. Because it was just so quick! And now it's already Friday, and that makes me a happy, happy lady. And in my usual Friday fashion, we're going to do High Five for Friday today, with Lauren Elizabeth.

1. Went to kick boxing last night, and felt great about it actually. Then Angie and I grabbed a super yummy and mostly healthy dinner at Zoe's Kitchen. I also saw two old girlfriends from high school, so we chatted for a few minutes, and made plans to have dinner together one night.

2. Shopping at Francesca's!And then while Angie and I were sitting there, I glanced up at the big sign for that little complex, and saw Francesca's on it! I had no idea we had even gotten one, but apparently it's been there for a few months now. So we walked over and browsed for a while, and Angie got a really cute skirt. And that was our first shopping trip together! #besties ;)

3. Jeff bought me some sunflowers at Trader Joe's last Friday night, and they're still looking gorgeous! So I took a couple of them outside for a little photo shoot. I needed a new picture for a blog button, because I'm sponsoring Living in Yellow this month, so I wanted to use these beauties for that!

4. Four-day work week. Duh.

5. I stumbled into a new hairstyle (for myself, every other girl in the world was already doing this I'm sure), and I'm wearing my cute little side braid to work today. I feel cute and sassy, and my hair isn't all up in my face bothering me. Win-win.

Tonight, Jeff and I are going over to help my parents in their back yard, and get the pool cleaned up and ready for summer time.  And then we'll be going back over again tomorrow, because there's no way we will finish it all in just a few short, after-work hours. Then Sunday we'll be spending some time in our spare bedroom, getting it cleaned up and organized, so that the boys have someplace to stay when they get here next weekend!! Yes, we get them next weekend, and we're both really excited about it. But first, we've got to get their room looking more like a boys' bedroom, rather than a storage room/dump like it's currently being used...

So it will be a busy weekend, full of lots of hard work, but it will be worth it once we can swim in the pool, and enjoy our second bedroom with the boys for the next five weeks! Anyways, it was a good week, and I'm sure we'll have a good weekend. Hope y'all do too!

Six Random Things

I forgot to prepare some more wedding recap posts over the past weekend, so I don't have a Wedding Wednesday post ready today. So now that I'm here with a new post open, I don't really have a specific plan here in bloglandia today, so I'm just going to throw out some random thoughts and ideas that are currently swirling. These posts always end up fun for me, so I hope they're fun for y'all too :)

1. Monday night I washed a load of clothes, then forgot to put it in the dryer. So when I tried to get dressed for kick boxing class last night, I had literally NO workout pants, because they were all still in the washing machine. We ended up having to re-wash the load last night too. I felt pretty dumb...

2. I don't think I properly washed out my daily travel coffee mug last night, because my coffee tastes a little bit like soap this morning. Kinda weird y'all.

3. I've been wanting to learn embroidery lately. Super random, I know. But I've seen some really gorgeous/cute things posted on Instagram lately, and it's got me curious. Anyone already know how to do this? Is it doable for someone who's never attempted anything at all with a needle?

Image found on Sarah's blog, here

4. Jeff and I don't have cable (we just have a digital antenna for the basic channels), and usually we're OK with that. But sometimes, we just really, really want to watch HGTV or DIY network. Well, Jeff's parents are out of town this week, so we're watering their plants for them.... and we might also be watching some DIY network while we're there. Thanks in-laws! :)

5. I got a new game app on my phone, and it's pretty addicting. It's called "Blendoku", and you just have to line up the various hues of colors in the correct order, then it gives you a new set of colors. I'm already on level 83, and I just got it yesterday. Simple concept, but it's a bit addicting.

6. Jeff is going to help an older couple install some Comcast stuff at their house tonight, so I'll have the house to myself for a couple of hours. I'm debating whether I want to be productive and clean something, or be lazy and watch a couple episodes of Parenthood on Netflix.... Votes?

Oh and y'all, don't be confused (kinda like me), today is Wednesday. Hump Day. Not Tuesday. So enjoy that... :)

Memorial Day Weekend

Long, holiday weekends are simply the best kind of weekend, am I right? I'm sure most of you would agree with that. If not, well then I probably don't want to hear it. But thanks anyways... ;) Mine was the bestest, and honestly it wasn't long enough...it was full of sunshine, good food, friends, and relaxing. If only every weekend could actually be three days, right?! Right.

FRIDAY - we went to Hobby Lobby real quick after work (haven't actually done the craft I bought the supplies for yet), and then we ate dinner at Momo's Pizza again, since we were on that side of town. Super yummy.

Had to send out a Snapchat to a few friends of course ;)

SATURDAY - we met some friends down at Alligator Point Beach, and spent the day soaking up the sunshine, with our toes in the sand. The weather was perfect and breezy, and it felt great. On the way back to town, we stopped to eat dinner at Tropical Trader in Panacea. For you locals that might not realize this, it's like the little brother of Angelo's! Owned by the same people, but more casual and a bit less expensive. Such good food too! We all shared an appetizer of calamari, and I got a mahi mahi sandwich.

SUNDAY - ate sandwiches for lunch at Jimmy John's, and then went back down to meet our friends at the beach again! The weather was lovely again, and it was another good day in the sunshine.

MONDAY - we were up bright and early, so that our landlord could come by to look at the hot water heater, because it had stopped working... Long-story short, he ended up just buying a new one, and by 7pm last night, it was finally installed and working properly again. Thank the lord he worked so quick to get that done for us, or else this morning's shower would have been so freezing! We also did a lot of work around the house - laundry, tons of dishes, Jeff mowed the lawn (until the mower just stopped working), and we went grocery shopping.

Jeff grilled burgers and corn on the cob for dinner, and we had watermelon. And what I'm most proud of, was my homemade coleslaw! Our neighbor brought over a fresh head of cabbage from his garden, so I threw it in the Ninja blender, added in some carrots, mayo, salt, pepper, sugar & balsamic vinegar, and then topped it with sunflower seeds. It was so good y'all! Jeff and usually don't really even like coleslaw, but we both loved what I made last night! I was sad when I realized at like 10pm that I didn't take a picture of the fresh cabbage or the coleslaw though, so y'all will just have to pretend like I did, OK? :)

We were exhausted last night after a couple days in the sun, and a long day of working in and around the house. But it was all worth it, and we had a great three-day holiday weekend! We're thankful for those who have served in our military to make our lives so amazing in this great country of ours. We remember those who gave their lives, so that we can live ours free!

Happy Monday Tuesday! (This is going to be a confusing day...)

High Five for Friday - Week #8

If anyone was ever excited to see a Friday roll around, it's on wonderful days like today, because not only is it Friday, but it's the Friday before a 3-day holiday weekend! And who wouldn't be excited about that?! I mean, I get that not everyone gets Monday off, but this State-worker and her husband both do, so that's important :) But before we just fly away and into the sunset of the upcoming weekend, let's do a little High Five for Friday with Lauren Elizabeth first!

1. Angie and I went to kick boxing last night for the first time in a couple weeks. Neither of us wanted to go, and we both pretty much hated it while we were there. It wasn't until like 9pm that we both decided we felt better and were glad we ended up going. High five for endorphins and exercise!

2. On Monday I took Primrose on a short walk around our neighborhood and found a couple of really gorgeous flowers. High five for pretties!

3. I cooked dinner in my crock pot two nights this week, and both turned out stinking delicious. And those "recipes" are always the easiest. Actually, one night I had a pre-seasoned pork roast, so all I had to do was dump that bad boy in there and go on about my business for the next 6ish hours. Easy and yum. High five for 'lazy' cooking and delicious dinners!

4. We had my parents over for dinner on Tuesday night, and it was so much fun. They're air conditioning has been out for the past week, so we invited them over for dinner and a night in the cool air. They enjoyed it, and so did we. High five for family time!

5. My sweet Primrose follows me everywhere y'all. And it's so cute and I love it. I won't be too 'graphic' and share what exactly she's waiting on, but just look at how cute she is :) High five for sweet doggies!

And a sixth one just for fun - I finished book four in the Game of Thrones series the other night. I'm only like one chapter into the fifth and final book so far, but it's good and I can't wait to see how everything wraps up! It's been a really good series, but it's also taking me FOREVER to read, so I'm ready to be done and move on to something else. So high five for finishing this series, in another month or so!

Happy Friday my friends. Hope you had a good week, but that you have an even better weekend! We have zero plans right now, but we do know we'll be heading down for a day at the beach one day this weekend. And that's all I need to know! Looking forward to some rest and relaxation, and also some productivity around the house... See y'all back here on Tuesday! :)

Wedding Day Recap - Decor & Cakes

So I actually meant to do this post yesterday, but some laziness happened, and I just never got around to the whole blog thing. But that's a-ok, because today is "Wedding Wednesday" anyways, so it fits perfect, even if I'm not even getting to it until almost 6pm, after work and everything... 

This is the last of the posts that I had pre-setup with all the pictures and stuff, so that means this weekend I need to throw a few more together to share family pictures, and then some of the actual wedding ceremony and reception. And then maybe eventually we can scoot past the wedding stuff, and move on to the honeymoon in Cancun!

This bike was my mom's old Huffy cruiser, from like the 80's or 90's or something. I used to ride it all around St. Augustine during college, but it was like bubblegum pink. And I liked it then, but we decided to fix it up and use it as decor for our bike-themed wedding! We sanded it (a lot!), the spray painted it this awesome turquoise color. It got new tires, a new chain, and new handle grips - and it looks so stinking cute now! It was perfect :)

We got our cake made at Publix, but my florist did the beautiful cascade of flowers. And it was perfect! It turned out exactly how we wanted it, and I thought it was just gorgeous. And it was of course delicious! It was vanilla cake, and the top & bottom tiers had a layer of raspberry filling. The icing was a subtle lemon flavor, and it just tasted so fresh and fruity! I made that little pennant banner, and we ordered the bicycle topper from this shop on Etsy.

Jeff's groom's cake also came from Publix, and they did a great job bringing his vision to life as well. It was perfect for him - bikes, Lego's and superhero's! He absolutely loved it. Oh, and this cake was yummy too.

We collected a variety of jars over the months before, and bought a big bunch of flowers from Hobby Lobby to make the reception decor ourselves. We filled the jars with white sand (bought from Lowes), and then arranged the flowers in each jar/vase.

We also collected and bought old, vintage books over the summer, and used stacks of books and our jars of flowers as the centerpieces for the reception tables. Oh, and we made "naked" books by ripping the cover off a paperback, then tearing all the pages off the binding. Then you simply tie the pages back up, and it looks really stinking cute!

For our wedding favors, we stuffed little take-out style boxes with bags of one marshmallow, two graham crackers, a piece of chocolate, and a match, for a take-home-s'mores kit! We also hand-stamped each box with a little bicycle stamp, and tied on cute little tags that said, "Sending You S'more Love." And yes, we got the idea from Pinterest :)

That beautiful photo-book from Shutterfly was our guest book, full of photos from our whole relationship!

 There were six of these giant windows in our reception room, and we made six of these yarn tassel garlands, one for each window. We did it using a super easy project from one of my favorites, Kaitlyn @ Wifessionals! And we liked them so much, we kept them to hang up in our house after the wedding :)

I wrote our ceremony out on a this giant chalk board, rather than printing up programs no one would read or care about. It saved us money, and it was good for the trees! :) I started out using a regular piece of chalk, but that really wasn't cutting it, so my bridesmaid Jenni and I flew to Michael's 10 minutes before closing in order to grab some chalk markers. And they worked like a dream. I did all the writing, and then Jenni did all the cute little embellishments around the borders. 

We kept things cute and simple, and it ended up looking so great. I loved every little bit of it, and all of our homemade projects were so sweet and personal. I just loved it all!

Cookout, Games, Kayaks & Food

Hey there fellow bloggers! I'm actually really excited about today's weekend recap, because of two reasons: 1. I used an actual camera this weekend, not just my phone, and 2. it was an awesome weekend, so there's good things to share today! I mean sure, there is always something good to share from the weekend, but this one was particularly good, so let's get to it, shall we?

FRIDAY

Some friends came over and we grilled hamburgers and corn for dinner. We sat out on the deck until after dark just having fun and talking, then finally moved inside once we couldn't see anymore. (We don't have a light out there...) Then we played some games for a while, and eventually they had to head home early, because she works the 7am-7pm shift at the hospital, so she needed some sleep! It was a great night though, and lots of fun for sure.

SATURDAY

Saturday we used our Groupon for Rum 138, and went kayaking down the Santa Fe River! It was gorgeous and sunny and we loved it so much. The current is pretty strong, so we hardly even had to paddle that much, so we basically just floated a lot of the time, and that was nice and relaxing. We packed a cooler full of lunch, waters, and some fancy giant cans of Arizona tea, and had lunch at the picnic tables at Poe Springs Park, about an hour down the river. It was so awesome! The trip was about four hours total, and it was gorgeous. We definitely loved it, and were glad we were able to go on this little adventure together! (And now I get to cross this off of our summer bucket list!)

On the way home, we took the back country roads instead of the interstate, and we came upon this super cute and absolutely delicious BBQ place in the tiny town of Mayo, Florida. The portions were huge, and everything is super fresh and homemade. She also makes her own desserts, so we enjoyed some peanut butter pie before heading back on the road.

SUNDAY
Sunday I accidentally slept in till after 10am, so we missed church yesterday. I was exhausted though after our big day on the river, so it felt good to get some extra rest. We lazed around for a bit, then decided to treat ourselves for lunch out somewhere, and I chose this new place I've really been wanting to try - Merv's Melt Shop. And y'all it was so good! I had a clubhouse sandwich, and absolutely loved it, with sweet potato tots. Jeff got a breakfast sammie of fried eggs and cheese, and his was really good too. We will definitely be back here many more times to come! (And this is new restaurant 1 of 3 for my summer bucket list!)

These next two pictures are just some random ones from before lunch.... These cute little dandelions are growing all over our yard right now, and I'm loving them! Unfortunately they're only growing because the yard is overgrown and needs to be mowed, but that's okay, I'll enjoy them while they're here! And then the second one is just because my little Primrose is the cutest girl in the world!

After lunch, we didn't do too much except check out a townhouse for rent (we didn't love it...), and went to Winn Dixie. Jeff is dealing with a serious cough and severe allergy issues, so he pretty much slept the afternoon away, while I watched Parenthood on Netflix. I cooked us dinner, and played super-wife doing all the laundry, dishes, taking out the trash, and straightening up. Normally Jeff would have been helping with all that, but since he was sleeping, I just handled all of it, and I felt super accomplished!

It was definitely a good weekend, and I loved just about every second of it. (Except for the fact my pitiful little husband was feeling so awful yesterday.) Thankful for all these great things and blessings and people in my life! Hope y'all had a great weekend too. What did y'all do? And Happy Monday :)