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Thursday, July 12, 2012

Week of July 4th Festivities

 The week of the fourth my mother & her boyfriend came up from Charleston, SC.
I prepped by getting my nails did a purdy firecracker red...
and tried to stay cool in this 80-90+ degree weather!
I cannot imagine being more than 3.5 months prego in this heat,
I feel for my other pregnant mamas out there!!
We tried to stay cool by playing with the water
on July 4th.
My niece learned how to spray a water gun!!
 She loved getting Uncle Joe!
 She's so cute.
 My mom's boyfriend Mark & his grandson,
Aiden.
 Adri & Aiden were very good friends!
They loved the organic grilled chicken wings & organic juice boxes
My prego pose
loving our new hangout spot!
 It was a relaxing day full of good times and lots of yummy food!
The next day we took the wee ones up to Niagara Falls.
Stopped for a Timmy Ho's doughnut of course...
{I snuck the pix from my driver's seat!}
 Walked through the aquarium and saw the cool sea lions!

 We had lunch at Hard Rock & looked over the falls.
And while I haven't gotten into much detail about my  mother's and my relationship,
I can say that we have worked through many of our differences and
I am very thankful that we can be a part of each others lives.
Life is short and full of lots of turbulence;
you can make the choice to forgive and move on
or you can wallow in your own self-pity and hurt.
I choose happiness above all else.
After my mom & Mark left, hubs finally had a whole weekend off.
What'd we do?
Took a long, long drive...
listening to country songs,
stopping to get drinks & snacks at gas stations,
and eating at a small town sub shop.


 We ended our hot day time date,
by walking on the beach and putting feet in the water.
It was a fabulous week and I am still recovering from all the festivities!
This prego hadn't done so much in a long time.
I am such a summer girl,
and so very happy to be spending it with people I love.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Two Years of Wedded Bliss

Happy Two years to my amazing husband!
Like every couple, we have our differences, but it's how we work through them,
recover and become stronger, that make us better each day.
Marriage is something that takes energy and work;
it doesn't just develop into something great over night.
Life is constantly changing, and how we handle changes and grow together
is what makes a marriage successful.
My favorite line from one of our wedding readings,
"Marriages don't fail, people fail."
You just can't stop being the best person you can be,
ever.
Even on my not so glamorous days, I know my husband will always be there for me.
As we enter into this new phase of our marriage, 
there is so much to think about and take in!
A baby on the way is something I dreamed of, for so long,
and now it's actually happening.
We couldn't be happier.
So, as I sit and reflect on how beautiful and absolutely perfect our special day was,
I can't help but think, it just keeps getting better each day.
Here are just a few of my favorite shots from our wedding day.
It's clear to see, we wanted a fun and light wedding.
 We love to have fun in life, and so a stuffy soiree was not an option for us.





 I was so excited to be a MRS!!




 My best friend.
Cheers to many more fabulous years to come.
Click HERE
to see more on our wedding day.
It's under my "Love Story" tab
and has a few more videos and details...
My biggest advice to any bride would be,
hire a videographer!!!
You won't regret it, and you'll watch your videos over and over.
As for how we'll celebrate?
I have a gigantic steak marinating for him to grill,
and maybe a little bike ride around town.
We'll keep it low key,
and maybe sip sparkling water out of our Vera Wang flutes.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Twas the Night Before Marriage...

I have so much to share!
My mom came up last week and we had a great time,
but today I want to share a little story about one of the best times in my life, two years ago.
We were to be married 7.10.10
{don'tcha just love the ring to that?!}
My closest friends and family drove quite the distance, to a little town of Hammondsport, NY.
It is right on Keuka Lake, a gorgeous little area full of vineyards and wineries.
We decided that since we had our rehearsal dinner on Friday night, we'd stay at a 
Bed and Breakfast that night, and be right in town the day of our wedding.
My husband loves to drive, so he drove down for the rehearsal, then back home, then back down again for our wedding.
My friends and family rented out the entire B & B and we were so excited when we pulled up at the house,
only to find out that we were in for an interesting night!
The house was full of family photos and very much lived in. 
I had never stayed at a B&B before, and so I had no idea what to expect.
It was super hot, muggy and the old house had a certain stench to it...
We were shown our bedrooms, by a strange old lady, and as she escorted us around the house,
we met an even older lady in a half shirt, still cleaning up the rooms...
The first few bedrooms weren't terrible, but certainly not 'nice.'
We were kind of in a rush, and simply stashed our suitcases and wedding accessories,
and headed up to the vineyard where we were to be married the next day.
 It was so nice to have it a winery!
We were able to meet, have a few complimentary drinks
 {that we paid for by having our ceremony there, I am sure!}
And we practiced walking down the aisle...
 I wouldn't say I was a Bridezilla...
But I knew what I wanted, and wanted to make sure it all happened just so!
;)
{Dress & Shoes: Black House White Market}

Once we got that out of the way, we relaxed for a few,
took some pictures...
 My Fam
Then headed down to the local pub for our dinner.
Hubs-to-be making a speech.
 SO excited!
 Hard to believe that the next day, I'd be his wife!
For our bridal party gifts, I thought long and hard about meaningful gifts 
that I hoped my girls would use, time and time again.
I decided to give them each their own Coach wristlet, 
my favorite Victoria Secret lip gloss & a bottle of OPI nail polish.
I love seeing them use their wristlets, even to this very day!! 
I picked each one out that I thought represented their personalities.
I think they loved them!
{Sorry no picture}
For the guys, I bought beer mugs from the $1 store, had their name painted on
and inside each mug was a gift card to a store that person frequented.
I stuffed the mug with orange and pink tissue {our wedding colors}
and the boys used the mugs at our wedding the next day!
It was hard to say goodbye to Joe, but I knew the next time I saw him,
it'd be walking down the aisle to marry him.
He went home with his friends, and I returned to the B&B with mine!
It started to rain,which broke the humidity and cooled down the temperature a bit.
We got back to the house, changed into our suits and enjoyed some adult beverages...
Swimming and acting like a bunch of teenage girls talking, painting nails, and relaxing
all together.
It was absolutely perfect to have my dad and step-mom 
and all my friends with me the night before my big day.
 After dieting months ahead of time, I was a tad excited over these....
 Matty's creeped out expression of this weirdo place
 Cheers! I'm getting married!
After our rain swim session, and a few bottles of wine later...
we toured the house and discovered that the upstairs rooms,
which we had to pay the same amount for, had really strange items 
like the creepy doll room...
 The other room was full of little boy toys:
Toy Soldiers?
 I don't even know what part of the house this was!?
My friends and I tried on the weird shoes and clothes in the closets,
and were being rather inappropriate about what a crazy place we were staying!
Little did we know, that crazy didn't begin to describe this stay...
The next morning we awoke, finding NO ONE around the house
{other than our wedding guests}
After several phone calls, and peeking into the kitchen
that said Keep Out,
we realized we were not getting breakfast at our Bed and Breakfast.
 Thank goodness I have such awesome friends.
My matron of honor had brought coffee/pot for us to drink and 
as we all showered and got ready for the day, some of my friends ran to the grocery store
for bagels and fruit for us to eat while we decorated for the wedding.
On the way up to the winery, I finally received a phone call from Cathy,
one of the owners, informing me that there was a miscommunication 
And that she and her brother assumed the other were taking care of breakfast,
as she and her mother were already on their way to a family reunion...
So, in order to try and make up for it, she offered to buy me pizza.
Pizza on my wedding day.
For realz?
I politely declined, and she continued to insist, I became a little rude and told her
that this is my wedding day, I could not believe that this was something I had to deal with,
that if she thought sending a pizza for lunch would make up for her irresponsibility she was terribly wrong.
I hung up on her, since she wouldn't take no for an answer,
she continued to call and my dear friend Alison took care of it.
I was done and ready to focus on being a bride!
The stories and countless laughs 18 Vine Inn & Carriage House provided us,
were priceless.
My friends and I still send messages to one another about Cathy wanting to send us a pizza!
They also stole an old Jello box from the kitchen and it's in one of my scrapbooks
that I am determined to finish before baby bean arrives.
How did you spend the night before you said "I do"?
I have a feeling it may have been slightly different, than how I spent mine.
I wouldn't have had it any other way!
Here's a sneak peak of what our special day entailed <3

Monday, July 2, 2012

Weekend Rewind!

Finally, we had a weekend with no plans!!
Saturday hubs called me and said he made reseravations at Jo Jos, 
one of my favorite bistros, for dinner!
After dinner, we walked the canal and had ice cream cones.
I was a happy, yet tired mama and by 9:45, I was snuggled in bed watching TV.
He has had a total of 3 days off the whole month of June.
I am SO happy July is here!
With the crazy tent sale and on top of that, his poor assistant had to have emergency surgery,
Joe has been working way more than he usually has to.
My husband works his tail off to provide for our {growing} family,
and I couldn't be more thankful and appreciate for how hard he works.
It is a little difficult because not many people understand how hard it is to 
commit to events and gatherings, when all this man wanted was a day to do what he pleases!
On the way to dinner he said, "I haven't even gone golfing yet this year."
So of course, being the loving wife I said, "How about tomorrow?"
He called his buddy up and they had a tee time for 10:52.
 They are pretty funny together, and they always bet on who will win.
Clearly they're not Tiger Woods, but they had fun!
I went along, just to enjoy the beautiful weather and spend time with hubs.
heck yea I left my curls from the night before
On the way home we picked up ingredients to make our delicious
Sirloin Burgers 
w/avocado, applewood smoked bacon, gruyere cheese,
and sat out back on our deck, and literally took a nap before dinner.
It was a perfect Sunday and I hope it rejuvenated my over-worked man!
A few other fun things:
I made homemade lemonade using 
and it was divine!!
I fill up one of my tumblers with ice and fill with lemonade...
summer perfection!
I just cannot rave enough about Bare Minerals makeup.
I have been loving and using their makeup for one year now,
and I couldn't be happier.
The looks I achieve are so fresh, natural and radiant.
silly mypace style iphone pic hehe
Seriously though, I just switched to their face wash and my breakouts have cleared up!
Lovely pregnancy hormones have made my skin a little tricky, so I'm glad this worked!
I also got to hold my neighbor's month old sweet baby Mya.
She was so cute and I cannot wait to hold our baby in my arms!!
Hope you all enjoyed your weekend as much as I did.
Lots to look forward this 4th of July week!
Stay cool.