Birthday Overnight in July

While I'm well aware of the crazy that is happening with Irma~~~my mother is headed north soon thank goodness~~~ I still had a few blog posts in my draft section that I want to post.  I want to look back and remember Summer '17 and the fun we had.

My birthday was on a Tuesday, so that Saturday before, hubby wanted to surprise me with a little night on the town.  My sister was able to come to our house and watch our sweet babes and dog so that we could have some alone time~thank you sooooo much Bri!  You have no idea how much it means to us when you swoop in and stay with the kiddos.  They love their Aunt Brianna!

I went with a simple black shift dress from Old Navy--yup!  I think I paid under $10.  Gotta love a steal!  I paired it with a pair of Guess shoes I picked up last time we were in Vegas.  I used my LV clutch and our new Amelia Sparkle necklace.  I felt like my uber blonde hair was also an accessory haha!

I think I was wearing Purple Reign lipsense and I am fairly certain Palette 3 from Younique.

This gorgeous neck candy also comes apart and I can wear it like 8 different ways. Love!

We dined at Good Luck and I enjoyed some Rosé, and then they gave us a little champagne for us to toast my birthday.

#bloggerstyle

Hubby did so well! He picked out this fancy hotel over in a nearby town where we could use our Marriott Rewards---the room was like something out of NYC!

We went across the street to a wine bar and had so much fun together.

I also loved my pave orbital ring!

Seriously spoiled and so much fun.  When you're married, have a two year old and a four year old, and your husband works 50+ hours each week it can make for some major stress in life.

Nights like these I thank my lucky stars we found each other and can enjoy all that life has to offer.

I was moving rather slowly the next day, but we did have a yummy brunch, and a nice little drive.  After 9.5 he decided to take me to this little beach tucked away that he used to visit when he was younger.  We've been back several times and ended up taking our family photos here too.

My best friend.

The Kitchen {Date Night}

Summers are for date nights, little dresses, strappy heels, beach waves & fancy cars.  

Dress: Express
Shoes: Aldo
Jewels: Stella & Dot

PS I now snap a selfie of my makeup thanks to my glam artist Elizabeth.  I basically look to her as my makeup artist and blow her phone up.  Granted we talk about everything under the sun, but as for makeup help? She is the guru.

I went for a Party Pink lip, (thanks to my girl Ann & Lipsense) my Wesley Sunnies and Gita tassels.

It was a super rainy week last week so we were extra happy to have a nice evening out.

We had dinner at The Kitchen for the chef's tasting menu.   We visited awhile back and were floored at how amazing dinner was.  {You can see my post here}  This time there was MUCH more food. 

I was stuffed!

They sat us near the door and poured some Cava for a toast.  Joe wanted to be closer to the chef so we ended up moving.  We decided to simply enjoy the foods this time and not take photos of every little thing.  I did the wine pairing again and enjoyed that except for the last wine, which was a Port. Not a fan.  Not that I had room to drink it anyway, it was beyond filling!

We don't typically go out this often, but when the weather is nice and sitters are abundant, we have been!  I seriously loved this giant mirror in the bathroom.  I need it for the next house for sure. Also? I love that my shoe game is on point, thanks to my husband finding these at Aldo for me! 

36

I love getting a year older.  I'm not sure why one wouldn't want the greatest gift of all, yet another year on earth.  Sure I'm fighting like hell to keep the wrinkles off my face.  It takes a little more working out and eating healthy to look and feel great, but it's worth it.

36 was quite the birthday to remember! Instead of a swanky night out with family & kids, we had an impromptu back deck dinner.  Joe even bought me a mini cake!

I woke up and everyone seemed great! The kids were so excited to give/help me open my gifts.

Joe took this photo in Lake George and had it made into a canvas.  I love it!

On vacation our little cooler broke, so he heard this was the cooler to get.  He stocked me full of my favorite goodies!  I'm thinking these will be perfect for date nights in and when friends come to visit.


If you don't have a Corkcicle, I highly suggest one! This is my second one and I LOVE that I have two now.  Brooke picked it out for me.  I love my water ICE cold and this baby keeps it cold!

My mother in law came over for a few hours, so I ran up to have lunch with Joe.  He was stuck helping a customer and I had to wait awhile, but we still got to see each other which was so nice.  Thanks again Maria!


The weather was a little chilly so I got to wear my white jean jacket.

I came home and kids were resting/napping...and then they woke up.  As soon as Bradley awoke he was crying so hard. I went in and rocked him and he just snuggled and felt very warm.  Sure enough he had a fever of 100 degrees and was not feeling well.  I gave him something to drink. I told Joe but he said that they'll be fine...

Not even 15 minutes of Joe being home did Bradley get sick all over the place.  My momma gut was telling me to cancel and I'm so glad we did not push it, and have that happen at the restaurant!

SO we ordered take out and ate on the deck.

Delicious bacon wrapped spinach.

Red wine, bacon blue cheese topped filet and mashed potatoes.

I really wasn't mad or upset, I just felt so bad for my babies!

This one wasn't 100% as her stomach was off a bit...but she wanted to hang out with us.

Clearly we cannot control our circumstances, and I surely would have liked to have gone out with my kids and family, but there will be other days.  I felt like it was only fair since when we were supposed to go out in April for my sister's birthday, something happened and we had to cancel on her.  

No sense in fighting it, I think it's going to have to be my mantra for 36: Go with the flow.  Breathing in all the love and blessings, counting my lucky stars and wishing for health all year long.

Seven

We celebrated SEVEN years on July 10th.  It's strange how fast time goes and yet how much we accomplished in seven years.  So much has changed in our lives.

The people we associate with.

Our jobs.

Family.

Kids.

Health.

Priorities.

Beliefs.

Friends.

Our love for each other.

All relationships are work.  Both parties need to give and take, and give and take some more.  There are times when he needs me more than I need him, and Lord knows there are many a time when I need him more than he needs me.

Needs are emotional, physical, mental and change all of the time.  While I am no marriage expert, and we have only seven years so far, I will say that the number one key to any successful relationship:

Communication.

If I couldn't talk freely to Joe, express my thoughts, feelings, concerns and in return respectfully listen to what he thinks and feels, we would not have what we have today.

That much I know to be true.

I read somewhere a long time ago that the best way to have a conversation with someone is not face to face, but rather side by side.  It's less intimidating and (guys) typically can open up more when they're seating next to you.

Our favorite place to talk has always been Joe's car.  We especially appreciate now since it's a two seater and there is no backseat.

Of course we love our children, but as anyone can imagine, having a heartfelt conversation with a two and four year old is anything but productive.

Make the time to talk; it's amazing that after almost 10 years of knowing each other we still find things out.  I love that.

7 years ago I stood in this spot and vowed to love him (he tries to say 'obey' but I'm fairly certain that was not in our vows!) til death do us part.

We try to visit this winery every year on our anniversary; it's one of those things where we could easily brush off and not bother taking the drive.  In fact, after just getting back from a road trip vacation with the kids, I wasn't sure he'd be up for driving or if we should bother going.

"It's the doing that makes the difference."  

It's so easy to get caught up in life, the every day antics, work issues, kids, dog, house, bla bla.

But to step away and remember the one day where we said I DO, dance to our song under the big white tent and tear up over all of the beautiful memories made on that gorgeous July day?

That is powerful.

I wouldn't change a thing about our Wedding day; it's still the happiest day of my life.

Cheers to seven years baby, and bring on many many more!!

'...and I thought I loved you then.'
 

7.10.10

Flashback Friday {in Vegas}

Friday morning we woke up and had a little more of the conference to wrap up.  I was really looking forward to hearing this speaker; I got to meet her Thursday night and she was AWESOME!

She's a recovering alcoholic and really just an all around amazing go-getter.  We each got a free copy of her book, Snap Yes and I need to just sit down and read it.  I spoke to her of my dreams of writing a book and she told me to just do it. Stop making excuses and write.  I will write it I promise!

After we said our goodbyes, we headed over to the strip to check into our hotel room at the Aria.  We hadn't been to Vegas since all of the construction had finished, so we were SO excited to see all of it.  We waited in a bit of a line to check in, only to find out we were in the wrong place because SOMEBODY was being super sneaky and upgraded our room to a suite!! We had our own check in area and walked into the room to see this...

It was the most luxurious hotel room that I have ever stayed in.  We could not believe the views and the amazing amenities.  I was totally shocked and could not being he pulled out all the stops.

I wish we had more time, I wanted to take a soak in this amazing tub!

Even the shower was so nice.

The whole corner suite was windows.  It was breathtaking.

We had to take a picture in front of the Bellagio because that was where we stayed the other two times.  Kind of hard not to love the look of it!

We hit up the strip and found those stupid expensive fruity drinks...they were so good!

I soaked up every minute of the warmth and the sunshine!

We went into the mall and lo and behold, we see this sign.  Are you kidding me?!  Of course we had to sign up and meet Joe's childhood hero!

On the in between, we may have made a purchase here...Merry Christmas to me!

He was OVER the moon to meet Joe Montana.

I was so happy for him!! What are the odds he would be there within the hour we happened to walk in? #meanttobe

We just love the way the strip is all lit up at night.

Our hotel--so crazy big!!

I decided to wear my new Guess dress Friday night.

I think it will be perfect this winter for any holiday parties or just out to eat with my honey.

After dinner, the owner of the company that flew us out invited us to XS one of the hottest clubs.  We had actually come before years back, so we were definitely in to see the place again!  We felt very special to be asked, as a "table" is not cheap.  $700 for a bottle of Tito's Vodka.  Crazy!

We danced to DJ Snake, which I am so embarrassed to admit that I did not know who he was.  I figured he was a popular dj, but I had no clue that he was Justin Bieber's dj!  I found that out as I was driving the other day.  We had fun but didn't particularly like getting blasted in the face with this air---I think it was to cool people down? It was kind of weird. Apparently that is the thing to do at the clubs...#weold