Shutterfly's gift to bloggers

This is the first year I am actually contemplating sending Christmas cards. I kind of feel like now that I’m married I should send out cards, even though I know no one would miss them if I didn’t. But I do love getting holiday cards. I like paper and stationary so I appreciate having pretty cards around. It helps that cards are really cute these days.

I saw that Desperately Seeking Seersucker and City Dreams Suburban Schemes posted about Shutterfly's holiday gift to bloggers. If a blogger posts about their giveaway, Shutterfly will give them 50 free holiday cards.

Shutterfly is offering 50 - 5x7 folded or flat stationary cards from their 2010 Holiday Card Collection. I will probably get the flat photo stationary cards to make this first year of sending Christmas cards as easy and pain-free as possible. I have always liked photo cards.

My mom used Shutterfly to create a photo book of a work trip to Germany and she said it was really easy to create the book. And I must say the quality is nice with clear pictures. I've been meaning to make a book of wedding photos and I'd really like to do that before the end of the year. Shutterfly is where I'll go.

Anyway back to the holidays, here are some of the cards I like.

I like the wordle-like style on the Templeton's card.

I like the gray, it's a little unexpected and the Christmas lights are cute.

I love this icy blue and red combo.

Such cute cards, it's going to be a tough decision.

Thank You Vets

My parents met each other when they were in the Army stationed in Germany. After they decided to get married, my mom got out of the service so she could take care of Bubba and I. My dad went into the Army Reserves so he could be around while we grew up. I will always remember those weekends when Dad would come home from the Reserves all dressed in his camo. I would run outside to meet him in his off white Nissan hatchback. Sometimes he'd let me sit on his lap and "drive" (steer with his help) into the garage. After being gone for most of the day/weekend, I was so happy he was home and could play with us.

When I was in elementary school, my dad's unit was called into active duty and he had to leave for a YEAR to go to Hungary. It was a hard year without him. I missed him like crazy and thinking about it now brings tears to my eyes. Sometime during Christmas time I was watching Hey Arnold and the episode was about someone's dad being gone or going away or something of that nature. It just broke my little heart. I ran downstairs and starting sobbing to my mom and pleading for her to bring back Daddy. That's when she told me we were flying out to Colorado to visit her brother and his family and that Daddy was meeting us out there...just days before Christmas.

photo credit

This all came back to me this morning since it's Veterans Day. I'm so very thankful for all the men and women who have fought for our country. I think we forget that freedom isn't free...it does come at a price and I'm eternally grateful. Thank you Dad, thank you Mom, thank you friends, thank you veterans, for fighting for our country and for our freedom. I love you and will always support you.

Georgia wedding recap

(I'm warning you now, this is a monster of a post...)

At the end of last month, Husband and I traveled to Georgia for his cousin's wedding. We left Saturday morning dressed in wedding clothes with my one carry on bag. For my outfit I wore a LBD from Banana Republic with a light gray sweater/jacket with some fun details. I wore my black/brown giraffe print heels mainly because they are comfortable but they're cute too. Husband looked very good in navy pants, a blue & white stripped dress shirt with a red tie and a camel sports jacket.

On the plane waiting for take off

We had enough time before our flight to grab some bagels and coffee for breakfast. I LOVE bagels, just sayin. Being the anxious person I am, I was fiddling with my luggage handle and some how broke it so that it wouldn't fully go down all the way. Ugh. Husband has the magic touch though and was able to get it down before we boarded. The flight wasn't bad at all and it was only 2 hours long. As soon as we landed we headed off to the ceremony.

Britt (Husband's cousin) and her husband Chris had a lovely Catholic ceremony. And I was able to hold it together and not shed a single tear during the ceremony!! I don't know if it is an age thing or the fact that I'm married with a husband, but I am whoa emotional lately. Example, at my friend Wendy's wedding I was supposed to read a passage and could barely make it through because I was sobbing. Talk about embarrassing...

The beautiful bride and her groom making their getaway to the reception.

Anyways, the bride looked stunning. Her dress was one shouldered, which I'm a big fan of, with some gathering on the bodice. She had a blinged out belt cinching her waist that gave way to a slightly ball gown/a-line shaped bottom. My little explanation here does not do it justice. She was beautiful and very classy.


After the ceremony we headed to the Club for cocktails and the reception. It was a beautiful day in GA; clear blue skies, it was warm but not hot, there was little humidity (phew), and later in the evening the temperatures dropped which was nice. Guests enjoyed drinks while overlooking the golf course and that's when I realized, I could 100% live on a golf course. It was fun catching up and chatting with Husband's extended family. They really are a wonderful bunch of people and I am happy to have joined their family.


Husband is a social butterfly and right off the bat I knew I wouldn't see him for much of the evening. So I grabbed on to Margaret, Husband's sister, and we were reception buddies for the rest of the night. =)

You can tell by the crease in my forehead how happy I am to finally have a sister. hehe

We went inside for the reception and wow, the Club was just beautiful and the decor was beautiful. The lighting was soft. The centerpieces were tall, with flowers and these iron tea light holders.

Isn't that centerpiece candle holder lovely? Such height!

They served heavy hors de hourvers and had yummy food stations all over the reception room. My favorite was the mashed potato bar with three different types of potatoes and all the toppings you could want. Bacon? yes. Cheese? I think so. Sour cream?! You betcha. It was delish and I liked that food was available all night - good for those of us celebrating with wine & beverages.


At some point in the evening Britt's dad gave his speech and I'm pretty sure this is when my no-tears winning streak ended. It's just so sweet to see daddy's get emotional over their little girls. And what made this wedding great was that he was welcoming Chris into his family (and visa versa of course too) with open arms. It's truly a blessing when both the bride and groom's families get along.

They smooshed the cake in each other's face, it was cute. But Husband, thank you for not smooshing.

Enough of the mushy stuff. The DJ played had a great play list and I often found myself drawn to the dance floor. It was heart melting to see the little kids dancing and enjoying themselves.

Dancing with Uncle Larry!! I swear he danced with every female there.

And Husband danced with me! He may be mad that I posted this, but look at that cutie, who wouldn't be tempted to dance with that hot piece of man?

I just had an absolute blast and so did Margaret. hehe. We got to know each other better than we ever had that night. She ended up sleeping in our room/bed with Husband and I. I told you it was a great wedding.

Us on the way home...
He's going to be more mad I posted this one...but look at those sweet baby blue eyes.

The next morning was a little rough for some but we all met at the hotel the next morning for breakfast. After chatting about last nights events, Husband, Margaret and I packed up and headed to the airport for our early afternoon flights back home. We cut it a little close, but we all made it to our flights. Though I was a little sad to be leaving I was happy to get back home. I learned that I like traveling with Husband (a valuable lesson to learn about your mate). He keeps me calm and stress-free. He really is my better half and this weekend made me thankful he's my partner in life.

Congrats Britt & Chris! Thanks for a wonderfully fantastic wedding to celebrate your marriage.

It's all about attitude

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
~Charles R. Swindoll

Sometimes I need an attitude check. I need to get out of my head and snap back to reality. Sometimes I feel like things in my life are set in stone, but they really aren't. Life is fluid and I am still working to accept that. It's all about how I choose to see things.

Today I choose love, positivity and optimism.

Funky Chicken, Flasher and Lumber Jackie

Halloween weekend was a blast! We didn't do anything extravagant, but I was surrounded by some of my favorite people.

Friday night a couple of my favorite boys came into town, BUBBA and DREW! Bubba is my nickname for my little brother...although he isn't all that little anymore. He's finishing up college at Salisbury this Spring and then he may be headed off to grad school. Hooray Bubba! And Drew was staying w/ Husband and I for the weekend and this time I remembered to blow up the mattress before we started drinking.

Later Bubba came over with our friend Patty Poo. And soon after that Kathy and her roommate Anne and their friend Dan came over for card games & drinks. There's nothing like a friendly game of as$hole to get people relaxed and acquainted. Oh and later Bmore, another one of our good friends, came over to play!! It was a fun night playing cards and laughing and drinking.

We were feeling hurt and moving slow the next morning. So we woke up leisurely and Husband made espresso while I made blueberry crumb cake, an Ina recipe. Whilst drinking espresso and chugging water to rehydrate ourselves, we watched the Colbert/Stewart rally on the TV. It was amazing to see how many people showed up for the event. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Roots & John Legend perform. The lead singer from Roots had on a beautiful camel colored coat and John Legend's navy coat was attractive too.

Later in the evening we made dinner and then it was time to get dressed up for Halloween! Drew's costume did not disappoint. It was yellow and a little outrageous. And Husband looked pretty awesome too. If you watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia you're familiar with the dick towel. Husband had a great idea to use that and be a flasher! For my costume I wanted something easy and required $0. I put on my boots, short shorts and a black & red flannel shirt and I became Lumber Jack(ie)! I decided to leave the axe at home, you know with all the drunk people around it could have been a horrible terrible idea.

If you ever wondered what I'd look like as a blonde...

We hung out at Kathy & Anne's place and drank and played beer pong. Kathy was dressed up as Rita from Dexter and Anne was Dexter - it was an awesome costume duo. Sadly I didn't get a picture of the two together but I'll just say both their costumes were dead on.

Sunday was a relaxing, time-to-clean-up, lets-snuggle sort of day. Throughout the day Husband and I took turns cleaning up the kitchen and picking up the apartment. And later that night I made Oreo Pumpkin Cheesecakes that I found from Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen. It was a super simple recipe that is delicious! This is definitely a recipe to keep around for parties and holidays. I brought the extras into work and after 5 minutes they disappeared. =)

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. I hope everyone else had a fantastic Halloween!

Minnetonka Moccasins

So on Friday, Dating is My Hobby posted some super cute Minnetonka moccasins and all weekend I've been dreaming about them. DiMH has great style, so I hope she doesn't mind my copy cat lust.

Here are a few I've been considering:

Minnetonka Womens Kilty Suede Hardsole Moccasins

These are classic and girlie.

Minnetonka Womens Suede Thunderbird Moccasin
Moccasins with some embellishment...but I'm on the fence about the beading. Is it too much or appropriate for the moccasin?

Minnetonka Womens Studded Moccasins - Brown Suede
Are the studs a juxtaposition that doesn't work with this type of shoe?

Being a sensible girl, I thought about the clothing I already had that would look good with moccasins. Needing a little help I used Google to find outfit inspiration but was disappointed. However I did find a pretty cool website called, Polyvore. Polyvore is an online fashion community where you can search & shop for cute clothes/shoes/accessories. You can ask the community questions about how to wear particular styles, how to wear a particular pair of shoes, etc, AND you can create your own outfit mood boards. Pretty cool.

I asked the question 'how to wear moccasins' and people link clothing items to help illustrate their answer/advice. This was exactly what I was looking for and it helped me decide, YES I definitely want to get a pair of moccasins.

I love love love my Frye boots, but sometimes I want a pair of flats that I can throw on while I head out for quick errands. Now I need to decide which ones to get!

Autumn Marriage, Autumn Love

Autumn Marriage, Autumn Love

~Richard Hemenway~
This year the Fall has seemed to linger long
Upon the earth and in the balmy air,
Like the singer who so loves their song
That they sing on though there be none to share.


The leaves are changing slow in subtle tints,
The grass is in no hurry to turn brown,
The night air whispers just the smallest hints
That we will soon be seeking wool and down.


So should we make our time together last
Having less than most husbands and wives:
Celebrating, after mistakes done and past,
Our marriage in the autumn of our lives.


Though every Season must, in time, give way,
We'll reap a long Love's Harvest while we may.

All pics taken by me, straight out of the camera.