A Texas Thanksgiving!

This year we headed down to Texas to see Oliver and Melissa for their week off at Thanksgiving!
(for those of you who follow me on Instagram, some of these pics may seem familiar!)

Dinner at this little local joint the night we arrived - SO good!!

Next morning we were up early to run the Brownsville Turkey Trot!

Or volunteer with their students!

This family owned and operated business is one of Oliver's students family. 

The food was un-believably delicious and the coke had real sugar in it (it's from Mexico!)

A driving tour of the sand dunes - it was very windy that day so we decided not to walk.

They had bulldozers moving the sand off the road and back onto the dunes!

This road dead-ends at the beach!

We tried a new burger joint called BurgerFi - really tasty!!

So windy that the wind surfers were getting crazy amounts of air!

Almost like they were flying!

I'd be lying if I said we didn't miss Reese, but these 4 jokers kept us laughing most of the trip!

We experienced Black Friday shopping!

(Kel, I took this picture for you!)

Turkey dinner was hosted by Melissa's mom and twin sister Marie :-)

There were SO many options and everything was delicious!!

This is everyone with plate #1 :-D

FIVE kinds of pie!! I tasted them all and loved most! 

I woke up one morning to find this happening on the sofa :-)

Tooo good not to snap a quick photo!

This was one of the last nights we were there. The weather was warmer and 

the wind had died down enough to make a stroll on the beach lovely.

A true sand castle beginning to lose its' battle with the incoming tide

Matt with his feet in the ocean. He wanted to test the temperature!

Yes, we came home to snow and ice, but the trip was wonderful and seeing family was incredible :-)

I seriously wish Texas wasn't so far away!

Happy Birthday!

Today is BB's Birthday and she celebrated with friends on her new adventure in the Dominican Republic!

So glad she's enjoying the warm weather and having fun!

Mini-Anni break on the Cape!

After a slightly crazy day trying to get everything ready to go, dropping my car off in the shop and getting Mr Reesey-face where he was spending the weekend, we jumped in the car and headed south to the cape. On our way down we got some wonderfully exciting news!

My brother and his wife are expecting a girl! 

Once we checked into our hotel, we drove (but could have walked) down the street a bit for some dinner. Bear in Boots was highly rated in the area and I thought it would be a fun place to try! We took a picture for my brother :-)

Saturday we spent the day roaming the town of Falmouth and found this yummy store! We picked up a few treats and everything we got was UN-believably DELISH! There are apparently a few of them around New England so I plan to find the others - LOL

Chocolate down the left, ice cream, gelato and candy down the right. 

In our wanderings we also came across this car show on the lawn of the local library

I've never seen a door that slides inside the car instead of swinging open!

This one opened in many directions

This is what VOLVO used to look like!

And one of the coolest cars, a 1965 Honda convertible! It was awesome to see an older version Honda mixed in with the Ford's, Ferrari's, Chrysler's, and various muscle cars :-)

Sunday we visited with dear friends, Tim and Teri (and family that dropped by). Tim actually married us 5 yrs ago so it was a great way to spend our Sunday afternoon. We kayaked, grilled, and talked the night away! Before we knew it, the evening had passed and we scrambled to get home and crash before Monday morning came too soon!

Here's to another five years!

Anniversary

We've been married 5 years. Which means we've known each other for a decade!! whew!
We are off for a mini-vacation over the weekend. I'll be back with pictures soon!

TRADITIONAL GIFT: Wood is the traditional gift for the 5th anniversary.  Suggested gifts are a wooden clock, wooden music box, statue or something as simple as a wooden picture frame to display a special picture, possibly from your anniversary or wedding day.   

MODERN GIFT: Silverware is the modern gift for the 5th anniversary.  Some silverware ideas are a vase, silver flatware or a silver picture frame to display that special photo.

GEMSTONE: Sapphire is a very hard stone and its history dates back to biblical times.  It is thought that the tablets containing the Ten Commandments were made from sapphire.  It was also thought that the earth rested on a huge piece of sapphire which in turn reflected the sun and gave the sky its bluish color.  Royalty has worn sapphire to symbolize wisdom, holiness, virtue and good fortune. Suggested sapphire gifts include rings, pendants, earrings, bracelets.

FLOWER: Daisies are the flowers associated with the 5th anniversary. The Daisy symbolizes love, purity, loyalty and innocence. Women appreciate flowers anytime, but giving daisies for the 5th anniversary shows her that you took the time to research the traditional flower gift.

Weekend Travels

As Matt has been spending his weekends working on Grad school, I've been traveling! This past weekend it was to RI for the day. I brought Reesey-face with me and we had a great time toodling around with my parents. Brunch at the Modern Diner - which is awesome! - then running some errands for Halloween and fall decor. We also made a stop at DSW - always dangerous!

 Mum found this red Sperry's in the clearance section!

 SUPER cute with plaid down the sides :-)

 I found a pair of Charcoal grey wool Sperry's which will be great as the weather turns cooler.

 I took this picture in JoAnn's for Kel ;-)

 And the reason for being at JoAnn's was a Halloween pattern (no dice) 

and some leaf garland to update my fall grapevine wreath (success!)

I left the ribbon on from last year and just added 2 garlands of leaves and berries. 

The leaves help the wreath show up against the black front door. 

(My handsome Reese too!)

Next up: I've picked up a couple new things for Halloween/Fall for the inside of the house too! Right now they are all massed on the mantle, but I hope to have them organised soon to show you!

A Friendly Visit in Connecticut

Last weekend I got visit a very dear friend of mine and her adorable 9 month old son :-)

Isn't he just the cutest?! His favorite pastime right now is doors. The bigger the better but he will settle for a cabinet or drawer if you make him. ;-)

August Thoughts....

September is slipping away from me - the days drag on by the weeks keep flying by. I still can't figure out how that's possible! We are so jam-packed/scheduled! Pretty much through the end of the year at this point which is hard for me to believe but I think it's Matt's Grad school schedule that keeps us planning so far out.

In any case, my computer died (again) around the second week of August. It was frustrating at times for sure, but then because I had no laptop I could focus on other things, which was wonderful!

Here's a post I wrote just before the laptop broke:
The house is very quiet now. All house guests have departed. July was a wonderfully crazy-full-awesome month! I feel like I always have a do-to list before family shows up for a visit and this year was no different.

I finally finished planting the gardens I created last summer!

Once again, I switched study and guestroom so that 

Oliver, Melissa and LadyBird had more space while they were here.

I managed to get some holes and dings patched before they arrived. 

I was hoping to get them painted as well, but oh well!

Then, while they are here I focus all my time and energy on soaking up every moment and house stuff falls behind. I don't mind - family is way, WAY more important than laundry or hanging shelves in the basement, etc. Lucky for me, I have a handy brother who likes to help out while visiting:

This is his impression of ghost busters.... what he's really doing is applying a garlic spray to the yard. It's a natural bug/mosquito deterrent that works great and we love it! It's our third year using it.

He also hung Matt's shelves in the basement

AND applied the privacy sticky paper to the front door

We learned the hard way this summer that the garlic spray does wonders but it doesn't keep the horse flies away, so Oliver went online to find a solution. He copied one that we all thought was crazy - but you know what? it worked like a champ! He took to counting how many flies he caught each time and then would make us guess :-)

Also? He's also great with Reese who really REALLY hates his toe nails being clipped.

All in all, he's one of a kind and I'm so lucky he's my brother :-)

PS. His wife Melissa is also totally awesome ;-)

PPS. We are going to see them for Thanksgiving this year! I can't wait!