Wedding Recap

We had such an awesome weekend celebrating Ryan and Allan's wedding. Here a few snapshots from the weekend:

Ryan and her mom...beautiful sunset party to start off the weekend.




Allan and his parents



Ry and Allan with Allan's grandparents. His grandmother has 14 children, yes people, 14!



Gorgeous couple


Getting ready for the big moment! I had quite the hair crisis that I will not to continue to dwell on. Needless to say, it turned out nicely.


Beautiful bride and her even more beautiful Nonni.



Danny and I enjoying the party

Cutting the delicious cake. There were more layers than I can remember: Strawberries and Creme, German Chocolate, and I think an Almond layer were three I can remember.






It was such a beautiful wedding. I was thrilled to be a part of it and now they are off to Grenada to enjoy their honeymoon! I can't wait to see them when they return.

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Wedding Weekend

This past week has been a crazy one. The Rays (baseball team here in Tampa) almost made it to the ALCS, but were defeated by the Texas Rangers. It was still fun and probably the best seats we have ever had for a game in that stadium!



We also got impromptu tickets to the Gator homecoming game, which I will say nothing about, other than, I really loved my dress.




My best friend is getting married this weekend. She has been dating her hubby-to-be since their Freshmen year, when we first became friends as well. Allan is an incredible man and I am so happy for the two of them. The festivities start Thursday and I couldn't be more excited!

I mean, how cute are they?!



I'm off to start writing a speech for Friday night...honestly, there is so much to say, both inappropriate and not...however will I choose?

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New Looks

Fall is here and I have done a little decorating. But, my favorite thing I did this year was invest in some very cheap candles and a "candle ring" for Fall.

The mercury glasses here I got at Michaels for $2 each! They are being sold in PB catalogs and Ballard Design for $5-10 each. I just filled them with red tea lights and they smell like cinnamon...yum. The middle candle I do not light as I am not sure how the gold would do, but I love that I can keep it for Christmas too and just change out that ring around the candle with the pumpkins on it. I am sure I will find one that is Christmas-themed when the time comes. All this cost me $8.



I also bought a bench for our laundry room. I love that we can come in and put our bags on it and it won't interfere with our clothes that are possibly hanging to dry. When we have little ones, all their backpacks etc. can go here well out of the way (and out of sight)!







That is just a little bit of what is new around here. What is new in your home?

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Just a Big Chicken

We have been exploring options for Clyde's Halloween costume and my mother-in-law had this at her house for him to try on. Seriously, it kills me! I love the look of "get this off of me" on his face.



Happy Wednesday!!

By the way, we are thinking of going the "pirate" route since he has the black and white already going for him :).

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THE red door...finished!

Here is a flashback: One year ago this was our humble abode adorned with a green door and matching green shutters (and terrible house numbers etc). We really have come a long way since then!



Well, as you already know, we tackled the front door this weekend! We left for Lowes knowing we had no clue what color to choose and were just hoping for the best. Lucky for us, we ran into a very knowledgeable paint expert and he gave us a can and told us to trust him. For the paint and brushes we only spent $16! I was thrilled because the color is truly perfect. It is Rustoleum's "Cranberry" oil-based paint.

Believe me, oil-based paint is NOT fun to work with. It took ALL DAY to dry. We had the door open and the baby gate up for Clyde from 12 in the afternoon to 10 at night! The worst part was when we finally re-opened the door this morning there is a small area (that you can only see when the door is open) that stuck a bit. So frustrating! But, the OCD inside of me has to get over it.


I just love it! It looks great with the black shutters and fixtures around the house. We repainted the trim as well because it used to be green as well. It makes the red "pop"! And, our Fall wreath and future Christmas wreath are going to look amazing with the red background. It's incredible what a little paint can do.

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A Red Front Door

We are taking on the HUGE project of painting our front door tomorrow. The weather has been beautiful lately and we are going to take advantage of the cooler temps tomorrow morning and get the door painted. It is green now and a while back we painted our shutters black. So, the last piece of the puzzle is the door. I love red front doors...I love red everything!

Look how pretty this one is all decked out for Christmas!

I love the look of this cottage, even though that red is a little too "cherry" red for me.

Lastly, this one is gorgeous and probably the best red color I have seen. I love that sweet basket! We do not have a glass front door, but ours does have a lot of patterns in it, so it will take us a while to do.

Anyone have a red door and LOVE the color? We are going to pick one out today and reds are so hard to decide on!

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Clyde's Blessing

At my school we have something called, Blessing of the Pets, each year. All the pets come with their families and our priests bless them for the coming year. Clyde got to experience his first blessing last Friday and all my kiddos were thrilled to be a part of it! I can't post pics of my kid's faces so some of the pictures are a little odd, but here is a general gist!

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Misc. Monday!

1. We took Clyde to the dog park for the first time on Sunday. Needless to say, dog parks are full of interesting clientele. Who lets their dog attack other dogs while sitting back and laughing? Poor Clyde...he got abused physically and mentally by a Jack Russell Terrier.

2. I got a new Fall candle and it makes me smile every time I walk into the room. If you aren't familiar with Tyler candles, they are THE BEST. They last MONTHS and beautiful smells waft through your entire house. My favorite scents are: Homecoming (Fall scent), Winter Wonderland (christmas-time scent), Tyler (kitchen scent), and Diva.



3. The cash budget is going well. I definitely think more about what we need before I purchase anything. It hurts way more to pay with cash! But, I dislike having to remember the envelopes before I leave the house.

4. The Gators lost to Alabama Saturday night. My hubs and I could hardly watch. Yes, there were times when we covered our eyes and muttered, "not again".

5. Fall has finally arrived in Florida. And by that I mean, it is 80 degrees during the day and about 65-70 degrees early morning, and evening. The biggest change I feel is not waking up sweating in the middle of the night.

6. Candy Corn pumpkins are in my home. They are my favorite Halloween candy and I could eat them all year long!



Have a great Monday, everyone!

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