3 Weekend Recap

Gosh I am behind.  The past couple weeks was very busy for us that I have yet to tell you what has been going on.

Well a few weekends back we had big travel plans .. kinda.  The hubby was in New Orleans for the annual Athletic Training Conference starting Sunday.  He had a great time down there meeting up with some friends and enjoying bourbon street in all its glory.

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And he also learned a bit too since I guess that is the whole point of the convention.  Although I wanted to, there was no need for me to go. I just stayed home and work while suggesting that it would be greatly appreciated if he brought me back some beignets from Cafe Du Monde.

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Side note about beignets - They are some of the most delicious deep fried dough you will ever have in your life.  If you are in New Orleans ever you must not skip out on this local coffee shop!  However, I must note that they do not taste as good when they are a day old and were smashed in a duffel bag all day. Oh well!

Anyways, getting back on track - I had to pick him up from the St Louis airport Wed at midnight.  Yeah, seriously! That's what you get for cheap tickets.  We drove the additional 1.5 hours back to his parents house, arriving nice and late.

We had planned to leave Thursday morning for Cincinnati to hang out with my older sister for the day, but because of a lot of complications and frustrations she was unable to get back to her place like she planned.  So instead we spent some extra time with Nate's family.

Friday we left for Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky and met up with my little sister for lunch.  We spent the afternoon together, bringing my doggie nephew to the dog park.

It was nice to see her since I hadn't seen her since my wedding last July.

Then we got to spend the evening with one of my college friends.  We had a nice dinner, some beer, and just catching up.

The next day we had a wedding for one of Nate's college friends.  So we got to our hotel early, did some relaxing, and even made time for an afternoon movie.

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Oh and I didn't mention I got to indulge in my favorite thing about Cincinnati ...

SKYLINE CHILI!

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Oh doesn't that neon cheese just look amazing.  Seriously though their cheese coneys are just simply heaven!  I was determined to make sure I had some skyline before leaving Ohio.   Mission accomplished!

Then of course we went to the wedding.  It was just beautiful and we had a blast!

I was very excited for my dress I found for the occasion.  Twenty dollars on the clearance rack and a medium size!  Also I was very excited for the alcohol.  I might have had two glasses of wine before dinner and I was definitely feeling it.  Hey, this was my vacation so I lived it up!

The next day we made the long trip back to Missouri, which reminded us why we don't go back to Ohio that often.  We had a great weekend  and it was worth it!

The following weekend was just as exciting.  Another day off of work for me, and another trip back to the in-laws place.  We visited with Grandma a bit since we knew we would be moving farther away. Our afternoon with her was hilarious as she kept telling Nate that he needs to get on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire."  They were very insistent about it.

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging with some friends, yummy grilling, and Nate sorting through 10 years of Sports Illustrated magazines.

Here is what we started with:

And we ended up just keeping these:

I would say it was a success.

That Sunday we tried to go to St. Louis for some fireworks and a free outdoor concert with some friends, but it got rained out.  Since we were already there we just ate at the Cheesecake Factory and came home.

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And of course we didn't leave without consuming some delicious cheesecake.

Then on Monday it was our anniversary.  We treated ourselves by sleeping in late. Eating some cupcakes (since we didn't have a top tier of our wedding cake to save).

Took pictures of us eating the cupcakes.

Had a "fancy" dinner at McAllister's (don't judge - The Cheesecake Factory the night before was our treat.)

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Then sweating our butts off at the Cardinals v Reds Game.

Literally we were soaked through.  Luckily the Cardinals got us a win!

Those two weekends were just a whirlwind.  Traveling will do that to you.  Maybe that is why I spent most of this past weekend parked on the couch, except for my obligatory daily workout.  Yes, nothing exciting about this weekend although I was pretty happy to see part of the ABC Family Harry Potter Marathon.

We have so much going on this month.  Only 3 weeks left in Missouri then the big move!

American Anniversary Photoshoots

As you already know, we were married on 4th of July last year.  Never once did I consider doing a patriotic theme or color scheme for our wedding.  It would have been cute, but I didn't want a theme-y wedding.  Plus, it wasn't really us.

But ever since then I have seen a bunch of summery, american themed photo shoots that I think are adorable.  While I don't regret our design decisions at all, I love these photo shoots and think they would be perfect for an anniversary shoot.  Some people might think anniversary shoots are pointless, but how often do you get professional pictures taken of you at this point in your life.  I value our engagement and wedding pictures so much, partly because they are some of the nicest pictures we have of us together.  A couple years down the road it would be nice to have professional pictures of us taken together again.

These following photos are some of the inspiration I have gathered for the future .  I don't want it to be too themed, but I like the idea of having some props and a style behind the pictures besides just standing there posing.  Especially for an anniversary shoot, since it is more fun!

This one was recently posted on Green Wedding Shoes. Photographer Amy Stone Photography.

This photo shoot was posted on Southern Weddings.  Photographer Gina Zeidler.

This photo shoot was done by Photographer Alec Vanderbloom.

Happy 1st Anniversary

It has been exactly one year since I got to marry Nate.  It has been one crazy year!  Since then so many challenges and changes have come our way, but I have enjoyed every moment spending it with Nate.  While it isn't always easy, it is always rewarding.  Every day I realize more and more that we are meant to be together.

Because I am not always as eloquent at putting my feeling into words, here are some of my favorite quotes that remind me of my husband:

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." - Mignon McLaughlin

"It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life." - Rita Rudner

"We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." - Sam Keen

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with our own, we join up with them in mutual weirdness and call it love." - Dr. Seuss

I am so lucky to have a marriage full of lots of laughs, mutual respect, and of course love!  It is always a fun adventure.

One year down, and so many more to come!

Wedding Recaps: Setup, Relaxing, and Rehearsing

I started the first of my wedding recaps yesterday.  In case you missed it:

We started off our adventure a little rocky...

That evening after we got into Columbus I was completely drained, from the stress, traveling, and the crying.  Plus add to that stress trying to pick up a friend from the airport and her boyfriend that I didn't even want to come to the wedding.  We planned to go back down to campus to check out the new student union and eat at one of my favorite Greek restaurants in Columbus.

(Ohio State Alumni)

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Unfortunately the union closed 5 minutes after we got there and we were kicked out, and my favorite Greek restaurant was no longer there.  The night concluded with my friend telling me, although she promised we could share a room that night and her boyfriend would just deal on the couch,  I couldn't stay there because he wasn't okay with it.  It was truly one of the worst days ever and I was so ready to just fall asleep.

On the second day, I was well-rested after splurging and getting a hotel room all to myself.  All the drama of the day before was over and we were ready for a fresh start.

After some much need Tim Horton's Breakfast (ohhh how I miss Tim Horton's out here in Missouri!) we got started on setting up the hall.  I had fun bossing everyone around and telling them what needed to be done.  Although worried I might sound like a Bridezilla, I was finally starting to feel like a bride about to be married.  Some company joined me to pick up our flowers, and the florist surprised me that she was able to get my calla lilies (side note: The week before the wedding she told me that she was going to have to raise the final price of my flowers to get everything I asked for, and I reluctantly had to chose to cut calla lilies out of my bouquet).

While I got everyone making centerpieces and decorating the hall, my bridesmaids took me out for some pampering.  I never get manicures so it was really fun.  We drank wine, gossiped, and just relaxed.  My french manicure turned out beautiful!

The girls got back in just enough time to run to the rehearsal.  Honestly it lasted like 5 minutes and I don't even remember practicing much of anything.

I think I was too excited to get to our rehearsal dinner at Dave and Buster's.  My in-laws did an amazing job with the rehearsal dinner.  Food was delicious, decor was cute, and everyone had a good time playing games and chatting!  We only interrupted the fun briefly to hand out gifts to our parents and wedding party, and then promptly resumed the fun.

Our parents even worked together to make a collage of pictures of us.  It was too cute and funny to see our childhood pictures!  Over the years we have rocked some pretty cool hair styles and fashion.

Afterwards, we went back to the on-site hotel pub to have some drinks and play some games.  Nate and I said good night to each other before the girls and boys split up.  Although I can't say for sure what the boys did, the girls had a relaxing night chatting and maybe opening up a few bachelorette gifts!

I went to sleep excited and ready for my exciting day to come!

Hope you all have a great weekend and Fourth of July!  We will for sure be celebrating!