First Fall Weekend Recap

This past weekend I welcomed Fall with open arms. Think Fall decor & scented candles, pumpkin spice and baked apples. Even though Alex keeps prattling on about how it isn't truly Fall until the weather is cooler. My reply was something about how at least next week is in the mid-eighties. Needless to say it's a lesson in picking your battles. Haha! As tradition has it, I spent Friday afternoon decorating our place for Fall and I'm loving it. I especially love our new doormat - which you can see above. I've decided that it will be a year-round doormat. Because, why not! #everydayishalloween ;) As for the rest of our place, I really need to take some photos and share them on here. I've just been rather busy this past weekend - which has been a ton of fun.

On Saturday, since Aunt Mona and Uncle Bill were in town from Indiana, we took them out for lunch. Alex's sister came with us too. We all imbibed in a little too much Thai food. Alex & I were pretty excited to show his aunt and uncle our place - which they loved. We made it a point to take a little family photo too. Needless to say, I was pretty sad when it was time for Bill and Mona to leave.

Later that night, Alex & I headed to Orlando to see The Church play at the Social. I've listened to The Church since high school and I would have never thought I'd have a chance to see them in concert. The show was absolutely amazing.  They even played a lot of my favourite songs - including Reptile. I'm still a little over the moon about it too.

I even got a chance to talk to the lead singer, Steve Kilbey, (for less than 10 seconds, but still)! However, I don't think Alex & I will be making it back to the Social anytime soon. They're A/C wasn't on and it was like an oven inside that venue. Ugh! As for more photos, I'll post the rest of them in the next few days - so stay tuned!

Midwest Travels: Evansville, Indiana

Last week Alex & I went to Evansville, Indiana to visit his aunt and uncle. We had an absolutely lovely time too. We stayed at their house and it was so, so nice to get to know them better. His uncle makes some incredible pour over coffee too! They made sure to only take us to locally owned restaurants. The first night, his cousin came with us to dinner at a weird, little restaurant called the House of Como. This place was decked out in christmas decorations - everywhere. It didn't matter though, because they had the BEST food.We had incredible Mexican, Greek, killer breakfast food and locally made doughnuts. Aside from the awesome food, I became enamored with the landscape that makes up Indiana. Lots and lots of cornfields! I had never seen a cornfield in person before and to be honest, I kind of loved it. They also took us to a barn to visit their horse and potbellied pig.

 

On Saturday they took us to a heritage festival in a small, neighboring town called New Harmony. This town had some pretty crazy history as well. Back in the early 1800's it was established by the Harmony Society. This town was an attempt at a utopian community. Needless to say it failed. But what a stunning town! It's nestled by the Wabash River and we had great time exploring the downtown area. We even stumbled across a coffee house named after the Black Lodge from the show Twin Peaks. Luckily, for us they had some dame fine coffee too! I mean, seriously, that alone was pretty awesome in itself.

All in all, it was a lovely trip. It was my first time visiting the Midwest and I fell in love with Indiana. To be honest, there's part of me that truly wouldn't mind living there. We plan on visiting his aunt and uncle again in the near future. They were such lovely hosts and we have such great memories from our visit.

Pin Curls & Memories

My sister and I spent a lot of time at my maternal Grandparent's house growing up. With our parents being divorced, and my Mom working full time, we spent the majority of our summers and afternoons at their house. Thankfully, I have a lot of wonderful memories with my Grandpa and Grandma.

I loved spending the night with them the most though; eating delicious home-cooked Italian dinners, talking and laughing while my Grandpa called me his little gypsy and watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in the living room while Grandma would answer all the questions and solve all of the word puzzles out loud.


And I'll never forget how she would pin curl her hair. I remember her sitting in her recliner with a black, velvet pouch covered in pink & red flowers with dark green leaves resting in her lap. As she watched over us, she would gingerly section off her wet hair and slowly coil them into neat, little spirals on top of her head. Securing them into place with the metal bobby pins from inside that black velvet pouch. It was something I admired, even as a little girl. And something I can still so clearly remember as an adult.

Sometimes I wish, that after Grandma had passed, I would have asked to keep that pouch of her, those metal bobby pins still kept safely inside. Perhaps maybe having that memory is worth so much more. And it's weird to me, that something so innocent as recalling her doing that simple act will sometimes make me cry.

Wedding Dress Shopping for My Sister

This past Saturday I went with my sister, Caitlin and two of her good friends, Mallory and Nicole, to go wedding dress shopping. A few months ago Caitlin got engaged to Jeremy and I'm still a little emotional about it. I mean, my little sister will be getting married!! Anyways, we all headed to Tampa on Saturday so Caitlin could figure out the style she wanted. It was pretty crazy to see her in all those dresses. This was really just a trial run, but she's decided that she wants a skirt and a top, instead of one dress. The next time she goes to a bridal store, she's taking mom with us. So, I'm pretty excited about that. Afterwards we went to Oxford Exchange for lunch.

Later that night Caitlin & Jeremy, Nicole, Mallory & her husband, Alex & I all went out for drinks. We started out at an awesome restaurant in town, Posto 9. They had a DJ on the roof lounge and somehow we managed to get the majority of everyone up there to sing along to the songs. It was crazy! After which, Jeremy decided that we should all do karaoke at some hotel bar in town. It was weird, but we all managed to have a lot of fun. Caitlin, Jeremy, Alex and I stayed out past midnight. Needless to say, Alex and I ended up taking a two hour nap on Sunday.

Here's a screenshot of a boomerang that Nicole took that night. It's pretty hilarious.

Decorations & Family Photos

Last night Alex & I went to his parent's house to decorate the tree. We had a blast too! His sweet mom gave us two ornaments to commemorate us as a couple; a sushi ornament (our first date) and a 2015 one. I can't to do it again next year. Last night we decorated the christmas tree with Alex's awesome family. It was a blast. I can't wait to do it again next year.

It's that time of year

This month has flown by and every single day has been incredibly magical. I'm not sure if I love the month of December even more because it is my birth month, or what, but I am just so happy once December 1st rolls around. Even though I am at work right now, semi-slaving away on christmas Eve, I am in such a good mood. I've brought in cookies for my fellow co-workers and we're listening to christmas music as if it were going out of style.

I'm really looking forward to tonight because I'm throwing my second annual family christmas eve party and I can't wait to see my parents, sister & her boyfriend Brandon. Once I get off work I'll be putting the finishing decorative touches for the party, creating the hors d'oeuvres and baking ugly sweater cookies. I cannot wait to eat, drink and be merry with my family while listening to even more christmas music and watching Scrooged and Christmas Vacation

 I hope all of you are have a lovely christmas eve and a merry christmas day tomorrow!