To The Woman Who Gave Me Life

Happy Birthday!

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful Mother. She has always been there for me through good times, bad times, rebellious stages and break-ups. I couldn't ask for a better friend & mentor.

Love you Mom!!



Showers of Happiness

This past weekend my Mom & Sister (and awesome MOH) threw me a fabulous bridal shower at Danfords Hotel & Marina in Port Jefferson, NY.

We had the most adorable little private room, the Harborview, decorated with royal blue napkins & mini potted plants with shovels that doubled as the favors. Isn't that a cute idea! I can't take credit for it though, it was all my Mom.

Champagne punch, fruit & cheese and delicious cake kept us satisfied before the catered lunch while fun games, great conversation and a ton of gift opening kept us entertained.

I'm still slightly in shock over the sheer amount of gifts we received!

The coveted KitchenAid mixer is now mine, it's a staple in every cook's kitchen and I can't wait to put it to good use!

My adorable little cousin Jessica made a wishing well with all the kitchen essentials. Spatulas, scrapers, ice cream scoops and so much more. It's safe to say we now have a very well stocked kitchen and can finally get rid of some stuff that we've been using since college haha.

Shower games got everyone laughing when I was quizzed with trivia questions about the Future Hubs. Out of 15 questions, I got 10 right. Not bad?

My Sister gave a beautiful speech thanking all the guests for coming and we descended into girl talk for the remainder of the party.

It was an absolutely perfect day! My friend Kat even drove up from Maryland to attend! and of course, I want to say a special thank you to my Sis & Mom for all their planning.

 For details on my shower outift check out this post and look out for more details on the shower games later in the week as a guest post.

Sightseeing in Burlington, VT

The future Hubs and I spent the weekend with my Parents exploring beautiful Burlington, VT. Burlington is the perfect walking city, especially on a sunny day. We were lucky enough to have ideal weather for our little weekend escape.  



Our first stop was the Church Street Marketplace. Located right in the heart of Burlington this car free street is lined with shops & restaurants. Outdoor seating was in abundance and it was a perfect place for people watching. We a large part of the afternoon here and returned in the evening for dinner.

We wandered all the way down to the harbor and on to Battery Park taking in the breathtaking views of Lake Champlain. The Lake was at a record high and actually flooded in several places! In the summer the Lake is alive with ferry's, boat tours and other excitement.

We headed back north to scope out the campus of the University of Vermont. Such pretty architecture! UVM is definitely an idyllic college campus, who wouldn't want to study there? It's right out of a movie.

Even though it was closed for tours we went to take a quick look & walked around the grounds of the Ethan Allen homestead before hopping in the car to head to South Burlington.

One spot I was determined not to miss during our trip was the Magic Hat Brewery. Home to one of my favorite beers, #9! Vermont is home to several breweries and has even been rated #3 in The Huffington Post's Top 12 Cities for Beer Lovers. Magic Hat offers free tours and free samples, how could you go wrong?

Vermont is home to several cheese companies specializing in cheddar. We made a quick stop at Shelburne Farms to grab some of their aged cheddar cheese and explore the grounds. Shelburne Farms is an absolutely beautiful property, they even have their own Inn overlooking Lake Champlain.

Our final stop was on the way home, the Ben & Jerry's factory! I'm not sure if the tour was really worth it but they do give a free sample at the end. If you've never been, I say go once.

I still can't believe how much ground we covered in two short days! I highly recommend Burlington for a weekend getaway we had a great time exploring the city and taking in all that Burlington has to offer.

Little Miracles

It's hard to believe that less than two weeks have gone by since I woke up to the news that my seventeen year old cousin had been in a serious car accident. For days the words swam around my head, my phone permanently glued to my hand waiting for news.

My family collectively held it's breath while her young life hung in the balance. The doctors were very careful to say only if; if she wakes up.

In less than two weeks she has opened her eyes, started breathing on her own, moved her arms, legs, fingers, spoke three words, remembered her address, spoke more, undergone reconstructive surgery to repair crushed bones in her face.

She is a miracle.

Thank you to all of you for your thoughts & prayers. I really do believe it helped.

Sometimes you pray, hope, wish, beg and sometimes,

someone is listening.

In less than two weeks I have experienced some of life's greatest miracles from overcoming the odds of survival to the creation of a brand new life.

Life's little ways of reminding you of what is most important. The little miracles that happen everyday.

And to add some sunshine to one of your lives, the winner of the CSN Stores giveaway is:

Congrats!

Expect an email from me soon.

<3

What The Fug?!

Happy fabulous friday Lovelies!

I'm sure everyone is more than happy to welcome the weekend, myself included.

A couple of announcements today;

if you haven't entered my giveaway for a $35 CSN Stores gift card, there's still time!

And if you're a Boston area blogger there is a meet up happening on Saturday, check out Boston Bloggers for all the deets. I would love to see you there.

Now on to the bad fashion!

I happen to be a fan of pretty prints and fantastic footwear just as much as the next lady but these wedges from Aldo seem to be a dizzying mess of color and prints.

my eyes!!

maybe the green is better?

yes? no? have your eyes rebelled against you?

I personally think the green is a little better.

The shoes do have a 1970's vibe to them which I normally like but I think perhaps they are just a little too loud for me.

What do YOU think?

Would any of you fab fashionistas dare to step out in these?

On a more serious note, I don't normally do this but my 17 year old cousin was in a serious car accident on Wednesday. She's currently fighting for her life in the ICU and I would appreciate it if you could say a little prayer for her, or keep her & my family in your thoughts.

Much love to all of you.

<3

Happy Holidays Indeed!

I had quite the nice Christmas and I hope all of you did too.

We were pretty busy the past fours days with all the family, friends & food.

On Christmas Eve the Future Hubs and I had a nice romantic dinner at our local fine dining seafood restaurant, Surf. After dinner we met up with the Best Man for drinks downtown.

tuna tartare, yum yum

Christmas day brought presents galore! We were spoiled rotten by the In-Laws and then I was spoiled rotten by my Love. We started the day with brunch at his Aunt's house, bacon, pancakes, and more Christmas cookies than I have ever seen!

After brunch we headed home to exchange gifts with eachother. The Future Hubs was really good to me this year with gifts from Tiffany & Co. and Kate Spade. I got him some fierce new ski goggles and bluetooth stereo accessories.

What did Santa bring you?

<3

The Holiday Card

This year I decided to jump on the holiday photo card bandwagon.

After mulling over designs on SnapFish and other sites, I chose a pretty yet simple design from Tiny Prints.

I'm really happy with how they came out, and our families loved them!

This picture is from our engagement party back in June and the quality of the cards is fabulous.

Next year our Christmas cards will definitely have a wedding photo!

<3



Creative Mexican at Besito

In celebration of the Future Hubs' actual birthday my Fam treated him to dinner at Besito on Long Island.

Nestled into adorable downtown Huntington, NY, Besito serves up Mexican food with an upscale flair that will surely get your mouth to water.

As this was our second trip to Besito we had high expections and they did not disappoint! 

We started off our meal with their Guacamole, made tableside and served in oversized stone bowls.

Our drinks, their signature Besito-Patron Margarita made with pomegranite-tangerine juice which gives it that pretty pink hue. Besito also has phenomenal homemade Sangria and a creative wine list featuring wines from Spain, Argentina and Chile.

If the drinks weren't impressive enough, the food is to die for! Besito serves up creative takes on classic Mexican fare like, Tacos Res (skirt steak tacos), Enchiladas De Mole Poblano and Taquitos De Pescado (fish tacos).

We finished our meal with after dinner drinks, I indulged in their martini special featuring tequila & chocolate liqueur and a crushed cookie rim.

The future Hubs even received a complimentary dessert & birthday photo to take home!

Along with your bill the server brings worry dolls and an oversized bag of homemade churros. You'll leave so stuffed but so satisfied!

Besito has 3 total locations; Huntington & Roslyn, NY as well as West Hartford, CT. If you  live near one, I highly recommend you go!

Say Yes To The Dress

Sorry for my unplanned little blog-cation but more on that later.

If you follow me on Twitter you probably remember that I made a special trip to New York City last month.

I was on a mission to find the perfect wedding dress!

I tried on so many beautiful dresses and spent some quality time with my Mom and Sister!

and....I found the dress!

I found my perfect dress at Birnbaum & Bullock

they have so many gorgeous designs I loved trying them all on but once I put on that one beautiful dress I knew it was the right choice!

I'm not telling which dress I chose but think feminine lace & beading.

I'm so happy with my choice and as a bonus we also picked out gorgeous bridesmaid dresses too!

My Sis/MOH served as our model,

I forgot to take pics of the dress we chose haha but it's royal blue and very pretty!

We also made time for some non-wedding fun while I was in NY.

My Sis and I went to see Citizen Cope live, and we enjoyed a leisurely fondue lunch at Artisanal in between dress shops.

yum!

Well, I'm off to meet with a photographer this morning!

Have a fabulous Wednesday!

<3

A Very Jersey Weekend

After 7 hours and one minor breakdown in the car we made it to New Jersey thirty minutes late for my Brothers' engagement party. What can I say? We like to make an entrance.

Some highlights of our trip include cheap gas that we didn't have to pump ourselves, being hit on by some dirty thug at a rest stop, pouring rain at the beach and a few adult beverages. The trip didn't quite go as planned due to insane traffic and bad weather but we still had a great time with my family.

I am however, sad to report there were no Snookie sightings, we were in a completely different part of Jersey.

Some photographic highlights:

my oh my what a good lookin' family

watch out now, she has knives

the beautiful beach, pre-monsoon

only the brave ones went in

I apologize for my pitiful lack of commenting lately. I have been reading!! swear. My work computer can't have IE 8 due to an incompatibility with company software and this causes lots of web errors which means I try to comment, I write my comments but they just won't post!

I'm working on it.

Until then, Have a fab-u-lous Wednesday!

<3