October Updates

Hi everyone! The reason for my most recent blog hiatus is unfortunately a sad one.  Our precious little kitten, Sushi, passed away two Sundays ago and we've had a hard week and a half.  Slowly but surely, we're starting to feel back to normal but we still miss our little dude very much!  He'll always hold a very special place in our hearts and we'll remember him always as he was the coolest, goofiest, sweetest little kitten ever. Thank you to my sweet and caring mother~in~law {especially you!}, aunts, and dear friends and other family for being so supportive.  Much love to you all and to all animal lovers out there!  Pets truly do become part of your family.

So we've finally put the tears behind us and there have been a few fun updates I'd like to share!  Especially so this post won't be so gloomy. 

Early October was a trip to San Fran and wine country for our friends wedding.  Soooo much fun and so much love surrounding the two of them and between the two of them.  We wish them a lifetime of happiness!

Here are pics to document this past month...



Dylan and I at Marina Park where the wedding was held.  Gorgeous view!!



The groom and groomsmen

 

 

 

The gorgeous ceremony spot



Sweet Newlyweds first dance!

 

Our bus to wine country!

We also did some more Fall decorating to cheer us up, got "Boo~ed" twice by our neighbors {I'll explain more, don't worry it's actually a good thing!}, and I had a fun girls night with my sweet Supper Club gals!  We had a Paint the Pumpkin party at my house and it was so good to have that much needed laughter and fun.  SC girls, you rock! : )

As I mentioned, we were "Boo~ed" twice!  Note again: this is a good thing!  Lol



This is the second one we received.  Both times, we got lots of candy and cutsie Halloween stuff!
http://beenbooed.com/ explains what this is and how to go about it.  Our neighborhood started it up and it was fun!  Since we received two, we, in turn, "boo~ed" four different houses.  Our neighborhood block party is tomorrow night as well!

Supper Club gals!!  Love y'all!!

Needless to say, we eat good!  : )

Ta~da!

Hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!!  This week seemed to drag a bit but that is a-okay because the weekend is now upon us.  Tonight, we'll grill as usual and enjoy this beautiful Fall weather {which so far only feels like Fall at night time but we'll take what we can get!}  As far as Saturday is concerned, no major plans thankfully!  I intend to do some light shopping, relax a little, and do some things around the house while Dylan is fully entrenched in all this football. My, oh, my!  When football season exists, not much else does! Lol : )  We'll also be ramping up for our San Fran trip and I think I have about a day's worth of laundry to attend to...eeek!

Have a fab Fall Friday!! Here are my Friday Faves:

1.  Merrilily Gardens Sweet Heat Pepper Jelly.  Sweeeet heat it is!!! This is some jam up pepper jelly for sure!  I can't get enough of the stuff.  Its so scrumptious smeared on a warm french baguette, spooned over a block of brie, or even served on a plain ole cracker!  It has a really good balance of sweet and spicy {I always tend to gravitate more towards spicy so my palate might be different} but it really is great.  You should totally try it out!  Like, for real.  : ) I found this at Roswell Provisions, of course, but it can also be found {here}. 

2. Stripes!  Oooh the stripes are just everywhere now...all over Pinterest, House Beautiful magazine, home decor blogs, etc.  So I jumped on the bandwagon.  Note: I jumped on the bandwagon in a small way, but what a statement it made! Our boring ole hallway got a face lift!  Well, more like a lil Botox. My amateur process is in pics below. Just painter's tape and measuring tape and some leftover paint I had from the dining room accent walls.  This paint color doesn't show too well in the pics, but you get the gist.



Almost done!!  Tackling the pesky corners about pushed me over the edge.  The smallest paint brush I had would not

work like I needed it to so my recourse was a whole lot of q-tips. 

Uh-huh, you read right, q-tips.  The only things small enough to get the edges just "so."

Tada!!

The small table is from Kirkland's.  Very cheap but so pretty to me!

See my dear head decor?!?  lol.  Dylan is adjusting well.

3.  Taco Soup.  This soup is sooooo good!  So fulfilling and tasty and a perfect way to welcome Fall.  I made this and it lasted 4 days and we still couldn't finish it because it yields so much!  The longer it sits in the fridge, the better it gets.  We eat ours with corn scoop chips and a dollop of fat free sour cream.  This is my mom's recipe that I cannot share but there are many variations out there.  I would suggest Paula Dean's recipe found {here}.  Or come up with your own.

 

4.  Pumpkin Topiary.  Much like the stripes phenomenon, I've seen these cute little pumpkin topiaries popping up everywhere!  Dylan and I took a trip to our fave farmer's market in Marietta, Rick's, last weekend and they had so many pretty pumpkin topiaries of different color combos. I, of course, fell in love.  So we purchased some and away I went putting ours together at home.  You can do moss in between the pumpkins but I started with magnolia leaves from our magnolia tree in the front yard.  Once these leaves turn brown, I'll change it up and put moss in their place.  For now, here's some pics of our p-kin topiary.



Stack up three different size pumpkins {largest at the bottom} and place in a planter or even on the ground. 

I stuck in some green magnolia leaves first

Then, finished it off with some yellow magnolia leaves that had already fallen on the yard.

5. Amber Goblets.  These pretty amber goblets came from Home Goods and they are perfect for a Fall tablescape.  Pier One has lovely ones but their cost compared to Home Goods...well hello!  No brainer...Home Goods pricing won out BIG time.  These goblets are so sturdy and quite large which I just love.  Here's a pic...

And finally, as I always end Friday Favorites...here are some pet pics!  This one goes out to Sushi.  His antics get weirder every day but we love him!!

Here he is in the bathroom sink patiently waiting for me to get out of the shower so that he can get in.  Yes, he gets in
the shower after I get out and sits in it! There is still water left on the bottom of the tub but he likes it!  Crazy cat!

And here is another favorite past time of his....unrolling the toilet paper roll!!

 

Have a great weekend!!

Our First Wedding Anniversary

 

This past Monday {and the weekend prior}, Dylan and I celebrated one year of marriage!!  We cannot believe how fast a year went by.  That old saying that "time flies when you're having fun" is oh so true! We married last year on October 1st at Founders Hall in Roswell, Ga.  The venue was so beautiful, the weather perfect that day, and the celebration of our love and commitment we made to one another still gives me chills of excitement!

Just a recap of how we celebrated this sweet milestone.  Of course, I cannot divulge everything as some things are sacred that we'll keep to ourselves!  : )  We look forward to another year of marriage.  Making more memories and growing even more in our love and respect for one another.

We started the celebration on Saturday night with a trip to The Sun Dial restaurant {click here for website}.  Neither of us had been before, surprisingly, so as my part of our celebration, I picked this place!  We had a lovely meal and a fantastic view of the city.  At 72 stories up, we were able to see the revolving view of Atlanta at daytime, transitioning to sunset, and even the gorgeous lights at night.  Fun fun, romantic date!!  I think the waiter knew we planned to linger throughout our meal to take it all in. He totally obliged!

 

 

 

Next up, on Monday {our actual anniversary day} it was Dylan's turn!!  I pulled in the driveway to find one of our antique chalkboard signs hanging on the door with a white hydrangea attached and a sweet note! I went inside to lots of hugs and kisses! Then, we hopped in the car and went back to Founder's Hall {we're lucky enough to live so close to there} and had the top part of our wedding cake on the front porch!  So so romantic and special. 

 

 

Then, we headed back to the house and Dylan made this delicious grilled lamb with rosemary and a tomato and lemon couscous.  He had the dining room set up with our fine china, lots of candles, a beautiful vase of my favorite flower, hydrangea, and our vinyl record player playing lightly in the background.  I was soooo shocked and impressed!  He went all out!

He even had our favorite bottle of red table wine that we enjoyed on our honeymoon shipped to our house from California because you cannot find it here!  I received the sweetest card that made me get all teary, hence, the no photos of our faces from Monday during dinner!  : )

As the cherry on top of this wonderful first year, we have the privilege of returning to our honeymoon spot next week to celebrate a dear friend's wedding!  Heading back to Cali!  Love is in the air : )