Friday, August 24, 2012

Happy Birthday to the Hubster!

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HUBBY!! I'm happy we can be the same age for the next few months before I, the older and wiser one, turn another year older in 4 months. (ahhhhhh!!)

Chris and I are off to Disney World with some friends for the next week! I look forward to celebrating the Hubby's birthday this whole weekend and then kicking off our week in Disney on Sunday! I leave with you today a hilarious video from The Onion (warning: this video contains foul language)

Horrible Couple Really Wants Wedding To Reflect Their Personalities

Have a great week, see ya on the flip side!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Justine and Patrick's Wedding!

Unfortunately, the cold that's been kicking my ass since Wednesday decided to hit me hard on Saturday night while we were at a wedding. With each day this cold seems to get worse and worse and we leave for Disney World in 6 days!! I MUST get better! I tried so hard to muster up some energy on Saturday, but found it harder and harder as the night wore on. As a result, I did not capture this wedding nearly as well as I had hoped, but I can show you some highlights:

I really liked the church in Glendale, Queens where the ceremony was. It was exactly the type of church I always like for ceremonies: beautiful stained glass windows and a long aisle with grand entrance doors!
 I loved Justine's one-shoulder dress, it looked absolutely beautiful on her.
 I also really liked the bridesmaids dresses and their beautiful orchid bouquets!
That night we headed over to the Crescent Beach Club in Bayville, New York. Not only was the place beautiful, but the views were breathtaking, as it was right on the water of the Long Island Sound. I would definitely love to come here for dinner one night. During cocktail hour, Chris and I looked out at the water and even walked in the sand for a bit!
 
 
 On our way up to the reception, Chris and I grabbed our place-card attached to a silver dollar!
Favors were homemade chocolates with a note that a donation had been made to the American Cancer Society. 

The bride and groom were announced and it was time for the first dance:

Near the end of the night it was time to cut the cake!
After that, Chris and I got our piece of cake and went up to the ICE CREAM BAR. I love me some ice cream, but add my love of ice cream to the fact that my throat was on fire, and it was just what I needed to close out our night.

Congratulations to Justine and Patrick and sorry I was such a sick and lame party-goer on Saturday!


Friday, August 17, 2012

Friday Find: How Embarassing!

Happy Friday Find! Chris and I are off to another wedding this weekend and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you all next week!

Today's find is quite embarrassing! Mental note to self: Next time I'm in a wedding, do NOT decide to enter carrying a groomsman on my back! At least she had on cute pink underwear. She takes this like a champ.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Day-Drinking with the Parents: A day on Long Island

Last week my parents and I took a day to head 2 hours out on Long Island to explore their wineries. With my dad as the DD for the day, we were ready to sample some wines, and pig out on our packed picnic of meat, cheese, bread and chips for the day! If you had told me years ago that I'd spend a day day-drinking with my parents...well I wouldn't have believed you. And yet...here we were...
Our first stop was Bedell Cellars Winery, a cute little place. We were hungry when we got there, so we snacked on some cheese and bread in the back of the car (we later realized we should have gone to their nice outdoor patio!)

Bedell's wines tended to be drier than my mom and I like, so we didn't fall in love with any of these wines, but we enjoyed ourselves non-the-less. Plus, we were just getting started. They did have some neat sitting areas overlooking the barrel rooms.

Our next stop was right down the street at Raphael, this was our favorite winery of the day. If you look closely, you can see my mom and dad here:
The entrance was so beautiful, inviting, and very Tuscan. We walked into a gorgeous space with hanging chandeliers which immediately caught our attention. Off of the main room, they had private party spaces and a gift shop.
My mom and I loooved the woman who helped us out...Carol? Cathy? Luann?? Obviously, at this point we had sampled 8 wines, sooo I don't remember what the heck her names was!

We sat out on their back patio for at least 45 minutes eating more of our packed salami, cheese and bread and drinking a bottle of their 2011 White La Tavola! you can certainly see the flushed look of wine-drinking on my cheeks here! (also: why is my dress so SHEER??!)

Our next stop was Duck Walk Vineyards where our good friends, Chris and Corinne, will be getting married next year! I've been to a Duck Walk winery before, but not this one. One of my all-time favorite wines is their boysenberry dessert wine and I couldn't help but buy a bottle before leaving! It's sooooo good!


 Our lady-helper. We each bought two bottles of wine here: Boysenberry, and one of their reds.
Cute Fishy!!

Our last stop of the day was Sparkling Pointe - the place where our friends, Chris and Corinne, got engaged! They serve only sparkling wine, which wasn't really my mom's thing...but I highly enjoyed closing out our day with some bubbly...or champs (pronounced "Shamps"), if you will. I also enjoyed the set-up here, sitting out on the grass directly next to the grape vines! I'm so one with nature! ;)


It was at this point that Mom and I started to get goofy...I mean, this was our 4th winery of the day...


On the way out of town, we stopped at a farmer's market for some fresh produce to make for dinner the next night.
We ate dinner at a place called Dark Horse Restaurant in Riverhead, where I had a lobster roll, my dad got a kobe beef burger and mom ordered stew.


I didn't feel so great the next day..which kinda sucked., but it was worth it for a day of spending time (and drinking) with the Parentals!!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

An Ode to Zoey

Our "puppy", Zoey, is a funny pup with a lot of personality and many different character traits.

She loves all creatures...
She gives great advice...
Sometimes, she falls asleep in the middle of chewing on a toy...
She's a cuddler, even with her favorite toys...
She's a great Guard Dog...
She even protects us from evil hedgehogs...

Her favorite meal of the day is breakfast...
She thinks all pillows are for her...
...and thinks all arms are pillows...
Destroying her toys is all in a day's work...
Sometimes, she really looks like a toy...

She loves to swim...
Zoey is a great bed-mate...
She's a big fan of the Giants...

She enjoys a cold beer as much as the next person...

She's proud of her dachshund heritage...

She likes to help water the flowers...

She likes to tackle the really hard decisions like: "What should I eat for dinner?"
She likes to play hide and seek:
She's very smart, and passes all her doggie classes...

Most of all, she's just plain amazing. A well-behaved, never-gives-us-any-problems, easy-going pup. We lucked out, and we know it. I can't really put into words how much I love her, and I'm so glad she came into our lives 10 months ago!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

eFavorMart.com Video Contest Submission

Remember my eFavorMart review of their products? Well I posted my picture to their facebook wall and they asked me to create a video to submit to their current Video Contest. The winner of this contest wins a FREE IPAD!

So without further ado, here is my eFavorMart.com video contest submission.
(PS: I am AWARE that marshmallow is spelled incorrectly at one point in this video...arrrg and that's such a pet-peeve of mine!!) I am working to fix it but for now, here is the video:

Monday, August 13, 2012

Liza and Ryan: Vermont Wedding Recap

As you know, a few weekends ago, Chris and I spent the weekend in Vermont with his family celebrating Liza and Ryan's wedding. I've only met these two twice before, both times at weddings (her sister's and mine) so I don't know the couple that well. That being said, this wedding was just like her sister's two years ago, but with Liza and Ryan's own special and personal touches.

We arrived just in time for the 4:15pm ceremony. Unfortunately, the sky was getting darker by the minute and we knew that a big rain storm was quickly heading our way. The ceremony was literally 5 minutes long, and we all headed under the tent JUST as it started to really rain. The timing could not have been more perfect.
Ryan and Liza brew their own beer in the basement of their Pittsburgh home. So in addition to various wines and beer they had on hand, they also had a keg of their own home-brewed beer. It was very good and very strong! The bride and groom even had matching beer mugs on their sweetheart table!
The tables were very beautifully done, with simple flower arrangements and chalkboard table numbers.
Favors were little personalized bottles of maple syrup and a maple leaf wine bottle stopper
We had cocktail hour, followed by dinner where we had a variety of food including: tomatoes and mozzarella, fruit, pastas salad, rolls, penne al la vodka, chicken, beef, stuffed whitefish, scalloped potatoes, corn pudding, and rice pilaf.
We then mingled and danced
 The "kids" table
With my mother-in-law!
After dinner, it was time for Liza and Ryan to cut the cake.
The majority of the night was spent dancing, and mingling with old friends, it even included a hula hoop contest!


The hula-hoop champion was Connor!
 With my buddy, and hula hoop champ!
 
My favorite part of the night was the releasing of the wish lantern. I've seen this on wedding blogs many times, but never in person. A wish was written onto the paper lantern, in this case was "Love each other forever", and then released into the air. This lights on fire and turns to ashes before it lands anywhere!








Liza looked on at the lantern with her sister and mom.
We had a really great time dancing the night away on this beautifully cool night. It was really nice to catch up with those I hadn't seen since my wedding, and meet new people I hadn't met before.

4 weddings down for 2012, 4 more to go!