Florida - Part I

You know what the middle of January needs? A trip to Florida. I'm a big advocate for four seasons fully experienced. But who can say no to a future mother-in-law with a lovely condo just minutes from the beach. Not me.

We flew into Tampa and spent the first day in St. Petersburg on the Pier. I helped drag the boys out of bed bright and early on the second day. By afternoon we had seen several alligators, survived a boat crash, enjoyed a canopy walk, and climbed a million stairs up past the tree line.

What a life

Yesterday I came home to a spic and span house (not at all how I left it), a hot delicious dinner, and a beautiful sunset.

Thanks Mark!

Some cool ladies

Last weekend was spent cozied up in a cabin with 16 other awesome ladies. There was cave hiking, and hot tub confessions, and night time zip lining. Also talents shows, arm wrestling tournaments, and large quantities of fried eggs.

I can't recommend enough schlepping your friends into a cabin in the middle of winter for Girl Camp. My sense of feminine-awesomeness was rejuvenated. Never underestimate us.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Christmas was wonderful. We were spoiled with delicious food, thoughtful gifts, and most importantly - time with our loved ones.

Mark has taken every chance to make the incredibly simple and ridiculously rich recipes from Fergus Henderson's The Whole Beast. For Christmas Eve it was suppose to be Rabbit and Garlic. But apparently Rabbit fly's off the shelves faster than Tickle Me Elmo's on December 23rd. So we "settled" for beef shanks.

The recipe calls for 60 to 80 cloves of garlic. Nope, not a typo. My favorite part of the recipe is the last part: "Serve hot straight from the pot, encouraging your fellow diners to suck the flesh from the unpeeled garlic cloves, which will now be sweet and delicious. For the juices you will need both bread and napkins."

Christmas at Cotton & Brass

Thankfully the three other ladies of Cotton & Brass fully indulge my holiday love. Including decorating ornaments, overnighting them to my house, and photographing them over freshly baked cookies.

*Photo via Christa Kimble

Tip of the Hat

The hat contest was fierce this year at the Corgi Christmas Cocktail Party. Good job ladies.

'Tis the Season

The tree is up and trimmed, presents are wrapped, and there is even a little mistletoe. I'm unapologetic about my enthusiasm for the holidays. I must be insufferable with my Maria Carey Christmas blaring, our dining room table bursting with Holiday crafts, and the constant chatter of what to get whom. I don't care.

Maybe it has something to do with Ohio winters and needing to cling to every good thing we have once winter hits. That could also be why I have never been able to hate Valentines Day.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday concluded with yet another amazing dinner by Mark and a table of friends to help eat it. The dinners have been consistent over the past several months. Sometimes they are at others houses and sometimes it's just us two while other times it's 20. No matter the setting though it's always wonderful to sit down with people you care about and polish off a roast.

Sometimes in the quiet of the meal, when our mouths are too full for conversation, I think about how lucky I am. How did I get this lucky? Despite the dim economy and our own struggles with finding sustainable jobs we have a thriving community.

Cracks

There were cracks in the clouds the whole way to West Chester for dinner with Mark's family. The sky was a pillow of gray except for a few beautiful sheets of light that pierced through. I couldn't stop staring.

A rusty, Thanksgiving inspired bouquet also managed to happen over the weekend. You can see more photo's of it on Cotton & Brass.

To plan a wedding

My job is to convince brides that an all inclusive package where "we" take care of everything (i.e. the linens, the set-up, the food, the bar, the lighting, the tear down) is the bee's knees. You even get an event coordinator to walk you through everything. And it's easy for me to sell because I really believe that it's the best way to go.

And then there is my wedding. It could not be more opposite. I had to talk myself off the Do-Your-Own-Catering Cliff, but besides that we are really doing pretty much everything. In the beginning I felt like a bride-champion quickly knocking out the major elements without a second thought (inspired by Evie). But now it's getting down to the details. What exactly do we want our invitations to say? How am I going to actually alter my dress? Where do we really want our guests to stay?

I was once among the niave brides that actually spewed the words "laid back, diy wedding" together. It only took a couple of my dearest friends and their DIY weddings to bring me out of that denial coma. DIY weddings are laborious, mind-numbing, undertakings. But I honestly can not imagine doing it any other way. And so I spent my weekend tediously drawing out blades of grass on my Wacom tablet for our save-the-dates.

It turned out beautiful and is exactly what we wanted.