Happy Birthday to my Hubs, 2014 edition

There aren't many other people with whom I can spend every day. This guy keeps me laughing, keeps me rational, and with a full heart. If on a Friday night you find us at Home Depot, doing Conan's puppet dance in the plumbing aisle, with a to go margarita, you'll find us pretty happy. That, friends, is what we married folks call date night. And that is fine by me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUBBY!

Florida fresh

 

          It's harvest time year round here and that always amazes me. The sun and sea are the best parts of living in Florida, and little else matters. Not the stuff we aqcuire, not the restaurants we frequent, or the celebrities at drop thousands at clubs. South Florida's best feature is in its basic natural state, where things flourish or diminish in the hot sun, or get soothed or swept away by ocean waves.

Ok, enough about that, here are some plants growing around here:

The heirloom tomatoes above took me a year to grow from seed and finally they are vine ripe. I'm gonna eat the hell out of you, little fella.

I've managed to harvest a few garden veggies, such as okra and mustard greens. It's the tropical fruits that always amaze me like the coconuts, avocados, and mangoes. It makes me appreciate Florida and forget about the nightmares of my daily work commute. Nature, thank you.

Tata, off to enjoy this beautiful day!

Post Christmas blues

 Last week's walk revealed that Christmas is OVER.  Sadly, this was the sight all over the neighborhood. Post Christmas in south Florida means you stuff your WHOLE tree in the yard waste can. The one that is normally reserved for palm fronds. Come on, people! If you can't chop it up, could you at least remove the tinsel?

//I decided to write America a note on behaf of the Sunshine State //

Dear Rest of Country, 

Your mulch will contain silver specks this year.

With love, 

Florida

Holiday family time... in collages

      We went from a 2 person and a dog household to a 6 person, two dog household this holiday season.   I wanted to make sure they got the most out of their experience here, so instead of naps, I planned activities.  I even went to a few places myself for the first time. South Florida isn't that big after all. I may have had a slight thing in the past about crossing certain streets, as if I were going too far and needed to turn around. I love exploring and learning new things daily, but I have a cap. And when I reach that cap, I just go back home. Perfectly logical?

     While it was a blast, Shawn and I were exhausted because we still worked full time. We vowed to do nothing after they left but rest with out toes in the sand. And did just that. In fact, he had to stop me from throwing a fondue party. Glad he did, folks.

Glad he did. 

(And now the collages...!) 

Collage 1:

from Top Left and clockwise

Holliday Everglades Park (home of the Gator Boys)

Water Taxi Galleria Stop

Mai Kai Restaurant

Coconuts

Collage 2:

Hosreback riding at  Bar-B-Ranch

Collage 3:

Scoring a free taxi ride

Collage 4:

Playing with my new fondue pot!

Picture 2: Conch fritters and Gator Ribs at Coconuts

Collage 5:

Fire show and dancers at Mai Kai

The North Pole 100,000 Christmas lights display house

and Gatorpoop ads in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea

Christmas 2013: Recap

    This Christmas we hosted our family in Florida!  Both moms, my sister, and her husband and their dog, Kiba flew in to celebrate with us. We spent the last two years in orphanhood at the houses of wonderful friends and co-workers, and on both Christmases Shawn worked. I was a bit mopey last year. Finally, I thought, a Christmas that can be spent with our actual relatives!

    We spent the morning making casseroles. Lots of casseroles. There was a hash brown casserole, green bean casserole, and a cauliflower mac and cheese. There was also my mother's lumpia, and the star of the show, a ten pound Honey Baked ham. This was the best dinner we had at our house since it became our house, hands down!

 Here's the table setting, including my favorite Florence Balducci plates, and my new Linea Carta from Anthropologie. I found the rosemary branch napkin ring idea on Pinterest, originally from here,  and plucked them from my yard:

 

and the grace:

and my hubbs enjoying lumpia

we even lit the cheese cake for the Birthday, ya know, the reason for the season:

 oh, and the gifts:

 Hope your Christmas was Merry! Happy New Year!

A Meg Hamilton Dress Sketch for Christmas!

 Shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MeganHamilton

On their wedding day.

    I was so excited to share the Christmas present we got for my sister and her hubby: A custom wedding gown sketch from Meg Hamilton Weddings. Meg creates an fashion sketch of your wedding down, groom's tux, and bridesmaid's dresses. She will highlight special details of your choosing. It's such a great unique gift. 

      I've got a friend getting married soon, who plans to sell her dress after her wedding...this sketch is an awesome way to "preserve" the dress. I would totally rather store  this on my wall rather than a gown in a closet.

    I may even have my dress sketched. You may remember I didn't do a wedding gown, and I actually still wear the dress. I made a tradition to wear it for dinner on our anniversary, so it won't last forever, but the drawing may endure!

My sister and her hubby loved it!

Matching plaid and fur: Our Christmas Card

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of ours, took some beautiful pictures of our little family at Plantation Heritage park, and Dania Beach. I was especially excited to coordinate flannels with my husband, and accessorize with my furry son. Thank you, Jorge!
 

From our family to yours,   

Merry Christmas, Everyone! 

Tree trimming and Christmas glimpses

Trimming, and trimming, and trimming

 and here it is

 I see a green tree and I want to paint it black.

 A friend of ours mentioned that she purchased a black Christmas tree. I obsessed, but since we always buy a Fraser Fir because of its smell, I bought this little guy below. It was from Big Lots, $4.99, and so was the black spray paint. I added fake snow, a Jo Malone Ribbon and box as a base. I wrapped the base in this fabulous black glitter wrapping paper from Michaels. The silver ornaments are from Ikea, last year.

and voila:

 
Bully couldn't resist a photo opportunity underneath the tree, either. He is still ambivalent about those bells his crazy momma made him wear.