My Breakfast at Tiffany’s Wedding Shower

Happy Tuesday everyone! What an amazing weekend it was! I was blessed to have my second wedding shower hosted by my bridesmaids and attended by all my favorite girls! I couldn’t have asked for anything more, it was so much more fun and amazing than I could have imagined. The festivities started at 2pm where everyone got to mingle and load up on carbs and champagne. We had tons of different food options, some things on the menu included:

My spicy bbq meatballs

Mini turkey and ham sandwiches

Guacamole and chips

Pasta salad

Fruit salad

Piggies in a blanket

Cupcakes and cake balls!

As for the drinks, we had the usual fun girly things to drink, I think everyone’s favorite was the Blushing Bride Cocktail. I found the recipe on Pinterest, but instead of Grenadine we used Blue Curacao so that it matched the party better :) We had two different champagne cocktails, red & white wine and a make-your-own mimosa station. After about an hour or so of chit-chat we started the games, the first one we played at my request was having teams create a wedding dress out of toilet paper and dress up one girl, it was so much fun to watch all the girls get creative and have fun with it!

Next up we played the question game, where my maid of honor asked Mr. Tan Lines a series of questions about me or us and then I had to answer them and try to match what he said! For every question I got wrong I had to put a piece of bubble gum in my mouth! Luckily I only got four wrong, or else I would have been in some trouble. Following that we played the purse game where there was a little checklist and girls marked off whether they had the items in their purses or not. Kudos to my future mother-in-law for being the only guest with a picture of the bride in her purse!

Following this we played a cute game that I hadn’t seen before, on a sheet of paper there were 7 pictures of me and 7 pictures of Mr. Tan Lines from different years. Each guest had to guess what age we were in each of the pictures, very fun but difficult, I could hardly guess my own age! After this came the presents! I had asked beforehand that presents arrive un-wrapped; I just wanted to save some time and sanity from unwrapping each gift in front of everyone. This made for a quick run through of each gift which felt like the perfect amount of time. We also decided to put sticky labels on the gifts with the name of the giver instead of writing out the long list. This seemed like a great idea at the time; however now I cannot work on thank you’s at work because I don’t remember what everyone got me! So in hindsight I would say just to have one of your bridesmaids write out what everyone got you. During the gift opening one of my bridesmaids was secretly writing down my reactions to each gift, so at the end she read them out loud as the commentary that would ensue on our wedding night, it was pretty hilarious. Luckily it wasn’t anything too embarrassing, just a lot of “Aww I love it” and best of all “Oh it’s just my Dutch Oven!”

The shower completely flew by! It was scheduled from 2pm-4pm however we didn’t finish up until around 5:30pm. I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun huh?! I don’t think I can say thank you enough to all of my bridesmaids for everything they did in preparation for the day. From helping with set up, to cocktail making and then even staying to clean. It was truly one of the best afternoons I have ever had. I couldn’t have asked for better and I am so thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life :)

Happy Friday Darlings!

This week seemed to drag on but I am so excited that it is finally Friday! :) Tomorrow is going to be a very exciting day for me; it’s my second wedding shower with my friends & family here in Virginia! I have been looking forward to this day for months, I’m so happy it’s finally here. The theme was developed by my sister and maid of honor who will be affectionately referred to as Luti. Luti loved my color scheme selection and after viewing some of my ideas on my wedding board on Pinterest she immediately thought that this would be the perfect idea! We then began to plan the event, I wasn’t involved too much as she wanted to really lead the effort and ask me for opinions here and there. We developed a yummy food menu and most importantly we came up with a delicious drink menu. We are having some fun cocktail punches that I can’t wait to try! I will give you a full run down on Monday, along with pictures!  

I mean, who just doesn't love this movie and Audrey Hepburn, she is the epitome of elegance! I’ve long had a respect and love for Mrs. Hepburn, especially of her outlook on life & love. I also think she was and is still a great inspiration to us. She spent the second half of her life devoted to UNICEF and helping impoverished children all over the world. Just reading about her legacy is inspiration enough to give to others when they don’t always give back to you, and to always try to help those less fortunate :)

In my first apartment I had my favorite quote from Mrs. Hepburn matted to the wall above my bed so that I could read it every day and remember to stay happy and be myself. I love this picture too because it's the first bouquet of flowers Mr. Tan Lines got for me, after surprising me at my apartment! Here is the poem so you can read it better :)

184 Days To Go!

Happy Thursday everyone! Today I wanted to share something special that I got for Mr. Tan Lines. I always try to find little ways to surprise him and tell him in a new way just how much I love him and how important he is to me. I wanted to do something for him this particular weekend because it’s my Bridal Shower, and it being a normal girls-only shower, I knew that he’d miss being there and celebrating with our friends.  So I wanted to give him something special, to make him feel just as special on Saturday as I’m going to feel at the shower. So I was browsing Etsy one day, if you haven’t heard of Etsy shame on you! It is the most amazing site to buy crafts on. It has anything and everything you could ever think of. Personalized items are endless and if you take the time to email sellers, they will usually do a custom order for you at no extra charge! I have bought countless items through Etsy including jewelry, clothing, items for our home, paper items and most importantly this is how I found the dress maker that made my wedding dress! That’s another amazing story that I’ll have to share with you some other time. But seriously, if you’ve never visited it before, take my advice and go there now, you won’t regret it! So anyway, I was looking for a pretty card to give Mr. Tan Lines and came across the seller named Chloe’s Crafts. I was immediately hooked, she had tons of different cards with colored cut-outs and designs. I didn’t see the exact color I wanted so I sent her an email, asking if she could do a turquoise color in the background with the wording “I can’t wait to be your wife.” She emailed me back and said she would have to see if she could find the paper. Within a day or two she emailed me back saying she had found the paper and my card was a go! I received it within 10 days and am in love with it! With shipping I paid $12...for such a high quality custom card, I think it was well worth it! I’ve had it for over a month and I can’t wait to finally give it to Mr. Tan Lines!

Here is another item I purchased off of Etsy. This I got from the seller Staci whose shop is wiremajigs. It was incredibly easy to place the order and I received it within 2 weeks! Best of all, I got it for less than $20, this is just one of the custom accessories I plan to wear on our wedding day!

Arts & Crafts Fun

Happy Hump Day everyone! I hope you’ve all been having a great week so far! It has been okay here, just wishing these work days would go by faster!

Today I wanted to share some of the latest arts and crafts I have put together for our wedding and my 2nd wedding shower happening this Saturday! I’ll start with the wedding DIY, dying my own mason jars! I should start off by saying that I really don’t know how I could have planned my wedding without Pinterest, it is the most amazing and helpful site. If you haven’t heard of it, I’d be surprised! It’s the most wonderful place to get ideas and learn how to do lots of DIY crafts. If you’re not a member, you need to join asap! Here is a link to my page! http://www.pinterest.com/AundreaLily23/

So for our centerpieces we are using different colored jars of different sizes for each table. Because my colors are pool/turquoise blue I wanted to find jars that matched that color. After research though the tinted blue ones seemed a bit priceyer then the clear jars. So after a little more searching around I found sites that provided instructions on how dye them yourself, and voila, I was ready to go! I read 5-6 different methods and settled on the most common one; pulling steps from each one. I purchased my mason jars on walmart.com and had them delivered to the store nearest me, super easy. Then from Michael’s Arts & Crafts, or heaven for some of us : ) I went looking for everything else that I needed. Here is what I purchased:

1. Hodge Podge with a gloss finish

2. Small sponge ended paint brushes

3. Teal icing food coloring, most instructions asked for “food coloring” but my       local Michael’s only had icing coloring

4. Spray can of sa finishing sealant with a gloss finish

And off we went! The steps were incredibly easy and from start to finish I think it took us about 1.5 hours to dye 12 jars. I say us because Mr. Tan Lines wanted to help me paint the jars :) Sorry I don’t have pictures of the step by step process, but here is what we did.

I mixed 5 tablespoons of hodge podge and 1/4 tablespoons of the icing coloring with 1 tablespoon of water. I mixed that well then proceeded to coat the outside of each jar with the glue mixture. I found it easiest to start at the top, then place the jars upside down on a baking dish and finish the bottom. After they were coated we baked them for 20-25 minutes at 200 degrees. This was much longer then the instructions I read, but I think our oven just cooks a little slower than most! Afterwards we pulled them out and let them cool. We sprayed them with the finishing sealant a few days later. Bam! We were done! It was one of the easiest crafts that I have pulled off of Pinterest and one of the most rewarding since it was for our wedding! Here is a pic of the finished jars after they were done baking.

One tip I would say is wear gloves!! The icing coloring was very powerful and took a few days to rid my fingers of the color!

Now the second craft I did was also for our wedding, a sign instructing guests that there was no “side picking” for seating at our wedding.  We had an old piece of wood in the garage that was the perfect size and I purchased a cheap set of paint brushes for $6 at Michael’s.

We found the perfect color at our local Lowe’s store. We just purchased standard wall paint in the color we wanted. Then I used the paint brush, a very thin one because I had to apply a good amount of pressure to the wood to write the letters.

Mr. Tan Lines will add the stake later so we can place it into the sand near our ceremony.

The third craft I did is for my wedding shower this weekend. I’ll talk about that more later but the theme is Breakfast at Tiffany’s, going with my teal/turquoise color scheme. I saw this amazingly cute sign on Pinterest that I just had to have. So Mr. Tan Lines and I purchased a large sheet of thin wood at Lowe’s, and sawed it almost in half, it roughly had dimensions of 36x40 inches. We then measured out the different sections with painters tape, painting the white first and the teal an hour later.

Then, it was my turn to shine. With the brush in my hand I was ready to go. I wrote the words as closely as I could to my inspiration on Pinterest. I think the entire writing process took me almost 45 minutes, it took various layers of the black paint to form thick clear lines.

A few hours later we sprayed both signs with the finishing sealant and we were done! It was so much fun putting all of this together and it was even more fun getting to do it as a couple! I can't wait for everyone to see!

1 Month Until My Birthday!

It’s truly amazing how time flies! I cannot believe that in just one short month I will be 27 years old. When I turned 26 I didn't really feel like anything was changing, or even feel older for that matter. But for some reason 27 seems like an age that means something, now I feel like I really have to act like an adult! I think it also has to do with just how much I’ve grown in the past year, at this time last year I wasn’t engaged to Mr. Tan Lines yet but I was hoping we would be soon. I think this past year had so much going on, so many life events for myself and my friends and I think it really made me feel like I’m growing up! Getting engaged, obviously in and of itself is a huge deal, but knowing that for the rest of my life I’ll always have Mr. Tan Lines around really made me feel happy. Like anything can happen, we can live anywhere and do anything and we’ll still have each other. We’ve been having so much fun this past year too, going through so many different adventures and learning to love each other despite each other’s flaws. For example, Mr. Tan Lines is always leaving broken chips in the hummus, this might be my biggest pet peeve, yet as I pick out the little chip pieces I still feel so much love for him and can’t wait for us to be together again!

So with that being said I want to leave you with one of my all-time favorite poems. It’s one of those poems that each time you read it you feel something different, or interpret a phrase in a different way. I just know that every time I read it I feel so calm and happy because it reminds me of Mr. Tan Lines and how much I treasure what we have : )

Unending Love by Rabindranath Tagore

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…

In life after life, in age after age, forever.

My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,

That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,

In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it's age-old pain,

It's ancient tale of being apart or together.

As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,

Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time:

You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.

At the heart of time, love of one for another.

We have played along side millions of lovers, shared in the same

Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell-

Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you

The love of all man’s days both past and forever:

Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.

The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours –

And the songs of every poet past and forever.

Beaches & Bridal Showers

Well happy happy Friday everyone!! What an incredible week it has been! Our trip to Alabama was nothing less than spectacular and full of love and family. Overall we had good weather, with the exception of our wedding shower day, which began with a torrential downpour early in the morning! Luckily, by the time we were ready to begin the shower it cleared up and made for a great afternoon/evening! As I mentioned our trip was very wedding dedicated and we were lucky enough to accomplish everything we set out to do. It’s a great feeling having almost everything done with more than 6 months to spare! I’ll get into those details later, but for now I want to tell you all about our shower! It was hosted by our friends and family on Fish River in southern Alabama. The house was completely breathtaking, located right on the edge of the river with dark wood interiors, large open windows all around and it even had an elevator! I loved that there was covered seating outside as well, it gave people a chance to cool off and enjoy the view if they wanted to. Food, food and more food, boy was there a lot of food! Everything was homemade and everything was delicious, from baby vanilla cupcakes to pigs in a blanket and my favorite, the filo dough taco cups. I think I probably ate 7 of those delicious little cups!! The hostesses really added a beautiful touch by decorating with burlap, white flowers and candles. Another great personal touch was marriage advice for each of us placed into glass vases decorated with seashells. We are so excited to see what everyone had to say! Below are some pictures from the party, including one of my favorite gifts, the beautiful KitchenAid! I think it’s every cooks dream, well maybe just my own, but it was always a dream of mine to own one and I cannot believe my dream has come true!

Of course while on vacation we did get to do a little actual vacationing! We hit the beach on Saturday and soaked up the rays for a better portion of the afternoon.

We also visited our “wedding beach” which is where our actual ceremony will take place. It’s a beautiful white sand beach with stunning ocean views. We are just thrilled to be getting married there!

Sweet Home Alabama

Well hello! TGIF (for me at least) today is my last day of work before our mini-vacation down to Alabama this weekend! I am so excited to get out of VA for a while and relax with family and friends. This trip is also heavily dedicated to the wedding as we will be wrapping up almost all of the loose ends. We will be finalizing the location of the tables for the reception space which will also help us determine how many centerpieces and linens we will need! Mr. Tan Lines' family and friends that live in Alabama are also throwing us a couple’s wedding shower that we are so so excited about! We will be picking the restaurant for the rehearsal dinner and I will be going on my very first Ferris Wheel which I am thrilled about! Wow, it sounds like a lot more now that I am typing it out! We will be meeting with the florist and the cake maker and putting down the deposit for both. We know what we want for both, so it’s a matter of selecting flavors and colors and then just getting everything settled. I am also doing a hair trial which should be really fun, I truly lucked out with my photographer, she has been such a huge help. She recommended the hair salon and I am excited to see what it’s like. All of that pretty much sums up our plans!

What’s also very exciting is that on Sunday we will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary. This is the same day as the shower and it seems fitting to be celebrating things about our wedding on our two year anni. We are heading out to dinner alone later that evening, all I asked was that we go somewhere with great seafood! I cannot believe we’ve been dating for two years, it feels like so much longer, I feel like I’ve known him forever. We discussed this over the weekend and how that level of feeling comfortable with each other was just instant. Because we live together we often joke that we’re already married, we do everything that married couples do, without the paperwork. If this is a glimpse of what our lives are going to be like forever then I am pretty excited!!

I'll be leaving you guys for a few days, but I will have plenty of fun stuff to talk about when we get back, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Vino – A Particularly Great Brand

Happy Tuesday everyone! Today I want to talk about one of my favorite brands of wine. It’s called La Finca and it’s available at your local Trader Joe’s. If you’re unlucky to live an area with no TJ’s around, a quick Google search should be able to point you in the general direction of the wine. The reason I love this wine so much is because it’s only $4 at TJ’s...and I believe it to be one of the best valued wines that they offer. Being a huge wine enthusiast and having gone to college, I’ve had my fair share of cheap wines that almost always come with cheap taste. The great thing about La Finca though is that they actually taste great, you would never guess that you were drinking a $4 wine. I’m a big fan of reds, my favorites are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chianti & Malbec. My favorite from La Finca are the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Malbec, they are oh so delicious! Both have a great smooth texture and are light enough where you can drink them over and over again and not tire from an over bearing taste. They both have an equally light taste every time you take a sip, it always leaves you wanting more. I have paired both with various meals and I find myself enjoying it with turkey, chicken, salads and of course, steak. The only pairing I wouldn’t recommend, which seems obvious is fish, I dared to pair the two and what I received was a sour bitter taste from the wine.

We’ve had a few get togethers with friends in our new home and a trip to TJ’s for wine is always in the mix, definitely a great way to load up on all of your favorite wines for a large gathering! One thing I would recommend if you fall in love with this wine like I did is to buy in bulk. I returned yesterday to purchase more and they were out of the Malbec, where the day before the shelf was full! I guess my little secret is out! Below is a picture of the two wines and a picture of my glass with some Malbec. I had to share the picture of the glass, it’s the one and only wedding present we have opened so far! It was also my favorite selection of wine glasses that we put on our registry, we have decided to wait until after the wedding to open all of the gifts, but as a treat Mr. Tan Lines and I agreed to open the wine glasses since we would be using them so much! Thanks for reading and cheers! : )

Yummy Eats! - Tallula

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had as great of a weekend as I did : ) we had our first great weather weekend and boy did we take advantage! We washed the cars, did some gardening and bbq’d on Friday night. Although I think we really don’t know the first thing about gardening but it was nice to sit outside and enjoy the weather! On Saturday night we went out to dinner with my sister and her husband, who will henceforth be known as M&M. We ventured into Arlington, a neighbor of Washington DC and home to the best collection of restaurants and bars. The best part is that most of them are within walking distance from other great places, so if you want to do dinner and then drinks at a separate location, it’s no sweat. Below is a picture of my outfit, I love finding good deals, I got this dress at Marshall’s for $25 and the shoes are Jessica Simpson’s, I love love love these shoes because they are super comfortable and super cute!

We usually like to try different restaurants and this time we chose to eat at Tallula. Its modern American fare with a HUGE wine selection and the price range is $$$. It has gotten tons of great press and raving reviews, always a good sign. I think my favorite thing about Tallula was the environment; there was just this really romantic glow about the place. We cozied up in a high back booth and ordered a bottle of Cabernet Franc. If you’re a fan of red wines I would highly recommend it, it’s a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and has a much more assertive taste then a typical Cabernet Sauvignon. Overall the meal was really good, we got the steak to share and a cheese and meat platter to split between the four of us. I was thinking Tallula would be a great place for a first date, it’s perfect for private conversations and it's ambiance really sets the mood, toss in a nice bottle of wine and you’re all set! There’s also a bar in the back where you can move to after you finish your meal. Below is a picture of us at dinner and then a picture of our complimentary dessert, I think they give it to everyone but who doesn't love a sweet treat to end the night! They were puffed dough balls in a yummy caramel sauce!  And last, but most certainly not the least, is a picture of my wine glass with the delicious Cabernet Franc!

Save The Date!

The date is set! I cannot believe that in just 204 days we are getting married. It feels like it has been a lifetime already, when we actually picked our wedding date we started with 376 days to go. We got engaged in May of 2012, which deserves its own post so you’ll hear about that later : ) and decided then that we wanted to wait a while before beginning any sort of wedding planning. We wanted to really savor being engaged, because well, you only get engaged once right?! We also knew that once we did begin planning that 90% of our conversations would involve the wedding and we just wanted to float in this happy engagement bubble for a little while longer. So we decided that Fall would be our time to jump headfirst into the planning pool. When we began to talk about locations I expressed that I’d always pictured something medium sized, outdoors, on a beach and dancing under the stars. He agreed that something outdoors and near a beach sounded perfect to him too. Living in Virginia such locations are difficult to come by, so instantly we were catapulted into the “Destination Wedding” category.  However, we knew that we did not want to go out of the country, two days after getting engaged we traveled to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and witnessed two separate weddings. We actually had a lengthy conversation with the parents of one of the brides and she highly discouraged it, and not to mention the couple got married at 3pm right beside the main pool. I just didn’t picture myself walking down the aisle to music fit for a night club and half naked strangers in the pool watching us. Although it was very beautiful we definitely wanted something more intimate. As I mentioned in my first post, Mr. Tan Lines is originally from a small town in Southern Alabama. He lived about 45 minutes from Gulf Shores, one of the many beaches that coat the Southern coast of Alabama and stretch out to the Gulf of Mexico. After seeing many pictures and hearing stories we really felt that this would be the place. We planned a trip for September 2012 to visit his parents and of course scout some sites for the wedding. We knew we would have the ceremony on the white sandy beach, so the reception space was the missing piece. We only visited one place and that was the one we selected, a restaurant with a gorgeous outdoor area that overlooked the Bayou Saint John. We ate dinner there and I was sold simply from the garden salad with ranch dressing, it was delicious! After meeting with the event planner the following day and discussing the details we knew that was it, we booked it within a week and can’t wait to celebrate there with all of our friends and family : )

Here is a picture of our Save The Date, my co-worker designed it. The pictures came from our engagement celebration trip to the Dominican Republic, which I’ll get into on another day. My co-worker designed the entire thing and came up with the idea to make it two separate pieces and also to make it a magnet. I am in love with them and can’t wait to begin designing the invitations!  

The Story of Us

So I mentioned yesterday that I would delve into the story of “us” a little later, well a little later is now. Mr. Tan Lines and I met in April 2011 at a Washington National’s, or Nats as we loyal fans call them, baseball game. We were both standing in the excruciatingly long beer line and I happened to overhear him say to his friend that this line was outrageous, I turned to him and said “You must not be from around here, everything in this area has some sort of traffic hold up” he laughed and I laughed then we chatted for the next 10 minutes while standing in line, before I left he asked for my phone number, and I didn’t even think twice about giving it to him. We had many phone conversations over the next two weeks and finally decided to meet for our first date on April 14th at where else but a Nat’s game! My plan was to change right after work and hop on the train to head into DC, sometime after breakfast that day I began to question my outfit selection, jeans and a Nat’s t-shirt that I had tried very hard to cut creatively but really didn’t make it look any better.  I just didn't think it put my best foot forward, not to mention I looked like a little kid, so during lunch I decided to cab it into Georgetown, THE premier shopping area for DC’ers and try my luck. I wandered into a small store I’d never visited before, an eclectic vintage shop called Annie Creamcheese. I was overwhelmed by all of the options, but as fate would have it I found the perfect little red dress to wear. I slipped on my black Mary Jane-ish kitten heels and headed off to DC to meet my date.  Now I have to mention this portion of the story because Mr. Tan Lines constantly brings it up, but as I was running late and completely nervous I got onto the wrong train and ended up in the complete wrong neighborhood, I called him to let him know that I would been even later and hoped he would stick around. When I stepped off of the train station I spotted him immediately, we shook hands which looking back now seems so awkward and headed into the park. 

Here is a picture of us on our very first date, I just knew then that I would want to remember that moment, and I think it’s amazing to be able to look back at this photograph : )

Really after that the rest is history, we hit it off right away and talked and talked all through the night, we drank Miller Lite’s and ate hot dogs for dinner, it was the perfect first date, I didn't want the night to end.  We made plans to see each other again that Saturday and that was that, we were hooked! At the time he lived almost an hour away so we commuted back and forth between each other’s houses and spent the hot summer nights falling in love.

Here is a picture of us from June 2011 down by the river near the Blue Ridge Mountains where he lived:

It has been an amazing (almost) two years and I cannot wait to see what our future holds. Below is a picture from our one year anniversary dinner at The Ashby Inn in Paris, VA...doesn't that just sound amazing?! It is a truly amazing and unique restaurant. The chef cooks only what is in season, fresh and available, so the menu is constantly changing. It’s a beautiful location with mountain views and an outdoor seating area with white Christmas lights. If you ever have the chance to dine here, I would highly recommend it.

Here is a picture of my dinner, smoked beef, mushroom quinoa, goat cheese & black garlic sauces, YUM!!

Thanks for reading, until next time : )

Why Tan Lines & Wine?

This being our first meeting I’ll start this off with telling you a little bit about myself. I’m 26 years old (27 in less than two months), a professional working in Marketing and engaged to my favorite person in the whole world. Our wedding is set for late October on the Gulf Coast in Alabama, that’s where my fiancé is originally from, but I’ll get into more detail about “us” a little later. I think I’m a typical 26 year old woman, I’ve generally figured out who I am and the things I love, but most importantly the things that don’t matter. I love to do all sorts of things sometimes alone and sometimes with friends. I love to read new books, and old ones again for that matter, I love to cook and watch cooking shows, I love to lay out and listen to music, I love this even more if it’s on a beach, I love to stare off into space for countless minutes and dream about exotic beaches in faraway places, I love to travel, I love to nap and of course, as my name suggests, I love to drink wine. Some days I want nothing more than to wear sweat pants and baggy t-shirts all day and lounge around with Mr. Tan lines and Wine and then other days I like to shave my legs, put on some lipstick and high heels and hit the town. I have a typical job, nothing that excites me but it pays the bills and I have a typical schedule. After work we try to hit the gym, as I mentioned we have a wedding & honeymoon coming up! I usually cook us a fantastic & healthy dinner then we cuddle on the couch and watch our favorite tv shows while sipping wine and talking about nothing in particular. Weekends are sometimes busy and sometimes spent in bed all day, but we really like to try to get out and do new things, exercise, clean and spend as much time outside when the weather is nice, which thank goodness it’s finally starting to heat up here in Virginia. That’s where we live, in the suburbs of Washington DC in Northern Virginia. We get all four seasons which is great to experience and we get to be just close enough to experience the excitement of DC and all that comes with living near big cities.

Here is a picture of us from Valentine's Day, right before our very first dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House:

This website is a new journey for me, and I hope that you’ll stick around for the ride, it’s going to be a fun one and I hope you enjoy what I have to say. Until next time :-)