weekend wishes & a sneak peek

after a crazy week weather-wise, i'm looking forward to a weekend with warmer temperatures.  i am NOT ready for winter, and mother nature's little gift of snow earlier this week was not well received over here! makes me want to curl up & go to sleep until spring is here.

this weekend is filled with fun & exciting things that i have been looking forward to! this afternoon shawn & i are heading to cityhall to make it OFFICIAL.... the name change that is! sort of bittersweet.. but i have been signing my new name since the day we said " i do" ;)

afterwards we plan to stroll along, do a little shopping, and grab some dinner.  my brother's band is performing in the city tonight also, and i can't wait to see them!  it will be a perfect little date afternoon/night.

other weekend plans include : an afternoon date with my mom.  catching up with some college friends. updating some home decor.  and probably looking at our wedding photos for the 25th time ... :)

what are you looking forward to this weekend??

xo


ps - a little sneak peek!

photos by the amazing george weiss III

find him here, here, or here

birthday recap & christmas right around the corner..

i find that the holidays are the craziest time of the year along with the best time of the year.  my birthday is on the 19th, which to me, is the perfect way to start off the christmas celebrations! and the best way to round out the celebrations? with shawn's birthday on new year's! yes, that's a lot of celebrating in a very short period of time, but i know of no other way to do it so i absolutely love it!

with my birthday being on this past monday, shawn & i decided to have a little celebration, just the two of us, on saturday.  we started the day off with a little bit of shopping around town.  it was the perfect way to get into the spirit. we walked along main street, in and out of the little boutiques...which were perfectly adorned for the holidays. i love seeing strings of lights and holiday wreaths all around.  i found some perfect gifts for my brother & mom, as well as the perfect stocking stuffer for shawn. thankfully, he was outside on a phone call when i made that purchase! after our afternoon stroll, we headed home to wrap up some gifts & relax for a little bit before readying and heading out for the evening.

one thing we both love is a good bottle of champagne.  lately, we have decided that champagne doesn't need to be saved for special occasions, but rather enjoyed for all occasions that you want to make special! so we sipped on some bubbly while we got ready.

then we headed out to partake in...BOWLING! if you can believe it, in the 5 and a half years we have been together, we have NEVER gone bowling together!

after our game that went by way too quick, and shawn beat me so pathetically, we headed to the bar upstairs and enjoyed a drink or 2! then we played air hockey, where shawn may or may not have pathetically beaten me again ;)

it was the most fun!

on monday, we met with my mom & brother for some amazing sushi.
mom brought  my favorite wine: cupcake savignon blanc & a new one that i have been wanting to try: cupcake red velvet. which was perfect in every way!

 my brother's creatively wrapped gift (above) & its contents (below!!!)

 yes, all of that was consumed..

all in all, it was one fabulous birthday & i can't think of a better way to start my year!

*****

christmas eve is tomorrow,  i can hardly believe it! today will be filled with wrapping & baking. the rest of the weekend? family, friends, food, laughs, love & a few presents :) i can't wait!

merry christmas to all!

xo,

a few things

no secret here... i LOVE fall! by far, my favorite season of them all. (and not so secretly i wish the seasons went spring, summer, fall, spring, summer, fall, etc..) one of my favorite attributes of fall is the sight of PUMPKINS.  last year (and this year too!) i was head over heels for the fairytale & white pumpkins.

 source

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aren't they cute?

****

source

i'm still waking up every morning thinking about my wedding dress.  ahhhh...i cannot wait to wear it on my wedding day! it's crazy to think that i still have about 11 months to go. i know it will go by fast, but now that i have found my dress i feel like i am ready to walk down the aisle! this morning in church, as i was walking up to the alter to receive communion, i was literally getting teary eyed, imagining the same walk on my wedding day..dorky, i know!! but i am definitely overwhelmed with happiness & excitement!!

speaking of the wedding, i have chosen the designer for my bridesmaids' dresses- bill levkoff.  i want my girls to choose their own style for their dress, and the color is called "french canary."  from the start, i knew i wanted my colors to be gray & yellow.  early on, i stumbled across this wedding, and have been using it as my "inspiration."

i just adore all of these images..although my guys will be wearing gray instead of black.  i also love the look of the bridesmaids having different style dresses on, as well as silver OR gold strappy heels.

*****

and, a little recap of my week, since i have not been finding the time to blog!

last weekend, shawn and i were gifted some tickets for the eagles game! and although they lost terribly, the weather was cold & wet, and we were surrounded by a drunk or 2;)...we had FANTASTIC seats, and we enjoyed every minute!

the rest of my week has been filled with working and running and spending time with my fiancee :) on most mornings, we have been up at 4:45am to get to the gym by 5am.  at first it was really hard to get up so early, but now it is a part of our daily routine, and i can honestly say that i much prefer the early workouts.  by the time i get home from work, i am exhausted and the last thing i want to do is get changed and head to the crowded gym to wait around for the machines or weights i want.  in the AM, the gym is not crowded and i never have to wait to use anything.  to top it all off, there is no feeling like getting home from work & knowing you already have your workout done for the day! however, about once a week, if we know the weather will be nice, we will allow ourselves to sleep in and go for a run when we get home from work. 

check out my view from our run on kelly drive this past thursday.

that run was followed by:

some delish homemade pizza and:

our new seasonal favorite...soo good!!

***** 

coming up this week, i am most excited about our engagement session on sunday! i'm hoping for a cool, crisp, autumn day...a good hair day & a cute outfit;) can't wait to share those photos with you!

hoping you had a great weekend and wishing you a fabulous week!

xo,

summer days

it's summer days like today when i fall in love with the warm season all over again.  what is more perfect than a warm, sunny evening spent on the roof deck with a glass of sauvignon blanc & your fiancee? evenings like this, we go out onto the deck with the intention of just eating dinner out there...next thing we know it's 10 o'clock!!

these are a few images i found via pinterest (which, by the way, i'm becoming obsessssed with!!). although these roof decks put ours to shame, we love it none the less!!

hope you are enjoying this beautiful evening:)

xx,

"it's a date!"

first, i must say that i have been using the Moroccan oil from my hair stylist & i absolutely love it. the smell alone made me fall in love! i highly recommend it!

next, i finished reading Gone With a Handsomer Man. it was a very fun, light, mystery...a good beach read with a cliffhanger of an ending. i'm hoping there will be a sequel!

and now on to the fun stuff!!

last night shawn and i attended the "it's a date" expo at the franklin institute.  upon arrival we were given free passes for the mummy exhibit, which was really awesome! after viewing the mummies, we went to the expo where we were treated to endless drinks & hor d'oeuvres! we tasted risotto cakes, julienne vegetables, beef tenderloin, different cheeses, olives, fruit, grilled shrimp & baby spinach salad, fresh tuna, miniature philly cheese steaks, lobster clusters, chicken won tons, etc, etc, etc!

while we sipped on our champagne we were able to walk through the many exhibits to gain some info on photographers, florists, event planners, bands, djs, trolleys, honeymoon, invitations, wedding dresses, tuxes, cakes,  and unique gift ideas...all while listening to eddie bruce. 

they were amazing!

shawn & i are very interested in using secrets for our honeymoon.  take a look at these beautiful images!!

we also received some free gifts: a wine stopper, a candle, magazines, and several offers for upgraded rooms or discounted services just for attending last night!

we had the best time! and now let the planning begin!
...speaking of that - we have selected a date (as long as it is available wherever we choose to have our reception) FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2012!

we are so excited to start planning & i'm so excited to be able to blog my experience!

xo,

concrete jungle where dreams are made of

i am super excited because shawn & i decided that since we have no plans for this weekend, we might as well take a trip to our beloved NYC!

back in September we had reservations for a wine tasting sailboat tour of manhattan on the hudson through manhattan by sail. so we packed up our bags and we were off for the weekend to sip, sail, sight see & shop through nyc . . . we did all of the above save for the sail part :-/  there ended up being a horrendous storm canceling our sailboat tour. but the good news was that we would just have to plan another trip! 

fast forward to yesterday, and i'm sitting here thinking, what can we do this weekend?..what can we do this weekend??...I KNOW! SAIL ALONG THE MANHATTAN SIPPIN ON SOME WINE! shawn says, great! let's do it!

so this morning, i call and make a reservation for 2.  no problems! yay, i'm thinking this is a great weekend for nyc because most people will be headed to the shore. so i then proceed to visit the website because i'm a bit curious as to what the theme for this tasting just may be.  our tasting back in september was set to be spanish reds.

look down the list.

find the date..

ah ha! 

MAY 29TH - THEME - WEDDING PROPOSALS

whatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt! um....... wait. a. minute..!?!?

well. now. what the HECK! what kind of wine tasting theme is "wedding proposal"?!

if you know me at all, you may or may not have been enlightened into my very small, slight, miniscule of a desire to be engaged like yesterday. and while i have tried to keep my personal feelings at bay in order to not drive shawn running for the hills, this about knocked me off my chair.  five years of dating mr. wonderful...a sailboat proposal would be quite romantic! but let's not get ahead of ourselves, eh?

anyway, i, of course, proceeded to call the woman back & request some more info on said tasting and she assured me that there will in fact be NO ONE getting married, being proposed to, or anything of the like. 

so, while i may be day dreaming until sunday of my sailboat proposal, in the back of my mind i do not feel as though IT will be happening to me this weekend. had to share my silly story, hope it at least made you smile:)

and let's hope for a beautiful, sunny day!

adele

i can't quite put into words how amazing the adele concert was on friday night.

she is absolutely gorgeous & adorable. she came out with her camera, taking pictures of the crowd promising to hang our picture on her wall in London. she was teared up at one point, so humbled, saying that she could not believe that she would come all the way to America & people would be singing her songs. she talked a lot & told stories of what inspired her songs. every song she sang was perfect & if i thought i loved her before, well now i am completely obsessed!!! i will most definitely be seeing her in concert again! 

the video was taken on my phone so the quality is not that great but i thought i'd share it in case you'd like to see a glimpse of the concert!

hope you had a fabulous weekend!