SIL's Wedding Weekend

Another fun weekend for the books spent with family and awesome weather on Florida's west coast.

On Friday afternoon we drove two hours for my sister-in-law's wedding weekend. By the time we checked into the hotel and got settled it was already 7pm so we walked to the nearby marina and settled for some seafood dinner at Pier 22 riverfront restaurant.

After dinner we met up with my SIL and her wedding party at their favorite pub where they went to hang out after the rehearsal dinner.

On Saturday morning, we got properly caffeinated and relaxed at the hotel before getting dressed and dolled up for the wedding that afternoon.

 

The ceremony was short and sweet at their childhood church and then the reception was at a cute banquet hall for an amazing dinner, live music, and lots of mingling with family and the kids. The wedding ended fairly early and I opted out of the after-party for the sake of getting some rest.

Sunday was a gorgeous day which made it very hard to want to leave. We checked out of the hotel and decided to enjoy the weather by walking around the marina and getting some lunch at Riverhouse Reef & Grill before hitting the road.

 Beautiful weekends like that make me wish I lived closer to the water. I hope your weekend was just as fulfilling!


Joining the lovely Biana for some Weekending fun.

Friday Reflections

Four posts in one week...who am I? I guess that's what a mandatory hurricane curfew and a three-day weekend will do to you. No complaints here since I feel somewhat organized again.

My SIL's wedding is this weekend so that calls for pretty nails and this is the color combo I'm rolling with: Essie's Chinchilly (my favorite), Lady Like and Sugar Daddy.




I just recently found out about the soft as silk LuLaRoe leggings from a coworker so I had to buy a pair, except I cheated and found them for half the price on Amazon. They're from VIV Collection but honestly you can't tell the difference. I'm tempted to buy 10 more pairs!
 



Another Bath & Body Works haul happened recently because when 50% off 3-wick candles comes around... that's when I stock up. I got my usual fall/pumpkin candles but I also bought some year round scents such as Hello Beautiful.




I finished Amy Schumer's The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo audiobook earlier this week and since then I've moved onto The Girl on The Train. I know I'm late to the party but I'm late to reading books altogether. So far I'm confused with the story but starting to pick up the pieces. I'm not sure I could sit through physically reading this book but the audio version will do on my commute to and from work.

The new Hello Kitty wine collection is quite adorable and since it's the weekend, why not share? 

Cheers to the weekend!

Joining my fellow Floridian Amanda for Friday Faves.

Home Style: Furniture & Decor

 We finally sold our previous house after four long months and three different buyers going under contract and then falling through for various reasons. It's been quite the ride but now that the weight is lifted I can now focus on fully decorating and furnishing our new house. Over the past few months I've had lots of time to research and visit furniture stores to pick out the pieces I want but then it was a waiting game from there to actually make the purchase. I'm excited that time has finally come. I purchased our dining room table a couple weeks ago but there's so much more we need after selling most of our furniture from the old house.

Upholstered Headboard

Aqua Dinette Set

Linen Storage Closet

Peacock Wall Art

Mirrored Chest

Tufted Storage Bench

Parisian Dusk Bedding Set

 Grey Silk Shag Rug

Hopefully when our house is finally furnished and decorated, I can share some more photos for an inside tour.  I've been waiting for that day for quite a while now!

Delicious Recipes for Fall

I've been trying to get back into cooking "new-to-me" dishes on Sundays when I have time to get all the ingredients from the grocery store and plan accordingly. I made my first Fall-inspired recipe - eggplant parm lasagna - over the weekend and since then I've been searching for more recipes to add to my dinner menu:

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup

  

Shredded Chicken Parmesan Sandwich

Sweet Potato with Goat Cheese, Cranberries & Balsamic Glaze

New Orleans Gumbo

Firecracker Chicken Meatballs

Pan Seared Cod in White Wine Tomato Basil Sauce

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

Pumpkin Cheesecake Shooters

What's on your menu for Fall?

The Weekend with Hurricane Matthew

With Hurricane Matthew approaching us on Thursday afternoon and a mandatory curfew set until Saturday at 7 am, we planned to spend the 3-day weekend at home and just pray we didn't get hit too hard from the storm.

The anticipation of a Category 4 hurricane heading towards us was quite scary so we stocked up on supplies last week and prepared for the worst.  I can't speak for other parts of the country but we got very lucky with no major damage to our house and didn't lose electricity either. The curfew was lifted sooner than expected on Friday afternoon so we headed out for some dinner at Outback.

Most of Saturday was spent cleaning and doing errands before taking Lola out to enjoy the beautiful weather at a lakeside restaurant and market.

Sunday was another gorgeous day although I managed to be a coach potato for most of it watching TV and blogging. Lola was worn out from all the fun on Saturday.

For Sunday dinner, I tried my hand at making Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna, which turned out amazing (recipe coming soon). I enjoyed all the relaxing and I'm thankful the hurricane has fizzled instead of looping back around and hitting Florida a second time as initially predicted.


Joining the lovely Biana for some weekend whereabouts.

Weekend Plans Cancelled

I was supposed to leave today for a 3-day cruise to the Bahamas but Hurricane Matthew has threatened the east coast of Florida so the cruise was officially cancelled yesterday. I'm not hugely disappointed because I've been on this cruise ship twice before and really didn't want to chance getting on a boat knowing a huge storm is lurking nearby. Safety first and I'll gladly take a quiet weekend at home. I'm just praying Matthew doesn't cause too much devastation which I know it's already caused in Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas.

We are supposed to be hit the hardest at 8 am today so I'm not sure if I'll have electricity or internet. The uncertainties of a natural disaster are the worst feeling to experience because you just don't know what exactly to prepare for. The gas stations have been out of gas since Wednesday and the shelves were empty when I went to Target this week but I managed to get some essentials.

Since I already had a few things lined up to share today, I'll stick with the program...

I finally jumped on the Audiobooks train after procrastinating for way too long and decided to get started with Amy Schumer's new book The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo. I've been listening to it every day this week on my commute to and from work and I've been really enjoying it. It's raw and uncensored and I like her take on life.

On Wednesday, I shared some cute swimwear options that offer a little more coverage. The cruise this weekend was supposed to be a company event so I wanted some less skimpy swimsuits to take on the trip and I found some really fun suits at Target and Express.

I just received my semi-annual Ulta haul (I just made that up but it seems to be every 6 months). Lots of products were repurchases of my favorite products but I did add in some new products such as the Benefit Eye Brightening set and Lip Crayon.

POREfessional Pore Minimizing & Eye Brightening Set  //   Gimme Brow Fiber Gel
Tarte Amazonian Full Coverage Foundation  //   ULTA Matte Lip Crayon - Carnival

This cute Benefit makeup bag also came as a free gift with my Benefit Cosmetics purchase.

We finally purchased a dining room table for the new house. Something so simple to be excited about but it means we're getting closer to fully furnishing our house.

Since we've been working on getting settled into our new house, I just hope this hurricane doesn't set us back and have to fork out money for repairs instead of interior decorating and furnishings.

Enjoy the weekend break and I'll catch you next week with an update on Hurricane Matthew.