Full of Hot Air

Did you see these adorable party invites on Apartment Therapy? How fun would it be to get this invitation?

(Source)

Definitely keeping this idea filed away!

Travel Tuesdays: Wilmington, NC

My wedding anniversary is coming up and its got me reminiscing about my 1st anniversary. And on our first anniversary we went to Wilmington, North Carolina. I had never been before but always heard it was a lot like Charleston, so how could you not love it?

We stayed in this super cute bed and breakfast (the first and only time I've ever stayed in one). It was great and I'd definitely like to go there again if we ever get the chance!


We laid out at Wrightsville Beach

Here is some of the beautiful scenery...







We ate at a great restaurant down by the water. I even ate seafood. And I HATE seafood!
A really neat thing about Wilmington is that it is a "mini-Hollywood." Several movies and TV shows are filmed there. We saw some vampire movie being filmed.


And you can go visit the USS North Carolina Battleship.

This was by far my husband's favorite part. We now have about 50 gagillion pictures on this ship.

Now, if you have to head back north on your way home... make sure you stop by the World's Largest Frying Pan! (But beware of bees... seriously, lots of bees around the frying pan)
Have you ever been? Anything I should do if I ever make the trip down again?

Liebster Award

Sweet Lanell at Hoot-n-Nanny gave lil ole me an award! It's the Liebster Award. If you're like me you're saying "What's a Liebster?" so I'll let Lanell explain...

"Some time (in the recent past), somewhere (rumor has it that it might be Germany), someone (I guess he/she was named Liebster) decided to do something nice for a whole lot of bloggers and started the Liebster Blog Award.

It’s an award you receive, but it is also an award that you give. If you receive a Liebster Blog Award you are asked to choose 2 - 3 other bloggers and send them one as well.

These are the *rules*: this award is meant to highlight small blogs. So the blogger receiving the award links back to the blogger who awarded him/her, and tags 2-3 people. For those I am about to award, I should also point out there is no obligation to continue this award. If this is not your cup of tea, don’t worry."

So there ya go! First, thanks Lanell! Definitely go check out her blog Hoot-n-Nanny. She makes the most mouthwatering recipes. Make sure you bring a napkin because you'll need it to wipe your keyboard after visiting!

And she made this posh candy jar from the dollar store! How creative is she?!

And here are the blogs I award:
{if you don't want to accept no biggie! Just sending you some linky love! :)}

The Coconut Life - I just recently found Erin's blog and she always has cute posts and decor!

OhRenee*Design - Renee is just adorable! I love seeing all the thrifty outfits she makes!

And an honorable mention to:
Art @ Home and that's only because I know Ricki Jill hates to accept awards! But she's just the sweetest and uber talented! :) So go check out her blog as well!

Barstools... DONE!

It only took about a week but we finally put together our bar stools! And we found a great deal at Target. Bar stools can be a little pricey so I thought we got a steal at $130 for 3!
Now for a little before and after:

Before: Doing our final walk through (yes, you're right, those are sponge painted orange walls and countertop)


After: Yay! And the bar stools swivel!


Linking to Remodelaholic ; Ask Anna; DIY Showoff

New Bar Stools... eventually

I got new bar stools!

Oh wait... no, no I didn't. I got this.
Geez Louise! Who's got time to put all this mess together?!

Well, eventually, I'll have new bar stools.

Travel Tuesdays: Pisa & Florence

I know I haven't done Travel Tuesdays in a while so I thought I'd bring it back y'all!

Here we go... First stop Pisa, Italy.

When you find yourself in Pisa (or at least the touristy part) its not super big. Here it is:

Now, if you are a non-Pisan, you must take a picture like this where you pretend you are holding up the tower or its falling on you. It's the law.
This door is incredibly detailed.
Pisa has a TON of gift shop little knick-nack things. And there you have Pisa.
Now on to FLORENCE! When we arrived, we were starrrrrving. So first stop some yummy Italian food and wine!

We just wandered around until we found some where (not filled with tourists) and this was where we landed. It was pretty good and they spoke English. :)

Finished off the meal with Limoncello. It's supposed to be good for digestion... or so they tell us.


Can I post about any of our Mediterranean adventures without gelato? I think not!

They served it on waffles! OMGoodness!

Now we rolled made our way to the Ponte Vecchio. Which means 'old bridge.'HISTORY LESSON: So this is from what I remember (so take if for what its worth) but the Ponte Vecchio used to have butchers selling their meat all across the bridge. The Medici family (super rich and powerful family) had to walk across this bridge everyday to get to their gigantic house. They did not like the smell so they forbid the butchers from selling there and made the gold merchants come and sell there instead. And today there are still people selling gold all across the bridge.
Another short history lesson: Allegedly, Hilter said not to bomb the Ponte Vecchio during the war because he thought it was beautiful.

This is the bottom of a lamp post. My husband thought it was awesome.

This is a statue with a gate around it covered in locks.

This sign - the one with all the locks around it - says "It's not allowed to put locks on the railing."


And now we're at Il Duomo. We did a lot of shopping and this is what I came back with for my sisters.

Il Duomo is one of the prettiest places in Florence. Its massive, I could not get a whole picture of it. Its super intricate and impressive.






Wish we had gone to the top but alas we did not have time! It costs money and I think there was a line. But now we have something to look forward to next time! (hint, hint honey)

Well, that is a super quick recap of our trip. It was so fun and beautiful (except for the weather was meh) If you want to ask any questions about the cruise destinations let me know! I just like to give highlights in the blog post so I don't bore anyone. :)

Thanks Sassy Sites!

Woohoo! Sassy Sites featured my bathroom light turned votive holder on her site! Go check it out along with all the other cool trash to treasures!

Excited for Easter!

Easter is one of my favorite holidays for so many reason. Mainly because it marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Can I get an Amen!?

I also love it because it is a great time to spend with my family, especially my sisters! This picture was taken the Easter before my latest niece was born. :)

Other reasons to celebrate: Spring weather, flowers, cute dresses, opened toe shoes, cuddly bunnies and candy! :)

Happy Monday!

National Park Week!

April 16th-24th is National Park Week! Which means its FREE to go to the parks! If you have time, definitely go out and enjoy God's creation!

http://www.nps.gov/npweek/

Hubby & I love to go to the Shenandoahs because that's where we got engaged. :)


It's so beautiful there! Hope you can get out!

What? No TV?

(Dave Ramsey)

Oh man, my husband has been listening to Dave Ramsey again. I think this means we'll be giving up cable television sometime soon. I'm sure it will make me a better person or something but I kinda just want to be like "I don't wannnnnaaaaaaaa" in my most whiny voice.

What am I going to do with out all my worthless TV shows that I'm ridiculously addicted to?

I guess there is always Netflix and the internet. Oh and of course reading. You know that thing you're supposed to do with books.

Has anyone else done this? How's it going?

A Happy Breakfast

My sister-in-law gave us this happy pancake skillet for Christmas.

We finally used it this weekend!

How cute are these?

I'm thinking my nieces are going to love it when they come visit! :)