Insta Tuesday - Catch-up! (warning: this is a pretty long post,so be prepared!)

I love doing these linkups, but I am terrible at getting them done on time! It doesn't help that we just got back from a 9-day vacation on Sunday and I have been feeling a little bit overwhelmed since we got home. We had this vacation planned for a while and then I got offered my new job so it was a little crazy getting in after a 10-hour drive on Sunday then having to get up and start a new job on Monday. Anyway, I know that I have been slacking when it comes to updating about my vacation so I'm going to do it via Insta Tuesday since I took quite a few pics. Hope yall are ready, there are a lot!!

We started our trip at about 4pm on Friday afternoon.

About 4 hours later, we made it to the Sunshine State! About 3 more hours and we made it to my mom and dad's in Port St. Lucie. It only took us just over 7 hours to get there. Take that Google Maps.

**Side note: About 45 minutes into our trip, S reaches for his wallet just to find that it wasn't in his back pocket. He immediately turns around saying that he thinks he left it at home in the pocket of his work pants. NOT the best way to start our trip! The first couple hours out of town are the worst, too. So, we drive allllll the way back home just to find out it had actually fallen out of his pocket and was stuck in the cushion of driver's seat. Two hours wasted right off the bat. Good thing we were able to make up some time doing 80-85 since the speed limit is 70 :)

I was really excited to see my mom and dad and we had a great time with them. It was kind of nice to be able to drive to see them instead of having to fly home. It was the first time that we saw their FL place and it was super cute.

We had several dinners on the lanai, you cannot beat having a screened in patio! We cooked out a bunch and on the last night, S and I cooked din for my parents. Everyone but me had surf 'n turf (filet mignon and scallops); I just had scallops because I don't eat red meat, but it was still delicious.

S and my dad took a fishing charter morning so mom and I went on a shopping trip! I got a few more really cute pieces to wear to my new job.

I found a copycat recipe online for Olive Garden's berry sangria. It was awesome :)

One night, we ate at this cute little cajun place that my aunt recommended. I had the bbq shrimp and it was pretty tasty! I think that was the first time I ever really had authentic cajun food. S and I also checked out this cute little place in Jensen Beach called Dolphin Bar & Shrimp House. We enjoyed some happy hour snacks and a couple drinks overlooking the Indian River.

In addition to eating yummy food, we played tennis, swam in the pool, and went to the beach.

After spending a week in Port St. Lucie on the East Coast, we drove three hours south then west across the Everglades aka Alligator Alley to Naples.

We opted to stay at the Hilton instead of with S's cousin, which was fine with me. It was totally worth it. Even though we weren't right on the beach, we still had a really pretty view from our room.

Naples was gorgeous!

This girl was driving me crazy, who does this??! Everyone knows you're not supposed to feed the seagulls! She deserved whatever she had coming to her, and by that I mean poop on the head.

On Saturday, our second to last day, S and his cousin went to play golf at his cousin's country 

club. I went and did some shopping at one of the most beautiful outdoor shopping centers I've ever seen then went to the club to hang at the pool. Waterside Shops:

This little guy wanted to hitch a ride home from shopping with me :)

Country Club:

Sunning myself at our hotel pool.

Because we decided to go to Naples at the end of the week, it added a few hours onto our drive home. We also stopped in Orlando on the way to have lunch with my cousin at Bahama Breeze. All in all, we had a great vacation and I came back feeling refreshed and ready to start my new job. Today was my third day and so far so good! You probably saw the pics that I posted the other day about having my own office...it is awesome. Hope I didn't miss out on too much and you all had a great week!

Wow, I can't believe that its been almost two weeks since I last posted! I've been thinking about it almost every day, but I had wanted to wait until I uploaded my pictures from our Kentucky trip. That's probably not going to happen for a few more days so I guess the pictures will have to come later!

S and I drove up to Richmond over Derby weekend to visit his fam. Our original plan was to actually GO to Derby, but turns out we didn't plan very well and waited too long to get tickets. There were infield tickets available still, but we wanted a good Derby experience complete with actually being able to see the races so we decided to hold off until next year. It's too bad because I had the PERFECT Lilly dress to wear, but I guess I find somewhere else to wear it ;)

The dress.



We tried not to make too many plans for our Kentucky trip because we still wanted to get in some relaxation, however, we still ended up having a pretty busy trip. We arrived in Richmond late on Wednesday night then got up Thursday morning to head over to Toyota to pick up S's brand new Tacoma. That was exciting because now we had a car to drive around in on our own, since we had driven up in his brother's car with him and his girlfriend. That is a whooooole another story...

After picking up the truck, we hung out at his family's farm until S had to leave to go to an school award ceremony for his youngest brother, Joe, with his dad. Only two people were allowed to attend and since his mom and other brother, Dan, had gone the year before; it was now S's turn to go with his pops. I stayed behind and chatted with S's mom the whole time they were gone. It was good to get in some qt with her, I feel like we are still getting to know each other sometimes and the boys are always around so we never get to get in a good girl-talk.

Friday morning, we got up kind of early and headed out to Red River Gorge to go hiking. We hiked up to the natural bridge and took lots of pictures. I wish it hadn't been so overcast and rainy that day although if the sun had been out, we probably would have been roasting! S and I are both sensitive to heights so while it was nice to get up there and see the view and take pics, I was also relieved when it was time to head back down. After an early dinner on the way back, we got cleaned up and headed out to Joe's baseball game. This kid is a 14 year old 8th-grader and is already playing on the high school baseball team. Can't wait to see what the future has to hold for him!

On Saturday, we got up early again because we had a 8am tee-time to play 18 holes with S's Uncle Greg. We played at Gibson Bay, which is probably one of the nicest courses I've played at. I was pretty happy with how I played and S had the best game of his life. He is now dying to try and replecate that game haha. Later in the day, since we didn't end up going to Derby, we decided to celebrate it at home with a cookout, complete with mint juleps, and invited S's dad's brother and sister and their families. We had a great time, it was a beautiful day and we played with the horses, played croquet and just enjoyed each other's company. That night we had a bon fire out in the backyard and watched for the Super Moon.

Sunday was our last full day in the country and we headed up to Cynthiana, which was about an hour away from the farm. On the way, S and I stopped in Lexington for our usual stop to a Kentucky pride shop so we could pick up a couple UK souveniers (not like we don't have enough already, but can you ever really have enough?) We cooked out again, but this time it was with S's mom's parents and sister and brother and their families. His aunt and uncle have the cutest house, kind of log cabin-style, but not? I wish I took a couple pictures.. Again we just chilled out in the shaded yard chatting it up and enjoying everyone's company. I was a little nervous on the way up there because that was the first time that I had met S's maternal grandparents. I knew well in advance that they HATED his ex, with good reason of course, however, this just made me that much more nervous. I have a thing about S's family liking me because of his past situation. He reminds me often that they love me and I have nothing to worry about. Come to find out just yesterday, after a conversation with his mom, S brought up again how much his mom likes me. I guess that little chit-chat had just the effect that I wanted! I was hoping that it would bring us closer together.

Soooo, that pretty much sums up our trip in a not-so-nutshell. This past weekened, my aunt and uncle came to visit and we spent some time with them on Sunday. Besides my mom, this was the first time that S got to meet some of MY family for a change. It was just a preview because in 8 days we are flying to Connecticut and S will get to meet my entireeee family. I hope he's ready!!

I do have a few pictures that I took with my phone over the weekend -

Across the street from the family farm.

Kentucky hills.

 Gibson Bay Golf Course.

 Joe!

 The horses.

 Seminole

 Tess

Heading home.

T

New blog-look!

I was getting a little tired of the generic Blogger template that I had used to create my blog so when I came across Shabby Blogs, I was pretty excited to find a ton of really pretty, FREE stuff that I could use to personalize 'Honor, Courage, Commitment.' So here it is!

My week also has been cut even shorter as I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment and procedure done on Thursday. Turns out my doc won't be available that afternoon and it got moved up to Wednesday. I'm already pretty nervous about this and will probably be home the rest of the week following my appointment. We had talked about going to the lake this weekend, but after having S's Navy friend visit from NY all weekend, we are pretty exhausted and are thinking about just camping out in our apartment all weekend. Its not so bad when you consider the amazing pool, barbeque, and Netflix!

In other news: We are leaving for Kentucky in a couple weeks, I am VERY excited! I am so blessed that S has an amazing family and even if I don't get to see my fam that often, at least I have his! We will be away from May 2-7 and it will also Derby weekend. I think we will go to Keeneland for the simulcast (Derby tix = ridiculously expensive) and play lots of golf.

I have also been appling for any permanent jobs that get posted here at the college. I think I mentioned it before, but I am still a contract employee and even though I work 40 hours/wk, I am still considered part-time and that = no benefits :( The pay is laughable for someone with a master's degree and I am at my wits end with having to pay cash for doctor's appointments. My boss said that she is trying to get me a raise, but she can be such a flake sometimes so who knows..

How was everyone's weekend? Do anything fun and exciting?