**Weekend Update & Another Florida Trip!**

Good morning! First off, I am guest posting today over at Nautical by Nature. My post is mainly about Charleston and some of my favorite memories here so far. I am a regular reader of Kate's blog and it's one of my faves, she always posts about her super cute nautical finds.

I'm finally back from Florida and still trying to get back into the swing of things. I drove down last Tuesday after work to visit my mom and dad for a few days. I had a great time despite a little bit of rain.

It took me about seven hours to get there, but the weather was pretty nice and I blasted some good country music the whole way down so it wasn't too bad.

It was mostly overcast on Wednesday, but we were still able to get a little bit of beach time in.
On Thursday, it rained allllll day, but at least it ended with a pretty sunset!

Friday turned out to be a very pretty day and we spent a little bit of time at the beach and the rest of the afternoon at the pool. It felt sooo nice to finally soak up some sun. I'm looking forward to some warm temperatures this weekend in Charlestin, FINALLY!!!!
 

I got home on Saturday night and on Sunday, S and I did our usual Sunday chores like food shopping/ prep for the week. We also made a stop at Bed, Bath & Beyond to pick up a new blender! I have been using a handheld submersion blender all this time to make my smoothies and it works okay, but I've really been wanting a nice blender. We got a Ninja!

{Source}

I used it this morning to make my breakfast smoothie and it.is.awesome. I highly recommend it :)

How was everyone else's weekend??? Do anything fun?



Related Posts:

1. Weekend Update!
2. Weekend Update & the Big Move!
3. Weekend Update & Sub Ball Re-cap!
4. Weekend Update & a trip to Florida!

*Weekend Update & a trip to Florida!**

I know I'm a little behind the ball on posting today, but I have just been so exhausted from our whirlwind trip to Florida. I also kind of lost some motivation to post this morning when I realized that I left my camera in S's truck and I wouldn't be able to post any good pictures. 

I guess I'll just start with my Instagram photos and post the rest tomorrow!

I left for Florida on Thursday afternoon, right after work. I was able to leave a little early so that worked out really well. I arrived in Orlando around 10:15pm and stayed with my cousin for the night instead of driving straight through to Ft. Myers. I think this was the right decision as I was by myself and I would have gotten in really late.

S arrived in Ft. Myers in the early evening on Friday. He picked me up at my aunt and uncle's house where we visited for a little while. At this point, I had already turned in the rental car that I drove from Charleston to Ft. Myers (my car started running a little funny a couple days before the trip and I didn't want to chance it.)
 

On Friday night, S's cousin (who lives in Naples) and his girlfriend met up with us at our hotel before heading out for the night. Our first stop was Ford's Garage for some snacks and drinks. Our next stop was a country bar called Cowboy Up. From that point on, we stopped at a couple more places, but I honestly don't remember the names, oops!

Downtown Ft. Myers

Reunited with my love!

Being silly...

S's cousin and girlfriend :)

Saturday was my cousin's wedding. It was held at his aunt and uncles house at Fiddlesticks Country Club. The house is beautiful and it was a great setting for a small wedding. I have lots of pictures that I will post tomorrow.

This is the only one that I had on my phone..

Saturday night was really fun since we had a chance to go out with both my two cousins and S's cousin again. We hung out at the Beached Whale on Ft. Myers Beach for snacks and drinks. We had a later night than we had originally planned, but it was worth it.

Sunday morning, we stopped by my aunt and uncle's house to say goodbye, grabbed a bagel breakfast then hit the road. We had smooth sailing up until we reached the Georgia/ South Carolina line. There was quite a bit of traffic, which set us back a bit. We got in around 9:00pm last night and I pretty much passed right out. I was soo sick of being in the car at that point!

All in all, it was a great weekend and I was so happy to have had a chance to see some family. I'll be heading back down to Florida, April 30-May 4 to see my mom and dad and can't wait!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

**Weekend Update, a "Blate", & Easter!**

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a great Easter :)

On Friday, I got to meet another great gal from blog-land. Lindsay, who you might know from co-hosting Fitness Friday, and I met up downtown for lunch. She was in town with her hubby for vacation and since he was out golfing for the day, we decided to meet up. 

We had a great time and talked for close to three hours! It was like having lunch with an old friend :)

(Did I mention that we were wearing almost identical outifts??! She has such great taste ;)

Friday night, S and I went out for pizza at Mellow Mushroom with a few of S's friends from work and their families.

Saturday morning, S and I went out for a bagel breakfast, but shortly thereafter, he had to leave for Florida. He was going to meet up with his parents and youngest brother for his brother's spring break baseball tournament.

It was nice having the day to myself to do whatever I wanted, however, I quickly realized how much I missed him already! I guess I better get used to him being gone because soon will be the days when he has to go back out to sea. I still think it was mostly because I was jealous of him getting to go on a little vacay though ;)

Since S was off to the Panhandle, I decided to take Gunner to the dog park. We were there for 2.5 hours! He was having a blast playing in the water and there are always great people there to chat with.

On Sunday, I spent the day with Lindsey, my first IRL friend from blog-land, and her family for Easter. I was pretty bummed that not only was S out of town, but so were several of our close friends. I was so happy though to have a place to spend the day with great friends. We ate some yummy food and even sat outside in the sun for a while.

I made homemade Smoked Gouda and Cheddar Mac n Cheese and Caramel Apple Cake (recipes to come soon!) Sunshine compliments of Mother Nature.

That's pretty much it! I have a ton to do this week before I leave for Florida on Thursday myself. My cousin is getting married in Ft. Myers on Saturday and I can't wait to see some family!! The wedding is going to be very small so I won't get to see everyone (not even my parents), but it will still be great to see everyone since it's been a while.

A little sneak peak of my casual spring wedding look:

I absolutely love this Shoshanna dress.

Have a great week y'all!!

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**Weekend Update & Color Me Rad!!**

Despite the cold and rainy weather, this weekend was a pretty great one. I love a weekend that has the perfect balance of productivity and relaxation and this was definitely one of them.

On Friday, S and I had our weekly sushi date at a local place that we've been loving lately then spent the night in because we had to be up and at 'em the next morning for Color Me Rad!

There was a 40% chance of rain for race day, but I was crossing my fingers and praying that the rain would hold out until the afternoon. I was happy to walk outside that morning and see blue skies! By the time we arrived at the race location, it was a bit chilly and quite overcast, but no sign of rain just yet.

Before:

After!

 

 

We had such a blast doing this event and I highly recommend it! Also, the race isn't timed so there is no need to feel like you are competing with anyone. You'll be surprised how fast 3 miles flies by when you're having that much fun :)

It did rain a little bit later in the day and we were super lazy. We didn't get up and get out until about 9:00 PM when we decided to head to Outback for some din and margaritas.

On Sunday, we met some friends for brunch at the Lost Dog Cafe and I had this delicious Pumpkin Pie Latte, yum!

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The rest of our Sunday was filled with cleaning, organizing, laundry, and grocery shopping. We ended it with a delicious meal of pizza and salad :)

Hope you all had a great weekend as well!! Don't forget about the Fitness Friday Giveaway that Linsday and I are hosting! We will be announcing the winner this Friday!

Weekend Update :)

Happy Monday y'all. Sorry to get this done so late.. I decided to call out sick this morning because I wasn't feeling that great. I didn't sleep very well last night and I was feeling a little nauseous this morning, not to mention crampy. I slept in a little, had breakfast then decided I felt good enough to go for a run. All sick credibility, out the window. I'm also scheduled for training tonight and still plan on going so guess I'm not really sick hah.

I would love to lay down and take a little power nap before working out later, however, the sweet tea I was craving at lunch is keeping me from doing so. I did get a lot done though this afternoon. I got some errands done and my ornaments out for the SW Ornament Swap (oops! a little late, sorry y'all!)

Our Christmas cards also came in the mail from Shutterfly which was awesome because I didn't think they'd come this fast! I'm really excited to send them out :)

PS - This is the last day to sign up for my $50 giveaway to Shutterfly! There is still some time to get a few last minute gifts!

Weekend Update:

Friday night was my work Christmas party downtown. It wasn't all that exciting, but it was free dinner and open bar (wine & beer) and we got to get dressed up, so why not? That ended kind of early so we headed out for a drink at Proof then on to meet up with some friends afterward.

Saturday was kind of low key. We hung out at home most of the day then went to Red's at Bohicket for dinner. We were thinking about going to the Festival of Lights at JICP that night, but the traffic was so ridiculous that we opted to go home and watch Christmas movies instead :) We decided on Disney's A Christmas Carol and we all fell asleep :p

First thing Sunday morning, S and I took Gunner for a run then went to church and brunch at Water's Edge at Shem Creek (one of our fave brunch places!) The weather was beautiful so we decided to take Gunner to Folly Beach and he had an absolute ball. It was the first time that we took him to the beach since my little slip & fall accident. It was nice to be able to let him run off his leash and burn some puppy energy! He passed out in the back seat long before we got home.

For dinner, we went over to my friend Kristin's house. On occasion we do a Sunday night dinner with our group of friends and she invited us all over for lasagna. It was really nice to get together and catch up with everyone. I am hosting Sunday night dinner next week and the theme is 'Christmas dinner'. It will be the 2nd annual since I did it last year, too. I love having everyone over right before the holiday and before everyone travels home to see their families.

This weekend has been carefree, yet a little stressful. S and I are both traveling home next week for the holiday and we have lots to do before then. The apartment needs a very thorough cleaning, Gunner has to go to the vet, Christmas shopping needs to get done, etc., etc., etc. On top of all that, a friend of S's from Washington decided that he wanted to drop in on us this past weekend. S agreed to let him come stay for the weekend (he got in Thurs. night) and we thought he was going to be leaving Sunday morning. Well he didn't. Then yesterday, he mentioned something about staying until Tuesday or possibly Wednesday. That's not exactly what I wanted to hear and being extremely last minute already, I was not at all prepared for this. Don't get me wrong, I love having visitors, when they don't overstay their welcome. It wouldn't really be that big of a deal I guess, but he is being very persistent and getting almost upset that we aren't just rushing to rearrange our schedules for him when we already have a lot to do. I can sense S's frustration and mine is building as well. Ugh. I hate to say it, but I hope he leaves tomorrow :(

The whole situation is just awkward. S told him in the first place that it wasn't a good time, then he just goes on ahead and comes anyway then decides to stay longer than expected.

Anyway, enough complaining for now. I am off to workout #2 of the day and I will leave you with some pictures from the Christmas parade last weekend :)

Weekend Update and InstaTuesday!

Happy Monday Tuesday! Hope everyone had a great weekend. We had a great weekend starting with a puppy play date on Thursday, the Navy Christmas Ball on Friday, S's birthday on Saturday, and a special event on Sunday.

Our weekend in pictures...

Gunner made a new friend, Jackson, and they had soo much fun playing alll night. Gunner was passed out in the car long before we got home!

  Christmas Ball!

(Milly dress!)  

 The wine was flowing....

Cheers!

 S and I (sorry for the bad iPhone pics, my camera battery was dead when we got to the party, booo)

Sparkly!

  A pretty accurate depiction of what the end of my night looked like :p

  I'm hoping to get some more [better] pics from friends that had their actual cameras so hopefully I'll have a few more soon. Saturday we celebrated S's birthday. He played golf during the day with a couple of friends then we went to Bushido for sushi and I got him a TCBY ice cream cake.

 I'm about to start cropping him out of our pictures, never serious...ugh.

 Last, but not least. I can alllllmost see on the 10-day when I'll be going home!!!

(haven't been home since May)

  If you are stopping by for InstaTuesday, don't forget to say, "hello", and check out yesterday's post for my Shutterfly.com Giveaway!! The winner will be picked next Monday! xoxo,