LDW Recap

How in the world has it been a week since I last blogged?! Sorry friends. Life has been flying by lately, in the best kind of way.

I plan on providing more detailed posts about the weddings we had this weekend when I have time to catch my breath and process all of the pictures, but let me tell you- we had such a blast this weekend! Two of the most amazing weddings back to back. J and I are so lucky to have such an incredible group of family and friends. 

So for now, here's what else we did this weekend:

Anyone else enjoy the Labor Day shopping sales?! Ann Taylor got me, my mother-in-law, and sister-in-law. Gotta love being walking distance to Providence Place for wedding #1 this weekend! I walked away with these three tops.

 1 / 2 / 3

And on the way home, J and I got a steal at the Restoration Hardware Outlet. Yes, I was just there recently. But you see, J is a stickler in stores where I could easily wander for hours and makes sure I know we're there for one reason. So when we went for the vanities, I didn't consider looking at lighting. We snagged 3 of these lights for $267. Yes, you read that price at RH for one right. Sold! Cross your fingers they work out perfectly because we LOVE them. And- they gave me a 25% off entire purchase coupon good at the end of this month. Yesss.

Maritime Caged Sconce -  Restoration Hardware

After wedding #2 we headed home for a lobster cookout at my parents. They did it last year (J and I were jet setting at the time) and had so much fun they decided to host it again. Twist my arm, I guess you can make me lobster and steamers for dinner with grilled corn on the cob.

We surprised my aunt with this fresh fruit, cool whip, pound cake birthday dessert and spent time playing bocce in the yard. Oh, and my crazy dog decided he liked swimming again. He is so strange.

Monday we slept in, caught up on Ray Donovan, and only changed out of our PJs to run a few errands. The fridge was basically empty, so it was time to get my butt into gear. If you don't watch Ray Donovan you really should. God he is such a stud. The show ain't too bad either. 

Did you see all that lobster above? That was only half of it....so we were all sent home with leftovers. Yess! Although we were originally planning on lobster rolls, I needed more butter with my lobster. So J whipped up the most incredible meal - lemon, garlic, butter sauce with dried oregano, fresh parsley, and tomatoes from my parents garden. Oh and basil linguini I had randomly picked up. It was ah-mazing.

How was your holiday weekend? 

Stay tuned Friday for a sneak peek at our bathroom renovation. Things are starting to come together nicely. Eek! :)

Have a great day

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A Date Night Staying In

Well, this post is about 2 weeks late. But as I was scrolling through the pictures on my camera, I realized I never shared the amazing meal J cooked up for Valentines Day.

As I mentioned here, we decided to stay in this year. We really had no plan as to what to cook and come Valentine's Day morning, I wasn't sure what to do. I just didn't feel like cooking, and the idea of dining out was gaining steam. Have I told you how much I love my husband? Getting a text that said, don't worry, I'll take care of it made my day. Works been busy, lifes been busy, and the idea of cooking a big meal after work stressed me out. J's work schedule is a lot more flexible than mine at times, which certainly comes in handy when needed.

Like when he decides to pull out all the stops. Walking in the door to this was the best. Yes, the glass of wine was already poured for me - what a guy.

Appetizers: Red Zinfandel, Manchego cheese, and garlic/lemon olives to start. (Manchego cheese is my favorite cheese by far, give it a try. It's not too hard, has a creamy, nutty flavor, and a slightly gritty texture)

Main course: Grass-fed sirloin with a red wine, mushroom, and rosemary sauce, sautéed broad leaf kale, and mushroom risotto. This is the way to my heart I tell ya. Heavenly food, extra mushrooms, red wine. You just can't go wrong. And if you haven't tried grass-fed red meat yet, I suggest you do. The flavor is incredible. It's pricey, but great for a special occasion.

Yes, this is quite possibly the biggest piece of steak I've ever been served. Plenty for an extra meal for us, and Tuck!

And dining with this handsome fella ain't all that bad either. ;)

Compliments to the chef!

How was your Valentine's Day? Try any new restaurants? Cook up a new meal? I'd love to hear!

If you like this post please let me know by leaving a comment or liking my Facebook page. You can also follow along on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Let's stay in touch!

NYE 2012

Happy New Years! Did you stay awake late enough to see the ball drop? We are getting so old.....pretty sure I was in bed by 12:35. But after 2 days of hitting the ski slopes, I was exhausted.

So, how did we spend NYE this year? At Sugarloaf Mountain. It was awesome. I am so glad we decided to get out the city this year and do something active. To be honest, we've never spent a lot of money on New Years in the past and I was definitely hesitant at first but I am sooo glad I bit the bullet and went in on a ski in/ski out condo on the mountain. How have I never stayed in one of these before?! We were so spoiled! It was so ideal to be able to ski right to the condo for lunch, to warm up. etc.

Day 1 was freezing! It snowed all day/night Saturday which was greatfor the trails, but the wind was almost unbearable. It was the first time I broke out some hand warmers in a very long time.

The picture on the left here is actually from Day 2, when we basically had the mountain to ourselves. Unbelievable, right?! The lifts opened up late on Day 2 (12/31) due to wind so it seems as though most people opted for a voucher, or just decided not to get tickets since we're talking about close to noon before any good trails opened.  Having the mountain to ourselves for 4 hours was worth every penny of the full ticket.

 View from the bottom, view from the top - both breathtaking.

I really wanted to get a picture of J and I together but that just never happened. We're both sporting our new ski/snowboard jackets we got for Christmas. Love them! And J also got me new goggles, which I looove! They have a rose tint and the sides have a design with fuchsia, just like my jacket.

You can count on 2 hands how many times J has snowboarded. So the fact that he was keeping up, and even passing me by day two (!) is nuts. And he was determined to land a jump. Color me impressed.

 Even though we could ski right to our condo, stopping by the lodge is a tradition. And with Carabassett Pale Ale's on draft, it was a must!

After 2 days of skiing/snowboarding, NYE was here! Some themes were thrown out and somehow, hunter/hunted won. So absurd. But also hilarious! Yes, that is face camouflage. I didn't have too much time to spend looking for my costume thanks to work, but my recent consignment shop visit for an ugly xmas sweater also turned up a turtleneck covered in dogs. Yep, I bought it just because. Just couldn't pass it up, and will probably wear it out anyways.

And to finish off the celebrations, hunter/animal party decor thanks to Meg, and fireworks at the mountain we were able to see from the deck at the condo.

Happy New Years! Any resolutions? I don't have any crazy resolutions really - just the usual eat healthier, work out more, make the bed daily, etc. But I do have some goals for the year that I'd like to achieve - a new car probably, a new home possibly, another half marathon, travel to somewhere new. We shall see!

Christmas Fun

It's hard to believe Christmas has come and gone. So sad. But man did we have fun. Holiday parties with friends and family are the best. 

Here are a few (ok, a lot of) pictures from Christmas parties we attended:

Great friends from home recently bought a house in my hometown. Uh, jealous! There are some amazing old homes filled with character and charm in my. Like, built in the 1800's old. So, so neat. Billy & Amelia found themselves an amazing home. You may remember this lovely couple from here, actually. Oh, and Amelia said we could do a home tour so you may just luck out and get yourself a glimpse! 

How gorgeous is this tree?!

The gifts, the great group of friends/guests

 And the gifts we all won in the yankee swap!

Well, I have to give credit to Amelia. She mentioned limbo and I thought, no way am I doing that! But, um well, how can you not participate in the limbo?! It was hilarious. Sadly, we're getting old though. I had to stretch between rounds, my back was killing me. (PS - yes, that is exposed brick in their kitchen. Told you, amazing home...)

Congrats to the last standing man & woman! And congrats Traci on your limbo win!

Not only is it fun to celebrate with our friends....family parties can be fun too! Especially when you marry into this family. And they throw a crazy Christmas Eve party  every year!

And this photo is so reminiscent of our wedding photos. I love these guys, but it takes a lot of effort to get them to behave during photos. 

Great minds think alike!

Handed the camera to J, this is the best shot he got of us ladies in our "ugly Christmas sweaters"

And the men. Yes, that is my father-in-law front and center.

Father & father-in-law (terribly blurry photo, I know....sorry!)

The men voted on the women's sweaters, the women voted on the men....here are our winners! With a J photo-bomb...

I didn't have great luck finding an ugly Christmas sweater so I figured I'd make one. Sweatshirt was on the steep side at $2.99. And thank goodness for my sister's handiwork. We found all of these awesome iron-ons on Christmas Eve and she crafted this beauty while I was with my in-laws. 

And who J gets his personality from....Joey loves photobombing too

Oh yes, bedazzled back-side too.

Well, we had a great holiday over here and we hope you did too!

Next up, New Year's Eve. Have any great plans?!

Christmas at the Cordeiros

Well, Christmas spirit is in the air over here! We decided to go with minimal decorations this year. Keep it simple was this year's theme. Including the tree. This may be our smallest tree to date, but you know what? I absolutely love it. I was even able to go with a theme thanks to the many extra ornaments we had! Silver/white it is. Well, except for my traditional bow topper. 

My Nona has always topped her tree with a Christmas bow and I just love it. Maybe if I found a star or angel I love I'll change it up. But for now, I'll stick with my glittery, sparkly bow.

Oh - and not one of those gifts is for J or I. We stuck to stockings this year.....family & friends, you're in for a real treat!

J & I actually celebrated our own Christmas last night. We start the holiday shuffle today, various family parties, meeting up with friends, back and forth over the next few days. After putting our stockings on the floor with the gifts to snag a photo, I apparently stopped paying attention to Tucker's....notice in the first photo below - Tucker's stocking is gone, and wow is he rocking a guilty face. Not until I uploaded these photos did I notice his stocking in the background! What a sneak!

How did we know he stole it? Found him attempting to chew his new toy through the stocking on his bed. Busted! And not happy about it.

Like my Christmas spirit shirt? J was gracious enough to snag it for me in the girls section of Walmart. It's fabulous on a small child, on me though, it's a bit too much.

We hope those of you who celebrate Christmas enjoy your time with family and friends. And hopefully you were nice this year!

Merry Christmas!

WIWW: Holiday Party

By the time Sunday night rolled around, I was ready for this past weekend to be over. Don't get me wrong, it was a blast and I loved every minute of it. But it was a lot. It was so busy that I really failed in my duties to capture the moment in photos. Like, big time fail.

Like, here is the ONE photo I took (yes, I am a GIANT next to our Christmas tree...we went with a baby tree this year) We were running late of course, so I figured I'd snap a photo of the two of use once we were there. Thank god for photobooths! Oh, and because we were running late, I relied on Uber to get us there. Called for a town car, got picked up in a BIG @$$ Lincoln Navigator. It was awesome. And didn't cost us a penny more than the town car would have. Such a sweet deal.

Slowly working on my camera skills. Like those starburst christmas lights?! Here's what I wore to my company's Holiday Party:

Dress: Laren Ralph Lauren (via Lord & Taylor 3 years ago)

Shoes: my old stand bys - Enzo Angiolini (via Nordstroms)

Necklace: J.Crew Outlet

Earrings: Grandmother's old pearls

Bracelet: Stella & Dot (similar)

Like I said, thank goodness for the photobooth! Look how handsome J looked! One thing I love about Holiday parties is all the red ties. It's a bold color that you just don't see as often during the year. 

We certainly had a great time Saturday night. But my feet were still hating me Monday morning....guess that's what dancing will do! Already looking forward to next year.

Work Holiday Parties

My first few years in public accounting, the firm I worked for threw an extravagant winter holiday party. And I LOVED it. It was held on a Saturday night, everyone got dressed up, enjoyed the open bar, and hit the dance floor.

Well, then the economy crashed...and the holiday party turned into an afterwork affair, significant others not included. This was fine too. But, you know I love a reason to get dolled up. So when I found out that the company I now work for goes all out, well I've been thinking about what I'm going to wear for months now!

One thing I love about the company I now work for is they certainly play by the "work hard, play hard" rules. And so after a long year of working hard, expanding, hitting numbers, etc, it's time to play. Our holiday party is a 3-day long event and co-workers across the globe are flown in to Boston. I've been forewarned about this party since I started, close to a year ago now.

So what do I wear?! I have one dress in mind that I already own. And if that doesn't work, I'm thinking about using Rent The Runway. Have you heard of this site? I've used it once before and loved it.

I used it back on my 25th birthday when we headed to the casino (and yes bowled at the casino ha)

The concept of RTR? Rent a designer dress for a fraction of the cost. Amazing right?! Here are a few I'd considered for a work holiday party.

1- Bagdley Mischka 2- Sachin + Babi  3 - Lily Pulitzer

So the middle one would probably wash me out this time of year but it was just too gorgeous to pass up for this post. Does your company throw a holiday party? Do you get to dress up?

Time to try on the dress I own to see if it'll work. Or if I'll just haaave to rent one of these beauties.

Happy 4th of July!

A little late to the party on this one but better late than never, right? Please say right.

How was your 4th of July?

Although J & I were pretty pumped to have no plans whatsoever, that quickly changed. While out for a midnight snack with friends Tuesday night plans for the following morning quickly took shape.

You see, a friend of ours volunteered to bring his boss's boat back from Hingham harbor to Boston harbor. What a nice guy he is, right?! :)  So when he asked J & I to accompany him and his gf, who just happens to be one of my best friends from home, we jumped at the invite. We haven't been on a boat in years!

Our future home, that we'll be splitting, the 4 of us. What? There is definitely an East Wing and a West Wing. Why not?

The Blue Angels were in town for the holiday

What a pretty city.

I hope you had a great holiday! Happy Birthday America!