Just One: The Other Side of the Glass

"Birds, Butterflies, & Bugs"

We were worried about the cats adjusting to our new home. So far it's been a pretty easy adjustment. Cruz has had the easiest time. His favorite thing about the new house? Being able to sit up on the window sills and watch all the wildlife outside. He seriously gets all worked up every time a bird flies by or a squirrel runs across the yard. Sitting on the other side of the glass, he's so eager to chase every creature that's out there. But, when we let him go outside, he turns into a little scaredy cat and jumps at all the new outdoor noises.  

Just One: Periwinkle

"Lazy Days"

Summer has brought with it a lot of lazy days. And no one does lazy days better than Periwinkle. She has officially claimed the bed in our guest bedroom as her "spot" and will lay there for hours. Nothing we do can make her leave the warm, sunny spot on the comforter. Unless, of course, we grab our jar of treats.

Just One: Tybee Island

"Brothers"

We just got back last night from a 4-day weekend trip to Tybee Island and Savannah. As much as I would love to have a post ready to go this morning with all the details from our trip, I don't. I promise to share everything this week though.

To hold you over until then, I thought I would share just one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I took this yesterday, the last morning of our trip, while we were walking the beach and admiring the sunrise through the clouds.

Office Gallery Wall

I've been on a roll. I did it again. I hung another gallery wall in our apartment. This time the office got the gallery wall treatment.

For my gallery wall inspiration, you can check out my pinterest board, or check the gallery wall we created for the dining room.

Here's what we were starting out with in the office space (sorry, I didn't get a shot of it head-on).

When we first moved in, I had thrown up a bunch of frames in a makeshift gallery wall. But I wasn't happy with it. The frames didn't coordinate. I didn't like the layout. And I felt like there wasn't any sort of flow.

We'd been talking about hanging up some of our degrees and awards in our office space. I received a really nice degree frame for my UCF degree from the hubby for Christmas. And one day while we were walking around Michael's, we came across these guys in the "as-is" bin in the back of the store.

Normally, this would come with four 8x10 frames for about $20. We were getting two frames for a quarter of that price. So it was like getting each frame at 50% of the normal price. Score! We brought them home and one of the frames had a crack in the corner. Nothing a little super glue couldn't fix.

Originally we planned on swapping out the hubby's Eagle Scout award with his community college degree, but the scout award didn't fit in our new frames. So, both of our community college degrees found homes in the clearance frames.

With the dining room, I played it safe with a symmetrical layout. But I was dying to try out an asymmetrical layout. This is what I came up with.

Not to bad if I do say so myself. The hubby of course likes to point out that not a single frame is level. However, they all slope at the same angle, so you really don't notice it unless (a) you are standing on the opposite wall, or (b) the hubby points it out to you and makes you take a closer look.

I like that, again, all the frames coordinate well together. Plus, there is a pretty common theme: everything within the frames has to do with either high school, college, or work. The only frame that doesn't is the round  frame (which is actually a photo Christmas ornament), which I threw up on the wall because I didn't like that gap.

I'm looking for a small "C" to put up on the top between our high school graduation and prom pictures. One, to add a little more of a personal touch to the wall. Two, I loved the initials in all of the inspiration photos and I think an asymmetrical gallery wall is the perfect place for a letter. But other than that, I'm pretty happy with everything.

Anyone else jumping on the gallery wall bandwagon? Or do you still admire from afar?

Wedding Recap: Reception

Finally! The last installment of our Wedding Recap (see the other posts here, here, here, and here). A part of me is sad that this will be the last of our wedding posts, but I'm looking forward to sharing some little projects that have been going on around the apartment. 

I warn - lots of photos to follow! So without further ado, let's get this party started! We'll start with some food and decorations.

Salads & meatballs provided by our families. Pasta & bread sticks from Pizza Hut. Inspiration for veggie cups from here.

Our simple DIY centerpieces. I shared more details about how we put them together here.

Our amazing wine glasses found for 50 cents a piece at a thrift store!

During dinner, the photographer snapped pictures of all of our family and friends.

My "loud, redneck cousin" Jaime and his wife Kelly.

Is it time to eat yet??

Towards the end of dinner, it was time for our Best Man and Matron of Honor to give the traditional toasts.

Then it was time for the traditional dances. Our DJ (who was AMAZING by the way!) came up with the idea to have the mother/son dance first. Then have the father/daughter dance. And then have the father give away the bride one last time, and transition into our first dance. As I mentioned before, my dad had to leave right after the ceremony, so my Stepdad came to the rescue and danced with me.

By the way, for anyone wondering, my hubby and mother-in-law danced to Rascal Flats, My Wish. My Stepdad and I danced to I Hope You Dance by Leann Womack. And our first dance song was God Gave Me You by Blake Sheldon.

Once we wrapped up our dance, the DJ invited all of the little ones onto the dance floor. Time for a little Chicken Dance! 

Of course we tried to get some of the adults involved, but it turned out to be mainly our wedding party and our parents.

One of my biggest fears about having our wedding at the Winter Park Farmer's Market was that a train would go by in the middle of our ceremony. Well, only one train went by the entire night. And it was a big hit with the kids (and adults too)!

We went back inside for a little more dancing...

We call it the "white boy dance" gone bad...

Our DJ even got into it!

You could not pull my nephew off the dance floor! To say he was soaking up all the  music and attention is an understatement!

And then there was cake! Our cake was made by friends - it was their wedding gift to us. It was alternating layers of chocolate and white. I didn't have the chance to taste the chocolate, but the white was amazing!

While our coordinator was cutting up cake for everyone, we went ahead and did our garter and bouquet toss.

And then it was time to party the night away!

At some point, my niece had stolen my veil; she wore it most of the night. Then, suddenly, she felt like the hubby was the perfect person to pass it onto.

And then things got a little crazy & silly....

And then it was time to hit the road and head to the hotel that our parents had surprised us with. We didn't go on our honeymoon until the following week.

AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER...