40th Wedding Anniversary Gift

I knew I wanted to do something special for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary and somehow I dreamt this up.

 

My brother and sister in law, Kevin and I had a framing company in Maryland put this together.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I love the detailed beading around each picture.  The matting is silk. 

 

My brother and SIL on the left, my parents in the middle and Kevin and I on the right.

 

 

 

It's a special piece that I hope they get to enjoy for a long, long time! 

Recipe - Crab Chicken

Let me introduce you all to some Eastern Shore of Maryland flavor!

Crab Chicken.

It's quite possibly the best chicken ever.  I'm not biased or anything.  My Mama does know how to cook.

And she made this up.

Start with the following ingredients:

Apple Cider Vinegar

Olive Oil

OLD BAY!

Use only Perdue Chicken (duh - any other kind is gross, just my opinion of growing up with Perdues!) and rinse it off and put it in a gallon size baggie.  Use a fork and poke holes in the chicken.  Pour a little olive oil in there (I'd say 3-4 tablespoons) and then a lot of apple cider vinegar (around 1/2 cup maybe more?) and then a ton of old bay.  Seal the bag and mix it all up.  Fancy, huh?!

Do this marinating process the night before or morning of when you'll grill or bake it.  

When I lived in my condo, I just took it out of the marinade and put it in a dish and baked at 350 for 40 minutes until the chicken was done.  Now, we grill it and it's even better.  

Getcha some crab chicken, an ear of corn and a salad and you'll thank my Mama for a delish summer meal!

Wedding Pictures - Reception Part 3

Part 3 of the reception!  

Love this one of my Raleigh girls and their husbands!

With my Aunt and Uncle and nieces/cousins!

This picture is too cute!

My friend Sara and I.  She is probably 5 months pregnant in this picture!

MOH!

SIL Brittany!

My girls Lauren and Lindsey.  Lindsey came from Dallas for our wedding with her fiance Chris.

Cheryl and Brian!

Last dance - How Sweet It Is - James Taylor.

Next up is our exit!

On Life After A Wedding

It's been 2.5 months.  I'll tell y'all what - I am so glad all of that wedding planning is over.  I know some people get sad after it's all over.  But not us!

Don't get me wrong, I loved every second of it and I'd do it all over again just the way we did it (minus the photographer) but I'm SO glad to be just living life with Kevin now.

We are having fun cleaning up our yard, furnishing some rooms as we see pieces we like and doing things WE want to do on the weekends now.  What a relief!

As we look forward to the next 6-9 months we are excited about a Europe trip, having a couple of parties at our home (except yall may have to BYOC (bring your own chair)), a Mexico escapade, Christmas in Maryland (first time I've brought a guest to family dinner), spending time with family and friends and lots of "us" adventures.

It's fun to think about.  And I still think it's weird that he is my HUSBAND and that it's legal (per Mom and Dad) for us to be living together and that we own our house TOGETHER etc. etc.  And when I married Kevin I also became the other half to three rental properties and his business.  

I've always been a part of all that as a pseudo property manager, a pretend business plan writer and an ole trusty advisor, but now it's real y'all!

We are married and I'm still trying to remember not to call him my boyfriend or fianCHE.  Husband.  Husband.  Husband.  

And I'm still trying to introduce myself with my new last name in work and personal life.  I've managed to leave voicemails with both my old and new last name in one voicemail.  "Oh sorry, I just got married and don't know my name."

Out, Yardwork, Bday and Sunday

We had such a fun weekend.  On Friday night I came home and Kevin had done all of the yardwork I was suppose to help him with that afternoon.  Talk about a nice husband haha!

We had Tony come grab us and we went to Cosmos for dinner on the patio (and listened to a couple people sing/play guitar) then walked over to a new place called Bradshaws.  They had a live band and we really liked the place.  Then we went back to Cosmos and danced a little which was funny!

Saturday morning we got started on the yardwork.  We have basically been cleaning out our backyard which has not been done since umm EVER.  It has moldy leaves and trash from when the land was a nursery way back when.  So we have finished the backyard cleaning up and now we just need to get our plan together for what we are going to leave natural area and what we're going to plant grass in.  Cutting down 4 trees is also in the plan so grass will actually grow. 

We had a break and Kevin made these yum BLTs.  I love yellow tomatoes.  He also used a mayo/sour cream/rosemary spread that he created.  

He burned everything we picked up and I bagged the rest.  PS we aren't allowed to burn things in our neighborhood so shhh don't tell.

Saturday night we went to Nakatos to celebrate Kevin's Mom's and Brother's birthdays.  Yum!

They came back to the house.  Kendall loves Mills and Mills loves Kendall.  She climbed all over him and he just laid there.  

Sunday morning my friend Kimmy came over and we walked the neighborhood.  I think it ended up being 4.5 miles.  We had some mimosas and looked at wedding pictures afterwards.  Of course Mills got all of the attention!

Kevin's brother, SIL and niece came over Sunday afternoon and we all headed to the pool.  We had high intentions of grilling out but ordering pizza was just easier.  We hadn't heard from Kevin and Kendall in awhile and we went in the bedroom and found them like this.  PRESCH.  Yall think Kevin may want a baby at some point?!!  HA!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I'm looking forward to a productive work week!  

40

Happy Anniversary to my parents!  They've been married 40 years and are the example of a perfect marriage. 

Let's get real sappy here.  They are high school sweethearts.  I don't know what year they started dating but let's say they were 17 and 18 to be conservative.  That means they've been together for 46 years.  Oh I think I just gave away their age...oops! ;)

Kevin and I feel very fortunate:  his parents have been married for 41.75 years, so together both of our sets of parents have been married for 81.75 years!  Holy moley!  

And if you add in my sister in law's parents you can make that well over 120! 

Three examples of HOW IT SHOULD BE!!!!!!!!

Hometown Hero

On Thursday evening, Kevin's Dad was recognized and on a TV show for his service in Vietnam.  He was asked for an interview with the guy in blue below and it was locally broadcasted.  We got to go and watch it being filmed, live!

Kevin's fam - his parents, brother and niece!

I jumped in this picture.  We wish Brittany (Joe's wife) could have been there but she was at work.  

They had a cake made for his brother and Mama who both have birthdays this week!  

It was very nice.  We all had dinner at Main Street Grill afterward!

Thank you for your service FIL!

Mac Viva Glam VI

Meet my new favorite lipglass.  Mac Viva Glam VI.  Love it.

 

The makeup artist for my wedding recommended this color at my trial and I bought it so I'd have it for our wedding day.  And now I just can't stop using it.

 

I love how it stays on much longer than my Clinique lipgloss and most times I don't even wear lipstick, I just use this. 

 

When I got my makeup done for Lindsay's wedding, I asked the makeup artist if she thought this color would look okay with the makeup she had done and she said it would be perfect.  She said it's one of Mac's most popular colors. 

 

So getcha some!  And smack it on for your big plans this weekend!

Currently NEEEEEED!

These are all items I NEEEED! 

 

Tory Burch Amazing Heels. Look at that heel yall!  Simplistic and classic!  These aren't really necessary but the next two items are.

 

Alright I'm going to be up front and honest on these next two.  I wear these flops CONSTANTLY.  And the two pair that I own are literally hanging by shreds.  I really love these because they're dressy with work outfits while on the road but I can throw them on with an outfit at home and dress it up. 

 

And I may have sent Kevin an email tonight telling him about a similar pair, but Kev, you can just click this link right here.  HA, in my dreams!

 

And the next thing that I really might just have to buy (very soon!) is a new pair of jeans.  Mine have holes in them from excessive wear.  I wear jeans a couple times a week and on the weekend.  And if you all are like me, anything that touches an airplane gets washed ASAP.  So these babies have been through the ringer and are worn out.  Here is the link to my go-to jeans.  You can consult me for my size! ;)

 

 

Tell me what you NEEEEED!

 

Knock Out Panties

For my friend Lindsay's bridesmaid's luncheon, her MOH and MOH's mom hosted it!  The favors were these Knock Out Panties which were invented by the MOH's sister!

They gave us each two pairs (whoa!!)!  Okay Dad and Kevin, stop reading.

They are the most comfortable underwear I've had!  They stay up on you and I don't know about you all, but I've always hated lace.  Not these!  I love them!  One thing they advertise is that they don't smell, if ya know what I mean!

They didn't ask me to write this blog post but I'm so excited about mine, I just had to share a good thing with you ladies!  Try them out and I bet you'll be glad!

Wedding Pictures - Reception Part 2

Part two of our reception pictures!  

As I've mentioned before, all pictures are by Terra Bailey Photography.

Our Avenue Friends!

Wendy on my left side (on the right in the picture) just had a baby like a few days before our wedding.  It was SO nice of she and her husband (in the sunglasses) to come! 

The drinks were evidently very tall and strong!  No complaints from any of our guests! ;)