Kiss me I'm (partially) Irish!

Whew! Finally getting around to our St Patrick's Day Weekend post! We were super excited about St. Patrick's Day this year because we were finally going back to my beloved Savannah for one of the greatest holidays. Savannah is one of the biggest St Patrick's Day celebrations in the nation. This year, it was on a weekend so it was projected to be the biggest celebration the city had ever seen. To boot, it was one of my bestest friend's birthday- whom I hadn't seen in ages and she was coming to celebrate too!!!!! So you can see why I was so excited! We came down with another super fun couple from Atlanta and stayed in a hotel right downtown in a great location!
Our first stop was to Wet Willie's to sample the famous concoction known as the "Call-A-Cab" It was delicious!

Hubby and I decided to share, because that's what obnoxiously cute couples do right?

Darienne and I enjoying the bea-utiful Savannah weather!

Nick makes friends EVERYWHERE.

Later that night we had a birthday dinner for my friend's birthday at one of our favorite restaurants, Cha Bella and then out on the town.

The next morning we had big plans to go to the Rail (one of our favorite bars in Savannah) for their annual free St Patty's day breakfast but after going out the night before and finding out about our hotel's super awesome complimentary hot breakfast bar, we decided to sleep in to get ready for the world renowned parade!

Waiting for the parade to start in front of the beautiful azalea bushes

There's a tradition at the St Patrick's Day Parade to kiss all the Army Cadets with red lipstick on and leave big red smooch marks on their cheeks.

Definitely lots of fun was had. It was an incredibly long parade- 4 hours or so. We left before it ended because we ran out of refreshments. Enough said! After the parade we headed back to the hotel to recharge and refuel before heading out again that night!

Got to hang out with some great friend i miss terribly!

Hubby, donning his best St Patrick's day apparel

Got to hang out with more great (and creepy) friends =) haha jk love ya Paul!

The weekend definitely lived up to our expectations. There were a ton of people there- I am not sure if it was close to a million people like the news projected. We had so much fun, but we missed seeing a lot of other friends in Savannah. I guess that means we'll just have to go back again! Maybe next time I'll get to go to the beach too. Who wants to come with me?!
xoxo
 

Are You Spartan Tough?

Hubby has been running and training for weeks for the Spartan Race. He was relentless! He ran in the rain, he did sprints, he ran to Krog Street Bridge and back. Finally, the weekend after Hubby and I got back from Granny's 90th Birthday Bash, it was time for the Spartan Race.

If you've never heard of the Spartan race, the Warrior Dash or the Tough Mudder, they are obstacle races and they range in difficulty. This particular Spartan Race is a muddy 3+ mile trail run with approx 15 obstacles through out the race.

Of course I went to watch!! It was pretty incredible to see some of these competitors! At one point in the race, there is a 400 foot crawl through mud under barbed wire. People came out of that with cuts on their back and bloody knees. It was gruesome. Hubby signed up with a bunch of people from work.

look how clean they all are!

aaaaaand drum roll please! Hubby was the first of his work friends to cross the finish line!! Yep, I'm pretty proud! Check out some of the obstacles...

mud crawl action

rope climb

wall scale

Tractor pull

It was a pretty impressive run for those guys and girls in the race. I know I couldn't have done it. Hubby was a hot mess when he finished, FULL of mud!

 Luckily for us (and for the car) they had outdoor showers (aka garden hoses on a hook) for the participants to hose off that mud.

Overall we had a fantastic time! Many memories made and a cool Spartan medal to boot!

90th Birthday Bash!

Yeah, so to say this has been a busy couple of weeks would be an understatement. In the next couple of posts, I'll tell you why! If you're not exhausted for me at the end of the posts- I'll be impressed!

To start, it was Hubby and I's 4 year anniversary of our first date 2 days ago! I know, I know, no one celebrates their engageversary or their first date-iversary after you get married but it's still fun to remember! And its a good excuse to  pop open a bottle of wine or have a good meal!

So, where did I leave off last post? Oh yeah, Seaside! After our super fun Seaside adventure, we headed to Sarasota to visit Hubby's folks and then to Sanibel Island, FL for my granny's 90th birthday bash!

We had a blast! the weather was beautiful and the drive wasn't all that bad (total of 9ish hours to get down there). We played games with the in-laws, had some good meals, hung out on the beach some (may have gotten a little overdone in the sun), and lots of fun with my side of the family! Almost all of my cousins and all of my aunts and uncles came down to celebrate Granny's birthday.

We did some shelling on the beach. I only brought home the prettiest.

Hubby and I at the beach

Pelican who wanted to make friends with us

Hubby, me and my mom at dinner

Granny and Hubby chattin' it up. Doesn't she look FAN-tastic for 90!?

Granny's super surprised face after she saw all of the guests at her party!

My sisters!

The party was REALLY fun, there was some sister bonding, some impressive booth jumping by Hubby, and some boogie downing! If you've ever partied with my side of the family, then you know: It's impossible to NOT have a good time!

By the time we got home, we were glad to have Kane back but were already missing the beach and the Florida sun. Going back to work was really hard. Luckily, we had more plans that following weekend to keep us entertained! Stay tuned for the next chapter in our never dull life!

xoxo,

Craftiness is back! Week 8 and 9...

Ok, so I know I am a little behind on posting my weekly crafts. Yeah yeah, so I am waaaaaaay behind. It's been a crazy whirlwind last few weeks. But, never fear! I still managed to be crafty! (I knew you were worried) I decided I'll start with revealing weeks #8 and #9 first and then reveal #10 and #11 at a later date. Keep you all on your toes. Yeah, i didn't realize i was that behind either.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about these crafts! For week 8 I saw a frame on etsy.com that I totally fell in love with and decided that I had to make one for myself! I wrote our first dance song on a picture mat and placed a picture of our first dance inside and Voila! Instant unique picture! Isn't it cool? I wish i had more interesting handwriting though. Mine is a little plain. I tried to dress it up a little by adding some curly cues but it looked forced. So plain Melissa handwriting it was! I still like it.

For week #9, in honor of one of the greatest holidays ever, I made a cute candy dish!

I love it! I used an empty mixed nuts container, covered it with scrapbook paper and added one of the yummiest Hershey's kiss flavor ever- creme de menthe. They taste just like soft Andes mints. YUM. I highly recommend. I think this craft is a very appropriate considering this weekend we're going to party it up for St Patrick's day!! Hope everyone gets to drink a green beer this weekend, if not, I'll drink one for each of you!

Cheers!

Truman Show Time!

To continue with my theme, this post is about 2 1/2 weeks delayed! oops! Anyway, Hubby and I traveled with a couple friends of ours from Atlanta to Seaside, FL. Our friends have a BEA-UTIFUL house down there right on the beach. We had a ton of fun! It was a little cold, so there wasn't much beach action but we were able to go to downtown Seaside, where The Truman Show was filmed.

Recognize this area from the movie? Imagine it without any parked cars. That might help.

We even were able to find the cute little house that was filmed as Truman's house!

If you have seen the movie, the house doesn't look exactly like the one in the movie (Truman has a yard in the movie) But it was still really fun to drive by! Now I want to watch the movie to compare!
We started to explore a little and stumbled upon a Mardi Gras celebration (we were there the weekend before Mardi Gras); there was a crazy Pirate Parade complete with bead throwing!

Seaside is great! Good food (have you tried the vodka from Moldova? They have the BEST coconuts there.), good friends, good times! We had a ton of fun and can't wait to do it again!
xoxo,

Happy National Nutrition Month!

Ok, well so I am a few days late announcing the beginning of National Nutrition Month but better late than never right!? So, Happy National Nutrition Month!! This year's theme is "Get Your Plate in Shape" based on the USDA's My Plate diagram that recently replaced the food guide pyramid (yep, no more pyramid). I've been working pretty hard at work on a National Nutrition Month (NNM) board.

Can that take the place of my weekly craft cause I am WAAAAY behind on posting about those.
Anyway, Kane also celebrated NNM!

 Aren't these treats so cute!? Teaches him to get his fruits and veggies in (half his plate, per the USDA)!

I got rave reviews from Kane, these treats were definitely a good buy. Not even a crumb left! haha

Hubby and I are getting ready for my granny's 90th birthday! woohoo! The party is tomorrow and it should definitely be a good time! Lots of Granny's family and friends are in town, approx 65-70 guests! I will definitely keep you posted on that one- rumor has it that Granny is going to dance on the bar!!!

Kane is back at "doggy camp". We were able to watch him on the web cam yesterday! Very exciting! They have a bone shaped pool and he was having a blast in there.

A "snapshot" of Kane in the pool.

If anyone wants to watch the web cam, a word to the wise: it's VERY addicting. I get sucked in pretty easily. haha  Well that's all for now since the sun is shining and its calling my name!!

xoxo,