Autumn Love

Have I ever confessed my love of fall to you? Oh, I have? Well, I probably didn't explain it to the full extent. I love fall. Most of my family is less than thrilled with the season due to the nearness of winter, but I haven't ever let that take away from the loveliness of it all. Cider, apples, pumpkins, apple crisp, boots, scarves, hot coffees, cool mornings, blue skies, changing leaves, crunching leaves, falling leaves, that delightful smoked air aroma... Can I get a happy sigh? ;) It all reminds me of the sweetness and faithfulness of the Lord to once again bring about a perfect changing of seasons... And His mercy on all of us southern folk!  

Unfortunately, the only day Strom and I had to autumn-it-up happened to be 88 degrees. Maybe even warmer. Despite the hot flashes, it was nothing short of wonderful to have a surprise afternoon together!  

I hope y'all are enjoying this lovely season - however warm or cool your weather is!

Happy Thursday! 

Joe Beans & the Week's Ups & Downs

Confession: Strom and I are a bit on the coffee-addicted side. It's not that we can't function without it... It's just that life would be sad without that sweet goodness. Really sad. (I once gave up coffee for a month before my wedding and I swear it wasn't worth the white teeth!) That being said, we like to indulge in the occasional coffee not made in our kitchen. It's not typically Starbucks, so not to worry, Dave Ramsey! ;) 

We're both major Dunkin Donuts fans and we often resent the fact that the closest one is over an hour away from us. (Please, Dunkin! You need to set up shop in the 'Burg!). But life got a little sweeter this week when we rediscovered Joe Beans (thank you, Kelly!). I think I can hang in there without my Dunkin knowing Joe Beans is in town!

Ups of the week:

• Coffee. Coffee hour in our house is usually around 8 o'clock PM (weird, right?). We never fail to anticipate our hot (or cold, let's face it, VA is a furnace this time of year!) beverage every night!
• Our Life Group. I'm so blessed by the group of people the Lord has placed us in. I'm so happy to call them friends - God is so good! 
•  The art of dejunking. It's seriously the greatest feeling dumping stuff off at Goodwill or in the dumpster. Free at last.
• Today's weather. I've been dying for an overcast day for weeks now. Along with its rolling thunder, today has been nearly perfect. My mile-wide hair doesn't appreciate the humidity though....

Downs are inevitable:

• With that dejunking comes the stress of actually dejunking. We're in the process of moving (yes! We are moving!!) and I am ashamed at how much STUFF we've accumulated in just two years here! I take pride in being a clean and mostly organized person, but somehow we managed to store up a whole ton of random nothings that have lead to one busy stretch of deep cleaning! 
• Our landlord giving us 45-ish minutes notice yesterday to come over to take listing pictures of our place when the packing up process has already gone full swing. I've never cleaned/staged so fast in my life. 

Happy Friday to ya! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

...How is it the weekend already?!

Ups & Downs: Adventures, Fortune Cookies & Predictions

Monday night I got word that my 8:21 am flight to New York had been canceled. Oh yay. After rebooking on a flight a few hours later in the day, I thought that would be the end of my Tuesday travel adventure. How wrong I was! My 2:40 flight was delayed an hour, causing me to miss my connecting flight in Charlotte and the only option I had was to fly out at 10:30 that night. 

6+ hours of waiting in Charlotte, a Code Red stand down at the security gate upon arrival, one God-awful cup of coffee from Starbucks (you know I love you, Starbucks, but you really disappointed me that day!) a friendly but slightly too flirty pilot crossing my path, and a fascinating gentleman on the plane who predicted my firstborn child (in the future!) would be a boy all lead me to a 12:30 arrival Wednesday morning! 

Gosh, travel is exhausting sometimes!! Thank goodness I arrived with my luggage intact. 

And thus, the ups and downs of this week!

Ups:

• Finally arriving in New York! I wasn't sure I would ever get here. 
• Tomorrow I am shooting a 50th Anniversary vow renewal (thus the travel challenges!) and I can't wait to be a part of it! 
• Seeing my family after only a few weeks apart! What a blessing to be here so soon!

Downs:

• Ugh. Traveling. I love visiting places, but the process of getting there sucks!! And doing it alone nearly ensures the fact that something will go wrong. Murphy's Law. 
• Starbucks' coffee. Can someone say nasty? Sweet Dunkin Donuts, you must come to Charlotte airport, if only for my sake! 
• The weather here in NY. It's such a downer. It's already summer in Virginia and this place is like a time machine. I totally didn't pack the right clothing to stay warm! 

Can't wait to see what adventure my fortune cookie from last night is foretelling! I've gotten a lot of these predictions lately... :) 

Happy Friday y'all! 

Snowy Surprises

We opened the front door yesterday morning bound for church (5 minutes late... how does that always happen?) and I squealed like a little girl. It was snowing! Not puny little flakes, but legitimate Charlie Brown's Christmas snowflakes. We didn't think it would last, so imagine our surprise when we exited church to find a full-blown snow day had come to Virginia. (All when I had given up hope of seeing any winter this year!). 


This morning we hit the trails with sweet friends of ours to take advantage of the white stuff. Lord knows it will be gone by tomorrow!

 Yes, those are daffodils. And yes, it was 60 degrees a mere 72 hours prior to this snowy delight!

Cafe Latte

Need I say more?

It's a salted caramel latte kind of day.

But isn't every day? 

Happy Thursday!

Four Boys & a Bakery

Are you ready for some major cuteness? Let me introduce you to four of our six nephews! Each one is so adorably unique in his own way, each with a killer personality and brains to boot (which is no surprise considering how wonderfully awesome their parents are!). 

We all geared up and took a walk to the local bakery/cafe in the neighborhood together (one of my favorite features of the area! I could sit in this cafe all day and read book after book!) and made a priceless day of it!

                 Logan.                              Thad.                               Jude.                                Zeke.

 Ah, sweet success! This gave me a glimpse of what our future will (hopefully!) hold!

 Oh Jude... you melt my heart <3

Precious times with precious family! :)

Up & Away

Just as things have started to settle in our busy house, we are once again back on the road! Maybe I should say, in the air for all technical purposes. Any guesses as to where we're headed this time?? Yeah, I made that way too easy for you.

The handsome hubby and I are Seattle-bound!! It'll only take us approximately 10 hours to make the trip (which is a nice change from back in our dating days - it would take me over 14 hours to get there from Maine. Yeah, no thanks...). 

Be prepared for countless pictures of beautiful Washington state and of course, our precious nephews! 

Feature Friday 03.11.11

Today we're going to change things up a bit and take a break from wedding videos. A while back my [awesome] brother Jack showed the following feature to me in passing. He knows full well of my love and appreciation of coffee (and all things artistic), so I enjoyed it then as much as did when I recently rediscovered it in my internet travels. If you love coffee you're going to like this delicious presentation by The D4D, a "branded content studio." In The D4D's words, "We work with people and brands to create meaningful connections through storytelling." I dare say they accomplish their mission quite nicely. 

I hope you enjoy!

 

Espresso, Intelligentsia from The D4D on Vimeo.

If you liked that, I am certain you will find their presentation of a Cappuccino just as enjoyable! And delicious, might I add.

Ahh coffee, how I love thee.

Happy Friday! 

O Tannenbaum

2010 will be the first year my husband and I will spend Christmas together. Last year he was in Afghanistan, the year before that he flew home to be with his family, and the first year we were dating, he had just returned home from Iraq and was with his family ~ that is a long distance relationship for you! So needless to say, we're excited to be not only in the same country this year, but under the same roof! 

This is also my first Christmas season away from home, so we're doing our best to start our own traditions and making things special together. So far, we're having fun! Yesterday we set out to find the perfect tree for our place. We were happy as kids to finally be celebrating together! 

{We of course started out our adventure with a stop at our local Starbucks. Nothing better than tree hunting with a Peppermint Mocha & Eggnog Latte!}

{I must say, it was certainly this most scenic tree farm I have ever been to!}
 

{After a bit of searching, we found one! Not too big, not too small! A lovely 7-footer.}

 

{With no roof rack, it had to go in the back seat - you should see the pine needles that remain there - It was the loudest 30-minute ride home of my life! We still had fun!} 

{That didn't take long.}

 

{Highlighting the 2009 World Series win for our Yankees! Okay, so this year wasn't our year, but hey, there is always next year!}

{What a little troublemaker! But oh so cute.}

{Yankee Pride!}

{If it dangles, she finds it and loves it! Santa hats included.}

{A little touch of rustic country.}

{The lighting is a little rough, but it's a beauty!}

Let the Christmas festivities begin!! Brace yourselves for a Christmas themed blog for the next four weeks!