Bridal Shower

Bridal Shower

June 23, 2012 

I would like to start by saying a BIG Thank You to all my family and friens who made this day so special for me.  I am truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.  A special thank you to my bridal party who put so much work into making the day perfect!  I love you ladies!

I hope you enjoy all the details  ♥ 

THE INVITATION 

I loved the invitation ! 

CENTERPIECES

 All the table names were places in Saratoga

PLACE CARDS

 DESSERT

The most delicious cupcakes ever!  Of course the Red Velvet was 

my #1 choice!

 LOTS OF WINE!

This was my favorite thing about the shower.  Everyone brought a bottle of wine with

a wine tag(sent with the invitations) that had advice for the Bride & Groom.  Trevor and I 

are having so much fun reading all the tags and trying new wine.  

GIFT TABLE

FAVORS

S'mores are my favorite so naturally I was excited for these!

The Bridal Party 

minus one(love  you CJ, can't wait to see you!)

"Merkl" Ladies

My sister & Mom 

Mom and her friends

My future Mother in Law :) 

Gift Opening Time!! 

A gorgeous serving bowl from Nancy.

One of my favorite gifts!

"Mom where did you put the card"

Got it!

Some "sexy" stuff for the wedding night from my sister

After a great bridal shower, my ride showed up!

Love you babe! 

Thank you all again for a wonderful day!!

xoxxo

Happy 4th Of July!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!!

We sure did ... 

Luckily, we had off Tuesday and Wednesday to enjoy the beautiful weather and holiday.   Tuesday was one of the best days we had in a long time.

We took a drive up to Lake George to do some hiking.  After getting a little lost we ended up hiking a different trail then originally planned.  We wanted to hike Black Mountain, but ended up on Pilot Knob.  

It was a fairly short, but intense hike to the top.  

The view was amazing!!

After taking in the view for awhile we decided to explore a little more.  We went on another hike from the top of the mountain towards a waterfall.

There wasn't much water, but it was still beautiful.  We got a little lost during this hike, but

it was so much fun trying to find our way back.  

Here are some pictures of us enjoying the view:

We plan on coming back to find Black Mountain because it is a higher mountain.  In total we hiked a little over 5 miles.  It was a great workout!!

After our hike and a long shower we headed over to Kimberley's A Day Spa for a couples massage.  

It was the perfect end to our day. 

Wednesday morning we woke up and took a nice bike ride to the gym and had a good workout.  Then it was on to the wedding duties: 

We went to Longfellows for our tasting and to nail down some other details.  The chef was awesome and the food was delish.  Talk about being FULL after!   

Exhaustion set in, but thankfully we were able to catch the Congress Park fireworks from right outside our door.  

It was a perfect 2 days!

xoxxo

  

Wait....What?!?

OMGosh!!! It has been almost 4 months since I have been able to blog!  Where does the time go??  Wedding planning, working, summer and just life have been non-stop.

To catch everyone up ... here is a little bit of what went on over the past 4 months:

March

St. Patrick's day celebration in Saratoga Springs  :) and that is about all I can

remember from March!

April 

Easter with the family!!

My 26th Birthday! 

via here

I have NO pictures from TAP this year!!  I even searched fellow tap goers facebook 

pages and NOTHING!  

I know there has to be a group picture out there somewhere!

BUT ...  this picture was in the TAP book this year!!

There we are! Me and my brother from TAP 2011! 

Please note: we are the only people with sunglasses on inside..HA!

May

CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge - this was such a fun event!!  It was a little over a 5k course through downtown Albany, NY that you run/walk with your co-workers.  About a half a mile into the race, I ran (pun intended) into my sister and got the finish the race with her!  It was awesome!

During Mother's Day weekend both mine and Trevor's family got together for

the day at my parents house:

It was so fun to see our niece(Trevor's side) and nephew(my side)

play together. 

I can't to see them at the wedding! They are our flower girl and

ring bearer!!

June

Me, Christina and Jamie

35th Freihofer's Run for Women - 5k run through downtown Albany.

This was mine and my sister, Christina's 2nd year doing the race. 

All the women lined up ready to go. 

Over 4,000 women from the Captain Region ran! It was a fabulous day to celebrate women!

Last, but definitely not least ...

This past weekend was my Wedding Shower and Bachelorette Party Part 1

This will be a whole other blog within itself, but I want to say Thank You to all my

amazing family and friends for making this day so special.  It was

absolutely perfect. 

p.s. I promise you will be hearing a lot more from us.  We have lots of adventures coming up over the next couple of months!

Wedding Countdown: 83 days!!

Weekend Part 2

And the Adventures continue ...

On Saturday, we had lunch at Ravenous in Saratoga.  The place was hopping and now I know why.  It was the most delicious lunch I have ever had!!!  It was so good, I didn't take any pictures because I couldn't stop eating.  Their speciality is crepes... breakfast crepes, lunch crepes and dessert crepes.  We chose lunch crepes, but I can't wait to go back for a dessert crepe.  

I had the Crepe Heloise - Crepe filled with mild goat cheese, grape tomatoes, scallions & fresh basil.  Since crepes are warm, the goat cheese was melted.  I loved every bite of it.

Trevor had the Grandfather's Garden - Crepe stuffed with portobello mushrooms,  fresh basil, diced tomatoes, roasted garlic and mozzarella cheese.  He was equally in love with his crepe and  I will have to take his word for it since I couldn't tare myself away from mine to try his. 

It you are ever in Saratoga Springs, NY stop by Ravenous for a delish crepe, you won't be disappointed.  

Ok enough raving about Ravenous.  

I forgot to mention a little stop in the saratoga tourist store  my favorite store before lunch where I saw these adorable little guys:

After lunch, we marched our full bellies back to my favorite store to buy these adorable little guys because in my exact words, "I couldn't go home without them."

Saturday night we went to Hibachi dinner with Trevor's co-workers. Great food with great company, couldn't ask for more :)

Sunday

My sister, brother-in-law and nephew came over for some quality time.  My sister, Christina and I hit up the bridal show at Longfellows in Saratoga to try to find and florist.  We were in and out in under an hour, which was OK with me because I got to spend more time with this little guy:

He is such an entertainer!! Love him!!  What a great way to end the weekend!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

xoxxo

Weekend Part 1

This weekend was absolutely Fabulous!! 

After a long week at work, a co-worker of mine invited me to try "hot yoga" at E Studio Hot Yoga.  The class stated at 5:45pm and is called Happy Hour!! How fun is that!  I have never tried hot yoga and it has been years since I took a yoga class.  This class was great, it go up to about 82 degrees (was suppose to be 90) in the room and we did a lot of flexibility and balance moves I have never tried before.  The only downside was the price, at $17 a class I am not sure how often I will go.  

After yoga, it was home to relax with Trevor for the night.  

Saturday, we woke up at 8am EARLY (early for me on a weekend off) and had a "gym date" then headed over to the Troy's Farmers Market.  

The market is all indoors during the winter, but I definitely prefer an outdoor market.  We walked around fairly quickly and only walked away with a jar of Almond Butter from Saratoga Peanut Butter Company. 

I had a hard time spending money on things like pesto and salsa when I can just make it myself.  I am thinking about making some almond butter myself now too, but at least I know this almond butter is organic with nothing added:

After the farmers market we walked over to the new vegan bakery in Troy, Xs and Os Bakery.  We decided on some cupcakes:

Trevor had the Tiramisu Cupcake

It was very yummy.  

I had the chocolate cream filled cupcake Hostess Cupcake

Also very yummy, but the Tiramisu was the winner of the two.  The

cupcakes were a lot more moist then I would have expected and tasted just like

the real deal.  I wouldn't be opposed to trying some different

flavors.  

After our cupcakes we headed back up to Saratoga for lunch (yes, we had cupcakes before lunch).  More about our lunch in Saratoga and other weekend adventures to come!

Have you ever had vegan/gluten free cupcakes?? 

Thinking I should try to make some

xoxxo

Snow Snow Go Away

Snow Snow Go Away 

This stuff is absolutely disgusting.... Yes, it looks pretty, but in a few hours I have to clean all that snow off my car and drive to work in it.  We have been fortunate enough not have a lot of snow this year, but I can't wait until my weather forecast looks like this in March:

Gosh ... Trevor and I can't wait to live there.  68 degrees and sunny!! Hellllloooo bike riding and running outside in March!

Do you love or hate the snow??

Tune In

What we are tuning into:

1. Books

Trevor is just finishing up the first book of 

The Hunger Games.

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We are very excited to go see the movie when it comes

out!!

I have finished The Hunger Game series and am now

reading:

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It is very interesting so far.  A lot of "technical" terms, but I am

beginning to become very interested in how we work out and what we eat

effects our body.

2. TV

Bethenny Ever After started a couple of weeks ago.  

Bethenny and her husband, Jason 

are so funny and we love to see their interaction.

American Idol has just begun the Top 24.  We are a little unsure of the talent

this season, but we will see.

3. Movies

Trevor took me to see The Vow last weekend :)

He is such a great man with a lot of patience for the things that make

me happy.  

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This weekend we are most likely going to see Safe House.  I promised Trevor

we can go see if after he sat through the vow and even said "It wasn't

that bad" at the end. 

4. Music 

A slightly embarrassing fact ... I put "Rack City" by 

Tyga on my Workout playlist.

Please don't judge me. 

Can't wait for this weekends events ... Gym Date, Troy's Farmers Market, Dinner with Trevor's co-workers, Bridal Show and quality time with my sister, brother-in-law and of course the cutest little man ever, my nephew. 

xoxxo 

Falling In Love All Over Again

Valentine's Day 

Valentine's Day was another great day.  We decided against fighting the crowds at restaurants and stayed in for a romantic evening.  Last year for Valentine's Day I made Trevor red velvet cupcakes and he insisted on them again this year (I am beginning to think this will be a tradition he would like to keep). 

Glorious Treats has a lot of great recipes for desserts.  I used both the cupcake and the frosting recipe from this site.

-  cupcakes

-  frosting 

For my chocolate garnishes:

1. Lined a baking sheet with parchment paper 

2. Melted chocolate chips in the microwave ( 30 seconds then stir then 20 seconds and stir)

3.  Filled a squeeze bottle with the melted chocolate and created my designs on the parchment paper

4. Put the baking sheet in the freezer for about 2 hours

5. Once the chocolate set, they came off the parchment paper very easily

Trevor surprised me with beautiful roses and chocolate! What a guy :) 

We originally planned on cooking dinner, but after making the cupcakes a mess in the kitchen we decided to order in sushi from Duo.  We have never actually been in the restaurant, but they are just down the road and deliver.  

Sushi, wine, cupcakes, chocolate and my love ... definitely my idea of a perfect Valentine's Day.  

Can't wait for this weekends getaway to NYC!! Have a fantastic weekend 

xoxxo

Looking forward

We have some excited adventurous coming up that we are looking forward to:

1. Valentines Day

Nothing like a day that says I Love You all over again!  Yes, I realize how corny that is and before Trevor I HATED Valentines Day.  Loving someone special can be the most amazing thing in the world so don't ever pass that up no matter how "corny" people think you are!! We don't go all out for Valentines Day, but a nice home cooked meal, red velvet cupcakes, a bottle of wine and possible a movie is all we need.  

Oh yea ... lots of chocolate too!

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2. NYC!!

February 18th we are going down to NYC for the night for a little romantic get-a-way!!!! YAH!!!  We haven't decided on where we are going to have dinner yet, but we are open for suggestions ... please share some!!!

We are going to see a musical called Memphis. 

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A little extra bonus for this weekend in NYC is going to brunch Sunday morning with one of my best friends, Michele. 

She is currently going to school at FIT and I haven't seen her since last summer :( ... Can't wait to catch up and for her and Trevor to meet.  

3. Stay-Cation 

We have planned a week long "stay-cation" in March to relax and spend some QT together.  We are also trying to get at least one item on our Bucket List crossed off during that week.   We are thinking either go to a gun range or ride in a hot air ballon.  There will also be lots of relaxation, spring cleaning and wedding planning going on this week!!

Opinions:

Gun Range or 

Hot Air Balloon Ride??

Hope everyone is having a GREAT weekend!!  Don't forget to fall in love with someone or something on Tuesday ♥

xoxxo

Tuning In

Books, Magazines, Music, Movies, TV, Social Networking, Blogging ... ( I think you get where I am going) are all great outlets.

Here is what we are Tuning In to right now:

Books:

I am currently on the 2nd book of the Hunger Games.  I have equally liked both the first and the second book, but I have heard that the last one is a lot more depressing.

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Trevor is on the last book of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series.  He has loved these books, but I could not  get past the 2nd chapter of the 1st one.

via

Trevor plans on reading the Hunger Games next.

I am going to read the last book of the Hunger games, but then I have no idea what to read!

I was thinking about reading another series written by Suzanne Collins(author of the Hunger Games), but I am not sure if I will enjoy it.  They are called The Underland Chronicles which is a five books series of fantasy novels about a boy that falls under the earth.  I have never been into "fantasy" but I do like similar ideas (Harry Potter, Twilight ...).

Movies:

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On Friday, we plan to rent 50/50 for date night.  Any thoughts about this movie?

We both would also like to see:

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Hopefully I can get through the movie, I heard it's a little scary... ekkk!

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When it comes out on March 23rd! Can't wait!!

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I am thinking about reading this book first and possible waiting to watch 

this one at home when it comes out to rent.

Blogs:

I am so excited to see some of my friends join the Blog World!  Some new Blogs that I am super excited to start following:

Cooking Wright with Donna 

Life lessons with Mrs. Stewart 

The Little Things   

-Jessica has actually been blogging since October, but

I am still excited about it!

Have a great suggestions for books, movies, blogs or anything else for us?  Let us know! We love hearing new ideas. 

xoxxo