Christmas Fun

Hope everyone had a very merry holiday weekend :)  We ventured down to Wilmington, NC to spend time with Hubs' family over the weekend.  We boogied out of the DC area on Friday late morning, and not a moment too soon because we were able to pop on to HOV exactly when it opened.  I was that one who crossed 3 lanes of dead stop traffic to get on that HOV.  That my friends, was a life saver because the typical NOVA traffic was in full gear, even at 11 AM.  We stopped off in Richmond to visit our two adorable nephews for a little while before continuing on our travels.

The rest of the weekend was great - we ate, visited, played with our niece, took Grouper to the beach and water, and just enjoyed ourselves.  Courtesy of his brother, Hubs is now the proud owner of nunchucks.  Grouper ate all his edible gifts in t-minus 10 minutes.  We came back Tuesday and are back to work.... for a day.  I have picked myself up a little cold and was down and out today.  Thankfully there is only 1 more day left in the week and then we are off to see my parents this weekend and celebrate Christmas with them.

Having fun at Wrightsville Beach

Grouper pouncing on his chuck-it ball

Playing in the sand

Opening up his presents

Keeping his eyes closed as he opened the "secret gift" aka nunchucks

In other news, I had to do my timesheet yesterday.  I was happy to see that, although I have yet to send in all my paperwork to HR to change my name, they have me as Stephens-Wolf for now.  Getting there, one step at a time :)

Making a List, Checking it Twice

Like how I tied in Christmas to a wedding post ;)  Anywho, Lists Galore is the theme here.  Up to the wedding day I kept a revolving list of 'to dos'... within arms reach at all time for those 'ah ha moments, I need to right his down'.  The list I am talking about today though is super important - it prioritizes the 'wedding categories/vendors' from those that are super important to you and you don't mind spending some buckaroos on and those that won't make or break your wedding day and you can save $$/DIY. 

Luckily, we were able to triple check some categories off the list with our selection of The Point at Broomes Island.  It was our ceremony location and reception location and it also required you to use their in-house caterer (Stoney's Seafood House).  I would recommend having a bite at the place while visiting (if you can) if the place requires you to use their caterering staff so you at least have an idea of what the food is like. 

Our list looked like this:
What was important to us - DJ, Photographer, Bar
Items we can save on / DIY - Flowers, Invitations, Dessert, Decorations, Goodie Bags, Favors

In short, I love to dance so music was extremely important.  I also love reminiscing and wanted to capture the moments of the day so perfectly, so spending quality money on a photographer was important to me.  (Plus, we decided not to use a Videographer so we could throw a few more bucks toward the photog).  Finally, our family and friends enjoy a nice cocktail so we wanted to have plenty of options (not just beer and wine) and make this available all night.  Since the reception location was 20 minutes from the hotel, we knew we would rent a bus, which eased my nerves on the whole Open Bar deal.   

After a lengthy search (which I will dig into more in another post) we selected Leah Hewitt Photography as our photog and BK the DJ as our DJ (he has changed the name to Superlative Events now).  I LOVED both.

Oh Christmas Tree

Only 3 more days till Christmas!  And, I still haven't posted a pic of our christmas tree and decorations.  Its kind of weak on the festive decoration front - we have a tree and some lights on the TV cabinet and a wreath on the front door.  Next year I would love to add a few more things around the house (setting that goal now).

I love having the lights on - it makes the house all cozy and comfy.  If I could find a way to have christmas lights year round I would.

Under that tree we made good use of the table runners Hubs' mom made for our wedding!  Great way to re-use.  There are 5 (or 6) total and I am trying to figure out what I want to make out of them cause they are awesome!

What to Do - Winter Activities

The Wedding post will be tardy today (aka probably up by midnight ... oops). 

This past weekend was one of those "what should we do today, it is freakin' cold outside".  We did some Christmas shopping for our nephews and nieces, strolled around Alexandria and stopped for a bite to eat, and then drove around and headed to Annapolis to walk around, and yes, grab another bite to eat.  Sunday evening left me thinking of some fun winter activities to keep us occupied. 

A little research has left me with these ideas for January:
1)  ICE! Show at Gaylord National Harbor (thru Jan 8) - featuring Madagascar.  This looks pretty awesome even for a 27 year old.  End the evening at Bobby McKeys Piano Bar
2)  Alexandria Restaurant Week (Jan 13 - 22)
3)  Home and Remodel Show (Jan 20 - 22)
4)  Maryland Polar Bear Plunge (Jan 28)
I already have one activity on the books .. Cookie Swap on Friday Jan 6 (Yay ;) )

Plus in February:
1)  Washington Boat Show (Feb 10 - 12)
2)  Skiing out West (we always do a ski trip out west.  Typically for 7 days.  This year we are thinking of 4 days and finding a deal somewhere.... trying to save some money)

That should hold us off until some warmer weather and its time to get the boat ready in March / April!

Anyone have any good ideas?

Blue in the 'Other Room'

I started last weekend painting the 'other room' the same Gentle Tide Color.  I finished it on Friday night (again another Friday paint session).  I think it looks great! (excuse the clutter though, pics still down from painting and my re-arranging left things astray).

Then on Saturday I did a little furniture 'switcheroo'.  Since the room is a square, it really didn't do anything to the feel of the room.  That double bed just takes up so much space.  I am left trying to decide if I should complete take a part that bed now and make space for a day bed (that we would build of course) or a twin/queen sleeper sofa.  Don't worry all house guests... we have a queen blow up ;)

Idea from Pottery Barn

Crate and Barrel Troy Queen Sleeper Sofa

Crate and Barrel Troy Twin Sleeper Sofa

We're on a Boat....

Some of you may already know about our recent amazing Family Purchase.... our very own Boat!  Whoop Whoop! 

Hubs has spent the last year searching high and low for a boat that fit all our specs and our budget.  It has been a tough job.  Our top requirement was something we could sleep on comfortably ... and have space for a kid some kids in the future.  Well, on our way home from watching VT beat Boston College end of October I got a call from the parentals saying they saw this boat on the side of the road, that was the same model as theirs.  We decided to stop by and see what it was all about.  2 weeks later it was ours!  The timing was perfect cause I just finished paying off my car plus we got an a-m-a-z-i-n-g deal.  The guy just wasn't using it and wanted to get it off his hands + some aesthetic things that require major elbow grease = super fabulous deal. 

Hubs spent most of the past couple of weeks winterizing it (himself) and learning all about the mechanical parts of the boat.  He's so smart!

Our Fabulous Dish Washing Ways

Last night Hubs and I decided to tackle the dishes piling up in our sink.  Typically the week days are so busy that sometimes we are running around like crazies or are completely wiped to even unload the clean dishes.  Horrible, I know.  So after dinner we were like a Nike Commercial - "Just Do It".  We tackled the items we like to do the most in dish cleaning and started chuckling about how we are perfect for each other ... when it comes to dish cleaning (ok, and everything else ;) ).

1)  I love to unload the dishes, Hubs hates it

2) Hubs loves to load the dishes, I hate it

3) Hubs loves to wash the big stuff by hand, I hate it

4) I love to dry the big stuff and put it away, Hubs hates it

Really, how much better could it get! This is typically why we can complete our 5 minute Speed Cleans  in a cinch and get to relaxing stat.  Now if I can figure out how we can apply the same thing to laundry - tough luck I think, cause so far we both hate everything about doing laundry.

And for some holiday spirit, Grouper around this time 2 years ago... Aww ;)  He still had puppy breath and smelled like a bunny from the wood chips he slept in at the breeder (I think). 

Grouper 10 weeks old

Your Wedding's 'Spot'

Time to dive into/recap how we picked our 'wedding spot'.  Honestly, it didn't take me long after Hubs proposed to dive right into researching wedding venues.  I was so high on life, my excitement had me scanning Wedding Wire like it was my job.  Being boaters/'on the water' type of folks we, okay I, definitely knew I had to be married next to/on a body of water.  Hubs of course agreed.  So, I looked up every single venue that was close to the Potomac River or Chesapeake Bay in the MD and VA area.  We narrowed it down to the following places to visit:
1)  Chesapeake Bay Beach Club (our neighbors got married here and loved it)
2)  Celebrations at the Bay
3)  Silver Swan Bayside
4)  Old House Vineyard (now this was at a vineyard, but they had a lake.  A friend from high school got married there and I saw her pics so I had to visit it!)

A close friend had just recently got engaged and had visited similar places (include Bay Beach Club).  She had mentioned that, for example, Bay Beach Club already had dates booked for 2012 and we were only in 2010!  So, 2 weekends after we were engaged we made a weekend of visiting possible venues.  I look back on that and am like "whoa, that may have been a bit much to act so fast".  I blame it on the pure excitement :)

Chesapeake Bay Beach Club

Chesapeake Bay Beach Club

Silver Swan Bayside

Silver Swan Bayside

Celebrations at the Bay

Celebrations at the Bay

Celebrations at the Bay

Old House Vineyard

Old House Vineyard

Old House Vineyard

I think it was that Saturday afternoon after visiting a couple of places when I mentioned to Hubs that I saw this other place, we may consider checking out - The Point at Broomes Island.  Hubs said, "oh yeah, I have been there before when I was real young.  A friend and I went fishing there".  He remembered it had excellent crab cakes and was definitely willing to visit for food!  That Sunday on our way to visit Old House, we decided to stop by.  We weren't disappointed!  We LOVED IT and didn't want to leave.  We, okay I, battled for a couple of days after between Old House (which we loved too) and The Point at Broomes Island, but deep down I knew The Point was it.  When trying to make that final decision, Hubs asked "which place is 'us'" - The Point was the answer.  And there you have it, The Point at Broomes Island was our 'wedding spot'.

The Point at Broomes Island

The Point at Broomes Island

The Point at Broomes Island

The Point at Broomes Island

The Point at Broomes Island

But, anywho, my advise is:
1) Talk to your fiance and figure out what type of venues you want to visit.  Having an idea of what type of atmosphere you want (i.e. fancy, casual), possible 'theme' (i.e. we wanted to be on the water), any special places (i.e. your parents backyard), indoor vs outdoor is helpful.
2)  Research, Research, Research.  It is especially important is to see if the places you look up give you any info on the site fee, food costs (if this is included), etc.  I emailed probably 20 places and asked for cost information.  Their responses immediately eliminated them if it didn't 'fit the budget'
3)  You don't have to act as fast as I did, but schedule venue visits soon so you can select a place.  The location often drives the selection of the remaining vendors - for one reason, the location is important to know so you can start researching other vendors  (i.e. we didn't know if we would be in the SE part of Virginia or the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
4)  Make sure you love the place and ask yourself "which place is 'us'".