Wedding Wednesday

Today is my brother Bryan and sister-in-law Helen's third wedding anniversary! Since it's Wednesday and I have a busy day planned with my sweetie, I thought I'd give you a look back at their fabulous wedding in Connecticut in 2015. This was a precious time for our family and I have to admit it's a bit bittersweet seeing the pictures of my mom. We never would have dreamed that she would leave us two very short years later. Anyways... I'm linking the blogs below. They're fun to read, I think. It truly was an amazing wedding, definitely the loveliest I've ever attended. I'll be back to my regular programming tomorrow. Hope you enjoy! Happy Anniversary to Bryan and Helen!

Going to the Chapel Part One (although it really wasn't part one of the series) takes us through the ceremony

Going to the Chapel Part Two (although that isn't how it was originally numbered) takes us through the reception.

And here is a little aftermath if  you want to see just a little bit more of that fabulous reception tent. Happiest of happy times for our family.

Small update on Bryan and Helen... they have a perfectly adorable little 2 year old son who lives the best life you could possibly imagine. I get daily photos of him out and about in New York City and I seriously would love to do NYC HIS way! He will soon become a big brother and I am soooo excited to become an aunt again to another precious little  Gant Girl. She is already treasured and loved!

Hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday! Love and hugs!

Reasons To Love Summer

It's the Sunday of a three day holiday weekend which... doesn't mean as much to me as it used to but I do appreciate that for many of you the three day weekend is still important. I love holidays, don't get me wrong, but I cringe at the thought of Memorial Day because it means we have the long, hot Summer stretching before us. I know that technically, Summer doesn't start until later in June but in my mind... and temperature wise where I live... Summer is from Memorial Day until Labor Day.

Summer means sweaty thighs and heat migraines and feeling miserable every time I step outdoors. It means having to remember sunscreen when I go outside. It means bugs. It means frizzy hair. It means kids out of school, roaming the streets and making things more crowded. Because I live in a tourist destination it means traffic and longer lines and not being able to go anywhere near Helen. Out of all the seasons, I like Summer the least.

And let's be real, the past few Summers have majorly sucked for me. I had a hysterectomy. We had to fight for visitation with Cosy. My mom got sick around this time last Summer and never got well. I haven't mentioned this publicly but Austin got in some legal trouble last Summer that caused us all a lot of frustration. Summer has not been good to me but Summer is here, just like a Monday and must be lived through, no matter how I feel about it. So just like Monday... I'm going to dig deep and find a few Reasons To Love Summer! Here goes:

1. Fresh produce. I love a good farmstand with freshly picked, local produce. Our produce around here in the off season travels further since we are further from Atlanta, the nearest transportation hub and therefore isn't as fresh as I would like. But our local, homegrown stuff can't be beat! There are a few farmstands around and a farmer's market on the town square every weekend and even the bakery sells fresh produce! Corn and watermelon and peaches and tomato sandwiches... yum! A sub-category to that would be boiled peanuts but you can really get boiled peanuts year round... and I learned how to make them in the crockpot so I have them whenever I want.

2. I know I mentioned my frustration with tourist traffic but honestly, tourism is our bread and butter up here. Austin works for the Old Sautee Store and Market which probably has a lot more tourist customers than locals. He's getting longer hours and more workdays while business is good so... tourists = money. I'll eat at my favorite local places during the Winter.... and they'll still be in business during the Winter because of the tourist dollars that keep them running year round.

3. Tourists come here because this is a lovely place to visit... and you WOULD want to live here. Even just a little grocery run reminds me how much I love this little corner of the world. It's small and quaint and charming. People are friendly. The pace is slow. Even though we have traffic - especially during the weekend - I've learned the times that I can go and not have to deal with crowds. And our traffic doesn't even begin to compare with Atlanta traffic so... I really can't complain.

4. Now that Austin is driving I rarely have to leave the house. I literally have not stepped foot outside since Friday morning. I won't hibernate ALL Summer but I can try to avoid the hottest days, at least the hottest part of the day since I don't have to take Austin and pick him  up. This weekend my blood pressure has been up so I'm trying to rest as much as I can and I'll have to check with the doctor on Tuesday.

5. Lord willing and the creek don't rise... this will be an easier Summer than the last two. In 2016 we went two months without seeing Cosette and it shattered my heart in pieces. Last Summer my mom was sick and passed away in August. We worked so hard to take care of her. I can't even fathom a Summer that could possibly be as hard as the past two. I don't feel like I'm tempting fate by saying, it can't possibly be worse.

6. I'm looking forward to good times with Cosy and Oliver this Summer. She FINALLY is no longer afraid to get in the water. Now that Austin can drive, I can be away from home more so I can spend more time with Oliver. I can do things that I haven't really been able to do the past few Summers because I had to be around to keep the household running.

7. At the end of the Summer I'm getting  a brand new niece and I have plans to travel to New York City to spend some time with her family when she gets here! Nobody loves Gant babies more than I do! My sister-in-law is really good about posting photos and videos of my nephew, Finn and I'm telling you, that guy has the BEST LIFE! He's a real New Yorker and I just love seeing him out and about in the city. Being able to see another little one just like him - hopefully with the same curly red hair- is going to make it double the fun for me!

8. My Winter uniform is basically hoodies and leggings. My Summer uniform this year is this dress from Walmart. I have four of them: black and white striped, grey and white striped, pink and orange striped and olive green and white striped. They are only $9.96 and I love the fit on me. It's the softest material you can imagine. Packing for my time with Marvin is easier because I just throw a few dresses in my weekend bag. (Although, to be accurate, since I've started blogging I also take my laptop to his house and that sucker is heavy so... weight wise, my bag is about the same.) I usually wear this dress with keds... which are also part of my Summer uniform. I have them in white, grey and red for this year. I also have a couple of maxi skirts and a few other dresses... but definitely my Summer uniform means wearing pants as rarely as possible.

9. My final (and maybe biggest) Reason to Love Summer this year is my sweetheart. We didn't really start seeing each other until mid-September last year so this is our first Summer together. He hates Summer almost as much as me, as far as the heat and humidity are concerned. This is a man who sleeps with a fan on himself year round so I know that as much as he can help it, we won't be hot when we're together. I'm looking forward to our adventures together this Summer. When you're with the right person, even the bad times aren't so bad.

So what about you? Do you love or hate Summer? What are you looking forward to this Summer? Let me know in the comments below or on my link on my facebook page. Love and hugs and Happy Memorial Day, y'all!