Memorial Day Weekend 2016

Happy Memorial Day! I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for the men and women who gave up their freedom for mine! Thank you for your service and sacrifice!

My weekend began on Friday where I spent as much time soaking up the moments with my sweet Brayden!

I have exactly one week left off work and I want to cherish my time with him as much as possible!

On Saturday morning, my mother-in-law came by to watch Brayden so Heather and I could go for a run! We had a great time in beautiful weather. More about the run in Friday's workout recap!

As a post-run breakfast, I had an English muffin "sandwich" and coffee in my Vero Beach mug. Two years ago, we spent our Memorial Day Weekend at Vero Beach and had a ton of fun. I would love to go back and spend a bit more time there...it was SO relaxing and peaceful!

During the afternoon, I dropped Brayden back off with my in-laws then headed over to Painting With A Twist for a Disney themed Bridal Shower!

I loved all of the Disney-esque details!

My button was the Rapunzel one! I thought this was such a cute touch!

Our class began with a blank canvas and lots of different colors....

This was my fourth painting to do with painting with a twist and turned out to be my favorite by far!

• Take 1
• Take 2
• Take 3

Bridesmaids!

Midway through the painting, we took a break for dessert!

I loved the adorable Mickey and Minnie touches!
 

Bride!

Here's my finished product! I couldn't help but include a little hidden Mickey in there! Melissa did the same!

Hi Mickey!

All of the Bridesmaids with the Bride!

Our class

After painting, we went to see Alice Through the Looking Glass. I loved it!!

On Sunday morning before church, I introduced Brayden to his Mickey lovie. I think he likes it! :)

My dad and his buddy during lunch after church on Sunday...

Last but not least, this is a picture my grandmother-in-law gave to me and I love it! The young girl in the picture is my mother-in-law as a senior in high school and the ones surrounding her are my family. The man in the middle is my grandfather who passed away a few years ago (if you read my blog then, you know how close I was to him). This is definitely a picture I will cherish forever! As for the reason my family was hanging with my mother-in-law...well, let's just say our family has a long standing history and it's just an interesting fact that Jason and I got married! 

Today, we've been invited to a BBQ at a friend's house in honor of Memorial Day! I hope you all have a great day as well!

What are your Memorial Day plans? 

Sunrises and Paintings

Hello, last day of September! Where’s the Fall weather? I need it, pronto!

Cool temps would have been nice for Saturday’s run but oh well…it was a good run despite the humidity!

After meeting up with my running group on Saturday morning, I began a solo 8 mile run (sounds funny, doesn’t it? We don’t all actually run together…). My friend Heather was on vacation, so I ran this one alone and let me tell you – I had ZERO motivation to get out of bed on Saturday morning! It’s so much easier when I know someone is waiting on me! Despite my reluctance, I was so glad I made it – the sunrise on the lake was incredible…one of the prettiest I’ve seen!

I could have taken pictures all day, but I finally pulled myself away and continued on my run.

My knee began to bother me somewhere around mile 5, so I slowed my pace down and carried on. I really really need to work on consistent foam rolling this week because I have a 12 mile training run for Wine & Dine on Saturday! I finished all 8 miles without pushing it…thankfully the knee cooperated, too!

Afterwards, I stopped at Panera for my favorite Hazelnut coffee – it was super delicious as always!

On Saturday night, my friend Kim and I headed over to Painting with a Twist for a little girls night fun! She’s never been, I’ve been twice (here and here).

For this class, we were directed to a room I’d never seen – the “party room”. It was much smaller of a room and a smaller group of people than last time, so I felt more comfortable with it all.

Each canvas included an outline of a fleur-de-lis and a palette of colors.

Like my apron? Nah nah nah nah nah nah…BAT MAN!

Concentration!

The Fleur-de-lis part of this picture wasn’t hard at all - neither was the background. I actually enjoyed shading everything in.

Then, we got to the Paisley part……oh the paisley. (face palm)

My poor palette was a mess by the time I finished!

Tah Dah! This did NOT look ANYTHING like the professionals “paisley” but hey…I guess that’s why they are professionals and I’m not! Actually, this reminds me of ancient Egyptian art. Whoops. I had the thought of taking it back and completely shading the fleur-de-lis in, but I’m going to think on it a bit more. 

All done!! It was fun to experience this class with my friend, we enjoyed it overall. Would I go again? I think so…but my painting collection is growing and I’m running out of space to hang them! :)

Have you been to a class similar to this one? What were your thoughts if so?

Backyard Landscaping Project Take 1

I hope you are all enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend!

May we never forget the men and women who paid the price for our freedom! Thank you to all who serve and sacrifice for us!

This is how I spent my weekend:

Summer = Watermelon!

My brother was in town for his 10 year reunion, so we spent a lot of time with him and Kayla. :0)

I enjoyed a little relaxation time – not a lot, but a little!

We spent a good bit of time shopping for items to spruce up our deck and begin our backyard landscaping project.

Ignore the monkey in the tree…he’s just a little bit silly! :0)

Here’s a few before/after pictures of our backyard project…

Before

This is the deck after it was pressure washed, ready for staining.

Here’s the corner where we began our landscaping project.

Halfway There

We absolutely love the fleur de lis stones we found at a local hardware store!

Working hard! :0) Besides working in the yard, I also re-stained the surface of the deck. No worries, I wore sunscreen this time!

Finished

Well, almost finished. Our next project is to uproot the grass in the photo shown above, then set the groundwork for patio stone. We had a lot going on this weekend and didn’t want to overwhelm ourselves with too many projects, so this will come soon. For now, this area will be home of our hammock…

Here’s a few close-ups…

A little splash of color!

This corner landscaping project idea has been rolling around in my mind for at least a year. I’m glad we finally got it started, and just in time for a backyard Memorial Day BBQ with family!

Another soon-to-be project is the fence – I’m planning on staining it the same color as the deck!

Whew…what a weekend! I’m tired now just thinking about everything we accomplished. I hope you had a fabulous weekend as well! If you were off work, did you enjoy your time off? Any Memorial Day plans?