Mike and Jenee: The Little Details

In the attempt to not repeat myself, I actually thought out how I was going to share pictures from this wedding.  Since many of my loyal followers are also friends on Facebook, I didn't want to post the pics over the weekend and then do a boring post Monday morning with all the same pics. 

(Yes, I actually think of these things.)

I decided to leave out the pictures of the decor, details, and theming to use in a blog post.  This wedding was especially well done, and it really does deserve it's own post.

I also included a couple other pics that you may have already seen, just to keep you on your toes.

The wedding was at the Historic Kent Manor Inn on Kent Island, MD.  It is an absoultely beautiful and historical location.  Which I loved.  This was our first B&B experience as well, and we really enjoyed it.  The building is old, so the walls are thin and things such as doorways and hallways are smaller.  But I love that. The downstairs was beautiful- I love the history of a place like this and it was well decorated to reflect the time it was built.  It was a gorgeous location for a wedding and reception.

Before the ceremony.

The theme for the entire wedding was the beautiful blue colors you see below, and the starfish.  It was a beach theme, and the wedding took place outside in front of a gazebo by the waters edge.

A picture of the bride and groom, and a little bit of wedding decor.  The water is directly behind the gazebo.  Reminds me of another wedding I attended ;)

I had to share this picture again because I am just so proud of it:

That's right. It's a post-vow fist bump.

The nametags were attached to starfish and stuck in a sand box. So creative and classy. 

The cake was beautifully done, with starfish and seaweed designs.

The groom's cake was a bucket of crabs. How freaking awesome is this?!?!?!

My place setting at table 5.

The centerpieces were made with empty wine bottles.  The bride and groom worked hard at emptying them for the past several months! ;) 

You can also see the favors in the above picture. They are little light houses with candles in them. They work PERFECTLY with our beach themed master bathroom.  LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Dinner option #1: Crab Cakes

Dinner option #2: Filet

Both dinners were amazing.  Not your typical "wedding food" (although I really haven't been to a wedding yet where I didn't think the food was delicious). 

Messing around with the table number and my nametag.

The ceremony site

Like I said, a beautiful wedding and a really really fun reception.  The inn was completely filled with wedding party and guests, so we partied late into the night.  I managed to spill red wine all over everything, lost my camera in somebody elses room (I later found out it was found in the room where we were doing sorority chants...typical) and Joey and Peyton tried to steal a rowboat but couldn't find the oars (thank goodness).

Congratulations to the beautiful couple!!!

~SG

Same Pic Different Day

So the other night I was talking about Moms that post a zillion pictures of their baby, just laying there making different faces.  Or in some cases the same face.

I was vowing to never be that Mom and my husband just scoffed at me and told me to look at my own blog.

I mean, I guess he has a point....

Cause how many pin pics have you seen that look just like this?

So FINE. Maybe I already am THAT Mom.

But they are just sooooooooo cute!!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

~SG

Grasping at Straws

You know how when you get to the end of your groceries, when you are too lazy to go to the grocery store, and you have to make creative dinners out of whatever you have left in the kitchen?

I try to plan our meals in advance, but since we were at a wedding last weekend (still waiting to get my camera back so I can do a post on that) we didn't go grocery shopping and with all the excitement of Joey's new job, my car being broken, etc. we haven't gone this week either. 

So last night I checked out what we had in the house and found these key ingredients:
Ground beef (frozen)
A quarter of an onion
Bisquick (we always have bisquick)

What am I going to make with that??

MEATLOAF!!

I know you are rolling your eyes, groaning, etc. But I gotta be honest- I grew up eating meatloaf and so did Joey and we actually kind of like it!

I found a recipe online that is RIGHT up my alley.  30 minute meal?? Check.  Minimal ingredients? Check. Minimal effort? Major check.

This recipe is fool-proof.  Plus it makes little mini loafs, so you can save the leftovers for sandwiches the next day.

The hardest part of this recipe was stopping at the in-laws during our 2 mile run and borrowing an egg. (And running back to the house holding an egg...)

You can check out the recipe here.

Here are the basics.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork  (did not use this)
1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped (1/4 cup)
1 egg

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 450.
2. Mix the ketchup and brown sugar in a small bowl and then save about 1/4 cup of it before dumping the rest of it into a big bowl with all of the other ingredients.
3. Mush everything around with your hands like playdough.
4. Spread it into a pan, cut it into squares and separate them with a spatula.
5. Spread the ketchup/brown sugar topping on your mini loafs.
6. Pop those suckers into the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Add mashed potatoes and voila!! A legit dinner made out of random ingredients you found in your kitchen.

 ~SG

Carpooling

Last Wednesday after work I went out to my car and noticed my front tire was rather flat.  I made it to a gas station to fill it up and got home fine (but with 2,876 phone calls along the way from my husband to make sure I was being careful, not dead, etc.).  So it was determined that I was to take the truck to work on Thursday and Friday.  Again, with 2,398,702 phone calls from my husband each day to make sure I got to work without damaging the truck, navigated the parking garage/didn't turn it into a convertible, parked between the lines, remembered to lock it, etc. 

After two days of this, I'd kind of gotten tired of it, so this is how the phone call went from my end Friday morning:  "Hello?  Yes. Yes I did. Yes.... You know what?? Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure I left it unlocked with the doors open parked sideways in three spots today...."  I think he got the hint.

Moving on.

Yesterday was Joey's first day at his new job.  His new place of employment happens to be the same company that I work for.  He'll be working in a different office location, but he had to be at HQ where I work yesterday for orientation.  Since we have to wait until this weekend to fix my car (turns out it needs front tires, alignment and balance), we put a can of Fix A Flat in the tire and he followed me up the road to work.  When we got there, we took a look at the tire to make sure it was still inflated.  It was.... but...

"Joey, what is this metal stuff sticking out of my tire?"

"Wow. That is not good. That means you need to change your tire, like 2 weeks ago."

pause

"You are not allowed to drive that car."

"Um......How am I going to get home?"

I was allowed to drive it back home to Woodbridge, but it was a pretty nerve wracking drive.  I don't think I've ever gripped the steering wheel so tight.... ya know, just in case the tire exploded.  I mean, in traffic I was traveling at like max 35 MPH... but one can never be too careful!

Also I was THAT A-hole in the far right lane going exactly the speed limit. It's times like these when I wish I had a scrolling sign on the back of my car that said "Sorry! My tire is really fragile so I have to drive slow!"  Or like other times when I wish I could change the sign to say "Hey Asshole!! Next time use your signal!"

Kidding kidding.... maybe.

In conclusion, we are carpooling for the rest of the week.  I'll report back with any further news.

~SG

The Watch

Joey and I took advantage of duty-free shopping on our honeymoon cruise, and each came home with a brand new watch!

(Bonus- a picture of our wedding rings-probably the cleanest they will ever be- and also a picture of my unnaturally hairy arms!)

It was a Citizens titanium watch that kept excellent time. 

I'm saying "was" alot.  Why are we speaking in the past tense, you may wonder?

The last time the watch was seen was the evening of the Hat Party.  When Joey went to put his watch on Monday morning, he could not find it.  We checked everywhere, in my purse, in drawers in the kitchen, etc.  We worried somebody might have stolen it.  He remembered he took it off at some point in the night because it was bothering him.

Here is the last known photo of the watch:

Fast forward to us running through the front of the neighborhood.  As we climbed the grueling hill that welcomes us back after each long run, I noticed something shiny on the ground.  Upon further inspection, I noticed that it was a small, silver link.  As we ran, I kept noticing silver links here and there, scattered amongst the gravel.  Suddenly, I had a horrible realization. 

"Joey..... I think I found your watch."

He bent down and picked up a small, circle of metal laying there with the links and read the inscription on the back.

"Citizens"

We had found his watch.  In about 100 pieces.  From what we can gather, he had set it on the bumper of the truck in the driveway, and when we'd gone out to breakfast the following morning, the poor watch slid off the bumper and into the road, where it was smashed to smitherines.

Looking back now it's kind of funny.  It sucks that we lost something sentimental and pretty expensive...

But hey, I guess we'll have to go on another cruise so he can get a new one :)

~SG

One Year Ago

One year ago today, August 17, 2011, we closed on our house.  We walked into that thing with the keys in hand and Peyton had already started ripping out the kitchen linoleum (haha).  For the next month or so, we/the contractors worked really hard to get that thing liveable.  While we were in Disney World for Labor Day weekend, the carpet was installed and we moved in around mid-September.  I still remember our first night in that house. It was so big and empty, and I was obsessed with figuring out whether or not it was haunted.  (If it is, I guess the ghosts like us cause we haven't had any issues.) 

I remember our first Halloween- we didn't have any curtains on the windows and the jungle outside was terrible, but we turned on all the lights so trick-or-treaters would know they were welcome.  We had a great time handing out candy/telling Doc to shut up.

Our first Christmas- we put up the tree and some rando curtains in the kitchen to try to get the place ready for my parents to visit. We welcomed Chloe into our family on Christmas Eve and had a crazy first week with my family, two dogs, and throwing a NYE party.

We loved that our house was a 'cool' place for Jason and his friends to hang out.  We've become close friends with some of those guys, and now they are always welcome because they always clean up after themselves when they come over.

We've learned that we have a ton of stuff, but also that we have a ton of space.  The house might look neat and organized.... just don't open a closet or a cabinet..... (my parents are laughing right now because this is how I used to "clean" my room.)

The basement... sigh.  It was terrible, horrible, awful, no good and very bad.  We finally got that carpet put in right before my birthday party.  The bathroom down there is still not finished, but apparently it was enough.

Because after a year we are elligible to re-finance our loan.  Meaning our mortgage payment will go down.  But before you can do that, you have to get your house appraised to be sure it is worth a certain amount of money.  This is scary, cause though we have done alot of work in the house, it has a looong way to go.  Yesterday, we got the results of the appraisal.

It was good news.... we appraised well over what we paid for that house.

So... even though I'd like to take my money and move to Disney World, I think we'll stick around, work on saving up for those granite countertops, and enjoy many more years in our beautiful home.

Thanks for following along with our adventures in our very first year.  There will be many more to come, of that I am sure!

~SG

Fluff

There are some people who don't like bloggers that fill their blogs with "fluff" when they don't have anything meaningful or important to say.

Well, it's a good thing I never have anything meaningful OR important to say.

So here is something fluffy, just for the haters:

Pa. road crew paints yellow line over dead raccoon

Happy Shark Week

...from my little shark.

Winnie the Pooh Baby Shower Pictures

This past Saturday was a completely crazy day.  Joey and I woke up early and tried to go for a run, which wasn't too successful considering he'd been sick all week and it was really hot out.  Then I had to shower and quickly get ready for my friend Ashley's baby shower.  Straight from the baby shower I headed over to Lake Accotink Park for a little Ragnar Relay meetup (yeah... about that).  From there I rushed home to get ready for my night out in Annapolis at the Chesapeake Bayhawks game and then out with the girls afterwards. 

With all the rushing around I did, I hardly remembered to take any pictures, even when I was just relaxing at the baby shower. I got ZERO pictures of myself with the momma-to-be, Ashley, and the hostess, Gage.

Gage did a beautiful job with the Winnie-the-Pooh themed shower.  Here are the pictures I did happen to take:

Look at all those gifts! Baby K is truly loved. Check out the "Hundred Aker Wood" sign!

The window table set up. A tree of wishes, favors, and a little art project where guests could dip their fingers into the paint to create "balloons"

Cute idea!

Favors- Hunny from the Momma-to-bee!

Box 'O Favors

Diaper Cake

Deliiisshhh cupcakes

Christopher Robin's Picnic

Congratulations to Ashley and Mike!! We are really looking forward to meeting baby K!!!

~SG

Craving Autumn

Can you tell??

I've had enough of hot, sticky, sweaty summer days.  I'm ready for cool, crisp, crunchy leaves and misty mornings where I can see my breath.  I'm ready for football, pumpkin spice lattes, and knee high boots.

I go through this every year around this time. I get tired of the summer months and long for my favorite season, Fall.  But it's always bittersweet, because on the heels of Fall comes Winter.. and nobody likes Winter.

But Fall... we can enjoy running outside at any time of day, celebrate our wedding anniversary (2 years in October!), decorate the house with pumpkins and squash, buy our Halloween costumes (oh yes. This has been planned for quite a while.), and maybe not have as many bugs on the back porch...

I hit up Pinterest for some inspiration/imagination today. It was glorious.

While I love summer and still have many summery things planned... I am really looking forward to when we can officially say...

It's Fall Y'all!

I'd run here. And not complain about it.

Joey would never drink this.

Not my house.

Stolen photo idea. Noted.

You know what sucks though? Raking.

Gathering ideas for my own porch.

Love the smell of a fire.

All true. Except back to school...

PSL: YOU ARE MINE

Sam Adams Oktoberfest. YES.

~SG

Back (b)Logging

So most of you know that when I started to blog, it was because I was getting married.  One of my BFFs helped me create a wedding website, and it had ALL the bells and whistles- even had a little section for a blog.  I didn't blog very often, but it was a good way to keep the memories of being engaged and the wedding planning process.

Last week, my sister's friend asked me for wedding planning advice.  She is one of the first of her friends to get married, so she didn't have too many people to ask.  Of course I said I'd help her out!  Our wedding site has been down for quite a while now, but I was able to log in and pull up the "blog" page.  I had always wanted to go in there and copy/paste the blogs so as not to lose them.  I guess since I'm not paying for the service, they are not keeping my data, so the pictures have gone MIA.  But the words are still there.

This weekend,  realized I would be able to "back blog" on blogger (by back-dating posts).  So I've started to add all of the GishWedding blogs to OhMyGish, for your entertainment.  Currently, they are all up but there are no photos.  I need to go back and find all the original pictures.  There are some good ones!

I'll let you guys know when it's done in case you want to go back and read through.  I had a good time going down memory lane, remembering the excitement of the pending wedding and all of the fun of planning.  I also got to reminisce about our first few days with Doc <3

The dates of the posts are January 1, 2010 through November 16, 2010.  Then I "graduated" to blogger.

Hope you enjoy this little project!!!

~SG

Disney Date Day

So Disney is our happy place.  Yours might be the beach, the lake, Ireland, whatever.  Ours is Disney.  People always ask us why we want to go back so often.  They assume we like Mickey Mouse.  They assume we are dorks (ok maybe that part is true).  But a big reason we like to go to WDW is for the atmosphere.  The theming.  The gorgeous weather.  It all ties in and makes it our happy place.

So, since this place is so far away and we only get to go once or twice per year, we have to get creative for those times when we are missing it.  We can look through old photos, souvenirs, etc.  We can listen to music- we both have the official album in our vehicles.  But sometimes, we have to get creative.

A few weeks ago, we spent an entire Sunday evening watching Disney touring specials on the Travel Channel.  Then, Joey got the idea to look at WDW on Google Maps.  It was fun to zoom in really far and check out how well the satellites can take pictures of stuff.  Kind of creepy.

This weekend, we decided to make a date of it.  Sunday afternoon we headed over to the mall to visit the Disney Store.  I will say that the Disney Store in Potomac Mills is pretty disappointing.  I'm used to the one at the King of Prussia Mall, and it's much better.  BUT.. it's still a Disney Store and so we like to go there from time to time to check out what they've got.  I don't think we've ever actually bought anything, but being surrounded by Disney merchandise sure makes you feel like you're at home in the parks ;)

After our visit to the Disney Store, we stopped at the food court for some "Morocco food".  Really it was a lamb gyro and some hummus... but we decided to pretend it was the Lamb Shawarma Platter at the Moroccan pavilion in Epcot...

via

On the way home, we blasted the music from Soarin, Ellen's Energy Adventure, and the music that plays when you walk through the turnstiles. 

Are we total losers? Maybe. But for $15 (cost of food), it was a pretty inexpensive and fun way to get excited for our next trip (in January....).

Countdown?? Only 162 days to go!

ETA: I'm already planning our next Disney Date Day (DDD?) because I decided I'm tired of our lame excuse for a Disney Store, and I found THIS.   Tyson's Corner, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!

~SG