Weekend Wedding on Amelia Island

Paul and I had a great weekend celebrating our friends Joey and Julie getting married in Amelia Island. Joey grew up with Paul and I so it was a fun time having a lot of our hometown buddies visiting for the weekend to help celebrate the newly married couple.

Friday night a group of us got together to hang out in Jax for some dinner - it was really great to have a chance to catch-up with everybody before the craziness of the wedding.

(Brad & Ally came in from New Jersey)

(Me and Pauly)

(Bridgette and Bentley who came in from Brooklyn)

(Olinka, Nick and Brad)

(Weber and Olinka)

Now on to the good stuff...the wedding. Joey and Julie got married at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island and I must say, it was absolutely beautiful. For the convenience of the guests they had a bunch of rooms blocked so that friends didn't have to drive the 45 minutes home after the reception so we all decided to pair up and do two couples per room - we made it not only convenient but reasonably priced as well.

They got married outside on the lawn with the ocean as the backdrop:

(the groomsmen: Joey's twin brother, Jason, Joey's oldest brother, Jerry, and Joey's youngest brother, Jordan)

After the ceremony - which by the way was the shortest ceremony I've ever witnessed. It was no more than 5 minutes from the time that Julie's dad gave her hand to Joey to the time that they were announced, you gotta love that - there was a cocktail hour on the same lawn. Paul insisted we get a photo of some of the crowd:

After the cocktail hour we headed inside for some dinner and dancing and I got some great pictures of everybody enjoying the reception (in no particular order):

We had such a great time with everybody, and what a great reason for us all to get together: Congratulations Joey and Julie!!!

30 Day Challenge, Day 25 - My Favorite Place

What is My Favorite Place? I would have to say my favorite place is the home that I grew up in, in Gulf Breeze, FL. I had such a wonderful childhood growing up there, and even to this day it is my favorite place to visit – and I love the smell when you walk in the door.

Funny Side Note Story about the Smell of my House: We were at that wedding in Savannah a couple of weekends ago and the sister-of-the-bride gave my mom a hug and she started laughing and said something along the lines of “you still smell the same” – it’s so funny because I remember when I was growing up I would go over to friends houses and they would say “you smell good, you smell like your house” so it’s not just me that loves that smell.

Here’s a few pictures of the house I grew up in and I'm gonna go ahead and warn you, you will fall in love with it:

(the front of the house)

(the front of the house with Riley and Bailey looking out - how adorable!)

(the entry)

(the den)

(the other side of the den)

(the living room)

(the other side of the living room)

(the dining room)

(the study)
(my old room)

(the back of the house)

Now, after seeing all of those pictures how could you not feel right at home. I absolutely love the house I grew up in ---now if my dad would only keep it in the family until Paul and I decide we want to move back to Gulf Breeze (hint, hint)!

My second favorite place is a toss up between our little beach bungalow and my parents farm. Both places have their own special place in my heart because the farm is Paul and my favorite place to get away and relax (plus we get to fish and ride the four wheelers and just breath in the fresh air - - and pick blackberries, scupernons and some other kind of berry) and our place is the first home that we’ve lived in together (officially) and it has so many wonderful memories for us both.

Here’s some photos of our house in Jax:

(look how close we are to the water - how could you not love that!)

And here's some photos of the farm (I only have pics of the outside but that's all you really need to see why it's on my top 3 list of favorite places):

Yes, that is me in camo driving a camo golf cart - talk about awesome!!!

So, those are my 3 most favorite places in the whole wide world and it just so happens that I'm going back to the Pensacola area for work next week so I'll get to see my parents (most importantly), the farm and my childhood home - lucky me!!!