Thanksgiving

We spent most of the long Thanksgiving weekend at my parents farm this year and we had a great time with the Rawson side of the family (my dad's side).  We missed not having my sister in town but we're all really excited that she'll be coming to Florida for most of the month of December - Yippee!!!  We're also sad that we didn't get a chance to spend time with the Gerrety's for Thanksgiving, especially now that Sophie is here, but we're going to take a trip around Christmas to go spend time with them.

Here are a few photos my mom took from Thanksgiving:

 Everyone passed around the turkey hat that I got my dad for Thanksgiving last year

 Dad wore his hat with the hair that I bought him for our trip to California earlier this year.  Sorry for my facial expression but I must have been mid bite :)

 Pauly did most of the dishes - I tell you, they don't get much better :)

Here we are, relaxing with Teddy, after all of the extended family went home

We had a great time spending time at the farm for most of the weekend, we did however breakaway for a night to spend some time with a few friends back in Gulf Breeze: 

 

We finished up our weekend at the farm by taking our photos for our Christmas cards this year - I can't wait to post the pictures, they are hilarious, but that'll have to be after they get sent out :)

What's Been Going On

I say this all the time and once again I'm saying it: life has been nothing less than a crazy hurricane lately.  Just to fill you in, we've traveled back home for a wedding, had company in town to visit, become aunt and uncle to a beautiful neice, and we've also been house shopping with every free moment that we have.  Not to mention we both have to work in the middle of all that.  Thankfully we'll be off to my parent's farm for the Thanksgiving weekend so it will be a much needed break away from the craziness of life - four wheelers, bass & brim fishing, skeet shooting, yummy food, family time, camp fires, scuppernongs, and the best part - - - ZERO CELL PHONE SERVICE!!!  Hopefully we'll all get some much needed rest and relaxation and Monday won't come around quite so fast as we're used to.

On a side note, the wedding we attended back in GB was for Paul's best friend who is also a Paul, and his now wife Brigette.  We went to high school with both the bride and groom and we consider them both long time friends.  I wish we had taken more photos but I did get a couple that are worth sharing:

 I was sitting right behind where Paul stood as a groomsman so naturally he had to make a face when I took his picture - - - I love that man :)

 Bride & Groom saying their vows (wait till you see her dress, it's gorgeous)

 The whole wedding party.  That's Pauly on the back right

 A lot of our friends brought their babies so Paul spent most of the night hanging out with the babies (he is so good with kids - - - just another reason I married him)

 Bride & Groom cutting their cake

 This is a random picture that someone else took with my camera because Paul and I are standing in the far left of this picture (I have the brown skirt & white jacket) - - - at least I got my camera back :)

 Bride & Groom dancing their first dance together - - - I told you her dress was amazing!!!

 Mama T (my mother-in-law) breaking it down on the dance floor (she's the one on the right)

 Some of the flowers used in the arrangements

 The grooms cake, it was a suitcase before it was half eaten.  They love to travel together so it fit them perfectly, not to mention it was one of the coolest grooms cakes I've ever seen.

This was the big arrangement in the middle of the room - - - this photo was taken the morning after so it really doesn't do it justice.

We had such a great time getting to spend time with so many close friends and we couldn't be more excited for Paul & Brigette.

Until Next Time,

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Dinner Date Must Try

Last weekend Paul and I had an awesome dinner date night at a relatively new restaurant here in Jacksonville at the Town Center, Black Finn.  We'd heard mixed reviews about the atmosphere and food, but we still wanted to try it out for ourselves and we're so glad we did because we'll definitely go back sometime soon.

Here's what we ordered (all of which was awesome - - - and keep in mind that my husband eats more than the average adult male)
Appetizers:

• Ying-Yang Shrimp: crispy shrimp, sweet and spicy Asian sauce
• Blackened Brie: Ciabatta toast, sliced apples, apricots, cranberry chutney

As you can see from the pictures, both appetizers were yummy!  The Ying-Yang Shrimp was great because there wasn't a whole lot of breading.  I'm sure it's still pretty bad for you but at least we didn't feel quite so bad eating it :)

Entrees:

• The Wedge: wedge of iceberg lettuce, bacon, bleu cheese crumbles, roma tomatoes, red onion (minus the onion), creamy bleu cheese dressing, sliced steak (Suzanne)
• Lime Seared Salmon: roasted corn black bean pico de gallo, rice pilaf, asparagus (Paul)
• Goat Cheese Grit Cakes (Suzanne)
• Mac and Cheese (Pauly)



Although Pauly could eat his body weight in food, the portions are HUGE so we ended up taking home over half of what we ordered for the entrees.  We weren't even able to try the mac and cheese since we were so full...needless to say, we did not order dessert.
Paul and I would both recommend giving Black Finn a try, especially if the weather is good because they have a great patio for dining outside.


Happy Sunday and cheers to finding new and fun dinner date restaurants!!!

Jacksonville Zoo

Paul's mom and dad came to stay with us this weekend and we had a really relaxing and stress free time - I think we all needed it :)  90% of the weekend we stayed at the house and spent most of our time lounging on the front porch or walking the dogs on the beach, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect and we definitely feasted and imbibed to our hearts content. 

As is standard for Paul and I on any other weekend, we went almost the whole weekend without getting in our cars but we did make a special trip on Saturday to the Jacksonville Zoo - Paul and I love the zoo here in Jax and Mama T really wanted to check it out.  Since the weather was so great it was an ideal weekend for the Zoo.

Here are some of the guys and gals we got to see:

That last picture of Paul and his parents was from Saturday night when we walked down to Neptune Square to hear a local Jazz band.  I wish I had gotten a few more pictures of Paul and I with Mama T and Papa G but I just wasn't on my game.

I head out tomorrow for a long week of traveling for work so Paul and I are off for a date night.  Happy Sunday!!!