Happy Birthday Meg!

Happy 26th Birthday to my Meg! I'm so lucky to have such an AMAZING younger sister who is not only loving, but also so thoughtful and generous. Thank you for always lending me the perfect thing to wear, thinking to send me random wonderful little packages, and for being my personal cheerleader...I only hope one day we can live closer to each other :)

I really wish I had some baby pics of us to scan in - we were cute - but I guess these more recent ones will have to do...





















We love you and can't wait to see you soon!

xoxo

2 Year Anniversary!

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my husband...my best friend...my better half (for sure)!

I can't imagine a better day than our wedding day - it was perfect!

2 years ago today almost to the hour we were doing this...







It never occurred to us then that today we would be living close enough have our anniversary dinner at this beautiful place - How lucky we are!

We always say that when we got married we had to "start over" counting our anniversaries. 2 years just doesn't seem like long when we've been together for over 10!

Here are a couple of fun old pics just to prove we've REALLY been together that long :)





Thank you for being such an eternal optimist and for always bringing happiness to my day. I love you!

Mt. Hunger

We hiked another Vermont peak this weekend - Mt. Hunger. It's not as high as Camel's Hump - only 3,539 feet at the summit and 2.2 miles from the trail head - but it's steep! Most trails will have an uphill climb and then level off for a while, but each time we rounded the top of a climb it seemed another was waiting for us! Whew. Unlike in the south right now (yikes guys 100 degrees!) it was cloudy and cool today so we weren't too hot :)

Pretty view on the way up.



Here's an illustration of the steep climbing - this was the trail! Even Willow needed a boost.



It created the need for frequent water breaks.



We finally reached the top after a little over an hour!



Proof we made it to the tip top...



The clouds kept us cool, but also blocked the beautiful view. We did get a glimpse every once in a while.



Willow didn't feel like posing for pictures but we managed to get in a few.





Cloudy!




2.2 miles back down to the trail head...



Willow loves hiking :)



Pretty much every time we hike I fall at least once. This time was no different...I fell twice. This looks a lot meaner now than it did then and is pretty sore tonight :) I should probably invest in some better hiking shoes but I keep putting it off - too much other gear to buy!



Tired on the way home...

Lake Fun

My parents have been in town for the past week and we've had lots of fun lake time!

Bike Riding...



Enjoying the beautiful scenery....




And flowers from the garden!




There have been some changes at the lake house - new screens on the porch and new outdoor furniture! Here are some pics while it was in progress - I'll have to take another one now that the screens are complete and the furniture is in :)




You can barely tell the screens are there! We were worried about screening off our beautiful view but it looks great!

We have been enjoying delicious dinners - as have the dogs :) Corn on the cob - yum!




One other funny story...we recently had our boat motor serviced and the boat has been running great! One day this week my parents were out for a spin when suddenly the boat stopped moving. The motor would crank and run, but not move either forward or backward. Long story short, they paddled to shore and pulled the boat out of the water only to discover the motor no longer had a propeller!

My dad thought he'd make an attempt to dive and find the missing propeller...





He was unsuccessful, but it was worth it to see this wetsuit again! It reminded me of the last time it was worn...



After a week full of work, we're excited for a relaxing weekend :) Hope you all have a great one!

Vacation!

After the wedding, I went home for a relaxing week of vacation where I had the chance to see lots of friends and family. What fun! I didn't take many pictures, but I'll post the highlights...

I started out with a trip to Target (who would've thought I'd miss it so much?)!

My mom and I did some shopping, played Mahjong (and I won a game!), and worked on a really cute DIY craft we saw on another blog. I'll have to post about the craft later because it's part of my sister's birthday surprise :)

I drove to our old stomping grounds to visit some friends, catching up on all that has changed since we left! I dropped by our old house while I was there. It's looking about the same as when we left it. The grass has died as well as the flowers that were in the window boxes when we moved 4 months ago....



I read 2 AWESOME books - would totally recommend both of them!





I was able to spend some quality time with my brother and my dad - it was great!

I went out to dinner a bunch at home as well. My parents and I had dinner at my in-laws house - yummy and great to see them! I met up with some friends that live in my hometown now for dinner out - great to see you guys too :)

Although I flew down to VA, I drove back with up with my mom...it took 12 hours and 20 minutes this time - not a record but not bad either! We saw some interesting things along the way that kept us entertained.



I wrapped up my vacation with a weekend at the lake with my parents, Matt and Willow! We had beautiful weather and so much fun...I'll post more of that later because right now I feel about as tired as Willow looks :)



It's back to work tomorrow...The heat has broken finally so I might be able to convince Matt to retire our AC for a few weeks!

Ecover

I know, I know, I've been M.I.A. all week! I've been having too much fun at home in Virginia visiting with family and friends :) We made the long drive up to Vermont today where I was excited to see Matt and my little nuggie! I'll be back to update soon!

On another note....

I'm always looking for natural cleaning products that still smell good. Most of the ones I've tried either have no smell (guess no fragrance is the most "natural") or smell terrible OR don't work! A little bit like natural cosmetics - ha.

I finally found a brand I love so I thought I'd share for those of you interested :)

The brand is called Ecover. They are awesome and they smell great (like pine)! I've only tried a few of the products but I love them. They even make a "boat wash." Too funny - I wish they made things like shampoo and conditioner but maybe they'll branch out eventually.

They have coupons on the website - yay! Of course the natural stuff is more expensive than what I usually buy but I think it's worth it. If you're looking - here is what the label looks like...



One other great thing is that the laundry detergent is rated HE for all those of you with front-loading washing machines :)

Wedding in the 'Noke

I attended the wedding of one of my best friends from college this weekend in beautiful Roanoke, VA. What a fun time! A bunch of our friends from college are married or dating but only one of the husbands/boyfriends out of our group could make the trip to this wedding...It ended up as an awesome girls reunion!!





Here are some highlights from the weekend...

We stayed here.



We could walk to the rehearsal dinner at the Taubman Museum of Art - what a cool building!



The rehearsal dinner was held in the main hallway between the galleries...here are some interior pics.







The groom painted this picture of a dock on his family's property in the 5th grade. It ended up being the place where he proposed! His parents put it up as you walked into the rehearsal dinner as if it had a permanent place in the museum - too cute :)



One of the bride's favorite movies is the Sound of Music so the bridesmaids incorporated a song into their toast to her. Here they are performing :)





The groom participates in one of the toasts...



The beautiful bride after she reclaimed her nite-nite...The bridesmaids stole it from her and dressed it up for their toast :)



There was an after party in the hotel that included lots of dancing!





The wedding reception was held out at a beautiful old farmhouse in the foothills of the mountains outside of town....





There was a cool bluegrass band during the cocktail hour...



Cute details...





A great band for dancing as well...





Lots of time with friends :)







Including the beautiful bride.



Our friend Walker was the token husband for the weekend :)



The bride threw her bouquet...



And left to sparklers...



We capped off the weekend with a trip to the Texas Tavern...



Yum - Cheesy Westerns :)



It was so nice to come home for a visit and great to spend time with old friends!