Change is Good for the Soul

So that's what I did.  After six years of comfort at my previous position, I took a leap of faith and accepted a new position.  Tomorrow concludes my first week at the new job and I am confident I made the right decision.  Change is definitely scary and not easy but I am so thankful that I had the courage to take myself out of my comfort zone.  I'm excited for my future and am really praying to God for guidance and leadership.

I've been going to church quite a bit lately as I feel in my heart that I have so much to be thankful for and I want to dedicate time each week to give thanks to the Lord.  

Life is an exciting journey and I want to embrace each and every day.

Love,

d.

Family Vacation Fun

I'm a lucky girl.  The past week was filled with lots of fun in the sun with my hubby and family.  Besides the fact that I picked up a lovely cold on the plane and proceeded to share it with my mom and dad, and my niece also had an ear infection, all was well.  (This cold is seriously crappy though -- I still have it and I have to work over the weekend and I wish I could just crash.  Bad timing.)  But our runny noses, hacking and sore throats couldn't overpower over-the-counter meds and a healthy supply of rum, vodka and the like.  Our vacation overall was fantastic.  I'm so lucky my family is  amazing and also that my hubby loves them (and they love him) just as much as I do! Everyone is quite easy-going which helps make for great memories.  Here are a few pictures we snapped in between sunbathing, cruising on our beach bikes and sampling fresh seafood and rum runners! :)  Aww ... I love vacation.

Me, my sister and niece. 

My hot mom and sister.

We did a ton of walking, but this day we took a six mile walk to Caladesi Island.

My sunbathing niece! She loved trying to eat the seashells -- scary!

Now we are back home and like I said, I'm working at a trade show this weekend which I'm not enthused about.  I never work weekends, and this time I have to go out of the country for this event.  I'm hoping it goes quickly.  Now we can look forward to being in our new home this spring and getting our deck built, getting gutters and grass! Woo hoo! How things have changed.  :)

I hope you had a great week and have something fun planned for the weekend.

~DD

Success.

Easter Greetings! I hope you enjoyed a special day with your loved ones -- I had a blessed day for sure.  Tim and I tried out a new church this morning -- it didn't really speak to either of us, but I was happy to be at church. . . I'm hoping to improve my relationship with God and feel strong in my Faith.  Growing up we always attended church, and then three of my grandparents passed within a year time period due to cancer and I think that year pushed our Faith to the crapper.  Now that we're thinking about babies, I really want to feel confident in my relationship and I obviously have some work to do . . . I'll keep you posted on that development.

Back to today ... We came home and started preparing food in the kitchen for our Easter dinner celebration.  We hosted my parents, grandparents and Tim's parents today and we all enjoyed each others' company.

I was excited with how our Easter decorations came together.  Take a look!

Fancy for me! I was excited with how the table came out!

Fun favor! I used left-over "Chinese take-out" boxes from our candy bar at our wedding and filled them with Easter candy.  

Mom made Yum Yum cake and the its name fit its flavor.

Ha! Rice Krispie flower bouquet gone bad . . . but they still tasted good.

Welcome! (We need to get a spring wreath -- any suggestions on where to find one?)

Relaxing after a filling meal.  I was happy to have my grandparents here today.

I hope you had a great day and have a great week!

GAME OF THRONES IS ON TONIGHT! Love me some dragons!

~DD

Back to the Beach

In celebration of our upcoming beach vacation, I thought I'd take a hot second to share a few more wedding photos and details with you.

Eddie the steel drummer was an awesome addition to our special day.  I was thrilled with all of the vendors I selected based solely upon online reviews and a few emails - - and Eddie was no exception.  From "Canon in D" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to Bob Marley's "One Love," the steel drum music was perfect for a beach wedding.

Immediately following our ceremony we had a trolley transport our guests to our reception venue for an outdoor cocktail hour and Eddie went to the cocktail hour too.  Tim and I missed out on the cocktail hour because we were capturing our sunset photos ---looking back, I think it stinks to miss the cocktail hour.  

My muffin, Timmy, walking with his guys to get married. I love all of the bare feet -- so natural. In case you're wondering, we ordered Tim's suit from J.Crew after much searching for a lightweight suit.

Dad and I walking toward the action.  Ironically there was another wedding set up nearby (which I didn't know about!) and  they waited to start their ceremony.

Enjoying our signature cocktail, Sunset Sangria.  

I had planned every detail of our day including a TON of logistics. Unexpected rain earlier in the day gave me the biggest stomach ache and here I am leaning on my stomach trying not to vomit.  So dumb because the rain cooled the air and created a gorgeous sunset.   

I loved the strap on my dress.

Family enjoying the "destination" part of the wedding!

Just married, bitches!

My sister was six months pregnant and looked fantastic!

 So there you have another look into that special day that took place more than a year ago.  Timmy and I will be back at the beach next week with our family and we CANNOT wait to escape the winter depression and lack of sunshine!

Now I'm trying to pack and instead keep eating jelly beans.

Any questions for me?!  I hope to stay on track and keep blogging.  I have a question for you: how do I spice up my blog layout?  I think I need to learn some basic graphic design skills.

Happy Sweet 16! My team plays soon!

~DD

Holy Honeymoon Happiness

Wow! I can't believe I left you (if there actually are any of you left who actually read this) hanging without a recap on our honeymoon that happened over a year ago!  I had NO IDEA how amazing our resort was until I arrived. My hubby surprised me with our honeymoon from the location to the time of year we took the trip -- and boy, did he do well! We honeymooned in St. Lucia at Sandals Grande for the first half of our trip and then we spent our remaining time at the most amazing resort in the Caribbean, Jade Mountain.  We had our own Sanctuary with a priceless view of the Pitons, as well as our very own infinity pool.  It was beyond insane and definitely a trip I'll never forget.  

Oh, you know, just chilling in my Sanctuary with the birds and my infinity pool.

Jade Mountain is all about customer service, in fact, we had two of our very own Majordomos available by cell phone at any moment.  Our Majordomo took a few photos for us in our pool.

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How to Host Easter Dinner

We're hosting our first Easter dinner and I'm looking forward to having both of our families over together this Sunday.  It's actually the first meal we'll enjoy at our brand-new, Amish-made kitchen table.  You can see from the photo that the table is kind of lonely at the moment.  I'm hoping to find a pretty table runner and be able to add some festive vibe to the table for our meal.  Any suggestions on what to do?

  

I also wanted to share my attempt to be crafty with our Pottery Barn beverage center.  We usually have fake lemons and limes from Hobby Lobby in the bottom for a pop of color, but I am enjoying my Easter egg switch-out for the time being.  I also  broke out some left over wedding candy-bar favor boxes to be used for our guests this weekend. I filled them with Easter grass and yummy chocolates and sealed them with a sassy Easter sticker. I felt pretty awesome about that little project!

.Next up is the menu.  At this point this is what I'm thinking:
1. Ham, although I still need to figure out a marinade but I'm thinking something with brown sugar and pineapple.
2. Potato Casserole
3. Glazed carrots
4. Roasted asparagus
5. Homemade coleslaw
6. Warm rolls
7. Deviled eggs
8. Shrimp cocktail
9. Veggie tray
10. Champagne-infused punch
11. Yum Yum Cake

I think that's about it but I'm still looking for more inspiration.  Please share your fabulous Easter recipes with me if you'd like to do so.  :)

Cheers,
DD

Do You Remember?

 

 

Timmy and Brecklyn aka Baby Blue spending quality time together last summer.

Baby Blue fits perfectly into our beach loving and boating family.

Here I am, super excited to watch our house come to life!

My family celebrates Timmy's birthday at one of our favorite restaurants with outdoor seating.

In an effort to come back to the Dining Diva's Dish, I found a few photos on my computer that I can share with you today.  Blogging really is the best because I just enjoyed a blast from the past reviewing posts written several years ago by a single lady with no clue how awesome life was going to get.

Happy Tuesday!
~D

Hi!

Hey to any of the 40 readers I may still have hanging around. :) I've been busy reading your posts and too lazy to write my own.

What's new?
The hubs and I said goodbye to our apartment and spent half of 2012 watching our dream home come to life.  We didn't plan on building a house, it just sorta happened.   We celebrate our three month anniversary living here this week.

Hopefully I'll get back on the writing train and return with updates soon!

~D

Bon Voyage

We just got back from Wegman's where we had sushi and a sub for dinner, then stocked up on some yummy snacks for the airplane tomorrow.  We are finished packing and about to enjoy a pre-honeymoon cocktail.  We are so excited to go on our trip tomorrow.  I must admit that I have an overwhelming sense of guilt over this trip and I wish that I didn't.  I haven't really told too many people that we are going on this honeymoon because if I do mention it, I feel like people are a little sassy or jealous.  I know we were fortunate to have a destination wedding -- and that could have counted as a honeymoon -- but it didn't and we are doing this fabulous trip -- but part of me does feel a little guilty.  I'm sure the guilty feeling will quickly be gone tomorrow once I board the plane, so I'm not too concerned, but it is something that I have been thinking about.  I am very grateful to be able to take time off from work and spend a romantic week in  paradise with my hubby -- and really, that is all that matters.

See you in a week blog friends! Goodbye snow and cold weather!

~Dining Diva

Scored at the Store

This sweet orange hat will be a fabulous accessory in St. Lucia.  I bought it at Francesca's -- love that store -- and when I was cashing out, the sales lady asked me if I was going to rock it at an upcoming SU game.  I hadn't even thought of that.  What a great idea and I will be sure to rock this hat at the next Orange game I attend. 

Adorable outfit for my sweet niece Brecklyn.  I'll miss seeing her this weekend, but will look forward to seeing her when we get back from our honeymoon.  I think she'll look really adorable in this new outfit.  I have to admit, I can't go shopping without buying her a little treat.  She'll be one month old on January 28.

Hope you had a great Thursday.  I am relaxing with a movie, my hubby and a big 'ol glass of wine.

~Dining Diva

Back to Blonde

Greetings! Just got back from the hair salon with my blonde hair back in check.  After the wedding, I changed to a really pretty deep brown -- but since I'm going to the tropics this week, I decided to lighten the hair again.  I also got my gel manicure and pedicure, eyebrows waxed and I've been tanning.  Keeping up to date with beauty is not my forte -- it takes a lot of time and money.  I do get my hair done about every eight weeks because otherwise the roots get crazy.  It's about $120 for a full head foil where I live.  I think that is expensive, but I've paid more and know it could me much worse.

I have nice natural nails, but did get the gel manicure in October for our wedding, and I have continued to keep up with them because I enjoy having beautiful nails, and they look good at work when I meet with clients, instead of nail polish chipping off.  As far as my pedicure went, I loved having one ... it's been like three months! I try to go without one in the winter, but with the upcoming trip, I got one, and I love it having my toe nails looking and feeling fabulous.

What beauty splurges do you make?

~Dining Diva

Magical Moments

Walking towards the Gulf for our sunset photos!

The 30 minutes of rain earlier in the day (that gave me an ulcer), helped to create this majestic sunset -- just what I was hoping for on our wedding night.

Some ladies dream of their wedding day from a young age.  That was never me.  But being a life long beach lover, I knew that I would love to one day say, "I do," on my favorite beach.  And I'm over the moon happy that that dream came true.  Clearwater Beach holds a special place in my heart because my family has been going there since I was about five.  We started off at St. Pete's beach for many years, and then moved to Clearwater Beach when my parent's purchased a fabulous beach home.  Now we celebrate Christmas there and it's always an amazing time with amazing company.  We were so overwhelmed at the amount of friends and family that traveled from across the United States to be there to celebrate with us.  I envisioned a small and intimate ceremony with 30 max -- but we had close to 100 people.  And we had so much fun beginning from the moment my mom and I headed down a week in advance -- carrying my gown through the airport.

More details to come!

~Dining Diva