Hurricane Magnets

Being a Houston, TX native, I'm no stranger to tropical storms or hurricanes. I've "hunkered down" with the best of them, gone without power for over a week, and survived gale force winds. It's more of an annoyance to most Texans, not a natural disaster. When we decided to move to the DC area, I was excited about two things: having 4 full seasons and being free of hurricanes.

HA! 

If you've been a blog follower, you remember the Thundersnow and Hurriquake disasters of 2011. After that, I thought SURELY we've put this Mother Nature business behind us.

Well, some red headed wedding crasher named Debby had a different idea.

Meet Debby. 

Our Seaside, FL weekend for Simpson and Zack's wedding started out perfectly. We landed in Ft. Walton Beach on Thursday afternoon, picked up the rental car, and bee-lined for the first Whataburger we could find {duh}.

For you non-Southerners, this is the closest to {food} heaven you'll get.
Unfortunately, there's not one near me :-/

We met up with my in-laws at the beach house and had these lovely gift boxes waiting on us from the Fletchers.

So cute!

Then we kicked off the festivities by... well... kicking off the festivities. True to Smith form, we sat on the beach front balcony and did our part for the environment by "recycling"... 

Fast Forward to Friday morning, we popped up bright & early at noon and were excited to squeeze in some beach time. We slathered on sun screen, dressed up my niece as *cute* a possible, and got the camera ready to capture some of Mary Kathryn's first beach experiences. 

Like most un-invited guests, the wedding crashing wench Debby also photo bombed my beach house pic.

Still, not bad, eh?

My SIL Karah has some fantastic pictures of all of us on the beach. But again, thanks to Debby, our play time was cut short since the current was so strong and the waves were insanely high. We had a very brief {and partly scary} beach experience with MK, but I did manage to snap an adorable pic of our little mermaid.

 We headed back up to the house and had playtime on the porch.

Friday night, we gussied up and headed to the rehearsal dinner at Cafe 30A. The dinner was amazing!!

Me and hubbs

The OG Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Zeke's Aunt Alma

Part of the Fletcher cousin gang 

Groom love

Bride Love 

Late nite white tee and jean short love.
{Zeke and Druncle Fred}

Fast forward again to Saturday evening...

Mr. and Mrs. Hutto!

Shades

My 2nd favorite part: the raw bar. Nom nom nom.

1st favorite part: QT with the family

The remainder of the night consisted of... well... I'm not sure. But I know he had a fan-freaking-tastic time. Great party, Simpson and Zack!

Sunday, we slept in again. And here's why:

Depressing gray skies, non stop rain, and 10 ft. swells.

The only redeeming quality of the day was the food we ate. We went to lunch at Market Cafe with Zeke's fam before they headed home...

Blackened Grouper and Fried Shrip. MmmmMMMmm.

For dinner, we went to Chuck and Debbie's house a few blocks away. But wait- Debbie is no to be confused with Debby. One is my Aunt, one is a hurricane. {We did have some good laughs from the irony, though}. One of the perks of being related to the parents of the bride is having leftover wedding food dinner.  Lobster risotto and lamb? Again? Yes, please.

Monday was the same... drizzly and windy... until we had to leave {go figure}. We met Zeke's cousin Chase and his GF for lunch, then the clouds parted and we had nothing but sunshine for the hour long trip back to the airport. Grrrrrrr. I was tempted to lay by the windows in our terminal so I could have SOME kind of tan after 5 days at the beach.

Overall, the weekend was great despite the rain storms. The wedding was a BLAST and everything was perfect... the couple, the church, the service, the venue, the band, the party. We wish the same perfection to them in their new journey as a married couple :)

And since it's officially after midnight on the East Coast, I would like to wish my husband a very happy 32nd birthday! I love you and can't wait for this week's festivities'! XOXOXOXO

Dracula's Stay-At-Home Wife

Hi there. Mrs. Smith checking in :) As the blog back-log builds and builds, I have a story I'd like to share.

As you might know, we moved apartments a few weeks ago. The move was successful, we managed to squeeze everything into the new digs, and I'm still in the nesting phase. To go with our new modern style I'm aiming for, we ordered our first real grown up furniture to help us settle in :)

I worked from home today so they could deliver the furniture and set everything up, so I was excited all morning!! They gave me a 2 hour window when they would arrive, and I was on pins & needles waiting for a knock at the door. While I was waiting for the knock, Zeke called me to tell me the Omaha Steaks he ordered last week were waiting for us at the front desk. I ran downstairs, grabbed the styrofoam box from the concierge, and came upstairs to unpack it.

Nice & cold, packed in dry ice. 

I quickly put the steaks in the freezer, tossed away the promotional crap, and dumped the dry ice in the sink. I was ready for my furniture to get here!! Right after the ice hits the sink, I turn the water on {to melt it, of course}, and was shocked when I saw the reaction.

Yeah... that's fog... in a sink.

Think back to Halloween parties last year in elementary school. All that cool smoke rolling on the floor? That's dry ice. With water on it. 

I pour more water on it to try and "put it out"- no luck. Smoke starts barreling from the sink, on to the counter, and makes it's way to the floor. I'm half panicked, half laughing hysterically. And of course- what happens?

Knock, knock, knock. 

Me: "Who is it?"

Them: "Hi Mrs. Smith! Joe and David from Crate and Barrel. We have your delivery!".

Me: "Shit."

Not only is my kitchen full of bubbling fog, but I'm so uncomfortable and awkward, I don't know what to say. I open the door, and here's what I think they see: 

Sans the creepy entourage.
But still creepy.

Not going to lie, it was awkward. I swung the door open and immediately apologized for the weird fog. They either thought I was making meth, or I was Dracula's wife. I tried to explain the situation... didn't help.

They left. I laughed. Then I took this picture. This was about 10 minutes after the initial "fog spill".

Velcome to my apartzment. Muah Hah Hah Hah.

And the day didn't end there. I thought since I ordered "white glove delivery", they were assembling everything. HA! They set up the sofa table then peace'd out. {Probably because they thought I was a meth dealer}. So they left me with 5 brown boxes full of wood pieces, allen wrenches, and wall screws.

Once I wrapped up my work for the day, I dove in to my next project: bar and shelf assembly. Let me preface this by saying that I thought since I was ordering from Crate and Barrel, things would come perfectly built and made to order.

Not so much.

47 screws and a back ache later, I'm pleased to show you...

Just the bar. 

Another 65 screws later... one of the shelves! But wait... look closer...

I put the f*&%#^$& shelves on backwards!!!

DAMMIT!!!

So 8:00 p.m. rolls around and my back is officially broken, but I put the shelf together right. And I looked at Pinterest for some decorating ideas, so here's the rough draft of what I came up with! {Keep in mind I'm painting a few walls grey next weekend}.

Bar & shelf

Sofa table

If I learned anything from this experience, it's this:

The only nicer thing about  Crate & Barrel "self assembly" vs. Ikea is that the instructions are in English. We're happy with our purchases overall, but if you can buy any of the Sloane series pre-assembled, DO IT!

The apartment is still a work in progress, but we love it already. I cooked hubby a good dinner tonight, and we're off to Destin, FL tomorrow morning for Zeke's cousin's wedding. 

Since today is my Friday, have a GREAT weekend, and I'll catch up with you all next week :)

Moooovin' on dow-wown... to the 6th floor

Hi there! Mr. and Mrs. Smith are alive and well in case you were wondering. And if you weren't, then I didn't like you anyways ;)

The last few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster with several exciting, fantastic events that were overshadowed by some not-so-great events. You know that saying "bad things happen in threes"? So true. The little down time we've had, we've tried to get back on the healthy wagon, spent time at the beach for Memorial Day, gone on a few bike rides, and this week's obsession was watching the Hatfield & McCoy show on the History Channel {so good}. I have a lot of catching up to do on blogging... but that will not happen this weekend.

"Why not this weekend?", one might ask during an imaginary conversation with myself.

Well, we're moving!

And unfortunately for our mothers, it's not back to Texas. We aren't going far. Same state, same city... same building to be exact. Just 2 floors down.

We I really want a puppy, and we can't have one in our current apartment since it's, ahem, the Penthouse level. I only said that because it's the last time I can sound fancy. It's really not fancy, we just have wood floors and they don't want dogs screwing them up. Which I understand. Not only can we add a furry +1 to the family, but the new place also has a balcony, which I've been dying for.

We just finished night #1... the kitchen is all set up! Tomorrow, I foresee taking about 768 elevator rides until we transfer everything to the new digs. Actually, the movers will be making 768 rides. After spending three hours loading and unloading tonight, I don't feel 1 oz. of guilt for outsourcing.

I'll post pics of the new place once we're settled. I'm excited because this gives me an excuse to redecorate. Since Pinterest wasn't around when we moved to the DC area, I have so many new ideas and things I want to do. Zeke is THRILLED! {Not}. But you know what they say... a happy wife = a happy life ;)

If you get mad, stressed, or bored this weekend, just think of us and remember... it could be worse. You could be moving!