fiesta, fiesta

The week before our wedding was so fun. I took the week off work and waited with anticipation all the parties and guests that were arriving at the end of the week. Mom was in town and everyday we ran errands and accomplished tasks. David worked through Thursday so he just enjoyed seeing all we had done {that he got out of ;)} each evening. All I really asked of him that week was just to not question anything I was doing...frivolous or not!

On Thursday Mom, Dad, Michael, Marcus and Sister hosted a fun filled Havana Nights fiesta for all the out of town guests that had arrived.

me, mom, sister and sk went to havana {florida} to cut zinnias for the party


the bride and groom!

nothing like having the water cut off, due to construction down the road, the night of the party. we were just lucky we had guests that knew some people. and nothing like a porta-potty to set the tone.

lilly tablecloths - look familiar?!

dad arrived back to tallahassee that thursday morning with delicious salsa from latinos!

cheesy chicken enchiladas

sally kate wore her darling dress that we brought back from cuba

dad's sweet shirt

my hat was from cuba too!

six

Today David and I celebrate 6 months of marriage! I can't believe how fast it's flown by and how so much of our lives have changed since we said I do on June 11, 2011. I love him so, so much and thank God everyday for putting him in my life and being there to encourage, support and love me.

So it's fitting to finally share some of our photographs from the wedding festivities leading up to the big day...and the fact that we just got them. In the next week I'll post on my fabulous Bridesmaid Luncheon, our ceremony rehearsal, and the Rehearsal Dinner. enjoy~

my new treasures

Here are a few of my new holiday treasures from Grandmother Mary Elizabeth and how we decorated for Christmas! Who said I couldn't lug a 7 foot tree to a third floor apartment?! It's all so beautiful, beautiful, beautiful and truly the most wonderful time of the year!

It's a time of reflection too. It'll be one year next week that Grandmother ME went to be with the Lord. Mom has been working extremely hard to go through her house over the last 5 months to prepare for an estate sale. It's 60 years of the existence of her house and more like 300 years of genealogy, historical artifacts, memories and stuff. I am so proud of my mom for her strength and love. It's the house my mom lived in since she was born and the house with the backyard that brought my parents together {they were neighbors!}. Tomorrow is the estate sale and I pray that others will find treasures to call their own heirlooms. They will eventually sell the house and that will be a bittersweet day. After all, it's where we all learned our cardinal directions - wink, wink. So for now, I will treasure the tangible things of the divine ME that I've collected and cherish our family's heritage, always.

vintage ornaments {comes with their original packaging}

we grew up with the felt stockings mom made for our family..and over the years she's added a few :) She made these two for her mom and dad back when sister was born and over thanksgiving she changed the names - I love them.

I've always loved this tree topper that she always used on her tree. I love seeing it top ours now.

way down upon the st. johns river

we flew to jacksonville this weekend to celebrate michael and courtney's wedding!
southwest has a direct flight to jacksonville from birmingham and it is the way to go...45 minutes and you're there! we had a fabulous time and I love when this group gets together.

on friday night we celebrated on the east side of the river at epping forest yacht club. the club was the former dupont estate and quite beautiful. we toasted the happy couple at an oyster roast with a memorable december sunset. after cocktail hour we headed inside and upstairs to a delicious dinner and sounds of the killer bees! the band was a surprise for all the groomsmen as they used to go hear them play in gainesville every thursday night.

david, nick, amanda, cristi, anna and robbie

the catholic ceremony was followed by a festive and fabulous reception at the florida yacht club on the west side of the river

david was a handsome groomsmen and they wore a williams tartan bowtie {compliments of the groom}

mr. and mrs. mica :)

amanda and nick...looking forward to celebrating their wedding in june!

introducing mr. and mrs. williams

david and brent

david, mc, cristi, danny

alpha tau omegas in the house

with the beautiful bride

courtney surprised her mother by changing into the same dress her mother left her wedding in - very nautical, sentimental and fabulous!

they sailed away in this beauty! bon voyage and cheers!

give thanks

We had a wonderful extended weekend in Florida over Thanksgiving. It was filled with family, friends and food. It also had its bittersweet moments. We had three fewer dear family members at our Thanksgiving supper this year and it just wasn't the same without them. After supper, mom had arranged for all Grandmother Mary Elizabeth's grandchildren to collect their treasures from her estate. I came home with some wonderful memories and treasures of my own.

On Friday, we took Sally Kate to see the new muppet movie and had dinner at Latinos where our friend Ross joined us! On Saturday we spent the latter part of the day in Gainesville where it was not such a happy ending, but we had a great time tailgating with our family and friends.

In other happenings, we are enjoying our new life in Birmingham. We've had several cold fronts move through recently bringing tornados and snow within the last two weeks! My weather anxiety has been off the charts. David finished his first semester classes last week and has his final exams over the next two weeks. Please keep him in your prayers! I'm so proud that he's almost completed his first semester. So far it feels like its flown by. We have so much to be thankful for this year despite the craziness of this past year.

Here is our holiday in pictures:

the micas on thanksgiving

the delicious spread

sweet baby madalyn at the tailgate - the newest van hise addition

jamie, meghann, and madalyn

matching sister-in-law game day loafers

rivalry friends

marcus predicting their win

game day pants

erin, thomas, nick, amanda, david, mc

so excited to see lauren and carrie!

mom and dad volunteered to stay home to watch sally kate...so all the kids sat together. we had a great time! and go gators!

put on my blue suede shoes...

I headed to one of my favorite cities to see one of my favorite people this past weekend!! I used to frequent Memphis quite a bit in my college days and the last time I went was 2 years ago. Heather Lane and I spent a wonderful weekend enjoying our conversation, food and coffee. She took me to Sheffield Antiques Mall that was amazing! It was a former Lowe's, or something of the like, and transformed into aisle after aisle of antique booths. My kind of Saturday afternoon.

We also had a wonderful lunch with sweet Elissa and her little girl Lydia at Russo's Pizzeria and it was delish! I got to see Paul on Sunday after he returned from the Mississippi State game and he was excited because my lunch choice after church was bbq, after all we were in Memphis.

Thank you Lane for the most fabulous weekend and hospitality! xoxo

heather lane and elissa...ready for our antique adventure!

out of everything I saw, I wanted these letters.

we shopped at the collierville square

and finished off the perfect saturday at the beauty shop...where I've been dying to try. it was afterall where priscilla presley herself had her bouffant poofed.

look good. eat good.

I like that!

the booths were retroffitted into the orignal hair styling stations. some of the original fixtures are still there for ambience.

what can she say...heather loves when I come to visit!!

hope to be back soon!

impromptu

We had a fabulous impromptu visit from Sister, Sally Kate, Lane and Camp this past weekend!! They called on Thursday and said "see you tomorrow!" We had the best time and the mommies went to the zoo on Saturday morning as I worked. We had a weekend long slumber party and I didn't want it to end. I miss everyone in Tallahassee so much and they were a ray of sunshine for me last weekend. I didn't take many pictures until our yummy brunch on Sunday at Bistro V...

my sweet angel!

the kids found the tire outside the fitness place so we had our photo shoot there!

sweet little camper! he was so full of love {and energy!} this weekend! he loved fern and helped take good care of her. he and sally kate assisted in taking her out with me to potty and held her leash. love you camp!

they aren't able to come back to visit until 2012...whatever will I do :(
thanks for your sweet visit ~ xoxo