You're Invited To A Wedding

Love, Laughter and Length of Life

That's our wish for our niece Cait and her husband Jon. OK, that sounded really weird. Cait! You have a husband! Aaaahhhhh!

So, our niece Cait got married Saturday. Jon and her are a great couple. We liked him from the get go. He fits right in.  

It was a great day all around from the church, which was a block back from the ocean, the sun which finally popped out when we got to the reception, to the fact that our niece was a beautiful bride....a beautiful woman.

She only looks a little pensive in that one because her nephew Cayden did not want to leave and was pretty sad, making her sad....but only for a moment!

What a grand day. Love you guys, Cait & Jon!!! Many congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Smith  ~ xxoo

Two weekends in a row. Love, laughter, dancing til I can't dance anymore. How much is one woman supposed to take? Next weekend is sure to have more since it's our annivesary.  I feel like I won the 'love lottery'.

Speaking of winning, did you enter the Giveaway to End All Giveaways yet? Honestly. I don't know what you're waiting for. Ya want someone else to win all that great stuff? What are you nuts? Enter now!

See ya on the flip side,

Belated Wish & What I Found

Happy Father's Day

It was a busy weekend with my niece Caitlin's wedding and all. I didn't get to wish my Dad a Happy Father's Day on The Muse yesterday, because the wedding celebration continued with brunch. It turned out to be a beautiful day for Cait and Jon and Dad. The sun was shining and there were lots of good memories flying around the patio at my sister Gloria's.

Love the shot of me and Dad below. I'm a good few pounds heavier than I was in this shot, so that's a little depressing. OK, I'm over it. I just really like the picture.

My Dad is Mr. Fix It, and I'm not talking about building repairs although he can do that too. He's just a natural born problem solver.  He's also Mr. Get It Done. If you need something done, just ask him, whether it's something small or big. Raytheon figured that out and would have him handle tough cases to 'fix it and get it done'.  We're all lucky to always have him on our side.  He also feels at home with a microphone in his hand, has been known to dress up as a nun.................

.....and sang every word of You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You to Cait when they danced at her wedding Saturday.  That of course made Cait cry. Of course, a coffee commercial would make Cait cry. Actually, the wedding festivities were quite emotional. We can all blame that on my father, he's the emotional one we all got it from. I blew this picture of him and Cait (with Cait's bridesmaid Crystal in the back) up for Father's Day. Everyone loved it.  Grampy and Cait. Yesterday my father wore one of his 'Cait' tshirts to the brunch.  You know, those tshirts you can make in the mall. Cait was about 12. It was classic.

Here's to you Dad. Happy Father's Day- You're the best! Hope you enjoyed your day. I sure did. It was fun sitting around the table reminiscing. 

What I Found & Heard at the Party

As usual, lots of great stuff popping up at the Gotta Have It/Gotta Blog It Link Up Party which is still going on!

I was blown away by the work of Ashleigh Coyner of Bleu Oiseau who has an etsy shop and blogs too.

via ashleigh coyner/bleuoiseau

via ashleigh coyner/bleuoiseau

via collaboration of Sharon Pederson & Ashleigh Coyner/BleuOiseau

via ashleigh coyner/bleuoiseau

Amazing. Right?

Reshma of Ahkriti is a regular at these link parties, but her jewelry is way beyond 'regular'. It's more like......um.....GORgeous.

via Ahkriti

The deep midnight blue color of this piece is spectacular.

via ahkriti

Speaking of color, you can visit Reshma's blog Color Canopy and you'll find this great watermelon and feta recipe. Mmmmm. Salty and sweet.

One of the wonderful things about etsy, you will find artists and crafters of every medium.  Multiples. All talented in their own right.

What a sweet thank you note by the lovely Sara from Royal Regards. 

via royalregards

Rational Designs' to pink note cards are sure to make a statement.

via rationaldesigns

How cute would these be on top of cupcakes?  LittleSugarTops will make your cupcakes even happier with fondant creations that are sure to bring a smile.

via littlesugartops

via littlesugartops

Need even more fun? How about this Super Hero PJ Pillow from fAveritte Creations? The cuteness knows no bounds.

via fAveritteCreations

I mean, what kid wouldn't want love pulling their PJs out of one of these at a sleepover?

via fAveritteCreations

Too cool for school. (That's why they're for a sleepover.)

One more thing in the fun category......the GIVEAWAY!!! If you haven't entered yet, there is no time like the present. There are serious quantities of great stuff to be had.

Enjoy the day. The sun is trying to come out here. It's quite coolish today but the rest of the week is supposed to be in the 80s and 90s. Going to do my best to get the pool ready toot-sweet.

Ciao for now,



Bridal Fun

Ready For The Aisle

My niece Cait, my sister Gloria's daughter, is getting married in a few weeks. Yesterday was her bridal shower.  We gathered in the beautiful wine loft at The 401 Tavern and enjoyed their lovely sangria. Always fun before a wedding to meet some of the people you'll see on the big day.

Cait's the first one of our family's 'next generation' to get married. Exciting Cait, right? Her fiancee Jon proposed on the beach. Cait was beside herself. Couldn't have imagined anything better. Jon gets two thumbs up on that one. Another two on the ring.

We played some bridal trivia games which were a fun way to get to know the bride and groom better.  First up: how well do you know the bride?

Ashley, 'The Introducer', sister Glo, sister Di and

our friend Deb answering their trivia questions.

Next: How well does the bride know the groom?

Cait quicky realized this game was not going to be all tea and crumpets, and is is rightfully suspiscious.

bridesmaid Crystal and highly suspicious bride to be

My niece Nicole, Cait's sister and maid of honor played Pat Sajac, while her friend Crystal played Vana White. Nicole would ask the questions of Cait, while Cait was thinking of her answer, Crystal held up the answer over Cait's head for the audience to see. Once Cait answered, Nicole played a video of Jon on the ipad answering the question. If Cait's answer didn't match Jon's, she had to put something silly on. It got ugly quick.

(sorry the pictures aren't the best, but you'll get the jist of it)

First question.......wrong. Bride to be must don some really bad red white and blue guitar sunglasses.

Uh oh. Looks like Cait went downhill fast.  Biggo floppy hat, purple hair extensions, hello kitty scrubs, two really bad scarves, gingham hillybilly shirt.

All and all, a good time had by one and all.  Especially the bride to be.

I hope Cait liked her box of goodies and I wish I'd taken a picture. I found a great old vintage wooden advertising box and it was filled with goodies including planters, a garden greenman wall hanging, and votives from Lia Artisan Concrete Design. It really looked sweet.

Besides the bridal shower, our weekend was full. Friday night we were down to Mama Leone's 38th summer opening. Good food and fun. Saturday, we made a couple of small bets on the Preakness. I was one horse shy of winning a superfecta! I would have bought you all lunch. Promise I would have.  Did anyone see the race? Wow. 'I'll Have Another' stole it from Bodemeister, just like the Derby. This horse could really have a shot at winning the crown. He's something else. After the race, we had a campfire out back and neighborhoodlums Sandee and Gerry stopped over for awhile. They could smell the campfire. It was a beautiful night out. In fact, it was a beautiful weekend. 

I know it's Monday and I was supposed to pick some 'things I found at the link party' today, but the bridal show recap bumped that until tomorrow. Be sure to stop back to see if you were picked. If you have a shop or blog and haven't added a link yet, you can do that here.

Ciao for now,