Thankful Thursday: Thanksgiving

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ThankfulThursday_Thanksgiving

A couple of blogs I follow do weekly or monthly Thankful Thursday posts, but when November hit the number of bloggers giving thanks increased significantly.  With Thanksgiving only a week away I decided it was time to jump on the thankful train as there is a lot I have to be thankful for this year.  So here goes nothing …

I am thankful for (in no particular order):

(5)  my family and friends.  This is pretty much a given, right?  I would crazy not to be thankful for the amazing people in my life.  They truly make the good times better and the bad times bearable.  Love you guys/gals!! xoxoxo

(4)  my job.  During and after the furlough I quickly came to the realization the impact not having a job would have on me, as well as my family.  There is of course the financial side, but having a job gives me purpose and something to “do” each day.  I didn’t think I was the type of person who needed something to “do”, but apparently I DO!

(3) the patience and support of my husband.  The hubby honestly deserves a metal for the level of patience and support he brings to the table.  While he has always been that way I think he put his game face on when we got pregnant.  Though it is obviously very exciting it can also be stressful and scary; yet he seems to take it (and all my fun emotions that go along with pregnancy) all in stride.   I’m very lucky to have a husband who is so incredibly patient and supportive!

(2)  my parents and sister coming to DC for Thanksgiving since I can’t travel to MA.  Thanksgiving is by far my most favorite holiday and this year will be the first time I’m not in Massachusetts celebrating.  We ALWAYS do Thanksgiving at my parents house and then Thanksgiving “round 2” on Friday or Saturday with my great aunt and a whole bunch of the cousins.  The weekend is kind of like an eating marathon!  They are all changing their schedules/traditions to be with the hubby and I this holiday.  While this year won’t be exactly what any of us are use to the most important thing is we are together and I am thankful they are willing to make the trip!

(1)  being pregnant.  It is such a blessing to be able to be pregnant.  I complain too often about pregnancy symptoms like aches, pains, being tired and gaining weight.  It’s easy to sometimes take for granted what an amazing miracle it is to carry my little one!!  Have you seen the maternity shirts that say “I’m growing a human.  What’s your super power?” … love it!

While there are way more things I am thankful for these couple items do top the chart for this year.  Only one more week until my favorite holiday of the year … bring it on Thanksgiving!!!

What are you thankful for (this week, year or even just today!)?

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Photo Friday – Antique Rose

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The husband was kind enough to send me roses for my birthday and boy were they pretty!!  I decided to break out the camera and get a couple of shots of them.  Roses may die, but a photo will capture their beauty forever.  After taking the picture I was playing around in PhotoShop and with a few tweaks I ended up with, what to me, looks kind of like an antique rose.

I might make this picture into cards or maybe it will find itself in the hallway gallery.  Either way it was a fun afternoon of tweaking the picture in PhotoShop.

Happy Friday!! Have a great weekend!

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The Husband Pact – Marriage Advice

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A few days ago a friend of mine linked from her Tumblr account to this Huffington Post article.  The article “15 Ways to Stay Married for 15 Years” by Lydia Netzer has a lot of great advice on thing she and her husband have learned throughout the years together.  All her tips are a home run – in my opinion – the only one I really can’t decide if I totally agree with or not is “Go to Bed Angry”.  Although I see her point I would almost want to modify to say “sometimes go to bed angry”.

I’ve noticed a lot of married couples have their own tips/tricks to a long and successful marriage and I enjoy hearing their tidbits.  AND … with the husband and I quickly approaching our one year anniversary together I often think this  first year was a great start to the rest of our lives together!  I hope to write my own 15 tips for saying married in 14 years and 1 month. :)


Photo Credit: Korie Lynn Photography

One of my absolute favorite pieces of advice is #12.  So FRIENDS I make this husband (and wife) pact with you …

“12. Make a husband pact with your friends – The husband pact says this: I promise to listen to you complain about your husband even in the most dire terms, without it affecting my good opinion of him. I will agree with your harshest criticism, accept your gloomiest predictions. I will nod and furrow my brow and sigh when you describe him as a hideous ogre. Then when your fight is over and love shines again like a beautiful sunbeam in your life, I promise to forget everything you said and regard him as the most charming of princes once more. The husband pact is very useful because you want to be able to vent to your friend without having her actually start hating your husband. Because you don’t really mean all those things you say. And she, the swearer of the pact, knows this.” source

The husband and I always say we are a team and it’s kind of become our thing.  So much so that we made sure the word team was in our wedding vows and made team sweat suites for the morning after our wedding.  Due to my love of the team mentality tip #14 really hit home for me …

“14. Be loyal.  All the crap you read in magazines about honesty, sense of humor, communication, sensitivity, date nights, couples weekends, blah blah blah can be trumped by one word: loyalty. You and your spouse are a team of two. It is you against the world. No one else is allowed on the team, and no one else will ever understand the team’s rules. This is okay. The team is not adversarial, the team does not tear its members down, the team does not sabotage the team’s success. Teammates work constantly to help and better their teammates. Loyalty means you put the other person in your marriage first all the time, and you let them put you first. Loyalty means subverting your whims or desires of the moment to better meet your spouse’s whims or desires, with the full understanding and expectation that they will be doing the same. This is the heart of everything, and it is a tricky balance. Sometimes it sways one way and sometimes the other. Sometimes he gets to be crazy, sometimes it’s your turn. Sometimes she’s in the spotlight, sometimes you. Ups and downs ultimately don’t matter, because the team endures.” source

What do you think of Lydia Netzer’s tips?  Is she missing any important tidbits?  Do you like the husband pact?

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Positano, Italy: Honeymoon Part I

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Our two week honeymoon began in Positano, Italy.  It is towards the southern end of Italy and has some fantastic views of the Amalfi Coast!  Positano also has beaches which was a must have for the first stop on our honeymoon.

Screen Shot of GoogleMaps

We decided to splurge a little in Positano. It was our time to relax, soak in being married and decompress after all that wedding planning.  We spent an evening researching hotels in Positano using TripAdvisor and Rick Steve’s guide.  When we finally stumbled upon Hotel Marincanto; I was immediately sold.  The pictures showed phenomenal views and was within walking distance of the beach!

After a red eye flight from DC to Paris and finally to Naples we arrived excited, but exhausted.  Luckily my husband had hired a driver to take us from Naples to Positano.  The streets are crazy windy and narrow. I was VERY happy to not be driving myself in a foreign country while totally exhausted!!  Hiring a driver was probably one of the best decisions we made.

Day 1:

We arrived in Positano and checked into the hotel.  We were both STARVING so we changed quickly and walked down to the beach.  Unfortunately we arrived at a weird time and had to walk around for a while before finding a place serving food.  We stumbled upon Le Tre Sorelle.  It had the MOST amazing pizza.  The best pizza we had all vacation.  Seriously I dream about this pizza it was so good. We went all three days for lunch.  Ok I think you now get how amazing the pizza was!

Honeymoon in Positano Italy. Favorite restaurants and places to stay | Life's Tidbits

After lunch we walked around and then retired to our hotel for a siesta.  After a much needed nap we watched the sunset on our balcony.  Such an amazing view!

Honeymoon vacation Positano, Italy | Life's Tidbits

For dinner we went to Ristorante La Cambusa.  It was okay, but nothing to write home about.  For our first night it was fine, but I’m assuming there are other better options for your first evening in Italy!  My husband had been instructed that when you pass a gelato place you stop … always.  So as we strolled (or really rolled) back towards the hotel we stopped for our first taste of gelato.

OMG the lemon gelato was to die for and totally worth feeling extra stuffed.  :)  Off to bed we went excited to spend the entire next day at the pool or beach!

Day 2:

Reading, sun tanning and have a beer by the pool took up the whole day!  We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather.  We chose to stay by the pool instead of going to the beach where we would have to rent mattalas.  Considering the beach was rocky there wasn’t any real need to be there when we had a gorgeous pool at our disposal, plus the view is so perfect from the suntanning patio.

Honeymoon vacation Positano, Italy | Life's Tidbits

We made the trip down to the beach for lunch at Le Tre Sorelle.  When it was time to make some decisions about dinner out came the iPhone and directly to Trip Advisor app we went.  Buca di Bacco had some good reviews and we remembered walking past it the night before.  Boy did it not disappoint.  The mozzarella melted in our mouths and the gnocchi was the best we’ve ever had.  If I remember correctly it was called Sorrento gnocchi.  Either way have it if you ever go it was to die for.

Sorrento Gnocchi and tomato salad in Positano, Italy - Traveling, honeymooning, vacation | Life's Tidbits

The night ended with a “gelato cap” and was the perfect end to our second day.

Day 3:

The day was very much like day 2.  Time at the pool and then off to our favorite (and only) lunch place in Positano.  We were sad our time in Positano was coming to an end.

Our last dinner was at Ristorante Covo Dei Saraceni.  It was an amazing choice for our last night with top notch seafood and pasta!

Food and wine in Positano, Italy - vacation, honeymoon, traveling | Life's Tidbits

We made friends with a couple who was also honeymooning at the table next to us. It turned out that the woman works in my hometown as a school teacher.  What a small small world we live in!  After dinner we hit up a new gelato place and ended up getting the lemon gelato for the third day in a row. Some how it just didn’t get old.

Ciao and see you in Sorrento!

Happy vacationing!!

Signiture_Nicole

 

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Bride & Groom Sweatsuits

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One of my favorite things about my husband is he always says “babe we are a team”, which is his way of telling me we will get through whatever it is going on big or small together.  I think the team mentality is part of what makes our relationship so strong.  We referred to ourselves, long before we got engaged, as Team Bowen.

We would joke about wearing matching sweatsuits to brunch the morning after our wedding.  The plan was to get bride and groom embroidered on the sweatpants.  On the jackets we would have Team Bowen version 3.0.

Although it was always a joke, in the end we followed through with our plan and had sweatsuits made.  And let me just say I LOVE(D) THEM and so did our friends and family!!!

Photo Credit: My Dad :)

I bought my sweatsuit from Victoria’s Secret and then got his from Amazon.  VS is constantly running specials so I strongly suggest waiting for a sale like I did.

My husband was kind enough to run this very important wedding errand.  He took the sweatsuits to a local chain and worked with the associate to correctly place the wording.  He also successfully chose the purple colored string for my sweatsuit that was almost the same as our wedding color purple.  Serious props to my husband, because he made the perfect choices for the embroidery without my help!

I remembered to pull out the sweatsuits the day of the wedding and asked our photographer to capture a few professional shots.

Photo Credit: Korie Lynn Photography

Photo Credit: Korie Lynn Photography

If you are wondering about the 3.0 reference it comes from us both being tech geeks.  Think of the stages in our relationship like a software release. Dating version 1.0, engaged version 2.0 and married is our latest release.  I suggested to a friend who’s getting married this summer to do Established in YYYY instead of the “versions” for her sweatsuits.

It was nice to have something special to wear the day after our BIG day! I even wore the outfit on the plane ride to Italy for our honeymoon. :)

What do you plan on wearing the day after your wedding?

Happy Planning!

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