we stopped for lunch at oceanic, and ate right on the water…

after lunch we drove into downtown wrightsville and explored a little bit…

i love having my pea home!

of course i couldn’t let these special moments go by without snapping a few candid photos…

so obviously i dont have photos of the ceremony, but here are a few from the photo session on the beach afterwards…

then it was off to the reception on the USS North Carolina Battleship… such a fun party!

it was SUCH a great day, and we made SUCH great memories. i loved the whole day and i was so glad i got to celebrate with so many of my favorite people!

working on flower arrangements…

loading up the big van and taking all the items to the reception venue…

lunch after unloading everything and walking up the giant ramp…

rehearsal dinner overlooking the marina…

yoga on the beach the morning of the wedding…

omelet bar breakfast to fuel up for the big day…

getting glammed up for the walk down the aisle…

next up…ceremony and reception!

there is a new park in downtown called falls river park, and i had the best time exploring it- once while husby was at work, and again before our dinner date one night. it actually reminded me of a teeny tiny central park!…

after dinner, we discovered a children’s garden under the highway and i absolutely fell in love. i want one in my backyard!…

love the murals on the columns!

we made friends with this little duck couple, they followed us everywhere…

on monday before matt headed to work and i headed to raleigh, we stopped at earth fare for a veggie juice date…

i loved getting some quality time with my husby! i miss this face during the week when he is gone!

husby took me to asheville for dinner on our way home from our weekend in louisville. we ate at early girl eatery which is one of the places we ate on our honeymoon. it was just as delicious as we remembered!

stephanie and saylor took me to irregardless cafe, which i havent had since my wedding dinner! i loved this girls lunch with two of my favorites!

dad took me and a bunch of my friends to kanki, which is our tradition for birthdays in our family…

thanks to all my family and friends for making me feel so loved!

we arrived late on friday night, and went straight to find something for dinner. we stumbled upon a sushi bar that was open till 5am. not only was it very chic and swanky, they had a DJ spinning tunes AND they served cotton candy after your meal. so cooL!

after dinner we headed to check into our beautiful hotel…

loved our pink desk chair…

the next morning we headed up to hollywood for the mitzvah…

on our way to the temple we passed these 4 old men riding their bikes in their resort wear. so cute!

beautiful temple doors…

matt was SO excited to get to wear a yarmulke! and he got to keep it! even better!

the ceremony was so lovely. we really enjoyed seeing the jewish traditions and hearing all the torah readings…

when we left the ceremony, matt was drooling over this lambo in the parking lot…

however, i was drooling over this baby…

after the mitzvah, we drove up the coast in our rented cadillac and found a taco shack on the beach(appropriately named taco beach shack) where we had incredible fish tacos…

the party that night was ridiculous. it was nicer than most weddings i have been to… they sure know how to party in miami!

everything had a “pirates of the caribbean theme”…

i loved doing the jewish dances and yelling mazel tov!

jacob, the guest of honor!

larry, one of my dads best friends from high school, jacobs dad…

the “teen lounge” with fake fire pits and couches…

mechanical shark!…

we definitely made use of the photo booth!

the next morning we drove back up the coast to have brunch with the goldman family.
i love miami’s architecture…

before brunch we stopped for a walk on the boardwalk where we stumbled upon a juice bar at the farmers market! i was so excited to get a giant glass of green juice!

our beautiful view at brunch…

after brunch we drove back down to south beach to explore. there was gorgeous scenery the whole way…

loved seeing boats on the water literally inches away from the cars…

when we got to south beach i absolutely fell in love with the colors!

we had to at least walk out onto the infamous south beach, even if we didnt get to spend much time there…

love this sherbert colored lifeguard stand!

i think i loved this vintage pink car even more though! i want one!

we had a blast in miami, and i cant wait to spend more time there some day!

chris cooked up a ton of beef and chicken kebabs from the meat house…

we sort of ran with the kebab theme and made caprese skewers and rainbow fruit skewers…

herb and fruit infused waters…

we set the tables out on the lawn to enjoy the beautiful sunshine…

before lunch of course we had to have a little photo shoot…that got a bit silly.

we gave everyone easter baskets, and in them were some silly bunny glasses that were pretty hilarious. none of the boys would wear them but the girls had lots of fun using them for props!

correction…uncle clarence put his glasses on. of course.

after lunch the “kids” changed into play clothes to play a few games on the wiffle ball field… i didnt play of course- i took pictures, but i am glad i did because these are some of my favorite photos ever…

matt slid into home…and then kept sliding…or maybe he was catching a ball. all i know is he came flying into the spectator section!

at bat…

i love these next photos so much i cant even stand it. these two just make me smile…

i think we had as much fun watching as they did playing…

dad giving uncle rick and mikko a ride to the field…

for dessert we had a beautiful ‘francis cake’ decorated for my birthday. she has decorated every birthday cake since i was one. she always does an amazing job and this years was no exception. love the cherry blossoms!…

we had such a good time that sunday, i love celebrating with family and friends!

may goals:

1. celebrate the baptism of our goddaughter! so honored!
2. spend as much time as possible with my pea while she is in town!
3. finish up a few projects around the house that ive been meaning to do
4. paint the powder room(been on the list since we moved in)
5. finish all photobooks for mom and dad
6. celebrate my bff, “sisters”, mama day, “brothers” and brothers birthdays! (may is a BIG month for birthdays in my world)
7. use my zumba punch card before it expires
8. look into taking tennis lessons with mom (this is a big deal, i dont do sports. but im actually kinda excited about it)
9. go on a family adventure(hiking?)
10. go rock climbing (dont know why i havent done this- i miss climbing SO MUCH!)

april goals:

1. celebrate easter! He is risen indeed!
2. have a girls night to celebrate spring break at the studio!
3. spend some time in SC with husby
4. celebrate my ‘little sister’ stacie getting married to the man of her dreams!!! the wedding was absolutely gorgeous! and the week of was so much fun! love my sisters!
5. help get the word out about Mercy Ministries at their luncheon
6. celebrate my birthday by making someone else’s day brighter- (i had big plans for this but totally forgot i was going to be in the car for 7 hours on my birthday. kinda put a damper on my plans.)
7. soak up a little bit of sun in holden during wedding week
8. finish my monthly reading – half done
9. finish and clean up recital and oklahoma pieces
10. be diligent about working out more and continue eating properly-i did yoga-pilates on the beach with the bridesmaids…that counts as working out more, right?

…tea bar, skype date with my pea, blue skies and sunshine, shopping on main street, lunch with a friend, reading by the falls, mani-pedi, tapas date, exploring falls river park with husby, children’s garden, feeding the ducks, serenaded by guitar, perfect.

back in december, i made a huge lifestyle change as far as my eating habits were concerned. i was having some blood sugar issues that to forced me to change things because i was feeling awful and had no energy. i started juicing every day, and cut out all white carbs and sugar. it wasn’t really hard, because i was so tired of not feeling good that the energy burst it gave me was a VERY welcome change. it has been 4 months and this is not a “diet”- this is definitely my lifestyle now. i eat mainly fruits and veggies with some clean protein thrown in there. every once in a while i get sad that i dont eat “fun” foods but when i do try and cheat and eat them they make me feel so crappy that i remember why i dont eat them anymore!

i use the breville juice fountain elite (that i am borrowing from mom) and i LOVE it. i read somewhere that martha stewart has one in each of her homes, so i figure if it’s good enough for martha, it’s good enough for me!

after i had already started juicing, i watched the documentary “fat, sick and nearly dead”. it is a much better movie than it sounds! it’s a really inspiring documentary about how juicing and eating fresh produce can change your life and prolong it. i really loved the movie and it made me so happy i was already juicing!

here are some of my tricks ive learned to make juicing a little easier (they are all common sense, this is not rocket science):
-put a plastic bag in the pulp bin to catch the pulp. makes clean up so much easier!
-wash your juicer immediately! its so much easier to just rinse it all off, then to let it sit and get sticky
-i prep two days worth of juicing at a time, so i only have to do it every other day. i keep the produce in mason jars so the next morning i can just dump it all in the juicer. also, you could just do it the night before to save time each morning.
-throwing an apple in any juice sweetens it up (helpful when you are using other strong ingredients like beets or kale)

here is my fruit juice all ready to go for the next day:

(orange,grapefruit, berries and plum)

i do fruit in the morning and then veggie for my afternoon snack. i generally put whatever veggies i have in the fridge in there, but this is my standard (or a variation of it):

(carrot, celery, tomato, cucumber, orange/yellow bell pepper, a small zuchinni, a small red apple and a small green apple)

juice with beets turns the prettiest color! it always makes me happy looking at it(apparently i am a juice nerd!) this is pretty much the same combination as above, swapping the pepper for the beets

i highly recommend juicing! it gives you so much energy and makes your skin glow! if you need more convincing watch “fat, sick and nearly dead”- i promise its not as bad as it sounds

i generally stick to the same recipes each day because they work for me and my blood sugar issues, but as i try new recipes i will be sure to post them!