Best of 2013.

I don't even know where this year has gone. It was full of ups and downs, and has certainly kept me on my toes. I feel that I have really gained a strong sense of self, and I am thankful for that.

Some of the highlights?

|| january ||

I rang in the new year and celebrated my Quarter-Century birthday with my best friends.

|| february ||

I saw Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan in concert with the parentals.

While the venue was beyond disgusting and awful, they never fail to put on an amazing show!

|| march ||

I spent an uneventful weekend in Massachusetts, but did get to see Bill Cosby live, which was pretty great.

|| april ||

I visited Popop in Florida with my Mom. We celebrated his 90th Birthday (a little early), and spent the week lounging by the pool soaking up the sun. 

This little blog was born as well!

|| may ||

I traveled to Colorado for the first time and fell head over heels in love with the state. It was hands down one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and am already counting down the days until I can go back again. I loved exploring a new area, spending a ridiculous amount of time with family, and relaxing.

Popop met his great-grandchildren for the first time.

I also visited DC and spent a weekend being a tourist and seeing some of my best friends!

|| june ||

June was fairly uneventful. I saw Rascal Flatts with the famjam and ventured to Chipotle for the first time (yes, my mind was blown and I'm officially addicted).

*seeing this picture again makes me miss summer more than anything

|| july ||

This was probably my favorite month of the year. My family had our annual reunion. My store moved locations and we got a fabulous new upgrade. We packed up and headed out of the country for our family vacation! We enjoyed our all-inclusive resort, zip lining, dune buggying, and being unplugged for 7 days.

|| august ||

The weekend after returning from Punta Cana, we saw Kenny Chesney, Eric Church & The Eli Young Band at MetLife Stadium. Hands down one of the best concerts that I have ever been to (and that includes all of the Jimmy Buffett concerts I frequented as a young child).

We loved the Eli Young Band so much that we headed to the county fair for corn dogs and another concert!

|| september ||

Labor Day weekend was spent with Angie, and The Zac Brown Band.

In the middle of the month, my family (and Josie) headed down to ECU to visit the little brother. The weekend was complete with Chick Fil A, Hokie Football, sunburns, too much liquor, and a tour of their XO Chapter house.

I received a promotion at work, and was so excited to be moving up!

|| october ||

Our annual family reunion happened in Florida, and it was the first time that my favorite babies got to see the beach.

I celebrated Kristen's birthday at The Village Pourhouse and watched my poor Hokies lose to Duke. Certainly not my favorite moment of October...

|| november ||

I spent a few weekends with Josie screaming over football. Most importantly, we watched VT kill Miami. A few weeks later, we celebrated a glorious Auburn win over Alabama with drinks and a late night tourist sesh in NYC to take advantage of what few weeks she had left in NYC (for now)!

Thanksgiving was a small affair this year and we were lucky to have Angie join us for a few days.

|| december ||

This month started out in a blur. Dad and I did our annual Christmas shopping for Mom.

Momma spent a few days in the hospital with a yucky blood infection.

Christmas came and left quickly, but I was lucky enough to spend lots of time with family and stuffing my face with delicious food.

Josie and I kicked off birthday celebrations with appointments at drybar, a super fabulous hotel, and an overload of best friend time. It was the perfect way to end the year and kick off our 26th year of life!

What were your favorite moments from 2013?

Travel Tuesday: #cfr2013

It's only been a month since I went to Florida, but this is better late than never, right? Right.

This weekend has to be one of my favorites all year. Everyone gets so excited, and I love being able to kick back and catch up with everyone. We all have such busy lives, and this is the rare opportunity to all be in one place together.

This year was even more special, because it was the first time that the babies had been to Florida. The first time they saw the beach, got to play in the pool, and met half of the family that hadn't been out to visit them yet!

The parentals and I flew out on Wednesday, quickly got our bags, and headed to the island. My absolute favorite part of the drive to Popop's is crossing the bridge to Sanibel. Somehow, the water, trees, and sunshine just melt all of my problems away.

 Perfection.

We had a low key first night, picking up chicken from Costco and catching up. It really is so awesome that so many family members can get together at once!

On Thursday we were up bright and early to bring Charlotte to the beach! We made a quick stop at the pool in the morning, and I quickly learned how much work goes into playing with a two year old in a huge body of water. I don't even want to know how many times we filled up the bucket, and dumped it back out again...

Thursday night we headed to a little restaurant down the street from Popop's called The Sandbar. Charlotte and I had matching dresses, but we weren't quick enough to snap a twins picture. Toddlers are quick.

Friday my Mom, Aunt and I had the responsibility of watching Charlotte in the morning while her Daddy did a little fishing. We frolicked at the beach and took a dip in the pool before naptime. Bird chasing was just too much fun for this little one.

In the afternoon, more family arrived, including Charlotte's little brother. We had a few cocktails before dinner and headed down to the beach to watch the infamous Sanibel Sunset.

We headed to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Matzalunas. While the Italian food isn't near what it is around here, they do have a killer garlic spread that could keep away vampires for DAYS.

(yes, that is me, NOT in a Lilly dress!)

Saturday morning my brother finally arrived. Now the whole family (okay, minus two) was together, and the party could really begin. We spent all morning at the beach with the babies, and I was even able to sneak a few quiet minutes at the pool before they caught up to me.

We found that the best way to keep a handle on little E-man was to dig a big hole and just put him right in there. It took him a while to get out, and he could eat as much sand as he wanted. He even managed to throw a little bit at his sister, and gnaw on a few buckets. I think it was deemed a success.

Afternoon naps were certainly in order before dinner. This time, we headed to the mainland and ate at The Lighthouse Restaurant in Fort Myers.

And maybe after a few cocktails, we let Charlotte eat some lemons. Her little face was just too cute!

Sunday was filled with more of the same. Beach, pool, naptime. I really don't see why we should ever do anything else! We even squeezed in lunch out (sans babies) to watch a little football. The ladies then headed to the shopping center and let Char try on a few things.

Sunday night was the last night for much of the family, and we went to dinner at Cip's Place. I love this restaurant, and it is fairly new on the island. They hand cut all of their french fries/potato chips, and are cooked to perfection. The kids were so well behaved, and we had such a great night laughing together.

Monday, a few family members left, and we ended up having a quiet day/night at Popops. We watched old family videos, ate way too much, and drank even more. Everyone was sad that our vacation was coming to an end, but we called it an early night since we all had busy days on Tuesday.

Luckily, my flight wasn't until 7pm that night, and I was able to get in some last minute sun and sand before we had to pack up and head home. Mom and I were so not ready to leave, that we ended up booking flights for my birthday weekend in January to come back and visit. I am so grateful that we have this place to come visit whenever we want, and obviously the best host in Popop!

I cannot wait to be back in January!

What I'm Loving Wednesday: #cfr2013

Linking up with sweet Jaime today!

I am loving...

...that in about 4 hours I'll be airborne on my way to the Sunshine State for #cfr2013. If you follow me on Instagram, I'm sure you'll see entirely too many posts over the next week.

...that I get to see this beautiful babe today;

...and her little brother on Friday!

...and for the next 6 days, my daily routine will look like this;

Morning

Afternoon

Evening

...and most importantly, what I'm loving the most, is that almost the entire family will be together!

What are you loving today!?