Brett and I started our Saturday Morning off early, and headed over to the Town Manor House, in Auburndale, Florida, to check it out as a possible wedding venue.

It was a cute little place, right on a big lake, and seemed like it could really be magical....for someone else's wedding. It is all customized to exactly what you want, and to the budget that you want, which is great, but it was just too small for what we want, and definitely won't hold all of our guests in the way we have envisioned. 

So, that's a big No next to Wedding Venue #2, but we will keep trying! Since we passed the Disney area on our way to the Town Manor House, we decided to stop by Magic Kingdom on our way back, to create some magic of our own!

What do you know! We got there and were walking down Main Street, when we bumped into Brett's Aunt Sue, Uncle Dave, cousins Lindsay and Kelly, her husband Rob, and their son Nathan! How crazy that we would find them there in that huge park!

We made it all the way around the park with the whole family, and it was so hot out! Brett and I decided to go on one last ride, Space Mountain, then call it a day and head home!

After our afternoon naps, we got a call from our friends Jessica and Michael who wanted to meet up for a little bit, and we all decided on going bowling! It has been forever since I bowled and I was excited to go out and do something different!

Bowling was so fun! We ended the night at Chili's where I got my favorite delicious chips and salsa! Gotta get home early tonight, though.....biiiiiiig day of football tomorrow!

Recently, Brett has had a manly urge to buy a new car. Of course with wedding planning and expenses, it probably isn't the perfect moment to be car hunting, but I decided to go with it and check out some deals in the area.
Brett's first car was a Mustang, so he has been dying to get back into one. He was doing his research online and found a great deal on a used Mustang with only 14,000 miles on it. He talked me into heading over to the dealership to check it out.

Instantly he fell in love with it, and 4 hours later, it was his! Had I known that "checking it out" meant he was going to buy it, I probably wouldn't have been so willing to come along and sit for 4 hours at the dealership! With that being said however, I am actually happy about the purchase. You wanna know why? Because its a convertible! I have always wanted one, and now I get to cruise around with my hunny with the top down! It is pretty exciting!

So, my good friend Courtney is moving on to bigger and better things! I have been working with her for a while now, and we have become really good friends! I am gonna miss her!

I am really proud of her and her decision to  try new things! She got a job with one of our sister hotels, under the same owners as the Swan and Dolphin. It's the Sheraton Chicago! She's moving to the Windy City! It is so exciting! She has been wanting to move there for a while, and she finally has done it! She got a great job, a promotion actually, and is moving in with one of her really good friends who just happened to move to Chicago recently!

I am already planning my trip up there! I have never been, but heard that it is spectacular!

We are sending her off with one final night out here in Florida, and going out to CRAVE for happy hour! It was delicious, and we ordered almost one of everything from the happy hour menu! Sorry I didn't snap any pics, the food went right into our mouths as soon as we got it!

I did, however, get pictures from dessert! Tutti Fruitti!!

Finally my Week is back to normal! It takes a couple days for me to get back into the groove of things after a long weekend of fun and excitement!

There's a lot on my plate right now, and I will try to go in order!

My workouts this week are going to be intense! I have to step it into gear for the Miracle Miles Race coming up on September 25th! I will be running a lot this week! Monday was a great night at the gym! I ran 6 miles and felt great! Now I have to work on my speed, and try to get faster! I probably won't run more than 7 miles to prepare for the race, there's always extra motivation to finish when you're surrounded by other runners! I am so excited that my best friend Nicole is running it with me! It will be my first run with someone else! 

Football is BACK!!! The first week of football felt great! We went to our favorite little dive bar and pool hall, Backstage Billiards, for beer, free pool, and free food! I lost my first fantasy game against Fertile Mertle, but I have high hopes that the Man Eaters will dominate this week!

Next on the list is school! I started talking about going back to school a little while ago, and have finally started taking the first steps into getting back! I got approved for tuition reimbursement! That was for sure step number one, because that will help a great deal with financing this endeavor! It is such a process, so much paperwork, but I am so excited to start learning and getting a degree in Digital Media! Not gonna lie, I actually kind of miss school!
 
This weekend of course cannot go on without a little wedding planning involved! we have another venue to look at! Now, this one is totally different than our original vision. It is not on the beach, but on a lake, so it does have the same feel to it. It is a little quaint Bed and Breakfast called Town Manor right in between Orlando and Tampa. It seems like such a cute, intimate, and different place, so we are really excited to check it out!

We are also starting our gift registry (finally!) at Bed Bath and Beyond! I am really excited to start scanning! 

Check it out here!: Registry

Also, on the list for this weekend is Colombia!

Colombia is this fantastic spanish restaurat located in Celebration. They have a famous salad called the "1905 Salad" that they make table-side for you! That along with the delicious tastes of authentic spanish cuisine keep us going back! We just found out that this Sunday, from noon until 7pm, they are celebrating their 105th Anniversary! In honor of this long family owned and operated restaurant, they are having special "throw-back" prices! Going back to the day when coffee was only .05 cents! This is the menu they are offering, and check out those prices! We are so excited!

Chicken & Yellow Rice “Ybor” for $2.95
Boliche (eye round of beef) for $2.95
Merluza “A la Rusa” for $2.95
Columbia’s Original “1905 Salad” for $1.95
Sangria for $.95 cents
Flan for $.50 cents
Richly-brewed American coffee for $.05 cents


Upcoming Posts! Keep a look out:
             ²Brett's New Car
             ²New Running Shoes. How to Choose?
             ²Courtney's Last Day in Florida!
            

Our crazy Labor Day Weekend was such a great success! Everything turned out so great and the weekend was fantastic!

It started off at the bridal shop, where I got to try on wedding gowns for the very first time! It was such a crazy feeling to see myself in them! It really made this chapter in my life feel so real!

I invited all my bridesmaids to experience this special moment with me, but only Lauren Shulman & Schmucker, Loreyn and Christie could make it. They brought champagne and we had a celebration right there in the shop!

Immediately after the dress fitting, the girls and I headed to Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach to celebrate Jordan's birthday. It was so hot, but Nicole brought tons of delicious foods prepared by her mother, who owns an Italian restaurant with her father! :) 

Saturday was definitely an eventful one! Brett and I headed straight to the Marriott after the party, where we met with his parents and my parents already preparing for the engagement party the next day! We all hung out together and got some dinner at Johnny Longboats, a cute little restaurant on the strip near Singer Island Beach!

The food was great, and I was still trying to be healthy for our photos we were taking in the morning! I got grilled fish with a house salad and grilled veggies! Mmm....I couldn't wait for the party so I could eat some carbs!


Sunday morning, Brett and I woke up super early to get ready to take our Engagement photos! I was super excited about this, but also a little nervous! It was scorching hot out! We had to dab ourselves with towels every 15 seconds so we didn't look sweaty in all the photos! They came out amazing, though! I am so thankful that it was so sunny and beautiful out, even though I melted, because the colors look fantastic! (We finally got copies of them! Check out a sneak peak of some of our favs here!) 


That evening it was time for our engagement party! It was so much fun! Everyone said they had such a great time! We played "The Newlywed Game" even though we aren't married yet, but it was still fun! Paul made a cute DVD of our favorite pictures that he had taken that day and played it for everyone to see, which was a real hit! Take a look at some of the festivities! 

The party was such a success! My mom, with Debi's help of course, did a great job with everything! We had tons of food left over, which served as our breakfast and lunch the next two days!

I had nothing planned for Monday, so I was really excited to just relax! My Mom and Dad and Brett and I headed down to the pool in the morning to hang out and get some sun. Brett and I stopped off at the bar first to get a delicious frozen beverage, we like to call Lava Flows, also known as a Miami Vice. 

Of course, the one day we had to relax by the pool, it started to thunderstorm at around 4:00pm! We decided to head up and relax before heading to an early dinner at Max & Eddie's, an Italian restaurant that has been near the resort since we started going there! We indulged in two large pizzas loaded with delicious meats! Yumm!

Tuesday was our last day down in South Florida, and we had scheduled our first tour of a possible venue to have our wedding. We headed down to Hollywood, Florida to visit the Westin Diplomat Resort! Check out what we found on my wedding planning page! Click here!

Friday is finally here! I feel like I have been waiting for this day to come for months! I started off the morning strong with my usual spin class, and a little extra weight training. I was pretty hungry when I got home, so I decided to make a miniature egg white, canadian bacon, and cheese omlete, which hit the spot as I gobbled it down in 5 bites!

I get to leave work early today at 1:30pm for the holiday weekend, and Brett and I are heading straight down to West Palm Beach for the long weekend! We have a jam-packed weekend ahead of us, and the plans are as follows:

Saturday:
·         At 10 am in the morning I have my first dress fitting! I am bringing some of my bridesmaids, and my mother of course, so it should be quite an exciting event!
·         Straight from the dress fitting, I will be heading down to Fort Lauderdale with the girls to celebrate Nicole’s boyfriend, Jordan’s birthday! She rented a picnic area for us at a park that has zip line wakeboarding! We are all going to grill, drink beer, wakeboard, and celebrate the day there, so that should be fun!
·         While I am at the fitting, Brett will be golfing with Paul in Fort Lauderdale, and will meet us at the park afterwards.
·         Saturday night, after Brett’s parents arrive at the Marriott, we will be meeting up with them that evening for dinner.

Sunday:
·         Bright and early in the morning, Paul is coming up to take our engagement photos! I am so excited!
·         After the photos, we will probably head back to the hotel to set up for the engagement party that my parents are throwing us! Should be a great time with so many people! The party starts at 5pm.
·         Sunday evening will consist of drinking wine, gossiping with guests, and maybe even a little hot tube time after sunset! J

Monday:
·        A day of relaxing...hopefully, and maybe a nice early morning run on the beach!

Tuesday:
·        At 10am in the morning, we have our first wedding site visit at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida! My mom and Dad are coming with us, it should be a treat! I am excited to see what it is like!
·        Afterwards, we are heading back to Orlando! Phew! What a weekend!

I had a great weekend with all the fun activites planned, but it didn't exactly go as I outlined in the previous post! Saturday was scorchingly hot out, so the girls and I decided to skip the park and have some fun in doors instead. Going to the mall wasn't a much better idea, however, because there were so many people doing back to school shopping, and the fact that it was tax-free weekend didnt help! We remembered that my favorite yogurt bar, Tutti Frutti, was having its grand opening party and was giving out free yogurt from 11-1pm! FREE! So, at around 12 noon, we opted for a delicious and nutritious yogurt lunch!

For Dinner, to continue Courtney's Birthday celebration, we went to this new restaurant called Crave that is located right acrosss the street from the Millenia Mall. It is a very nice restaurant with a very eclectic menu. I got an asian noodle salad that was delicious! Brett got a crab cake, and Courtney got this delicious gourmet macaroni and cheese! I unfortunately forgot my camera on this venture, so I could not post any pictures! Sorry!

Sunday morning was equally as hot, and I unfortunately could not bring myself to wake up and run 7 miles in the heat, with no breeze, and the sun glaring down on me and reflecting off the pavement, making me want to pass out! (I clearly talked myself out of it with deep thought, as I was laying comfortably in my bed!) Instead, I told myself that I would just run later that evening when the sun was setting so it wouldn't be so hot out. Perfect plan, I decided! Brett and I started the day off by looking through the newspaper for good coupons we could use at the grocery store. Our fridge and pantry were completely bare and we had literally nothing to eat in the house except for a box of 50 Kudos Brett bought as an impulse buy when we were at BJ's Wholesale Club about 2 weekends ago! While I clipped coupons, Brett cooked us up a gourmet breakfast, which started off the day perfectly.

We spent about an hour and a half at the grocery store, going down every isle, and making sure to cross off all the items on our list. We clearly did some damage at the store!

This receipt made it on the fridge! It was so nice to open the pantry and the fridge after we stocked it up with all of our goodies. I love opening the fridge and seeing it packed with delicious foods. Makes me very excited to eat! So, for lunch, even though we did a humongous grocery shop, we met up with Len and Jagi, and their family from Poland, at Brio Tuscan Grill at the Millenia Mall. Even though it is so close to our apartment, Brett and I had never been there. The service was great and the food was very flavorful. Our waitress was extremely sweet, and even vrought us out an appetizer of Bruscetta to share on the house! I ordered a lunch combo with a Margehrita Pizza, and the Chopped Salad. I indulged in lots of carbs at this lunch; even the bread they brought out with the drinks was excellent!

After lunch, I had some serious monthly cravings for something sweet! We didn't buy anything dessert-like at the store, of course, so I made Brett take me to get something to satisfy my craving! I tried to stay somewhat healthy and picked out some dark chocolate Raisinets. They were the perfect solution, and I didn't feel that bad about it because it says, on the back of the package,  that this snack is a natural source of Antioxidants from both the Fruit and the Dark Chocolate, which helps maintain good health.

 So, by the time we got home from lunch and my little errand, it was about 3:00. We decided to rest a little bit before I began my workout, and watched a movie, while I snacked on my bowl of Raisinets. I ended up passing out on the couch, and when I woke up, the sky was black with rain clounds and my plan to run my 7 miles, that I put off earlier, was pretty much shoved out the door! Brett and I agreed it was best to get off the couch and down on the floor for some Ab Ripper X (a 15 minute ab workout from the Famous P90X Program) to make ourselves feel better about not wanted to go to the gym. After a sad attmept at that, we got up, looked at each other, and decided we were going to be lazy lumps and have a "Fat Night" by going to Ale House, drink beer, eat fried foods, and watch football. We told ourselves that we will be good again tomorrow now that we went grocery shopping and will continue our workout routine then. The beer and chicken fingers that I ordered were delicious and hit the spot while we were sitting out on the porch, watching football while the rain poured down outside. After the game, Brett had the genious idea to take our night up a notch, and talked me into ordering the Capt'n Jack's Buried Treasure. It didnt take much for his to talk me into it, and boy was it a treat!

The vanilla ice cream and cookie crust went oh-so-good with the gooey carmel toffee middle and the chocolate fidge drizzle. I was ready for bed after this one. Back to work in the morning! And back to the gym!!

Friday could not come sooner this week! I had so much planned for the weekend, that I think it made the week go by so slow! Looking forward to so much fun can get you antsy when you are sitting at a desk all day! Luckily I brought a pick-me-up 3pm snack to work. Yum!

The festivities for this weekend are as follows:

Friday

• Dinner with Brett’s old time Family Friends, Len and Jagi, and their family from Poland.
• Sleep over with friends Nicole and Jordan.  They are spending the night so they can get to the airport early in the morning for vacation!
• Watch Fabiana’s little pooch, Louie, starting tonight, for the whole weekend!

 Saturday

• Wake up very early to take friends Nicole and Jordan to airport (Saturdays are totally meant for sleeping in! Not for waking up at 5:30 in the morning! But I love them so I did it!)
• EPCOT for my friend Courtney’s 24th Birthday!
• Dinner either with Courtney and Amanda, or Len and Jagi. We will have to see where the day and night takes us! J

 Sunday

• Run 7 miles & Body Works Class
• Hopefully make it to the Mall and Outlets for some Tax-free Shopping!

Dinner was fun! We went to Logan's Roadhouse. I love those types of restaurants because of the peanuts! It is so fun to throw the shells on the floor; reminds me of being at the ballpark! Dinner was delicious, and they had a "Health Nuts" menu, which featured 6 or 7 dishes that are under 550 calories. I thought that was neat and went for the Salmon, steamed broccolli, and house salad. The food was good for sure, but I think it is the portion size that makes it under 550 calories, because there was barely any food! I ended up sharing Brett's sweet potato with him after I was all done! Overall, we all had a great time catching up and we really want to get together on Saturday night as well!

So, this morning, after taking Jordan and Nicole to the airport, I was woken by two crazy little poodles jumping all over me! They are like little balls of fun!

Now, I am drinking some coffee to get amped up for the big day! I am enjoying some Newman's Own Organic Extra Bold Coffee, with French Vanilla Splenda. It adds an extra special touch to a normal cup of coffee! 

This weekend was a rainy one, but it definitely gave Brett and I some time to relax! Saturday morning consisted of Brett and I taking Win to get a hair cut and to his yearly wellness exam at the vet. Winnie gets so silly at the vet. He just freezes up into a stuffed animal and lets the doctor do anything he needs to do. He does have kind of a "Help me mommy!" look in his eyes though.

We also got to start our first registry this weekend at Target. It was fun scanning all the items with the laser gun. I think we had a little too much fun with it actually! After that, it was time for lunch, and I decided to stay at home and make a sandwich. However, Brett's taste buds were going for something a little more flavorful. He headed out to Chipotle instead!

Sunday was even more rainy, but I was lucky enough to make it on my full 6 mile run early in the morning before the rain started. I headed over to Baldwin Park to run around Lake Baldwin, since I know that it is exactly 2.5 miles around. It was perfect weather because it was slightly overcast and it is so much easier to run while there is no sun beating down on you. After the run I headed to the Colonial La Fitness for a Body Works class. By the time I was heading home, it was already pouring down rain! My plan to lay out by the pool went out the door right then! Brett and I had nothing on the to-do list, so we hung around the house, watched some of our recorded shows, watched the rain, and of course went to Tutti Frutti! It is a new frozen yogurt bar, right in front of the Millenia Mall, and right down the street from our apartment. Our weekends are incomplete without a visit to Tutti Frutti!

It is a really cool concept, and a really light and healthy summer snack! All the yogurts are probiotic and kosher, and most of them are fat free! The flavors change everyday so you never know what you are going to get, and you know that it is made fresh! They also have fresh fruit like mangos, strawberries, and kiwis, which I load on top of my yogurt everytime!