Our Wedding - Ceremony

If you didn't catch my first post about our wedding, you can check it out HERE to read about and see pictures from our rehearsal and dinner. 

Our ceremony was held at a Catholic church in Victoria.  Although it was not a church that Jeff and I attended or joined, some of my cousins grew up attending mass there and an Aunt/Uncle of mine had their wedding there, and the Monsignor that married us knew my family well.  He was very entertaining and from the first time Jeff and I met him, we knew he was going to be great!  We had a traditional Catholic ceremony with our closest friends and family members as the groomsmen and bridesmaids (my niece was a jr. bridesmaid).  My nephew was the ring bearer although he was older than the typical age, but I wanted him to be a part of our big day.  Look at him in his little suit - he looked adorable! The first time I got to see him that day it just melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes.  Jeff's cousin/goddaughter and my other niece were our flower girls, and bless her heart, my niece did great in rehearsal but was terrified walking down the aisle with everyone around.  Jeff's poor little cousin probably didn't know what to do as she got drug down the aisle.  Those are the best moments!!  You never know what the little ones are going to do.  Of course one of my favorite moments was seeing Jeff waiting for me at the end of the aisle.  My groom looked so handsome!!  I love looking back through these pictures and seeing how they tell the story of that day.

Without further adieu, here are pictures from our wedding ceremony.

xoxo,

Tara

NOLA Bound!!

We are heading to one of my favorite cities, New Orleans, this weekend with some friends.  I'm so ready for a long weekend getaway.  My love for the city first developed when I visited during college for the first time with my mom, grandma and great aunt.  We had a wonderful time exploring the French Quarter and the Garden District, visiting plantations and historical homes and of course taking a ghost tour!! We started making a yearly visit for a girl's weekend, but of course the visits were different when my college roommate joined, and we explored Bourbon street more and the bars around the universities! hah  When Jeff and I started dating, we took a trip together as he had never been, and I was eager to show him all there is to love with the great music and amazing food.  Luckily, he also loved the vibe of the city.  I also had my bachelorette party there of course. Duh! Where else would I have it!?  It was one of the best weekends ever - so many of the girls I love in one of my favorite places all at the same time.  What wonderful memories!!!  But since then, I haven't been back, and I'm so eager to get on the road. 

If you've never been to New Orleans, you should definitely put it on your list to visit.  For those of you that have, you know what a great treat I'm in for!

{image via wikepedia}

{image via aol travel}

I'll be back next week to share photos and a recap with you!

Have a lovely weekend,

Tara

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday today to the one I love. 

To celebrate this past weekend we took the boat out for a day of fishing.  We invited another couple to go with us, grabbed some snacks, beer and champagne and hit the waters all day.  There was only one keeper trout caught, but it was still a wonderful day!! The weather turned out to be beautiful after the crazy storm on Friday night.  I know Jeff would've loved to catch more fish, but we appreciated him navigating us through the bay waters all day anyways!

We especially enjoyed the sunset cruise as we headed in.  I was just in awe of these views.

This evening to celebrate on Jeff's actual birthday, we are going to....wait for it....leave work early to.........GO FISHING!  haha of course we are! :)  Just he and I and hopefully an amazing sunset again....and possibly a lot of fish! 

 

Love you. XO,

Tara

Scenes from Our Weekend

This past weekend we enjoyed a rare weekend in town with no major plans, which allowed us to meet up with friends, sleep in late, make breakfast, and spend a day at the beach.  It was a wonderful weekend!

This is at a beach close to Galveston.  There's Jeff (yup that blue dot) out wading in the surf trying to fish.  The wind was really strong, so it was not a very successful fishing trip, but I really enjoyed getting to lay in the sun reading and taking in these views.

 

 This was the breakfast I made on Saturday morning.  I used Hungry Girl's Eggs Bene-chick recipe to reduce the calories per serving...which means you can get two servings, right? Yes, why not?!

Eggs Bene-chick

1 half of a light English Muffin

1 slice of lean ham

1 large egg

For the sauce:

1 tbsp. fat free mayonnaise

1 tsp. Dijonnaise (which I couldn't find, so I just mix some Dijon mustard with the ff mayo)

1 tsp. reduced calorie light butter spread

1 tsp. lemon yogurt

Stir all sauce ingredients together and set aside.  Crack egg gently into a small dish.  Fill a pot with two inches of water and heat to a boil.  Then reduce heat to a very slow steady boil.  Gently pour in the egg and cook for 3-5 minutes depending if you prefer a runny or firm yolk.  While cooking the egg, toast your muffin and cook the ham.  Carefully remove egg and dab with a paper towel to remove excess water if you like.  Heat sauce in microwave for about twenty seconds.  Layer the toasted muffin with the cooked ham and poached egg and then drizzle the sauce over the top.  Delish!

{source link to original recipe}

I'm linking up to Tasty Tuesday's over at 33 Shades of Green.  There are always so many great recipes to look at.  You should go check them out!

and I'm also linking up to What I Whipped Up Wednesday at Sugar and Dots.  All kinds of great recipes and DIY's projects!

Tara

Our Wedding - Rehearsal & Dinner

We had our wedding back in my hometown, Victoria, which is a small town in South Texas. Our reception was to be held at Schroeder Dance Hall, which I grew up going to on Saturday nights to dance and attend concerts and actually my parents used to go too when they were just dating.  It's the second oldest dance hall in Texas!  In keeping with the theme of historic places, we decided to have our rehearsal dinner at the oldest deli in Texas and one of the oldest restaurants in the U.S., Fossati's Delicatessen located on the square in downtown Victoria.  It has that old charm with red and white checked tablecloths, an old beautiful wooden bar with so much character, and there are still poles outside where people used to tie their horses.  I thought it was really special to share the history of our town with our wedding guests.

Here we are at the church with the Monsignor who married us.  He was very witty and entertaining!

The location for dinner:

The Groomsmen & Ushers.

My Bridesmaids!  Aren't they beautiful?

The best man and his wife with Jeff and I.  Love them both so much! 

We handed out presents that night to the wedding party, and here is my sister looking at what we gave my nephew who was our ring bearer.  He loves baseball, so this was perfect!

My mom, step-dad and grandmother, who we call Gigi.

My sister-in-law and mother-in-law:

Some of the details.  My in-laws did a great job.  As part of the table decorations they had framed pictures of Jeff and I from places we had traveled to together.

 The dessert! Mmm cookies and pastries from our favorite local bakery Halepaska's.

My two best friends from Junior High/High School:

And here I am with my handsome groom.  This was such a fabulous night, and it was so fun to finally relax and just anticipate the next day!

I know this was picture overload, so thank you for looking at all of them! Get ready for more as I continue to share our wedding details.  :)

XO,

Tara

Anniversary Celebration

Thank you for the sweet comments and anniversary wishes yesterday!  Just wanted to show you the beautiful flowers Jeff sent to me at work for our special day.  He knows hydrangeas are my favorite flowers.  Didn't he do great?!

To celebrate last night, we tried a new restaurant that is small and perfect for a date.  Even better, it was BYOB, so we could bring our own wine!  We started off with the lobster roll sliders for an appetizer and then for the entree I had these scallops with a gruyere and mushroom sauce.  Yes, they definitely were rich and not healthy, but oh so delicious!

Hope all of you are having a fantastic week too!

Tara

Happy Anniversary

I'd like to wish my sweet husband HAPPY ANNIVERSARY today! We've been married two years now, and on one hand I can't believe how fast the time has flown by as it doesn't seem possible that we've been married for two years.  Then again, I feel like we've already been through so much together and are so at ease and comfortable together that it feels like this is the way it's always been.

I've yet to post any pictures from our wedding, and I know when I look at other blogs that's one of my favorite things to look at.  It's fun to see the different styles of weddings and of course see all of the beautiful brides in their wedding gowns, so I thought it was finally time to share our big day with you all.  I'd like to focus on different parts of the wedding over the next week or so to really be able to share all of the highlights and details without this turning into the longest post ever!  So don't forget to come back to check out the details and pics!  Here's a sneak peek for now:

I feel so blessed to have this man to stand by my side through all of life's up's and down's. I'm looking forward to seeing what all life holds for us in all of the years to come.

XO

Tara