Three years ago ...

Three years ago, I woke up ridiculously early. And I made several close friends and family members wake up ridiculously early, too. I paid a woman to put brightly colored curlers in my hair, then I walked around with the curlers and let people take pictures of me. (It was obviously the mimosa taking charge.)

Three years ago, I depended on the help of friends and family - as well as their presence and support - to make the day perfect. (Mother Nature and our crap photographer didn't get the memo, but the friends and family totally delivered.)

Three years ago, we stood before our friends and family. The pastor, a friend of ours, had prepared an amazing ceremony - one that made me want to laugh and cry.

Three years ago, we were surrounded by some of our favorite people (and they were all matchy-matchy, too!) for the big event. The group was quite diverse, but all of them are special to us and remain a part of our life today.

Three years ago, we entered a room together for the first time as husband and wife. (I'm pretty sure I had the same goofy grin on my face all day.)

Three years ago, we ate cake that was almost too pretty to eat. (Almost.)

Three years ago, our nephews were soooo young. And they finally forgave me for moving their beloved uncle to Florida. (At least, I think they've finally forgiven me. I would be mad at me, too. They have a pretty awesome uncle.)

Three years ago, we danced together - and like always, Tim made me laugh.

Three years ago, we were joined by the majority of our families and bridal party at Dave & Buster's. I wore my wedding dress (Tim refused to wear his tux), and even though I could not have been more exhausted (who had the bright idea to have a morning wedding ceremony, anyway?), we had a blast celebrating.

Three years ago, I married an amazing man - a man who supports me, makes me laugh, loves me unconditionally, works hard for our family and is an absolutely wonderful father. A man who has made me a better person and is truly my best friend. A man who has provided me with a love I never imagined.

And three years ago, I never imagined how awesome our life together would be. We may not have everything we want or get to spend as much time together as other couples, but at the end of the day, I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. No matter what struggle face or obstacle we're presented with, we're in it together, and that's all that matters.

Happy anniversary, babe - I love you! Looking forward to many more years of love and laughter :)

Ohio recap, September trip

Elle and I went to Ohio a few weeks ago - Tim was busy at work because of football, and this also gave him a few days to rest up before I started the new job and his new schedule of getting up with Elle every day commenced.

We flew in to Columbus because it was cheaper, a direct flight and a good way to maximize visiting time with my sister, who lives there. Marti picked us up from the airport and we met up with her husband for lunch. Then Marti had to go back to work, and Elle and I hung out with Uncle Jeff for the afternoon (we pretty much all took naps).

That night, we drove to meet my mom halfway between my parents' house and Columbus for a human handoff. We met for dinner, and Elle enjoyed the buffet immensely.

On Saturday, Elle stayed to play with my parents and Uncle Doug, and I went to the wedding of one of my dear college friends, Aimee. It was the first time my college roommates and I had been together since my own wedding almost three years ago, so it was great to celebrate Aimee's special day and catch up with some of my favorite ladies.

My sweet suitemates.

With the bride! I heart wedding photo booths :)

Catching up with Katie, who I hardly ever get to see.

My roomiemate! With her daughter, Joey, who entertained us all :)

It was a beautiful day, a touching ceremony and an amazing reception, complete with amazing little details that Aimee poured her heart and soul in to.

Seating assignments were written on window panes,
hung from the ceiling of the rustic lodge.

On Sunday, we drove across the state to meet up with Tim's mom, sister-in-law and nephews so they could visit with Elle. We met up for lunch, and Elle enjoyed showing them some of her new tricks, longer hair and reading prowess.

Giving cousin Sam the side eye.

A few hours later, Elle and I met with some of my high school friends for some pumpkin spice goodness at Starbucks. Soon after that, Aunt Marti arrived at our parents' house to spend a few days with us.

On Monday morning, my mom, Elle and I visited with my good friend Jen and her three-week-old son Maddox. He is so stinkin' adorable. It was the first time I'd been around such a young newborn since Elle was born, so it amazing to remember her being that age and look at her now. I loved getting a reminder of the newborn noises, stretches and expressions, and it was great to see Jen again :)

"Grams, excuse me - what are you doing?!"
asks a confused Elle.

Jen and her adorable little man.

"So. How's this life-outside-of-the-womb thing working for you?"

The rest of Monday was pretty low-key, which was nice after all of the driving around and general traveling we had done.

We even FaceTimed with my brother, sister-in-law and niece in Colorado, so almost all of the family was "together."

On Tuesday afternoon, Elle, Marti and I packed up, took some final photos and and headed back to Columbus, where our flight would leave on Wednesday morning.

We went out for dinner, and in a quiet corner of the restaurant, Elle provided the diners with some awesome sound effects ... as she strained and grunted (Elle's days of stealth pooping are over, by the way), I felt like all eyes were on us. Marti and I asked "Elle, what are you doing?" Elle responded, cheerfully at that point, with "Poopy?"

Post-"Poopy?"

The rest of the evening was spent with me going through some stuff I'd left at my sister's house after our wedding (I've scored a nice family discount on the "storage unit" for the last three years) and reading, watching TV and eating.

On Wednesday morning, we headed for the airport ... and got stuck in a massive traffic jam. Awesome. We finally made it to the airport and Elle slept the entire flight. Whee! Tim picked us up in Tampa and drove us home, and we spent the rest of the day recovering and preparing for the start of the new job. I'm not sure when our next trip back to Ohio will be, so it was nice to have one last 2011 trip under our belts :)

Another special day

Today is another day I desperately wish I was in Ohio. My good friend Kristine is getting married today, and since I live 1,000 miles away and gave birth to my sweet little panda (also known as sad panda, angry panda, hungry panda, poopy panda, etc.) three weeks ago, I'm not able to be there physically.

Kristine and I met in high school - sophomore year, to be exact. We were in the Stark County Honors Flute Choir, a group of high school students who performed with the Mount Union (then) College flute choir. We practiced once a week and performed about a half dozen times across the state, at flute festivals, the college, nursing homes, etc. We played challenging music, and since we were associated with the elite college group, we were supposed to behave with the utmost decorum.

The problem was Kristine and I were high school sophomores, and we often acted like it :) We frequently joked that we'd be the first people ever kicked out of flute choir. We went to different high schools, so the only time we saw each other was usually at flute choir practices or performances, and we'd sometimes get the giggles - and consequently, a glare from the director or some of the older choir members.

We stayed close for the three years we were in flute choir together, and after graduation, she enrolled at the area campus of Kent State University, while I went to the main campus. After sophomore year of college, though, Kristine wanted to transfer to the main campus, which included a move to the dorms. She asked if I wanted to be roommates, and I quickly agreed, not knowing what I was getting myself in to :)

We lived in a suite with two people who quickly became friends. One of them, Katie, lived with us our senior year, along with Claudia, a close friend I met in high school through journalism camp. We have some amazing memories of living on the seventh floor of McDowell Hall, and I have to admit that Kristine, Katie and Claudia definitely made me "live a little" during my last two years of college. Kristine was notorious for opening her closet to me for nights out in downtown Kent or Akron - I was like a 20-year-old Barbie doll in need of wardrobe assistance any time we went out :) We had an amazing spring break senior year - the four suitemates, in addition to our honorary suitemate, Jon, piled in to a car with a ton of luggage and drove to Panama City for a week of sun and mayhem. I have a lot of memories from college that I wouldn't trade for the world, and Kristine is a part of many of them.

I've known Kristine for 12 years, and a few years ago she started dating a guy she met through work. Tim and I met up with them while they were vacationing near us a few years ago, and I instantly knew that this relationship was different. They just seemed so comfortable around each other - it was a perfect fit. I could tell that Doug and Kristine were a good match, and we've enjoyed spending time with them several times since then. I've always loved that they just seem so real around each other and others - there is no false pretense, no awkwardness in the way that Doug acts around me or others that he has only known for a few years. He totally fits in with the McDowell crowd - I just wish we had known him during our college days!

Kristine and I have stayed close friends - she has come to Florida several times in the last few years (photo above is from one of those visits, although it would probably be more entertaining if I pulled out some of our flute choir and college photos!), and it has always been great to visit with her. I try to see her and the rest of the McDowell girls any time I'm in Ohio, and during a visit last year I got to meet Doug and Kristine's sweet daughter, who was born last October. It is amazing to believe we've gone from disrupting flute choir practice years ago to working mothers of cute little girls.

And today, Kristine and Doug are getting married. I couldn't be more happy for them, and while I wish I could be there to celebrate this joyous day with the newlyweds and the McDowell crowd, I know that Kristine is going to be a gorgeous bride, and they are going to have the time of their lives, surrounded by friends and family. Happy wedding day, Roomiemate - I love and miss you, and I'm so happy for you and Doug :)

A special day

Today is my good friend Jen's wedding day. Jen and I have known each other since middle school and shared many special memories through high school (photo at right is from our senior year at LHS) and college. We were in German class together, served as officers of German Club and National Honors Society together, went to the same church, took the same advanced placement and honors classes, attended colleges about an hour apart, shared an intense love of Walmart and have very similar morals and values. Her family essentially adopted me the weekend of senior prom, when my family attended my sister's college graduation. Our birthdays are five days apart, so we often celebrated them jointly.

Me, Jen and Megan, a good friend who happens to have a birthday five days after mine, celebrating our quarter-century mark at the Pittsburgh Zoo.

Jen was in my wedding two years ago and went to a reunion for her college honor fraternity that night, where she connected with Mark, who would become her fiance about eight months later. Soon after Jen got engaged last summer, she asked me to be a bridesmaid, and I excitedly agreed.

When Tim and I found out we were expecting, I didn't think it would create any issue except that I'd be uh, the wee bit larger member of the bridal party. But after we met with the doctor and our pregnancy progressed, it became clear that the timing was a *little* tight. Because we didn't know what would happen with the pregnancy - mainly, if there would be any complications - I decided that I probably shouldn't be a definite in the bridal party, because I couldn't know for sure that I'd be able to be there. I planned to attend as a guest, but I didn't want Jen to worry about whether she'd have me as a bridesmaid or not. When I brought the wedding up at one of our first prenatal visits, the doctor warned me that it was right on the cut-off of when he recommends/allows plane travel (34 weeks). Many airlines won't even allow pregnant women to fly after 34 or 36 weeks without a note from their doctor, so I knew he wasn't being ridiculously, well, ridiculous.

In the Gulf of Mexico, summer 2008.

But I held out hope that I'd at least be able to attend as a guest. At our appointment after my trip to Ohio for Jen's shower and bachelorette party (when I also had my baby shower), however, we asked the doctor again about mid-June travel. Although I've had a fairly uncomplicated pregnancy, the doctor was concerned that it was too close to the no-travel cutoff, and while he wouldn't give me a straight "yes, you're allowed" or "no, you're not allowed" answer, he made it pretty clear that *he* wouldn't do it, and he didn't recommend it. He didn't think anything would happen on the flights, but he worried about me going in to labor while in Ohio.

At Jen's bridal shower in April!

Tim and I talked about it a lot, and in the end, we knew that as much as I wanted to be there for Jen's big day, I'd never forgive myself if something happened to the baby. It was a really emotional decision (Tim is getting to be quite the pro at trying to comfort his sobbing, pregnant wife), and when I told Jen, she was very understanding about it and completely understood that I was making the decision I felt necessary for me and Elle.

I know deep down that this was the best decision for our growing family, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm missing a huge day in the life of a close friend. It doesn't change the fact that once again, living far away from our friends and family has created some tough choices. But ultimately, I'm there in spirit and can't wait to hear all about it and see the millions of pictures I expect everyone to take :)

I sent Jen a package with little gifts to open on the 12 days leading up to her wedding. We've talked a lot this week, and I've been keeping tabs on when the pedicure appointments are, when the hair is being done, when the vows are being said and when the photos are being taken :) She's doing a cookie table at her wedding, like we did, and I sent Strawberry Cake Mix Coolers as a Florida contribution :) Jen sent me a package to open on the day of the rehearsal dinner, full of adorable, thoughtful bridesmaid gifts, like flip flops, a photo frame, a super sweet card and a gorgeous tote bag. Today I'm wearing the necklace she sent, too.

Jen, I am so, so happy for you and Mark and wish you both a lifetime of love and laughter. I wish I could have been there with you today, and I hope your special day goes perfectly and is everything you hoped for and more!

A sad farewell

I love, love, love my wedding dress (seen at left in the early morning hours of my wedding day).

Which is why I got rid of it.

Let me back up a bit. When I got engaged, I searched for the perfect dress - at first, it was a half-hearted search, because I knew what style I wanted, and I thought I wanted to buy it in Florida, so it would be close to me for alterations. But when I went home to Ohio the week after we got engaged, my mom and I went dress shopping - mostly for the experience, as she had never been able to shop for a wedding dress (hers was loaned to her, and my sister was also living away from home and shopped by herself), and I never had, either, and thought it would be a good experience to share.

Little did I know that I'd end up buying the first dress I tried on. It was almost identical to the dress I had torn out of a magazine and brought to the small boutique near where I grew up. And it was the perfect size and on sale. I loved it, I loved the way I looked in it ... and I really couldn't imagine finding anything more perfect. (If you know anything about how hard it is for me to shop for jeans or shoes, you'll know why I dreaded shopping for a wedding dress, thinking it would be a similar experience.)

I tried on a few other dresses at that boutique. We even went to another store and I tried on some dresses there, but I was getting cranky and knew deep-down that I'd found *my* dress. I flew back to Florida a day later and decided that I wanted THAT dress. My mom and dad had offered to buy my wedding dress, so my mom called the store and told them I wanted it.

So the dress shopping I didn't expect to result in a purchased dress had fulfilled my dreams and expectations. For the next eight months or so, the dress stayed in the boutique, untouched.

Then I flew home for my bridal shower and had two fittings, and then the dress sat idle again until the week before the wedding, when I had my final fitting and took my dress to Columbus with me.

A photo from my first dress fitting - reunited with my dress!

On the day of our wedding, I wore the dress with pride and love ... it fit well, I still loved it, and it was mine.


And then we went to Dave and Buster's for an after-party, and I wore the dress there, too.

Nothing says "Bride" like shooting hoops in your wedding dress.

For about a year, my dress hung in my sister's spare room (hey, I didn't even have to pay a storage fee!). As our first anniversary approached, I asked if she would mail it to me for our Trash the Dress session.


Months before the Trash the Dress session, I had decided I wanted to donate my dress, so I was really glad I got to wear my dress again and get some photos taken in Florida. I didn't trash my dress by any means, and it hadn't suffered any horrendous wine spills or rips and tears, so it is still in extremely good condition. I had heard a lot about Brides Against Breast Cancer, and since I am a bride against breast cancer, I knew this was the organization for my dress.

Here's an excerpt from the Web site about the dress donations and sales:

"Brides Against Breast Cancer" gown sales continue to be important fund-raising events for Making Memories. Our more than 32 yearly shows provide brides-to-be with an opportunity to find their dream gown (at an incredible savings) while making wishes and dreams come true for women and men who are losing their fight against breast cancer.

The worldwide support of designers, manufacturers, bridal shops and individuals (who donate a most treasured possession) make possible our Nationwide Tour of Gowns sales. The proceeds from these events help bring a moment of joy into world of someone for whom a cure is too late.

I looked in to what I would need to do to donate my dress - currently they accept styles from 2006 to the present, and they request a $40 donation to cover cleaning the gown. You can mail it to the organization or drop it off at a local dress sale (they hold one yearly in Tampa), and you just fill out a form - and you're done.

I took several things in to consideration when making the decision to donate my dress, though. And it wasn't an easy decision. But I'm happy with it.

I considered the fact that I could have my dress cleaned and preserved and stored. The $40 donation is a lot cheaper than cleaning and preservation, and right now we're not swimming in storage space. But the biggest factor in all of this is that the dress would sit, unused, unloved and unadmired - and for what reason? I've got photos of me in my dress. I know how much I loved wearing it. Why should the dress sit when it could be enjoyed by someone else? And why should it sit when it could be used to benefit a good cause?

When we found out we were having a baby girl, the dress tugged at my heartstrings again. I had a talk with Tim one night about it, though, and reasoned that even if there was a 1% chance that our daughter wanted to wear my wedding dress someday as her own, was it worth hanging on to when - again - someone else could get enjoyment out of it now? And if it was to benefit breast cancer research and awareness, I would think my daughter would understand why it wasn't available to her and appreciate that.

I considered some other popular options - we could have the dress altered in to a Christening gown. But my family has a Christening gown, one that has been passed down ... and down ... and down. We don't need one.

I kept coming back to my bottom line: Someone else could get as much enjoyment out of this dress as I did, and for a good cause.

This year, I won't be able to run in the Race for the Cure. It will be the first race I've missed in six years. And to make up for that, I think donating my dress now is a good alternative. So since I finally had the money for shipping, the donation *and* a box to fit the dress at the same time (usually I was missing at least one of the three), I packed up the dress, took it to UPS and mailed it off to the BABC headquarters.

As I packaged the dress, I asked Tim if he wanted to say goodbye or if he would miss it. He said it had served its purpose of being there on our wedding day and was ready to move on to a new home. *sniff* The UPS clerk asked me about the charity and said he thought it sounded like a great thing to do, which made me feel good about my decision in my moment of emotional dress abandonment.

I'll miss the dress, and I'm sure I'll sometimes wonder if I did the right thing or where the dress ended up, but deep down, I am happy with the choice to spread the love that my dress brought to me and enable the proceeds of that sale to bring joy to someone else.

Trash the Dress session

This blog has been allll baby lately. But at least I've been blogging!

I have a few things from the end of last year that I want to blog about, and this is one of them.

As I planned our wedding, I LOVED looking at wedding photos. I would look at the Web sites of wedding photographers, flip through magazine after magazine and look at photos from other brides. Since we got married in Ohio, I knew we wouldn't have any beach photos, and since we got married on a rainy November morning, there wasn't even any real chance for any outside photos. (And we won't even go in to how awful our actual photographer was ...)

Anyway. After looking all of the sites and photos, I started to think about doing a Trash the Dress session. Some brides and photographers take this term very seriously and take photos in burned out buildings, fields of mud or repairing cars. I didn't want to *trash* my dress, though - I wanted to celebrate it and wear it one more time. I also wanted to get photos in an environment that has been such a big part of our engaged and married lives: Florida.

About a year and a half ago, I was introduced to Christine by mutual friends (like loyal blog readers Stef and Julia and Todd). Around the time I started my business last year, she was laid off from her full-time job as a newspaper photographer. Rather than try to get a job with another newspaper, she decided to pour her heart and soul in to building the photography business she had been running on the side. She asked me to design some flyers for her, and it was one of the first paid jobs I had. During our talks about what images and wording should go on the flyers, I shared my dreams of doing a Trash the Dress session. Since Christine a) is awesome and b) was looking to add to her portfolio, she said she'd love to shoot our session.

I kind of wanted to do the shoot around our anniversary and after our trip to Ohio. We arranged the schedules of Tim, Christine and I to meet at St. Pete Beach (where we got engaged, so it was a special location for us) in early December. Little did I know that days before we did the shoot we'd find out that we'd have another person joining us for the session (and I was dealing with just the beginning of the nausea).

It was cloudy and cool and very windy, but it also had a cool vibe and we figured since it rained on our wedding day, the cloudy atmosphere echoed our big day. We got some funny looks, a lot of smiles and had a blast. Tim was a great sport, despite finding out on our way there that he had to work for a few hours that night (and the beach is about an hour from where we live). When we got home, I let my dress dry - it was really only wet on the bottom and on some of the inner layers - and shook the sand off a few days later. You would never know it was in the Gulf of Mexico :)

Here are just a few of my favorites from the day:

Sorrrrryyyyy.

So I know I promised updates from our California trip months ago. And those never happened.

But then November happened and was full of some fun stuff. So I'll try to recap some of that now!

In early November, Tim and I traveled to Ohio for his cousin Ryan's wedding. We were greeted by some rare, warm weather. We flew in to Columbus because it was cheaper, and we picked up our rental car and headed to Gahanna, where we were married almost a year before. We met up with our friend Aaron (aka "Cookie") at Mezzo, the restaurant where we'd had our rehearsal dinner. We were able to walk around for a bit before lunch and saw the Sanctuary, where we had our ceremony and reception, and look around the park surrounding Mezzo, which we'd really only seen in the dark the year before. It was a great afternoon and we had a blast catching up with Cookie, whom we both knew from our days working at The Lima News.

(Us walking in the park near Mezzo)

After lunch, we drove to Cincinnati and arrived at Tim's cousin Jeff's house just in time to change for the rehearsal dinner. We stayed with Jeff and Allison all weekend and had a blast. The rehearsal dinner was a great chance to gather some of the cousins

(Jeff, Tim, Travis)

and their gorgeous and patient wives together.

(Travis' wife Jessica, me, Jeff's wife Allison)

We headed back to Jeff's and Allison's and the boys played some games before bed. The next morning, Allison had to join the female half of the bridal party early for hairstyles and photos, but the boys took some time to get ready before heading to the church. Tim was an usher, so we basically just went wherever and whenever the other cousins (Jeff and Travis) went, because they were best man and groomsman, respectively.

Before the wedding, Jeff and I ran a quick errand to Walgreen's - Holly had a small stain on her dress and we were sent to get a Tide pen. So off we went, me in my dress and Jeff in his tux, and we headed to the detergent aisle. There, a woman who was probably about 75 or 80 asked us we worked there. We politely told her no, wondering what kind of uniforms she thought Walgreen's employees wore these days. I barely made it out of the aisle before I burst out laughing.

(Tim and I with the newlyweds, Ryan and Holly)

The wedding was beautiful, and it was a great occasion to get the family together. We had a blast at the reception - it was so good to see Tim's parents, brother, one of his nephews (the other nephew and our sister-in-law had to stay home because the nephew was feeling under the weather), and alllll of the aunts, uncles and cousins. They'd all been able to get together for another family wedding the month before, but I hadn't been able to attend, and it was the first time I saw them since OUR wedding.

After the wedding, we all pretty much crashed at Jeff and Allison's again. The next morning, much of the aunt/uncle/cousin contingent got together for one last group meal at IHOP.

(Jeff and Tim map out football plays while waiting for breakfast)

Then, Jeff, Tim and I headed off to downtown Cincinnati for the Bengals/Ravens game. Thanks to Jeff's connections, we had some awesome seats, and although I will always be a Steelers fan, it was nice to watch Tim's team get a win, especially against a division rival.

(Our seats were awesome!)

After the game, Tim and I drove to Columbus to drop off our rental car and meet up with my sister and brother-in-law for dinner. We spent the night at their place, and as Marti and I planned a rendezvouz with our mother for the next day, Tim and Jeff plotted a way to take advantage of a unseasonably warm November day and go golfing.

(It's not a trip to Columbus without a game of poker.)

The next day, Marti and I met up with our mom for lunch halfway between Columbus and Louisville. Tim and Jeff golfed, and then Tim flew back to Florida. After our lunch, Mom took me to Louisville, where I spent a few days hanging out with family and friends.

(I always make Doug take self-portraits with me)

(Meeting up with some of my favorite girls!)

I even got to meet the new baby of my college roommate, Kristine. Baby Joey was adorable and oh-so-well behaved!

(Baby Josephine)

Whew! (And sadly, this is pretty typical of our trips to Ohio. Trying to cover both sides of the family and state, trying to visit with several groups of friends, spending quality "down" time at home, etc.)

It was a great trip, and it was awesome to see so many different people and have some busy times and some down times. And we couldn't have asked for better weather!

October

It's been a pretty calm month for us, which is partly why there hasn't been much blogging. But this past week I took a few photos and thought I'd share them with our few loyal followers :)

Earlier this month, I completed the Race for the Cure 5K. I didn't finish in my best time, but I finished, and I was happy about that :) I was really proud of the fact that I ran the race on about three hours of sleep, too (more on that in a minute). I raised more than $600, which I am extremely happy about, especially considering the current economic climate. Buuuttttt about five days later, I had serious pain in my hip and leg and then some numbness and back pain. The theory that seems most likely is that I had bursitis in my hip or a groin pull, and then possibly overcompensated for that pain and ended up pinching a nerve in my back. Let me tell you, it's been awful and frustrating to try to recover. I'm finally starting to feel better and have been doing some light workouts at the gym.

But back to the three hours of sleep - Tim and I both worked the night before the race, and then I took him to the airport early in the morning so that he could fly to Ohio for his cousin's wedding :)


Above are the newlyweds :)

Tim has been reporting for his paper two-three days a week. It's been fun for him to report again and break away from the copy desk, but it also does a number on his sleep schedule, as the reporting shifts are day shifts and the desk shifts are night shifts. Here, I caught him and Mario napping during a baseball game:


This past weekend, I headed up to St. Pete early before work and met up with my friend Traci to check out some of the events going on downtown. This is the bridge I drive over every day to get to work, which connects St. Petersburg with the greater Bradenton area:


We went to the St. Petersburg Times' Festival of Reading first. We checked out the food and booths before going to hear our friend's boyfriend speak about his book. Then we visited for a bit in the courtyard of the St. Pete campus of USF, which is were I took this photo:


On the other side of that water is the Salvador Dali Museum. You can't see it in this photo, but it's a squat building across the water :)

After our day of walking, lunching, festivaling and marketing, we figured we might as well stop at the Cupcake Spot, a cute little store that opened a few months ago in downtown St. Pete. They recently announced that they've started carrying a seasonal pumpkin cupcake, so I knew I had to get over there to try it. Luckily, when we got there, we were second in line and there were two pumpkin cupcakes left. I think the little girl ahead of us saw me giving her the evil eye and selected only one pumpkin cupcake in the half-dozen she was choosing for her mom :) I got the last one, and it was AMAZING.


Traci, who un-Americanly hates pumpkin, got a lemon cupcake with raspberry buttercream. This place is a must-visit :)

On Sunday, I was a bit under the weather with a cold, so we stayed home and watched the Steelers before work. On Monday, though, we went to my favorite aquarium, the Mote Marine Laboratory. We are members there and hadn't been to the aquarium in months, so we wanted to take advantage of some free time to visit with the animals. The place is all decked out for Halloween, too :)


The stingrays weren't being very social :(

And now we're gearing up for another trip to Ohio :) Another cousin of Tim's is getting married, so we'll be venturing up north for the nuptials. I can't believe it's already the end of October!