This weekend was a fairytale. Yes I just borrowed that from Ms. Swift because it fit. A year ago it was a complete blur of wonderful all weekend. Out of town friends and family came in early for a full house slumber party leading up to our wedding. Thursday started with pizza and ended with singing along to the duling pianos. Friday I was spoiled with plenty of laughter perfect for breaking the ice. Saturday at 6 in the morning the most wonderful girls woke up to sit by my side as moral support and the most talented team of gorgeous professionals showed up to make us look fabulous. The best sisters and family in the world filled in  and took care of the things that fell through the cracks all to ensure that it was a wonderful blur of happiness for me. The greatest wedding venue followed all 8 pages of my maticulusly typed timeline and bullet point list of notes to perfection. Without the skills of our awesome photographer and videographer I wouldn't have the memories to make me smile at daily as the rotating background on my computer. The most talented mucisians brought the dream of a second line through The Roosevelt's Waldorf Wonderland lobby to life. And the most practiced and repeated moment, twirling in the middle of The Blue Room wouldn't have been nearly as fun without the amazing band. This weekend... well it was just as grand. 

Friday the craziest thing happened, it SNOWED!!!! It is a rare thing for snow to appear down here and actually accumulate on the ground! 

After having enough fun in the snow Jackson and I snuggled up by the fire with popcorn and hot chocolate for the evening alone since hubs was off hunting. The weather change brought him good luck and our freezer will soon be at max capacity. 

Saturday I was super productive! We made significant progress in the office and a friend came over to hang the chandelier he rewired for me. I found this beauty for $175 at an architectural salvage yard!!! The moment I laid eyes on it I knew I had to have it in the middle of the living room. Plus the time and materials to rewire it and mount that sucker in the middle of the house, brings the grand total for this beauty to under $400. It's glorious! I've flipflopped a good 10 times on keeping the Amber glass shades or no shades and using the vintage Edison lightblubs. It's to be determined still, but the chandelier is definitely a keeper. 

Instead of waking up at 3 in the morning then roaming downstairs in a robe and sitting the middle of The Blue Room to keep from waking anyone else up like I did on December 10th last year, I slept until 8 (anyone who has been around me for a single wake up knows this is a huge feat)! I left my phone in the bathroom drawer and took a much needed break from technology all day. I got up, fed myself and Jackson (hubs doesn't like breakfast). Cleaned up and piddled around the house. Took a nap while watching football. Then we went into town. As only fate would have it, the first person we spotted in town (literally in the middle of The Roosevelt lobby) was our photographer David! Really what are the odds?! Then we stopped by Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church for a quick prayer and our own private renewing of vows. We had The Blue Room completely to ourselves for dancing and twirling. Then we grabbed dinner in the Fountain Lounge with the greatest couple seated next to us who were happy participants in our celebration. We laughed and enjoyed champagne for a few hours and even repeated the groom's cake, aka beignets. Hubs had called ahead and enlisted the assistance of Michelle, The Roosevelt's coordinator from our special day, for reservations and plenty of special surprises to make dinner extra special! We eventually made it back home to eat the top of our wedding cake. Words of experience, don't waste valuable freezer space saving the top of your wedding cake, just eat it while it's fresh and delicious!! I do have to say it was pretty fun recutting the wedding cake and snacking on the groom's beignets (we got a togo order from The Roosevelt, don't judge me).

The pictures from today aren't nearly as great as Double Windsor's originals but the pure joy and happiness is still visible and that's just fine by me.  

 Thanks for joining us this past year and making it so wonderful! I'm sorry if you called/messaged/texted/whatever this weekend and I didn't respond. I needed a break from technology and I'm attempting to work my way back through everything now!

XOXO

The Mr. & Amanda