{Surprise} The one where we got married. Again.

On May 25th the Coach and I had our 25th wedding anniversary; we planned to celebrate with a weekend trip to Key West.

Would you believe that, I, a Florida native had never visited Key West? It's a shame I tell ya.

We'd booked a sweet little B & B for the weekend and had no major plans other than R & R. Our good friends Don and Kelly rented a house for the month about 20 minutes from where we were staying, so we'd planned on meeting up for a few meals while we were there; nothing definitive....we were playing it slow & loose.

Kelly and Don had this waiting for us in our hotel room. My wedding flowers consisted of Stargazer lilies......oh, and wayyyyy back in 1991 Kelly actually did the flowers for our wedding; she's not only very thoughtful, she remembers details that make everything special.

Our first night we met up with Don, Kelly and some other friends at Mallory Square to watch the sunset followed by dinner at a Cuban restaurant.

 

The next morning the Coach and I visited Hemingway House; surely it's mandatory. We both loved the rich history of this house and of course those 6 toed cats. Meow.

Friday evening we were meeting Don and Kelly for dinner. Kelly told me to wear a dress, which is weird because she doesn't usually mandate my wardrobe, but I listened. They texted us just prior to leaving for dinner and said to meet them at the beach to see the sunset and have a glass of wine first.
The Coach and I follow directions....we parked on the almost deserted Smathers beach and started walking to find our friends. I thought it was so sweet when we passed two small parties of people who were getting married right there on the beach.

As we were waking and looking for our friends, the Coach stopped me in front of this lovely little scene and said something like: "I lied....we're going to renew our vows right here."
Me: "what?"

He then proceeded to drop to one knee, reach into a conch shell in the sand and pull out a diamond ring. This is where it all went blurry....He asked if I'd give him 25 more years...or something sweet like that. My head was spinning. And I do believe I said yes....

The next thing I knew, out from behind me running onto the beach is Don, Kelly, Lolo and Lindsay!
WAIT. WHAT? 
Our girls were supposed to in Fort Myers and getting ready to drive to Tampa to a music festival for the weekend!
What the heck is happening here?
To say I was shocked is an understatement!

I'll share the rest of this lovely evening next time....'tis getting lengthy.

BTW: I'm still on cloud nine because of that man of mine.

XOXO

Life with the big dog and our birds view

In the planning stages of the remodel, we had an 'extra' area that needed to be used. My very first instinct was: Sitting area. 

It was open, smallish and to the side of the front doors and the side of the kitchen. 

And hey, one of my favorite hobbies is sitting.

Not really, but it sounds good.

I knew I wanted swivel chairs. Because I'm 5 going on 11. And it afforded the sitting area to fully take in the kitchen and family room via the swivel.

Plus, I'm 5 going on 11. 

This lovely little sitting area was just right, but it had a LARGE blank wall.

And we can't have that. 

It needed something big. 

Something colorful.

Something with a wet nose. 

It needed Cocoa  X 250%.

While perusing pinterest months ago I spotted a tutorial on making a piece of art with a shower curtain; I was intrigued.

And the Coach was on board...that's most of the battle.

While I loved the Octopus art work, our good friends Don and Kelly who'd just remodeled their home had a lovely Octopus paining in their family room and I couldn't do the same thing. Or near the same thing.

So, I searched for a boxer shower curtain and BAM. I found one. 

We're thrilled with our 'expensive' art piece.

(it's simply a plywood frame that you staple the curtain onto)

The best part is, if we grow tired of seeing this colorful Cocoa in a few years, it's easy to change it up. 

But really, who would get tired of looking at THAT FACE? 

I added a new feeder to this front window and it's busy with cardinals, blue jays and wood peckers. All.day.long. 

We couldn't be happier with how it came together.