2014

Is it really New Year's Eve without a 2014 recap?!  I have to admit, year end recaps are kind of my favorite!  Rob and I were talking about this earlier but if you asked me last year on December 31, 2013 to guess where I would be and what I would be doing on December 31, 2014 I would have been so off!  I would have never written down that I would be living in Mississippi.  Or that I would have started my own business.  I wouldn't have written down that I lost 18 pounds.  Or that I created a team of like-minded people.  Doing a recap of the past 365 days gives me chills because honestly, I am so blessed by this life.  My biggest regret from 2014?  Taking a break from this blog!  I wish I had those months better documents (Thank goodness for instagram!)

2014 -- We tossed Mullets across the state line, ran in the McGuire’s run, and saw Kenny at the Flora-Bama.  We traveled to Biloxi, 30A, Fairhope, San Antonio, Charleston, Mobile, Birmingham, Atlanta, Jackson, Starkville, and Tuscaloosa.  We did yoga on the beach, became regulars at the Farmer’s Market, and saw the Blue Angels.  We moved not once but TWICE, Rob selected JETS and we became Mississippians.  We bought a brand new truck and moved into our first house.  I am so grateful for our life and I can’t even imagine what 2015 has in store for us!  

A video posted by Sam Reddy (@reddyorknot) on Dec 12, 2014 at 6:18pm PST

There is No Place Like Home for the Holidays

I cannot believe Christmas is already over!  I know everyone says this but seriously the month of December flew by, and so did our trip home.  I can't believe this is our third Christmas being married-- and every year it just keeps getting tricker.  The first year we were married, we lived in Stafford and so did both of our parents.  Last year, we lived in Florida but both of our parents were still in Stafford.  This year, we live in Mississippi and Rob's parents have moved to Charleston and my parents are the only ones holding down "home base" in Stafford!  Throw in the fact that both of our parents still celebrate the holidays with both of sides of their families and you'll get the craziness of our trip!  Four families, three states, and all in seven days?  We might be crazy but we made it happen!


We flew into DC on the 20th and spent the night with my parents before heading down to Richmond to celebrate Christmas #1 with Rob's mom's side of the family.  We spent the day hanging out with Rob's family, grandparents, and cousins and had a big dinner at Crab Louie's before Neil, Jen, and Dylan had to go home.  The next day we had lunch (and spiked limeades of course!) at The Continental and checked out the Christmas decorations at The Jefferson before driving back to Stafford.


Our time in Stafford was pretty low key.  Rob still had some gifts to finish so we had to brave the crazies at the mall.  We hoped to meet up with friends but all of our schedules were just too hectic to make it happen.  We did manage to squeeze in a quick T25 workout in Simcik's Gym (my parents basement!) though!  My brother and sister were both home from college so we went out for wings and exchanged presents with each other.

On Christmas Eve, Rob's mom, dad, sister, and cousin all drove up from Richmond and stopped at my parents for lunch.  My mom set up a soup and panini bar and it was great for everyone to catch up.  From there, Rob and I followed the Reddys to Maryland for Christmas #2.  We went to Christmas Eve Mass with all of Rob's Dad's side of the family, then back to Rob's Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner and drinks.  We spent the night in Maryland and woke up for presents and mimosas.

We left Maryland after breakfast and made the drive to Pittsburgh for Christmas #3.  We met up with my family and headed to celebrate with my Dad's side of the family.  Every year my Dad's side of the family does 3 gift exchanges: Girls grab bag, Guys grab bag, and a White Elephant gift exchange.  These exchanges can get pretty heated and the stealing can get vicious!  Rob and I both ended up with pretty good gifts in our respective exchanges (yankee candles and a heated coffee mug) and our gifts were well received (a gold purse/statement necklace and a golf bag cooler filled with beer)

The next day we celebrated Christmas #4 with my mom's side of the family.  We grabbed Primanti's for lunch (what is a trip to Pittsburgh without it!) and did a Secret Santa exchange with everyone there.  All of the cousins ended up in a pretty competitive game of Evil Apples before calling it a night.  The next day we flew home to Mississippi out of Pittsburgh.  We were delayed for a while in Dallas but luckily we knew 9 of the 30 people on our tiny flight ;)  It was a lot of traveling but it's worth it to see everyone!


Do you alternate holidays or try to split your time and see everyone?

Friday Favorites: A Haunted Home + A Murder Mystery

1. Christmas Trees at Merrehope




Always eager to check out things going on, we headed to downtown Meridian to see the "Trees of Christmas" at Merrehope.  Merrehope is an old, historic antebellum home that was actually the only home in Meridian to survive Sherman during the civil war. (Clearly it is rumored to be haunted!) Each year, organizations in the community decorate trees and set them up inside of one of the 26 rooms in this historic mansion.  Of course I couldn't help but tear up looking at the "Welcome Home" tree full of homecoming pictures from NAS Meridian families.

2. Serial

Last week on our drive to/from Pensacola, we got hooked on Serial.  It is one of those things that both Rob and I equally enjoy and are frankly kind of obsessed with.  I am so anxious for our flight on Saturday to finish the remaining three podcasts.  Even though I highly suspect we won't find out the truth, I am really hoping that we do.  I hate not knowing!!

3. Southwest Lettuce Wraps

I made these Southwest Lettuce Wraps last week because, if I'm being honest, I had a ton of left over frozen turkey from thanksgiving and didn't want to buy a lot of groceries right before we left.  They turned out delicious though and I think they might make a regular appearance in our kitchen!  They couldn't be more simple: turkey, cumin, chili powder + pantry staples (canned corn, black beans, whatever you have on hand) + fridge leftovers (red bell pepper, onion, spinach, etc) + cilantro mixed into ranch (I am currently LOVING this greek yogurt ranch from Winn Dixie of all places!)  Heat it all up and add it to lettuce wraps.  Yum!

4. Chocolate for Breakfast

Speaking of yum, isn't indulging in chocolate for breakfast the best?!  Especially when that chocolate includes 70+ vitamins and nutrients ;)  I've been drinking Chocolate Peppermint Patty Shakeology all week and totally feeling in the Christmas spirit!

5. Home for Christmas

Speaking of Christmas spirit we officially leave for Virginia for Christmas on Saturday!  Thank goodness that military gets free bags because traveling light during the holidays is practically impossible.  We have an entire suitcase just filled with gifts! (I wish this picture could really show how packed this bag is!)  I don't think this tiny Meridian airport is going to know what hit them when we show up ;)

Christmas Card Outtakes

Social media (and Christmas cards!) give off the impression of a perfect life.  No one sends out pictures of crying babies or closed eyes.  That would just be silly.  But in case you need a little dose of reality, here are a couple of outtakes from our Christmas cards.  (I was inspired by this article and knew that using the tripod, I had to have some good ones!)

10 seconds sometimes just isn't enough time to push the button and run back!

Cracking up, as usual.

"Is someone coming?! I really do not want to get a call sign out of this!"

Mouth open? Seriously?

"I give up"

Always goofing around!

These make me laugh.  Don't compare your behind the scenes to someone else's highlight reel!

Christmas Cards of Years Past

I LOVE snail mail!  Cards in the mailbox make me happy and I swear my family could single-handedly keep the postal service in business.  So of course, Christmas cards are a big deal in our house.  My mom has been sending out Christmas cards the day after Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember.  Everyone always knows that my mom's card will be the first card in the mailbox.  So when Rob and I got married, doing Christmas cards was an obvious.  While I am not the first card (I let my mom keep her reign haha), I try to get mine mailed out on December 2nd every year.  We have become pros at tripod photography and it's fun to see the little changes from year to year.  Hard to believe that in three years of cards we have lived in three different states!  (Hard to say but if I had to bet, I would guess next year will be four in four.)

2012 --- We lived in Virginia and took this picture on my mom's back deck.


2013 --- We lived in Florida so of course we had to do a "warmest wishes" card on the beach.  Somehow we picked the most gorgeous day to take these pictures and they are still some of my favorite to date!


2014 --- This year's card comes from Mississippi.  We took these pictures on the flight line (on a Saturday when hopefully no one was working or flying!)

The only thing I like better than sending out Christmas cards is getting them! I swear my mailman knows me by name because I run out to the mailbox everyday in December checking for cards!

Do you send out Christmas cards?

Home

I always get tripped up in the airport when someone asks me (sweetly and politely!), "Are you heading home?"   Well, yes....and no....I live here....but I'm from there....and uhh....  They always think they are asking a simple question like "Is the weather nice outside?" so they usually don't understand my difficulty answering.  To make it even more confusing, Rob and I went back to Pensacola this weekend and I told him multiple times, both excitedly on the drive down and in the middle of busy parties, I feel like I'm home for the weekend.  Seeing old friends, falling back into our old routines, having people at your favorite restaurants ask where you've been...it's definitely bittersweet.  Maybe this is how it's just going to be from now on...leaving a little piece of myself everywhere we live and feeling that nostalgic "home" feeling every time we return.

Enough with all of this sappiness...we had an AWESOME weekend!  We managed to squeeze in seeing a bunch of friends and eating at some of our favorite places in those 2.5 days!  Rob had a SIM on Friday so as soon as he was done, we hopped in the car and made the drive to Pensacola.  I was completely antsy but the drive flew by because of my new roadtrip essential---SERIAL!  If you have not listened to this podcast, stop what you are doing and download it now for your holiday travels.  (I'm in the heart of it on episode 8 so please don't spoil anything for me!)  Rob and I were totally hooked and kept talking about how excited we were for the drive home to keep listening!  When we got into town, we checked into the hotel quick and ran inside to change.  We were actually coming to Pensacola for my friend Lauren's bridal tea on Sunday but we happened to be invited to fellow Junior Leaguer Megan's Christmas party the same weekend so we were able to do both!

Simply put, Megan's "NYC Under Pcola Stars" party was amazing and she was such a gracious hostess.  From the Hummer limo that drove you from an off-site parking lot to the food truck (Mimi's Bistro!) parked in the backyard, every detail was so well thought out and wonderful.  We spent the night drinking champagne, eating a ridiculous amount of BBQ chicken crepes and raspberry macarons, and catching up with friends around the fire pit.  It was perfect!  To top it off, Megan asked everyone to bring an unwrapped gift to donate and there ended up being over 200 gifts donated to Toys for Tots!


Saturday we slept in and then of course hit our usual routine of Bodacious Brew and the farmers market.  We also did a little shopping at my friend Lauren's new little boutique, The Sequined Magnolia, inside of Angel's Garden.  Saturday night was the Christmas parade downtown so we grabbed a couple ciders from WOB and watched a little of the parade before heading to Nom for dinner.  I'm a little biased because Nom Sushi Izakaya is the dream child of my friend Elizabeth and her husband but OMG!  Every single thing was beyond amazing.  Rob and I couldn't decide on anything...so we split everything!  Pork gyoza, handmade ramen, sushi, sake---everything is amazing!  Rob was feeling so nostalgic of his time living in Okinawa and I just couldn't stop saying "omg! this is so good!"  Since they haven't officially had their grand opening yet (but are hoping to have some desserts by then which I'm sure will be awesome), we took this as an excuse to head to, where else, but The Magnolia for some kitchen sink cheesecake.  It did not disappoint (does it ever?!) and we spent some time reminiscing about our antics there on the 4th of July.

We had all intentions of getting brunch on Sunday morning but ended up sleeping in late and grabbing bagel sandwiches at Bagelheads.  I dropped Rob off to golf and headed to my friend Lauren's bridal tea at her future sister in law Melissa's gorgeous house.  Lauren, Melissa, and I all met at our Junior League new member orientation and immediately hit it off.  She is getting married summer 2015 and I know she will be a stunning bride.  The bridal tea was beautiful and so nice to meet her friends and family before making the drive back to Meridian.

It was such a wonderful weekend and I know I need to simply feel blessed that Pensacola is such a short drive away and that we made such wonderful friends there in such a short amount of time.

VT-7 Squadron Tacky Christmas Party

One of the things that I LOVE about Meridian is the sense of comradery, in both Rob's unit and the wives.  Maybe it's because it's a small town but everyone is just so stinkin' friendly and inclusive.  While we loved Pensacola for the things to do in the town, I love Meridian for the people!  When Rob got an invitation to his squadron Christmas party, we weren't sure what to expect because we had never been to one before.

Rob came home and told me that tacky sweater was the dress code, probably cringing because he knows I can't do anything half-way.  I had no idea what other people were planning on wearing but I knew that I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to dress up!  There aren't many shopping options here so we had to get creative and make our outfits.  I wish I could sew but I am pretty good with the glue gun ;)


The Christmas party was held at the Soule Steam Museum in downtown Meridian.  I had never been but was totally shocked when we got there.  It was gorgeous--high ceilings, exposed brick walls, completely decked out for Christmas!  This place is a hidden gem.  And it wasn't just the location that was gorgeous....the party was awesome.  Sit down buffet dinner catered by Honeybaked Ham, open bar, music, and tons of fun.  It completely exceeded my expectations and it was awesome to spend time with friends and meet new people in Rob's squadron.

During dinner, they gave a couple of speeches and awards and then had a few contests.  They gave out a prize for the best class drink, the best guy's costume, and the best lady's costume.  They called the top five for each category up in front of everyone and and then narrowed it down and gave out prizes to the top three in each category.  I was totally shocked and excited when I won 1st place (and a $75 giftcard to Weidmann's!!!)



They were even thoughtful enough to cancel all of the early morning flights and have duty drivers available so that everyone could have fun and stay safe.  We had such a fun time and I am kind of hoping that we are still here at this time next year so that we can attend again!

Cater's Market + Quick Getaway to Atlanta

Our weekend really started on Thursday (with Rob's squadron Christmas party--more on that tomorrow!) and clearly ran into Monday so I am playing catch up! Rob was off on Friday but feeling a little rough after the party so he slept in while I sold shirts at the Winging. We grabbed lunch at Cater's Market which is my new favorite spot in Meridian. It's a little pricey but it's cute and they have awesome chicken salad and pimento cheese sandwiches.


On Saturday, we made the long trek to Atlanta. Last time we were in Atlanta, I bought new chairs for my dining room table and when we got home...they were the wrong chairs! Oops! We had 90 days to return them and the 90 days was just about up. Atlanta is a little over four hours from Meridian so we decided to try to make the most of the trip. We met up with my cousins Frank and Elsa and their kids and grabbed dinner at Smokejacks. Then Rob and I had an impromptu date night at Top Golf.

I heard great things about Top Golf (and knew Rob would love it because he loves anything golf!) so I was excited to finally be near one to try it.  We got there around 9pm and they were on a two hour wait.  We decided to just grab drinks at the bar and wait until they had a bay available.  We were assigned our own private bay around 11 and played for an hour.  It was a lot of fun, even for someone as terrible at golf as I am!  I wish there was one near us in Meridian.



On Sunday, we had breakfast at the hotel and then met up with Danielle at the indoor trampoline park, Sky Zone (another place I had been dying to try!)  We signed up to jump for an hour and OMG it is quite the workout.  After jumping (and avoiding crazy children!), dunking on the basketball hoop, and doing flips into the foam pit, we were worn out! If you have never been and have one near you, I would highly recommend it!  

How to Survive Rivalry Weekend in a House Divided!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and indulgent Thanksgiving!  We stayed in Mississippi for Thanksgiving and had a perfectly low key holiday.  Last year, I hosted Thanksgiving for a group and loved the energy.  This year, Rob and I slept in.  We drank coffee and watched the Macy's parade in bed.  We spent the day leisurely cooking together in the kitchen and made a full feast just for the two of us.  Even though it was only year two, it was already fun to read what people wrote on the tablecloth last year and to daydream about what that tablecloth will look like in 10 and even 20 years! We spent the rest of the day curled up in blankets on the couch, cuddling and resting off our food coma!  For a total extrovert like myself, this type of Thanksgiving was completely out of character, but it was a nice change!



The peace and relaxing of Thursday was quickly diminished when rivalry weekend hit early in our household.  We always joke that we are happily married 364 days of the year...every day except with Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia play each other in football.  Rob and I are both competitive people by nature.  We are also fiercely loyal and both love our colleges through and through.  So things get a little heated when it comes to this game.

Normally, this game isn't much of a real rivalry.  We (Virginia Tech) have won the last 10 straight games and 14 of the last 15.  However this year....we were terrible.  Horrible.  The worst team in our division of the ACC.  I was a little nervous that not only would this game be a real rivalry, but we really truly might lose.

Our first rivalry game in 2007!

We made cocktails, grilled turkey legs, and watched the game.  We lasted about three minutes into the game before we weren't speaking to each other!  The game was intense until the very last second (I may or may not have cried for the last two minutes of the game!) but Virginia Tech pulled out another win to make it 11 years in a row!  Thank goodness!  Go Hokies!  How do you survive rivalry weekend when you are on opposing teams?  Be on the team that wins ;)

VT vs UVA rivalry game in 2008

We spent the rest of the weekend decorating for Christmas, addressing Christmas cards, and enjoying the unseasonably warm weather.  I can't believe how fast 2014 is going and want to make an effort to really make the most of this last month of the year!