Metro Station Spectacles

One of my most favorite things about visiting big cities is public transportation. I know that sounds so silly and for you ladies who actually live in big cities, I'm sure it's the one thing you hate the most.

But y'all - the people watching that can be done on a metro/subway are AH-MAZING!! Seriously, I think I could just ride the metro in DC all day long and watch the vast variety of people that get on and off. (Or at least until I got motion sickness, cause let's be real. That's a serious concern.)

This time in DC I learned a lot on the metro. No I still can't read a map completely by myself. I halfway understand it and halfway just follow Robbie. But I did learn one very important lesson about how to determine who actually lives in DC and who is just visiting. 

{Sidenote: There's a fine line between being a blogger and a tourist. More on that later.}

People Who Actually Live in the City:

- travel by themselves.

- always have headphones in.

- can stand without losing their balance every time the train starts and stops.

- are preoccupied with their iPhones. 

{Sidenote #2: If you don't have an iPhone, I'm not sure what exactly you're doing with your life. Literally 95% of the people I saw this weekend had an iPhone. And I saw a lot of people this weekend.}

- can actually understand the conductor (or whatever the metro driver is called) when they speak on the intercom.

- knows how many stops until their stop. 

- wears tennis shoes with business clothes. The tennis shoe/pencil skirt/panty hose combo was my fav.

- they actually move to the middle instead of crowding the doors.

- they roll their eyes at non-city people. 

People Who Are Only Visiting the City:

- travel in groups often with young children.

- talk to each other really loudly.

- are wide-eyed about everything.

- spend the entire trip looking at the map.

- ask "is this our stop" at every stop.

- crowd the door as soon as they get on the train.

- call the metro "the subway" (apparently the subway is only in New York, as someone so loudly pointed out in the metro this weekend. Not sure if this is completely true but eh, we'll go with it.)

- wear tennis shoes and jorts, perfect for seeing national monuments. 

Now, obviously I don't live in DC. So I know technically I fall into the second category. However, since I've been studying up on all this and have learned some valuable tricks, I try extra hard to at least make it look like I belong in the first category. 

The only thing I can't get away from is the wide-eyed stare. Everything I see in the city is the coolest thing I've ever seen and I know I am googly-eyed the whole time there. Whoops.

Hugs,

P.S. I know this post was written about the DC metro...but I see a lot of these same things in my other favorite city. And I also found THIS that you should definitely go check out because it is hilarious. 

The funnest book store ever!

For some reason, Robbie and I were much more excited about this wedding anniversary than the last one. I think partly because we actually had time to celebrate this anniversary. Last year around this time we were remodeling our new house, packing our old house. Oh yea...and traveling back to the Domincan Republic with my family. It was a busy busy time.

But this year we were still just doing the same ole, same ole so we were able to actually focus some of our time and energy into our anniversary. 

We kept things pretty low key day of. I set our kitchen table using our fine china for the first time ever. Robbie cooked black bean burgers, we went and got froyo (I am obsessed now by the way) and then we snuggled on the couch with our pups and watched Pretty Little Liars. A perfect night if you ask me. 

Two days later we left for our "surprise" anniversary trip to DC. I use the term "surprise" loosely because Robbie kind of had to spill the beans on it thanks to other obligations. But no big deal - I was still way excited! I love love love spending time in big cities and spending time with Robbie in general.

Robbie and I have both been to DC several times before and done the typical sightseeing. This time we wanted to try things we hadn't done before and experience parts of the city we normally wouldn't stumble across. 

Thanks to a few of my closest Facebook friends (seriously, how did people survive without social media?)  we were told we had to go to this place called Kramer's in Dupont Circle. We looked at the menu online and decided it sounded perfect so we hopped the metro and headed that way. 

{Sidenote: I love the metro.}

Waiting for our train.

As soon as we got off, I knew I loved Dupont Circle. It was the quaintest little city neighborhood (if you can use quaint and city and neighborhood in the same sentence). Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe and Grill (as it's officially called) was right beside the metro station and it was seriously the neatest place I've ever been. 

The front is a book store where the books are literally crammed into every knook and craney. In the back there's a bar, a cafe, and restaurant seating. On Fridays and Saturdays they have live music. It's like a smorgishboard of fun!

And the food. Oh my gosh....the food is delicious. Pricey (I'll never get used to big city prices) but delicious. I got shrimp and grits, which was one of their weekly specials, and Robbie got a crab meat quesadilla. (Obviously I don't have a picture of either because I'm a terrible blogger and devour my food the second it hits the table.) 

We skipped out on dessert and are still kicking ourselves over it. Their dessert menu is as long as their food menu and all the desserts being delivered around us looked simply divine. We just didn't have any more room in our bellies.

It was the best start to our anniversary getaway!

Hugs,

P.S. I know this has nothing to do with this post....but I need y'all's help! I've started a Donor's Choose project for my upcoming classroom and would love for you to take a look! If you're able to donate even a few dollars it would be a HUGE help to my classroom! Feel free to spread the word!

You can check everything out by clicking HERE!! 

Weekend Shenans

Y'all - it's back! My blogging mojo is back. Never mind the fact that it's 11:00 AM and I'm just now posting. Buuuuuut I am so excited about blogging this week. I have a million and one things to share with you (pictures included!!). I'm trying really hard to pace myself so I don't bore you with THE longest blog post in history and I think I've gotten the trillion things jumping around my brain organized into several meaningful posts. But you know my fingers tend to have a brain (and speed) of their own, so bare with me.

We'll start with a few weekend shenanigans to make it officially Monday. But you're only going to get a peek into my weekend because there's A LOT to recap.

{Disclaimer: Some of these pictures are from last week, not just the weekend. It's summer time so as far as I'm concerned, weekend shenanigans happen everyday of the week.}

one - beach day with the dogs.
two - I printed my Instagram pictures via Prinstagram and y'all - I am in love! If you're looking for somewhere to print your pictures this is definitely the place to go!
three - a bittersweet good bye dinner with some of my favorite ladies!
four - anniversary dinner on fine china. Y'all thought I was kidding...
five - sweet anniversary cards.
six - a sick little Willow worm (she's all better now).
seven - me and Robbie's new mantra.
eight - Yoohoos for the road. We used to drink these like crazy at the beach when we were in high school!
nine - our very first MLB game in DC. (Muuuuuuuch more to come on that whole trip later!)


And just because I'm proud of myself for actually documenting the exciting things going on in my life recently, I'll leave you with a few more pictures from our dog beach day.
One of my good friends had a baby in February and as talked about how different beach trips are with a baby. I have a feeling it ranks up there with beach trips with two dogs - a biiiiiig hassle but SOOOOOO fun!

Roxy obviously LOVED it, as always. 

Willow was such a trooper and was very brave.

I think she liked the water a little more than she did last time and she loved the sand!

She just didn't like staying wet and sandy. Which, who can blame her.

Linking up with Sami.

Happy Monday loves!

It's Oooo-tay

It's okay...that I posted twice yesterday yet barely have enough energy to get one done today.

It's okay...that we ate black bean burgers and french fries on fancy wedding china for our anniversary dinner on Tuesday.

It's okay...that the entire preview for the Bachelorette finale next week is snippets of Des and the boys sobbing. Actually, no that's not okay. What is all this drama.

It's okay...that America went cah-razy over Kate Middleton's baby. Nevermind the fact that he's the future King of a completely different country than the one we actually live in.

{Sidenote: it will NOT, no way no how, be okay if they give him some ridonkulous name. North West, I'm still looking at you.}

It's okay...that I've been wearing Robbie's socks to work all week tehehe.

It's okay...that my obsession for Chocolate Chex Mix cereal is quickly spiraling out of control.

It's okay...that I can watch Keeping Up With The Kardashian episodes at least 10 times before I'm annoyed with them.

It's way more than okay...that it's Friday eve. Whoop der it is.

Hugs,

ABC easy as 123

Since celebrations are week-long affairs in my mind and technically it is Wedding Wednesday, you're getting my Wedding ABCs today. I forget where I first saw this, but I've had it tucked in my back pocket for the perfect time, and what better time to reminisce about my wedding day than my anniversary week.

P.S. Can we all just take a moment to bask in the "two post a day" phenomenon that is happening right now. 

~

A - Attendance: I forget now how many people were actually there, but we invited over 400 people.

B - Bridesmaids: I had 4 bridesmaids and 1 junior bridesmaid. They were my very best friends and I was so lucky to have them all standing next to me.

Simply gorgeous.

C - Catering: Our reception was at the New Bern Golf & Country Club and they did all their own catering.

D - Dress: Still obsessed.

E - Engagement: We were engaged for 15 months. Which sounds like a really long time, but actually flew by.

F - Flowers: I don't even know. If you've spent more than 5 min. around these parts you know I am so not a flower person. I knew I like calla lilies (the most expensive flower) and I wanted lots of color. My florist did the best job of giving me exactly what I didn't even know I wanted. They were gorgeous.

H - Honeymoon: We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana, Domincan Republic for five days.

I - Invitations: Again, we had the best lady design and print our invitations. They were simple and elegant, and didn't break the bank. Everything we wanted. My mom calligraphied them all and minus the fact that we almost ran out, thanks to a shipping error, invitations were pretty stress free.

J - Justice of the Peace: My preacher.

K - Keepsakes: If this is like favors, I don't think we had any. Honestly, that parts a little fuzzy. I know we had talked about doing coozies or something, but with our guest list tipping 400 it wasn't realistic. We did have personalized napkins, does that count?

L - Ladies Night Weekend: My bridesmaids and I spent the weekend at Topsail Beach, enjoying the sun and the sand during the day and crashing trashy beach bars at night. It was wonderful.

M - Music: We had a band/DJ combo which was great because the band was able to play a variety of beach music and classic rock while the DJ spun some pop and hip hop tracks, including Gettin Jiggy Wit It, duh.

N - Newlyweds: I'm not quite sure what this means, except that I refuse to consider us anything but newlyweds, despite the fact that we've now been married two years. I hope to have the same mentality in 50 years.

O - Old, New, Borrowed, Blue: When I was born one of my mom's really good friends gave me a bonnet with a poem instructing mom to save it for my wedding day where it could turn into a hanky. So that was my old. Mom sewed a little blue ribbon on it for my blue and I carried it with my flowers. I borrowed my mom's diamond earrings and obviously, everything else was new.

P - Photography: We used Emma Lupton Photography based out of Oriental and she was great!! I've mentioned before my mixed emotions about photography and yes, do I wish I had more pictures - always. I see so many neat photo-op ideas on Pinterest that I wish I had used, BUT Emma did exactly what we asked her to do, which was not waste a lot of our time taking pictures. In the moment, we didn't want to spend minutes hours posing for Pinterest-worthy pictures. And in that sense, I wouldn't change a thing.

Q - Question Popping: A recap of this is longggg over due. Stay tuned...

R - Reception: Again, our reception was at our local country club which is on the river and a gorgeous golf course. We drank, ate, and danced the night away. It was probably one of the most fun nights of my life. Definitely top 5.

S - Shoes: Good ole' comfy Jack Rogers.

T - Trash the Dress: No thank you.

U - Unique: I like to think there were lots of little unique touches here and there. Robbie really wanted our wedding to be a reflection of us. The first thing that comes to mind is our cake topper (that didn't actually sit on top of our cake).

V - Vows: We wrote our own vows together. We said the same things to each other, but they were written in our own words.

W - Wedding Woes: I've mentioned before that wedding planning was pretty easy for me. I didn't have any major woes. The invitation crisis I mentioned above came close. But we got that handled. The guest list almost got a little out of control, too, with everyone wanting to invite someone else. But we got that handled too.

X - X-Rated: I'm not sure what this means either. Buuuuuut I'm going to assume it has to do with our wedding night/honeymoon and let's just say, while both were extremely enjoyable, some things are better left un-blogged.

Y - Young Kids: Robbie's little brother and sister (who were 8 at the time) were our Junior Bridesmaid and Junior Groomsmen. But they were the youngest in our wedding party. No flower girl. No ring bearer. This was kind of uncharacteristic for me and Robbie because we are both usually surrounded by little kids, and I think we probably hurt some feelings in the process, BUT we had a valid reason. We both come from big, close families. We have lots of cousins, that we are both very close to. And a lot of these cousins are under the age of 10. Picking ONE flower girl and ONE ring bearer out of them would have been impossible. So instead we chose to share our special day with all of them equally. Young kids were invited to both the wedding and the reception (one of the reasons our guest list was so high) and to some of the showers we had leading up to the wedding.

I mean, how precious are they?

Z - Zzzzz: What I'm about to go do because I'm exhausted after this post.... We spent our wedding night at our new house. It was the first night either one of us had stayed at the house so it was special to be able to spend it together.

Blog-spiration

If you've been hanging out with me lately,
you've probably noticed I've lost some of my blogging mojo.
Apparently, this is pretty common for summer time, or so I've heard.

I was in kind of the depths of my blogger's block when I saw this link up
(hosted by two of my favorite bloggers, might I add)
and I figured it was a sign.



A sign for me to really sit down and think about why I've lost my blogging mojo
and what sources of inspiration I can use to get it back.
Plus also I figured it would be a great way to see what other bloggers use for inspiration.

So I sat....and I sat.....and I realized something a bit depressing.
I don't know what inspires my blog posts.

My brain tends to move in a million different directions at all times.
I usually just pick one of the random things flying around in my head and
Bam. Instant blog post.

Reading other blogs sometimes inspires me too.
I say sometimes because a lot of times I read a really great post
and think "man, I wish I had thought about that".
Hopefully this inspires me to create my own post kind of along the same lines
but usually it just leaves me coveting blogging genius ideas.
(Here's looking at you miss Daily Tay. And Yoga Pants Whitty. Oh yea, and miss Back East Nadine)

Sometimes I like writing about things going on in my life.
But other times I feel like that's a little too "Dear Diary".

E! News and celebrity gossip is another source of inspiration...kind of.
I am in no way, even a smidge of lady Mason
but I do like sharing my opinions of hot topics every once in a while.

Honestly though, I think one of the biggest things that inspires me
are my readers. I know, I know "cool cliche".
But getting comments on posts makes me happier than Erin with unlimited puppies and beer.
Sure, I blog for me and for the love of writing, blah blah blah.
But I also like to know what I'm writing is actually being read by someone
(other than my mom).

~

So there you have it, my blog post inspirations.
Riveting, I know.
Go see Helene and Sarah (aka REAL bloggers) for some real inspiration.



Hugs,

Two.

Today is my second wedding anniversary. 

Robbie and I have been married for two years. 

Am I the only one that feels like that is sooooo long. 

Not long in a bad way - I've loved every second.

Just long in a "I can't believe it's been two years since our wedding" way.

I mean seriously, didn't this all just happen?

~

Robbie,

I still sometimes have a hard time believing that we're actually married and living out our happily ever after together. It feels all too good to be true. These past two years have been so fun and I cannot wait for the many many more years to come. You are my best friend and the love of my life and I couldn't imagine my days without you. Thank you for always being there for me, for knowing what I need before even I do, and for always putting me first. I always knew that you would make an amazing husband, but you have exceeded all of my expectations. I love you a lot a lot - forever and always. 

xoxoxo,

Marianna

Dear Friday

Dear bloggy-blog, good news. You're starting to grown on me again.
Dear husby, you are the best (for lots of reasons) but mainly because you woke up early this morning to get a few extra hours of work in before going to the beach with me and the girls today. you da, you da best. 
Dear appetite, I'm not sure why you are currently the size of Texas right now but I'd appreciate it if you calmed down a little bit. 
Dear Caramel McFrappe, I'm in love. That is all. (Minus the fact that I have to go to sketchball McDonalds to get you...)

Dear Live! With Kelly and Michael, I sure am going to miss you when school starts next month.
Dear bloggy friends, thanks for sticking around this week. Y'all are the greatest, forreal. No go #backthatazzup and have a great weekend and listen to this song on repeat because seriously it's that good.



Hugs,

Oh Hey Robbie!

One of the things I love most about my relationship with Robbie is how well we compliment each other. Our strengths and weaknesses are so different that we're both able to fill in the missing gaps for the other.

The biggest example of this is probably how much I talk vs. how well Robbie listens. My dad always jokes around that he knew Robbie was the one for me when he saw that he was able to sit back and listen (or at least pretend to listen) as I rambled on and on and on, as I occasionally always seem to do.

With all of that being said, I'm linking up with Mallory and Stephanie for the Boys Behind the Blog: Part 2. And my sweet husband, of very few words, agreed (at 11:00PM last night) to answer these riveting questions.


1. What celebrity would play you in a movie about your life? Denzel Washington ha just kidding. I don't know. This is hard.  Zach Galifinakis is really funny so probably him, just cause I wish I was that funny. 2. What is your dream car? (This changes daily). Right now the Ford Raptor.

We drive through car lots at least once a week, just to check things out.
3. Do you have any tattoos? What, where, and why? Yes. I have two.  A puzzle piece on my left shoulder (Marianna has the matching piece.) And an arrow on my left wrist to symbolize always moving forward in life.  4. Boxers or briefs? Boxers or boxer briefs.  5. List 3 random facts about yourself... (His first three answers were completely blog inappropriate.) 1. I have webbed toes. 2. I like movies...a lot. 3. I have younger twin siblings (a brother and a sister). They're 10.  ~ There you have it folks - 5 things you were dieing to know about my sweet love muffin! Head on over to link up now!

Hugs,

I forgot to scoop the poop

First of all, I want to say thank you thank you thank you for all your sweet comments on Monday's post. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who loses her blogging mojo every once in a while and I'm even more glad to have so much support from you beautiful blogging ladies.

I've already failed at meeting my blogging goal for the week but it's okay. Because I'm pretty pumped up about today's post. And after reading the title, you should be too. Trust me.

So I've mention once or twice ten trillion times that I'm an obsessive puppy mama of two. And trust me, there is never a dull moment with these two.

Clearly they're best friends.

My doxie Willow is only two so we're still going through a bit of a "puppy phase". As in, we're still working on potty training. Shoot me now, I know. She never has a pee-pee accident in the house. Ever. She figured that one out within the first few weeks of being home. But going number 2 has become an issue. A huge issue. 

The first house we lived in had an awful back yard. It was big and fenced in and looked pretty enough. But the second it rained, it became a muddy swamp for daysssss. And Willow, being only inches off the ground, hated going outside in it. Who could blame her. She'd get far enough to tinkle, but would never spend enough time to muster up a good BM.

Our new yard is much better and both dogs love spending as much time out there as possible. 

We thought Willow's potty problems would be solved thanks to the nice backyard and they definitely improved. Except now she's constipated all the time. Sometimes she'll go days without going, inside or out. And when she does, you can tell it's quite the ordeal. 

She is currently eating organic, holistic dog food mixed with pureed pumpkin. And things are somewhat improving. 

Apparently, exercise gets things moving too. I took Willow for a run yesterday. And as usual, when I take my dogs for a run I don't take a poop-scoop bag. Why, I'm not sure. I just don't ever think about it until it's too late. 

Inevitably, one of my dogs (usually Roxy) poops in someone else's yard every time we go. Sorry neighbors. Fortunately we only go for runs about once every week so I don't feel too bad about the extra fertilizer. 

Well last night it was just me and Willow. We're trucking along, sweating our tooshies off. Willow has the hugest grin on her face (she LOVES running, which makes one of us) when all of a sudden I come to a halting stop, nearly tripping over my eight pound baby (who neverrrrrr poops) doing this in the middle of the street. 

I was proud of her for going - outside nonetheless, but obviously couldn't let anyone hear me proud of my dog for pooping in the middle of the road. And since I didn't have a bag, it had to stay there. We quickly scurried off, pretending it hadn't happened.

Reason #495874098 why running is not my most favoritest thing. 

Hugs,

The Life and Death of a Blog

{Warning: This post is a little drab. If you just want to skip all the boring, whiny words and see a super cute picture that's guaranteed to make you smile, just scroll on down. I swear I won't mind.}

~

A few days ago, Stephanie over at A BEAUtiful Mess wrote a post about the evolution of a blog, her blog in particular. And it got me thinking...

I think Delightfully Dunn might be dead. Not dead-dead like forever, but soap-opera-dead, like it's going to die off and take a little break but then suddenly be resurrected and come back to life three seasons later.

Don't get me wrong - I love blogging. And I get so excited when I see new baby blogs getting started. Equally as excited as when I read an awesome post from one of my go-to bloggers who has been doing this for what seems like forever. I also love that blogging has now officially spanned across all social media networks and that I can keep up with my fav bloggers via the twit and Instagram.

What I don't love right now is writing blog posts. For whatever reason - blogger is on my shit list. I just can't stand to open it. And then to have to click on "new post". Gah. I dread it like I use to dread online Blackboard assignments (which is a lot, in case you were wondering.)

I know I've mentioned this a few times in the past few months - but I am in a blogger's block like you wouldn't even believe. My goal this week is to write one post every day. Hopefully 3 out of 5 of them will actually be good posts. We shall see.

I feel so silly having to set such a goal for myself. Writing a blog post used to be something I looked forward to, not something I had to "pencil in" and make myself do. But if I can get back on the post-like-a-normal-blogger wagon maybe it'll be fun again. I like being a blogger and I'm not quite ready to give that up.

Here's to hoping.

~

As promised.

Hugs,

Welcome to PA, y'all!

I feel like it's been 25 years since I last blogged. When in all actuality, it's only been since Friday. Apparently driving 1,300 miles in one weekend will do that to ya. It will also make your weekend recap not happen until Tuesday. Whoops.

This weekend my sweet, sweet friend Emily got married...in Pennsylvania. In case you've been living under a rock, I live in Eastern North Carolina - which is a long, long way from PA.

Emily moved to New Bern last summer to teach. And I tell ya what, James W. Smith has never been luckier to have such an amazing teacher and person grace our hallways. Seriously, this girl is the best!

And she makes a pretty hot bride too.

I wasn't planning on going to her wedding (because it was so far away) and was pretty sad about it because I knew it was going to be a night to remember. Until....another girl we teach with sent me a text message last week asking me to drive to PA with her for the weekend. 

Robbie was going to be out of town and I was already looking for a way to avoid being home alone so I said sure, why not. Then Robbie oh so kindly pointed out where exactly Pennsylvania was on the map. It's a long freaking way away. And we were headed to Erie, no less. 

But you know what they say - YOLO. So we rounded up two other teacher friends, piled in the car at 11:00PM Friday night....

drove through the night arriving in Erie, PA at the Econolodge (we travel in style I tell ya) at 10:45AM, ate lunch, showered...

and made it to the Catholic church by 1:45, ready to watch our gorgeous friend marry the love of her life. 

A few McFrappes later, we were headed to cocktail hour and ready for the reception to begin. Things get a little fuzzy after that, thanks to the 30 min. of sleep I was running on and the open bar. 

The reception was one of the most fun receptions I've been to. The food was amazing and every little detail had come together so perfectly. 

But the one thing that sticks out the most in my mind was how welcoming and friendly everyone was. The love that was in that reception hall was abundant. By the end of the night I felt like I had known these people forever. I feel so honored to have been able to meet such an incredible person in Emily but also in her family and friends. And to be able to share her special day with them meant the world to me. 

After making it back to the hotel around midnight and sleeping hard in our one king-sized bed, we woke up Sunday morning and started the trek back to North Carolina. Already missing our new "yankee" friends. 

It was a whirlwind of a trip but I loved every second of it and can't wait to go back!

Oh, and what do four sweet southerners get their northern soon-to-be bride?

His and Hers mason jar tumblers of course.

Hugs,