A weekend with the family!

This past weekend was so much fun!  We arrived in Oviedo Friday after work and spent the weekend with "The Leiss Family"! We really enjoyed seeing most of the nieces and nephews, and getting a chance to relax a little bit. I helped Jenna go back-to-school shopping Saturday, and looking at all the cute "little girl" clothes made me want a little girl.  I came home and informed Ryan that Morgan Dog needed a sibling haha! No, no... I can wait to have kids, but I am very excited to one day have children with Ryan, and for now I am blessed to be able to enjoy our nieces and nephews. We are getting excited about going home to NC in less than two weeks and seeing my side of the family, our friends, and all of the close Greek friends that are like family! It will be an awesome trip and kickoff my birthday week! :) I cannot believe I am turning 27 this year! Tonight I went to my first JLT Fundraising Committee meeting, and I am really excited about this year and my new committee.  I really like the ladies, and I think it'll be a great year! Hope everyone had a great weekend and start to the work week today!

Happy Birthday Morgan Dog and Happy July 4th

Morgan Dog turned three on July 3rd!  He enjoyed a special present that Grandma Gwen bought him and Ryan and I spoiled him with lots of yummy treats from Downtown Dogs.  They have birthday cakes, and so much yummy stuff for dogs there.  I always enjoy going in and picking something out for Morgan.  Our dog is sooo spoiled, but he's the best so I am okay with that! :) I cannot believe that it has been almost 3 years since we got Morgan Dog.  I remember that day well. Ryan and I had only been dating for 5 months, and we had talked about maybe getting a dog at some point among some other serious topics. :) I had left my house to go grab our parking pass for that weekends NC State game on campus. I was in my sweat clothes with my hair on my head and my glasses on.... Ryan calls me on my way to campus and lets me know "he has found our dog" and he is going to Smithfield in 30 minutes to go get him. He asked if I would like to come, and of course I was not going to miss this special first meeting, so I hurried to Ryan's and we headed to Smithfield.  When we pulled up to meet the lady I saw this little 20 pound ball of blonde fur and he came straight to me. I have always wanted and had little dogs, but oh my goodness in that moment I fell in love.  I joke with Ryan that that is how he hooked me, because of course I was never leaving this dog! :) "Captain Morgan" rode in my lap back home that day, and I was such a happy girl.  He has just been the best dog for us, and we are so lucky that he is such a good dog and so sweet. He's our little puppy son, and he still curls up in my lap at 42 pounds like he's that little puppy. Words cannot describe how much our puppy man means to us. We love our Golden Spaniel so much!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th holiday.  It was weird for us this year for a few reasons.  Ryan and I have now spent four July 4th holidays together, and this was the first year that we were not at Wrightsville Beach with my whole east coast family.  With July 4th on a Wednesday, it through us off a little bit.  We had a very low key celebration, grilling out here with our friends who live on the water and some of their friends, and then taking the boat out to watch fireworks.  It was neat to be on a boat watching the fireworks! Ryan and I really missed being with the family this year and being at Wrightsville, so we decided we will plan ahead and make sure to be at Wrightsville next year!  So all of you Wilmington people, get ready for us! :)

We are just enjoying a relaxing weekend this weekend. It is nice to live at the water, because you can see it anytime you want to.  That is one thing I love about my ride home everyday! I will update everyone again soon! Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Anniversary, Engagement, Birthday, Wedding, and then a Storm! :)

Hello Everyone!  I cannot believe that June is almost over!  My half year resolution is to become better about blogging and keeping everyone up to date on The Rindones!  Since I last blogged several fun things have happened:

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend celebrating our ONE YEAR anniversary.  We went to the Animal Kingdom Villas and enjoyed lots of good meals, animal watching, EPCOT, and some pool time, thanks to Bonnie and Richard!  It was a nice weekend away for us. Mom was nice enough to ship down the top of our wedding cake from NC, and so on our actual anniversary (Monday) we opened up a nice bottle of champagne and enjoyed eating what was still surprisingly good cake!! Shout out to Delicious Bakery in Greensboro! YUMMY after even a year and lots of traveling to get to us! June has proven to be an exciting wedding month too.... We have made so many wonderful friends and couple friends since moving to Tampa and we feel so blessed to be able to share in some of their exciting times.  Two weeks ago my friend Mary and her then boyfriend Chris got engaged, and Ryan and I got to go out with them that evening and celebrate! We then had the pleasure that next weekend of watching two of our great friends, Britt and Tye, get married.  Ryan was a groomsman in their wedding and we enjoyed all of the weekend festivities at The Vinoy and the Museum of Art in St. Pete.  In addition to all of that excitement, Momma Gwen came to Tampa to visit for her birthday, and we enjoyed treating her to Berns for her birthday! She of course loved it!  Ryan was in Texas this past week for work, so I enjoyed taking mom around to the beach and showing her more about Tampa.  We had fun bonding over girl time.  Morgan Dog was so sad to see his grandma leave, but it was a great visit! 

So that is what we have been up to recently. Hurricane Season has now started with this beautiful tropical storm here in Tampa, so Ryan, Morgan Dog, and I are staying in and enjoying some family time.  I am really hoping we do not have a hurricane.  We are doing fine right now, but not to worry, Ryan has stocked up on rice and some other yummy things along with matches and some sort of light that is "neat" and will help if we lose power.  Leave it to my manly husband to think of all of these great things.

Look forward to filling you all in again soon.... It really will be soon!! :)

We're Back!

I know, I have not updated our blog in quite a while, BUT I promise to be better about it now that I am done with Relays for the year. I ended with a great event in Lutz this past weekend! I am still trying to recover from lack of sleep, but naps are helping!  Ryan has been working hard recently too.  He has been given some additional responsibilities at work that are keeping him very busy, but he is still enjoying what he is doing. In eight short days we will be celebrating our One Year Anniversary!  I cannot believe it has been a year.  We feel so blessed to be married and starting our lives together and every day gets better and better.  Ryan has planned a special long weekend trip for Memorial Day Weekend to celebrate our one year, so look for some details and pictures soon. :) In other news, we are enjoying our house and Morgan Dog is a happy puppy, making friends with the squirrels and lizards outside and running around the yard.  I was also recently appointed to the Junior League Fundraising Committee, so I am super excited about starting that up soon.  It is going to be a relaxing and wonderful summer and I cannot wait to see what is in store for The Rindones! Wedding Season has started and I cannot wait to see some of our close family and friends get married! Bye for now! :)

It's Almost April!

I cannot believe that it is almost April.  Time just keeps flying by for The Rindone's here in Tampa!  Ryan is getting back today from having been in Raleigh for the past three days on business.  To say I am a little jealous is an understatement.  He has enjoyed staying with and seeing a lot of our friends and frequented some of our favorite spots (Porters for shrimp and grits, Cafe Caturra, 42nd St Oyster Bar, and Flying Saucer) just to name a few.  We are both so excited to go back to NC this summer for some great weddings of our family and friends! I am gearing up for Relay Season with my first two relay's in 2 weeks! Oh goodness!! Luckily, I have a wonderful husband to be by my side! I am so excited that my parents are coming to visit in one short week! YAY!  I have missed them so much and it will be awesome to be able to spend time with them and also for them to visit with Ryan's Florida Family, which has become an extension of The Varsamis Family over the last year or so....! The house is coming along.... I think it'll be after Relay before it's 99% complete, but it's a work in progress! Morgan Dog is doing well.  He is excited to see Grandma and Grandpa, and he will enjoy his walks with them by the water.  He has been nursing his Mommy back to health this week while Dad has been gone.  I have had terrible allergies, and I can attribute that to my first spring here in our beautiful city of Tampa. Hopefully my body will become immune before next year!  Well, those are all the updates for now, but I promise to post more soon! :)

Crazy Beautiful Life

I am still trying to get better about updating everyone, but we have just been so busy. We are settling into our new house nicely and slowly but surely getting everything set up.  I am looking forward to having a party in June after all of my Relays are done and I have some time to get things finished! We have enjoyed being out boating and at the beach enjoying all of this nice weather. We enjoyed having Morgan and Andrew come visit us in Tampa.  We miss all of our close friends back in NC, so we always welcome house guests!  I have also enjoyed being closer to my Tampa girlfriends, and being able to see them more regularly. Most recently, we have been enjoying the NCAA tournament! GO PACK!! We are so excited to watch our boys in the Sweet Sixteen!!  Morgan Dog is loving his new domain, and he enjoys chasing little critters outside and parking on the deck to "guard" mom and dad from the squirrels. Our little family of 2.5 is doing really well, and we are so excited to see both sides of our family soon and also for some fun weddings this summer that will bring us home to NC a couple of times! More updates soon! :)

Welcome to South Tampa

We moved into our very first house together on Monday! This is so exciting for us, but it is taking some time to get everything sorted and put in the right place..... It's a work in progress! We love our neighborhood.  We see the kids walking to and from the elementary school down the street every morning and afternoon, our mail man knows us by name, and Morgan Dog has even met a friend next door.... We are living the suburban life a couple of blocks away from the Tampa Bay.  We are loving it!  This was also our first married Valentine's Day, and it was a special one in our new home.  Ryan got me 26 roses for "all of the years I have been wonderful", and took me to one of our favorite places Berns!  It was a great time. I am excited to have the long weekend to do some house unpacking and decorating, so stay tuned for more updates!