Yummy Restaurants and Florida Breeze

October is just flying by so fast! I cannot believe November is fast approaching, and then the Holidays!  I love Fall, and I am really ready for some cooler weather here in Florida.  It is slowly cooling down here, and it is feeling so nice!  I am ready to pull out my boots and wear them for a few months! :)  Recently we have been trying some yummy new restaurants for our date nights, and we have discovered some new favorites.... TOne of our recent finds is Samba Room, which is a neat Tapas style restaurant in South Tampa.  We had a blast there and it was a neat environment too! Ciro's Speakeasy is another favorite.  It is a 1920's Prohibition style restaurant and bar.  You even have to give a pass code to get into the door. I had been there with Junior League for an event earlier this year, but this was Ryan's first time and he LOVED it just like I did!!  It is so nice to have so many great restaurants right out our back door!  This past weekend we enjoyed a day at the beach on Saturday and a boating day with friends on Sunday!  It's great weather right now for boat days, and that is one of our favorite Florida past times! I have been cooking up a storm for Mr. Ryan lately, and he seems to be liking all of his home cooked meals.  I really love to cook, and I am excited to learn some new recipes and to also get into baking more regularly too!! More updates soon! <3

NC Wedding Weekend and the start of FALL!

  We had the pleasure of being back in NC last weekend to help celebrate the marriage of one of Ryan's best friends Andrew and his now wife Becca! We were so glad to be a part of their special weekend and Ryan served as a Groomsman. It was also great to be back in Greensboro. Becca and I are both from Greensboro and actually knew each other before either of us knew our husbands, and it just worked out that we married friends. I think it is so neat how that worked out.  They are a great couple and we are excited to hopefully see them and the rest of the "Tailgating Gang" soon!  It was awesome seeing everyone! We also got to 

attend Church on Sunday with my parents in Winston at the church where we got married! We have not been there since we got married over a year ago, so that was so neat and Father Demetri was so happy to see us!  We arrived back in Tampa Monday, and the week has flown by for us both. I enjoyed reunited with some friends at Junior League and also got to attend a Book Signing for the mom of one of my Tampa friends last night.  Ryan has been busy with work and he's so glad to have a long weekend this weekend for the Columbus Day holiday! We are going to spend our weekend having a Date Night tonight at a fun place, watching NC STATE tomorrow      with some of our FSU friends ( we will see how Ryan does... this is a test! ), and then getting to visit with Ryan's family and see his Grandmother who is visiting from NC.  It's going to be a great weekend this weekend too!!  Hope everyone has a great one and GO PACK!! More updates to come!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

We celebrated Ryan's Birthday last weekend!! Friday, his actual birthday was pretty low key. He took the day off and I made him breakfast, and we just enjoyed spending time together doing things around town. Ryan caught a fish on his morning trip, which was a great way to start off his big day! Lunch at our favorite Deli was delish, and after some R & R we had dinner at one of our favorite places, Bella's! Saturday was jam packed with fun! We spent the day boating, and having a blast with The Blumes!  We love boating with them and we caught several fish so it was a successful day too!  That night we went to Mary and Chris' house for a Cookout to celebrate with more friends! Ryan had a blast, and it was so nice to be able to celebrate! :)  Sunday we went to church, and after church we got to socialize with some new friends we have made and we also met an entire greek family (I am talking cousins, sisters, mothers, in-laws, neighbors.. the works) who all seemed to have some connection to NC, and they were so sweet!!  Everyone at church has really opened their arms to us and been so friendly.  It is so nice to be able to go together regularly to church!! What a blessing that we can do that! It is also wonderful to be meeting new people! :)  This week I had my first Book Club get together, and it was fun!! I am so glad all of these JLT and other events are starting to pick up because it is great being able to see my friends! Ryan had a busy week at work, but some great things happened for him there and he is doing a great job! I am very proud of him!  Well that is all for now, but I will update everyone again soon! It's gameday so GO PACK!!

Vero Beach Fun and JLT

Hope everyone had a great week and a wonderful Labor Day Holiday!  We really enjoyed going to Vero Beach with Ryan's side of the family!  It's was such a nice vacation for us, and we enjoyed being away together.  Vero Beach holds a special place in the hearts of the Ridnones, so I was excited to be able to share this place with them.  The beach itself was beautiful.  Being on the "west coast" we miss the Atlantic Ocean, so it was nice to get back to that!!  Here are a few pictures from our trip:

When we got back this week it was WONDERFUL to see our puppy man!  We missed not having Morgan Dog with us, but he had a great time at Aunt Britt and Uncle Tye's so he was a happy camper!  Junior League kicked off on Tuesday, and I am so excited to get started with the year!!  I love being apart of Junior League, and being able to help the community.  We had an amazing speaker too, and I cannot wait to get her book! That's all the updates for now, but i'll be back with more soon! :)

GAMEDAY! GO PACK!!

August has flown by so fast..... We have been out of town visiting family and staying busy every weekend! But, we are so excited for today because it is GAMEDAY!! We have long awaited football season, and it is finally here!  What a great way to kickoff Labor Day weekend. We are also excited about spending Labor Day weekend in one of Ryan's favorite places with his family!!  It's going to be a great long weekend!!  More updates soon, but in the meantime GO PACK!!!  We will be watching with friends tonight and cheering on our Wolfpack!!  Looking for a WIN!!!

Happy Friday Y'all! :)

Happy Birthday and Happy Wedding!

Wow, this has been such a fun August so far!!  It started off with a wonderful surprise from Ryan for my 27th birthday.  He took me away for the weekend to the Ritz Carlton in Palm Beach!  I had no idea where we were going, even as he was driving there, and I was so surprised when we pulled up to the Ritz.  It is just gorgeous inside and out, and it has beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean! We spent the day Saturday and Sunday at the pool just relaxing.  Saturday night Ryan took me to dinner at one of their restaurants, and it was amazing.  What was also really neat was that we were able to have a sushi chef make us hand rolled sushi on the spot in the lobby before dinner.  It was so yummy.  What a wonderful experience!  Needless to say I had one of the best birthdays, and it was so nice to get way just the two of us together.  We vowed that we will do much more of that!! So far 27 has been a great year.  Last weekend I was able to be in North Carolina to celebrate the marriage of my cousin Chris and his now wife Amanda.  I enjoyed being apart of all of the events and festivities and it was so wonderful to be able to spend that time with my extended family and also to see some friends I had not seen in a while. Ryan was with his best friend Andrew in SC for his bachelor weekend, and he enjoyed fishing, and hanging out with the guys.  I know he wishes he could have been in two places at one time, but I am so glad he was able to make the trip up to celebrate with Andrew. Here are some pictures from both of the trips in August!  I will post more soon!  Have a great week everyone!

What a WONDERFUL trip home to NC!!

We are back!!  Our trip was so nice, but WAY too short for our liking. We would have loved to have had longer so we could have seen more people like Ryan's parents, and our other family and friends! We do feel so fortunate to have been able to see so many of y'all though!  We arrived Thursday and immediately we were served "real Bojangles sweet tea". We were able to go to Pastabilites, my favorite childhood restaurant and one of Ryan's favorites too for dinner that night and celebrate family with my parents, my cousin Chris, his fiance Amanda, and Scott's better half and fiance Jenn! YAY for a yummy family dinner.  Ryan and I then met Amanda and Grant at Green Valley Grill for drinks.  It was wonderful to catch up with the Marshalls and to hear about their furry new addition (puppy Hoss).  Friday was a fun day in Raleigh for Ryan and me and we enjoyed eating at one of our favorite places in Cameron Village with our friend Andrew and shopping at Baileys, and some other Raleigh favorites ( Ryan had "fun", but not quite as much as I did haha).  That night in Greensboro two of my closest friends Heather and Morgan and their husbands Jimmy and Andrew met us for dinner at Green Valley Grill to celebrate my upcoming birthday and just reunite! In one word.... WOW!  We had such a blast!  Whenever these boys get together it is a crazy time, and we all enjoyed catching up and planning our next vacation together. I was so thankful that I got to see every member of the "Steel Magnolias" and their wonderful hubbies on our visit home.  Saturday we attended a Greek wedding for my childhood friend Katie.  It was so nice to be in the audience this time and we had a great time visiting with all of the Greeks, and cutting a rug on the dance floor. My parents really enjoyed having us with them too, and we even got Momma Gwen up and working out two mornings in a row, and she held her own with us!! All in all the trip was wonderful.  Now, we are back and it's my birthday week!! Ryan has some surprises he's planning, so I am excited to see what he has in store for us this weekend!  We have really enjoyed watching the Olympics this week!!  Go Team USA!!  Hope everyone else is having a good week, and I will make sure to update you all again soon! :)