The Living Room

Next up in the house tour is the family room.

When I got here, this room was looking...bare. I guess that would be the nice word for it. Since Kenny was living by himself, he had all he needed. A couch, a TV, and a TV tray which holds his laptop and acts as a table when he wants to eat in front of the TV. I mean, what else do you need in life? Here are the before pictures.

The to do list for the living room looked like this:
Living Room
- get a recliner or love seat
- bookshelves for dvds
- Curtains
- Shelves for above couch/picture frames

First order of business, the love seat/recliner debate. Kenny was thinking he may want a recliner to add to "manliness." Upon further discussion, aka me listing reasons for a love seat, we went with a love seat. Because he already has a recliner (the sofa reclines), a love seat provides more room for more people to sit, and would look better in the space we needed. With that solved, we went over to Rooms to Go where we found a loveseat and coffee table. The coffee table was an almost perfect match for the TV stand we had, so it wasn't a hard sell.

Next up were the bookshelves for our dvd collection. Little known fact, I love movies. Kenny also has a collection of all the "guy" movies you would want to watch. But I have all the romantic comedies, Disney princesses and super hero movies you could ever want. So we needed enough space for all of the ones we have, plus room for our collection to grow. We (I) found some that we liked at Target, and added them to our massive furniture order we made. With a coupon + sale, they ended up only being $60 a bookshelf, which wasn't bad. And they matched the TV stand also, so win/win.

Curtains were purchased at Target (shocking, I know).

The shelves for above the couch are from Ikea. The nearest Ikea is in Orlando, which is 2 hours from here. I needed picture frames for my picture wall going up the stairs. So I talked my husband into making the 2 hour drive for them. We also made a massive return to Macy's (it's the closest one to us), went to Golf Galaxy and Chipotle. So it wasn't that bad of a day for him. I also got picture frames to go on the shelves at Ikea. We have a picture of his side of the family, my side of the family, all his groomsmen (who happen to be his BFF's/brothers) and then the picture from our photobooth with all my bridesmaids + Pop. We also have a picture of Glory (Kenny's dog, and the love of his life) since she couldn't make it to our wedding. I also got a Celtic cross made from Peet when we were in Ireland.

Our coffee table holds a bowl with all of the remotes/controllers, as well as our photobooth guestbook and all the photobooks I've made from previous years. I'm still working on our wedding photobook as well as the 2012 one, but those will be on the coffee table as soon as they're finished.

So the to do list is complete. And here are the after pictures:

Chocolate, Chocolate and More Chocolate

This just sounds like heaven right? It's actually a post about attending my friends' wedding in Hershey, PA. Which was really fun and full of chocolatey delights.

I ended up flying up to VA on Wednesday morning. The Nationals (my favorite baseball team) made it into the playoffs. My dad, being a season ticket holder, had tickets to every playoff game. So I happened to be able to make it to both games on Wednesday and Thursday...what a lucky coincidence.

On Friday afternoon, Susan, Sarah and I loaded into my rental car and drove up to Hershey. Northern Virginia traffic standard wise, we made it in pretty good time. We were able to get there right as the "Smores and Beer" portion of the night was starting. I got to catch up with friends that I haven't seen in awhile, and got to eat s'mores. Could it get any better?

All of the VT people ended up renting a cottage for the weekend. It was an awesome space with 4 bedrooms, and on site of the wedding/reception. Paul  (the groom) crashed with us on Friday night, with strict instructions from his bride to make sure he was in bed by 2 and no Jaegar shots. We were able to comply with all her rules :)

On Saturday, we got up and headed out to breakfast. We tried to go to The Hershey Pantry, but that was an hour long wait - so we ended up finding a little roadside place that was actually pretty good. After breakfast, we headed back to the cottage to watch the VT game. And by watch, I mean squint at people's phone screens cause it wasn't on TV in that area. But was on TV was Paul and Lauri's Wedding...they fancy.

Paul with the TV

The girls started getting ready with about 2 hours to go before the ceremony started. In typical guy fashion, they started getting ready about 30 minutes before.

All the VT Girls

The ceremony was held at the Hershey Gardens, which were absolutely goregous. Everything about the ceremony was amazing, the weather was good (a little chilly) but good nonetheless. The guys looked handsome and Lauri was a stunning bride.

Paul, waiting for Lauri.

Here comes the (beautiful) bride!

You may kiss the bride

Mr. & Mrs. Needleman

Pretty programs

After the ceremony, we made the short trip back up to the hotel for cocktail hour.

Here are Susan & Sarah, being creepsters.

The food at cocktail hour was awesome, and more importantly they had chocolate martini's with Hershey kisses in the bottom.

Sarah was very excited to add a new Coozie to her collection.

We've known each other/Paul for 7.5 years. So weird we're going to each other's weddings now.

Cocktail hour candids. Minus Sarah, who caught me, and threw up the peace sign.

Awesome cocktail hour space.

Paul's Hokie friends :)

Me and Susan

Allison and Me, college roommates.

Some of my favorite ladies.

After the cocktail hour, we moved into the reception room. Which, magically, smelled like chocolate.

Their stationary was amazing.

After the introductions, Paul's family (who are Jewish) did the traditional Hava Nagila with Paul and Lauri. Paul kept trying to hold Lauri's hand while they were in the air, she was having nothing to do with that. She was clinging to the chair for dear life the entire time.

 

After that and dinner, it was dancing time. They had a live band which was pretty awesome. Needless to say, we all got our groove on.

Everyone had a Hershey's bar waiting for them at their seat, and there was a candy bar where you could pack your bag full of Hershey candy. Susan hit the chocolate wall.

The late night party moved to the bar downstairs...we took our leave when someone was trying to retrieve their shoes from the fireplace (you read that right), and ended up falling off the chair she was standing on. We took that as our exit cue.

 

The next morning, Paul and Lauri arranged for all of us to be able to have brunch at the hotel. It was a nice way to end the weekend and send those 2 off before their European honeymoon.

I'm so thankful to have the friendships that have lasted through the years. And now that we're becoming "real" adults, its nice to have those people around to celebrate with.

Congratulations Paul & Lauri!