Though I wish there was some sort of chill in the air so it felt more Christmasy, it was perfect weather for a boat ride! My dad suggested taking the boat out and docking in Tampa for lunch at a restaurant on the water called The Hula Bay Club.
Sadie is a huge fan of boat rides and was by my dad’s side the entire time he was prepping the boat for our adventure.
Sadie at Sea
Dad, Ryan and Sadie on the Boat
It was hot in the sun, but when the boat got movin’ it was chilly! My sister and I bundled up in lots of towels to keep warm on our way to and from the restaurant on the boat.
Lunch was delicious! I ordered clams but we all shared and were impressed with the food.
As we were waiting for our check my mom spotted two dolphins in the water! We jumped up and watched them splash around and hunt fish. Since the water was pretty clear we were even able to see one catch a fish which was pretty neat!
Dolphin
I love days on the boat and it was definitely a treat to be on the water in the middle of December!
Breakfast and Jazzercise
I was anxious to tell ya about our day on the water, so let’s back up to breakfast!
Cheerios and Kashi Go Lean
Sometimes ya just want cereal! In this mix was Honey Nut Cheerios and Kashi Go Lean. It was crunchy and oh-so-sweet. I had another bowl, too. 🙂
After breakfast my mom and I went to Jazzercise, a 60-minute aerobic workout class. My mom goes regularly and I love the energy and upbeat atmosphere of the classes so I like to go along when I’m home visiting and get the chance.
Once we arrived back home, Ryan and I snacked on an apple with peanut butter (yum!) before our boating adventure.
Apple and PB
Dinner
Before heading back for Orlando tonight Ryan and I enjoyed one last homecooked meal! We had spaghetti with marinara and chicken sausage and it was g-o-o-d! Unfortunately my pictures were icky and since I didn’t post pics from last night’s feast, I’ll share those instead. Sound good?
Last night my mom made a seafood-based dinner with peel-and-eat shrimp and crab cakes.
Crab Cakes
Her homemade crab cakes are the best.
The Spread
I helped by making a veggie stir fry and fruit salad.
Fruit Salad
Ryan got in on the action and peeled several clementines for the fruit salad.
So Helpful
Dinner was filling and fueled us up for a meeting with a potential wedding photographer.
Wedding Photographer Meeting
Our meeting with a potential wedding photographer went really well last night. I fell in love with her and think her style of photography is gorgeous and natural and really seems to capture emotions.
Unfortunately the money is a bit of an issue because her prices are over our budget. I’m trying to figure out where I can cut corners in other areas to make this one work. Any suggestions???
I really appreciate all of your wedding feedback. It seems like many of you agree that the photographer is one of the most important elements of the big day, so I want to feel confident and comfortable with the person we select. We’ll see!
I hope everyone had a great weekend. I’m tired and hope to be in bed a little early tonight.
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Send some of that heat up my way! It’s cold here!!
Those crab cakes look delicious!! I’ve never had a crab cake before, but I know I’d love ’em!!!!
Ahh! So not fair- my parents were out on Tampa Bay today too and my mom was texting me pics. Ugh! It’s cold and rainy here. I hope it’s that nice when I’m there in 2 weeks!
I expanded our budget for the photographer- my husband and I had set a budget and our photog was about $1,500 more, so I paid the difference out of my savings. Luckily, my mom and aunt paid for my dress, hich I had intended to pay for, hair and makeup so that made up the difference!I Also I didn’t get any photo albums from the photographer, and did them myself with the digital prints, which I highly recommend.
that fruit salad and hte homemade crab cakes look/sound amazing! & it looks like you had a fun day 🙂
xoxo
shelley
http://findinghappinessandhealth.wordpress.com
JAZZERCISE!
AWESOME!!!
New music, food, fitness + giveaways – http://katiechangesforkatie.blogspot.com/
Come visit! Happy MONDAY FUNDAY!
Katie
ahh you just made me miss being in sunny FL!!! so jealous of your boating adventure! Sadie is so good, my dog would have jumped off the side of the boat LOL
jazzercise sounds so fun I am sure your mama loves that you go with her when you visit 🙂 I love working otu with my mom too!
enjoy your family time!!
I dunno if you’re planning on purchasing boquets for you and you BM’s, but they are VERY expensive and easy to make yourself. Look in to ordering the flowers and you and your mom putting them together. There are how-to’s on this alll over the internet.
xoxo
Mer
Can you scrimp in another area? Or go ala cart on the photographer? Lose the albums or shorten the time you have?
In regards to your photographer question, since we wanted ours really bad and he was expensive, we cut out a videographer. Also, we cut back on flowers by making the bouquets and centerpieces a bit smaller. It doesn’t seem like much there…but every little bit helps. 🙂
To save money at our wedding, we also cut out the videographer and my father-in-law just set up his camcorder at the back on a stand. It wasn’t high quality filming but it worked. We also cut back by doing candle centerpeices on all the tables and only doing flowers on the main tables (the cake table, the sign-in table, and the food tables) We also didn’t do any flowers on the pews and instead just did bows on the first 3 rows deep…the ones reserved for family. Hope some of that helps!!
i love that idea. we want to have our own video camera set up as well for guests to record themselves leaving messages! 🙂