Scenes from Our Weekend | Happy New Year

Happy New Years!! 
I loved the way NYE fell on a Thursday this year, so we ended with another long holiday weekend!! I couldn't keep track of what day it was all weekend.   We had plans with friends to head down to Destin for NYE and have dinner in Rosemary Beach at one of our favorite restaurants, Paradis.   We left the munchkins at home with their grandparents.  
Hat | Gown 

We rented a limo for the night and we died laughing when the driver called us about 20 minutes before picking us up and asked if we minded riding in the Hummer limo instead.  "Offff course not!"  haha.  So there we were, four of us in the stretch hummer :)

We headed down to Rosemary and had some cocktails before our Prefix dinner.  

Dinner was good, not great, as these busy holiday nights with pre-fixed menus can always be tough.  I had the fish entree and I thought mine was delicious! 

We headed down the street to the Pearl hotel for drinks and to watch the ball drop!  We had a fun night with friends and a great meal.  It always feels nice to get dressed up and be that couple we remember before we had these little rascals running all over us :)

It was a quick trip, but well worth it!  We were all still excited to get back to our babies.  

We had some friends over Saturday night for dinner with the kiddos.  It's pretty cute to see these tiny babies together and see how they will interact!  They immediately locked arms and Madelyn was trying to hold his tiny hands.  It was pretty adorable.

It was a great way to ring in the new year.  We really had a wonderful 2015 as we were able to welcome our sweet baby girl, Madelyn.  2016 may have a hard time topping that, but I do have some goals and dreams for the new year.  I plan to share those with you guys this week as well as a recap of our 2015. For now, I'll leave you with this....

Linking up with Biana for weekending.

New Year Goals | 2015

I made these goals at the first of the year and am finally sitting down to write this post.  There have been lots of goals and resolutions floating in bogland the last week and I think even though we say most resolutions only last a couple of weeks, I still believe in making yourself sit and reflect on things you would like to improve and maybe throughout the year you will at least think a little more before you do.  That's my hopes any ways.  

1. Take a photography Class - I'm not sure what we have locally for photography classes, but I would love to take a class and learn more about shooting in Manual.  I've started by watching a few YouTube tutorials which really are helpful and learned a little about shooting in AV mode, but I want to learn more!!

2. Go to Pure Barre 3x/Week {at least} - Our new Pure Barre opened just downed the street from me and I couldn't be happier.  They started classes the last week of the year and I took my first class on January 3rd.  So far, I've been to 3 classes.  I love it! 

3. Prepare food on Sundays for the week- This one is always tough for me, but it makes such a difference when I do!  I love having things ready to grab and go for lunch and even a few breakfast options ready to go too.  

4. Read Books (again) - I seriously went the entire year in 2014 without reading a book.  It makes me so sad.  I want to read again.  I got caught up and reading blogs and watching too much TV at night that I didn't make any time to sit down with a book.  Do you guys ever feel like you are ignoring your husband when you are reading a book in the bed??  I kind of feel that guilt sometimes...

5. Explore our city with Brody - We really have some great places around town to go visit and start taking Brody to explore. We have some great museums including an amazing Naval Air Museum that I haven't been to in years.  I think Brody is now at a great age to enjoy it.  

6. Create a budget- I'm not a good budget gal.  I said it.  Matt and I have already started trying to find ways to cut back on spending.  I feel like we spend a fortune on groceries and the truth is I think we spend less as a whole on food because we don't go out to eat like we did pre-baby.  I also need to manage my spending on clothing and things for me and Brody.  It brings me so much happiness to shop for my son that I can hardly help myself!  But I know I can do better. 

7. Grow the blog and learn more about blogging - This has been such an unexpected and amazing outlet of happiness for me over the last two years.  I love sharing, learning, and documenting our lives and receiving wonderful and helpful feedback from all of you.  For the first year, I kept this little blog mostly hidden and too myself; but it's really been so much more fun now that I have all of you to share it with.  I hope to continue to learn more about blogging find ways to grow it even more.

8. Learn Adobe Lightroom - This goes hand and hand with my goal above on growing the blog and also being a better photographer.  I really love photography and want to be better and better at it.  Matt gave me Lightroom for Christmas and now I have to be sure to learn how to use it.  Does anyone else use this program???

9. Be thoughtful - I want to make sure that I continue to think about others.  Some days it's so easy for me to be wrapped up in life of me and Brody and then make sure I have dinner on the table when hubby gets home and I haven't thought much outside our little bubble. I want to write hand written notes and send them snail mail for no reason at all or leave my husband or family small notes to tell them how thankful I am to have them in my life. 

10. Give Back- There are so many different ways to give back and I need to do a better job of taking advantage of those.  I spent the last year mostly focusing on my family and raising Brody, but I think I have the time now to start giving back in small ways. 

So there you have it...Ten of my goals for the new year!  I'm sure I'll be giving updates along the way with what seems to be working and what hasn't, but hopefully this will keep me just a tiny bit more accountable! 

 

Five on Friday | Happy New Year

December was a whirlwind and I honestly haven't caught up with the fact that it's January and we have started a new year already!  I usually love to use this blog to sit down and reflect on the year, summarize the events from the past year, and set a few goals for the upcoming year.  I haven't done any of that yet.  I'm not ready for January 1st yet.  With that said, I'm going to enjoy my weekend and start fresh on Monday.  But I will use my weekend to clean, re-group, plan, and refresh.  I'm truly looking forward to get back into my weekly routine again.  

I also want to apologize to anyone that was looking to link-up yesterday for Thoughts for Thursday.  I'm sorry we weren't around to party with you.  We will be back in action next week for the first one of the year!  On that same note, I hate that I've been such a sorry blogger friend the last month.  I read and loved all of your sweet comments and apologize for not getting back to most of you.  I look forward to catching up on my favorite blogs this weekend and getting back to commenting to each of you.  Thank you again for continuing to come around this little space of mine and for all of your support! 

And now enough of my new year brain dump, here's my friday five:

{ONE}

New Year's Date Night Dinner with my Hubby :)

| OOTN |

I wore an old sequin skirt I had from J Crew and a little black top and my BB Dakota leather jacket.  I kept it pretty simple and honestly I didn't dress warm enough! It ended up being pretty cold outside.

{TWO}

I snuck over to New Orleans for 2 days this week before NYE and met some friends.  One of the girls has a precious little girl close to Brody's age that I just loved.  It gives me major girl baby fever when I'm around these sweet girly girls! 

{THREE}

This is my friend, Meredith, that lives in Nola with Brody on the first night we were in town.  I love this sweet picture and seeing Brody's big smile.  His dimples don't always show up that well and this picture captures that dimple perfectly!

{FOUR}

We had friends over for New Year's Day football and a few little kiddies running around too.  I brought out Brody's new tent that he got for Christmas and they loved it!! I love watching the kids play in their little "forts." 

{FIVE}

Lastly, has anyone seen these new pictures of Britney Spears???  Tell me she doesn't look like a new mix of Britney and Heidi Klum??  Her face has completely changed.  I'm not sure what plastic surgery she went in for, but I will say her body is rockin' again! 

Linking up with the Five on Friday ladies: 

Darci, April, Christina and Natasha.

Lauren Elizabeth for High Five Friday

Jennie for Friday Favorites

Rebecca for That Friday Blog Hop

Leslie for Confessional Friday

Amy for Oh hey Friday

Amanda for Friday Favorites

Five on Friday : It's a New Year!

Happy New Year my friends!!  I'm excited for what 2014 has in store for me and my little family.  I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and has had time to recover, re-group, and re-organize.  I know it's taken me a few days  week to do that.  My husband and I caught the crud over Christmas which was a real bummer, but the festivities didn't stop because of it.  We still had family to entertain, food to cook and our son's first Christmas to celebrate; so we drank some cough syrup and partied on...

I think I've finally caught back up and ready to enjoy the new year.  I'll start my first blog post of 2013 with the five on friday gals: Darci, April, Christina and Natasha.

{One}  

Our New Years Eve Celebration -  We had dinner out with friends at a local restaurant that was so yummy.  We had an amazing meal with wine pairing and continued the celebration out to the bars downtown.  I'm embarrassed to say that when I woke up on January 1st, my legs were so sore.  That's right.  We danced like fools and my legs felt like they had run a marathon.  In fact, they are still sore today.  That's embarrassing.  

{Two}

I've seen this floating around pinterest quite a bit and it really sums up all the things I hope to do more of in 2014.  I've never been one to keep new years resolutions, but it is always nice to use the new year as a clean slate and to start anew.  That is what I plan to do!

{Three}  

If you follow me on Instagram (@annieamalone and @homeofmalones), you may have seen this picture already.  We officially have a move-in date for the new house.  Next Friday!! I can't believe it. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.  

{Four}

Also on instagram, I plan to share a photo a day for 2014.  I started with this one of baby Brody.  Although I am certainly guilty of over-sharing baby photos, I also plan to share lots of pictures of the new house as we get organized and settled-in!  #photoadayin2014

{Five}

Cowboy Cavier - Who made black eyed peas for New Years Day??  If so, I'm sure you have some left over like me.   Here is the perfect recipe to use those left over peas to make a great appetizer for the weekend or to celebrate the big National Championship game on Monday night!! 

Cowboy Cavier

1 can white corn

1 can black beans

1 can black eyed peas

3-5 roma tomatoes

2 avocados

cilantro

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste!

Will you be watching the National Championship game??  I'm a Florida Gator, but my husband is a Florida State fan; so I'm going to be a good wife and allow him to put Florida State clothes on my son....