Thanksgiving 2014 at The Caracciolos

One turkey. One ham. 

Three pies. Twelve side items. Three tables. Eighteen linen napkins.

Is this starting to sound like a song yet? 

Seven bottles of wine. One begging puppy. 

And One BIG happy family. 

Bryan & I hosted our families at Thanksgiving once again this year and we were SO happy to do it! 

Yes - I may have been practically pulling all Fall decor off the table as everyone was

still eating but sister is tryin' to gear up for the Christmas okay?!

 A little sneak peek action at our new bar set up!

Hope everyone's day was as beautiful as ours was! 

We have SO much to be thankful for!

Handing Down the Family Dishes

Ask me what my favorite holiday is.

I guarantee your answer to be Thanksgiving.

Yes, the eight-year-old in me wants to jump up and down and scream,

"CHRISTMAS!!!!!"
I mean who doesn't love Christmas? 

However, this now twenty-six year old has over the years slowly allowed

her once favorite holiday, which was filled with stockings, hot chocolate,

ornaments and presents, to scoot on down the list.

Being back home and closer to family has truly given me a new appreciation

of sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with my family.

Remember THIS POST?

Last year Bryan and I hosted our first "engaged" Thanksgiving.

Actually, let's back up a minute there.

Bryan's Dad cooked the turkeys.

Mom was on champagne duty.

Bryan's Mom, Grandma and Aunt all brought sides.

I guess I should rephrase that:

This year Bryan and I set the table and made two casseroles. 

And man did I set that frickin' table.

Thanksgiving last year was particularly exciting for two reasons:

One. My amazing then-fiance made us the most beautiful 

farm house table. It was a project I literally could not wait for him to 

start on once we moved into our new home and holy cow did the guy deliver.

Two. One day in early November, while Bryan had begun the farm house-table-making

process, Mom and I were over at Grandma's. You see Grandma is starting to go through the 

"I need to get rid of everything in my house" phase in her life and between Mom,

Aunt Sherry and myself, we're all terrified that she is going to throw something

important away. Mom was going through her cabinets and reached up and 

grabbed one of the familiar, beautiful, off-white dishes trimmed with autumn reds 

and browns, "Want to use these on your new table this year for Thanksgiving?" she asked.

YES. What a GREAT idea! 

In our family we don't have a set game plan of who hosts what holiday and where.

It's usually decided on only a few weeks prior but whenever Grandma's turn to host was up,  you could bet those dishes were spread across her big dining room table beautifully.

Grandma agreed to let me use them this year and I could. not. wait.

I may or may not have played with them for hours after Mom dropped them off at my house later that week. And by "play with them" I mean I literally set the entire table with them

and started playing with runner ideas, what napkins I would use and other fun details.

If you're wondering what Bryan is doing during all of this, let's be honest,

he's used to it at this point and kind of just shakes his head and walks by.

Thanksgiving came and went and the dishes were put away.

It was decided that Grandma would split up the set of 12 and hand down 6 to Aunt Sherry

and 6 to Mom. Sometime in early December Mom informed me that she was giving

her portion of the dishes to me because she knew how much I loved them.  

They're not just my Grandmother's dishes, they're my Grandmother's MOTHER'S dishes.

To have such a beautiful family heirloom passed down to me- and they're something that I

will use and truly appreciate- made my heart just feel so full.

Quite a few are chipped, some are faded..  but I could care less. 

I have a little piece of tradition that I get to set my Thanksgiving table with every year.

Every year I'll think of past Thanksgivings at Grandma's when there would be almost 20 of us.
The cousins would have the smaller "kid chairs" at the table. Regardless of our age
or size, we were kids. And we sat in the smaller chairs. 

Uncle Jim would be sleeping on the living room floor after dinner. 

Dad and Grandpa would drink canned Budweiser while watching football.
Does this ring a bell to any of you?
The point is I'm starting to get older and I value even the most simple of things so much more.
Grandma, Aunt Sherry and Mara obviously took note of my special appreciation
for those dishes because I received some new additions as a Bridal Shower gift recently.
They actually FOUND some matching pieces in thrift stores all around our hometown.

Yes, I know. Clearly feeling a little nostalgic over here but the Fall months
always do that to me! Mid-October and I'm already ready to break these babies back out.
Happy Fall Y'all!
47 days til Thanksgiving, folks!

Thankful: Thanksgiving 2013 Recap { and table reveal }

Has it really already been a week since Thanksgiving?

Where has the first week of December gone??

I am way behind on recapping our day

{and sharing our fabulous new farmhouse table with you}

There. I said it. 

WE HAVE A NEW FARMHOUSE TABLE! 

Surpriiiiise! 

Well, if you follow me on Insta I guess it wasn't much of a surprise 

but let's go ahead and jump right into a photo dump from hosting our

FIRST Thanksgiving!

The table AND the dishes! 

[INSERT BIGGEST SMILEY FACE EVER]

The dishes were a HUGE thing for me this year. 

They are my Great Grandma's autumn dishes.

They were passed on to her daughter, and eventually my Grandma is

passing them on to my Momma. 

They are old yet still so beautiful. 

It was so much fun to have Great Grandma's OLD dishes

and our NEW farmhouse table. 

We're just jumping right into traditions these days :)

Getting my hostess on! 

Don't get excited.. it's cornbread casserole.

That and the sweet potato casserole were the only things I actually

tackled FOOD wise this year... well, and desserts.

Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Dip and.. Mom's Birthday cake!

I spy a little doggie trying to get in on Birthday cake action.

Every 7 years Mom's birthday falls on actual Thanksgiving day.

A birthday and a holiday- so fun!

It was a fabulous day and I was so happy everyone came

to our home this year to share it. 

I practically had all of my Fall decorations down once the last

person left our house on Thanksgiving day. 

Hey? A girl gets excited once the boxes of Christmas decor

start to come down from the attic, ok?

But it was a great day- I'm so blessed to have my family. 

My mom, my dad, my family who couldn't make it, my new, extended

family who will be welcoming me into their family as of March 1st. 

..aaand now it's time to break out the reds and greens, folks!

Weekend Update [Thanksgiving/ FL-FLState Edition]

I would rather enter the Hunger Games than get dressed

in a suit and heels and walk into the office Monday after Thanksgiving.

Today's energizing cocktail consisted of a sugar free red bull AAAAND

a quick chaser of 5 Hour Energy.

Yes, it's that bad.

Unfortunately in the lovely World of SALES,

everyday is 110% so I shall make this post snappy so I can hurry up

and go close some deals! 

After work on Wednesday, I loaded down the car with

my boyfriend, my dog and every pair of brown boots I owned

(3 pairs of heeled boots, my Ariat cowboy boots and the Uggs to be exact)

and we were Ocala bound by 5:30!

I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post that I love

Thanksgiving Eve because it is literally a mini HS reunion.

Don't get me wrong, Ocala is a small town- but with 7 different

high school and an a cray-cray group of friends, downtown Ocala is poppin. 

Thanksgiving day was GORGEOUS in Ocala.

68 degrees and a great day to throw the football around

with my 8 year old nephew...

in between stuffing my face with GBCass and mashed potatoes.

Woof. 

Friday I actually had quite a bit of work to do

but I did manage to grab lunch with my parents and be on

the road *TALLY BOUND* by 5 to see my bestfriend and 

watch my Gators play on Saturday!

We ate dinner at Bella Bella then started to hop around

to a few local bars. I'm not a huge fan of Tallahassee but

I LOVE their bar crowd- all super laid back and casual. 

SATURDAY WAS GAME DAY!

We tailgated for a few hours and then headed to a bar next

to the stadium to watch the game. 

We cheered. We cried. We talked trash.

Bottom line. Gators won :)
Which is directly related to fact that I have no voice this morning.
[Insert obnoxious Gator chomp HERE]

Sunday was spent recuperating and drivingggggg.

I HATE DRIVING.

Especially after a holiday!

Did everyone just turn into a raging Jeff Gordon all of a sudden??

I'm a huge fan of the car who gets RIGHT ON MY BUMPER

and flashes their lights to move over.

Are you kidding me.

You are getting brake checked, my friend.

Anyway, may you all have a lovely Monday
and I will be re-living my Thanksgiving dinner experience at lunch time
since I brought left overs. Weeeeeeeeeee!

THANKFUL but cranberries are gross.

Holy fat pants.
Andddddddddd Thanksgiving is over.
I DO love Thanksgiving- the whole fam damily, football, a mini HS reunion
at all of the bars Thanksgiving eve but.....

I have to admit, I'm just not a huge fan of 80% of the food that's on the table.

Is that a little ridiculous? 

Here we have a holiday which is geared towards being thankful and there

I am at the end of the table passing almost every dish that comes my way.
Sweet potato casserole?? Thanks but nooooo thanks!

Kind of  terrible, right?? 

Side note: I do have so much to be thankful for.
I have been truly blessed with the most amazing family,
a loving boyfriend, supportive friends and an awesome work place.
What more could a girl ask for?

Anyway, hope yall had a fab Thanksgiving weekend because
we are BACK TO WORK tomorroooowww!
Also, back to working OUT. 
I'm wearing sweat pants and here comes Faith Hill's butt
on the Sunday Night Football intro... 

Really, girlfriend? How many kids do you have again?

You. Look. Amazing. 

Stop it.

See you tomorrow! :)

Fall Nostalgia :)) & My Best Friend the Seminole

Another throwwww backkk!

Recall me saying I was going to be posting about old events, etc
 to clean up my "Hostess" page ?

Well here's another. Last week marked the official start

of Fall- despite what Starbucks will tell you about the debut of Pumpkin Spice

being the official start. So I'm feeling a little nostalgic! 

Last year, my mom and I had the brilliant idea to host a massive,

rustic Thanksgiving dinner. 

Around mid-August to early September, random Fall decor

started to accrue in my parents' spare bedroom.

We had invited about 45 friends/family members over for Thanksgiving

so it's safe to say that, yes, Mom and I went a little over board. 

My mom wanted to have dinner outside (such a fab time of year) so she had

4 picnic tables made and we squeezed them all together in their 3-acre backyard.

I had a vision.

Burnt oranges, dark red, deep browns, decorative leaves, mason jars...

The end product?

I'd say we delivered on that.

Here is another side shot in case the first

does not it justice:

It was the sweetest thing- I literally felt like a pilgrim, even with my bottled bud light.

There's nothing like sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner

and being able to look left, look right and be able to

see the people that mean the most to you. 
hashtag happy :) 

Two of my girlfriends even drove back

home from Orlando with me (their families were out of state).

They obviously brought the necessities. 

Also note Haley bonding with Grandma

over her obnoxious Green Bay sweater... Wisconsin...

The girls stayed the weekend and we drove up

to Gainesville that Sat for the

Florida/Florida State game. 

(REALLY MISSING MY BLONDE HAIR IN THIS PIC WAAAAHHH)

If you haven't picked up on the fact that Bryan and I are Gator
fans, you're either a little on the blind side or you must have just joined us,
in which case welcome new friends. I am a Gator fan.
PRE-GAME PICTURE:

MID-GAME PICTURE:

What the hell, Florida?
Throw another pick why don't you.
The Gators lost last year but we still had a blast. 

ANNYWAAYYY- let me bring you back to present date!
Bry & I are getting ready to purchase our Florida/Florida State
tickets for this year's upcoming game.
We're making the trip to Tally that weekend and staying with
(Aly if you didn't know that, you do now) 
my best friend, right:

We've been trying to get up there for A WHILE NOW
but something keeps popping up every.stupid.weekend. 
LOVE YOU AL!  Kind of over September at this point... come onnn October & November! :):)

Where is my Bubble Bib necklace that I ordered
forever and a day ago? 

No, but seriously.

I was forced to purchase another statement necklace
from Francesca's to wear this Saturday for the UCF game!