5th Wedding Anniversary in St. Augustine, Florida

Good afternoon my dears,

Can't believe its already almost the end of summer, can you? 

One important event on our summer calendar is our wedding anniversary. This year we celebrated five years of marriage and almost eight years together. Since its a milestone anniversary, we decided to pack the car and head to sunny St. Augustine, Florida for a week of sun, sand, sea, and sightseeing. Here's a few pictures from our anniversary trip that I'd like to remember.

We stayed in an adorable oceanside and poolside condo. Each morning we'd get up early, put on our bathing suits, pack our beach bag, and spend a few hours beside the sea side.

Then we'd head to the pool to swim for a little bit before heading back to get ready for a day of sightseeing. This is the view of the pool from our third floor balcony. 

On our fifth wedding anniversary we decided to have lunch at Columbia Restaurant. Its a family owned and operated restaurant, since 1905. The food and atmosphere were superb, with old-time Spanish renaissance décor, an atrium, and a water fountain. 

Afterwards, we walked through the charming streets of St. Augustine to Flagler College. Listed as a national historic landmark, Flagler College, was built by railroad magnate, Henry M. Flagler in 1888, and is considered to be one of the finest examples of Spanish Renaissance architecture in the nation. 

As we were walking we saw this dreamy MG.

The Lightner Museum, built in 1888 by Henry M. Flagler, is home to many gilded age antiques and a magnificent courtyard. 

The majestic Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, established in 1565, has the oldest continuous congregation in the nation. The aura inside was indescribable, you could feel the joy of baptisms and weddings, and the sorrows of funerals and prayers.

The necklace I was wearing was made as an anniversary gift to me. A silver chain with wooden beads to represent our wooden anniversary. 

Castillo de San Marcos, is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States, built to protect and defend. 

I used to spend every summer out on the water boating and jet skiing with family and family friends until my dad got sick. So whenever we're near a marina we go visit and I get nostalgic for summers past. 

In the evenings we'd come back to the condo for baked potatoes (something simple to make) and go watch the sunset on the beach. It was the perfect mid-summer week away to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. 

Our 5th Wedding Anniversary Home Movie

Kiki Nakita

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Pool and Garden Landscaping

We finished our pool this weekend, and oh is it a delight?

When we moved in to our home four months ago, it was a short sale. We got it because it was in a lovely suburb, on an established street and we were able to buy it outright from inheritance I received when my dad passed away last year.

 

There are some lovely things that were done to our home at onetime, that show it was loved, however, it wasn't maintained by the previous owners so we're slowly saving up money...dollar by dollar to fix this house up!

 

It's such a delight to look outside now and see a deep blue pool as opposed to this eyesore...

 

 

Keeping it real folks!

 

Now, guess who has been amazing at making this happen? My hubby. He is quite the hard worker.

 

  

He did all the prep work, like clean out the debris, rainwater (I helped with that too), pouring a vermiculite and concrete base, etc.

But we hired out the finishing touches to a local contractor. Here's how it looked when he arrived.

 

 

 

 

It's a 28' by 18' pool and all in all it took about four to five hours for him to install the liner, and then twenty-four hours for the pool to fill up. We shut of the water while we were sleeping, because we didn't want it to overflow.

 

Then we did a famous pose Cory's Papa once did...

 

 

Cory's Papa.

 

 





 

Much better now.

 

Slowly but surely we'll get our back garden landscaped. I've sketched out some ideas for a cottage garden, on the right side of this pool picture (we have a wooded forest on the left side), and pinned ideas onto Pinterest for a pergola lounge area by the pool, and a dining area on the patio by the sliding glass doors.  

 

Also, I've been taking cell phone pictures of fence ideas in our neighborhood. Isn't this pretty?

 

Maybe it would look nice with a picket fence in the front like another neighbors, with our mailbox in the brick column?

 

I'd love your ideas or suggestions. Anyways, we now get to spend our days (and sunsets) playing in the pool.

 

Oh, Sophie and Oscar approve! Although they wont be in this fenced area too much.

 

 

 

And if you sit awhile, a dragonfly might visit.

 

 

Just like the song from Annie, I think I'm gonna like it here.

 

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FOURTH EVER 5 on Friday

Happy Friday.

ONE

This week has been a relaxing one, we've spent a lot of time in the pool, enjoying the last few weeks we'll be staying in Florida.

Oscar has been taking a few naps...

TWO

I ventured into Trader Joe's and bought some marinated chicken, fresh fruits and vegetables. You can read about that here. I also treated myself to some sunflowers.

THREE

My hubby brought be a pint of coffee chocolate chip gelato from Publix. Oh my goodness, it is so delicious, I treat myself to a few spoonfuls every few days. 

FOUR

If you know me well, you will soon find me surrounded by my watercolors. I have been working on a hand lettered, watercolor collection of both mine and my hubby's childhood memories. Here's a sneak peak at my work space...

I love to look in magazine's for inspiration, and in this image I was inspired by this Victorian style roll top bath and the pink peonies. 

FIVE

Last, but not least we went to see The Butler the other evening. Such a moving film, with references to The South, past President's and to our country that now has fairer equality than  fifty years ago. Oh, and in the scene from the 80's with Oprah...my hubby says his mom had the exact same sweatsuit. Cringe! Ha ha.

Have a wonderful weekend.

I'm linking up with 5 on Friday HERE.