I had been looking forward to the day after Thanksgiving for months.
I got our little 6-foot cashmere tree on sale for $12 after Christmas at Walgreens last year.
Our little tree had been stored in my room at my parents' house for almost a whole year before we brought him to our little abode. We have such little space and so many pieces of furniture, we had no idea where we'd put him. After shuffling furniture, we found the perfect spot for him.
We couldn't decide on a theme for our ornaments, so I had to make an executive decision one day while "killing time" in Hobby Lobby. Black and Gold for Vandy, it was! In between the black and gold, there are sentimental ornaments. Dad and I cleared out all of the family Christmas ornaments last year, and my sister and I went through to pick ones we wanted to keep. I picked my first Christmas ornament, and some odds and ends that were my favorites to put on the tree every year.
I also added the ornament that Jackson and I acquired in Savannah on our Honeymoon
(Forgive the awful-ness that is the webcam photo quality)
We added the Alumni ornament his mama bought him last year
(The back of this one is signed by Phil Ponder!)
There is another ornament from his mama last year to the both of us
And then there's this guy... our newest addition:
I posted this picture on Instagram on Thursday night and got a ton of questions about it.
It was so so simple, and totally Pinspired.
All you need is sand, a clear glass ornament, some shells, and a piece of paper for a funnel (I guess you could use an actual funnel...). I bought a metal, hand-stamped tag (etsy) to use as the explanation (you know, so when I'm 90, I'll remember why there's sand on our tree). I used hot glue to plug the metal hanger so no sand falls out while it's in storage.
Note to self: get a bigger tree. There are too many ornament ideas out there for our little baby tree to hold!!
We had planned to spend our wedding night in our own apartment, for the first time as husband and wife. We didn't live together before marriage, so it was going to be special for us.
Little did I know, my best friend and her fiance had bigger plans for us.
They booked us a room at the Opryland Hotel.
The place we had our first date.
The place Jackson first asked me to be his girlfriend.
The place we took our prom pictures as Nashville flooded in 2010.
The place he asked me for forever.
Our room was beautiful. It overlooked the Cascades, and you could hear the waterfall from our room. They had gone in before us and sprinkled rose petals on our bed in an "H".
After we got settled and.. well.. you know... we realized we were starving. We hadn't gotten a bite to eat at our wedding. We had a to-go box of wedding cake, and so we decided to order room-service chicken tenders. There we were, I in lingerie and he in his wedding boxers, stuffing our faces with chicken and wedding cake. #notsorry
We slept like rocks that night.
The next morning, we gathered our belongings, checked out of our hotel, and headed to his parents house to give them the key to our apartment. They were going to deliver our gifts, watch over it, etc. while we were gone. On the way to our apartment to finish packing and gather our belongings, I realized I left my adorable veil panties and my actual veil in the bathroom of our hotel room!!
So, the wonderful husband he was, he took me back to the hotel and ran back up to get them.
We were finally on our way to our home to grab our bags and start the trek to Savannah, GA.
11:30am, we set out on an 8 hour (plus potty breaks) drive. The drive was beautiful.
Our first night was booked in the Fairfield Marriott in middle of nowhere, Savannah. We got there and went to check in. Well, they couldn't find our reservation. When they did, it was all my fault for not booking it correctly. When we got to our room, the door was jammed, the curtain wouldn't close, the lamp didn't work, and there was a walmart dehumidifier in our room. WHAT!!? I was livid.
We ate at Five Guys, sat outside (in February!!) and watched the fog roll in from the river.
The next day, we went to check in to our B&B, The East Bay Inn. Oh. My. Goodness. Our room was beautiful. The ceilings were forever high, it was bright, and old.
We threw our stuff in our room and ran to play in the city. Right across from us was River Street, so we went for lunch at Dockside. Jackson had Shrimp and Grits and I had the best Ruben Sandwich of my life.
Then we did some shopping. We strolled up and down River Street, wandering in and out of shops and boutiques, art museums and vendor stands. We wandered into this place called Christmas on the River. We bought our very first Christmas tree ornament together:
(sorry about the awful quality webcam picture)
The rest, day by day, is a blur, so enjoy the photodump that documents our sweet honeymoon in Savannah, Georgia.
