Thanks for the Memories

I was never the little girl that dreamed of her wedding. I never thought about the perfect dress or the perfect flowers or the music I would hear as I walked down the aisle. I was too busy playing soccer and getting dirty. When Ed asked me to marry him (Yah!) it was one of the best days of my life but also extremely overwhelming because I had NO idea where to start with the wedding plans. Luckily, we had a long engagement giving us plenty of time to plan the big day -- and what a day it was!! Everything went perfectly - from the pre-day primping at MetroModes to the borrowed Mustang (Thanks Mustang Scott!!) to the "perfect shoes" (both Ed and I!) and the cupcake flavors (courtesy of our favorite baker Cupcake Gourmet), all was as we had hoped and planned for. The year and a half of details came to fruition and we could not have been more pleased.

Now that the wedding is long gone (sad) all we have are the memories and thankfully over 900 photos documenting the amazing day. I have bragged a lot about our amazing photographer and his team and I will continue to do so - they ROCK! If you need photos of something ... ANYTHING ... you MUST hire Michael Falabella of Millimeter Photography. Part of the "non-package" he offered was a 4 x 6 print of every proof - genius! These proofs have been sitting in photo albums for a while now as we focused on other things, but I finally had the time to do something with them. Some of them made it into a frame that now hangs in our hallway....


... while others were blown up and act as decor in our living room.


The rest (well not all...there were over 900 prints!) made it into our official Wedding Album!!!! Because of many other expenses we are currently experiencing (ahem ~ mortgage, Lucy, snow salt - not a fan of the weather btw!), we unfortunately were not able to swing one of the fancy photographer albums. So we improvised. Pottery Barn saved the day with a beautiful engrave-able album and now we have a beautiful reminder of the wonderful day it was.


Not too shabby! :)

I may not have dreamed of my wedding day since I was a little girl, but I will never forget a single detail as long as I live.

God Love Restaurant Week

Ed and I just had an awesome dinner at Argia's in Falls Church - one of the many restaurants participating in DC's Restaurant Week. I have to say...I'm so excited to be back home so I can take my honey to some of my favorite spots around town. We enjoyed a fabulous 3 course meal that included mussels swimming in the most amazing garlic wine sauce I've ever had and a slice of pumpkin cheesecake that was sent directly from heaven. Thank god for those WW flex points!


Tomorrow we are heading to another favorite spot in DC - Zaytinya. Date night is so fun - even if it is only 20 degrees out!

Happy 2011!

I am a little late with the Happy New Year sentiment, but better late than never. :)

Life in the Mangiaracina world has been pretty darn good so far this year. I know we are only 13 days in, but they have been an eventful 13 days. After spending the holidays in New York with family and friends (and lots of snow), we rang in the new year with Suzy Q. and her boyfriend Brett with many an adult beverage and a Wii Let's Dance competition. Have you all tried that game?? It ROCKS! We even got Ed to participate which is a feat in itself!

The first week of January was pretty quiet, but this week has been very eventful. Ed's Mom has been down for a visit and we have really been enjoying her company. Ed and Mom have been exploring the area and have done some great stuff including a Trolley Tour of DC, a visit to the American History Museum and some shopping at Mom's favorite store, Plow & Hearth.



With Toy Fair around the corner I have been chained to my desk, but have been able to play at night...and play we have! It's been great showing Mom our new house and our new life and luckily SHE APPROVES! The best part is that she was SHOCKED to see that we had the same stores down here that they have up in New York. She is so cute! :) We can't wait for her to come back this spring to help us with our landscaping project -- nothing like manual labor when you are on vacation, right Mom? :)

I owe you all updated photos of the house and I PROMISE to get on that ASAP. My list of projects continues to expand, yet my wallet does not so many things will have to wait. We did finally mount the TV on the wall in the living room AND we received our new couch so that is good stuff. More to come!