Positively Amazing

This past month has been the month of transitions for us. We moved into a new condo, Everly is running, I have decided to embark on a new venture and Justin continues to grow his business. So many exciting experiences have happened and continue to transpire. But what thrills me more is the amount of positive and supportive energy that is oozing out of my friends and family. It is so important to me to surround myself and my family with uplifting, positive people. People that are inspiring, loving and creative in their own way. People that are genuinely happy for you and want to see you succeed. When you share your visions and dreams with them, their eyes light up and you can see they are filled with joy not jealousy and their tone is filled with eagerness and excitement.  It is fantastic to be supported by your family but it is truly special to be cheered on by your friends. I try to live my life by these standards as well, I want to see my friends and family live out their dreams and I want to be the biggest cheerleader out there for them.

As I find myself experiencing these new shifts in my life and sharing them with friends and family, I get to learn about their fantastic changes and vision for their life. I realize how blessed I am to be surround by talented, smart, innovated individuals all making it happen for their lives.  In this social media frenzy, constantly connected, celeb crazed, negative news era we live, we need a new way to reinvent the American dream or "having it all" mentality. Making it work for your family doesn't mean you need to follow the trend everyone else follows. What's great about this time we live in, is we can do whatever we can dream of and we can have more than one dream for ourselves. Today and everyday I give thanks for the positively amazing people in my life, the dreamers, the doers, the believers. I can't wait to see how everyones vision unfolds and I look forward to sharing this journey. 

Boo Boo

Everly got her first official boo-boo yesterday and what made it official was the blood! After our guilty yet pleasurable five guys dining experience she was walking around with daddy and feeding the birds and having a grand time, then she suddenly lost her balance and face planted on the concrete. Justin came over to the table and said. "um we had a little accident" then I turned around to a crying little with blood coming out of somewhere on her face. Now the proper reaction to this situation would be what: A) "Oh honey you're ok, you are such a brave little girl, lets put some ice on it and make it better." B) Everly you are fine just brush it off." C) OH MY GOD! What Happened, oh my god she is bleeding!" The correct answer would have been A but the way I reacted was C, and I know better then to react in a frantic way but the blood got the best of me. All was well after we cleaned her up, we headed to high five and made her forget about her bleeding lip by treating her to some froyo.

Daddy and Everly froyo

Living the dream

This date will forever leave a hand print on my heart for the rest of my life.  I will always remember how I felt as I watched the tragic events play out for the world to see on September 11, 2001. I know all our lives were changed that day but I will always think about the people whose lives were changed directly from the events that have occurred. I will always be grateful for my unknown heroes that sacrificed their lives for mine and the people who continue to fight for this amazing country we live in!

To my dear friend Brad Talley, lets raise a bottle of miller light to "living the dream"! You lived your life full of color, laughter, love and the occasional inappropriate jokes/comments that only you could get away with saying! I am so thankful I was able to know you and I will never forget you! I know you are missed dearly by so many. 

Our beloved Grandfather, it was heartbreaking to hear of your loss this morning. We are so very blessed we got to spend time with you and will cherish the fond memories we have. Thank you for being such a thoughtful and caring man. We will love and miss you always.

Let us all celebrate the life we have and the lives we will miss! Live your dream for your life!

2-1, 2-1

It's time for a run! I have officially signed up for the Disney half marathon! I think I might be a little delusional but I am in good company. I will be taking this crazy journey with my mom and stepdad, my good friends Jim and Dawn and my mommy friend Amy, plus I get a free ticket to Disney!

Let the training begin!

Sweet Face

We recently traveled to Canada to visit family and friends and on our last day we got to catch up with a few friends in Vancouver. I am always thankful when I can spend some much needed face time with individuals who mean so much to me. My best friend from high school Jasika and her partner Claire are currently living in Vancouver and every time we go up to Canada we always make it a priority to spend some time with them. Jasika has always been one of my most favorite people and I cherish the times we have together, but as I have gotten to know Claire she also has turned out to be one of my favorite people as well. The first time Claire and Everly met I felt they had this special connection, I just remember how she scooped my baby girl up and just talked and played for hours, they were in their own little bubble. It always meant so much to me to see how she embraced this new person in my life. I wish we all lived closer and we could see them more but even though we don't get to talk as much as we all would like, we always have such wonderful times when we are all together. And I am so thankful Everly has them for her Aunties. 

Claire also just happens to be an amazing photographer and as soon as she walked in from work during our visit  she started snapping away at Lady E. I adore how she captured Everly's playful personality and sweet little face in these pictures. Thank you Claire for taking these beautiful photos for us! You can see more of Claire's talents at www.savageblackout.com. 

So many pictures

My Dad, Michael Fencik at Kissing Fish Productions, was the designated photographer for Everly's first birthday party. He took well over 300 pictures so I wanted to share a few more. 

How the time flies

As some of you know Miss Everly turned one at the end of July, I really can't believe how fast the year went by and I say it all the time. So when it came to planning her birthday party I didn't know what to do to celebrate this milestone in her life.

I think we all have been to a few kids birthday party's  that are pure mayhem  and some of them actually made me not want to even have kids.  I did not want crazy littles running around all hopped up on goof balls, the birthday girl not really knowing what's going on and
ripping through presents a handful at a time. No thank you!

I wanted it simple, fun and memorable for all, and that is exactly what we had. Since it was in the middle of one of the hottest months of the year( we planned that real well), our dear friends Pam and Dough lent us their house to host the party. It has a pool and that equals fun, cool entertainment for adults and children of all ages. The menu consisted of chicken fingers, fruit, bean dip, spinach artichoke pasta salad with lemonade, iced tea and juice boxes to drink. I ordered a cupcake cake from Publix that came with a complimentary smash cake for Everly. 

On the invite I asked guest to bring something of today for Everly's time capsule, we plan on opening it on her 18th birthday. I love this idea and it was so neat to see what people put in, I can't wait to open it again in 18 years with Everly. I also made a digital scrapbook that documented Everly's first year. I wish I was a scrapbooker but I am not so I edited pictures together of her first year to music, this was one of my favorite gifts to give her. I hope she enjoys watching it when she is older as much as I enjoyed making it.