Have A Little Faith in We

Hello friends…. happy Wednesday! Today we are righting the wrong of our lapsed Weekend Wrap-Ups summer edition!!

Popping back a bit, I kicked off the the weekend of June 17 with an extra long Summer hours Friday. I had plans to be out of the office most of the following week so I need a full normal day at the office, but the best part of that during summer hours? You feel like you have this gift of time to kick it up a notch, and I still left at the same time as a regular day!

It was perfectly acceptable to have a long Friday because Saturday was a beautiful day with a Heppes family wedding at a gorgeous winery! The scene was so serene, the temperature was surprisingly coolish, and the wine was flowing!! It was such a lovely day that we got to spend with family.

From the wedding there were two aspects that were my absolute favorite. The first was the ceremony was focused on the idea of love as a gift. This is a gift you can offer to each other for the rest of your lives – in every moment – and the gift starts today with the I dos! It was such a beautiful reminder of what marriage is and the opportunity Danny and I have to give each other the gift of love everyday. The second was the realization that our family has a lot of growth and change, but at the end of the day we really do enjoy just being together. As we sat around our dinner table the conversation flowed, the laughter was audible and visible around the circle, and we were just present. As onlookers from another table approached to ask my parents how they got so lucky to be placed at the young people’s table – I was reminded that for better or worse, we are our own little club….. and really do prefer it that way!

Happy Wedding Day Eddie and Caroline! We wish you a lifetime of happiness and love!!

 

And as if on cue ….. Sunday was Father’s Day! Some of the family had stayed at the wedding site and had brunch – but with Dan still on IVs that weekend, we headed home. To celebrate my Dad, I popped by my parents that evening following mass for a little patio siting, drinks, and snacks. Dad is certainly the one who has worked so hard to build this family of ours and it was just perfect that on his weekend we had a chance to all be together and just enjoy.

The following weekend was after a full week of fun and medical that I will recap later…… but started off with another beautiful wedding for Mark and Amanda. These two have such a special bond that is rooted in their love for each other, love for their future family, and in love for Christ. Danny and I were married pretty young. This meant our dreams and plans and careers – really adulthood – were still just coming together! Amanda and Mark are starting their lives together after they have already established themselves – which means they have represented the true meaning of marriage: a blending of lives. They have done such a beautiful job and watching their journey has been an inspiration to remind all of us old married folks to keep working at this life thing together!!

As strong Catholics, attending their ceremony was also such a treat. They really savored every part of the mass and in one of the most beautiful churches in the DC area (which happened to be the place that my father become Catholic and I used to work down the street from and spent money lunchtimes in prayer amongst those pews) – Saint Matthews.

We all ate and danced the night away and it was just perfect! Congratulations Amanda and Mark – thank you for including us in your special day….God bless you both and your future!

And the next day…..we kept the party rolling with a wonderful Summer celebration at our house. One of my best friends – Allie and one of Danny’s best friends – Chris (who of course have become both of our best friends…..) were in town so we took this opportunity to rally a bunch of our favorite O’Connell Knights and say cheers to summer!

Thanks to the creative tenants before us – our house is perfect for entertaining! And entertain we did…. well we hope we did – because I think I spent way too much time having fun I am not sure I was the best host. But the food was out, the house was buzzing with stories and laughter, and the cocktails were gone…. so my having way too much fun was hopefully ok with guests. Since I was having such a good time, I was too distracted to take pictures…. but you can at least see the setting for our party….

It was so much fun to laugh…. share updates…. relive some memories …. and the biggest highlights: learning about Bitmoji’s (get to your app store if you don’t know what these are) and politics. Yea I know, that is not normally a proper convo for a dinner party…. and with me, a traditional and outspoken conservative, it can be a little bit of a sticky situation. But my inability to defend my party from the mess that is this election (YIKES!!!!), we all laughed at this being the first election we might all even agree. Thank you all so much for coming, it was a blast for us to have you out!

 

Then on Sunday, we added another celebration to the mix – a brunch for our newly engaged friends, Randi and Trevor!! Two of my closest friend groups are O’Connell and the girls I know from JMU. So to have a Saturday with Knights and Sunday with Dukes was pretty much the definition of the perfect weekend!!

And the next few months will be FULL of different occasions to toast the bride and groom to be…. and we can’t wait!!

The only downside was by the time we got to Sunday – Danny was down and out for the count and did a hospital revisit the following week and into the next weekend. So while Shiba and I waited we filled our summer days with some fun – in between work and all that stuff….

That next Friday was a quiet night at home hanging with my little fur baby…..

Saturday I had a perfect pool day with my sister ….

…followed by a beautiful dinner at the club that night to toast to my parents’ anniversary. The weather had cooled down a bit and we had the most delightful dinner outdoors and spent some time gabbing by the fire!

 

Happy Anniversary to my parents! It is an honor to have you both as an inspiration for what is possible when you put your spouse as your focus. Thank you for sharing your example and cheers to many more years!!

Which meant we were distracted enough to get to Sunday when Danny came home!!!

Monday I was home from work because it was the 4th of July….which is usually a favorite around here with my love of summer and Dan’s love of fireworks. But this year it was rainy and cold. This probably disappointed a lot of folks who had plans outside, but for us, a 4th at home was PERFECT!

Especially because our neighborhood likes to celebrate on the 5th of July! So we hosted a little get together with family on the 5th …… since you can see the fireworks from our deck – perfectly!!

And finallllly we make it to the last weekend we are wrapping today – July 8. That Friday kicked off with summer hours that I took full advantage of, jetting out of work and heading straight to a lunch with friends!

Taylor, Courtney and I met while working a few years ago and pretty much from that moment on the laughs have been nonstop. They are both so hilarious and just make me feel like life is meant to be enjoyed! But also, they have been some of the folks that have rallied around me for support and reminded me that perfection isn’t required in life…. trying my best is ALWAYS the answer – and that they will still love me at my worst. They just warm my heart!

 

Saturday was spent packing and preparing as my flight for a work trip to St. Pete’s beach was departing at 8AM Sunday morning! So pack I did (minus the shark)….

And Sunday I left bright and early for the Don Ceasar Hotel to participate on a fun panel about Millennials and attend a great meeting. It was a beautiful setting and a great trip…. with a few breaks to enjoy the scenery!

Alright folks…. we are finally catching up!!! Thanks for hanging in there and catching up on some summertime weekend fun!!

Thank you very much for reading and remember to make it a great day!

Jackie