Anniversary Trip 2011

May 24, 2011. John and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. It was fantastic! We decided to hit up Daytona Beach and spent 3 days relaxing in the sun. The view from our balcony:







Our sweet suite:








During our trip, we headed down the peninsula and visited Ponce de Leon, which has a magnificent lighthouse.





Here we are enjoying lunch at a nearby park.





We paid a few bucks to climb to the very top (in our flip flops).








Once we got up there, the view was absolutely fabulous!











Safely back on the ground, our few bucks also granted us admission into the museums surrounding the lighthouse itself. We learned about the caretakers and the history of the lights used in the lighthouse.





There was some other interesting artifacts around the lighthouse that were pretty cool. So we got creative and took some photos.








During our trip, we also ate...





Drank...





And laughed.








Our little jaunt to the sea was perfect for our second anniversary. Fun, adventure, relaxation = memories that will last forever.

Gallery Wall

For the 2 years that we've lived in this condo, we've always had trouble with the wall above the couch. We really like our couch, it's soooo soft. And the only place it can go is against this wall in our living room. But the wall that it's against is huge! It slants up to at least 12 feet at it's highest point because we have vaulted ceilings. Which I also love, I just have had trouble figuring out what to put on it. Everything we've tried just seems so small on such a huge wall. But putting something HUGE would look totally weird because it would probably look bigger than the couch.

So we've tried art, different art, two pieces of art, single pieces of art. Pretty much, I wasn't happy with any of it. Then, last November, we cleared out John's man cave to make room for Joanna and I had this pile of frames and art and stuff sitting on the floor of our bedroom. It was a light-bulb moment, for sure. What was cool, was that there were some pictures that were more John and some that were more me, but they all looked kinda neat together. Crazy!

It only took 6 months, but I finally put all the stuff up on the wall above the couch and made a gallery wall. I love it!!!

Funny thing, I read tons of blogs and websites that shared tips on how to create a gallery wall. So I started out by laying everything out on the ground, arranging and rearranging until I found a layout that I liked. Then I took a picture of the layout to reference during the process. Then I picked up all the frames and set them aside because we couldn't even walk through the living room. Of course, I did this part at 11:00pm and couldn't actually start hammering nails into the wall because I want our neighbors to like us and not call the HOA and complain about us.

So the next day, instead of doing the normal thing, which would have to been to actually put the frames up on the wall....I took a trip to Target and grabbed more frames for some art that John brought back from England in March. Then I came home, framed the additional art, and started hanging things on the wall in a completely different layout than originally planned. I know, I spent all that time planning and then in the end just randomly hung the stuff on the wall.

Well, it ended up working out. And because I really like things symmetrical and balanced (I'm an accountant!) the final product is very much my style! I had to bring in things from different parts of the house that I wasn't originally planning on using because of how the arrangement was flowing, but I think it looks 10 times better than my original plan. See, I can be spontaneous!

Here are a few close up's:

I had this canvas made for John back in January. I saw a coupon for a canvas wrapped "photo" and I couldn't pass it up. The canvas was free and I paid $5.99 for shipping. Pretty good deal! I created the "photo" in Microsoft Publisher because it provided more flexibility of placement than Word, but it also had all the different fonts to choose from. I saved it as a .jpeg and then uploaded it to Winkflash.com. It was really easy. I could view the final placement and make sure that the photo was centered on the canvas the way I wanted it to be. Then I just hit submit and paid for the shipping. It came a few weeks later. Actually, it took longer than anticipated because they were so backed up with orders from the promotion that they were running. But a representative called me to tell me that personally and told me the date it could be expected by. The delay didn't bother me at all because I wasn't in a hurry for it. This was just a surprise gift that I ordered for John so I wasn't up against a deadline for a special occasion.

The canvas has dates and places that are meaningful to John and I from when we first started dating, up until our honeymoon. I actually started creating that just after we got married, but wasn't sure what it was actually going to become. I really loved how it turned out!

I found this "D" at Hobby Lobby last weekend and I thought it would make a fun addition to our gallery wall...you know, because our last name is Dodson! :)

Happy Birthday, Husband!

Yesterday, my husband turned the big 2-6. We celebrated with friends at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. It's a hibachi grill where they cook right in front of you at your table. Such great food that made fantastic leftovers! Thank you, everyone, for making John's birthday extra special :)

John, I love you so much and I can't imagine life with out you.
Happy Birthday, babe!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Love,
John & Jackie

Laundry Made Easier

And all we did was add a simple, wire shelf. We needed a quick fix in the laundry room and the answer was a shelf. We already had this wire shelf, except that it was three times longer than what we needed. So John just used wire cutters and cut it to out desired length. I added one of the baskets that we recently bought from Ikea to hold the detergent and dryer sheets. And now there's also a place for the iron and some hand towels. Perfect!

Much Needed Wall Decor

Ribba frames from Ikea + pictures taken on our 1 year anniversary trips = fabulous decor in our bedroom!

San Diego, CA

Atlanta, GA

Hilton Head, SC

Ball Ground, GA

Sight-Seeing in San Diego

After 16 hours, 550 miles and a short detour to Hollywood, we arrived at my aunt's house in San Diego. A fold out couch never looked so good. We were asleep the minute our heads hit the pillow and we awoke rested and ready for an adventure. Since this was John's first visit to San Diego, we decided to go on a sight-seeing tour led by non other than my mom and her sister. So we piled into my aunt's convertible Mercedes and hit the road.

Point of Interest #1: Downtown San Diego

Point of Interest #2: USS Midway

Point of Interest #3: Veteran's Memorial, complete with panoramic view of the city and the Pacific Ocean

San Diego Wildlife

San Diego Art

We also visited Balboa Park, which was a major part of my childhood. I would go visit my aunt and grandparents in San Diego and they would take me to Balboa Park to ride the Carousel. I loved that Carousel.

For lunch, we ate a fabulous Mexican restaurant in La Jolla. My mom and my aunt told us stories of their childhood when they spent summers with their grandma in La Jolla. It was so fun that John got to experience so many places that are so meaningful to my family. And my aunt was so sweet to be our tour guide.

Thanks Auntie!

3 Hours in Hollywood

The day after my sister's high school graduation, we piled into this...

...and made the 7 hour trek to Southern California. Mom and John in the front; me and Tanner in the back. (Tanner is one of my sister's best friends. He hitched a ride with us so he could spend some time hanging out with my sister in Hollywood.) My sister had to catch an early flight because she had to get back for a class. The 7 hour drive down the middle of California is....well, pretty uneventful. Lots of crops and cows. But once we made it over the Grapevine, it was only a few more miles to....

We dropped Tanner off at my sister's apartment, said hi to my sister, and then went to explore the town. Here's some snapshots of the 3 hours we spent on Hollywood Blvd.