a beautiful life

joshua 1:9, over and over. 

old manomet mems and a letter that never made it in time to the lovliest of nanas. but happy i got to lay it by her grave [and thankful TSA let this girl pass through after discovering sea glass and painted rocks in my suitcase]

so many beauties and so much love surrounded our nana and papa's grave

our most beautiful nana was escorted to God's hands last week by our incredibly missed and gentlemanly papa, the love of her life. there have been so many thoughts and feelings and prayers and hugs and smiles and tears shared between us all.  i am most certainly a feelings person, i wear them all on my sleeve, they are important, the highs and lows. and i am so thankful i was able to fly home last week and express just all those emotions that come with a death of a loved one with my parents and siblings and so many aunts and uncles and sweet, beautiful cousins. and in a letter i wrote to my nana that never made it in time.  [but oh it was read by her, that i know] 

there are those huge events that happen in your life, that hold such a special place in your heart, and sometimes for me, when they are occur, they feel much too sacred to share with the whole world yet.  and that is how i feel now. so i am short on words in this little outlet of mine, because so many seem so private. so sacred.  but  oh do i feel thankful and comforted to have had the opportunity to express them all with my family, the people who mean everything to me. our grandparents, they left behind a beautiful and incredibly close family, which i can imagine can be quite difficult when you have seven children, their spouses and nineteen grandchildren! but oh they did it. a close and loving family is what we are and what we will remain. and its something i dream of continuing, just as gracefully one day [just maaaybe not seven babes of my own!]

...our nana, she had a beautiful life. and i am so blessed to be one of hers. 4.7.14

bye bye march

so quick recap of life things! for the future me, reading this in a week or a month or a year from now.

1. evening sidewalk chalking while austin happily cleaned his tires and char ran free. the little things! you are our favorite and i can see this happening a whole lot this spring. and i like it. A LOT [said preferably like juan pablo]
2. girls pinkberry date and some bright pretties from my main man on the dreariest of days

3. rescued by first day of spring! and weeee were delighted.
4. sunbathing with my babe+nook+warm weather+orange in my drink! you complete me.

5. aaand after some sunning, we cooked out! hot dogs, top 10 fav warm weather food.
6. wedding things and non wedding things with a sweet bff of mine! [human girl is not pictured] but her puppy  is! [charlies energetic loving twin] and he was o-v-e-r all the boring talk and wanting to p-l-a-y. 

7. if  grilled cheese is on the menu. i reeeeally cant steer clear. at all. nothing saying i am 28 like grilled cheese and merlot. nothing!

8. puppy will shake for coffee. kind of how i will buy pjs that say i need coffee.

march!  you were a delicious one! beautiful happy weather, thanks for giving us a preview of your sweetness! all the strange rain and gloom and coldness, see ya next year!

happy april first! 

rabbit. rabbit. rabbit.

6 months!

back in november, my stone put the prettiest ring on it [me. i'm the it here!]  aand exactly six months from yesterday, i get to put a ring on him! and when the clock struck five-thirty yesterday evening, i got all goosebumpy and sentimental. and that's just me, six  months out! so my emotions the day of the wedding? they will be ever present i'm guessing! but at least they will be very, very happy ones!

so we celebrated with pf changs and our friends: sesame chicken, sushi, brown rice and lo mein and our tummys lived happily ever after

a bachelorette for my breastie!

the bridey to be

the cutest hostess and brains behind the bach/50 shades operation :)

over the weekend we had a surprise bachelorette party for one of my very best friends. [and my one and only breast friend thanks to three days and a lot pink] and at this party there might have been a pure romance lady there as well with a whole bunch  of things which actually went peeerfectly with the 50 shades of grey theme! celebrations are my thing and this one was a reeeally fun one and for the greatest of reasons! love and marriage and everything that awaits her in this next chapter of life! 

three years ago i wrote about a re-bachelorette party i had for my dearest breastie. and now! i get to write about being at her actual bachelorette. and that makes me just so, so happy! and a little teary eyed but in the best possible way.

so! like i believed three years ago, and even more so now today, we will all have our own, special happily ever after.  that i know because i've seen it in my life and hers and so many others. and for a lack of a better words, it. is. so. cool

[and yes there will be hardships and sucky things too but love and goodness always prevail!]

something brilliant

pictures stolen via group text from col 

my brother, he and friends were actually home in nash surprisingly for st patricks day this year, so celebrate they will! except, first bar they went into, full. and the next bar? fullll. so then it was decided that they would go to a mexican restaurant. and they would celebrate cinco de mayo. on st patricks day. and in return, st patricks day will be celebrated on cinco de mayo. even a holiday stickler like myself thinks its a such a brilliant idea. and also. it made me laugh quite a bit, so thanks for that col! ooooo-lay! 

one point five on st. paddys day!

i like my holidays and celebrations, they make my world go round and all that good stuff. i, chelsea coleen, my person - mind - body- heart- they operate that way. it brings me joy. and a good bit of that is thanks to those parents of mine. they like their holidays and celebrations too and you know, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!! nope, not  here. so when you combine a birthday [even a half birthday. even a half bday for a puppy by the name of charlie, lets say] and the st patrick's day holiday. and you happen to be half irish like this girl, welllllllll! o'lad, its in my dna to properly celebrate both.

i love my parents for a million reasons of course. but one especially, is all the thought and detail they have put into the little things over the years. likeee st patricks day. growing up, every time the holiday rolled around we would wake up to little mementos left by the wee little leprechaun.  green milk! green toilet water! green, green, green! and so my parents have been empty nesters for a couple of years now [what! how did that happen so fast?!]  but we like our tradition. so, yesterday morning the leprechaun that is my dad got up and got out the green dye, and the irish soda bread, and a a big ole piece of manomet green sea glass to set the mood. it’s such a myyy dad thing to do. and if you know him you  know what i am talking about.  its one of his greatest traits. and when he sent us all an email with a picture of his smiling face and the milk and the bread and the sea glass, it made me a weee bit homesick. and a lot of bit proud to just be related to these people of mine.

so anyways!  green dye on my part was bought as well! and we made sure to celebrate the holiday with green drinks and such and alsooo celebrate sir Charles half bday. green balloons for all! couldn’t help it!! its in my dna remember?? and it doesn’t help when party city is a whole half a mile away. so, happy half bday my char! makes me think back to  last year when i celebrated single mom style while my stone at at spring training.  but this year, totally different story.  he's here! i like this story even better.

previews of spring

we have really been enjoying our days with an extra hour of sunshine! it makes all the difference sometimes! especially after long work days. so we have been spending a couple of our evenings hanging by the pool in sweatshirts and shorts soaking it all in.  and you know, two days this week, consisted of bathing suit wearing and pool going! the very best. we pulled out our flip flops and austin wore his yellow shirt from winter wardrobe retirement and it felt nice! a good preview of what spring and the warmer months have in store for us. but no bathing suit wearing today. no its cold today. and its been a weird week of weather but we still have that extra hour of light! so i'll take it.  but besides all that weather loving. we also had a fuuuull house last weekend! we dog sat for a bff of mine's doggie, who also happens to be charlies bff. and they were two happy peas in a pod.  one morning it was just me, letting the puppies out, while it was raining, leashless and i mean that was a bit of work - mainly charlie running around like he hasnt seen the outdoors in years. kIdZ! they are exhausting.

see you soon spring, officially, officailly!