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So many of our family members and friends do not live around us and we wanted a way to share our adventure through life together with all of you

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Honeymooning the St.Lucian Way

Three months after saying 'I Do' James and I left on our long awaited honeymoon to St.Lucia. It is the first vacation for the both of us in a long time, and the first time James has left the country. We had both been looking forward to this for quite some time as it meant 10 whole days of relaxation without the interruption of work, cell phones and laptops. We hit a little snag before we had even left, our flight from Miami to St. Lucia was cancelled due to hurricane Thomas, luckily we were able to leave just one day later and our stay was pushed back one day so we didn't lose any time. One nice thing out of this was the very kind person at American Airlines bumped us to first class! We drank champagne and ate like kings the entire flight:) We were so excited once we landed in St.Lucia, it was awesome to be back in the heat. We soon saw first hand the damage the hurricane had done. Some of the roads leading to the resort had been washed out so instead on taking a shuttle to the resort we had to take a boat. We got to see nearly the whole island, what a great surprise. The island is just beautiful!!! It is mountinous, so green, the waters are so blue, exactly what you see on International House Hunters lol. The people we so friendly and laid back, their motto, which I am going to adopt is; "no pressure, no problem". We stayed at Sandals Regency and the resort was more than we could have imagined. As soon as we walked in the lobby we were greeted with views of the Atlantic Ocean. Our room sat on the edge of a cliff with the ocean right beneath us, its was stunning and the best thing to wake up to every morning. Most days we ate the most amazing buffet breakfast with mimosas, which are my favorite. We would hangout with the pool until the sun would go down. Taking frequent dips in the pool, with many visits to the swim up pool bar, and walking over to Neptunes for lunch on the beach. After a long day by the pool:) we would eat dinner at one of the 9 restaurants on the resort and then have a drink overlooking the ocean, hangout in the English pub the Cricketer, or watch the entertainment in the pavillion. Armando's, the Italian restaurant was one of our favorites, they had the best ceasar salad! We ate at the Japanese steakhouse, Kimono's which was fabulous and very entertaining. James was in heaven as he got to eat calamari everyday. Needless to say we are now eating salads everyday until Christmas.

We did do a couple of excurions while we were there. With a little encouragement from James we decided to go ziplining in the rain forest. I was all for it until I heard the height of the tallest line; 280ft..hence the encouragement from James. Our tour guide, Simple was hilarious. We got to learn about the price of property on the island, $200,000 can buy you a very nice house. The average salary ins $25 per day, and even though they think Americans are spoiled they appreicate all the business we bring to their island. In exchange we taught Simple some American slang, baffled his mind when we explained that in America you can't drink and drive, and taught him about tailgating. Ziplining was a lot of fun and I'm glad we did it. On this excursion we also got to taste the local spiced rum, which in America costs $500 a bottle, which I'm not sure why because at 160 proof it was dsigusting.

The excursion I was most excited about was the ATV tour. We each took an ATV over the mountains down to a private beach where we really got to let go on the ATVs. We went over sand dunes, around sand banks and basically really fast. We also got to go in the ocean which felt great in the hot sun.

We also treated ourselves to an hour long couples massage overlooking the beach. I dont think either of us have felt that relaxed in years. We had the best 10 days together and can't wait until we can go on vacation again, and I think we can safely say we wont be waiting for more than a year until the next one.






Monday, August 16, 2010

A New Addition to the Family

Both James and I have always wanted a puppy and with this big house to ourselves we decided it needed to be sooner rather than later, so 6 days after our wedding, we bought ourselves the cutest wedding present EVER!!!! His name is Cisco (yes after the networking equipment) and he is an 8 week old Yorkie. As you can see from his picture he is the cutests thing ever and we love him to death already. He has an awesome set up in our family room with his crate for sleeping and eating which then has a large play pen around it so he can run around until he wears himself out. The next few weeks are going to be an adventure potty training the little guy thats for sure!
Our Little Man Cisco Prendergast


Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Mr & Mrs Prendergast

As of August 8th 2010 around 5:30pm James and I officially became Mr & Mrs Prendergast!!! It is hard to believe that it took 1 year and 8 months to get to this day. At one point I remember it feeling like the day was a lifetime away, the next thing I knew it was right around the corner. I can honestly say I have enjoyed every minute of planning our wedding. Even though it was a tough road to get to the big day (both of us losing jobs, moving to Pittsburgh and back, etc) it was all worth it and I wouldn't change a thing.
For me the wedding celebrations began on Wednesday August 4th, as that is when Mum, Paul, Steven and Grandma Smith arrived. During the day I picked up my wedding dress, which seemed unreal! Once everyone had arrived we had a nie BBQ with all of our family and got a chance to catch up. I hadn't seen Steven and Paul since 2008! We even introduced them to RockBand.
Thursday was a busy day, as was everyday leading up to the wedding. We picked up Becca, one of my oldest friends and my maid of honor first thing in the morning, and then headed to Mens Warehouse to pick up the guys tuxes. Needless to say that was an adventure all in itself, mainly because Chris' pants looked like clown pants, think pants hemmed to the knees and the crotch down to his ankles, it was a disaster. The guy PROMISED us a smaller size on Saturday. The next stop was checking into the Doubletree hotel in Plymouth Meeting. The place was sooo nice and the staff were amazing our entire stay there. The afternoon bought another airport pickup, this time Grandma and Grandad Banfield and Leona, one of my matrons of honor. It was so nice to have all of the family together again! Thursday night, the guys took James out on a boys night to Ocean City, MD. Meanwhile Becca and I ran up a $150 bar tab in less than 2 hours. Do not ask how we did that lol.
Friday was our bachelor/bachelorette parties and I was so excited. First us girls (Leona, Bec, Tara, Mum, Grandma and Grandad) went horseback riding. Grandad was made an honory woman for the morning as he has always wanted to ride a horse and at age 73 I thought it was about time that happened. Minus me loosing my sunglasses we all came away uninjured and had the best time! After getting cleaned up myself, Bec, Leona, Tara and Kim went and had a relaxing afternoon by getting manicures and pedicures. James and I had decided from day one that we wanted a joint bachelor bachelorette party so James came up with the idea of having a house party as when he thought of the best times with his friends they were always at a house party versus going out. Beforehand though we all (bridal party plus their dates) went to dinner at Iron Hill Brewery. It is one of my favorite restaurants and the food is beyond amazing. The party was at our house and Tara did an awesome job of bringing games like bago, and setting up beer pong and flip cup. I know both James and I loved getting to spend time with our closest friends. Some of us, hmm Dave & Steven, did not feel so well in the morning:)
Saturday, the day of our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner was probably the most stressful day from the past year and a half. To being, we had major problems with our bank and them freezing all of our money due to an error on their behalf. Secondly, we went to Mens Warehouse to pick up Chris' pants that were supposed to be the correct size. The smaller size made no difference at all and resulted in my Mum and Grandma buying Chris black dress pants. By the time we got to the rehearsal and dinner things had calmed down and we got to enjoy ourselves with all those that we love so much.
When I woke up on the morning on the wedding I was so calm, all of the stress from the day before had disappeared. That may have something to do with the fact that Leona gave me a muscle relaxer before I went to bed:) I spent the morning hanging with the girls getting our hair and makeup done. The morning felt like it dragged but from the second I stepped into my dress the day flew by. Before the wedding everyone kept telling us to take time to enjoy the day, and even though we did we felt like it went by in a blink of an eye. I remember being so antsy to see James and when I first saw him as I was walking down the aisle it felt like everyone disappeared and everything else stopped. I know I had the biggest smile on my face as did he. And my goal of making him cry was met. The whole ceremony I was giddy and Rob, the officiant did an amazing job of stressing the importance of marriage, yet making it personable. Saying those vows to the person you love more than anything in the world is incredible and is beyond anything that you can imagine. When we were announced Mr & Mrs Prendergast we both had tears in our eyes. The entire wedding was a fairytale for me, it was beyond anything I had imagined when I pictured my wedding day. The florist blew me away, she nailed exactly what I had envisioned. My dress was beautiful and looks gorgeous in the photos. I could keep gushing about the day forever but I would like to say thank you to EVERYONE who was involved in our wedding day. Each and every one of your are so important to both James and I and the day would not have been as special if you all weren't there.
We have a million photos from people, and we dont even have the professional pics yet. Here are the links to see everything about our amazing day!

Wedding Photos I
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044843

Wedding Photos II
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044845

Wedding Rehearsal and Dinner
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044840

PreWedding Festivities
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044837

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Welcome to Our Home

It is official...we are finally moved in!!! It was a lot of work, a lot of painting & cleaning but it was all worth it :) The move into this house was much easier than the move to Pittsburgh as we didn't have to drive 300 miles and then unpack, this time it was 2 miles down the road. Also instead of just me and James moving the 50 million boxes of stuff we have, we also had the help of my Dad, my brother David and Anthony. The help was much appreciated and we had everythig out of storage and into the house in about 2 hours! While the guys unloaded the truck i unpacked. By the end of the day we had all of the essentials out of the boxes, you could build a great fort with the boxes outside of our garage lol. Today (Sunday) I hung a few photos and got things a little more organized. Our next door neighbors came by with a little gift and a welcome to the neighborhood. They have 2 children and their 1 year old son proceeded to tell us how an old lady used to live here and died in the house...AWESOME!!! We also went to Bed Bath & Beyond and did some guilt free shopping thanks to the gift cards we had received at the shower. We ended the moving weekend with our first home cooked meal in the house. I made homemade montery jack turkey burgers and James manned the grill. Here are a few updated photos since we have painted and moved into the house.

































Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Photos From Shower

Here are a few shots from the shower:


Mum, Me & Grandma

Jen, Me & Dad

The reason this shower happened!


I had no idea Mum & Grandma were coming over for the shower




The veil that Jen made for me, love it!

My ribbon bouquet made by Vanessa


Leona & I

The best bridesmaids EVER!









Monday, May 31, 2010

Wedding Shower Weekend

I have been looking forward to this weekend for the longest time, mostly because I couldn't wait to be in the same room as my best friends, I thought I knew most of the details about the shower but as it turned out I knew nothing at all.

Becca, my first friend in the USA, arrived late late late Thursday night and we got to spend the entire day together on Friday. We had my second dress fitting and Becca was taught how to bustle my dress and put me in it, which let me tell you is quite a process. We got cheesesteaks and relaxed the rest of the afternoon as I had come down with a sinus infection! Friday evening Leona, one of my bestest friends, landed on Friday evening. As far as I was concerned everyone who was supposed to be here, minus Vanessa who was arriving the next day, was here and the party could begin. All us girls sat up talking all night reminicing about high school and college days and filling Tara in on all of our funny stories.

Saturday James came to hangout with me while all the girls went to my parents house to prepare for the shower which was the following day, or so I thought. We went and saw Shrek in 3D which was awesome btw. The plan was I was meeting the girls at Dad and Jens house so we could all then go out in West Chester. Well once I walked into the house I realized quickly those plans were no longer as there was about 30 people yelling SURPRISE!!! My shower was actually Saturday. Good job to all of you who pulled one over on me. I was overwhelmed just with that surprise but there was more to come. I was told to close my eyes and when I opened them my Mum and my Grandma Banfield were standing in front of me and had flown all the way from England the day before. At this point it all became too much and I started crying, as did most of the room. The shower was more than I could ever have imagined. The bridal party, Jen, Anita, Mom, Mum & Grandma worked so hard to make sure the place looked beautiful and everyone had a great time. We played some games, Leona made the best slideshow of James and I growing up, Jen gave me my veil that she made, my family put together an English goodie basket and photo albums. I got to meet some of James family that I hadn't had the chance to meet in the past and it was great to do so. Honestly it was overwhelming to see how many people showed up or sent their 'good wishes' and show how much they care about James and I as we get ready to become husband and wife.

The weather this weekend was beautiful so Bill and Mom threw a little BBQ for my friends that were in town and my Mum and Grandma. It was so nice that they got to meet after they had apparently all been talking via email for the past 6 months! We went out on Sunday night and were entertained by James, David and Leona doing some karaoke. We ended the best weekend by moving some of our things into our new house which we now have the keys for and can officially move in:)

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Come See Our House

We were able to get into our soon to be house today so we could take measurements for area rugs and blinds, and decide on paint colors as we are going to start painting next weekend! While we were there I took some photos so you could see what will soon be our home. Hope you enjoy!



The front porch
The foyer
The living room
The chandelier in the dining room
The kitchen
The family room
The back garden
The sun porch

Master Bedroom