{A Very Late} Weekend Wrap Up: Quick Trip to Tampa + A Gorgeous Wedding!

 I am perfectly aware that it is currently Friday and I am just now posting about this fantastic past weekend...that's just how I roll these days. 

So, since my mom now lives in Florida and I only have class on tuesdays and thursdays, I was able to come out for the weekend to attend my (2nd) cousin's wedding! (Also because we found a super cheap ticket. 

I packed up Friday afternoon and headed out to the airport. And because it's just just my luck, the plane was delayed by 3 hours so I didn't end up arriving at my Aunt's house until late that night. 

Saturday:

We woke up early (to my college standards) and decided to head out to another Goodwill in the metroplex that we hadn't been to before. It was a really good one and I ended up with a pair of chucks, KED slip ons and a few cute tops. Side note: you should've seen me trying to shove those in my small 'personal item' to carry on the plane. 

When we got back, it was already time to get ready for the wedding!

My mom's cousin (my second cousin) Sara was getting married.

The wedding took place in a gorgeous country club in Tampa and the actual ceremony was in this breathtaking garden with trees canopying the gazebo where they stood. 

 She made such a beautiful bride...I fell in love with her dress!

Here are some pictures we took before the ceremony:

My Nana and Papa and I

My cousins and my youngest brother...aren't they handsome?

My beautiful aunt and I

My cousins, brother and mom!

Stealing kisses from my cousin, Matthew ;)

Then it was time for the best part...the reception!!

While I don't dance (must be a family thing because no one else in our little clan does either!), we still had a blast. 

I introduced Matthew to the greatness of Shirley Temples!

All of the Dixon/Abells/Hamiltons/ Greens!

 Let's see (going sorta clockwise) that's the bride's dad Waymon, his wife Dianne, my Nana's other brother, Ted, my aunt Tee, my mom, my brother Addison, my twin cousins Jake and Tyler, my Nana and Papa, Ted's son Jason and his fiancee Nicole and finally me and Matthew in the front!

Whew, that's a lot.

The night ended with me being the DD and running through McDonalds for a a late night junk food run.

So many fun memories I'll have from this day!

Sunday:

Sunday morning my mom, Addison, my cousins Jake and Matthew headed out to the beach. Yep. You read that right, it's October and we went to the beach. Gotta love Florida!

Now, I didn't say it wasn't chilly... hehe

We found an alive jellyfish! It was so cool.

We concluded the afternoon eating the best chicken I've ever had at this little shack called Ya-Yas.

The rest of the evening was spent relaxing and spending quality time with the fam...especially this sweet girl that I missed so much.

Monday:

Monday morning after getting all the cousins off to school, Addison, my mom and I got donuts at the one and only Dunkin, then went out to the coolest music store ever...seriously!

The building used to be the most ritzy, fancy restaurant in the 80's that had the prettiest architecture and these glam chandeliers...there's even a fancy garden that houses hundreds of statues. 

You can read more about the history here.

It went out of business and now the gorgeous building houses a music store. It's kind of sad to see how fancy this place used to be and how different it is now, but I thought seeing all those bad-a** guitars juxtaposed against the chic, vintage decor was kinda neat. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon touring USF Tampa (such a beautiful campus!), eating Chinese with sweet Matthew and packing me up to head back to the big D. 

The end came way too fast (please refrain from a 'That's what she said' joke).

Before I knew it I was back in Dtown. The plane ride was pretty cool because I got to see downtown Dallas and even the State Fair!

This is the only picture I could get and it's pretty crappy...sorry.

I had so much fun spending time with family and visiting the great state of Florida!