Blush & Gray: Autumn Rebirth & Anniversary trip to Miami!

I'm back! It's been two months since I've come on here to do my thing. I took some time off to get refocused for the Autumn season and I wanted to give the site a fresh new look.
Soooooo what do you think of the new digs? ;)
Do you like the new design? It's much easier to keep in touch and see what I'm up to on Pinterest and Instagram for those who don't follow. And, I think it's so pretty if I don't say so myself, thanks to this young lady right here: Kay Brighton Designs.
If you're reading this Kay, many, many thanks!

I have so much to share in the upcoming weeks.
Been doing some shoppin', some decoratin', some cookin', some Fall fashion recon.....
I'm ready to go!

As some of you may or may not know, October 3rd was my one year wedding anniversary. It is completely insane that I've already got one year down in the books. I feel like I just said yes to the man! I'm still considered a newlywed, right? I LOVE being a newlywed and I'm not ready to give up that status just yet!

To celebrate, we decided to spend the weekend in Miami. I have never been to Miami (I know, I know, how is that possible?) and it's been on my bucket list for some time now so when we were thinking of something fun and celebratory to do, it just made sense.
I figured I would share the trip as my first "welcome back" post for fun.

But before we get into the pics, I wanted to touch on the anniversary gifts.
In celebrating with John, I wanted to revisit the traditional way of anniversary gift giving via "the list". For those not familiar with the list, there's this old as time list of anniversaries by the year and for every year listed, there is a certain material or theme gift that you give each other or to another couple celebrating their anniversary. It's been updated since then so here is a breakdown of both the traditional list and the modern list when purchasing an anniversary gift.

First anniversary gift by the traditional list is paper. First anniversary gift by the modern list is clocks. I was going back and forth on how to be creative and driving myself crazy to keep within these lists and still get the perfect gift. Then on my couch one evening, it randomly hit me.
Plane tickets to Miami IS paper..... and we took the week off of work to spend together which IS time. Without even knowing it, I already solved my own problem!
So if anyone is interested in giving gifts by "the lists", I think you should check them out. It's a really fun (and traditional) way to get creative when giving your loved one something special.

I am particularly looking forward to my 2nd year anniversary gifts which are "cotton" by traditional list and "china" by modern list. UMMMMMMMM cotton and china????
Do you know what I could do with cotton and china? Hello hot pink Burberry scarf and Kate Spade champagne flutes! OK,enough of my rambling and greed. Here are some of my favorite shots from our trip....

Airport styling is one of my favorite things. I don't know why, really. I think just because back in the days, flying was such a glamorous thing. Both women and men really wore their best and always made it a point to look fabulous when taking a trip. Obviously, I wont be wearing white long gloves and a gown on a plane these days, but I still think it's important to look put together and polished and not schlubby when traveling.

For those curious, we stayed at the Grand Beach Hotel in Miami Beach and couldn't have been happier. It was a beautiful hotel with excellent amenities and especially accommodating and friendly staff. Gorgeous pools and beach. Clean and elegant. If I went back to Miami, I would absolutely stay here again.

This picture right on top was my view from our room to the right.....and the bottom picture was the view of the bay and the city to the left. Gorgeous. And the room was so gorgeous - I took no pics of the room! HELLO?! What was I thinking? Maybe my husband took some....

Pool side!

The ocean was especially pretty and relaxing.....until I got stung by a jellyfish. Thank goodness it was very mild. Needless to say, I spent the rest of my time on dry land and the pool where the only creatures I needed to watch out for were the kids on vacation doing belly flops over my head. =)