Guest Blogger: A Tale of Two Courtneys

When my daughter Laila was born this past August, we announced that her middle name would be Courtney. Collin and I decided it was the only logical middle name to bestow upon her, given how our love story began…

Back in 1988, both of our mothers had baby girls and chose to name them Courtney. Flash forward five years, and the girls meet at Grace Chapel’s nursery school and decide they will be friends because it’s cool to have the same name. Our sisters became close friends, which allowed for our families to grow close as well.  The two Courtneys would have play dates often, and our families would spend holidays together and go to the Vataha house to watch the Super Bowl every year.

an example of the fun that was had by these little girls

(and what a great big brother my husband is!)

Courtney V had two super cute older brothers and I took a special liking to the oldest one. Our sisters continued to stay friends over the years, which allowed me more and more opportunities to see Collin. Of course, he was way out of my league because he was four years older than me, but a girl can dream, right? My crush turned into somewhat of a joke between my family and friends…I had a picture of Collin in my wallet and my locker – and called him my future husband. As a joke one year, a friend put his picture on a pillowcase that I then slept with for a while. Sounds stalker-ish, I know, but it really wasn’t – he was so unattainable (I thought) that it was always just a silly game. 

who wouldn't want to date this stud muffin?

There’s a lot that happened in between, but ultimately you know the outcome…he offered to be my junior prom date, we became boyfriend/girlfriend, got engaged and just celebrated 6 years of marriage and welcomed a beautiful baby girl…

our precious laila bug - born August 13, 2010

 

All of that to say that we love our Courtneys so very much and our lives wouldn’t be what they are if those little girls hadn’t become friends.  We are so thankful for them and are so blessed to have them as our sisters. Laila is going to love spending time with Auntie CoCo and Auntie CoDi and someday they can tell her the story of how her parents got together and why she got her middle name.

You can see the rest of Laila's journey on my blog here.

opi never fails

http://thevatahas.blogspot.com

a busy weekend.

saturday night, jeff, me, will, christina, elias and nicole 

ventured on a triple date in cambridge. 

sunday was a day filled with patriots, raffle tickets and a charity for kids. i won $100 gift card to maggianos 

{which is a REAL treat when you are dating a man in law school}

 and i won a trip for 10 to the cape to go wine tasting.

 i was real excited to say the least- the pictures don't do it justice. 

the unnatural world.

{found here}

a memory maker and a bushel of apples later.

a few weekends ago, my good friends, jess and laura, and i decided to spend a night up at jess' parents house in Kennebunkport, Maine. her place is absolutely breathtaking. situated right on goose rocks beach and a ten minute ride from "the port". not to mention that a 

famous hollywood director rents this beach retreat out every summer for a month. 

when you wake up in the morning and smell a fresh pot of coffee and see the ocean glistening through the shutters, the view is simply glorious. i often daydream of her house. 

have i mentioned how amazing it is?!

anyways, i digress. we decided to do the "fall thing" and go apple picking and make some apple crisp. we ventured to giles family farm, it was the closest one and gorgeous views of the fall foliage. 

before we went apple picking we decided that we needed to document our trip, 

but i, the photographer of my friends, 

forgot my camera. 

so we decided to go to the country store and see if they still sold disposable cameras. 

we were shamed to be seen buying one, but 12 dollars later, we had that yellow memory maker in our hands and off we went to pick some apples. 

here are a few pictures from the weekend 

{pretty good photo quality for being a disposable, i might add}

the sales clerk documenting us buying an ancient camera

having some lunch near the marina pier in the port

enjoying some oktoberfest

walking through the port

we had to put our apple stick in one picture, c'mon.

jess, the farmer.

posed, i know.

laura, doing her thang.

trying to get the view in the background.

apple spokeswoman.

we didn't buy any pumpkins, oh well.

a successful girls weekend.

thoughts?

i know what i think about this issue. i would love to hear your thoughts. its a judgement free zone.

fall designs.

Now that I have an income (well more like an allowance), I will take all of these please. 
Thanks!
{Found Here}

And about that bag from K. Spade that I bought...It was way too small. 
But now I am really digging these fall bags from Emma Fox. 
My friend Nicole introduced me to them and they are unique and workable. 
Also if you live near the Bedford area, you can get them at T.J. Maxx or Marshalls for 
half the price. 
You gotta love living near the best branch stores in the United States. 

click on this video to make you smile. 

the precious laila.

have a great weekend everybody.