Thank you....

WEDDING SHOWER

Last weekend our mother's and my bridesmaids threw us a very beautiful wedding shower. 

It was a great day spent with family and friends! I am so thankful for all of you that could make it from near and far.
A special THANK YOU to our mother's and my bridesmaids for putting on this great day.
I couldn't have asked for anything more!!
I cant believe we are less than 6 months away from being MARRIED!!
Below are a few pictures from the day.

Ben and I when we first got there. (Before he did what most guys do... golf)

The entry sign

My mother and I

My Bridesmaids!!!

The SNHU Girls

The BEST cake EVER!!!

#weddingwednesday...

Happy #weddingwednesday 

I can’t believe we are 6 months out from our WEDDING!!!

I feel like just yesterday we got engaged but we are coming up on our 1 year for that. {It is crazy how fast time goes by}

We have been working on finalizing:

Flowers – Centerpieces – Bouquets – Boutonnieres – Mothers Flowers

We {I} because let’s get real Ben could care less about the flowers. This has been one of the hardest decisions yet. 

(harder than picking my wedding dress)

I have been calling around to florist in the area and either they are booked or they want some crazy amount of $$$. I get the work that is put into these but they are pretty much dead the next day and to be told prices higher than what we are paying for our photographer (2) is crazy to me. I decided to think outside the box and go to our local Wholefoods and see what they could do. I had read about other brides doing this but I needed to see for my own eyes. Your local food store doing wedding flowers? It just didn’t seem real to me but  I talked to the florist for a long time and she made me a smaller arrangement of what I was looking for (for FREE) and I took it home to see what we thought of it. We {I} went back and forth with this idea for over a month because I just couldn’t decide but this weekend I finalized it all!!! We are going with Wholefoods… We will have a mix of flowers and candles for a centerpieces. We are providing our own vases and getting a discount for that. We ordered vases off Amazon and at our local Homegoods. The price difference from a florist and a food store is crazy… We are paying less than ¼ of the quote a florist gave us and I’m sure these food stores are one day going to take over the wedding world due to the price difference. I will be writing a full review after our wedding about how it went and a picture of everything but till then we will all have to wait!!! 

This is a big lift off my shoulders and now on to the next items:

Grooms/ wedding party Tux

FOOD & CAKE (our tastings are booked for August)

And the list goes on….

Have a great Wednesday!!!

~~Courtney~~

INSPIRATION WEDNESDAY: Casual Date Night Outfit...

INSPIRATION WEDNESDAY: CASUAL DATE NIGHT OUTFIT by ablackstoneway featuring a long sleeve tee

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

With the weather in New England so up and down lately, I thought I would post my go to casual date night outfit! I love a good pair of jeans and a black shirt any day. These two things can be dressed up or dressed down and still look great. 

~~Courtney~~

Shower Outfits....

Shower Outfits by ablackstoneway featuring leather pumps

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

I am on the hunt for a bridal shower outfit... I am looking for something that is not your traditional white sun dress. I am thinking more pink (I know weird) If you know me I pretty much wear black, grey, navy and def not pink but for some reason I am really liking pink for my dress. I pinned a few different styles because I am not sure what I want but I do LOVE this Rachel Parcell (RP Classic Dress). Let me know what you think or if you know of a dress I should look at!!! 

Have a great day!

~~Courtney~~

Summer Inspiration....

J Crew Finds by ablackstoneway featuring uv protection sunglasses

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!!

I am hoping this post will keep the warm weather coming here in New England. I had a late mothers day with my mother due to work and we went shopping at the outlets. I found some great deals and I can't wait to wear these items (once it gets a little warmer here) but I wanted to share them with you. 

These iteam's will be a great mix for day and night due to the unknown weather here. 

I am always cold and this sweater is nice and light for cooler days/nights! 

This tank is fun (love this pineapple print). Great for a more laid back look.

These shorts are so comfortable and I have them in a few other colors. 

I am in-love with these gladiator sandals and know they are going to have a big repeat showing here on the blog!

Last, you can never have too many sunglasses!!! 

Go over to J Crew Factory and check out their great deals they are having!

~~Courtney~~

Housewarming Gift Idea....

Good Morning Everyone!! 

This past weekend was really BUSY for us. Saturday Ben had to work and I had a baby shower during the day and we had a housewarming that night. The baby shower was an Alice in Wonderland theme and it was so cute. The mother-to-be looked so happy and great for a month out!!! 

The housewarming party was really fun too!!!!

I wanted to share a really cute and easy housewarming gift idea today. I found this great cook book: The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook ( I really want this book)

We also got some kitchen supplies: some drying towels, oven mitts, and some cooking items.

Instead of using wrapping paper or a basket I thought it would be cool to use the dish towels:

I placed the book on the black dishtowel. 

Then I wrapped it

After I wrapped it, I placed the other towel, hand mitts and kitchen tools on top

Then I wrapped it with ribbon!!! 

 

I feel like this was such a cute idea and can't wait to have more housewarming events to attend!!!! 

All these items came from Target and they have some really cute stuff this season!!! 

Hope you have a great Tuesday!!!

~~Courtney~~

Flash Back Friday....

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

I wanted to give you a sneak peek at one of my favorite pictures from our engagement session!! 

(That I have seen)

(Note: this is not one of our professional pictures. Ben's sister took a few while watching our dear Lincoln and this is one she sent me.) 

This was our relaxed look and I really love the use of the blanket. Even though it was not the best "hair" day (humid/ overcast with a little sprinkle here and there) I am sure our photographers got a some great pictures for us. All I remember is them saying "Ben make her laugh"!! 

 I can't wait to get our pictures and to have them on display in our house... 

I hope everyone has a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!!

~~Courtney~~

Living room Inspiration...

Happy Thursday Everyone!!

We are in the process of making our house a home one room at a time!!!

Right now we are working on our living room and I wanted to share a few key items we are on the hunt for... 

1.  A rug - We are looking for a neutral color with a pop of navy blue!! (i love navy blue)
2. Two bookcases to go on each side of our sliding door- I am in love with these gold bookcases and want them sooooo bad.
3. A circle coffee table - We are looking for a circle table because of the way our sectional is placed. I love the idea of this table with the two levels because it could be great for when we have more people over. 
4. A leather accent chair - We want a leather chair to add some character!!! 

I can't wait you show you the final product once it is all done! 

Stay tuned on how we are making this "house a home!!"

Wedding Update...

Happy Tuesday Morning!

This is a little background story...

We got engaged this past August in Owls Head Maine and we have been planning our special day ever since! We are getting married on NYE 2016 in Salem, Ma at Colonial Hall at the Rockafella. We wanted to do something different not your typical summer wedding here in New England. So we are taking a weather risk and going all out on NYE!!!

Now on to the wedding update…

This weekend we finalized a few big tasks we had on our wedding plate but still have much much more to do!!

• We got our engagement pictures taken! We got to have Lincoln be a part of this special             occasion with the help of Ben’s sister Katie! We are both thankful she was able to come and let Lincoln pull her around the woods for a few hours.
• We finally got to ask our officiate if they would be part of our special day and they said YES!!!(We are not letting that cat out of the bag just yet on this but it is someone that has always been there for us….)
• The Bridesmaid dresses are picked (now to finalize the order)
• We have our rehearsal dinner location all picked out (we are a little out of order but couldn't pass up on this location) 

Next on this list to finish/do....

• Florist (just need to finalize a few things but almost done)
• Transportation
• Grooms Tuxes
• FOOD 

Friday...

Happy Friday Everyone!!

I am so excited for this weekend because we are taking our engagement photos (FINALLY)!!!

I hope this crazy New England rain storm holds off and we can get some nice pictures at Middlesex Fells but if not don't worry I have an UMBRELLA and we will make the best of it!!! 

I hope all you MOTHERS out there have a great weekend!!!

XOXO Courtney 

#TBT...

Happy Thursday Everyone!!

I am doing a #TBT to one of the best things that has happened to Ben and I, LINCOLN!!!

The shelter that we got Lincoln from has declared this week Black Dog Celebration Week! I guess there is a lot of problems in shelters with finding homes for dark colored dogs L. I don’t understand why but I wanted to recognize this lovable guy this week. We got him a year ago in April at 3 months old by finding his ad on pet finder and Ben “humored” my want to go look at him but when he saw him and the way I looked at him Ben knew we were not leaving without him. Lincoln was at Shultz's Guest House in Dedham, MA. If anyone in the New England area is looking for a dog please go check this place out. We couldn’t have been happier working with them and look forward to working with them again soon with #2!!   

XOXO Courtney

Breakfast on the go.....

Happy Wednesday Morning! 

Today I wanted to share with you my go-to breakfast drink. I have this every morning to get my day started because it has all the vitamins and nutrition I need to not burnout during my busy day.....

                                   

                                       Top: H&M  /  Bottoms: Gap  /  Shoes: LL Bean Slippers

(Lincoln is not a morning person like his mother)

Ingredients: (1 serving)
~ 1 cup of ice

~ 1 cup of Almond Milk (I use unsweetened original) 

~ 1 cup of water

~ 1 Banana

~ 1 TBS of powdered pb

~ 1 scoop of Vegan Chocolate Shakeology (favorite flavor)

Instructions:

~ Place the ice, banana, mike and water in the blender.

~ Then place the rest of the ingredients in and blend.

~ You could add granola to the top for show!!!

Making a House....

Making a House a Home!!! 

We have been in our house for a year now and slowly making it our own. 

Here is my first home makeover post!!!

We had a closet by the garage door that turned into "our hide things from the guest black hole". I always loved those new homes with the mud room and wanted one for our home. 

I told my fiance and him and his dad went hard to work!

This is the outline we used but made a few changes to make it our own!

Here is the blank canvas. 

There was closet built-ins and doors but they were all taken off before I got the first picture. 

The base was built and placed in/ nailed to the wall for support. 

(They pretty much used the measurement from the outline)

Nail gun hard at work to support the top shelve.

Almost finished!!!!

(This project took about two weekends to finish)

All painted and now time for the hooks and a few final touches.....

The final product!!!

I couldn't be happier with the final product!! Now when we come in from the garage we have a great area to use and not have everything all over the kitchen.

Thanks for reading and hope you come back soon.

Courtney

Welcome....

Never too far from me...

He loves to look out the window from this spot...

Hi Everyone,

My name is Courtney and I am the creator of “A Blackstone Way”.

My family and I have had a lot of great stuff happen over the last few years from buying our first home, getting our first dog together, to getting engaged/plan a wedding! I wanted to create an outlet to document our journey in life from decorating our new home, planning our wedding, all the races I love to run and my ever changing and growing closet!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back soon!