Livefit update

So, I am currently in Phase 2 of the live fit trainer and going through the holidays has been a bit of a challenge to keep up with everything. We have been doing a pretty good job, but not perfect, which I am completely ok with given its life and stuff happens but I am ready for the holidays to be over and be back to a regular schedule. I have been lacking motivation to cook and prep meals the last two weeks, with our anniversary, christmas eve and christmas chaos I found it hard to keep on course this week too because I got sick. Everything is just kind of out of whack these past two weeks so I will be very glad to get back to a regular schedule, gain my motivation back and get things back on track! I am proud to say that we have been going to the gym 6 days a week leading up to the holidays and we do our best to make healthy decisions (with of course off days over the holidays). I haven't let any of the slip offs make me "feel bad" or anything like that because we have still been getting to the gym. I realize my results probably won't be the best they could have been had I stayed true to the program the entire way through but again, its a lifestyle change and I am just rolling with it and doing my best.

We will probably face another challenge when we move in a few weeks, but hopefully we won't have to miss too many meals/workouts during that time. I am sure we will miss some because moving is a pain in the butt and VERY time consuming and exhausting but that is ok. I am fully prepared and mentally ready to to kick it up a notch on Monday and start the new year off with a bang!!! I am loving the changes in my body that I have already and I love how strong I feel! Most of all I love the time Bobby and I spend together in the gym:) It will be even more precious when his classes start back up January 9. I can not believe that it is new years eve tomorrow and 2011 is just about over! I am so excited to celebrate with a few close friends tomorrow night it should be a blast! Hopefully it will be the City next year to ring in our wedding year 2013 ;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! XOXO

A New Place to Call Home

So today we went by the new apartment complex to give them the final thing needed for our application to be submitted for approval and take a look at the apartment again/take pictures and we officially got approved! Yay! There was no reason we wouldn't be, but still you never know and knowing that we for sure have a new place is a big relief!! I am so excited to move, dealing with our landlords and living here has been so uncomfortable the last month and a half and I can't wait to be out of this situation. I know that it isn't going to be as easy as just leaving, but hopefully they won't try to do anything crazy and will just accept that we are willing to help them find replacement tenants and pay the one month penalty and call it good, but we will see.

We are supposed to go in tomorrow and sign our lease and our move in date will be January 25th! I love the new apartment, it is 2 bedroom 1 bathroom, open kitchen, the bedrooms are big and so is the living room. Since Bobby attends the University of Rochester we also get a special deal; reduced security, $700 off first months rent which just basically pays the $700 security deposit, application waiver, and we also are able to get an all inclusive package for our utilities which ends up saving us a lot of money. We just paid $100 heating bill at this place we are at now and it's only going to keep increasing the colder it gets! So crazy and so glad we won't have to do that anymore. Making one payment to our apartment complex and having it cover EVERYTHING is going to be so much better.

We have been looking at couches and decor and we are really excited to get in and start making it our home for the next year and a half. Everyone that works at the complex is SO helpful and nice I just wish we would have moved in there to start! But, live and learn. It is definitely going to suck to be moving in the middle of winter, but it will all be worth it in the end, and luckily we don't really have that much stuff to move. I will probably start gradually packing up little things once January rolls around, try to get a jump on it to hopefully relieve some of the stress.

So looking forward to all of the fresh starts that 2012 has in store, and this will be the first to kick off the year!!! What better than a new place to call home? :)

A Fresh Start

So I had posted awhile ago that we got our first snow of the season...well this is true but it pales in comparison to what we have going on today! It has been snowing all day long and we have accumulated about 2-3 inches in a few hours. I always love it when it snows because its such a fresh clean look, and it can make almost anything look beautiful. It's like a fresh start to the day, and as odd as it sounds I always love being the first person to make a foot print in the snow there is something magical and special about snow.

As I said, we didn't get our white Christmas that we were hoping for, but it does look like we will be getting a white New Years, which I actually like better. Its a fresh start to a new year in a sense, at least thats how my cheesy mind looks at it. 2011 has been such a fantastic year and I really have no regrets or complaints. It hasn't all been perfect or good, but everything that has happened has happened for a reason and it has shaped our lives in ways we may not even know yet. There have been many amazing things that have happened this year: Bobby got into a top rated MBA program, we got engaged, we booked our wedding date, I am going to be an auntie, we have made a solid group of amazing friends in our new place, we have grown to appreciate California more ;), I have two great jobs for two great families with two great kids, my oldest brother was released from prison after over a year and will be starting college soon, we have so many things to be grateful for and I have learned to count my blessings every day. There have also been some sad, yet growing experiences this year as well; my best friend lost her first baby to a terrible disease, we moved 3,000 miles away and I had to say "see you soon" to my favorite little boys in the world, we had to leave all of our friends and family (temporarily), Bobby lost his uncle in a very tragic way, we got stuck in a crappy living situation (but are dealing with it), and two of my close friends are both dealing with two very different, yet sad battles along side their fathers. Along with bad, always comes good, and I can honestly say that I know everything happens for a reason and with each experience comes a lesson we can all learn from.

I can't even describe how excited I am for the new year. There are so many things to look forward to; a new apartment, Laura's baby shower for Miss Harlow, dress shopping with my best girl friends, meeting miss Harlow Adrianna in April, Bobby's completion of his first year of grad school, Bobby's internship during the summer, the arrival of my step-sister's baby in April, hopefully a trip to Boston in the spring, visiting my best friend in Alabama, visiting my babies in SoCal, a BUNCH of good friends' weddings in the fall, and I am sure many more that will surprise us along the way! I feel like I have grown so much over the past year, and especially over the past 6 months. I have learned to be happy, not complain, appreciate every little thing I have, use experiences as learning opportunities, and live life to the fullest. Through unfortunate means, I have learned to never take life for granted and to always be kind, loving, and non-judgmental. Also to appreciate everyone in my life and to never take their presence for granted either, you never know when their last day will be. My faith has grown immensely along with my relationship with Bobby and my friends and family.

10am 

2pm

Julia loves the snow!

No matter how we decide to celebrate the new year, it will be welcomed with open arms. Thank you 2011 for helping us grow, I look forward to 2012 in helping shape us even more. <3

Wedding Theme

I know I have plenty of time to decide on a wedding "theme" and on colors etc but I actually think WE (yes I said we) have actually decided on a theme and colors for our wedding! Bobby usually doesn't have much to say about wedding stuff, at least not in the beginning, but lately he has been showing a lot more interest in the details of the wedding which makes me very happy and relieved. We have always known that we want our wedding to completely represent us and what we love, so we had decided awhile ago (before we even got engaged) that we want to somehow incorporate our love for travel into our wedding. That is actually how I came up with the name for this blog "Love is a Journey" I was thinking about travel and incorporating it into a day that is meant to be full of love and came up with that title and I believe it fits us to a "T". It inspired this blog and it also inspired my ideas for our wedding, so much so that I wanted to somehow incorporate that saying into the details of our wedding and have it be the overall theme for our wedding so that is exactly what we are going to do.

Coming to concrete decisions like this make me so excited and also make it so much easier to search for wedding ideas. Before I knew that I wanted to incorporate travel but really had no direction. Bobby and I sat down and were discussing colors and anyone who knows Bobby knows his favorite movie of all time is Indiana Jones, which is actually what guided us to the decision on colors. We want our colors to represent the colors of a vintage type world map; light blue, ivory, chocolate brown, beige, and possibly small pops of a red color. Ever since deciding on this whole theme and color combination I have been so excited and can't stop looking for more and more ideas. I truly believe this is going to come together so perfectly and represent exactly who we are and what we love to do together. We are also going to use names of places we have visited together as our table numbers...instead of numbers 1-10 we will have the name of the country. We also want to use a big vintage looking world map for our table assignments/escort cards, somehow pin peoples names to a specific country which would the table they would be sitting at. I have so many ideas rushing around in my mind now and its exciting and makes me feel so relieved to have plenty of time to bring all of these ideas to life! :) what do you think?!

Inspiration for it all

Christmas 2011-Just the 2 of Us

Merry Christmas! I guess technically it just ended here, but that's ok. This year Bobby and I decided not to travel so we stayed in New York. We, or at least I was anticipating a white Christmas, but that just did not happen. We are having an unusually warm winter here, therefore we didn't get any snow. We have had a few flurries, but nothing that has really stuck around.

Since we stayed here for Christmas, it was just Bobby and me on Christmas morning. We woke up around 9:30, cooked up some breakfast, Bobby played some Modern Warfare while I played around on my new Macbook Air (thank you baby). We hadn't watched the season finale of Dexter yet so we watched that a little bit later. After some hanging out, we decided to go do what we love to do...watch a movie :) We went to the last matinee showing of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was WAY good and I highly recommend anyone goes to see it. I am now really wanting to read the trilogy! The movie was a few hours long, so once we got home I cooked up a little Christmas dinner for the two of us which is kind of hard to do (and why we have TONS of left over ham).

The rest of our night has just been extremely low key, watched some basketball, house hunters, How the Grinch Stole Christmas...pretty uneventful. I definitely miss being home with my other family and friends, but Bobby is my family too. I was not about to fly home without him and leave him here alone. I was able to talk to my family and wish them a Merry Christmas which was nice...its always nice to catch up a little bit on the phone withe everyone.

Although it was a pretty uneventful Christmas day, the weekend surrounding today was amazing and full of excitement so it was nice to finally have a day to just CHILL and do nothing. I ate like crap all weekend and am so happy to be back to the gym tomorrow haha. I am so thankful to have such a great group of friends and family to celebrate the holidays with near and far and am so glad that everyone I spoke with was having such a blessed day. I still can't believe Christmas has come and gone already and it is almost 2012. I am so looking forward to the new year and all it has in store for us. I know it will be nothing short of amazing!

A Very Bloom Christmas Eve

Today (Christmas Eve) we spent the afternoon and evening at our good friend Matt Bloom's parents house with him, his parents, two brothers, and his oldest brother's fiancé. They live in a beautiful area known as the Finger Lakes that is about an hour and 20 minutes away from where we live in Rochester. We haven't really ventured out very much since we moved here so I am glad we got invited to go over there today so we could see some more of Western New York. It was beautiful out in the country, some parts covered in snow, others not and it was especially beautiful once we arrived to their city of Bluff Point where one of Finger Lakes is. They live up on a hill overlooking the lake and it is a really beautiful view. Of course once we arrived it was straight into watching the football games, but with that also came the wine so I was ok with it haha. We met his mother "Tippy" his dad Sandy, younger brother "Piddle" which we heard a hilarious story about how he got that nickname aka Michael, and his older brother Jonathan and his fiancé Maggie.

At one point while the boys were watching football Maggie asked Matt's mom and I to come look at a dress (wedding dress) she had ordered online to get our opinions because she said her mom liked it but she wasn't sure. It was a cute dress, but wasn't "special" and you could see it in her face that she didn't love it. So we had to emphasize to her how important it is that SHE loves her dress, despite what her mom may think. She had never gone to try on dresses yet! So I told her she definitely HAS to do that so I am eager to see what dress she ends up picking for their wedding next June :)

His mom and dad made a delicious dinner; ham, smoked turkey, a yummy broccoli salad, orzo pasta, and homemade rolls which were amazing! I made dessert, cheesecake, which was just OK in my opinion. I have made it before and this was definitely not the best, not bad at all but just didn't have enough flavor for some reason. I have used a different recipe every year for the past few years and I really need to go back and find one of the other two because those were awesome! Unfortunately it is impossible to test a cheesecake after you make it so it was really just a hope for the best situation. Everyone seemed to like it, nobody died so I guess that is a success haha.

After dinner we chatted around the table for awhile, telling funny stories, etc and by 8:30 we were ready to head out since we had a long drive home. The Bloom family are definitely great people I would love to spend more time with. We feel so blessed to have such awesome friends that take us in as part of their family while we are here. It's days like these that make me so thankful for this journey that God has put us on, and makes me realize why we are here and that there is always a reason we end up where we do. We definitely never imagined in a million years we would end up in Rochester, New York but meeting all of the amazing people we have already met is a good enough reason for me:)

Niagara Falls

Today turned out to be such an amazing day! We went up to Niagara Falls for our anniversary and although it was really, really cold it was so worth the beautiful view. Bobby and I love traveling and seeing new places, and neither of us had ever been to Niagara Falls and since it is only about an hour and a half away from where we live now, we figured lets go!

I knew that during the winter months they light up the falls with beautiful lights which was one of the reasons I wanted to go up there for our anniversary, to see that. The whole festival of lights that I read about (the Christmas lights) were not impressive to say the least, but just seeing the falls was well worth it. So although the main attraction was to see the falls lit up at night, I also wanted to see it during the day time. We left around 2pm and got to the falls around 4pm which ended up to be perfect timing. The sun was still up, but setting so by the time we walked from one end of the falls to the other (Horeshoe falls) it was about sunset. We were able to capture some great pictures with the remaining daylight, then did our best to capture some good ones of the falls lit up at night too. The amount of water gushing through every second is absolutely crazy, I definitely think this is somewhere everyone should visit if they get a chance.

There are a lot of things to do near the falls; casino, restaurants, wax museum, bowling, Planet Hollywood, Margaritaville, Hard Rock, etc all within about 5 minutes of each other. It is like a mini Reno or Las Vegas, Nevada...at least that is what we would compare it too, Bobby said more like Reno haha. So, we were only at the falls for a couple of hours, we definitely spent more time driving there than we did viewing, but it was definitely worth it and we know that we want to go back up during the summer time and do the "Maid of the Mist" ferry tour where you actually go into the mist of the falls on a big ferry boat (obviously that does not run during the frigid winter months). Our toes were numb along with our faces by the time we got back to the car, we joked that it felt like we had just come from the dentist and been shot up with novocaine, that's how cold it was.

After the Falls we went and had a nice dinner (My diet is out the window this weekend btw) and went and saw Mission Impossible in Imax. We just got home not too long ago, anniversary is over...Merry Christmas EVE! We are heading to our good friend Matt's house tomorrow to spend Christmas Eve with him and his family, which should also be a very good time and I am sure we will get some pictures and have a lot of fun stuff to tell as well :)

10 years and counting

December 23, 2011 marks the TEN year anniversary of Bobby and me being together. It is so surreal to think that I have been with Bobby for almost half of my life! I feel so blessed each and every day to have found my soul mate so early in life at the age of 14. I know that we had a lot people say negative things about our relationship for a very long time in the beginning, and most of the time that ends up separating a couple, but I am so proud of us for sticking together for through every rough patch we encountered. We have always had each other to lean on during hard times, and each of those times just brought us closer and closer together.

Bobby is not only my fiance; he is my BEST FRIEND in the entire world. He is the ONE person I can always count on to be there for me. He is more than I could have ever imagined I would find in a partner. He brings me so much happiness and joy every day I couldn't imagine my life without him, all I see is our future together and I know it is a very bright one. He has seen me at my ultimate lows, my highest highs, and everything in between and never for a second did he question his love for me, nor me for him. We have gone through so much in our lives to get to where we are today and we did it together every step of the way. Our love really IS a journey and although it hasn't always been a smooth ride, it is something I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

This year has been one of the best years of my life, and it is only fitting for our tenth year together. Bobby got into one of the top business schools in the world, we traveled to one of the most beautiful places in the world and he made me the happiest girl in the world by asking me to marry him, we moved 3,000 miles away from everything we ever knew, and the one common factor in all of these crazy/exciting things is we did it TOGETHER. We are so much more in love today than any other day, and we fall more and more in love everyday we are together. I have known for a LONG time that Bobby is "The One" and I seriously feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be such a major part of his life and have him be the leading man in mine. I am so proud of him everyday, there is nothing he wouldn't do for me, and me for him. He has already done so much for our future and I try to thank him everyday for everything he has given me in my life. I honestly don't know where I would be had I not met Bobby, or had we not outlasted all of this time, but I am so glad we did and I thank God for putting us together.

I could go on for days about how much I love Robert James Graham III, but I know he knows how much I love him, but I will continue to show him each and every day just as he continues to show me.

I love you so much babe, here's to another ten years <3

Christmas, Anniversary, & NYE OH MY!

The holidays are so crazy because our anniversary is December 23, then its Christmas Eve then Christmas and before we know it New Years Eve!!! Don't get me wrong, I love having our anniversary around the holidays (Although our wedding anniversary will be August 4) because Christmas time is just such a special time of year, probably my favorite! I just love all of the twinkling lights, the smell of pine (even though ours just comes from a candle LOL), all of the fun crafts there are to do with the children I care for, there is just so much! There is something just inherently special about Christmas time and I look forward to it every year. Not for the gifts, but just for the feeling it brings me. Bobby isn't really a "Christmas person" but he really does try to make it special for me because he knows its important to me, especially being so far away from family, and that is really all I can ask for from him :)

 On Friday, our anniversary we decided we will be driving up to Niagra Falls to see the festival of lights, the falls, and go to a nice dinner for our big 10 year anniversary! I feel so lucky to be marrying my best friend. He truly is the best friend a girl could ask for, and to know I have had him in my life for SUCH a long time, and that he will continue to be in my life, by my side forever is just such an amazing feeling. It sure is going to be COLD up there but I know the lights will be so beautiful and worth it, plus we get to drive in our nice toasty car to see the Christmas lights so it shouldn't be too bad! I can't wait to take pictures, I will definitely be posting them :)

Our good friend Matt invited us to his parents house for Christmas Eve dinner, so we will be going there Saturday to spend the day/evening with him and his family. I feel so blessed to have made such good friends so quickly here, good enough friends to invite us to Christmas Eve dinner with his family. He knew that we weren't flying back home to California so I think it is so very sweet and thoughtful of him and his family to invite us into their home on such a special holiday. It really does mean a lot to us and I am really excited about it!
  

Sadly, there is no snow in sight for us...so it looks like we won't be having a white Christmas after all...and I never thought I would be sad about not having snow, but I got really excited imagining waking up Christmas morning to a fresh snow fall just like in the movies...maybe next year!

New Years Eve, however, is still up in the air! Our friends and us have been talking about what to do and we may just do something locally, dress up and go out to celebrate the amazing year that was 2011 (we both got engaged this year!) and ring in what we know will be yet another amazing year in 2012! No matter what we end up doing, I know I will be with GREAT company <3

Recipes

Just wanted to point out that I added a recipes page so check it out!!! I will be adding more but I posted my fave 5 right now! :) Hope you all are brave enough to try them!! I promise they are good or I wouldn't be eating them myself! ENJOY!

My Not So Baby Boys

The boys on the first day I ever watched them

my not so baby boys <3

I love my job for so many reasons, but the main reason is because of the unique bond I get with each child I take care of. Two boys, their whole family really, stole my heart from the moment I met them and I miss them every single day. Austin Frank and Calvin Lee Etter hold such a special place in my heart. They are two of the sweetest little boys I have ever had the pleasure of caring for and feel so blessed to have them be such a big part of our lives. I had applied to a babysitting job on care in the summer of 2009, but nothing ever really came from it until I was at the beach with another little girl I had gotten hired to babysit. I received a phone call from an unknown number (which I never answer) but for some reason I decided to answer the phone, and who else than Honor Etter to be on the other line desperately seeking a sitter for her two boys THAT weekend! I could barely hear her since I was at the beach and wasn't quite understanding what she wanted but I said yes lets meet I can come by and meet you guys anytime. So, I believe it was the next day I drove over to their house to meet the family and when I walk in I see Honor holding baby Austin all of 6 months old and little crazy Calvin all of a year and half old, blond hair, blue eyed little boys and instantly fell in love with not only the boys but with the whole family. Honor was the sweetest lady, so smiley and energetic and I will never forget that while we were talking she was holding baby Aus and his eyes stayed glued on me the entire time. I came back that weekend and babysat them all day saturday and sunday (keep in mind at this point I had never watched an infant before by myself so I was kind of nervous) and from that day on I had an unbreakable bond with those boys that still holds strong till this day even though I am so far away.

I was only babysitting the boys on random weekend nights when Josh and Honor would go out to dinner or something, but after about 6 months I quit my job at the daycare I was working at an began watching the boys regularly during the week. We had already built an incredible relationship with the entire family but that just made it even better. They truly are like family to me each and every one of them. I love those boys like they are my own. I started bringing them over to our apartment and Bobby would come over and he too fell in love with those boys instantly, how could you not? He tells me randomly that he misses the boys, and its just so sweet because anyone who knows Bobby knows he isn't usually so sentimental, and it just shows how much he truly does love and care for those boys just as much as I do. The Etter's are just such special people, truly rare to find people so special and genuine these days. Honor has become one of my best friends and Shanaye is like a little sister to me.

This was all brought on today when I received a package in the mail from Honor, two framed Christmas ornaments with the boys' pictures in them and a larger frame with a picture of Bobby and I holding Austin and Calvin that is now hanging on the wall in our living room. I don't know when the next time I am going to see the boys next, I hope its soon, but until then we will continue to skype and send picture messages back and forth to each other. They are growing up way too fast without me there and it makes me so sad!! I am just so happy that we built such an incredible bond that I know we are a part of their hearts just as much as they are a part of ours.

my little Aus

waiting for Bobby

Halloween '11

End of Phase 1

Today marks the end of phase 1 for the Jamie Eason Livefit program that I started about a month ago. During this phase, as I mentioned before, we focused on building solid muscle to help burn fat later on in the program. Because our main focus was to build muscle we completely omitted cardio for a month during this phase. It wasn't really that hard for me to NOT do cardio because before starting the program I was very inconsistent with exercise anyway. I actually really enjoyed focusing on weight lifting and building muscle, I have always really enjoyed weight training, but now I am definitely excited to start cardio again to burn the FAT! Over the course of phase 1 I can definitely see a change in my waist/stomach. My jeans have started to fit much looser around my waist, and also in my legs. I lost about 2.5 inches in my waist and hips which was the most significant loss. Although I didn't lose inches elsewhere everything has REALLY firmed/toned up in just a month! I felt myself gain so much strength throughout the first phase and it absolutely amazes me. Feeling stronger each week definitely gave me the motivation I needed to keep moving forward and striving to lift heavier. I also lost about 5lbs over the last month which makes me extremely happy considering a lot of people don't lose much weight during this phase, so I am anticipating much more weight loss by the end of the program with the addition of cardio in phase 2 and HIIT training in phase 3.

Aside from the loss of inches and pounds, I have gained a LOT of knowledge by participating in this program. I have learned what "Clean" eating is, how to fuel my muscles the right way with the right foods, I have learned an immense amount of new exercises, I have gained muscle, energy (like a TON), motivation, confidence, and will power. Before starting this program I felt that all of my will power when it came to food and exercise was lost, I just gave up on myself and gave into every temptation. Now, I can say no and not even flinch. I would be lying if I said I didn't crave certain things every now and then, but there is always a CLEAN option to that craving and I divulge in that instead and am perfectly satisfied. Because this IS a lifetstyle change, if I decide to indulge in something "not clean", or perfectly healthy once in a blue moon I know I have gained my will power back, and that I will stop at that one thing and not continue. I know that I am strong enough to have one of my favorite things and then continue on with my clean foods the rest of the day and I won't feel bad, nor will I beat myself up about it. I still need to enjoy my life and I will and I have thus far. I have gained love for my body, I have gained love for myself and my life. My whole attitude has changed about life and I feel so much more happy on a day to day basis than I did before starting JE trainer and the clean eating lifestyle.

With Phase 2 there isn't a WHOLE lot of change in the diet, but we do start to phase out starchy carbs throughout the day and the goal is to have our last starchy carb (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, sweet potato etc) by 3 o'clock and try not to have much (or any) past that point. When we cut out the starchy carbs we will be replacing them with veggies such as (broccoli, zucchini, etc) and we will also be adding more protein and healthy fats to supplement the calories we are losing by eliminating the starchy carbs. As I mentioned before, in phase 2 we will also be adding moderate cardio for 30 minutes. We will tack that on to the END of our workouts as not to hinder our lifting performance by doing it before we lift. We will still continue to eat 5-6 meals every 2-3 hours throughout the day to keep our muscles fueled to enable them to build and for our fat to burn :)

I encourage anyone who is interested in building muscle, losing fat, wanting to gain confidence, wanting to eat healthy, wanting to gain energy, ANYONE to take a look at JE livefit trainer and give it a go. It is tough to give up your favorite things at first, but I promise, coming from ME someone who LOVES food there is ALWAYS a healthy version of whatever it is you're craving. Also, your cravings will drastically diminish, and altogether disappear after about a week and a half-two weeks of eating clean, it truly is amazing!

Start of phase 1-the end of phase 1 (I have gained the confidence to even post this on here, and it gives me the motivation to continue!)

I have seen some progress, felt a LOT of change in myself, and know I still have a long way to go but I am enjoying every step of this journey and can't wait to walk in to my bridal appointment on February 3, 2012 with all of my best girlfriends and feel absolutely amazing in every single dress!

First Snow

It's official. Today was our first snow of the season. I woke up this morning around 830am, looked outside, and much to my surprise (although I am not sure I should really be surprised) it had snowed, and everything was completely covered in white. It has since stopped snowing, but I know this is only the beginning and we are already behind schedule for the snow. I was actually starting to get worried we wouldn't get a white Christmas, which I wanted since we have to stay here over the holidays, I at least wanted to experience my first white Christmas so now I am not so worried anymore.

We still haven't really figured out anything for our anniversary, Christmas, or New Years but I found out that up at Niagra Falls during the winter months they have something called the festival of  lights. They light up the falls and have a 3+ mile long Christmas light display that you drive through along with ice skating and other fun holiday activities. I am really wanting to go up and do that for our anniversary or just to see because we only live about an hour away and its all FREE! It looks so beautiful and I definitely want to see the falls while we are here. I am taking the boy I babysit up to the Buffalo airport next Thursday, so I was also thinking of just driving up there after we drop him off because its only about 20 minutes from the airport, so we will see. I am determined to go up to the festival of lights so I guess I will have to do some sweet talking :)

Snow in our backyard

Hello, Decemeber

It is hard to believe it is December already!!! I remember last Christmas like it was yesterday, and I can't believe it has already been another year. So much has happened in this past year that has changed our lives: we found out we were moving across the country, we got engaged, my best friend lost her sweet angel Lyla :(, she got pregnant AGAIN with her little bunny Harlow :), we booked our wedding venue, we MOVED to New York, and now we are approaching our TEN year anniversary together! It's incredible to think that Bobby and I have been together for TEN years...these days marriages rarely last that long, but we have just been dating for that long and it makes me feel so extremely blessed to have found my soul mate at such an early age.

With December, along came our first snow flurry that lasted longer than 5 minutes. It didn't stick thank goodness, but it reminded us that winter is approaching and we better be ready! So, today Bobby went and bought a snow shovel and a couple brushes and ice scrapers for our cars...I think we had been living in denial that we were in for some brutal winters while we are here, but today was a reality check when we woke up to snow! I love the snow, I think it is beautiful I am just not looking forward to waking up at 6am to shovel my car out for work every day...if I had someone to take care of that for me *cough*Bobby*cough* I think I would be a little more excited and OK with the snowy winter days ahead. :)

We also received our stockings (with our names on them) in the mail today and I can't wait to get them up on our mantle. They are so cute and I am so excited about them :) I am still waiting for our Christmas cards and photobooks to arrive in the mail, hopefully they will get here by next week so I can start getting those out in the mail! This is the first year we have done Christmas cards, I figured now that we are engaged (and have awesome engagement pictures to use for them) its the best time to start this tradition that I have been wanting to do forever! I can't wait to get those in the mail, I hope they turn out as cute as they looked online, you just never can tell with some things like that.

I have so much to be grateful for in my life, and I am SO ready for 2012!

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving this year was filled with so many different emotions from so many different places. I was happy and grateful to have our wonderful little Simon family to spend the day with, I was saddened by some heartbreaking news from my best friends, while also being overjoyed by the news that she is having another baby girl Harlow in April, I missed my family, but also felt very blessed to have such an amazing man to share all of these emotions with me as they came.

We had our Thanksgiving meal over our friend Theresa and Pedro's, she cooked the turkey (her first ever) and some sides and desserts, I made ezekial bread stuffing, roasted garlic green beans and sweet potatoes (all things that are apart of my new eat clean program), and a few of our other friends brought dessert and cranberries. Together we created this incredible feast that not even Bobby could put a dent in. During the time we were finishing up some of the side dishes, I received a text from my best friend informing me of some extremely heartbreaking news about her dad....I just felt and still feel so heartbroken over everything that she has been going through over this past year, this was the last thing I ever expected to hear from her on this day. I had been anticipating the announcement of the gender of her baby, but instead received that tearful text. I just wanted to be able to be there in that moment and give her a big hug, but I couldn't. Her father is such an amazing man and it is hard to wrap my head around the thought of him not being around to see the birth of his beautiful grand daughter Harlow. I have been praying non-stop since I got the news and I will continue to do so for her family and for her dad.

Baby Harlow <3

As I mentioned a little...she did announce that she is indeed having another baby GIRL named Harlow and I could not be anymore excited!!! I was wishing and hoping and praying she would have another little girl and she is :) Little miss Harlow will just be absolutely adorable walking down the aisle at our wedding as our flower girl I can not wait to meet her in April! And now that I know she's having a girl I am wanting to buy absolutely everything in sight!!! I have such a cute idea of something I want to do so hopefully I can pull it off :)



Today, Bobby and I decided we would opt for a fake Christmas tree because we figured it saves money and is something we can keep packing around with us fairly easily, plus its less mess for ME to clean up. So, we got our first tree together...hard to believe after almost 10 years together that this is the first year we have EVER had a tree in our home but it brings a smile to my face and I am so excited about it! It is definitely going to be an on going project building up our personal ornament collection I think we have one ornament haha. We bought some simple red ball ornaments and the tree has white lights so it looks pretty. I ordered our stockings so they should be arriving next week so now we have the basic Christmas necessities and it feels wonderful. Bobby isn't a big Christmas fan at the moment, but I know when we have children he will be ALL about it, but I am glad he is so sweet and willing to give me some basic Christmas goodies that I have been bugging him about. I have so much stuff coming in the mail: stockings, our christmas cards, photobooks, my new Kindle Fire (Bobby's early Christmas present to me) and I am sure something else I can't even remember....oh yeah new windshield wiper blades for our cars LOL ( Gotta love Amazon).

Our Tree :)

Lastly, we got to skype with our little loves Austin and Calvin tonight and that just completed my holiday <3 I am SO excited for CHRISTMAS!!!!



Rocco Covalt and Family <3

Holidays

It's hard to believe sometimes that we are 24 and 26 year old adults, out on our own on this journey together. It becomes even more real when the holidays approach, especially this year. Usually for Thanksgiving we kind of do our own thing together because with school we never got enough time off to go home because we always knew for Christmas we would. Last year for Thanksgiving we went up to Oregon to my Dad's house which was a lot of fun and such a great visit, but this year since we are 3,000 miles away from all of our family we will most definitely not be going home for Thanksgiving, and we aren't flying back for Christmas either. We have reached a point in our lives where we want to finally start creating our own traditions as our own little family. We are engaged, getting married within the next year and a half, and soon after that will be trying to grow our family even more. Its hard sometimes to believe that we are at this point in our lives and I will admit it makes me a little sad, but it also is an amazing place to be with Bobby because I know what we start doing now for the holidays will carry on to when we are married in our first house, with our children, and so on and that is absolutely amazing to think about!

This year for Thanksgiving there are a hand full of Simon students that are from California like us, that will also not be going home for Thanksgiving because in two short weeks they will be flying back home for winter break. So, my friend Theresa and I thought it would be fun to get that little group together and have a Simon Thanksgiving together, so that is what we are doing. There will be 6 or 7 of us getting together, collectively cooking the meal together, and sharing this special holiday together at our friend Theresa and Pedro's house. I am really happy to have met such awesome people here in Rochester that we are able to spend such a joyous holiday together with. These are people who I know will be a part of our lives forever.

Christmas is an entirely different story. Everyone will be going home for Christmas, and pretty much Bobby and I will be left here. We decided that it would be too expensive to fly home for Christmas since we just flew back a month and a half ago, and I will be flying back in February for Laura's baby shower. Bobby has really also been wanting to start our own Christmas traditions together so that is what we are going to do. It is also going to be our TEN year anniversary together on December 23rd so what better year to kick off our own future Graham family Christmas traditions than this year. Believe it or not we have never gotten a tree together, and have NO holiday decorations (including stockings) so this year we are going to get a tree! I also want to get us stockings (although the ones I have been wanting from PB are SOLD OUT AGAIN!) and a few cute little decorations to start to build up our holiday decor collection that we can build upon over the years. So, although I am a little sad to be so far away from family and friends, I am so grateful and excited to have Bobby and I start our own Christmas traditions that we will carry on throughout our life together. It will also be our first WHITE Christmas together....maybe this was all just meant to be :)

LiveFit Phase 1

I wanted to share my most recent adventure, which is life changing one that I just started last monday! I had been very up and down with my "diets" and exercise which caused for my body image to really hit an ultimate low. I had read a lot about Jamie Eason's LiveFit program on bodybuilding.com and became really intrigued and motivated to start it. The LiveFit program isn't just one of those get skinny fast programs that a lot of people pay for (myself included in the past) it is a whole lifestyle makeover. It focuses on eating clean and eating to get lean. Cut out all processed junk and just eat REAL FOOD! Along with eating whole, clean foods there is also a workout routine that goes with each phase of the trainer. There are three phases: Phase 1 you focus on just building up muscle. NO CARDIO  and NO COUNTING. It's just all about portion sizes and building muscle. You are on an eating schedule, every three hours and end up having about 5-6 meals per day! It is hard to imagine eating that much, but when you are eating all healthy clean foods let me tell you its GREAT! I instantly started feeling so much more energetic, my mood was AWESOME, happy all of the time life is good! Along with the eating/food plan there are 4 days of weight lifting workouts the first 2 weeks of phase 1 and then the last two weeks of phase 1 there is a different combination of workouts that is 5 days a week (still no cardio). It is now Sunday, and I am preparing to start week 2 tomorrow and could not be more pumped! I feel SO good (besides the soreness) and more motivated than I have been in YEARS! I will be trying on wedding dresses for the first time with all three of my bridesmaids February 3 when I am in California for Laura's baby shower and I will complete the program a few days prior to leaving...perfect timing!!! I feel like this program came into my life at the perfect time! I joined the facebook group that an amazing woman created and there are over 3,000 members and a bunch of us branched off of that and made a group for all of us that started last week! There is an unbelievable amount of support for me every minute of every day that it makes it near impossible to fail and the fact that I just have SO much to prove to myself by finishing  this just pushes and focuses me that much more! I have set aside Sunday as my designated grocery shopping/food prep for the week day which is the key to success in this lifestyle. Always having clean food options on hand is what will propel you to cross the finish line with flying colors. I have actually been feeling so much joy and pride in the food I have been preparing, whether it be a full on meal or a small snack option I take great pride in everything I eat because I know it is helping me live a longer healthier life. Its hard to explain how I feel on a daily basis only being a week in to the 12 week trainer, but its nothing but positive! I will continue to write and update this blog on my progress and I hope to inspire and motivate others to take this journey as well! :)

Sticking with it

So lately I have been finding myself having a really hard time with the long engagement. I see so many friends that got engaged after us getting married before us and I will honestly say it makes me jealous. What girl wants to wait 2 years after getting engaged (waiting 9.5 to get engaged might I add) to have her big day? In a perfect world I wouldn't have to wait, and I would be able to plan the typical 9-12 month engagement and having our wedding next summer, but since Bobby is going to business school until June 2013 we decided together to have a long engagement and get married the August following his graduation. I will be planning the California wedding from New York  which requires a lot of email/skype/computer communication with vendors and multiple flights back and forth which adds up fast! I have to remember that when I start to wish and drive myself crazy about how far away the wedding is, it is the least stressful option and that is why we decided to do it when we did. I feel so lucky to have Bobby in my life because even when he is swamped with school work and class he still finds the time to talk my crazy thoughts through with me and helps me to remember all of the many reasons why we chose August 4, 2013 to be our big day! There are so many things going on in 2012 one being the arrival of my bestest friend's little bunny in April! I feel extremely grateful to have that summer while Bobby is interning somewhere yet to be determined to go visit her, take my time with finding the perfect dress, visit friends, find good deals on wedding goodies, or do pretty much whatever I want! I am the most indecisive person and having all of the time to change my mind (while it can be a little insane at times) is a definite blessing and allows me to have everything just exactly how I want it without having to meet unrealistic deadlines (for me in my situation).

So, the moral of this story is...stick with your gut instinct ALWAYS! It is always the right choice in the end, and although you may waiver on your decision I suggest going back and writing out all of the reasons why you made that decision in the first place. I think you will find it quite easy to remember why you chose the way you did to begin with. You just have to trust and believe in yourself :)

Capturing Our Love

It has been awhile since I have written anything, but honestly not many exciting things have happened between booking our venue and now until last week/weekend! Bobby had a career conference to attend in Anaheim so we OBVIOUSLY took that opportunity to go back to Orange County and visit. Besides being able to see my baby Etter boys while I was there I was SO happy because I could have our amazing friend Jackie take our engagement pictures like I had always wanted! I always had imagined our engagement pictures being taken in Old Towne Orange and around Chapman since that is where we lived and went to college, it was special to us. I thought since we moved to New York we wouldn't be able to have our engagement pictures done there after all so I can't tell you how thrilled I was to know I would be able to have them done there BY Jackie after all!

We started out in Old Towne Orange, made our way down to Chapman's campus and then we drove to The Montage resort beach in Laguna to capture some amazing sunset pictures. We had so much fun (at least I did) and Jackie was such an amazing photographer and made us feel so comfortable and made it so much fun! It went by SO fast and I am beyond words excited to see all of the finished products! Because Jackie is so amazing she put a few up on her blog a little early so I could curb my excitement and I can't even begin to explain how happy I am with them...and those aren't even the best ones! If anyone in Orange County or Southern California in general is looking for an amazing photographer for wedding, family portraits, etc contact Jackie Jones she is AWESOME!!

8/4/2013

 So I just booked our wedding date today at the beautiful Monte Verde Inn in Foresthill,CA for August 4, 2013!My mom and I got off to a late start today showing up to our appointment 30 minutes late (which is so not like us) but we eventually made it and everything went even better than expected. I got a little teary eyed during the tour envisioning our day as we walked through each area of the property. We (or I should say I) have been going back and forth over whether we wanted to try to squeeze the wedding in between his summer internship and start of his second year of business school or if we just wanted to make it easier on everyone and plan to have it after he graduates...we chose the latter. It just made more sense and will be a LOT less stressful for everyone involved to have it after his graduation. This way we also get to have our honeymoon directly following the wedding, which we otherwise would not have been able to do. It is such a huge relief and SO exciting to be able to say we definitely have a wedding date and venue picked out. I figure we have been together almost 10 years what is another 23 months right? We have SO many different things going on during this next year and a half that I just know our wedding day will be here before we know it, although it feels like a lifetime away right now. It will definitely be worth the wait just like the perfect propsal was :)

We also went and I tried on wedding dresses for the first time which was SO much fun and I figured out what I like on me and what I don't so I would say the appointment was definitely a success!

Big Move

I just wanted to kind of catch this whole blog up to speed on what's going on in our lives...

-We got ENGAGED! <3
-Bobby got into Simon School of Business in Rochester,NY
-We packed our cars and drove 4.5 days 2,800 miles across the country from Orange County to Rochester,NY
-Arrive in Rochester,NY August 6th
-We stayed in a hotel for 5 days after looking and signing a lease on a house.
-We crashed at our friend's for TWO weeks because it took much longer than expected to get into our new home
-Finally moved in a week and half ago on Bobby's 26th birthday August 24 :)
-I got hired by two wonderful families to nanny again
-I am now back at my mom's in California preparing to go book our wedding venue and try on dresses for the first time TOMORROW! <3 and Bobby has his MBA orientation tomorrow GOOD LUCK BABE :)

That is our last two months up until today in a nutshell...it has been stressful and exciting all at the same time but I couldn't have a better partner in all of it :)

I said YES!

July 15, 2011...the day I had waited 9.5 years for had finally come!

Bobby and I had been on vacation in St. Lucia for all of about 36 hours when he got down on one knee and made me the happiest girl in the world! He had set up a land and sea tour with the tour company through our hotel. This was an all day tour that took us down the coast of St. Lucia to the southern part of the island. We visited a volcano, a mineral waterfall, covered ourselves in volcanic mud and were then on our way to lunch at the most beautiful resort I have ever seen, Ladera Resort. The resort is high up in the mountains and overlooks the Pitons and the beautiful bay below. Upon arrival I will be honest, I was becoming cranky...I had not had my caffeine and had not eaten which makes for a cranky Casey. So we are entering the resort for lunch with our tour group and tour guide and the hostess leads everyone upstairs to the dining room, but not us. Bobby wants to "get our picture taken" down on the pool deck with the Pitons in the background. I am hesitant and definitely fighting him over it, not knowing if we are allowed to go down there since we aren't guests at the resort. So after a few minutes of him talking me into going down and getting someone to come "take our picture" we walk down to the pool deck for our one of a kind photo op. I go stand up against the railing of the deck and Bobby, with our backpack is giving the lady instructions on how to work his phone camera. So, here I am standing and looking around and I see Bobby go back over to the edge of the pool where he had set down the backpack and start to pull out his wallet. I am thinking "what does he need to take his wallet out of his pocket for?" (I am totally clueless) but then think "well maybe it looks too bulky for the picture". Bobby turns around and holds up the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen and gets down on one knee! I am in COMPLETE shock and caught completely off guard and could not even register what was happening at that moment. I instantly start crying, covered my face and kept saying "OMG, are you serious? Are you serious?" I look down at my best friend and love of my life and see tears building up in his eyes and I can not believe this is finally happening, he is really asking me to marry him in the most beautiful setting I could imagine! I of course say YES and he puts the ring on my finger and I look around and see the whole staff of the resort watching and start applauding. I honestly blacked out, I had to ask Bobby if he put the ring on my finger or if I grabbed it and put it on myself, and had to have him remind me what he said haha! It is all so clear, but so blurred at the same time because my emotions were at such a high all I could do was smile, cry, and shake from excitement!

{The bummer thing that happened (that was out of our control) was that the lady "taking our picture" was actually supposed to be recording the whole proposal but didn't hit the button:( but that just means nobody else gets to see the moment, but I still relive it in my head everyday}

After some hugs, kisses, and applause we walk up to the dining room where the rest of our group is waiting for us (no clue what is going on) and we are seated at our own private table overlooking the Pitons and served champagne. We immediately take more pictures (when I can pull my focus off of my rock) and continue to talk about how he had had the ring for over a month, how it had been in his wallet the last 3 days, and how he had set up the whole thing in advance. I could not believe it I had NO idea about anything! I always thought I would see the obvious signs but I was completely and utterly clueless and I am so glad! Being that we were in the mountains, on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean with no phone service we had to resort to emailing our favorite people the exciting news!

After we finished our lunch (which was delicious) we went up and told our group the exciting news ourselves and the resort gave us a bottle of Moet to share between us all. I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day and the rest of the vacation (which we still had 13 days left of). After lunch we then went snorkeling for my first time and then continued back to our hotel...it truly was the most amazing moment of my life and I constantly replay it over and over in my head. I am so lucky to have met my soul mate and to have been blessed to have in my life for so many years leading up to the proposal and even more blessed to be able to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him.