A New Year--2012!

Happy 2012 Everyone!!! I am so excited that it's the year 2012 and it's a new start to a wonderful new year! 2011 really couldn't have been any better and I fully believe 2012 will still be just as great hopefully better!!

We celebrated New Years Eve with a few close friends last night. It was an all couples (not planned that way really) party and our good friends Theresa and Pedro's house (they hosted Thanksgiving T is a great hostess!). We made it a little black dress/button down shirt for the guys attire to make it more fun, who doesn't love dressing up? Well, sad to say but this girl doesn't even own a LBD so I went on the search the day of looking, no luck though...surprise! I knew I had a black skirt so I just needed to find some festive looking black top which I did at Marshall's. Crisis averted, barely. So we all showed up around 8 last night and dug right into the amazing spread of food that T had prepared which was all super super yummy! We began popping the champagne right away as well, then it was game time! We figured it would be better to play taboo early in the night before everyone got crazy then switched it up to apples to apples since that game doesn't require too much thought lol. It always seems to get really competitive, and there is always a disagreement/argument about something (all in good fun of course). We played these games on Thanksgiving too and I am literally obsessed they are so much fun! So by the time we were finished (we kind of just stopped playing due to the time) it was 20 minutes till midnight!! So we had to get the champagne out to everyone and noise makers etc! Everyone had a partner (since it was all couple) and we all counted down and shared a kiss with our loves. It was really sweet :) Theresa also prepared wishing grapes for everyone, something that her husband Pedro's mom has always done and a tradition I think is really awesome! Everyone gets 12 grapes, one for every month of the new year and you make a wish on every grape for the new year you are celebrating! I totally loved this idea and I will definitely be using this tradition for years to come!

After that excitement we were ready for a mini-dance party in the living room so we put on some music and the girls had some fun. Everyone kind of started to gradually leave between 12:30-2am I honestly don't know how the time flew by so fast, but we ended up being there till 3am. Theresa and I got caught up looking at her wedding photos and talking wedding stuff and the boys I don't know what they were doing haha. So, we finally left, with a to go container full of swedish meatballs, at 3am just in time for all of my west coast loves to be ringing in their 2012!

We were sad that we couldn't be celebrating in California and we definitely miss all of our friends and family, but we are so blessed to have met such amazing people here to spend these special occasions with. We couldn't have had a better night, there is definitely no better way to bring in a new year than with great company, good food, wishing grapes, and games!

The ball dropping haha 

New Years Kiss! Happy New Year 2012!

oh Bobby 

Rebecca and me :)

T and me :)

Pedro, T, Bobby & Me

Now that all of the holiday chaos is over, although we fully enjoyed it, I am glad to get back to some normalcy. Work will be going back to the normal schedule, Bobby starts classes again next monday and I will be back to eating clean and really focusing on my eating and giving it a little extra at the gym! Now I am down to a month before I fly back to California for Laura's baby shower and dress shopping! I am so excited to see her it has been almost a year since I saw her last, which is WAY WAY too long. I miss my best friend and am so looking forward to seeing all of my best girls this visit I miss them all!!! <3

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