Wine Tour

Saturday was the much anticipated wine tour! We met up with the group at our friend's Jon and Caitlin's house around 9:45am and waited for the party bus to arrive...which would be our ride for the entire day. SO fun! We left promptly around 10am and headed to the first winery, 3 Brothers Winery. The wineries were all about an hour from Rochester, so we had mimosas and bagels on our way to the first winery. We arrived at 3 Brothers around 11am and at this particular venue there are actually 3 wineries and one microbrewery and this was by far the most fun place of the day! We received a tasting passport when we arrived so we would be able to do our tastings at all 4 places on the property. I really like white wine and sweet wine which was what the majority of Upstate New York produces apparently so it was good for me! The main winery was probably my least favorite though, and then the last two wineries and the microbrewery were my favorite and were a lot more fun. All of the wines and the last two wineries were sexual innuendos and was pretty funny joking with the people pouring for us, they were all our age anyway so it was fun! I liked every single wine in the last two wineries and I even liked the beers we had, one tasted like coffee and chocolate which was interesting to say the least!

We ended up going to a total of 5 wineries because we made a spontaneous stop at an extra one on our way home. I feel like we could have gone to better wineries, we have a friend who grew up in the area and told us there are about 50 wineries on the opposite side of the lake that we were on, and that they are all better, but the fun was had by spending time with the people we were with so I didn't care so much and it is just good information to know for next time! I still really want to do the Wine Train in Napa so I hope we can do that SOON!

We got back to Rochester...after some intense dance partying and singing, mustaches included, around 6pm. We took our two friends Matt and Bill (who are roommates) back to their place and we all ordered and split some chinese food. We were literally all falling asleep on the couch so we ended up heading home around 8 and I was in bed and fast asleep by 9! haha I slept for a couple hours and woke up until about 1am then slept solidly till 9am. Wine makes me sleepy! LOL

Although it was cold and rainy the whole day, we made some amazing memories and got to spend all day with a great group of friends and even met some new people! :) I can't wait till our next wine tour!!

Now the countdown to the big Black Jack Ball is on! I ordered a dress from Nordstrom and it shipped today, I am praying it fits and looks good because I am beyond tired of looking for a dress! It should get here sometime this week, in enough time to find a different dress if it doesn't work thankfully, but lets just hope it works because it's exactly what I want! It's crunch time, we literally didn't have 30 minutes to workout in the last few days, so we will be hitting the gym hard tomorrow!!! 17 days until my 25th and 12 until the black jack ball! Where is the time going?!

The Group

The Mustache

Some of the ladies

NYC

Last weekend was my first (long awaited) trip to New York City! From everything Bobby said about it, and how he wasn't a huge fan I was kind of expecting the worst, but I was still very excited to experience it myself. We drove in Thursday evening after Bobby was finished with his classes for the day, and after he packed (last minute of course) and arrived in Jersey City around 11:30pm. We stayed in Jersey City because the City is just too darn expensive...the average nightly hotel rate is around $300 dollars and that is just for an ok room. We stayed at the DoubleTree in a king jr suite for $189/night and that is still pretty expensive for us! It was a really nice hotel though and the area was awesome too. We were right by a mall, and within a 5 minute walk to the PATH station which takes us to NYC across the Hudson. We had an outstanding view of the Manhattan skyline. I would highly recommend staying in Jersey City it was affordable and in a great, safe location.

Friday afternoon Bobby and his dad (who we met...he flew in from Wyoming) had a lunch meeting with a friend who lives in Manhattan so we rode the subway into the city that morning/early afternoon. We were a little early so we took a walk down by Rockefellar Center and down 5th avenue...I would kill to be able to shop there...amazing. After spending 5 minutes in the city I completely understand how people always say that NYC is the one place that you can feel SO alone and still be surrounded by people...it's crazy people are just go, go, go! So after a quick walk around the area we met his friend at a Japanese restaurant for lunch. This was a legitimate Japanese restaurant meaning there were no forks or silverware...only chopsticks haha Well, I had never used chopsticks before because I had never been forced to so I was a little nervous because it was a business lunch and I didn't want to make a fool out of myself. Well Bobby joked around about it with me and the guys wife told him that I had never used chopsticks before and so he asked for a fork for me lol He goes to this restaurant all the time so they know him and it was of course no big deal...even if I was the only person in the whole restaurant using a fork...I gave the chopsticks a shot with the salad and did pretty good but I just used the fork for the meal because I kind of started to make a mess...oops!

After lunch we started exploring...we walked down 5th avenue again and ended up in Central Park which was beautiful! We got so lucky with perfect weather! It was a little windy, but there was not a cloud in sight and it was beautiful, sunny, and around 60 degrees perfect for walking around outside and still be comfortable. Both times Bobby had gone to NYC it was in the winter and absolutely FREEZING! When the wind blows in between some of the buildings it is literally like a wind tunnel and it just about blows you over. I couldn't imagine having to walk around outside everywhere in the winter I so would not survive! After Central Park we walked to ground zero where they opened the memorial fountain and are building the memorial towers which are now the tallest buildings in NYC. We didn't have advanced passes to see the fountain because we didn't know we would need them so we just walked around the area, it is pretty crazy being there and knowing what happened and imagining how that day must have been....it's unimaginable. From there we went to the financial district and to Wall Street. It is pretty cool seeing places you have seen on TV or in movies in real life! From there we were hungry again so we went to a place near by that they had gone last time they were there...a Scandinavian place. They had both been raving about these Swedish meatballs they got last time so I was excited to try them...boy were they GOOD! Bobby got a steak dinner and that was amazing too! The owner raises his own cattle and the meat is a true testament to how well he raises them...seriously amazing! For dessert I got a raspberry and nutella crepe....to.die.for. SO good I think I could have even every crepe on their menu which was close to 20 haha!

After dinner we decided to walk to Times Square...WOW. There was a Niki Minaj concert going on and there was an INSANE amount of people. You could barely even walk it was so crowded...not my thing. It was awesome to see Times Square though, where the ball drops, and to experience the immense amount of lights...it was pitch black at night and because there were so many lights it was literally like day time! We got back to the subway that night around 10pm

The next day, Saturday we wanted to go to the Discovery museum in Times Square because they had an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls which was pretty amazing to see. So we went to that which took a couple hours and after that we went back to 5th Ave and walked around, went into the 6 floor Tiffanys and the original Saks Fifth Avenue and pretty much day dreamed about how amazing it would be to be able to go shopping there...ok maybe that was just me lol By the time we were done doing all of that we were hungry and wanted to try a pizza place my friend Theresa had recommended called John's Pizza. The wait was about an hour but it was so worth it. It was classic New York style pizza and oh so good! After pizza we of course had to get dessert so we went to the famous Junior's for cheesecake! YUM! After dinner and dessert we were so disgustingly  full that we went back to the hotel. We were also SO exhausted from walking two days straight basically we couldn't wait to get into bed!

Sunday we went to breakfast at a diner called the Brownstone Diner & Pancake Eatery that come to find out was on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives! They are known for their 30 different types of pancakes...holy cow that was the biggest menu I have ever seen everything I saw come out of the kitchen looked amazing. I decided to go with good ole chocolate chip pancakes and they were by FAR the best pancakes I have ever had. I couldn't come close to finishing them and I didn't eat again until after we drove ALL the way back home to Rochester (7 hours later) if that tells you anything lol

The trip was GREAT! There is still so much more I want to see and do there so a follow up trip is definitely in order! I definitely don't think I could EVER live there, but visiting is fun so I think I will stick with that! :)

Central Park

Manhattan Skyline

NY Stock Exchange

Empire State Building behind me

Times Square

one of the 9/11 Memorial Towers

Original Bloomies

Smorgas. Delicious dinner!

Letchworth State Park

Today was another beautiful day in Rochester! It reached 82 degrees I believe today with nothing but clear blue skies. I had yesterday and today off of work because I had requested it off to go home, but those plans fell through so I figured we should at least do something together since we never have a day off together. I decided we needed to get out, explore upstate NY and enjoy the beautiful unheard of weather! So, we set out to Letchworth State Park which is about an hour south of Rochester.

We were planning on leaving earlier in the morning, but true to us we didn't leave till 12:30 haha We had to also stop by Wal-Mart and buy sun screen seeing as we haven't had the need for it since we were in St. Lucia in July haha! After that we were on our way! We arrived to Letchworth around 2pm I believe and just followed the main park road through the park stopping at the various look out spots. I had no clue where we were supposed to go to see the waterfalls but we just went with it and stopped a few times before reaching the main visitor's center and a cute little inn located there called the Glen Iris Inn. This state park is really nice and has numerous campsites and cabins along with the Inn and a museum. It would be a lot of fun to go camping with a group of our friends this summer and Theresa and I have already discussed trying to do something like that so we will see....everyone will pretty much be gone at their internships so it will probably just be her and I laying by the pool at my apartment complex when we aren't working LOL aaaaanyway we finally reached the trail next to the waterfalls that I had been wanting to find. We parked in the main parking lot and headed off. The trail wasn't really that long but it had a LOT of stairs straight up hill so we got a pretty good workout in, which was also why I wanted to go haha what's better than having fun while getting exercise in?

So after we hiked up the stairs to the top of the hill Bobby's dad called and we sat and chatted with him for a good 20 minutes before hiking back down and back to the car to head back home haha. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day to go on a hike. There are a ton of different trails throughout the park that extend miles upon miles, but we figured seeing the waterfalls was good enough for one day! I am glad we are at least going out and exploring upstate NY some more I love a new adventure so I am sure there are many more in our future! :)

Spring has Sprung!

We totally and completely lucked out with our first winter here in Rochester. Last winter was COLD and snow-filled from December 1st well into March, with random flurries during Easter. This year we only had a few "bad" (for what we're used to) snow storms, but all but maybe one time the snow was melted within the next 24-48 hours. We had one week of freezing freezing cold weather below 10 degrees with negative wind chills, but considering that is basically how the WHOLE winter was last year I would say we got off easy! The past few weeks here have been absolutely amazing! The last two weeks have been within 60-80 degrees, with the last week hovering in the 70's! I feel like I am back at home (almost) and I have been thoroughly enjoying driving around with my sun roof open, can't say I ever thought I would be able to do that here, let alone in March haha! Today was a fabulous 75 degree day so after doing some quick homework I took Kieran down to the canal in a cute little town called Pittsford, which is close to where he lives. We went to the library to read first, and then walked for about an hour and half up and down the canal and watched/fed the ducks. He is like a totally different kid when he is actually out doing something he enjoys vs being stuck inside. It has been so nice being able to take the kids outside to do fun activities so I am glad the warm weather has arrived and seems to be here from now on!

This week is a little weird because I had requested to have time off to go home to California, but those plans fell through so I ended up telling the families I work for that I can work if they need me. So, today I obviously worked, but tomorrow and Wednesday I won't be watching Julia since they already had someone to cover my shift...kind of a bummer to miss out on the $ but I am excited to be able to spend some time with Bobby. Tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be beautiful days again! low 70's tomorrow and high 70's-80 degrees wednesday! Tomorrow afternoon I am going to go meet up with my friend Theresa and take a walk down another canal path that is close to her apartment, which is about 5 minutes from where we live. Her husband is in Miami visiting with his family so she's lonely and I want to explore the area more since the weather is getting more and have some girl chat! :) Wednesday Bobby and I are going to go Letchworth State Park and go hiking! It's supposed to be a beautiful park with amazing trails leading to beautiful waterfalls and canyons...they call it the Grand Canyon of the East! So, since it's supposed to be almost 80 degrees and we both have the day OFF we are going to take full advantage and spend some much needed quality time together...I can't wait!!! Thursday and Friday are still up in the air as far as work is concerned..it's supposed to cool down a little bit more by the end of the week/weekend but should still be in the 60's so I can live with that.

Letchworth State Park

My goal is to find some good running trails around here that I can map out to go on some outdoor runs since the weather is so wonderful! Let's hope I have some luck with that and that the weather does indeed stay! If not the gym works too ;)

Color Run!

I just came across this and want to do it so bad! They have different color runs all over the US so look for your local/closest location to do it too! It's for charity and tell me it doesn't look like the most fun EVER!!!

http://thecolorrun.com/

The run in NYC is August 25th and there are other ones throughout the spring and summer. There's on in SF July 28th and the summer run registrations are opening soon and that's when you will learn what charity/organization you will be running for! Check it out! I hope I can get a team or at least a couple friends to do it with me this summer 5k is totally doable, it's for a good cause, and looks like a BLAST! Just had to share! :) 

Our New Digs

Over the past 5 days we have been moving into our new apartment. Our move in date was Wednesday the 25th, and we have been moving in slowly over the past 5 days. We didn't stay in our new apartment until Thursday night which was the same day we got out new couch and tv stand delivered as well. Of course, since we are in a particular apartment design our sectional wouldn't fit in through our narrow entrance so we had to call maintenance to have them put it through our living room window. They have clearly done this probably hundreds of times and literally had the screens off and windows open and the couch inside within a matter of 5 minutes. It was kind of impressive I am not going to lie haha. We figured out that it is much bigger than we thought, our apartment was much smaller haha so we are going to have to flip the tv and the couch to opposite sides, which will require the cable to be re-routed through the smaller of the walls. So until that happens it is just bugging us majorly by being too big for the smaller wall it is against...but we will live.

I was nearly impossible to get much of anything done between me having work and Bobby having school so the majority of the moving was done Saturday and today and we now only have to get Bobby's desk, computer chair and the vacuum to be officially DONE! It was the longest moving process ever, but it actually made it a million times less stressful so I am ok with how it went. It allowed me to organize everything as it came and not have to worry about it all at once. Our new apartment has an amazing amount of storage and closet space plus we have an additional storage unit in the laundry room of our building so we are very pleased with that. The new apartment just feels so much cozier for us. At the old house we were literally cranking the heater up because the insulation of the windows and doors were SO poor that there was an unreal amount of cold air getting in, but here we haven't even had to turn the heater on once, I have actually opened the windows a few times from being too hot! (remember it is literally freezing and snowing outside haha).

So far we are very, very happy with our new apartment and know that we picked the perfect place to call home for the next year and a half. We are fully prepared to make this our home and to continue to add cute decor and homeyness and make it our own. We have started with the big items (our sectional and TV stand) and now will just need some shelving and lighting and I will be putting up photos etc to make it like a home. I am really relieved to be able to start anew at a new place that will be drama (and roommate) free. I strongly believe we will be much happier here and Bobby will be able to finish his MBA without having to worry about any landlord issues. ;)

National Museum of Play

It is nice to have somewhere as great as the National Museum of Play to take Miss Julia to during the cold icky winter months. The National Museum of Play is a children's museum 100% dedicated to PLAY! It is 282,000 square feet of FUN for children of all ages, even adults like myself find themselves having a good time when they go. This is the second largest museum solely dedicated to the study of play that also has interactive activities for children in the United States. They have exhibits that allow the children to explore the worlds of Sesame Street, The Berenstain Bears, and currently Wizard of Oz. They also have a children's sized Wegman's super market that allow the children to go grocery shopping on their own as well as play clerk as they check out their items. They then use their memory skills to put the items that they collected back in their rightful places. There is also a "Reading Adventureland" which has exhibits for the most popular children's books that actually bring the book to life; from The Three Little Bears to Comic books. Upstairs they have a the National Toy Hall of Fame that they have every popular toy from every year dating back to the early 1900's. They also house the only permanent video game exhibit in the United States. It is truly an amazing place to take children and for adults to experience and is something that is also changing throughout the year with new exhibits so that people are never able to get bored! 


Julia and I have now gone to the National Museum of Play twice together, once when I first started working for them and just today. They have a membership so we can go whenever we want for free and it really is so much fun and she is always SO excited to go. She never gets bored because there is SO much to do there and every experience is different even with the same exhibits. Today we went for a couple hours to get out of the house and had a great time! There is a train Julia is always wanting to ride so we of course did. We ventured upstairs for the first time and discovered the dance through the eras exhibit. You enter a room that is open on both sides and you literally push the different buttons of the different music through the decades and have a dance party. It has one of those huge screens that is similar to a dance video game you would play that shows your body dancing in crazy colors etc. Julia was pretty excited...ok so was I haha. We had so much fun dancing, the best part was when we played the Rock music and Julia started jumping up and down like a true rockstar. 


Julia and I have really bonded over the last couple of months and she is growing up SO fast. She is the sweetest little girl and I enjoy my two days a week with her so much. We are currently working on potty training and she is doing REALLY well. She hasn't quite gotten to the point of telling us when she has to go potty, only randomly does she say she wants to go potty but we have been putting her on the potty every two hours and she goes every time and keeps her pull-up dry all day long. I don't think it is going to take too much longer to get her fully potty trained. She is a very smart little girl and is learning new things everyday. She surprises me every day with new things she has learned at school or new things she has observed it makes each day exciting and fun! 

Julia on the train! 

Moving Forward

Moving day is almost here! 2.5 more days until we get to move forward and into our new apartment! There is obviously going to be some mess to clean up after we move since we broke our lease, but being out of this house will make it a lot less stressful and a step in the right direction. We are scheduled to move into our apartment on Wednesday. I have work from 7-1:30ish and Bobby has class basically all day 11a-9pm so I will have to bring Julia over to get our keys first thing in the morning before Bobby has to go to class. I am so happy that I have a half day Wednesday, it just happened to work out that way with Julia's grandma coming into town. It gives me all of that extra time to move stuff over to the apartment while Bobby is in class. We don't have a lot of big stuff so I should be able to move a lot on my own in the 10 hours that Bobby will be in class. I am SO ready to get everything moved so I am willing to do whatever it takes to get as much moved over as fast as possible! haha I hate being in between things I just want to be done with this limbo we have been in waiting for our move in date.

Since this living room is furnished at the house we are in we needed to buy a new couch and tv stand for our living room. We had gone and checked out a bunch of furniture places then Bobby found out Big Lots actually sells nice furniture at a much less expensive price. So, we went into Big Lots and found a few couches and sectionals that we really like! We had it narrowed down to two...a couch and a sectional. We decided to go with the sectional because the couch wouldn't provide enough seating for when we have friends over etc and buying the loveseat and couch would cost just as much as the sectional so we figured lets just get the sectional. I love sectionals and have been wanting one so I am really happy with our decision! We also found a great tv stand, which they only had the floor model left so we decided to take it because its in perfect shape plus we get 10% off for it being the model. perfect! Since we don't have a truck anymore we are having those two items delivered to our apartment Thursday morning so Bobby can be there to help.

Our new sectional

Colors for Living Room

New Tv Stand

I can't wait to get all of this done, it really shouldn't take more than a couple days to get completely moved out of our current house and in to our new place and then I get to organize the new place! My favorite! I always look forward to that part of moving actually as weird as it sounds haha I love finding a place for everything in a new space and having that feeling of accomplishment once it is all done. Plus who doesn't love new furniture?! I should have everything done by the end of the weekend so I will be sure to post pictures of the new place :) Wish us luck with the move!!!

Recruiting Season

Recruiting season is among us here at the Simon School of Business. About 60 MBA candidates are currently in New York City getting interviewed by a variety of companies in hopes of landing their summer internship. Bobby had his Exxon Mobil interview around 10am and has his interview with Bulldog Investors at 1:30 this afternoon. After that he set up a meeting with a guy who he met through an old family friend for later in the afternoon before they head home. He had spoken with this guy earlier in the week and he wanted to set up a meeting with Bobby while he was in New York so it seems promising! I would be really thrilled if he ended up in NYC because it means I would be able to visit more often, see the city finally, AND go to Kleinfeld's for dress shopping even easier ;) Obviously we are just praying for an offer period but getting an internship for a company in the field he is most desiring would be amazing!

So, while we wait for our guys to get home from NYC my friend Rebecca and I are going get together after work and have some wine, watch wedding shows and talk wedding stuff...WINE and WEDDING my two favorite "W's" ;) She just got engaged in November so we are both planning a wedding! It has been nice having a friend locally who is also planning a wedding. It's obviously just nice having a friend locally period, but the fact that I have someone who is just as excited about their upcoming wedding as I am has been truly awesome! She is going to help me with my bridesmaid gifts/proposals too...I semi put one together and I think they are going to turn out really cute!! I just need a few little details to add to them to make them special but I have the major pieces. I also thought of another cute idea to do that I think I am going to add with the proposal so I am excited to put that together...which should be pretty easy! :) 562 days until the big day! Almost to the year and a half mark time is flying by! <3

Endless Cold

And no I am not just talking about the weather here in Rochester...I have literally had this cold for 3 weeks! It's not getting worse, but it definitely is not getting better. I have been drinking tons of water, getting a ton of sleep and rest, taking my vitamins plus vitamin C, and I just don't know what else to do! It literally is like the endless cold. I don't know what it is from, when I was living in California I would NEVER get sick, maybe get a minor cold once a year but ever since I have moved to New York I have been sick maybe 6 or 7 times and we have been here 5.5 months! Now I think that is pretty ridiculous and I don't know what the deal is. Yes, lack of sun probably does have a little bit to do with it now that there isn't really any to be soaked up. Yes, the cold weather and even more so the drastic change in weather all of the time that we have been having...it would go from snow to 50 degrees in one day then 40 to 6 degrees over night then 6 degrees back up to 30 the next. There are definitely some pretty drastic swing of weather so I am sure that plays a role. Then there is the stress and anxiety of this whole moving/landlord situation...lately it has put in me the most unreal slump/rut/funk whatever you want to call it. I have no energy or motivation to do anything, cook, go to the gym,  clean... nothing. It is absolutely horrible! I literally feel like I am mildly depressed or something and I know that sounds extreme but I don't know how else to explain it I haven't felt this way in so long. I have been in the best of moods and all about positivity the last few months and then this feeling came out of nowhere. I think it has a lot to do with the weather, the being away from my friends and family over the holidays, and now just the pure anxiety over this housing situation (which Bobby keeps reassuring me not to worry about he is dealing with everything). I just want this month of January to be OVER...be moved into our new place and settled and have it all dealt with and done and be on my plane to California to see my besties.

I am trying really hard to pull myself out of this slump, but being sick for so long is not helping at all and its becoming really frustrating because each morning I wake up hoping to be better, at least a little bit, I'm not at all. So, if anyone has any other suggestions I would appreciate it because I don't know that I can handle having this cold on top of everything else for much longer. I know a cold and everything going on is a far cry from how bad it really could be, but its still draining...i hate to complain I really do, but I just needed to vent my frustrations and feelings...

On a GOOD no GREAT note...We OFFICIALLY booked our photographer for our wedding (that is YES a year and a half away)! We booked White Daisy Photography and I couldn't be more excited! Some people were shocked that I would book it this far out, but I knew who I wanted so I made the decision and stuck with it...isn't that what you're supposed to do when planning a wedding...or just in life? haha I definitely did my research on all of the photographers in the area and White Daisy felt like the perfect fit. Originally (before we started researching or got engaged) we wanted our good friend Jackie who did our engagement pictures to do our wedding pictures, but then decided no we want her as a GUEST  more so we decided to find someone else. I am really excited White Daisy has been featured in Real Weddings Magazine I believe twice and she does such a lovely job, nothing too crazy artsy just beautiful, timeless photos. She is also doing two of our good friends' weddings this fall so that was another reason I knew she was great! :)

Today is also my Dad's birthday...Happy Birthday Daddy! I love you and miss you and hope to see you really soon! xoxo


http://whitedaisyphoto.com/blog/    <-----A link to White Daisy's wedding photo blog (also located under other journey's I follow) check her out and see how good she is! ;)

California

Lately, especially the last few days (probably due to the holidays) I have found myself really missing California...home. I know I am from Oregon and of course I miss my family there, but I consider California my home, I love it there and can't wait to be back for good! I feel bad sometimes when I tell Bobby and my friends here that I miss California; I know Bobby misses it SO much too, maybe more than me and I don't want my friends here to think that they aren't worth being here because they definitely are. I know that God sent us here for a reason, probably multiple reasons. I know we were meant to come here and meet everyone that we have met, experience the things we have been experiencing and I definitely feel blessed that we have this opportunity to live outside of our comfort zones. I have just become really homesick over the past few days, especially today.

Today is definitely the coldest I have ever been...10 degrees with a -4 degree windchill as a high today. Julia and I didn't leave the house because there was supposed to be a big storm so a) I didn't want to get caught in that and b) it was 10 degrees! So, I guess with the weather getting cold and the holidays and the lack of talking to my closest friends as much as I am used to for various reasons I am just really homesick and missing California today.

Like I said before, I always feel bad when I say comments to Bobby about "how did we end up here" or "I miss California" because I know that this isn't where he WANTS to be but its where he NEEDS to be right now. I guess I know that he feels like he "dragged" me here with him, but really there is no way I would have stayed behind while he went to school for two years. So, I try not to say it around him as much because I know he is also really missing home. We are focusing on internships and job opportunities in California, trying to find every possible avenue to get us back to where we want to be. I know Bobby is under a lot of stress as internship deadlines are closing in and he is turning in applications to every possible California based company.

I definitely am SO glad we have met such amazing people here and I know these friendships we have made will be lifelong, I am very grateful for these relationships and I don't want my homesickness to ever come across as ungrateful. I do get to go to Northern California in about a month (a little less) to visit for Laura's baby shower and to go dress shopping with her, Laura, Molly, my mom and Bobby's mom so I think that trip will help a lot, so will getting back to work full time again. We made it through the holidays together so hopefully from here on out it won't be so bad. We have each other and I am also so grateful for that I obviously wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Bobby, but I also wouldn't travel 3,000 miles away from all of my family and friends for anyone else either.  I know we are here for a reason and it is all part of God's plan for us and that, I fully trust in.

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On another note, I don't think I have ever been sick so often, and for so long as I have been since moving here. I swear I never used to get sick in California MAYBE once a year...I have already been sick 4-5 times since I moved here (cold-like stuff nothing serious) and this last one I have had for maybe 3 weeks and I can't seem to get rid of it! It's crazy to me, and never would have thought the climate and lack of sun could do this to my immune system but it has. I am literally lacking in vitamin D and actually need to start going tanning to get some! There really is no sun here right now, it is pretty unreal and you probably wouldn't believe it unless you saw it for yourself. There have been little slivers of sun for a minute every now and then but for the most part it is cloudy and dark with no sun at all. I kept joking about getting seasonal depression but I wonder if I actually could! I didn't want to start tanning again, but it actually going to benefit my health so I am going to start going a couple-few times a week since its also included in my gym membership, hopefully it will make me start feeling a little better too! 1.5 years left to go here! Here's to surviving it!


**Just bought my ticket back to Cali for Laura's baby shower (the plane tickets finally dropped today thank you God...He knew I needed this :) ) and I am SO excited to be back and see everyone!!**

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 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

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

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