Holy Blizzard, Batman!

We got to experience the REAL Rochester last night/today. Last winter was "mild" according to all of the people who have lived here their whole lives, we of course still thought it was terrible. Well, it was nothing compared to the storm that we got hit with last night! It started snowing at around 5pm, then the storm hit and it REALLY started dumping at 8pm. When we woke up this morning it had snowed a good 12"! My car was basically completely buried in snow! My snow boots barely even helped because the snow went up to my knee! I was tentatively scheduled to work today, depending on the weather and we both decided it was probably better to just not have me come since the roads weren't the best, and therefore she wouldn't be going to run the errands she was going to do anyway. They leave for Vermont tomorrow so I won't see them until after the New Year!

Anyway, I of course had to document this ridiculous snow fall...aka blizzard, the pictures speak for themselves!

our parking lot

walkway to our apartment building

my poor car

much nicer from the inside :) 

White Christmas

Merry Christmas! Today for us is pretty much like any other day, sad but true. Being so far away from all of our family makes it a little harder to get into the holiday spirit as much. This is our second round of holidays (both Thanksgiving and Christmas) here in Rochester and away from our families. Traveling during this time is always a HUGE pain for the short amount of time we would get to be there, and also VERY expensive. This year especially would have been brutal with the abundance of winter storms going on...no thanks. With my luck flying I probably wouldn't have even made it all the way to California! Hopefully next year we will be able to spend Christmas with at least SOME family, but then again who knows what the future holds...we will see!

We started the day off with a big ole' fatty Christmas breakfast that I made. Yum Yum, I have definitely gained some pounds this holiday season lol Once the holidays are over it is DEFINITELY time to get into serious wedding mode and whip my butt into shape! Winter is by far the hardest season to stay in shape, especially here! It is literally 20 degrees in the mornings, snow covered, I barely want to get out of bed just to go to work, let alone the gym! But, I am really just going to have to get into the right mindset...like not wanting to be a fatty at our wedding or on our honeymoon and just GET TO IT! haha I have thoroughly enjoyed the holidays, maybe a little too much, but it is time to get on track.

We didn't really do Christmas gifts on Christmas...we kind of each got some pretty big things slightly before Christmas so we didn't do that whole thing. Which is fine, it's not about that anyway. I was however, beyond excited and thankful that the family I work for got us our beautiful toasting glasses for our wedding! And it was our FIRST wedding gift off of our registry! She sneakily asked me the other day where we were registered, but I thought nothing of it and she surprised me with them. I thought it was SO nice of them it made me so excited thinking that those were the glasses we would be toasting with as the new Mr. and Mrs. Graham in 8 short months! :)

There is still snow all over, and plenty more on the way! There is another storm system coming that is supposed to dump 8-12 inches of snow on us between tomorrow and Thursday! Brr Brr Brr!

No plans for NYE yet...I kind of hope we do SOMETHING...but, guess we will see!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and got to enjoy it with the ones they love the most. I know I wasn't with everyone I love, but I was with my best friend which definitely makes up for it :)

<3

11 years down, Forever to go!

Today is Bobby's and my 11 year anniversary! 11 years! We still can't believe it, but are so happy and feel so blessed to have made it through everything and come out stronger and more in love than ever on the other side. We are the lucky ones who have grown up together, not grown apart. I am thankful everyday for having Bobby. We have been put into situations already where we have to lean on each other to get through it, we are each other's best friends. Everything that we have been through has only brought us closer together, and although it was hell at the time, it has made our relationship what it is today. Unbreakable.

8 months from today I will be Mrs. Graham and it can't get here soon enough! <3

Here's to forever together!

Well the World Didn't end...

But we did get one heck of a snow storm last night! We got the end of that major snow storm that dumped all over the middle of the country and got a good 6 inches of snow. I am pretty happy because I was really wanting a white Christmas since we didn't have one last year, and with this being our last Christmas in Rochester, and I have never had a white Christmas, I just wanted to have one. And while it is not the most fun to drive in or be out in, it sure is pretty to look at from inside our cozy apartment with the lights of our Christmas tree reflecting in the window :) I will now count this as our first OFFICIAL snow of the season!

Tonight Bobby and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary (a day early) by going to dinner at the same place we stumbled across last year and had our anniversary dinner at. The Gabel's asked me to babysit tomorrow night for a couple of hours so they could go to dinner with some family so I of course said yes because I love those girls and I wanted to see them to give them their Christmas gifts as well, so we just decided to go to dinner tonight :) It was yummy as usual. No plans yet for the day tomorrow, maybe we just do absolutely nothing. I asked Bobby at dinner tonight if we will be celebrating this anniversary next year, because we will be married...he didn't have an answer and said it was up to me lol I say of course we will. Maybe it won't be as big of a celebration as our wedding anniversary but no doubt we will be celebrating in some way. 11 years is a LONG time and I am so happy to have spent them all with my best friend. It's crazy that next year I will be Mrs. Graham, but I can not wait! Talk about a LONG time coming!

Tomorrow also marks the 8 month mark till our wedding! I still love the fact that our Wedding DAY will be the same as our dating day anniversary, I am glad it ended up that way without even trying I know it was meant to be. Time has flown, and I realized yesterday that I better get our save the date's ordered...so I did! I had ordered a bunch of free sample invitations from Wedding Paper Divas and with those they sent me a 20% off code that was good until 12/31. We had finally narrowed our designs down and picked one so we ordered them officially yesterday! I can not wait to get them I am so excited! They are scheduled to arrive around January 7th. I want to get them out sometime in February, slightly before the 6 month mark.

In some other VERY exciting news, Bobby has made it to the final round of interviews for our number 1 job prospect and I couldn't be more proud of him. It seems like the most perfect fit for him and us and I am just praying he makes it! He was 1 of 12 in the whole USA to make it to the final round, that in itself is a HUGE accomplishment. They are an international company and recruit out of 5 countries. 12 candidates got chosen for each country...so he is one of 60 finalists out of the over 3,000 applicants...just amazing! They pick 15 people out of the 60, about 3 from each place. I have such a good feeling about it so I will be praying. They are flying him out to Houston for a two day intensive interview session in February, so we should know soon after that! He also has a very good shot at another company, that is based in Houston so we have a very solid back up plan as well. Things have been working out the best possible way they could have so far and I am so excited for our future and SO proud of Bobby for all of the hard work he has put in to getting this far!

So much exciting news to come in the next few months! :) Glad the world didn't end, because I am so ready for our amazing year of 2013! <3

12/12/12

I haven't posted in awhile, but definitely had to post today because it's 12/12/12. I didn't even realize it until I saw other people on facebook posting about it. Every day just kind of runs into the next, they all blur together you're lucky if I know what day of the week it is ;) It is pretty crazy knowing this won't happen again for what, a thousand years! geez!

I had a little bit of a moment today though, a good one....slightly dorky but positive nonetheless. I was chatting with my bestie about a dress I saw yesterday while doing a little shopping with miss J and found myself loving a dark green BCBG dress. Normally I would never be drawn to green whatsoever, but I just loved everything about the dress, especially the fact that it was dark green. So we are talking and then she reminded me that the color of 2013 is Emerald green. I had an epiphany. My birthstone is Emerald (May), color of the year is Emerald, and our wedding is 2013, we end another chapter here and start a new one in an unknown new place...2013 is definitely my year! I thought it was pretty cool how it all aligned, and I made a big deal out of it of course...hey whatever life is too short to not enjoy the little joys in life :)

We have a couple Christmas parties coming up this weekend, pretty excited!! We have a typical, ugly Christmas sweater party at a friends house on Friday night and then a classier Christmas party at our friend Bill's (the same friend we spent Thanksgiving with) on Saturday. Get to dress up a little fancy for that one, which is always fun! This month has been so busy and because of that it has FLOWN! We are now 12 days till Christmas, 10 days until our 11 year anniversary and 19 days until NYE!

We will hopefully be getting some GOOD news by the end of the month...hopefully a wonderful Christmas present, so we are REALLY looking forward to that! There is also some snow in our forecast...or at least a probability for it so for our last Christmas here, since we are here, I would REALLY love a white Christmas! We didn't have one last year and from what everyone was saying about "oh last winter was mild this winter is going to SUCK"....it hasn't so far and we still haven't had a REAL snow fall so fingers crossed the snow God's send some snow for Christmas morning!

Happy December!

I love December! Christmas, Anniversary, and New Years! Pretty much the best month ever!!! We have a lot of news coming this month that could make or break our future so I am praying for the make-it outcome! :) We have a couple Christmas parties to attend this year which I am excited about; an ugly sweater one and a cocktail party at our friends' house who we spent Thanksgiving with. Good excuse for a new dress, I think yes!

We had our first official snow last night, it actually stuck and blanketed the city in white. It's not so bad when the wind isn't blowing! It is all melted today, but the forecast calls for more coming up in the next couple of weeks, and also on Christmas so fingers crossed I get my first white Christmas this year since last year we did not have one! The snow put us in the mood ( I would like to think) to finally put up our little fake Christmas tree. We opted for a fake one last year just because it was easier and less messy. We also got a pre-lit one, so really it also saved money haha We light a pine scented candle and it's all good ha! I love having the tree up, I think if I could have it up all year long I would there is just something about a Christmas tree that brings a smile to my face :)

22 days till our 11 year anniversary
24 days till Christmas
30 days till New Years Eve!

Bring on the holiday spirit, and let the countdowns begin! :)

It's Becoming Real

Until recently the whole reality of Bobby and me getting married hasn't really hit me. We just reached the 9 month mark and now it really is starting to become a reality! I think I got a taste of it when I ordered my wedding dress, but that was back in July and things have just kind of been coasting since then, made some payments but not much else. The last month or so things have really be coming together. 2 of my 4 bridesmaids already have their dresses, Bobby's Aunt and Cousin just asked me today when I would like the bridal shower to be, and his cousin also told me they are planning their disneyland/Graham WEDDING vacation for August 19-24..THAT really was like a whoa moment to me for some reason haha. To know that people have already started planning to come to OUR wedding is crazy and exciting!

I also just sent all of my vendor information, timeline information, and wedding party information to our wedding coordinator...another reality check! I am so glad that my bridesmaids wanted to get their dresses early so I could see them in real life and be SURE that they were the ones and they are! I love them! The color is perfect and they are so comfy and light which is exactly what I wanted. I actually have debated ordering one in ivory for myself for the rehearsal or bridal shower...they're that cute and comfy I just love them!

Another thing that has now become a reality is the fact that we very well may not end up in CA at all like we had been holding out for. We have both accepted and become fine with that, it's just crazy to think we could quite literally end up anywhere at this point. Bobby has some VERY amazing opportunities right now and I am just PRAYING one in particular works out. It is a perfect job for him and would be such a dream come true for the both of us! I am trying not to get my hopes up and get too ahead of myself or anything, but I am just going to continue to pray it works out! We should know by the end of the year how it turns out...maybe early next year. Fingers crossed!!!

I am so excited for 2013 and all of the amazing events and opportunities it has just waiting for us to discover and enjoy! Our journey continues!!! xoxo

Considering November is half over...

I figure I should blog something, even though I don't know that I have all that much exciting stuff to talk about, but I will briefly describe the last few weeks:

1. Halloween- Simon had their annual Halloween party at a club in Rochester, free drinks, music, friends makes for a pretty fun night. I had been getting up at 5 am and so by midnight I felt like I was falling asleep standing up so we kind of called it an early night. We didn't even decide to go until a week before, so we found the most decent, cheapest costumes we could find on Amazon (which ended up being Roman emperor/empress costumes) and called it a day. Overall the night was fun, last year was still probably better though. It is probably our last big halloween party like that too, we are getting a little too old for that now haha

2. Bobby's dad came and stayed with us for a few days. We were all suppose to go NYC that weekend, but Sandy destroyed the city and that definitely did not happen; subways were flooded, power was out, etc so we just hung out here. boring. But he did point out that the thread on the inside of my tires was showing....oops, not good. So I got new tires...yay...just in time for snow! <---not actually excited.

3. We finalized our wedding guest list, and I think have picked out our save the dates. I had ordered some free samples from Wedding Paper Divas of invitations and they sent me a 20% off discount code so I am pretty sure I will be ordering from them and using the discount. I plan on ordering those sometime next month and getting them out at the end of January/early February, I can't believe that time  is almost here!

4. We also found the cutest invitations on Etsy that we want to use. They are actually fairly reasonably priced as well compared to most wedding invitations that can cost a pretty penny, so we will see, but we both really like them, and they're unique which we love as well!

5. I found and bought my (new) wedding shoes! I had ordered some awhile back, before we switched the whole wedding around, the really cute aqua heels, but after changing everything our colors also changed so they no longer matched. I also decided to go with flats, I am not really a heels person anyway and I knew I would end up in flats by the end of the night anyway so why no just wear adorable flats the whole time? They should get here on Monday and I can't wait!!

6. I finally decided to delegate some DIY projects. Up until recently I was gung ho on doing everything myself, but then I got to thinking about reality and how we will be moving in June (2 months before the wedding Ah!) etc and decided it would probably be a whole lot less stressful to give the mom's some jobs :) They of course happily accepted their projects, and are actually super excited about them, and its a huge weight off of my shoulder I know they will do fabulously!

I feel like slowly but surely everything is falling into place and will be perfect come the big day! I have reached out and gotten almost everyone's addresses and hearing how excited all of our friends are to celebrate with us makes us all that more excited! :) It has been awhile since we have seen some of our friends so we will all just be making up for lost time at the wedding!

Thanksgiving is a week from today and I have not yet even thought about what to make or buy for our meal. It will just be Bobby and me this year, but I will make a turkey and a full on meal because I know how much he loves Thanksgiving food, particularly my Thanksgiving food ;) We will probably just spend the weekend at home, hanging out, watching football (ugh) haha! Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! xoxo

Update for Monday

Sandy has passed and thankfully things were not as bad as they had anticipated. There are 10,000+ people in the surrounding cities here without power due to downed trees, but nothing even as close as bad as the coastal towns. I am currently watching the news and it's crazy! Everything happened at night so nobody really knew what the impact was going to be, while I am sure it could be worse, it is still not good. We were supposed to be going to the city this weekend, but I am thinking probably not now, I imagine it's going to be a mad house for days to come. We have a lot of friends in the city so I am glad they're all safe and survived sandy!

In other news...yesterday was live fit day 1 and it went well, I am pretty sore so that's my sign I worked hard! On paper it doesn't look too hard, but it definitely is! Because of the crazy, unpredictable weather I decided to just wait and go to the gym with Bobby, he wanted to go to the gym too so I was fine with waiting. We went around 3 and finished right before the storm got bad just in time! Today is day 2, back and biceps, and we will go tonight after I am done with work and he is done with his school stuff. This wasn't exactly the best week to start early morning workouts haha oh well! As long as do them, despite what time, I don't care. I'm still waking up early 530/6am so at least I am keeping with that sleep schedule, go me!;)

I had a great Monday! Got a great start to the livefit trainer and bobby also surprised me with a late bday/early Christmas gift...an iPad! Last Christmas he got me a macbook air and this year he got me an iPad! He is so sneaky! He told me last week that he never got me a bday gift so he had ordered me something and it should get here this week and it arrived yesterday! I love it! He knows that I have wanted one forever so he got me one. Just like my mac he found a great deal online at apple for a refurbished one, good as new and saved $100's of dollars, no sense in paying full price when you don't have to! :) It's good to have a techy fiancé, love him so! He definitely spoils me and has been very good with surprises lately! I know I am never going to get off of the darn thing now ;) I am one lucky girl! <3

A Storm is a Brewin'!

Hurricane Sandy is definitely letting it be known that she is has arrived! The weather has gotten worse and worse by the hour as it descends upon NYC and the East coast. Although we are about 300 miles from NYC, the storm is SO big we are definitely getting some effects; high wind (gusts up to 60mph) and rain, rain, and more rain! It is supposed to head directly for Rochester once it makes land fall, the path is to go through PA and then up, eventually dissipating right over us...meaning we are expected to have this high winds and rain all day tomorrow and through Wednesday with the worst of it probably being tomorrow. I think we will be fine, but it is a little scary knowing how bad it is anticipated to be and we are hoping the winds don't knock our power out! I would say we are fairly prepared if something like that happened, but we are hoping for the best! I am supposed to work tomorrow, but Megan said we will see how bad the weather is and play it by ear. Her mom made it early, she was planning on coming this week mid-week but once we all got word of the hurricane coming she hopped on a flight and got out. She lives in the DC area, and most if not all airports there have been shut down since last night so it is a good thing she was able to get out. I love a good storm, it reminds me of growing up in Florence, we used to get these kinds of storms regularly (every year) and I remember getting sent home from school early and playing games with my brothers by candle light. My dad worked for the city so he was always out there working in the storm to help other people, so glad he is retired and doesn't have to work out there anymore! They aren't so bad if you don't have to go out in them, unfortunately I am no longer a child sitting inside playing in the candle light, I have a job and things to do! grr! But I guess that is just part of growing up...I have enjoyed it tonight though, listening to the wind and the rain (while also hoping the tree right next to our apartment window doesn't blow in haha). It is definitely only going to get worse, so stay tuned! :)