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!

We have set (another) date!

It's official! We have set the dates for my bridal shower and bachelorette party! AH I can't even believe it! Time is flying and all of these things are coming up faster and faster, it's so exciting! I had been wanting to do it in May, but with Bobby graduating June 9th we just decided it would be a million times less stressful to just do it after he graduates and after we move...(to where ever haha). We (or I should say I) decided to have my bachelorette party the weekend after, so a back to back weekends of pure bridal-mania! It made it easier on those people (me, Laura and possibly Laura M) having to travel. Being able to make one trip and do both things made a lot more sense that trying to do it later on and having to travel again. We kind of have limited time to do it and don't have the luxury of being local so we have made it work :) Bobby's cousin, aunt and grams are planning the shower and my amazing wonderful MOH and bridesmaids will be planning the bachelorette party. I haven't decided yet to do the bachelorette up in nor cal too, or to do it in so cal. I think I would prefer so cal, so we will see! I can't wait!!!

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

Gobble, Gobble

Thanksgiving this year ended up being another wonderful friendsgiving at our good friend Bill's parents house. We had met them once before, last summer when we went up and stayed at their summer home in Sodus Bay and I can't believe it had already been over a year since we last saw them, time flies! His dad was cooking so we just brought a couple appetizers; baked Brie and cheese,salami,and crackers. There were two othern Simon students who came over too so we had a nice spread of appetizers pre-turkey! We all just hung out and watched football, ate apps, and drank wine...lots and lots of wine!

The dinner was amazing and it was so nice to be included in his family's thanksgiving dinner. They know that we are a long way from home, and getting home for the holidays just doesn't seem to be in the cards for us so it is amazing that we have such hospitable friends out here who take us in and make us feel like a part of their family :) 

I don't think I can remember the last time I ate that much and was that full...omg but it was obviously worth it! I am determined to cook and hopefully host at least some family next year for Thanksgiving, wherever we end up! I miss spending holidays with family so my fingers are crossed next year we will be able to:) 

Now we are packing up and heading out for a very last second trip to NYC for the weekend! I am so excited to see the tree at Rockefeller center and all of the Christmas decorations in the city! It was definitely on my wish list, so I am really excited its happening! We will be staying in Times Square so it should be bustling and we will be right in the middle of it! 

Better get to packing and hitting the road! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! 

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