merry belated christmas everyone

Earlier this month we took our annual Christmas photo.
I could not find my remote clicker so most of the pictures were me trying to run around and get in position. The dogs kept going a little crazy and would not stay put for photos. I did buy a new clicker already so future photos will be much easier! This has been a four year tradition for me and the second one for us as a family. I remember being so nervous putting Liam in my Christmas photo because we were serious but we had our bumps in the road. Commitment was difficult for me and putting someone in my card to send out to all of my friends was a big deal! How funny to look back and here we are, we're married!

We spent the holiday eve with his parents and headed to Seattle to visit my brother and future sister-in-law. Liam has never been to the west coast so it was a great way to get started! We hope everyone had a great holiday and has a very happy new year!

xoxo

holiday tree findings

The last few years I have gone out Christmas tree shopping for myself. With the craziness of living between two houses, we decided not to get a tree this year. I picked up a fake tree during Black Friday shopping for my apartment but the Christmas spirit has not been in full effect for me.

A few weeks ago we went out to help a few friends hunt for the perfect Christmas tree for their new home. It would be their first tree in their home, how exciting! For me, it was an opportunity to whip out the camera and actually take some pictures! It was a lot colder than I expected but who doesn't love this weather for Christmas activities! I truly believe I would be confused in warm weather states during the holiday season. Pretty sure I will regret saying that since it was 3 degrees last week.



If there is any one of my friends who loves picking out Christmas tree's it's T. She loves Christmas and wanted their tree to be at least 9-10 feet tall, in person it is gigantic. We were happy to help them pick it out and cut it out!


As we left to take the tree back to the truck, the boys decided it was too much to carry so they wanted to drag it back. T was not having any part of that!

philadelphia christmas market

We spent last Sunday in Philadelphia, hitting up our favorite place IKEA and walking around the city a little. It was a bit chilly so we didn't want to walk around too much, but I love this city and the food.

As we walked around IKEA, I realized how awesome of a husband he really is to me. I was looking for a glass box we had seen at the beginning of the 'tour' but could not find it in the Marketplace. He walked all the way back through the entire store to see where he could get the box. The display was the last box in the store and he had to fill out paperwork to get it. He's seriously the best.


We stopped at LOVE park near the City Hall. I love seeing the hall. It reminds me of my early days of college when we used to go dancing in Philly and drive by this on our way home, hanging out of windows screaming and singing at each other. We walked around the Christmas market looking at all the little shops, trying not to freeze. We bought him the cutest and warmest mittens (it was cold).


Sipped some hot chocolate.
Ate some appetizers aka pretzels.
I appreciate his enthusiasm to everything we do together. He is like a kid who sees new things that I some times take for granted because I have seen it so many times. He sees it from a whole new light and I love it. It makes me appreciate it all more.


Plus, we got see some awesome German sausages being cooked. Not that I eat it but it was still pretty awesome to see it! It was amazing to spend a whole week together after we got married. We got married and spent two weeks apart so it was like a mini honeymoon as he said (there will be a real one).

cheers to 2017

Figuring out what to do for New Years Eve is always a struggle, it is always supposed to feel like some BIG extravagant party where you dress up, wear party hats, and toast champagne at midnight.

We did wear party tiaras and we sort of toasted at midnight with red solo cups. I think it was one of my favorite NYE memories to date. It amazes me how much can change in only one year. It was a low key night with some really great friends and lots of cheese, I mean lots of cheese and don't ask us why. The boys built a fire, we vegged out, and spent time together. When we started this year, none of us were really that close and over the months we became the girls.

The girls minus one. She decided to stay in Canada, but she was there in spirit and SnapChat.


We cheers to a new year!
What type of goals are we planning for 2017?

• Getting back to the gym, not like those people who go to the gym for the first few months and stop. We only stopped because we moved and started rebuilding an entire bathroom and kitchen.
• Travel. Travel far or travel not so far, just travel.
• Begin scrapbooking again, I loved Project Life and stopped a few years ago. I want to start on a minimalist version.
• Save money. Future house or new car next year.
• Spend more time together. Yes, we live together but we like Candy Crush a little too much and may need to put down our phones once in a while.
• Learn how to sew.
• Make our house a home.
• Finish renovation projects: stairwell, stairs, third floor living area.
• Help more with the DIY projects we make and make at least 5 of the projects I pin.
• Volunteer our time somewhere.
• Enjoy the moments more.

My new planner can help with some of this stuff! By the way, I love my new planner. We have so many adventures to plan and memories to make this year. I can not wait to see what it will bring.

Merry Christmas 2016

Our first Christmas card together and if you ask me, it turned out pretty darn good.

It's unfortunate that you can see the photo clicker in my hand but think it depicted the dogs perfectly. Sebastian is smiling like the goofy dog he is trying to stare at us. Fifa is staring at Sebastian thinking why are you here? Do you know realize we're trying to take a family photo? You shouldn't even be here. She's kind of evil in that way but we love her.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas this year and we're hoping you are spending it with those you love.

Happy holidays from our family to yours!

xoxo

our first christmas

This year is our first Christmas together!
We met last year around this time when I was running a holiday gift drive for a family in need in our local community. Liam came to my office to pick up a gift tag and we started to chat. We met a few months earlier at a Happy Hour but this time was when he asked for my phone number. So this is our first official Christmas together, hooray.

It's hard to believe it has been a year, but what an exciting year it has been for us both.
The Sunday after Thanksgiving we went to pick out our Christmas tree. It was a cold cold day but it didn't take us too long to pick it out, probably due to the cold we decided not to be too picky. This is my third real Christmas tree, my parents have always had a fake one and when I finally left for good, I decided a real tree was going to be my thing.

We named her Beatrice, or Beaty for short. She's tall, round, and full of life. She also has an antenna because I haven't found a star or topper that has caught my eye. Picking out and cutting down trees is so fun, maybe not for the person who has to lay on the ground and actually cut the tree but for me it's fun! Sorry Liam. Our decorations in the house are at a minimum considering the house is a little disorganized and not done but at least we have a tree!

16 days until Christmas!