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Showing posts with label celebrate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label celebrate. Show all posts

3.24.2017

Happy Birthday to my better half!

Yesterday was a super special day :) Sean turned 31! Look at the little guy circa maybe 1989 (before T. Swift made that year cool)! Does Javi look like him? I think so. This celebratory blog post is a day late because that's what happens when Javi doesn't sleep (ah!)... things get delayed (since I do most of my blogging the night before). BUT! We still got a chance to celebrate! My mom watched Javi for us and we went to dinner and to the movies last night -- we saw Beauty and the Beast. (I liked it because I love Disney but I'm not totally sold on it).
We've come a long way from all-day birthday celebrations and parties with friends but it was really nice to be out just the two of us. It's always nice to eat a meal when it's still hot :) (though we missed Javi, of course). I did get Sean a few gifts like this and this but his major gift is coming Monday -- and I'm really excited about it! I can't believe we're fully in our 30s now! It seems like just yesterday we were in middle school! I definitely took a trip down memory lane when I brought out all the old hard drives to dig out some of these gems. :)
This is the 9th birthday we're celebrating together and I think they're so special. I'm so happy to be doing this whole life thing with Sean and I can't wait to see what many more birthdays bring. 

12.30.2015

Yearly Recap: 2015.

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Time to recap!

2010 // 2011 // 2012 // 2013 // 2014
January:
We rang in the new year with family as per usual. We found out in early January that I was pregnant! I made some goals for the year (and month) that I totally didn't follow through with. We celebrated my dad's birthday and Sean's younger brother's birthday, too.
February:
We started telling close family members we were expecting a baby. It was so exciting! The weather wasn't very nice to us in MA so with all the snow I stayed indoors a lot. Sean spent most the month cleaning snow out of our driveway.
March:
In the beginning of the month, we lost my grandmother and I delivered her eulogy at her funeral. We revealed my pregnancy on social media and I had some time off from work. Following with tradition, I spent a weekend in the White Mountains scrapbooking. Sean spent his birthday in Florida with his brothers and dad.
April:
We celebrated Easter, had so many doctor appointments, the weather started turning around and we spent a little more time outside! I started really "showing" and bought maternity clothes. We also painted our living room and "finished" decorating it.
May:
We had a yard sale and I told myself REALLY... NEVER AGAIN. We celebrated mother's day, Sean's mom graduating college, Memorial day, Sean's brother visiting and so many other fun things! We went to town hall meetings but were banished off to the side because we forgot to register to vote in our town! AH! I started an instagram account for our cats.
June:
I finished my sixth year of teaching. We took a day trip to Newport, Rhode Island and also spent nearly a week in Maine on a "babymoon". I enjoyed the beginning of my summer off and spent a lot of time in the AC. Javi's nursery was finished and things started to feel "ready". 
July:
I started my summer teaching job, and quickly realized it was too much. I was put on bed rest toward the end of the month. We celebrated the 4th, revealed Javi's name on social media, celebrated my mom's birthday, and my mom and aunt threw me an amazing baby shower! We also celebrated 4 years of marriage.
August:
We lost my aunt in August. My family visited from California and I remained on bed rest but tried to go into work toward the end of the month. I spent most of my time on the couch laying down.. I just remember really wanting Javi to arrive!
September:
I turned 29! I stopped working and officially started my maternity leave. We spent a lot of time at the doctors and the hospital and finally Javi arrived on Sept. 20! We tried to figure out how to be parents.
October:
We got into somewhat of a groove in this parenting venture. We took a trip to Maine, walked a 5K, took Javi to the zoo and celebrated Halloween. Javi was a ninja turtle!
November:
I continued maternity leave, Javi turned 2 months old and we hosted Thanksgiving at our house. We started to go out a little bit and I left Javi for the first time. My mom, aunt and I continued our tradition of shopping on black friday and we decorated for Christmas.
December:
We started the month off by traveling to Puerto Rico. Javi turned 3 months old, we had a blast at Christmastime and we will ring in 2016 the same way we did for 2015 -- with family. 


Happy 2016!

12.30.2014

Yearly Recap: 2014

2010 // 2011 // 2012 // 2013

Yearly recaps are what blogging is all about, don't you think? The posts are always one of my favorites to write because they are a great way to reflect on the year that's about to end and to write a little bit about it... all in one place as a way to look back and see what happened this year. I didn't blog as much so most of this is going to be from memory and not directly from previous blog posts. Here goes: 2014.
We celebrated NYE at my parent's house before going home, probably before 9PM to lay on the couch and watch the ball drop. It was truly crazy. This is the month Artemis had to go to the ER and that wasn't the best. We celebrated being in our house for one month and managed to paint the kitchen. All in all, we tried to stay in the house and out of the cold.
February brought a lot more snow and I gave the "okay" to buy an expensive snow blower. Artemis got her surgery done and recovered quickly. We celebrated Valentine's Day at the Outback (I'm pretty sure that was my doing because Sean really can't stand the Outback). I was also positive we were suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. My 101 in 1001 list ended and I made a new one.
March brought us some time to make some improvements in the house since I had some time off from work. The bathroom on the first floor got some updating, and the living room walls got painted. Sean shaved off his beard, we finally saw the sun for the first time in many months and I did a lot of scrapbooking. We celebrated Sean's birthday doing brewery tours with friends.
Sean started growing hops and I tried my hand at a vegetable garden. One morning we evacuated our house because we thought we had a gas leak (they fixed it in no time). We celebrated Artemis' one year adoption anniversary, Easter (we hosted!) and did a lot of hanging out with friends.
May:
We celebrated Apollo's adoption anniversary in May. We cut down a bunch of trees in our yard that were deemed "dangerous". I helped throw a bridal shower for one of my friends. I forced Sean to come with me to our first, ever, annual town meeting (he may tell you that was the last time he'd ever go to one, too). We went to a Redsox game with my parents and tried to start burning all the tree stumps and branches we had cut down. We walked the town's parade route for Memorial Day and I primed the front hallway (sidenote, it's 7 months later and the walls are still only primed).
I blogged about a trip to Newport, RI. We went to our first, ever, wedding in a cemetery and I used Rent the Runway for the first time in June. I helped throw a party at my work. We worked in the yard a lot and I started training for Mudderella. We finally installed the bathroom sink after 6 months. My fifth year of teaching ended and I started a summer nannying job. 
July
Sean started a new job in July. I fell down the stairs for the 3rd time so Sean took up the carpet. We finally got around to hanging up the gallery wall in the living room. The squirrels ate all the vegetable seeds and sprouts that I started in April. Hurricane Arthur rained out our 4th of July but we still managed to go to the drive-in. We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. Sean's brother visited from Seattle and stayed at our house. I hosted a bachelorette party at my house. I spent a day in Boston and was a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding. Also, Atlas joined our family.
August was the month of weekend trips: Baltimore twice, NYC and DC were all on the agenda. I hiked a mountain for the first time without Sean. We went to New Jersey for the Eminem and Rihanna concert. I started my 6th year of teaching.
In September, I completed the Mudderella and turned 28. We traveled to North Carolina to celebrate my cousin's wedding. We painted the music/office space. I was sick for a lot of the month.
I spent my first nights alone when Sean traveled to Seattle to make wine with his brother in October. We spent a weekend in Maine. I was totally obsessed with Taylor Swift's new CD and I became an ambassador for Barefoot Books. We bought an 11-foot dining room table which led us to swap spaces with the living room (it's still in the works). Sean started his own blog.
I finally updated to the iPhone 6 from the iPhone 4. I did my first vendor event with Barefoot Books this month and stayed busy with events through December. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the second time but for the first time in our house. I went shopping on Black Friday and didn't find any deals or steals. 
We decorated for Christmas and even hung lights on the outside of the house. We got our Christmas tree and listened to Christmas music and loved every moment of being in the Christmas spirit. We were never able to put ornaments on the tree because of Atlas. Sean's dad moved to Florida and gave us a lot of furniture. We took a photo shoot with the 3 cats and Sean and his friends made beer using rocks. We sent out Christmas cards. We went to Fatima shrine, a neighbor's holiday party and celebrated Christmas day with each other and family. We spent the last two weeks having a staycation and binging on Netflix (switching off between Criminal Minds and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). We celebrated one year of home owning.

Overall, the year was good to us. But we're ready to welcome 2015. 

1.01.2014

Hello, two thousand fourteen.

Happy 2014! We rang in the new year with family -- sparklers and all. We shared food, drinks and 2 "happy new year" hats between 10 people. It was warm (other than going outside to light sparklers) and fun and a great way to bring in 2014 and say goodbye to 2013. Sean and I were home by 10:30, in order to watch the ball drop in our new house. There's something about being together, in fleece pajamas, under blankets, on our couch, in our living room, watching TV, and drinking coke out of wine glasses that just screams "does it get any better than this?" I mean... it's all my favorite things -- all at one time. It was a perfect way to start the year.

12.30.2013

Yearly Recap: 2013

2010  //  2011  //  2012

2013 was really good to us. It was a long year and one that definitely felt like 365 days. But it was successful and fun and full of changes. Here's a look back on the last twelve months.  

January:
I vowed not to be so afraid of food in 2013 (and ended up trying shrimp for the first time in August… success!). I had a run-in with Mother Nature and almost crashed my car and told myself that getting an SUV was a must. Sean sent me flowers at work just because. I totally fell on the ice and had to crawl around a parking lot at 6AM in the dark. Sean started a new band with his friends. We went to a release party for our friend's clothing line and had professional pictures taken.

February:
We had a huge snowstorm and everyone was talking about Nemo. I recapped our love story around Valentine's day. Every single Sunday I dragged Sean to time-share talks because I was positive we were big winners of trips they had promised over numerous phone calls. I started watching The Brady Bunch every day and slept a lot.

March:
Apollo turned one. Breaking Dawn, part II came out on DVD and I became obsessed all over again. I went to a punk concert and thought I may be too old for that sort of thing. I bought my first car, ever. I started following blogs via bloglovin' and posted my first vlog. I chopped all my hair off. Sean turned 27 and I wrapped his presents like brown paper packages. We celebrated Easter with family.

April:
Sean chose our date night movie and I realized I can no longer watch horror movies. My heart grew and I was obsessed with getting a new kitten. Blogging became really hard. I had really hard conversations with children about the Boston marathon bombing. I organized and attended our annual Scrapbook Weekend. We brought our new kitten home and named her Artie. Our washing machine flooded our entire apartment, twice. We finally explored the area we lived and went for walks around the reservoir and around the town square. 

May: 
Sean quit smoking (yay!). We pledged to buy, shop and eat locally. I blogged every single day. I went to the doctors and they found something alarming. My mom introduced me to Candy Crush. We hosted a Mother's Day brunch and finally used our wedding china. We went to the drive-in. We attended a wedding. I got sun poisoning and we spent Memorial Day with family. 

June:
I made a lot of summer plans and goals. I finished my 4th year of teaching. I talked about successful ways to bring a second cat into your home. We lived 30 days without accessories. I went to a bridal shower and a bachelorette party and realized how strange it is to go out without Sean. We attended a wedding. We participated in our town's yard sale. I got my very first excise tax bill and it threw me over the edge.

July:
We went camping over the 4th with our friends. I realized I wasn't all that good at keeping up with social media. We went to Puerto Rico and visited with my great grandmother. I totally failed at being in the ocean while Sean tried paddle boarding. I added "flying" onto the list of things I no longer enjoyed. I was floored by the verdict of the Trayvon Martin case. We celebrated two years of marriage and tried to take a family shot. We went for rides on Sean's motorcycle. I dragged Sean to the Taylor Swift concert at Gillette and it poured. I got to see Lilyana and Easton.  
August:
We flew to Seattle and spent time with family. I finally got to go to Forks, Washington. We drove down the Oregon Coast and then stayed in San Francisco for two nights. We stopped in the Redwood forest. We ended our west coast trip in Southern California. I drove a Camaro for the first time. Sean's band released their first album. I bought a new blog domain that I still haven't talked about. We went on a Boston Harbor cruise and I got another sunburn. I realized Apollo was depressed and we invested in Feliway (a life-saver, by the way!). I started my 5th year of teaching (first year as a Head Teacher) and I talked about why I love Montessori.

September:
Artie turned one. I got a MacBook Pro. I fell off the blogging train and didn't really jump back on the rest of the year. We spent time with friends in Providence. I made some fall goals (most of which I achieved).  We attended a wedding. I turned 27 and got a polaroid camera. We spent a weekend camping in the same cabin as the 4th of July. We spent time in Vermont and went apple picking. Sean sold his motorcycle and traded in that hobby for brewing beer. I joined a book club and signed up for Zumba classes.

October:
I spent a weekend in the Cape for Girls Weekend. Sean started his first batch of beer. We found "our house" online. We spent a weekend in Maine and watched the sunrise at the lighthouse where we got engaged. We accepted the counter offer for our house. Sean left his band and decided he wanted to focus his time and energy into other things.

November:
We dealt with a lot of bank paperwork and shed some tears here and there. We also had our house inspection where we found out that it's old. We saw Macklemore in concert. We celebrated Thanksgiving with family and cooked a turkey. I barely blogged.

December:
Sean made homemade donuts that were delicious but he got seriously burned in the process. We packed up our apartment any chance we could. We paid the penalties of breaking our apartment lease. We closed on our house. We sent out our annual Christmas cards. We settled in and decorated for Christmas (tree, lights and all). We made way too many trips to Lowes and Benjamin Moore became my BFF. 

I'm not totally sure what 2014 will bring but I'm excited to find out. :)

3.01.2013

Happy Birthday, Apollo!

It's my favorite little kitten's birthday.


If you want to read Apollo's last two guest posts: go here & here.
If you're new around these parts -- yes, she has a boy's name.

She's come a long way from looking like this:


To this:
I can tell you she's still the same crazy kitten,
who runs and races and knows she's the cutest baby.
Occasionally, she has an attitude,
so we've been calling her our little teenager.

She's very busy celebrating her birthday with her stuffed mice,
and extra morsels of food -
so she can't guest post or anything.
But maybe soon.
For now, Happy Birthday Apollo!
:)