Fiona in January

Fiona in January

Sunday, October 16, 2011

What a Year!

Today we are celebrating our 1 year anniversary. I know everyone always says, "I can't believe it's been a year already"...but I seriously can't believe how fast this year has blown by. It's been a crazy year full of lots of good and a few rough patches with jobs and moving, but throughout it our marriage has been fantastic. I'm so lucky to be spending my life with someone who knows me so well and has been my best friend for so many years.

I decided to look back at the journal entries and blog posts I wrote a year ago, just to remember exactly where my mind was right before we got married.

Here it is again, my birthday. I'm a whopping 27 years old and in 17 days I am marrying the man I've dreamed about for more than 5 years...I never truly thought I would have this. Happiness, true love, someone who wanted to be with me forever. Through all the dating and loser boyfriends of my past...they led me to this. To him.

When I stop and think about all of the crazy bumps we've weathered on our journey together it really is amazing. The heartbreak from others, the distance, the uncertainty...but we made it through all of it and "won" a beautiful thing - our lives together (finally, right?). Some days it feels so surreal, yet most days it feels like the most normal, easy thing in the world. I trust him completely, will love him unconditionally and can't wait to see what our future together will be like.


I think the most amazing part of our actual wedding day was when I was getting ready with all the girls and waiting to walk down the aisle with my dad...it hit me - I wasn't nervous at all. I had no butterflies or any doubts whatsoever. I couldn't wait to marry the love of my life...I would have run down that aisle if my dress had been a teensy bit shorter - I definitely was wearing the shoes for it!





















We had so much fun on our wedding day, and had a fantastic time on our honeymoon at Disney World (hope we can go back soon!), but it didn't even begin to come close to the fun we've had this entire first year together. So here's to many many more!








































"My life would suck without you!" Yep - we had a Kelly Clarkson quote on our wedding program, that's just who we are.

Monday, October 3, 2011

A Successful Birthday Week

So, it's been a pretty great couple of weeks. Within that time period the fall season has FINALLY come to the Eastern Shore, my younger sister and her boyfriend came to visit for 4 days, I turned a whopping 28 years of age and have begun to once again play with fall flavors in my cooking and baking endeavors.

My younger sister and I are close, and I'm so thankful for our relationship. She lives in Indiana now, so I don't get to see her often, but we always just pick up where we left off whenever we get together. When she was 18 and graduated from high school, she decided to move out to Indiana (where I was graduating from college) and live with me for awhile. The next 3 years were hilarious and a lot of fun. We got to know each other as "grown ups" and I felt like we got to make up for so much lost time because I went to college so far away while she was going through high school.

I love her to death and hate that she lives so far away, but I'm so proud of the life she's built for herself there and the fantastic guy she's dating. Hopefully there will be many more subsequent visits in the future! We're quietly plotting to find said boyfriend a great job out here on the East Coast so we can live next door to each other and become increasingly annoying to everyone as we continue to enjoy our ridiculously close friendship. Sounds like a great plan to me!

In other news, my husband got me the best birthday present to date: an original piece of art painted by one of our incredibly talented friends...how lucky are we to know so many artists?!

The story behind the painting is that I absolutely love Hayao Miyazaki movies and my favorite of all time is My Neighbor Totoro, tied with Howl's Moving Castle. I honestly can't decide, they're both incredible movies and I watch them multiple times a year!

There is a lot of Totoro (the main character in the movie) artwork out there and I've always like it, but I haven't found a lot that I want to go ahead and buy. The posters are great, but I wanted more of an art piece rather than just a flat image I needed to frame. I mean, it's Totoro...he's literally larger than life, how could he just be captured in a poster image?

Yes, I am this insane about the movie characters I love...and I'm ok with that.

So this painting not only incorporated Totoro perfectly, but my husband had our friend add a few personalized touches. If you look closely you'll see that Totoro is wearing green Chuck Taylors - my all-time favorite and preferred footwear. He's also carrying a bouquet of flowers (one of my favorite gifts for any occasion). I love that my husband knows me so well - so well that he could get a friend of ours to create such a personal gift for me that literally no one else has!

This year's birthday week was fantastic. Last year we were so crazed planning our wedding (taking place 2 weeks after my birthday!) that my birthday got a little rushed and shuffled over. This year more than made up for it and I couldn't have asked for a better one.