Happy new year, dear readers. I am writing to you from my brand new MacBook Air my husband gifted to me for Christmas (lucky gal, I know :-))! After spending the last 7 days in 4 different homes and 4 different beds, I am grateful for a quiet moment to collect my thoughts on the new year ahead of me.
2012 will always have a special place in my heart because it is the year I was lucky enough to marry my best friend. I know that sounds utterly cliche, but at the end of the day, despite the struggles, the fallouts, the tears, and even all the joyous moments that occurred this past year, I will first think about my wedding and the happiness I felt on that day when I reflect on 2012.
Maybe you noticed, and maybe you did not, but I took a little blogger break for most of December. It was a tough month for me, personally. I believe a lot in timing, and I think God knew that I needed the break to really be grateful this Christmas - so that's what I focused my time and energy on. And I am....truly grateful.
I am grateful for this man who I get to wake up next to everyday...and incidentally enough, I love more each day I wake up with him.
On Christmas Morning :)
I am grateful for my parents who want great things for me and for my mom who will drop everything and come take care of me when I'm sick.
Holding their gift from my sister and me on Christmas morning.
I am grateful for hard work and budgeting that allowed me to buy my first new car EVER a few days after Christmas! (and most definitely happy that my husband can fit comfortably in this car!)
Getting ready to drive off the lot with my 2013 Mazda CX-5!
I am blessed beyond belief to have this little guy in my life this past year, and to celebrate as he turned 1-year-old on December 28!
Mason loves his Uncle Keith...he's like a giant pillow!
Even though we had planned to come home from Atlanta on Monday night, we ended up staying for New Years Eve and I am so happy I got to spend a quiet evening with my sister and our husbands reading on my Kindle and watching Jenny McCarthy act like and idiot on New Year's Rockin' Eve. When the ball dropped, my husband gave me a kiss and we went to bed. It was just as it should be.
I have had many moments in the last few weeks of reflection on my life and how blessed I am. No matter what I allow myself to think in my moments of weakness and my moments of selfishness, I always come back to that. I am ready for 2013. I am ready to drive my new car and blog on this computer. I am ready to put away my Christmas decorations and watch the snow fall. I am ready to try out recipes from my new cookbooks and FaceTime with my nephews. I am ready for new episodes of all my shows and for NFL Playoffs! I am ready to celebrate my last birthday in my 20's (in March) and long for summer. Mostly I am ready for a new year and a fresh start, and a chance to be a better person, better wife, better daughter, better sister and better co-worker than last year.
I'll admit, hearing Christmas music on the radio the other day completely caught me off guard. I had to stop and remember what day was for a minute, and then it dawned on me...it's November. Where the hell did the year go?? Realizing that the world is officially in "holiday mode" reminded me of two things...I really need to get a head start on my Christmas shopping this year, and secondly...this is my favorite time of the year.
Why is it my favorite time of the year? Well, for obvious reasons...time with family, being thankful, warm fires, and all things Christmas...but there is also another reason I love this time of year. It's when I fell in love.
Growing up I always assumed I would fall in love one day, imagined what it would be like and who it would be with. I actually thought I would fall in love many times...knew I would have my heart broken too, but I looked forward to experiencing those feelings that I have read about, seen in movies, and heard stories of all my life.
But having gone through all of my college years with only minor flings and certainly no boys to write home about (why are boys such idiots around this age??), I started to get a little worried. In the years after college, I dated everyone. Everyone. I kept my hopes up that my person was out there still and eventually the timing would be right for us. Most of the men I dated were nice guys, some of them even great guys who I had strong feelings for. But I knew even during my best days with them that it was not love. That didn't stop me from being devastated when things ended with some of them...and it certainly didn't stop me from being annoyed to jump back into the dating pool either.
By my mid-20s, I started to wonder...What if I NEVER fall in love? Or more specifically...How will I KNOW I'm in love? Has anyone else wondered that?
By the fall of 2010, something happened. This boy who had been in and out of my life for years...who at one time I could almost picture my life with him....who had broken my heart many times...was trying to find a way back into my life. I tread carefully...very carefully...through the fall. It was filled with late night text messages, (second) first dates, and lots of answers to questions about our past and what went wrong. By November, I knew things were different with this boy than they ever had been before, and even though I had feelings for him since the day I met him, I still worried about whether I would know if this was love.
Call me crazy, but I always thought falling in love would be fireworks and hot pink, and undeniable, and without a doubt...and I thought I would know the second it happened. I think that's what we've been taught.
But by November of 2010, all I knew is that this guy made me really happy. After agreeing that we would not be seeing anyone else but each other (a first for us in our 3 years), I immediately left for New York City on a girls trip in mid-November. In one of the most amazing cities in the world, I longed for Lexington, KY and more time with him. Funny how that happens. When I turned on my phone after our plane landed on our return flight, I had a video from my guy...it was of him playing a Jason Mraz song that still resonates with me to this day.
It's funny how sometimes a song or a lyric can perfectly capture a feeling..."All I really wanna do is love you, a kind much closer than friends use...but I still can't say it after all we've been through..." Maybe he was wondering the same thing as me.
I was only home for a week before I promptly left for Atlanta for Thanksgiving...another week apart. I longed for home again, even surrounded by the people I love most in the world. Maybe that was a small clue. But I still wasn't sure. I made the drive from Atlanta to Lexington in near record time after Thanksgiving and spent the next day with him, running errands and putting up my Christmas tree together...another first.
I helped him pick out Christmas gifts for his family and he begrudgingly watched Love Actually, and It's a Wonderful Life and The Holiday with me. And he agreed to spend Christmas day with me at my parents' house...which in the land of relationships is a big freakin' deal. With his job being the way it is, he had to work Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas, which meant we couldn't drive up together.
We decided that he would drive up on Christmas Eve after spending some time with his Aunt and Uncle after work. Unfortunately, mother nature was not cooperative with our plans and it snowed furiously that evening. I sat with my family wondering what time he would leave his aunt and uncle's house, and if it would be early enough. I worried about the weather and if he would change his mind about coming and I'll admit, I was already planning on yelling at him if he called to say he wasn't coming. That night, the hour and 15 minute drive to my parents house took him over two hours. I waited up for him long after the rest of my family had gone to sleep and greeted him when he arrived after 1:00am.
Later that morning, we opened presents, and he got to know my family (he had already met my parents) and take part in our holiday traditions. Having him there felt right to me. He later admitted that he had never been so scared driving before as he was driving through the winter storm that Christmas Eve to see me. On Christmas night, we ate dinner and relaxed together and around 9:00, he said he had to drive back. I watched him pack his things and begged him to stay the night (he had to work early the next morning), but he couldn't. Even though I would be home in another day or two, I felt devastated that he had to head back so soon.
After he left, he sent me a text message that said, "I think I'm crazy about you" and I cried.
It wasn't fireworks, and time did not stop, but that was the moment I can trace back and vividly know that I was in love. It didn't happen overnight or in that one moment. It was a collection of things...going to a basketball game, eating dinner together, watching a movie, opening his poorly wrapped Christmas gifts, greeting him at the door on Christmas Eve and watching him introduce himself to my sister and brother-in-law for the first time in his pajamas.
It's a bunch of silly moments like that which stick out in my head and remind me why I love this time of year more than ever...I get to relive our love story. This year I am more thankful than ever though, because after 5 years of friendship, dating, not dating, being engaged, and now married...we will finally get to spend out first Thanksgiving together. A long time overdue, don't you think?
Our second "first date" to a UK basketball game
Out for drinks with friends a few weeks before Christmas
At my grandparents' house on Christmas day
New Year's Eve
Do you have a holiday love story? Did you struggle to realize what love was and recognize the difference?
Ya'll I've been a little stressed lately. Work is super busy right now and it feels like there are a million things to get done before I leave everyday. Luckily for me, when I am done with work, I get to come home. And not plan a wedding. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. For serious.
That being said, I am feeling very nostalgic for my honeymoon...and the beach...and definitely the cocktails. So here I am, dreaming about the next vacation we're gonna take (even though we have no plans to take a vacation for a while) and then I realized I never shared any of my amazing honeymoon with you! It was seriously the BEST trip I have ever had and by far the most relaxing.
We went to Secrets Maroma Beach Resort in the Riviera Maya area of Mexico (near Cancun). We flew direct from Cincinnati into Cancun (about 3 hours) and were greeted with a mimosa on the plan and a hot towel! We arrived at the hotel at about 8:00pm in Cancun and were greeted with more champagne. We ordered room service once we unpacked and put on the over-sized cotton robes they had waiting for us in the rooms and just vegged for the first time in weeks. We had only gotten maybe 4 hours of sleep the night before and after traveling all day, it was heaven.
The next morning we woke up and ordered room service again for breakfast before heading out to the pool. The pool....was...amaze-balls. Food, drinks, ice cream, and whatever else you want right at your fingertips. Husband was completely mesmerized by the swim up bar. No, he really did not want to leave once we sat down and got our drinks. He kept saying, "We're in the pool. And at the bar. We are sitting on bar stools...in the pool." I get it sweetie. I really get it.
We lounged all day by the pool before heading back to the room for what would become a daily nap. I seriously never napped so much in my life. For whatever reason, relaxing was exhausting. The first few nights we were there, we tried to make it around to all the different restaurants before venturing back to our favorite places.
On the second day we went out to the beach. I die. No really, I die. I have NEVER seen sand as white as it was there, nor water so blue. If you looked up the definition of aquamarine, a picture of this beach would be there. It was relaxing and beautiful and not crowded at all which I loved.
In the evenings we spent time in the main lobby enjoying drinks and taking advantage of the free wifi! We walked around the resort at night and even caught a show one of the evenings...the same evening I volunteered us for the newlywed game in the resort night club. But that's another story.
So without further ado...here is a picture recap (well, more like picture overload) of our honeymoon:
First day at the Pool!
Reading
After dinner our first night
Laying in one of the many hammocks around the resort
One of many pictures I took like this...so relaxing!
beach bums!
Dinner at the Italian restaurant with a gorgeous sunset behind me
My husband with a hunk of food in his mouth
Beach!
Margarita and 50 Shades of Grey (which every single girl on the resort was reading)
Cheesing on the beach!
On our way to the pool :)
The time I tried a pina colada...yuck!
Before dinner, mid week. This was in front of the swim out pool we had at our room.
Showing off
When in Mexico....
Right after he discovered on of his favorite bourbons on the resort...Who wouldn't marry this guy?
Swimming in our private pool at night :)
Another arm out pic of the two of us...one of our last days on the beach
lounging by the pool right before lunch.
Eating dessert!
After I volunteered us for the newlywed game...husband was less than thrilled!
Love
Happy Honeymoon!
Toasting on our last full day at the resort.
Dinner our final night...back at the Italian restaurant
We are married...for realz.
This is no joke what the beach looked like. It was gorgeous!
Tired of wedding stuff yet? I kinda don't blame you. But too bad. After a year of planning and neglecting this 'lil old blog of mine, I can't help but share all the fun detail of the day. This post will mostly be pictures - you know, the ones we might actually frame :)
The Girls:
It was sooo hot! I love this pic of the gals helping me air out my legs while we walked.
Gorgeous gals :)
Maid of Honor/Sister and Me
Matching tattoos.
Me and both my sissies!
And of course our bridesmaid pic...inspired by the below pic...
