Looking Back...

I can't believe that this year is over! I swear every year just keeps going faster and faster. I remember celebrating last year, we were mid way through the deployment, I was celebrating with my friends in MN and chatting online with B, ringing in the new year (for him). Back then it felt like this deployment would never end, and we would never be able to be together starting our lives.

Now here we are, a year later, engaged, planning our wedding. The end of the deployment/moving out here to Washington was definitely one of the major highlights of the year. Getting engaged was another huge hilight. Also, gaining a new family member because my brother got married last week! The little stinker didn't even tell anybody until afterwards either, but I am thrilled to have Jennie in the family now.

I think B and I are just celebrating by staying in tonight. After work I'm going to stop by Best Buy to pick up this movie he's been wanting really bad, so we'll probably watch that, maybe watch some of the specials on tv and pop a bottle of champagne at midnight!

How are you celebrating the new year? What are some of your favorite memories from the past year?

Wedding Plans

The planning is underway :) We've got the dates, April 1st for our courthouse ceremony, and July 8th for our reception. By next week I'm hoping to have the venue booked. My mom is currently checking out a couple places in MN and reporting back to me. I have ideas for the reception table decorations, the favors, I saw a dress I liked that I'm going to Portland to try on. I feel like it's all starting to come together.

We decided to do things a little different from your typical wedding. Number one, courthouse wedding then reception, which seems pretty common for Military couples. As much as I wish I could have all my family and friends out here for my wedding, it will work well for us. We decided to do a later reception, on a Friday night and do hors d'oeuvres and some type of dessert bar. It will end up being a lot cheaper, and it works well for us.

My mom and I have actually figured out a bunch of DIY things we can do to save some money too. I just don't see the point in spending $25,000 on a wedding (which is the cost of most weddings these days supposedly) when you can do it for so much cheaper and still have a classy beautiful event.

The only thing I'm willing to really splurge on is the photographer, because we'll have the photographs forever. The photographer I found that I really like isn't even unreasonable either. I'm pretty much just waiting to book the venue before I start booking everything else.

I'm actually pretty shocked at how well this is all coming together, and how much I really enjoy it! Hopefully it continues to go this smoothly!

I'm Engaged!!!

Really, I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present! Last Thursday, B and I were talking about getting married, we've discussed it several times before, it was somthing we both wanted, it was just a matter of when it would happen. Well he suggests we get married, I thought he was joking at first, and he was like seriously let's get married. I told him that wasn't very romantic, but I would consider us engaged as soon as he bought me a ring.

The next day we went to the mall, went into Zales and picked out a ring! I went in there thinking I would know exactly what I wanted, but it turns out I didn't! I tried on the style of ring I thought I wanted, but I just really didn't care for it on my finger. The minute I put on the one we ended up buying, I knew that was my ring. I'm so in love with it!



Now for all the planning!!!!

Resolutions

Ok so I know it's not exactly new years yet, but I'm starting my resolutions early. Actually right now it's just one. Lose weight. I know I know... I've been saying that I'm going to, but this time I am serious. I was looking through some old pictures and it really got me down becasue I looked great, and much prettier without these extra pounds.

I know it's still the holiday season, so that makes it a little harder, and I'm not going to cut out all the things I love completely, just instead of snacking on cookies, I'll snack on fruit. I have some chicken thawing right now, so I can make a big salad with some grilled chicken for lunch.

I need to go grocery shopping this week,so I'm going to be buying a lot more fruits and veggies instead of processed boxed food. B is going to be in for a surprise, he's not the biggest fan of veggies, but it wouldn't hurt him to eat healtheir too.

I also really want to get a gym membership, I wanted to take Sulley for a walk this morning, but it was pouring down rain, so that didn't happen. The weather makes it difficult to excercise outside becasue you never really know when it's going to start raining.

So here I am making my vow to be healthier and eat healthier. I want to fit into all my cute clothes that are sitting in my closet, I want to feel good about taking pictures of myself, instead of feeling self conscious.