Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I'm back from my blogger break and wedding planning hiatus. I am so excited about 2010 - the beginning of a new decade and the year I will start my married life with Big Spoon! 2009 went by so quickly and I have a great deal to be thankful for. I'll work backwards from today ...

New Year's Eve 2009: 
We invited our closest friends over and had a ton of fun ringing in the new year. Also, it appears that 2010 is the year of weddings: three of our close friend couples are engaged and planning summer/late summer weddings. Oh my! We are so excited for all of them.

Christmas 2009
We had such a wonderful, low-key Christmas this year. It was our first year to celebrate Christmas together. We headed up to my family's celebration on Christmas Eve to be with my parents, maternal grandparents, brother, sisters and brothers-in-law and niece and nephew. Christmas day, Big Spoon's parents flew in from Colorado and were here through Tuesday and they totally spoil us. I am always sad to see them leave and miss them like I've known them forever.

Oh, and Big Spoon gave me a Tiffany's charm! Isn't it cute?

Fall 2009
Oh, let's see ... we booked Down South Delights catering in November, celebrated our 1st year dating anniversary and chose Rose Mont Mansion for our wedding and reception in October.

Summer 2009
We (as in my parents) purchased my wedding dress in August, celebrated Big Spoon's birthday, had engagement pictures made in June and celebrated my birthday! Oh, and I bought a new car :)

Spring 2009
This quarter of 2009 was marked by travel - a weekend trip to Colorado and a romantic getaway to New York City. Big Spoon proposed in Central Park on April 13. It all felt like a dream and sometimes, it still does. I started our blog in 2009 as well.

Winter 2009
Shopping for engagement rings in January is definitely an experience I will never forget. Both surreal and exciting as this experience was, the most shocking part was falling in love with classic solitaires. I love my ring more every day. Big Spoon did a great job matching my personality to my engagement ring - classic brilliant round with a flat, small modern band. Even down to the surprise side diamonds, its perfect.

Although there were some shadows - work, relationships, the economy - overall, I couldn't have asked for a better year. I am so lucky to be in love with my best friend, to be surrounded by family and friends and continue my career in design into the new year.

Thanks for reading, folks. Happy New Year.

Happy Holidays

This is the ornament I bought us for our "first" un-married Christmas together. Cute huh? You can personalize it! This is Little Spoon signing off until next year! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Mega Inspiration Board

Hello blogger friends! Happy Sunday!

We're hanging out on the sofa watching the TN Titans game and I finished an inspiration board I couldn't wait to share. I've been consolidating images I've pulled from online, so I have no idea these images came from originally. If you come across our blog and see something that is yours, shoot me an email and I'll be happy to credit you.

After this week, I'll be taking a vacation from the computer - my future-in-laws are coming for Christmas and I'm off work until Jan 3. I'll be working on wedding DIY projects over the holiday.

What do you all think about the monogram in the middle? I designed it to contain all three of each of our initials. After I change my name, we'll have the same middle and last initial! Ha!

Holiday Cheer

Big Spoon and I had a good Thanksgiving vacation,  even though we have both done a lot of work over the past few days. Big Spoon has been trudging through work projects all week and I have been cleaning, shopping and decorating for the holidays.

We had a great time with my parents, grandparents and siblings - especially my niece and nephew, who seem to just get funnier every year. 

My future-in-laws are coming in on Christmas Day, we're hosting a holiday party for the students working in Big Spoon's lab and we'll potentially be having friends over for New Years Eve. Thus, I've put forth a great deal of effort to make the house look festive! So far, I have our main tree up in the living room, a tree in the upstairs window and garland on the railing.

I really love decorating and hosting and I'm looking forward to having people over. It is definitely more exhausting than my little apartments of yesteryear, but I'm liking the results.  I'll try to keep up Music Monday through the holidays, but there won't be much else to read, I'm afraid. Holiday time = wedding planning/writing break time!

Jingle Bells

Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg ...

I used to think September was a bit early for Christmas. Since becoming aware that I'm a grown up working as a graphic designer in the mass market retail industry, I have come to realize that Christmas is YEAR ROUND.

Although it takes some of the joy away from the holidays, I have found it impossible to avoid planning this far in advance. I begin my holiday shopping in September and finish up with Black Friday. I put my tree two trees up two weeks after Halloween.

Last night, I got some really good news: my future in-laws are coming to our house this Christmas! This means that not only will I get to keep the tradition of seeing my immediate family on Christmas Eve, we get to celebrate with Big Spoon's parents on Christmas Day. Granted, this will most likely change from year to year after we are married, but that's okay.

Speaking of jingle bells, I like the idea of a "bell sendoff" as we leave on our wedding day. It's one more DIY project to add to the pile, but ... we'll see. What are you all doing for your grand exit?