Happy New Year!
Hi friends! I know that it’s been pretty quiet around here, but I just wanted to pop in to say Happy 2019! I can’t believe the year that we get married is finally here!
We had a quiet night in last night and watched the ball drop snuggled up together with the kitties. We originally were going to have some people over like we have in the past, but a lot of folks already had plans, and a few friends were sick, so we just opted to hang out together. I wouldn’t have wanted to ring in 2019 any other way!
I spent some time this morning journaling, and wrote down a lot of goals for myself this year. I do this every year, but for some reason, this year felt a lot different. Instead of setting unreasonable expectations for myself or centering my goals on weight loss or career goals, I focused on what I could do to improve my quality of life, and how I could work for the next year to become a better partner, friend, and daughter. It felt really affirming and positive, and made me so excited for the months ahead!
Overall, my goals seemed to revolve around making consistently healthy choices (and no, i’m not referring to dieting), reading more, and to keep striving towards being the woman I want to be, no matter how difficult that may seem sometimes. This year, most of all, I really want to work on moving away from fear, and no longer letting it dictate my decisions.
I know this year is going to be full of many beautiful, meaningful moments. I cant wait to celebrate with family and friends, and to marry the love of my life. My hope for all of us is that this year is full love and joy and peace. I hope that on this day next year, we can look back with pride and contentment at a year well lived.
Decorating for Christmastime
Happy December! Merry pre-Christmas! It’s time for chunky socks and hot cocoa and best of all…Christmas decorations! Mark is a real stickler for not allowing any Christmas decorating to happen before December 1st, so once it rolls around, i’m usually pretty antsy and ready to get REALLY into the spirit.
Decorating our tree together is one of my very favorite traditions. We put on some Bing Crosby and get out the tinsel and he does all of the work while I direct the whole thing (anyone else do this to their partner? just me?). I love looking through all of our ornaments together. We have ornaments from both of our families, dating back to our grandparents and great grandparents, and we also have lot of new ones that we’ve purchased together, too! It feels so special to have so many memories tied to each ornament - it’s like our little tree is full of love.
This year it hit me that I’m not sure that we’ll ever get a different Christmas tree. We bought this one during our first Christmas together. I was convinced that I wanted a white one, and we found this one at a thrift store. The original lights were burnt out so we stripped them off, put new ones on, spruced it up a little, and it’s been with us for every Christmas since! I love this little tree of ours. I don’t think I could ever part with it!
Now that we’ve got the living room decorated, i’m working on adding little touches in all of the other rooms. Our apartment is super small, and we have a LOT of decorations, so I try to swap them into our regular decor throughout. It’s a fun festive way and really cheers me up as I move through the apartment.
Finally, what would Christmas be without some cookies? We got these super adorable cookie cutters from amazon this year, and I cant wait to make cute cookies for all of our friends and family! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season spent with those you love the most!
Choosing Our Wedding Venue
Well - we have officially chosen our wedding venue! One (huge) step closer to our wedding and it feel so good to get such a big decision out of the way. If we’re being honest, I was super worried about finding a venue that was within our budget, but also met our criteria. Isn’t that the struggle of every couple planning a wedding though? I really want to get married somewhere that has character - not a brand new venue that was built just for that purpose. One big hope of mine was to find a venue to get married at that I haven’t shot a wedding at before. We also were hoping for somewhere that was more flexible than a lot of places we know about or have inquired about. It would be nice to be able to bring in most of our vendors, but lots of places have strict rules about catering and bartending. We want something that feels like us - that is unique, but still classy, and that can feel intimate - I want our guests to feel transported! I was so worried that we wouldn’t find all of that in one place, but then when searching for venues in Columbus, I found one that i’d never heard of before.
Let me introduce you to - The Beverly Mansion! As the name implies, this venue is an old mansion, built in the early 1900’s that sits on 40 acres. It’s in Marengo, Ohio, and while that’s a bit further outside of the city than i’d hoped, i’m really glad that it’s a bit secluded and surrounded by beautiful greenery. The inside is impeccable - they’ve kept so many of the details original to the mansion, including furniture and wall hangings, and anything new was sourced from the same time period (aka vintage heaven). The ballroom is two stories and has a beautiful balcony (i’m imagining musicians playing up there possibly) and a huge crystal chandelier. There’s also a beautiful large sunroom that I would love to have dinner in by candlelight as the sun sets. Our back is a huge oak tree that, weather permitting, we will get married under. There are even beautiful rooms for each of us to get ready in. Around every corner is a beautiful detail. It truly is the perfect venue for us, and I couldn’t be happier. The moment we walked in - we just knew!
We’ve picked a date (keeping that to ourselves for now, but it’s 2019 for sure) and officially booked and I truly don’t think I could be any more excited. I feel both that the venue is a perfect fit and also that it will be the perfect inspiration for lots of our details going forward.
Though this feels like such a big to-do off our plate, it also means that we have some definitive details about our wedding to move forward with as far as planning goes. I hope that this little peek into our venue gives you some inspiration and i’ll be sure to keep up to date here as we continue to finalize our plans!
Our Grand Canyon Engagement Photos
One of the very best parts of having a joint engagement is that you can make decisions together about how, when, and where you want it to happen. It also means that you can be honest about what is a priority to you at such an important milestone. For me, I really wanted to have beautiful documentation of such an exciting time in our lives. So, while we were on our way out to the Grand Canyon, Mark and I decided to hire a photographer local to the area to meet us for a mini photo shoot. We got officially engaged earlier in the evening, and were able to spend about 30 minutes with the photographer as the sun was going down. Wow - it was so worth it. She sent us the photos recently and I still am not over how beautiful they turned out! Just looking at these photos makes me tear up a little bit. I know that we will treasure these photos forever.
When I look at these photos - I can just tell how excited we are and how close we feel. It is truly invaluable to have such a wonderful keepsake of this moment in time. I can’t wait to look back at the photos when we’re old and gray and telling our grandkids all about how we met and fell in love.
Grand Canyon Road Trip: Our Engagement Story
As most of you probably already know, Mark and I took a road trip to the Grand Canyon in May, and….we got engaged! We had both never been to the Grand Canyon, and though most of our friends + family thought we were crazy to drive, thought it would be fun to make a long road trip out of it!
We did this trip on a budget, which actually ended up being super fun! We brought two huge coolers to keep food and drinks in, and we ate out of those most of the time! We had so much fun making little stops for picnics, listening to podcasts and custom playlists, and seeing so many different states - even if only from the car. It was interesting to see the landscape change drastically as we made our way out west!
Along the way, we just stayed in whatever cities we started felt we needed to stop in, but once we made it to Arizona, we stayed at the beautiful Grand Canyon Railway Hotel. The lobby (above) was to die for. The railway hotel is a historical part of the Grand Canyon, and is located in the town of Williams, about 30 miles away from the actual canyon itself. I found that it’s really difficult (and expensive) to stay at or closer to the canyon, so we opted to just have a short drive to and from, which didn’t bother us. As the name implies, the hotel also doubles as a railway station, and guests of the hotel can ride the railcars to and from the canyon, which was super cool!
We got in to our hotel later in the day, so decided to rest up and head to the canyon the next day. The next morning we took things slowly, had a yummy breakfast, checked out the railway gift shop, and then headed to the canyon!
Check out the film that I made from our trip! Makes me cry every time I watch it! I’m so glad that I annoyed Mark with the camera the whole time so that we’ll always have this to look back on!
I wasn’t really sure about what to expect from the Grand Canyon, but it truly blew me away. I was surprised at how emotional I got when we stopped at the first point. Luckily, we went in late spring, so there weren’t too many people around, and we got to do a lot of exploring on our own. I loved seeing all of the unique plants, and stopping at so many different points on the canyon, because each had such different views. We also were lucky enough to hear some off the cuff presentations from park rangers, and learned a lot of interesting stuff! I truly cannot believe that people trek all the way down into the canyon, and back up!
We spent the day running around to so many spots in the park. I cried approximately 100 times from the sheer beauty, and then later in the afternoon, we headed to the main visitor’s center to grab some hot dogs and buy some souvenirs! How cute is Mark in his hat? I just love him so much.
Later that evening, as the sun began to set, we headed to Lipan point, which we had read was one of the most beautiful spots on the south rim. The view there truly took my breath away, and after taking it all in, Mark and I started reminiscing on the whirlwind of the trip, and on our past few years together. Before I knew it, he was down on one knee, and with tears streaming down both of our faces, I said YES!
Looking at these photos, I can still feel the excitement and happiness of that moment. Calling our families and friends to tell them the good news, just soaking in the beautiful moment and being together in one of the most gorgeous places on earth. Not to mention, I couldn’t get over that rock on my left hand! So weird, and amazing!
After about one million photos and ring selfies (it’s good that Mark really loves me), we headed back to the hotel. We ate takeout in our hotel room, and had such a fun night soaking in all of the excitement and love!
The next day, we headed home on a high. The drive home was something i’ll never forget. We talked and talked about our dreams for our wedding day and our future marriage, and I cried so many happy tears. We also got to stop at Cadillac Ranch as we made our way through Texas. This has been on my “bucket list” for as long as I can remember, and it was truly a magical experience. Something about the combination that perfect Texas evening, and the history of that spot, and our love and happiness - i’ll just say that how I felt in that moment was something i’ll never forget.
It was a truly amazing trip, and not just because I came home with a fiancé! It probably goes without saying, but it’s not something i’ll ever forget. I’m so thankful for Mark, and for all of our friends and family who showered us with love during that time. It means more than anything.
Four Years
Four years ago today I had a first date with a guy at High Beck Tavern. He was six years older than me and we had met online and I was slightly worried that I might get murdered. We drank Blue Moons (which was the only beer I drank at the time) and talked about books and music and cameras and baking bread. We went to the Book Loft and looked around and showed each other some of our favorite authors (that was the night I was introduced to Tom Robbins, whose writing has changed my life).
It wasn’t some fairytale “love at first sight” but I left our date intrigued about this quiet, thoughtful, funny guy. Since that day, my life has changed drastically. Mark has made me a better person by far. He has changed the way I view the world. Our love found me at a very sad and confusing time in my life, and he brought the sunshine back in. He has encouraged me and loved me when it felt like there was nothing left to love. He has allowed me to dream and held my hand as we’ve taken huge leaps together.
We’ve fallen in love over (so many) episodes of Star Trek and subs at Tommy’s. We’ve moved in together and then moved again (sorry friends who helped us). We’ve quit jobs with no plan and started new careers. We’ve loved and taken care of two cute kitty cats. We’ve built an entire life together. Mark - thank you for loving me, thank you for traveling across the world with me and dancing in hotel rooms with me and crying with me when things are shit. Thank you for bringing me water when I don’t want to go downstairs before bed, and for rubbing my back every single night. Our life isn’t perfect, and we surely aren’t perfect people, but every day I know it’s worth it.
Happy Anniversary Baby.
As The Beach Boys sang,
“God only knows what I’d be without you.”
