Let's Talk...The New Year

Today I am linking up with a new series called Let's Talk...

The topic for this month is New Years: Resolution, Goals and What You are Looking Forward To

A few weeks ago I wrote a little bit about some of my goals for the year but now that I have had a few more weeks to think about my upcoming year I am going to update them a bit and share a bit about what I am looking forward to in 2016.

I want to focus on getting my body healthier this year. I have a group of coworkers that I walk with everyday during our breaks so that is a good start but in addition to just walking I want to focus on toning my body.  I have probably 20 pounds or so that I should probably lose and while looking nice in my wedding dress is part of the motivation the real motivation is getting my body ready to have a baby. I have a bad back so when I do get pregnant all that extra weight is not going to be the best thing for my body. 

That brings me to something I am looking forward to but also am totally nervous about.  My husband and I are planning to start trying for a baby near the end of this year.  Who knows how long it will take to get pregnant but the thought that 2016 is the year that it could happen is exciting and terrifying. 

While my husband and I technically already got married last November we decided to continue with our plan to have our wedding in Hawaii over the summer. This is the destination dream wedding I always planned in my head so to see it slowly becoming a reality is wonderful.  I have my dress and the save the dates have been set so my next big project is choosing, ordering and sending out the invitations.

I have two sisters so this means two maids of honor.  One sister is throwing me a bachelorette party in a few weeks and the other one is throwing me a bridal shower in March.  I am looking forward to both parties and spending time with all my favorite woman in my life.  

With much of the first half of the year dedicated to wedding planning, wedding events and the wedding itself I am just going to focus on soaking it all in and enjoying it.  I am going to try not to stress and trust that everything will come out wonderfully even if it is not the way I had originally envisioned it.

I want to make time to do more reading. I decided in December that during 2015 I had not read nearly enough book so I put books on my Christmas list.  My family and friends listened and I got 8 new books to read so I have a head start on this one. With all that is going on in my life I have decided that reading at least 1 book a month is a reasonable goal.  I have almost finished my first book so I am on track so far!

Looking forward to seeing what adventures this year brings!

Weekend Wrap Ups

After a fairly eventful December and holiday season my husband and I tried to have a quiet first weekends of January.  Last weekend was another fairly low key weekend but we did venture out to attend a baby shower for a some friends of ours.

I have been to many baby showers (and expect to end plenty more) but this coed shower was the first shower my husband had ever been to.  The shower was gender neutral with a rubber ducky theme so there was lots of yellow and grey decorations scattered around the room. The parents to be know the gender of the baby but are keeping it to themselves. 

The first game we plaid was a guess what book the quote is from.  There were six quotes on the wall from children's books and we had to try to identify them.  I think I managed to get two of them correct and had the right author for a third one.

The second game was to guess what type of baby food it was.  This game needed volunteers so I immediately volunteered my husband.  He was a good sport of it and said that the ones that were just made of fruits or vegetables were ok but the ones that had meat in them were a bit weird.  

The last game we played was a guess the price of different baby items game.  Years of working in retail paid off and I got many of the prices exactly right.  This game also gave me the opportunity to introduce my husband to the ever popular Sophie teething toy.  Even the favors tied right into the duck theme.  There were little scented soaps that had a ducky on them that smelled wonderful.

After all the food, games and gifts were over the guys left to go get a drink at a bar down the street so that the girls could get henna tattoos.  The mom to be got a beautiful crescent moon design on her belly.  I decided to go with getting my design on my foot. When went to work the next day many people asked me if I got a tattoo but alas it will fade in a few weeks.  I like tattoos on other people but have never found something I want permanently on my body.

In case you haven't heard we are having a drought here in California.  This week the weather decided to help us get out of the drought this week and we had rain off and on all week.  We need the rain and it gave me an excuse to wear my cute rain boots so I was fine with the rain.

After a fairly quiet beginning of the year we made up for it this past Friday and Saturday.  Friday night we met up with my husband's brother, sister in law and niece for dinner at Soup Plantation.  We are all trying to eat a bit healthier so a salad bar place sounded like a good idea.  They had a Sriracha carrot soup that was amazing.  I liked it so much that I am going to try to recreate it at my house sometime soon. 

We finished off our meal with some teeny tiny ice cream cones.  Some people may have had multiple tiny ice cream cones! After dinner we headed up north to meet up with my husband's sister and we all went and saw my other brother in law in a play.

It was opening night of the play so there was a little reception after the play.  The play is called 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee so it is only fitting that they had Oreos dressed up like bees.  There were many other kid themed food including peanut butter and jelly sushi but the bees were the cutest ones.

After our late night Friday I got up and met my mom at the mall Saturday morning so that she could help me get my wedding registry all set up. More details on that to come in the coming week!

Saturday night my husband and I met his brother and sister in law at their complex for a martini and appetizer party.  It started at 5 and only went till 7 so we had planned to be there right at the beginning to take the most advantage of the food and drinks but life happened and we didn't get there until 6. We each had four drink tickets and we didn't want to waste them so at one point our table looked like there were about 8 people there instead of just the four that actually were.

My husband doesn't really drink martini's so I ended up with a few extra drinks and he ended up the designated driver.  They had about 6 or 7 different kinds of martinis but the lemon drop was my favorite.  I had a cosmo at the beginning and a chocolate martini at the end as desert but the middle was all lemon drops.  We made the most of our time there and managed to use all our drink coupons but then we had to run to Home Depot because our bathroom light went out that morning.  Oh being an adult and not wanting to shower in the dark.

After a busy Friday and Saturday we spent Sunday doing pretty much nothing. It was glorious!  Just what we needed after busy weekend.  I slept in and then did a bit of laundry and some cooking but just enjoyed doing nothing.

Decorating for Valentine's Day

Now that we are solidly into January I am decorating our condo for Valentine's Day.  I always think maybe there should be some sort of decorations between Christmas and Valentine's but again I didn't get around to finding anything so Valentine's Day it is.  

I didn't add too much to my decorations this year but I did find this little sign in the dollar spot and added it to my collection. I added some sparkly heart confetti to my glass bowl along with some clear stones and a candle.  It didn't turn out exactly how I pictured it because the confetti had a habit of sinking to the bottom really easily but I think I made it work.

My new sign and candle set along with some hearts scattered around have to share the counter with a bunch of jars with avocado seeds.  My husband is trying to sprout some avocado seeds in jars in our kitchen and he won't let me move them so they just had to be worked into the decor.

The little owl I found last year is back on our bar again this year along with a candle.  I would show you the rest of the bar but I didn't bother to tidy up before I went through to take pictures.  There is nothing else very exciting our the bar anyway.

I love walking out the door every morning and seeing this sign on our front door.  I don't usually hang things on the inside of our door but I put a hook on the door for my Christmas wreath so I thought I might as well use it since I didn't feel like going through the hassle of removing it.

Last year I put this garland in my wooden bowl but this year I had other plans for the wooden bowl.  After walking out the door for about a week and seeing my Love Lives Here sign it occurred to me that the garland would be a nice addition to the door. 

Instead of using the heart garland in my wooden bowl I went in a totally different direction. I likes the silver glittery balls that I used in my Christmas decorations this year that I decided they should stay around.  I am super happy with how my silver ball, red heart and wine cork arrangement turned out.  I am liking those silver balls so don't be surprised if I find a way to incorporate them into many more holidays this year!

Some of my decorating is the same as last year but many of my decorations found new homes this year.  Love is in the air!

Wedding Rehearsal

Welcome to Wedding Wednesday!

Today I an continuing with my recap of my November with the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner.  The rehearsal (and wedding) were in my hometown so my husband and I got up early to drive down to my parents house to help with some last minute prep.

My sister flew in the night before the rehearsal so my whole family was there for the rehearsal.  Even just walking in with my parents at the rehearsal I could tell that I wasn't going to make it down the aisle the next day without crying.

There was a lot of giggling as we practiced walking in a straight line and figured out where to stand but I wasn't concerned. 

The shoes I am wearing didn't really go with the outfit but they were the ones I was wearing the next day so I wanted to make sure I was used to walking on the church carpet with them on.  I had no desire to trip and fall walking down the aisle!

As is often the way when we get together I am wearing my sister's dress and she is wearing one of mine.  One of the many nice things about having a sister. This wedding enabled me to add two new sisters in addition to the two already awesome sisters I have had in my life forever.

After we had successfully practiced walking in and such we proceeded to Georgio's for dinner. This was our second choice for dinner (our first was too full for our big party size) but it turned out to be perfect.

Most of these pictures came off of my brother-in-laws camera so they are all of one end of the table.  I promise there was a whole other end of the table that helped us celebrate too.  If any of my fabulous family have pictures of the other end of the table please send them my way!

I didn't take a picture of my food but conveniently my niece ordered the same thing and someone took a picture of her with her food. The pesto gnocchi was delicious!

I will leave you with a picture of our two mom's. 

Stitch Fix #8

My Stitch Fix box came last week and it seemed to be sponsored by the color black.  Almost everything in the box this month was black.

It is hard to see the details of this skirt in the picture but it is was a thin stretchy material.  This skirt could have been classified as a sort of high low skirt but instead of the back being long and the front short it was one side that was short and the other side was longer. This short side as a little sort and it was a bit too tight to be work appropriate so it went back.

This blouse was cute and fit well but for what it was it was expensive so I sent it back too. Again hard to see the details in the picture but it had a notched neckline that made it a more interesting blouse.

When I pulled this out of the box my first thought was "ummm do the people at Stitch Fix think I am a 45 year old frumpy woman?" I tried the shirt on and my initial thought was pretty much spot on.  Super frumpy and not flattering so obviously this went back.

This blouse fit and was cute enough but I just didn't seem like anything special.  I didn't dislike this one but didn't really have any strong feelings about it at all so I took that as a sign that I should send this one back too.

I pulled the cardigan out of the box and immediately though "I hope this fits because I love the color." Good news! The cardigan fit and I have already added it to my wardrobe and worn it to work. It is a really nice burgundy three quarter sleeve cardigan that fits right in with many things already in my closet.

I wore my new cardigan last week with my basic black cami and one of my favorite pencil skirts along with a jeweled necklace that my best friend gave me last Christmas.

Hope you enjoyed my recap of my box this month and if you would like you own box feel free to use my link to sign up.