I Chose You.

"I Chose You" is a very simple phrase that was said to me by my husband last night and will stay with my for a lifetime.  The timing was perfect without even knowing it. Feeling "chosen" is am amazing feeling and while I know wholeheartedly that we chose each other to share our lives with, there are moments that are made much easier when you are gently and innocently reminded of that. An entire weekend of no sessions, no golf, sleeping in until 10am, working together on the nursery, and lots of family time was what this heart of mine needed more than anything! And hearing "I Chose You" Sunday evening while walking our pup in the crazy wind was the cherry on top.  

Since I will be very pregnant, this Christmas will be the first holiday (aside from Thanksgiving when I was studying abroad in Ireland and one Christmas that we stayed in California and spent with Ryan's family) since I was born, that I am not headed home and celebrating with immediate and extended family. It was a logical, safe, and doctor recommended decision, but it was also a very hard one.  What does a child of 6 do on Christmas Eve without her gramma, parents, siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews around her do?!?!  I like...ok, I love traditions and breaking this one has been weighing on my mind.  Luckily my parents are the most understanding and loving parents I could ask for and while I am sure they are upset to not have the three of us there on Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning with their other children, they understand 100% and cannot wait to meet their grandson! Thanksgiving will be extra special for me this year, so family, you all better be there! I understand if you can't be there, but please try your hardest!   

This Christmas we are staying in our home and making memories of our own with our little family. I have grand plans of matching PJs, Hot Cocoa & Beer (for Ryan), Christmas treats, a Christmas Movie and hopefully a little Grinch performance by my main squeeze!  He's really really good at it and I cry happy tears thinking of kids gathered on his lap giggling in years to come while he imitates the Grinch voice!  Other traditions will be started this year, but we will decide them as a family over the next month or so!  Hearing "I Chose You" made staying home for Christmas and making our own memories a good thing, a happy thing, an exciting thing.  It's a change for sure and no doubt we will be calling and facetiming/skyping with family and I am sure there will be some tears shed by yours truly, but we will be making memories, surrounded by love, and we will have our first Christmas in Virginia Beach as a family of three...maybe four.  Who knows when our little New Years Bundle will decide to debut?!    

Ryan has no idea how much that meant and means to me (well until he reads this blog post), but baby, it means the world!!  I love you and am so glad we chose each other to make memories, share hardships and joys, create a family, and brave this crazy world!  You are my best friend and my lover, my shoulder to cry on and the one I run to with an insane amount of excitement.  You are my rock. Let's make some memorable and super awesome traditions to share with our kidlets for years to come!

Oh and Baby, I still Choose you!!!

"I Choose You" by Sarah Bareilles

Much love. 

Christmas Morning

Christmas mornings are about Baby Jesus and children...and coffee!  It's a tradition in our house to all gather in the hallway and sing Happy Birthday Baby Jesus in the most amazing morning voices and we do it without shame.  It's a little tradition that some think is goofy or silly, but I love it!  It's free, it's unique, it keeps Christ in Christmas and it's our tradition... I am a sucker for traditions and am beyond excited to have babies and carry on and create traditions for my little family to be. Singing Happy Birthday will definitely be carried on! 

The children.  

This year the only child, who really is a teenager and much more mature than I ever was at her age, but will always be my little sister, was quite a joy this year!  She has an extremely sweet demeanor, puts thought into Christmas presents and truly appreciates the gifts she receives.  I have my children learn these qualities as early in life as my little sister did!  She's always had a huge heart!  This year she used her own money that she earned from doing yard work for a neighbor to buy Christmas presents for everyone.  This isn't a small feat.  We have a large family.  2 parents, 5 siblings, 2 brother in laws, 4 nieces & nephews, and 2 pets.  Yes, she bought for all of them.   Here she is on Christmas morning reading about a present that hadn't arrived yet.  She was happy!

This year our little man was with his mom.  It wasn't quite the same.  Nothing is quite the same, but let me say, THANK GOD FOR SKYPE!  Seriously!  Skype has saved us this year and this holiday season.  While he wasn't with us, we were able to watch him open all his presents from us, see his face, wish him a Merry Christmas and share in the excitement of Christmas morning. 

This year we gave him woodland camoflague pants and hat, a mini Nikon camera with wifi that he can fit in his pocket and document his life and hunting expeditions in Iowa, a few CDs, a few books that he is actually reading thanks to some wonderful suggestions from my history loving best friend, an over the door basketball hoop, and I made him a quilt from all of the races we did together! Here's a cellphone picture of the quilt.  Yes, my husband is holding it up over his head.  The quilt has shirts from races we ran together with fleece trim and fleece backing.  Since him and his daddy love to golf together, I used a print that reminded me of golf.

 

Ryan and Lira were super cute Christmas morning.  Him in his ballcap.  Her in her Christmas sweater!  I love these two.  

And since I love surprise gifts sooo much, I surprised Ryan with...

 

a guitar!!!

I got it off craig's list for a great deal because I wasn't 100% sure that Ryan would actually like it.  Well, the present was and still is a success!  He has taught himself multiple chords thanks to iPad apps and youtube and he can play what actually sounds like music!  It's quite impressive!  It's super sexy to have a man who can play an instrument!  I can't wait until he's actually good and can sing too!!  Ahh!  I'm melting just thinking about it.

I hope your Christmas was amazing!  Happy New Year!  May 2014 be amazing!
Much love.

Christmas Eve 2013

Christmas Eve is our big holiday!  Christmas Day we are lucky to get out of our pajamas and the main reason to get out of them is to try on Christmas presents!  Ryan and I were ready before my parents as always, so I took advantage of the time and snapped a few pictures.  Since the word for 2013 is "selfie" I took a "selfie" of my sitting on the couch.

My hair looks blonde, but it's just the lighting. I have never dyed my hair and I don't plan on doing it until I turn grey.  At that point, I will dye the crap out of it because I will be in denial. At least that is how I imagine it to be.  Here's my handsome husband!  He loves that hat and so do I.  He is a hat guy for sure!  When I think of him, he has a hat on.  It's just his style. 

This year we celebrated Christmas Eve at my Gramma's nursing home since she was too weak to leave.  It was different and wasn't as comfy and cozy as normal, but a Christmas without Gramma would simply be horrible, so we made the most of it!  I'm warning you now, there are lots of pictures in this post and these are just a sneak peek into our evening. 

Here's my younger brother humoring me and smirking for the camera!  Thanks bro!  He's a handsome one!

Great Grandchild and my nephew.  He's a cutie and completely LOVES sharks right now!  He actually knows a lot about them and can hold a quite adult conversation regarding them.  Part of his Christmas present was a glow in the dark shark puzzle!  Puzzles are awesome.  Sharks are awesome.  Glow in the Dark is awesome.  I was proud of that find!

Great Grandchild and my niece.  She's just cute and sweet.  She walked around all night on the heels of her boots because...well because she could.  She thought it was the coolest thing that she could walk on her heels and I couldn't walk on mine because I was wearing stilettos.  I am not one to let a kid one-up me and I think they secretly love that about me.  She handed candy canes out to everyone and held her present from me until she was allowed to open it! 

Great Gramma (my gramma) and Gramma (my mom) giving little Aaron his Christmas present! 

These two are up to no good...actually they are quizzing each other on the ingredients in the oatmeal box.  Santa gave Mike oatmeal and Bonnie tea.  The littles got hot chocolate mugs!  It was a food themed Christmas this year!

My mom (gramma) gave her granddaughter a kindle and she was freaking out!!  Best present ever for an avid reader!  Coolest Gramma award goes to my mom!  We all knew about it, so we gave her amazon gift cards.  She's hooked up for quite some time!

These are two of my favorite pictures!  I have very few pictures of myself and even fewer pictures of me and my dad whom I love and adore! Thank you Ryan for taking these!  I love them!
 

And last but certainly not least...my husband being an annoying older brother in-law to my little sister!  She is obviously not phased which I absolutely love.  We have sufficiently annoyed her enough that she can pretty much ignore everything we throw at her!  That's what happens when you are the baby of 6.  Love you Bonzers! 

Much love.

My 2014 Words

My first word for 2014 is...

Strong

 Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  

I feel physically less strong now than I have in quite some time and I absolutely hate it.  I need to dedicate more time to weights than I have in the past. 

Mentally I need to be stronger, more confident in my knowledge.  I tend to doubt myself when I shouldn't.  I need to be better prepared to defend my views, my findings and my knowledge.  This will be the most challenging resolution for me.  Luckily I have the support of my husband (I just have to believe in myself.)

Emotionally I am strong...in the sense that I have a lot of emotions and I show them!  I am not a stone.  I wear my emotions on my sleeves.  I just have to learn how to channel them when necessary like at work.

Spiritually I want to learn more and be able to defend my beliefs.  I have strong beliefs, but when questioned, I am not great at defending my beliefs.  I need to read more and learn how to translate what's in my heart into words more efficiently.  This will be the second most challenging resolution.

My second word for 2014 is...

Embrace
life, relationships, my passions

I simply want to enjoy the moment and truly embrace people, nature, my environment more.  This world has so much to give and I want to embrace it all.  I want to feel it, love it, thrive on it.  

I am also bound and determined to embrace my passions, especially photography.  The joy I feel when taking pictures is amazing. To be able to have that feeling while "working" would be a dream come true.  It will be a goal I achieve this year.  I will embrace my photography passion and succeed.  

May your 2014 be absolutely amazing and may you achieve the goals you set for yourself.

Much love.

If you are interested in seeing my photography work, please visit my website and like my facebook page:

www.turnaroundphotography.zenfolio.com

www.facebook.com/turnaroundphoto

Oh Philadelphia

Oh Philadelphia how I adore you and thank you for all the wonderful memories.  From an outsider looking in, I can see how they only see an old, dirty city, but for me, I see memories, lots of wonderful memories!  I see art, history, great food, snazzy bars, college memories, first jobs...  It's my city.  It's the city I know and love.  It's Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love!  As I am writing this the city is preparing to dominate the Cowboys.  Go Eagles!  

Over Christmas, Ryan and I were able to sneak in a visit with Delia and Bud in downtown Philly!  To say it was fun would be an understatement.  It rained the entire time we were there, but we made the most of it!  We started out by meeting Delia and Bud at the Reading Terminal!  The best friend, I missed you, You look Amazing, I love you, hug was perfection!  I love raw best friend hugs and that's exactly what Diz and I had.  It was perfect!  She was waiting in line when we met up because my lovely husband had to have the "Best Sandwich in America,"  the Pork and Broccoli Rab sandwich at DiNiC's in the Reading Terminal.  After getting our sandwiches, we found a seat, chowed down, shared a cookie and headed to get a drink.  We found a swanky bar with a great beer list and we settled right in! There is something to be said for easy conversation.  I love how comfortable I feel with Delia and Bud and I really love how comfortable my husband feels with them.  I'm very lucky to have amazing girlfriends who have amazing significant others. 

After a few beers and an abundance of quality and quick hilarious conversation, we headed outside to find the rain at subsided momentarily!  It was picture time for sure! 

Ryan & I (Thanks Diz for snapping this picture!)

Delia & Bud! I love these two!!

The boys were sweet enough to get us some hot malt wine while Delia and I browsed a few shops, made a return and enjoyed some girl time.  This is Delia's classic face!  Gosh I love her!

And here we are! Thank God for studying abroad in Galway, Ireland and being roomed with this lovely lady!

Today, I thank God for friends!

Much love.

Gramma

 

Gramma has been in a nursing home for years, but she was always healthy enough to come home for the holidays….until this past year.  Gramma came to Thanksgiving in 2012 and was really nervous.  She definitely wasn’t understanding that she was indeed allowed to leave the nursing home for Thanksgiving.  Since then we have seen a steady decline in her health, but a year later, we decided Heck!  It can’t hurt to bring her home for Thanksgiving again!  So we did.  It took my strong husband to lift her because she can’t walk or even feel her legs and my two brothers to help break her free from the nursing home and it was all worth it!  The second she got in the door she was greeted with amazing smells, smiling faces, lots of hugs and kisses and a GLASS OF WINE!  There are a few things my Gramma knows how to enjoy and they are a single glass of wine and dessert.  She always has room them!  It made me so happy to watch her drink her glass of wine, something she hadn’t had for a year.  I know it was hard on all of us to bring her home and see her struggle, but it was completely worth it.  She was with her family and that’s what the holidays are all about.

I was lucky enough to sit next to her at dinner and help her.  She knows she needs help and she’s completely open to being helped.  It’s very humbling to watch someone who has always been so strong resign herself to letting her granddaughter hold her drink for her and cut her food.  I enjoyed every second of eating Thanksgiving with her.  It’s a memory that I will hold dear for the rest of my life because I fear it will be one of the last holiday meals we share so intimately. 

My Gramma is a spunky lady!  She married young and had seven children.  She cared for my Grampa through shingles, blindness, cancer, oxygen, super grumpy moods, and the list goes on.  She is a woman beyond her years, always very educated and very forward thinking.  She thought women should be educated and I never once heard her utter a racist comment.  Oh and to this day she wears her lipstick, loves her family, and goes to church every Sunday.  I love her dearly and wish I was closer so that I could visit her more.  She is sucker for surprise visits that involve walks outside, puppy cuddles and a sweet treat!  Gramma, I’ll be there over Christmas with Lira in her Christmas sweater and a tin of homemade goodies for us to enjoy.  Heck, we might even go for a walk inside of course because it’s chilly up North!  Love you Gramma!

 

Much love.

Thanksgiving Candids

{Thanksgiving 2013} was very relaxing.  We didn't stress over food, looking cute or having a perfectly clean house.  Instead we went to the Philadelphia Thanksgiving parade, lounged around and read, cooked, welcomed guests and wore comfy outfits.  It was an extreme;y stress free holiday for me!  That may have had to do with the fact that we had just gotten back from Jamaica and didn't have a care in the world. Whatever the reason may be, it was so nice to see my family!  Living a few states away makes me nostalgic for holidays and excuses to see my parents and siblings.  Luckily for me, this Thanksgiving was full of family time!  I even had the pleasure of meeting my brothers' girlfriends! 

 

Pops all bundled up at the parade!

My little sister looking cuter than ever! 

My parents cheering!!

Mike (my little brother) and his girlfriend!

After Thanksgiving Day Proper, we lounged as a family, went for a hike, played Apples to Apples and just enjoyed some family time around the fire. 

Tom while playing Apples to Apples

This is the relaxation I was referencing.

Here's some more chill time.

Finally, pops snoozing on the floor in front of the fire!

 I hope your Thanksgiving was as relaxing and enjoyable as mine!  I am very Thankful for my family and the love we share. 

Much love.

Christmas Letters

Every year my wonderful husband writes our family Christmas Letter and I absolutely LOVE to read it!!  For me it’s an experience of seeing our year, me, J-man, his life, our puppy, our weaknesses, and our accomplishments through his eyes.  It’s awesome!  I love that he enjoys writing it and is really thorough about it. As I read it, I find myself reliving moments, realizing that I forgot about such and such, thinking Wow that’s how he sees that accomplishment, laughing, tearing up, and then I always end thinking, WOW, I married an awesome man!  Sometimes I forget how sweet and loving he is under his shell and today when I read our Christmas Letter that he wrote, I fell in love all over again!    

Writing a Christmas Letter is a tradition from his side of the family that I am happy we are carrying on.  I grew up close to my cousins and most of our family friends were nearby, so a Christmas letter wasn’t necessary, but I do always remember reading other’s Christmas letters and thinking it was so cool to put your families’ year on paper for your loved ones to read about.  I am definitely happy that we are carrying this tradition on and that my husband is the designated letter writer.  He’s so much better at it than I am. 

Also, the letter adds a personal touch.  I always design a picture card and hand sign the back with a little note, but the letter really brings the picture full circle.  I love our teamwork for our Christmas cards!  Thanks Babe!  You’re the best!  Love you!

Do you write a Christmas letter? Do you like receiving them?

 

Much love.

Christmas Traditions: Past & Present

Fond memories flood my mind when I think of Christmas as a child and even now as an adult.  I have been extremely fortunate to always have felt blessed and even spoiled around the holidays.  The love that my family has for one another and the pure joy that embodies us when we give that perfect gift to someone is extremely special!  I am one lucky lady to be part of such an outstanding family!  This year, I vow to soak in the moments a bit more, hug a little tighter, smile a little brighter, and be more present. 

Every family has traditions and I’d like to share some of mine as a child and ones I am creating with my little family here in Virginia.

{Christmas Tree}

Growing up, we always hiked out back on either the 23^rd or 24^th of December and topped a tree!  Yes, we never killed a tree, we always climbed a tree and cut off the top.  Needless to say, there are a lot of flat-topped pine trees around our house!  One year we dug a tree up and then replanted it because we couldn’t find a tree to top.  Over the years, the pickings have gotten slim, so we have been tying two trees together!  When it comes to decorating, the more the merrier!  Our Christmas trees are special and I love them!

While I don’t live in an area that allows me to top a tree at the moment, we do get a real tree and decorate it with the same passion!  If we own it, it goes on the tree!  Who cares if half the pretzels from little man’s 3^rd grade handmade Christmas ornament are gone?  His face is still adorable and the ornament is going on the tree! Mama has spoken!

{Bubble Lights}

These sweet little things are a tradition that comes from my mom’s side of the family and has been continued and passed on for generations!

{Christmas Eve Pollyanna}

We do a Pollyanna…it’s like a Secret Santa…between the adults in my family.  Once you are out of high school, you are considered an adult whether your maturity level matches or not!  Gramma picks the pollyannas and calls you up to let you know who you have this year.  You then go out and find the best possible gift in the $25 range for that person, wrap it and bring it on Christmas Eve.  Christmas Eve is our big holiday party!  We don’t do much of anything on Christmas, but Christmas Eve is a whole different animal…14 grandkids, 20+ adults, some great grandkids, lots of animals, tons of fun!

{Christmas Eve Sleeping}

Every Christmas Eve growing up, we kiddos would all sleep in the same room…generally the large kid’s room.  The big kids would sleep on the ground in front of the door, while the little kids snuggled in the bed.  We felt so special to all be in the same room in our jammies!  Mom & Dad are smarty pants, that’s for sure!  To this day, all the kids sleep in the same room.  It’s tradition after all and I love me some traditions!

{Christmas Morning}

On Christmas morning the kids would wake up and wait until the hour struck.  What hour you ask?  The hour that Dad gave us the night before informing us of the earliest possible second we could wake him and my mom.  It was generally 7am, but sometimes we could whittle him down to 6 or 6:30 if we were lucky.  Without fail, the hour struck and the knocking began.  Mom and Dad are REALLY good at sleeping through knocks and saying “5 more minutes.”  Once they emerge from their slumber…of a few hours if they were lucky…my dad would tell us to wait in the hall while he went under the sheet and out to the living room to make sure Santa actually came…and to make coffee.  The entire time he’d make comments about who would be happy, who might be disappointed, and then constant sound effects!  It was torture as a kid and absolutely hilarious as a parent!  My dad rocks! A few minutes later he’d return to the hallway where we were all gather and we would all sing Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!!  This still happens and it makes me soo happy!

{The Sheet}

The sheet in the hallway mentioned above was hung by Santa every year because he didn’t want us running to the living room to see what he brought us without our parents there to witness our joyous faces!  I grew up in a rancher and from the hallway where the kids bedrooms were, there was a clear view of the living room…tree, presents, couches with Santa gifts, everything.

{Christmas Day}

All are welcome to come over, but don’t expect a clean house or properly dressed individuals!  We generally lounge among torn paper and piles of presents in jammies and some special new clothing that we were trying on for size and just never took off while Christmas music is playing and the TV is on…glorious chaos!  This year, I will be heading to visit my gramma at her nursing home because she isn’t well enough to leave, but I’ll be sure to show up looking special so she feels like she’s there!  Heck, I might even toss some torn paper on the floor, turn on some Christmas tunes and crawl into bed with her for our annual mid-day Christmas nap!

{Advent Calendar}

We have the traditional advent calendar with the Christmas verse and a piece of chocolate inside and then we generally have a special advent calendar.  This year, it’s a lego calendar and little man and his friends are in hog heaven!  Each morning before leaving for school, little man and his buddy can be found opening the advent calendars and playing with little lego pieces! 

This year I started a new tradition…{Hide the Pickle}  Little man loves this tradition.  The pickle has been hiding for a few days now because he hasn’t been able to find it.  Hubby hid it, I found it, but I will not tell little man where it is! 

These are just a few of the traditions I hold dear to my heart.  I'll try to take more pictures this year and update this post with some visuals!  I'd love to hear about your favorite Christmas tradition!

 

Much love.

 

Life this weekend...

Little man got sick at school on Friday, so we hung low all weekend, watched Christmas movies and football, made peppermint bark, read books, finished Christmas shopping, crafted, and wrapped a tons of Christmas presents!

 

My little pleasure, proud mama moment this weekend was watching Jared pick out his pollyanna present.  He has a girl cousin, so he couldn't run to the nerf section like he was able to do last year.  Today we went to the junior girl section and spent a good 20 minutes looking through all of our options.  Little man did a really good job putting together the perfect gift for his pollyanna.  She's a lucky lady! 

 

After our shopping was done, we came home and wrapped.

 

He's just learning to wrap presents on his own, so he used an enormous amount of tape, listened to my instructions for the first present and then said, "I'm just going to do it my way" and folded the paper like a little boy would fold the paper.  It was cute!  He chose his wrapping paper according to what he thought the gift receiver would like best too!  My heart swelled!  I love seeing a little giver evolve in children!

 

Little Lira just enjoyed having her family around all weekend!  She stares at us as if we are the most amazing people in the entire world...probably because we spoil her and love on her every second we can!  She's the prettiest puppy in the whole wide world (said in a baby voice)!

 

It's a little fuzzy, but you get the idea.  She's perfect.

This was my afternoon reality and I enjoyed every second of it!

 

 

Sunday evening we went to Mass and tears flowed once again.  My heart is broken for all those little and big angels that lost their lives on Friday.  May they feel the love of the Lord and be enveloped by his loving arms.  May peace be in their hearts and love surround them.  My prayers are with each and every person affected by the tragedy.  God bless you. 

 

After Mass, I needed some alone time to reflect on life, so I sewed.  I made a very girly apron for my niece.  I've been putting it off, but this evening just seemed like the right time.  She is a sweet, innocent, perfect little angel and I needed to think of her goodness and all the goodness that still exists in this world. 

 

 

The presents are wrapped, the Nativity is glowing, the tree is decorated and I am relaxing.  May peace fill your heart and prayers flow from you.  The world needs us.  God Bless.

 

 

 

Much love.

Zombie Boy

Happy Halloween!

Zombie Boy made out like a bandit on the candy front!

Much love.

Halloween 2012: Black Swan

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!

Thinking of a creative costume is the most challenging part,

but this year I think I succeeded. 

Making the costume is super fun!

Play the part is hands down the best aspect of Halloween!

If you are going to dress up, go all out.

 

My attempt at a pose...totally incorrect probably, but I tried.

Love this "Swan" pose

Love the eyes

Black and white

 

Prim & Proper

I can still do a leg extension!!  Yay!

My face.

I am in love with my eye makeup.

 

I won the "most original" costume at the Dance Halloween Party on Friday!

On Saturday, my dance studio and I danced along the Wicked 10k. 

We did Gangham Style and the runners loved it!!

What are you being this Halloween?

Do you make your costumes?

 

Much love.