The worst week ever.

I'm not one to complain on here, because well, there is not much to complain about regarding my life...if you delete last week. I was in good ole Bloomington, Illinois all last week for work and no offense to anyone who lives there, but yikes, it may have been the worst week, ever and here's why: 

1. We had to leave on a Sunday. Sundays are one of my favorite days. I sleep in late, enjoy breakfast, and snuggle up with Romeo. David and I get the whole day together with no interruptions and no work attachments. Sundays are my low-key, don't have to get dressed up, hang out in rain boots and sweats all day (and I do, every Sunday, even if it's not raining). I had to get on a plane and go to Bloomington on a Sunday, first strike in my book. 

2. We had a layover. The plane was tiny and cramped. Boo. Strike Two. 

3. Bloomington is.....before I say this, no offense to anyone who lives there or loves it there, but to me it felt almost as if I had stepped backwards into the early 90s and clearly did not fit in anymore. There wasn't much there besides the Fridays connected to the hotel and a Panera in the parking lot. My meals didn't really consist of anything remotely appetizing or healthy there, let's just say that. Strike 3. (THey keep coming), but we've already struck out for the week. 

4. I hate not having a car. I hate not having the freedom to go where I want to go. Didn't have that this week. I know I sound like a very high-maintenance complainer right now, yikes...maybe I should stop. For the sake of this post, depending on a shuttle driver to take me where I wanted to go all week, was awful. 

5. I had to wake up at 6 every day. Most days I wake up at 7:30, sometimes I wake up at 6. It was not fun. 

6. I got sick. YES, it was terrible. I laid in bed, in an uncomfortable hotel room all day, unable to eat, or sleep, with NOTHING to watch on tv, and no Romeo, or David. It was so unbelievably awful, I think I cried a few times. 

7. I even made a lovely ER appearance at Bloomington's hospital. I had never wished I was home more than that night. 

8. I never ever want panera, fridays or pizza hutt EVER again. 

I'm done complaining. It was an awful week, so incredibly awful. Between wishing I was home and trying to find the bright side of the trip, I was just a mess and coming home could not have been sweeter. 

Now that I have complained your ear off, I promise I will be positive. 

I'm home, my birthday is this week, and I absolutely cannot wait for Christmas. 

So here's to being a little happier and never going to Bloomington, ever, ever again. 

He surprised me.

Friday night, I unlocked the door to my house, attempting to be super sly, have my brothers bring in the television I bought for David for our anniversary. In the midst of my attempted stealthiness I walked smack into a room lit with candles, David and Romeo sitting patiently on the couch. 

So much for my surprise!

He walked over to me, Romeo running with his best cardigan on, and a homemade sign saying: 

"Will you marry my dad? Please..."

He proceeded to get down on one knee....and the rest of the details of the night are sweetly savored in my memory except for the fact that my entire family knew and were waiting back at my mom's house for us to celebrate. They never cease to surprise me. 

It was cozy, simple, and sweet. 

November 16, 2008, David and I started dating. 

November 16, 2012 he proposed. 

It was quite a night. 

He loved the television by the way. His man-cave is almost complete. 

xoxo

When we met.

disclaimer: yes...this is one of those 'how we met stories'.

I swore off men the day before we "sort of" met. I decided after one too many disappointing boys came in and out of my life that I was going to chop my hair off (yes, I pulled the drastic appearance change following a break-up). I needed a change and that change involved steering clear of any type of romance and just having fun with my girlfriends. So....we went out, all dolled up, me with my new hair and my new silk shirt that looking back, was not so cute after all.

As we were huddled in one of our dance circles; you know those right? They are almost unable to be broken, there is an invisible force field full of girl vibes, boys not allowed in these dance circles. If you try to break into this circle, you inevitably will be thrown backwards by one of us doing the booty shake or something like that, I forget. Anyway, in the midst of our dance circle and me being the somber...'oh I'm so sad, I just broke up with my boyfriend who turned out to be a total disappointing jerk' party pooper, David happened to stumble unwillingly (or maybe willingly who knows) into our dance circle, throwing our whole vibe off.

Now this is the part where I tell you we locked eyes and fell in love right then and there and it's been a sweet deal ever since...yeah, that didn't happen. As he stumbled his way into our little dance off going on; I (upholding my sworn oath to avoid men) simply ignored his attempt and Kelli (my bestest girlfriend in the whole word) decided to reenact a spectacular version of Madonna's Like a Prayer with him. I couldn't help but laugh and then quickly turn on my 'I want nothing to do with you face on' again.

I left the bar that night not even knowing his name.

A couple weeks later Kelli and I went back to the same place, on a random night after class for some drinks. As I was walking back from the bathroom to the stool where I was sitting, I felt an arm brush mine and lucky me, it was David. He followed me back to my stool, we talked, had a few drinks, and I decided that useless conversation while we were out couldn't hurt. That night I ended up giving him my number, simply disregarding my oath, and got back in my car with Kelli to go home thinking I'd probably never hear from him.

Two weeks passed, no call.

October 15, I get a phone call and a voicemail from David; wanting to hang out. He took the whole "I'm going to wait 3 days to call the girl" move to an entirely different level. (He still laughs about it to this day. His horrible attempt at being suave.) He came out with us for Kelli's 22nd birthday that night and literally followed me/us from restaurant to bar, to bar, to bar.......

and I'm kinda glad he did. He's been following me ever since ; )

After that night, it was a whirlwind of movie dates, dinners, my birthday, Christmas, and many more of those for four years following.

So, Happy four years to the one guy I'm glad stumbled into our dance circle, performed one of the best renditions of Like a Prayer I have ever seen, kept me on my toes for four years, and has been there ever since for everything. Here's to many, many more.

Love you David <3 

the lights.

Today on my drive home from work, I drove down this little hill, slowed down to go over the speed bump just wanting to get home and saw a bunch of colors coming from behind a row of trees.....Christmas lights! This home was decked out in Christmas lights, reindeer, Santa Claus, and numerous snow men. I must have had the biggest smile on my face, because before I realized it, the car behind me had started beeping and I noticed I was stopped just staring. 

One of my favorite memories from the holiday season are the lights. My parents and my yiayia used to take my two brothers and I, each and every year to Long Wood Gardens to see all of the trees and lights. 

I remember being completely swaddled in my winter coat when we left the house, only to have it unzipped by the time we got there. My oversized earmuffs that I absolutely had to wear, slowly slipping off my head as I ran to be the first one in. I loved the lights. I loved them almost as much as my yiayia. There were so many different colors but my favorite were the bright white lights that covered the trees. 

To this day, my favorite thing to do once the holiday season settles in and the chill in the air starts to overwhelm us, is to drive around in the car with hot cocoa looking at all of the lights. Yes, we have to get out of the car if I see an overly spectacular set-up, and yes we take photos in front of it. 

The first year David and I were dating I invited him over to my uncle's home for Christmas day dinner and he asked to leave early that night. If you come to holiday dinners with my family, they rarely end early so I was a little disappointed he wanted to leave early but I agreed. We got in the car and drove back towards my parent's house, and then past my parent's house. I had no idea where we were going and was a little annoyed at this point (yeah, it happens), until...I saw almost a half a mile of lights as we turned down this long road in a small neighborhood. 

There was a house with the greatest set-up of Christmas lights and decorations I have ever seen. He parked the car, told me to button up my white coat and put my hat on. We got out of the car and walked along the path this family had set up for everyone to watch the lights. David went there as a little kid, each year to see the lights. It was the best ending to Christmas. We go every year to see the lights and I get a little excited right after Thanksgiving, waiting to go see them. Thank goodness David enjoys it just as much as I do, or we may not have worked out ; ) 

Needless to say, I'm really excited to see the lights this year. 

Romeo and me.

It's official, Romeo and I are getting lonely. David went away this weekend with my dad to the mountains for some 'male bonding' I guess you could say. Romeo and I stayed home and entertained my brother and all of his THON friends that were canning around here this weekend. We had so much fun hanging out with everyone but really missed our other half who was relaxing over 'guy talk', beers, and target shooting. We know he missed us too. 

Romeo and I went shopping and bought a new winter sweater. For some reason this dog loves clothing (almost as much as his mother), which in turn, makes me spend an enormous amount of money on him. Oh well, our dog needs his own closet. 

We drove around in the beautiful weather, enjoying being able to put the windows down in November. 

Romey also had fun with his new cousin Lucca. How precious is this face? How can you possibly not love him?

Happy Sunday : ) 

Happy Happy Halloween and bye bye October.

October was full of pumpkins, hayrides, roasting marshmallows, lots of cupcakes, sleepovers with my favorite kids, too much "attempting" to home decorate, organizing, working : (, and enjoying the brisk weather. Can't believe it is over!

First day of November is tomorrow, which means: 

Thanksgiving. 55 days until Christmas. Coats, hats, and gloves. My favorite, hot chocolate. Pretty lights on all of the houses. Peppermint everything.  Pinecones.  Christmas cards.  Ornaments.  Our anniversary.  My birthday. David's birthday. (and everyone else in my family). 

So many things to look forward to. I love this season : ) 

Happy Halloween and here's to a great November. 

Sandy and the best little fort ever.

Sandy made her mark over the past couple days. Fortunately she didn't leave too much of a sting over here but my thoughts go out to those whom she did affect a little heavier than others. With no work yesterday, David and I basically hoarded as much food as we could, as much television as we could, and enough candy to feed an entire neighborhood of trick or treaters (I had to buy more today from the store). 

My hurricane must-haves yesterday: 

massive amounts of netflix 

pretzel m&ms

Footloose (I can't stop watching it, I know we can laugh together about this)

every form of social networking 

this site right here

this awesome new Home DIY blog I happened to stumble upon
Taylors new cd

and a bunch of other things.

OH and we made a pretty awesome fort to keep us safe last night.

Romeo and I loved it...David not so much : )

Have a happy week : )

Happy Happy Birthday dad : )

I want to wish the happiest of birthdays to the funniest and best man I know; my dad. 

The only guy that leaves me voicemails of full country songs bright and early in the morning. 

The man who sings 'happy birthday' song to me as I'm driving to work in the morning. 

He brings me full boxes of vegetables, fruits, and keeps us hydrated with cases upon cases of water and gatorade, each week. I will never go hungry because of this man, will never stop laughing either.

Happy Birthday to my dad, someone I can always count on to belt out country songs with me bright early in the morning, but most of all, look up to and count on : ) 

xoxo, love you baba.

life lately.

I've been slacking but I have been taking some photos at least. 

Sometimes life just gets too busy. 

I've been guilty of it sweeping me up lately. Yikes.

So, here goes with my photo dump. 

xoxo

random things.

I absolutely love this Google Chrome commercial. I think it is the sweetest.

Happy birthday bestie.

Thirteen years ago, I sat in my sixth grade math class, in the very front row. Sitting there, I listened to the teacher go over classroom rules; introducing us to this new environment...middle school. With one hand over my right knee, I tried to cover the incredibly large scar that was leftovers from a recipe for disaster at the park a few days before. I guess I wasn't trying hard enough to cover it, if I wore a skirt to school. 

"What happened to your leg?" That was one of the first thing she said/asked me. I shot her a look of disapproval and then begrudgingly I told her my less-than exciting story. We slowly became friends after that and by slowly I mean after a few mishaps here and there, some silent treatment, and birthday party, and a few make overs, best friends was more like it. 

For the last 13 years, she has been more like a sister than anything else. Boyfriends have come and gone, bad hair cuts have plagued us (even when we gave them to each other)....I'm still sorry for the awful bangs I gave you, Kel, tears have been cried on each other's shoulders, we have run away to each other's homes, and definitely have shared one too many outfits (that we have never returned). 

We spent every summer being young and crazy, pulled all nighters, did each other's homework (I could write and she could crunch numbers in her head; we were a match made in heaven), have shared our families, and most of all our lives. The words best friend and sister are personified through her. 

We have taken trips to the Jersey shore every summer, beaches in Florida, Disney, and most of all, an unforgettable month in Dubai; one we will never forget and always wish to go visit again. Who wouldn't want a month full of jaw-dropping sights, safaris in the desert, dressing up every night to dance it away, and photos to last us a life time. 

If there was anyone who knows me better than myself it's her. 

And if there's anyone who I can yell at and then laugh with a mere 30 seconds later, it's her.

Happy Birthday to my best friend and here's to many many more : ) 

Love ya.

Thursday Awesome-ness.

Dear Thursday, we aren't really celebrating you. Thursdays are the worst. You are so close to Friday, so close to payday, so close to fun... but not 'quite' there yet. It is such a tease. I really dislike Thursdays in the working world. In the college world Thursdays meant the weekend 'was' here, that we would be going out that night and finding what ever mischief we could. Now Thursdays just make me want to go back to sleep until Friday at 5pm.

Despite my obvious hatred for Thursdays, I've decided that complete negativity isn't the best path to take. There is definitely some positives to Thursdays, as well as any days. So Thursday, even though you suck, let's hear some of your awesome-ness. I lied, we are kinda...celebrating that it's Thursday and...all of the good things that happened today.

1. I got a great share of work done today (you know, for it being Thursday). 

2. 40% off of everything sales at one of my favorite stores. How can you beat that on this Thursday?

3. Glee. Need I say more?

4. That I had two cupcakes boxed and ready in my fridge to eat for dessert tonight? (Thanks Adri!)

5. Romeo and I hiding under the covers in the bed (from the vacuum). 

6. Coming home to a box full of fruit from none other than my sweet dad. Love that man. 

7. The yellow wedges I have been pining over finally went on sale.

Thursday wasn't so bad. Still can't wait for Friday though!

Have a happy Friday : ) 

happy happy boy day.

happy national boyfriend day to:

someone who rarely wakes up before I do

but always has dinner when I get home, 

laughs at all of my jokes (even when they aren't very funny),

applauds all of my potential american idol auditions (one day), 

supports my dessert first movement (even though he doesn't like it so much), 

falls asleep on the couch when I do (because he knows I'll be grumpy if he wakes me up), 

takes the dog out in the morning, so I can get ready for work, 

loves my family just as much as I do, 

takes walks with me,

someone who loves me too much. 

yep. 

happy, happy. 

(for the sake of being a mushy gushy tonight, only this once)

xoxo

instagram dump, fall edition.

I have a boat load of photos for ya'll. The past few weeks have been filled with a lot of unpacking, decorating, working, and enjoying the change of the weather. So here is a snippet of what I've been up to lately with more to come...once I connect my old iphone and upload some more photos. I'm too attached to my new one : )

xoxo

Welcome October.

I am so freakin' happy October is here and truly suck at this blogging thing lately. 

I have been in work/decorate home/sleep mode for the past month and for that I apologize. 

I've been trying to figure out how I want to decorate our place while finding space for all of my belongings. Who knew this could take so long!

Anyway, my spirits are high now that Fall is officially here. 

I'm seeing pumpkins everywhere!

Put my Halloween decorations up (yes that includes spiderwebs which David totally hates). 

Went on a hayride last weekend. Bought beautiful mums to hang outside. 

And it's official, I have started planning my Halloween costume. I can't give any details though. 

I love Halloween, maybe more than I love Christmas and my birthday (my other two favorite holidays). 

When I was a younger version of me, I had this huge obsession with dressing up. 

I had an enormous trunk filled with my mom's old dresses, my aunt's old prom dresses, and anything else that they didn't want and I thought was beautiful. It all ended up in there and I proudly wore it all, walking around my house, pretending I was a celebrity, or a big time fashion designer. I was who ever I chose to be and I wore a pretty dress while doing so.

Dressing up was one of my favorite things to do, which is why I think it's only natural that Halloween is my favorite holiday. 

I love, love, love dressing up. 

I've made an October to-do list: 

1. Go on more Hayrides

2. Carve pumpkins

3. Drink hot chocolate 

4. Visit a haunted house

5. Roast Marshmallows

6. Eat Candy Corn

7. Go to a Halloween Party

8. Dress up

9. Dress up Romeo 

10. Make pumpkin spice cupcakes

11. Make a photo tour of our new little place

12. Watch Halloween Movies 

13. Start and finish the DIY projects I've been meaning to do 

14. Paint my kitchen

15. Go on a mini road trip with my loves.

16. Eat a caramel apple 

17. Make David dress up!

What do you want to do this October? 

Here's to a great October and a happy fall : )

unpacking instagrams.

this past weekend was consumed with cleaning, unpacking, and arranging. 

we are almost getting settled into the new place...I say almost...

I figured I would share some instagrams from the past week or so, since I don't have any interesting stories to tell you. 

If my eyes see another box full of things, I may cry.

So here is to finishing up this move-in process very quickly and painlessly!

xoxo