HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

While we won't get any trick or treaters in our apartment building tonight, I do get to enjoy seeing kiddos in costumes in my office. This afternoon parents are allowed to bring their kids in to trick-or-treat between offices. If employees want to participate they simply had to pick put a trick-or-treat flier from our front desks and tape them to the door. I think it is such a cute idea and will happily be participating!

Showers, Swearing In, and Sandy

I had a great time at Judy's baby shower on Saturday. It was so great to see her, her sisters, and mom! It was also fun to have my mom there for the celebrations. I cannot wait to meet Judy's baby girl in a few short months!



Yesterday morning, in the midst of Hurricane Sandy, P and several hundred others were sworn into the Virginia Bar. The ceremony was quicker than expected most likely due to travel plans being deterred from the storm. Unfortunately his parents, my dad, and Sheila were unable to attend due to the storm but that was completely understandable and safest for everyone. I did not take a lot of pictures because as soon as the ceremony was over, most people were trying to get out of there as quick as possible.

P and Turner at the GWU Alumni Brunch

After some deliberations, P and I decided to drive back yesterday afternoon. I was pretty nervous about the drive but trusted P. We made sure to fill up the gas tank and Elizabeth was kind of enough to give us some water and snacks should we need them. Besides some wind gusts, the drive back was uneventful and we were safe and sound in DC within two hours of our departure. Since the rain was coming down fairly hard and the wind gusts were picking up, we only grabbed the essential bags from the car and Calvin and bolted inside the apartment. We quickly dropped our stuff and then dashed to the 24 hour CVS for food and snacks. Once we were well stocked, we spent the rest of the evening on the couch staying warm and clearing out the DVR.

Hurricane survival essentials: wine and chocolate

Today both P and I are working from home. His law office and the federal government are both closed.  We're thankful that we never lost power and hope those that are without it (including my mom!) have it restored quickly!

Friday Favorites

TGIF! Here are some of my favorites this fall Friday:

• The leaves have been beautiful in DC this year! My drive to work on the GW Parkway has been gorgeous.
• Winning trivia on Monday at 51st State! Not only did we feel vindicated from previous losses, but we got a $30 gift certificate towards our food and drinks that night.
• Parenthood. This season is seriously the best one so far. I think I've cried during every episode.
• Looking at pictures from the past while making a slideshow for our wedding. One of my favorites: 



Megan, myself, and Judy at homecoming our freshmen year of high school. These two are so special to me and I can't wait to celebrate Judy's baby at her shower this weekend!



• Getting to see so many friends and family over the next few days. In addition to seeing Megan and Judy tomorrow, our good friend Matt is coming down from NYC to run the Marine Corps Marathon and on Sunday we are headed to Richmond for Patrick's Virginia Bar swearing in and will get to see his sister, brother-in-law, my sister, his parents, my dad and Sheila!
• Scoring this shirt for $8.98 from Target on Wednesday. My older sister has the same shirt and if I hadn't seen the way she styled it I probably would have never picked it up.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and good luck to all the Marine Corps Marathon Runners!



Wedding Wednesday: Getting in Shape and Save the Dates

Happy Wedding Wednesday!

I'm feeling extra happy this morning because after a month long hiatus I finally made it back into the gym this morning and it felt great. I did a 30 minute cardio workout on the treadmill with lots of reminders that I needed to ease back into the routine. Not only did I have to take into consideration that my legs and lungs haven't been exercised in weeks, but also be aware of any aches associated with my wisdom teeth. I haven't had the easiest recovery since my teeth were exctracted almost three weeks ago which is why I dragged my feet about starting my work outs again. But I'm happy to report that I had no issues this morning and will be lacing up my sneakers on a regualar basis again. While I may have had dreams of significantly slimming down by the big day I just know that's not realistic and so with less than six months to go I am going to focus on getting into shaping and feeling good by April 13th...and hopefully still slim down a little!

Last Friday we sent out our save the dates to family and friends. We went with a Cherry Blossom design since our wedding will take place during Washington, DC's Cherry Blossom Festival. We used a postcard template from Vistaprint and customized it to our liking. I had bought a Groupon from Vistaprint over the summer so we got an amazing deal on the cards and even had enough left over to buy an address stamp which was a huge help. My other favorite part of the save the dates were the cherry blossom stamps! We actually bought these in the spring when they were limited edition at the Post Office and I think they were the perfect subtle touch to tie everything together.

Our save the date picture!

Next up on our to-do list is marriage preparation classes at the church which begin this Thursday. We're also planning to buy P's tux and finalize invitation designs over the next month. With less than six months to go, the to-do list is getting longer but it is fun to start finalizing the details!

Last Saturday

We had a great trip to Sedona, Arizona last weekend to celebrate Tony & Sunny. While we did not get any pictures of us with the happy couple (we were too busy catching up), we snapped a few with our phones while hiking during the day on Saturday. We had not planned to hike on Saturday but it was too beautiful not to. Our hotel was close to the trailheads for Bell Rock where we hiked for about two hours. It felt great to get some Vitamin D and stretch our legs after traveling the night before.

Beautiful red rocks in Sedona

Bell Rock

Enjoying our hike!

Confessional Friday

TGIF! I'm linking up with Leslie at Blonde Ambition for a Confessional Friday today.

 

I confess......

• I am looking forward to a weekend in town that won't include chipmunk cheeks or anything exhausting.
• Right after work I am heading up to Maryland to spend some quality crafting time with Allison and her two sweet daughters.
• I haven't worked out in almost three weeks - thank you wisdom teeth! I'm hoping to get one or two gym sessions in this weekend
• P and I were grateful our first marriage preparation class was canceled. We are excited to begin the classes but by yesterday afternoon we were both exhausted after our weekend trip to Arizona and welcomed a relaxing evening at home.
• I may have gotten a little emotional as we were stuffing and addressing Save the Dates this week. Sometimes I still can't believe we are actually getting married!
• It is so cool to get mail for P that has "Esq" on it!

 

Have a great weekend!

Six Months!

SIX months from today we will be saying I DO! I have no idea where the time has gone! Things are definitely picking up in terms of the wedding planning but fortunately we do not feel stressed about anything. I know there are a ton more decisions to be made but we have already checked off so many of the big decisions that everything else should just fall into place.

This upcoming week we will be busy addressing and sending out Save the Dates and on Thursday we begin our marriage preparation classes at the church.

I am eager for the next six months to fly by so that I can marry my best friend!

Bursting!

I am bursting with so much pride and happiness because P PASSED THE VIRGINIA BAR EXAM!!!! It's not like I ever doubted for one second that he wouldn't pass, but to see his name printed on the "Pass List" was such an amazing feeling. He has worked so so so hard the past four years and to see it all pay off in the biggest way possible is absolutely incredible. Last night we had a great time celebrating with our friend John, who also passed!

We will be continuing our celebrations in Sedona, Arizona this weekend to celebrate the marriage of our dear friend Tony and his wife Sunny! And I'm sure the celebrations will continue for several more weeks!

Congrats again P, I love you so much!

Pictures from the Weekend

We had a great weekend celebrating birthdays, watching football, and enjoying the cooler fall temperatures. Hope you enjoy these pictures from the weekend!



Beautiful birthday flowers from P

Fall decorations and candles around the apartment

My new favorite shoes that I picked up at the Gap Outlet last week

Lots to celebrate - Taylor's birthday, Aubrey & Brent's new house, & Aubrey's birthday!

I had fun making this birthday banner for Taylor's party. If you look closely you can see Elmo on either side of her name

I thought Aubrey did an awesome job making this Elmo cake. It was super yummy too!

They are an adorable family

She is 1 and enjoying her birthday cake

Such a happy baby girl!