Goodbye 2010!

2010
You filled us with such happiness and taught us many lessons (in patience, mostly).

Here are a few bits and pieces of our year!

Andrew and the boys came to the big city and moved me out of Richmond at the very end of 2009. Goodbye city, hello country! I was so excited to start this new journey in life.

We picked out our "spot" in the woods where our future home would reside. It was hard to imagine a litte home with all of the brush. And then of course we had to wait on the snow to leave to start clearing the woods. It was just the start of a looooong waiting line.

I made a quick trip back to Richmond to see good friends and finally got to meet Patti!

Here's a secret to some. In the midst of my new "change" I felt that woman instinct to change my hairstyle. I liked my bang for about 4 hours, and then I realized that I permantly had hair hanging in my face and became best friends with bobby pins.

Andrew was signed co-owner of Cool Breeze Stables! I was(am) so proud of him!

We searched high and low for the perfect trailer and found her! We emptied our bank account to put down the down payment. It was a very exciting day for us. We also watched as the land was cleared and the septic & water was put in.

And then we started the waiting game. We were held up in the moving process by weather, permits and anything else that could have gone wrong--went wrong. We took our minds off of the frustrating process by retreating to the mountains as much a we could.



I asked Andrew the other day what is favorite memory of 2010 was. He told me it was the day he asked me to marry him-hands down. :) He deserves 4 gold stars for how perfect it was. I was completly surprised.




Shortly after our engagement, we FINALLY moved in! It's our little work in progress but the saying is true, there is no place like home.
An engagement/house warming party was the pefect way to end the fall. Thanks to our family and friends, it was a night that we will never forget!
So, obviously the engagment ruled the last part of 2010! Shannon Miller took these amazing engagment pictures. I can't wait to see what the wedding photos wil look like on the farm!



I made big strides this year with music, finally putting some songs that I worked on with a friend on a CD. I played out as much as I could and even started playing and singing by myself. Baby steps. :)
We enjoyed settling into our new home this fall and making friends with the neighboring sheep farm. There is nothing better than looking out the window and seeing these friends so close by.
We spent Christmas this year in our new little home. It was cozy and full of love.

There seem to be a million other memories in 2010 (but damn this takes a long time to put together...) Thank you to all of our friends and families for making this year one of the best yet. I pray for blessings in 2011 to you and your loved ones!

Happy New Year!

arrive.

We waste so much energy trying to cover up who we are when beneath every attitude is the want to be loved, and beneath every anger is a wound to be healed and beneath every sadness is the fear that there will not be enough time. Our challenge each day is not to get dressed to face the world but to unglove ourselves so that the doorknob feels cold and the car handle feels wet and the kiss goodbye feels like the lips of another being, soft and unrepeatable.

-Mark Nepo, "Awakening Rights"

image found here.

the head and the heart

I'm a wee bit obsessed with this band.

I feel fresh today. Like spring. You know when you can feel something changing in you deep down? I feel that way today. Maybe it's the bone chilling wind that brought this change. Maybe that wind blew in goodness from all over the world and smacked me in the face this morning.

I don't know what brought it but I like it.

peace out.

merry happy happy christmas

oh, it was a wonderful, white Christmas.

mom sent us a fabulous stocking full of essentials like nyquil and milano cookies (she knows me so well) and we were all perfectly spoiled and thankful on this Christmas day.

peace and love to you and yours.

xo

i can only think in lists

-I woke up with 15 minutes to get ready for work this morning. Good thing I fell asleep in my black tights last night. Getting dressed was easy peasy.
-My potato soup that I made yesterday leaves a film on the roof of your mouth. It is an epic fail.
-I went on a hot date last night and watched Black Swan. I never want to say I want to be perfect again. Enough said. (ps. Don't go see this movie with your Mom or a first date....you will regret it.)
-I hard core spooned my cat this morning.
-I haven't washed my hair in more days than I would care to admit.
-4:00 p.m. today marks the start of my winter vacay.
-I usually cringe when I see someone write, "vacay". It reminds me of girls that do that whole extension of the last syllable that starts high pitched and then goes down. If you went to Roanoke College you know what I mean.
-I'm drinking a diet coke right now. I never drink diet coke.
-Andrew and I had a text battle this morning. We both started with rage and now we are talking to each other like pirates. Typical.
-I love everything about her.
-One time, a boyfriend broke up with me a month or so before Christmas and I thought my life was ending (dramatic pause) and he sent me a huge package in the mail right before the holiday that turned out to be those really good and expensive Harry & David pears. But to me, they were always "I don't love you anymore pears".
-My lips are chapped and they hurt real bad.
-Today marks the start of winter. Time for reflection and starting a new.
-I was just called a big fat dingleberry in a text from my fiance.

happy Tuesday.

my weekend

*snow turned it into a four day weekend
*i thought I could accomplish EVERYTHING on my to-do list
*i didn't.
*spent lots of time curled up on the couch next to the fire
*baked soggy banana bread
*went on a successful vintage shopping trip
*watched about 27 movies (you should rent this movie. amazing.)
*played apples to apples with friends
*talked about building a commune
*sat on the couch & watched 27 more movies (word on the farm is that we are getting a Wi for Christmas)
*started talking about the wedding and all of the sudden it seemed REALLY REAL. :)
*listened to Nicki Minaj with my boo. This album is off the chains.



and now here we are on Monday morning. woo hoo for a two day work week!

winter white

there were early warning signs that she would never be able to own a winter white coat.

i've been complaing on facebook about how I will never be able to own a winter white coat.

and it's true.

I can't even walk out to my car without getting dirt somewhere.

(and it's safe to say that i still end up with chocolate everywhere when I eat it)

it was just never in the cards.