Holiday Season

Our first Christmas celebration was the WIKA Christmas party weekend which was so fun!  I always love seeing all of my coworkers and spouses outside of work!   We have a sales team Christmas party which is always fun since we never really get to see the spouses and the food is always fantastic.  The day after we have a corporate party which had just under 1000 attendants at Gwenette Arena which is always a blast!

To continue the holiday season for us, Joe and I hosted a tacky Christmas sweater party at our house.  This was the first time that we were having a large amount of people at our house so we were very excited for the evening!  We made several deserts, a vegetable platter, a cheese and meat platter, and three different dips (corn, spinach artichoke, and buffalo chicken).  We also made a Christmas Mojito which was amazing!  We loved seeing so many of our closest friends while enjoying great food, drink, and some beer pong on the rooftop in our festive home!

Sunday I headed home to spend some time with my family.  Sebastijan came home Monday morning, so he helped my mom clean the house.  Monday evening, Ana flew in early and surprised our parents so that we would all be home together for a little bit.  Tuesday evening Joe and Domen came up from Atlanta, so Tuesday night we had a big dinner and just enjoyed each other’s company.  Wednesday morning we woke up and put the Christmas tree together.  Then it was time for everyone to unwrap their gifts!  After gifts, we ate a bit of breakfast before starting our Christmas meal.  Joe and I had to head back to Atlanta around 1, so after some family pictures, we sat down for a wonderful meal fairly early.  We enjoyed country fried steak, mushrooms, potatoes, and salad.  After eating, Joe and I headed home to pack for Europe, then head to his parents’ house to enjoy a wonderful meal!   

We enjoyed some meats and cheeses first, then our second course was 7 fishes, where Joe and I made a dish and Matt made a dish!  There was a break after that, and then the 3^rd course was prime rib with vegetables!  There was so much food and it was all amazing!  After we finished eating,  we relaxed for a bit then headed to midnight mass.  After mass it was bed time.  We woke up the next morning and opened presents before having an amazing brunch.  There was breakfast casserole, bagels and lox, fruit, and so much food!  After that we enjoyed family time before hitting the road to the airport.  Before we knew it, we were boarding a flight to Slovenia!

Winter Wonderland...

It has been quite some time since I wrote a blog post, and in the past week I have had quite a few people comment that I am slacking on my blogging.  I must say, they are very right about that!  The past couple weeks have been eventful, calm, and hectic all at the same time.

The past couple weekends have been calmer than normal, but seemed to fly by.  As most of you know, Joe is very into ALTA and plays men's league every season.  This year, he joined a mixed league, which I had been going to watch.  After a couple matches, somehow I got talked into signing up for the team because they were low on girls and didn't want to scratch lines.  After signing up, I started getting worried since I had no knowledge about tennis.  I didn't know how to keep score, where to stand, etc, but I was willing to take on the challenge.  A couple of weekends ago, I played my first match which got cut short.  Three weekends ago, I got to play another match and actually played a full one!   I had the lovely opportunity to play with a friend from college, Chris, which made me a bit more comfortable.  He had hit with me a couple times and helped me learn the basic skills of tennis.  We got off to a fun start, learning where to stand and how to work with each other, and ended up winning the first set in a tie breaker!  The next set we ended up winning by far, so I can officially say I played and won a full match (with a whole lot of help from Chris!).

Two weeks ago I was supposed to travel to Seattle, but Atlanta weather had a different plan.  As most people know, Atlanta got hit by the snowpocalypse.  I was incredibly lucky to be working from home Tuesday, so I did not have to do much on my end.  Joe got the flip side of the experience.  He had left around noon to go to Birmingham, and 6 hours later, made it ALL the way to Six Flags.  After finally getting to an exit with his boss, they turned around.  Although they made it back to midtown fairly quickly (relatively speaking) Joe still wanted to make it to our house.  He hit the road, and got stuck about a mile away for an hour.  After continuing to stand still, he finally put the car in park and made it home, just before 11!  What a trip to make it to Six Flags and back!  I canceled my trip to Seattle (the flight only went out 12 hours late!) so we were safe and sound at home the following day.

The SNOW has started :)

Never seen a Dog love snow more than her...you can't get her to come inside!

We enjoyed the warm weather the following weekend, and I attended my first boot camp class since i had gone regularly in Chicago with a friend or mine.  I must say, my body HURT the next day and I am pretty sure I haven't been that sore since Christmas training in college.  We will see if I make it back :)

At the end of the week we had Nicole and Kristina over for dinner and knocked out some wedding planning.  They are both friends of Joe's from high school and are both very talented.  Kristina is quite the crafty girl so we asked if she was willing to make our centerpieces and flowers for the wedding to keep our costs down.  She is so creative and I cannot wait to see what the final product looks like!  Nicole went to pastry school and was recently working in Europe.  We are so lucky that she is back for a couple months, and she is so kind to make our cake for us.  We have picked absolutely amazing flavors and a beautiful design so I can't wait to see what the final product looks like.  We are so blessed to have so many amazingly talented people in our lives so that we can not only keep the cost of our wedding down, but we can truly have a unique look to our wedding.  It is all coming together so quick! We even sent the invitations out a week ago!

This past week Joe hit the road Monday to go to Birmingham (second attempt) and I had a slumber party!  Kellie Ann and I had a wonderful night on Monday, watching the Bachelor, sipping wine, and eating home made ice cream (who cares about the wedding diet!).  It was so nice having her around in the evenings because I hate having the whole big house to myself!  Sometimes you just need a little girl time, and we definitely had a blast enjoying each others company.

Wednesday I headed to Seattle (second attempt!) and made it!  After calls on Wednesday, I headed downtown to grab some dinner (early because I can't switch time zones well) and was pleasantly surprised to find a parade going on!  I didn't stay long (it was freezing and I was not dressed appropriately) but it was so cool to see at least a portion of it!  The week flew by and before I knew it I was headed back to Atlanta!

Seahawks Stadium after they won the Super Bowl this past Weekend!

Perks of waking up at 4...you see the sun rise :)  View from my hotel!

This weekend was a busy weekend filled with SCUBA class!  To get certified, you have to do an online class which Joe and I had completed, pool dives, and 4 open water dives.  This weekend we did our pool dives to learn the general skills.  I forgot how dry your skin gets after being in a pool for 5 hours!  We had so much fun learning to dive, float, sink, etc.  I must brag and say I lapped Joe on our 200 yd. swim (he kept up with me for a 100 of it then died!) so I guess I still have some swimming skill :)  I also felt quite accomplished when I could still climb the rope they had tied from the roof into the pool.  This is not a SCUBA skill you need, but at Divers Supply in Marietta where we were doing our class, they also do some fire fighter training so it was fun to see if I could still do it.  After two full days of pool skills, we are confident to head to Florida in a couple weeks to do our 4 open water dives and complete our certification!  I am now worn out, and ready for bed.

This week I get to work from home before hitting the road for another two weeks.  BUT before I hit the road, it is BACHELORETTE WEEKEND!!!!  I cannot wait to have all of my wonderful friends in town (some will be dearly missed) to celebrate with me. And now, off to shower number two so that I can stop smelling like chlorine sometime soon :)

The Best Time of the Year...

So it has been quite some time since the last post but it has been quite busy!  The past couple weeks were spent enjoying my vacation with family and friends.

The Friday before Christmas Joe and I packed up my car, dropped off Roxie at Joe's parent's house, and hit the road to Greenville to spend some time with my family.  We got in fairly late, so we slept in Saturday before starting some Christmas fun.  My mom had quite a lot to bake so the day was filled with mixing dough for cookies and cakes and spending some family time.  We also had a lot of wedding stuff to do so I started addressing invitations, picked out wedding party gifts, and balanced our budgets.  Courtney came over to enjoy dinner with the family and as always, it was great to see her.  The day was over before we knew it and we called it an early night to catch up on much needed sleep.

Sunday morning we got up early and went to church.  After church I went on a walk with my parents before taking a quick nap myself.  After nap time we enjoyed an amazing meal, and of course Courtney joined.  We had our standard country fried steak Sunday dinner.  After dinner we did some more baking and preparing for the wedding and just hanging out with my family.  Sunday night, Joe and I headed to downtown Greenville for dinner with Amanda and Will.  We went to Grill Marks in downtown and the food was amazing! I always love burgers that you can get lettuce wrapped so that was a plus.  The Parmesan truffle fries are also amazing and I am pretty sure I ate the majority of them and didn't share with Joe!  It was so good having dinner with Amanda and getting to catch up, but it was also great meeting Will.  After dinner we headed home and went to bed fairly early again.

Monday, Joe was working so I addressed a lot of wedding invitations, helped with the Christmas preparation, took a long walk with my little brother, and relaxed on the day off.  I headed to hot yoga with Bethany and Whitney in the early afternoon at a local yoga place.  Although the workout wasn't what I normally do (I do more power yoga/flow), it was a nice change of pace, and it was HOT!  We walked out covered in sweat so I know we got a great workout in.  After getting home I enjoyed dinner with my family before heading the the YSSC Alumni Christmas Party.  It was so good catching up with everyone, young and old, and hearing stories of where everyone is now.  It seems like not that long ago that I was still swimming for YSSC.  I didn't stay too long and headed home to enjoy the end of Christmas Vacation since Joe and my family were watching it.  Joe loved watching it with my family because they show more emotion when watching a movie than I do!

Tuesday morning, my little brother and I went on a walk again before my sister, brother in law, and niece arrived for Christmas.  We spent the day enjoying their company, playing with Rose, decorating the Christmas tree, and getting the final things ready for Christmas.  After waffles for lunch (everyone wanted waffles but I didn't wake up early enough in the morning to make them!) Joe and I and my parents took Rose on a walk so that Ana could get some work done.  Once we got home it was time to get ready for Christmas Eve Dinner.  We were having a mixture of a lot of different foods so it was quite a process.  After my older brother got home, it was dinner time!  We enjoyed so much food and way too many deserts!  After dinner we opened gifts and then took our Christmas picture with everyone!  Before we knew it, it was time for Joe and I to hit the road and head to Atlanta.  It was so good seeing all of my family although we were all together for only 3 hours.  I cannot wait to see everyone again in April for the wedding!

Rose's first Christmas!

Play Time with Rose :)

Presents :)

Joe and I hit the road right at 9 and headed to Atlanta to attend midnight mass at St. Ann's.  We made it early enough to go to Joe's parent's house and then went to mass. It was a beautiful service and I always love the way the church is decorated on Christmas!  We slept in Christmas day because it was a late night.  We enjoyed some waffles for breakfast and then it was present time at Joe's parent's house.  It was fun to see how they open presents vs. how we do at our house.  At my house we always open presents one at a time, youngest to oldest, while at Joe's they all get one present that Joe distributes, and open them all together.  After presents, Joe and I walked to Joe's friend Dillon's house to see him before appetizer time.  Once we got home appetizers were ready to go and after some more relaxing, it was time for dinner.  Christmas dinner is Joe's favorite dinner because they always have prime rib! Roxie also loves it because she gets a prime rib bone to enjoy for the next couple of weeks.  After dinner and desert Joe and I headed home to open our own presents.  Joe is an amazing gift giver and got me so many amazing things, including a travel yoga mat that folds for easy packing, and a water proof/shock proof camera that we will get to use on our honeymoon and not worry about it getting ruined!  After presents we headed to bed after a long day of celebrating.

Presents again :)

She LOVES Christmas :)

The rest of the week flew by, I did more wedding planning and relaxed and Joe was at work.  The weekend was here before we knew it, and we didn't have to many plans.  We met up with Sam and Dem for drinks and dinner Friday night and enjoyed our first time at Monday Night Brewery.  It is so fun talking wedding with them because they are getting married a month before us and are on a very similar path!  Saturday was a day filled with grocery shopping and wedding stuff.  We took a trip to Men's Wearhouse to pick out what suits/tuxs the guys would wear.  We also picked out our wedding favors and got a general price for them.  Last, we went to the SCUBA place in Roswell to sign up for our intro to SCUBA class!  I cannot wait until our first class to see if we want to become certified or not.  Saturday evening Sam and Dem came over as well as Will and Katie and we had so much fun hanging out, catching up, and having a good time at 5 Paces with the most amazing bartender ever!

Sunday, Joe and I slept in really late and before we knew it, it was time to hit the road for our food tasting for the wedding!   We asked Joe's parents to come along so that we would have a more diverse pallet at the tasting, and we all enjoyed tasting appetizers, sides, and entrees!  Our food should be amazing and I sure do hope I get to eat some on our wedding day :)  After the food, I hit the gym before finishing up the day.

Monday and Tuesday were relaxing days since I was still on vacation. Monday evening we started the meetings with the deacon that will be marrying us.  It was a great meeting where we planned out what still needs to be done, what chapters Joe and I need to do before our next meetings, and making sure that both of us were really ready to get married.  It was a great meeting and I am looking forward to the next one.  Somehow the days flew by and before we knew it, it was New Years Eve.  Joe came home early on New Years Eve, and I went to the gym for a swim.  For those that swam club with me, New Years Eve was always the BIGGEST practice of the year for us, and we spent 4 hours straight in the pool.  I was feeling inspired and I hit the pool myself, and managed a hole 3300 yards!  I was quite proud of myself for swimming so far, and it may not have taken me 4 hours, and I may not have swam super far, but hey it's an accomplishment!  After the swim I started getting ready for the evening.  Joe and I went to dinner with Kellie Ann, Reza, and Tareq and enjoyed tapas at Basil's which is one of Joe and my favorite restaurants.  They have such good food, their bread they bring out that is more like a pizza is amazing, and it isn't that expensive.  After dinner we headed to our apartments where Matt Tang and Mike V met us to head to the bars.  We headed to 5 Paces since they did not have a cover and of course our favorite bar tender, Jessie :), was working.  We had so much fun bring in the New Year with a champagne toast and a New Year's Kiss!

Happy New Year

GTSD taking over 5 Paces :)

We had quite a crew sleeping over that night, so the next morning was spent cleaning up before heading to Joe's parent's house for dinner.  They always have Christmas pasta for dinner even though it is New Years, and it has about 10 different meats in the pasta sauce.  It was amazing and after dinner we started talking logistics about the wedding.  We always think we have so much planned, but the second you start talking details, I start realizing how much more is left.  I am so excited to see all of the details come together on the big day, but for now I will not worry too much because I know we will be stressing before we know it!

And with that, I am caught up, and all out of vacation days :)  Today I went back to work, catching up on emails that were unanswered, and planning out the year to come.  I cannot wait to see what 2014 has in store, because 2013 sure was a great one!  Happy New Year everyone and I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays.