Merry Almost Christmas!!!

It's almost Christmas...yay!  Apparently right now Santa is somewhere over Argentina...better get out my carrots for Rudolph and his friends.  Where has December gone??  It has been filled up with lots of fun festivities and craziness!  

Here is the latest of what we've been up to...

First there was our second annual trip to the Grove Park Inn to see the Gingerbread houses.  My friend Sarah and I used to go every year in college and then Richard took me to see them for my birthday last year so this year we decided to all go together!!  It was amazing as always to see all of the hard work and creativity that goes into making the houses.  

This is the winner.  I must say I'm a little disappointed because it wasn't actually a house.  I thought that one of the stipulations for the Gingerbread House contest was that it was actually a house but apparently not!  It's still amazing work though!!

 Sarah and her hubby Rob

 Sarah and I have been friends for 9 years...crazy!!

 One bumpy ride...

Another successful trip to Asheville!  Can't wait to do it again next year!!

Next on the list was my one and only 28th birthday!!  This is the first year that I've ever had to work on my birthday...sad...but I was able to get off at 2:30...yay!  When I got off work I ordered our wedding invitations!!!  What better way to spend my birthday??  I had already picked them out and everything so it just took a second but that is a big item checked off the list!  Later that night Richard took me out to a super fun, special dinner at Larkins!   We have been wanting to try it and it certainly lived up to our expectations.  I had the best steak I've ever had in my life!  He did such a good job of planning ahead and they served me this delicious dessert with a candle and a birthday message...

 

Thank you to my sweet fiance for making my birthday so special!

To clinch the Christmas season Richard and I took a little trip to a house of Christmas lights.  There are really no words to describe this experience and I recommend that anyone in the general vicinity come and check it out.  This house was amazing!!  They have over 210,000 lights, over 70 inflatables, free popcorn and hot chocolate, "Elf" playing on their garage door and their own personal Santa!!  I didn't have my camera so these pics are off of my cell phone (sorry for bad quality).  The pictures truly don't do it justice.

So that pretty much concludes the pre-Christmas season.  Now it's Christmas Eve and I'm all packed and ready to head to Wilmington where my family awaits.  As soon as he gets off work, Richard and I will be traveling (as he puts it...) over the river and through the woods to the beach!!  We're even hoping for a little snow at the beach! 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!!

Note to self:  I've got to remember to start taking more pictures for this new blog of ours!  I did manage to snap a few pictures of the recent festivities around my (soon to be ours in 4 months) house.  We have kicked off the Christmas holidays in full force!  

A certain little elf helped me put a million lights on the tree...just how I like it!

Then I had another little elf help me put the ornaments on the tree!  Somehow many of the ornaments ended up below my waist level...

After we decorated the tree we went to the Greenville Christmas Parade downtown!  We were a little worried about the weather but it stopped raining just in time and was perfectly chilly and dry!  Other Christmas festivities have included going to see White Christmas, the Broadway musical, as well as watching the movie!  I must admit there is a sweet spot in my heart for Bing Crosby!  Thankfully, my sweet roommate, Stephanie, loves him just as much.

Speaking of Stephanie...she just had a birthday!  In order to appropriately celebrate we went ice skating!  Apparently I'm not the most talented ice skater.  I only managed to fall once though...success!  We had a great time and I think we should definitely go back!

 An action shot!

The birthday girl!!

I love Christmas!!  I love that my house is all decorated and there is Christmas music everywhere and I get to make lists and mint M&Ms are in stock everywhere I go!  There are so many more things I love about Christmas...maybe I'll make a list...stay tuned!

The Journey Begins...

This is a post that I did right before Thanksgiving before I switched the blog name...so I actually wrote it on November 24.

Here we go!!  Richard and I have been talking about starting a blog for a while now to document the wedding planning process and also to keep in touch with our family and friends far away!  We are so excited about our upcoming nuptials (142 days to be exact) and life has been busy with planning, lists (yay!), decisions, etc.  We hope that these next few months will give us a great opportunity to grow together and prepare for this journey called marriage.  We are so grateful to our friends and family that have been supportive of us and are excited for us.  We can't wait to celebrate with those that we love!    

Since it will be Thanksgiving in approximately 43 minutes, here are just a few things that I am thankful for tonight...

-- My sweet fiance who makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world (and who is letting me serve him a rotisserie chicken from Publix instead of turkey for Thanksgiving tomorrow)

-- Our friends and family who have brought us to where we are

-- The recent fall weather (I think the leaves have been more amazing this year than ever)

-- The opportunity to go see my family tomorrow

-- The warm, fuzzy blanket on my lap

-- Jelly beans

-- The watchdog sleeping peacefully in front of me (aka Skudder...Richard's sweet Australian Shepherd that hangs out with me while Richard is at work)

-- And many more...but I'll have to save those for my annual "things I'm thankful for" list that my mom will inevitably ask me to create when I get home.

So on a very thankful note...I'll conclude this first post with a few recent snapshots of our life!