Embarrassing

What's embarrassing you ask? That October 26, 2010 was the last time I posted in my blog. Way to go with keeping committed to your blog, Lindsay. Anyway, it goes without saying that the last year has been the busiest in my life thus far, and I couldn't be happier. Here's a quick highlight reel of the last 12 months

- I bought a house

- I started a stationary business on the side

- I planned my entire wedding

- I got a promotional raise!

- I had awesome bridal showers and bachelorette parties

- I got married

- I went to Paris, Rome, and Venice

- I remodeled/redecorated my spare bedroom

- I bought a dog

I think that about sums it up. Our new house is in Coral Springs, about 20 minutes north of our old apartment in Plantation. The location is amazing, including a gated community and neighborhood gym and pool. We have a 4bed/2.5bath house of our dreams. We are slowly but surely putting in a little TLC to make it pretty and make it OURS.

As far as the business goes, as of right now it's more like a "business". As most of you know, I absolutely LOVE scrapbooking and anything of the crafty sort. Friends and family started noticing the invitations, stationary, etc. I was making for my wedding and told me I should make money at it. It sounded like a pretty good idea so I ran with it and created a Facebook page for "Formally Invited" and have done quite a few orders so far :) I've done anything from baby announcements, graduation announcements, wedding invites, to recipe cards! I had to put the business on the side for a while during the last few hectic months before my wedding, but now that the wedding is over I'm ready to start it up again and see where it takes me~!

Planning my entire wedding was quite the adventure and lots of fun. [Of course, don't forget the stress, tears, and disappointment that come standard with that]. But it's par for the course right? My wedding turned out to be more than I could have dreamed of and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to literally have my fairytale wedding dreams come true. My parents and friends were a HUGE help and I can't forget about Ryan - who dealt with my bridezillaness for almost a year AND the tears I cried for days on end while we were on our honeymoon in Paris - the place I've wanted to visit since 7th grade! The poor guy thought I was nuts but I was just SO devastated that the big day I had anticipated for over a year and spent every spare minute planning was over in the blink of an eye. It's so hard to explain the emotion but the best way to describe it all is a "whirlwind". We are still waiting to get the video back [Dec. 6] and can't wait to re-live that day!

Target is going really well and I still don't mind not having to figure out what to wear every day. This past June I got a promotional raise and before you know it I will have been there 18 months and will be ready for a new position! They will probably move me around Feb-March of next year and I can't wait to see what's in store for me next. My Target peers are some of my best friends and I love them all so much. I feel very lucky to have such an amazing team and work at a fun and exciting place :)

Our honeymoon was just "WOW". I literally felt like I was walking through a postcard for 11 days. All the pictures we took don't even look real. Just like the wedding, it all felt like a big whirlwind. {Like, am I really in Europe? I've dreamed of coming here for 12 years.} Anyway, it was amazing minus the food. Shocking right? We thought the food was supposed to be the best part, too. Don't get me wrong, we had some pretty great food here and there, but it just wasn't the {OMG THIS IS AMAZING FOOD} that we heard it was going to be. Maybe it's because we American's eat so poorly and do everything we can to make food as unnatural as possible that it makes it difficult for us to appreciate real, natural, cuisine. Hmm...

I am SO proud of our new spare bedroom, that it makes me want to run upstairs and gaze at it some more as I type this. I do have to give some credit to my mom for suggesting what to do with the baseboards and furniture placement, but overall, I think Ryan and I did a pretty damn good job :) The room had nasty dark green and yellow walls with terrible baseboards before hand and we ripped up the baseboards and put down fancy new ones and painted the room gray. We even replaced the light fixture and put in a pretty chandelier. [Yes, chandeliers can go in bedrooms, too.] Anyway, it's absolutely beautiful now with a modern white and gray base and a few splashes of purple. Ryan still thinks it's way too girly but he's entitled to his opinion ;) Basically what I'm saying is, COME VISIT US! :)

And finally, we are proud to announce the newest member of the Dean family, BRUISER. Contrary to what you may assume by the name, it's a GIRL. Long story short, Ryan's always wanted a BIG name for a little dog and despite the fact we wanted a girl, it didn't stop him from wanting to keep the name. And to be honest, I think it's cute. So Bruiser it is. She's a mini yorkie and should only be around 5-6 pounds full grown. Ryan's only rules with Bruiser is that she can NOT be put in a purse and she can NOT wear any outfits. [Crap, my plans are ruined]. Bruiser is only 6 weeks old and we can't bring her home until she's 9 weeks old. So in the next post I'll let you guys know how many times I've cleaned up her accidents and how many sleepless nights I've had...until next time.....

[and hopefully next time isn't October 26, 2012!]