2013 word of the year

my 2013 word took quite some time before it finally came to me

thankful

adj: aware and appreciative of a benefit; grateful

i know i have a lot to be thankful for

but i have taken it for granted lately

and i've already put it into action

i had ordered something online for store pick-up

it was a store i HATE going in

but i did it anyway

and as i stood waiting to pick up my packages

three different employees asked me if i needed something

but then proceeded to tell me they would have to get someone else

i started to get really irritated

and then i remembered my word

and decided to take a different approach

i reminded myself that i was thankful for free shipping

and immediately my mood changed

and i walked out with my packages and a smile on my face

so i'm excited to see what else i can be thankful for this year!

2012 word of the year review

it's time to reflect on what 2012 brought
you may remember that instead of resolutions
i decided to pick a word of the year
my word was discover and boy did i discover a lot this year
as I read back through what i planned to discover
i had no idea just how things would turn out
i won't bore you with all that i discovered
but point out the highlights that really surprised me

discover what makes me happy - i decided i really do enjoy photography, took a class to learn how to photograph newborns

discover what i want to do with my life - little did i know i would get laid off which would force me to really explore this

this was a trying year but i'm still very excited to see what 2013 brings!

christmas

we spent christmas with my family this year
as i was working on our christmas cards
i realized we never take family photos
so i took one - or rather my mom did

i also attempted to get a cute picture of duke
he doesn't like hats...

and just cuz these are such cute pics...

so that's the quick on our christmas
how was yours?

under construction

we had a baby shower for some friends expecting
since they're having a boy we knew it had to be construction themed
everything had cute little names related to construction

and everyone constructed their own cupcakes

and we constructed a story about the birth

duke loved having all the laps to occupy

and then was the after party
where we enjoyed some wine, self-portriats

and constructing our own babies

thanksgiving

we headed to north carolina for thanksgiving to see sean's brother and his family
we always have such a great time when we're there
since it was fall the kids had a blast playing in the leaves

our nephew really liked playing ball with duke
boy can that dog jump - and has been doing that since he was a puppy

we also took in a museum

which also had a butterfly museum
i hadn't been to one in 15 years

there was even some hoops action
which was funny since sean and his brother are not really sports kinda guys

and just because this is a funny picture...

making pastry

my friend "won" a pastry class at a silent auction with a real life pastry chef!
and invited me to come play along
we got to get our hands dirty

make fancy things

play with fire

and enjoy the fruits of our labor
can you guess what we made?


if you guessed...
bread pudding

creme brulee

and panna cotta

then you were right!
how can you go wrong?

vacation - st kitts

the last leg of our trip was st kitts
if you're an avid reader of this blog you should know it well by now
we met up with some dear friends there
i thought as a change of pace this time
i'd show you around the island
this is where we stayed

this is where all the cruise ships come in and all the shopping happens

this is how they put big boats in the ocean

this is the golf course sean enjoys
most photos of the golf course are compliments of sean
(wasn't he fancy with the different angles and selfies???)

this is the money shot

this is the beautiful ocean water

this is us with our friends on the new side of the island we explored this trip
this place is growing!

this is some of the beautiful flowers around

this is the beautiful full moon we saw from our patio

and this is us enjoying the last bits of our trip we could
(and with crazy humidity hair)

i hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did!