February 7th, 2019

A New, Fun-Filled Year

So last year, obviously, was a very busy year for Mike & I. With buying a house, graduating, and getting married, we felt like we were constantly running around doing things. The year started off with some avid house hunting, which ended up running over into school. There were days I would literally get up at 5:30AM to drive through crazy, 2-hour long rush hour traffic, spend literally all day at class, then drive straight home to leave immediately with Mike to go meet our realtor and check out some homes. I wouldn't get home until about 9PM...and then I'd promptly pass out, lol.

After we found our dream home, the craziness didn't end. We had to go through the stressful, tedious process of making an offer, signing contracts, getting insurance, getting a loan, etc etc etc. I probably signed and filled out a billion documents. In the end, it was all worth it when we were handed the keys to OUR very own home! It was such a surreal moment, walking into our home on Stonybrook and being able to say, "Hey, I own this place!" Things kicked into high gear after that. Mike and I would spend all day at work or school, then come home and avidly get to work on the house. We remodeled rooms, painted, unpacked...it was quite the process. Most weekends were spent 100% doing things around the house, with some other wedding-planning things squeezed in. We were constantly going to bed late and sleeping like logs...but, at least this "busy" was the good, productive kind. :)

By the time summer rolled around, we were pretty much done with all the major things we wanted to do around the house and everything was unpacked. We hosted several parties/BBQ's at our home and it felt so good to have such a big, beautiful place to entertain our loved ones. All the hard work truly paid off. While summer ended most of the home projects, it kicked off the wedding planning frenzy. Researching vendors, attending tasting, getting engagement photos taken (we wanted to wait until it was warmer so we could take outside photos, and obviously spring was a little too jam-packed for us!). We took a week-long vacation in July, our Bridal BBQ (the bridal shower) was in August, and basically (what felt like) fifty wedding-related packages a day arrived all throughout September and October.

Our wedding was very DIY in many ways. We didn't hire a wedding planner. We printed and assembled all the various invitations (Save The Date, BBQ, wedding, rehearsal dinner), table numbers, and wedding favors (which were also placecards) ourselves. We opted against floral centerpieces we could just buy or order, and instead designed and assembled multi-piece lantern centerpieces ourselves. We spent the week before the wedding making trips to the reception hall to set up (15 guest tables, 5 other various tables, and lights), assembling 24 church bows, and making all the floral pieces (4 bouquets, 3 vased arrangements, 10 boutonnieres, and 8 corsages). We drove over an hour to get to our bakery in upper Chicago. We drove another hour just to pick up our marriage license. I made at least three wedding-related phone calls a day scheduling things, discussing details with vendors, and making sure everything was on track. We honestly did about 85% of everything all by ourselves. It was time-consuming. It was exhausting. But it was all worth it in the end. (PS: If anyone wants to hire me as their wedding planner, I'd like to think I'd be pretty good at it after all of this!)

Then, the wedding arrived and it was beyond perfect. Afterwards we went on the most amazing two week long honeymoon. We came home and things picked back up again for the crazy holiday season. Decorating the house, Christmas shopping, planning/preparing for parties...it was go go go, still! As soon as Christmas was through I remember turning to Mike one night and saying, "I just want to stay home and do absolutely nothing for like a week."

Last year truly was the best year of my life. I bought my very first home and I married my very best friend. So many of our friends and family showered us with love and support all year long, helping with house or wedding things as much as they could. But still, the year was a very full year. No single weekend was spent just sitting around. There were constant appointments and commitments. I didn't expect to have much time to fit in fun trips to concerts, festivals, zoos, theme parks, etc. Surprisingly, we did manage to attend some fun events after all, and I was very thankful for each and every one.

This year, we don't have any "huge, life changing" plans other than adding two little fur balls to our family (though, that won't be until late spring/early summer). So this year I want to make sure that we catch back up on doing some of the fun things we love, like visiting Brookfield Zoo, going downtown, checking out the museums, and so on. I also want to try to plan for one "unique" event each month. By unique I mean out of the normal/usual. Something we haven't done before, or don't usually do. As of tonight, Mike and I scheduled two exciting events for us!

In January, Mike took me to a play at the Drury Lane Theatre. :) We saw Beauty and the Beast and I simply adored it! Tonight, we booked two awesome events in March! On the 2nd, we're going with Charlotte to the Monster Jam Triple Threat Series. It's a monster truck show/rally/thing...I've never been to one so I'm not entirely sure, lol. But it looks super cool! On the 23rd Mike and I are going to C2E2 (aka Chicago's version of Comic Con!). I have never been to a comic con before, but I've always wanted to, so I am very very ecstatic to have tickets! I'd definitely love to dress up as something cool, though I have no ideas as of right now. Also, Paul Rudd is going to be there!! Unfortunately autographs and photo ops already sold out for him, but I'm going to keep my eye out for anyone selling theirs. ;) In May, we also already have tickets for the Water Lantern Festival! We used to attend Lantern Fest every year in Indiana, but they very suddenly shut down. :( I was so happy to have found this new festival to go to instead, and am super excited about the new spin to the festival: the lanterns will be floating in the water instead of being launched into the air! It's so Tangled-esque, I know!! Even better, this festival is only about thirty minutes away from us, as opposed to 3-4 hours!

So, that's my fun plan for this year! I'm really excited to look into more fun events and make all sorts of unique and interesting plans! We already completed January, and we're all set for March and May. I definitely have to get my butt in gear and find something fun for February before it's over, lol. It may not seem like much, but in the grand scheme of things it will really make for a fun year if we stick to it! I really want to make use of this year in terms of just having fun with my wonderful husband. Last year was fun in terms of wonderful life events, and this year is going to be a blast spent having all kinds of adventures! I'm excited to have a schedule full of things I choose to schedule, as opposed to the endless appointments I had to make. I will definitely be sure to blog about it all, as well as to keep ya'll updated with the future events that we shall plan! :)