Jumping on the Yearly Recap Bandwagon

It seems to be a trend in blog world to end the blogging year with a nice little recap. So, no need for me to disappoint.

January - We had to put down our sweet kitten Rocco. We cried. I celebrated my 26th birthday in Cottage Country with Turkey Butt.
February - We found out we were expecting our little pumpkin on the 16th.
March - Celebrated our 1st anniversary at my in-law's very cold camp.
April - Turkey Butt celebrated his 27th birthday with a homemade ice cream cake.
May - Moved to a new apartment.
June - Found out that our little pumpkin is going to be a girl.
July - Went to the zoo.
August - Had an unpleasant run-in at work that led to a few days off of work - funded by Worker's Compensation.
September - Got beautiful maternity photos taken by RavenDawn Photography. Attended my first baby shower - and it happened to be my own.
October - Turkey Butt & I got hitched on the 1st. On the 18th we welcomed our Little Miss Elle into the world. On the 31st we celebrated our first Halloween as a family of 3 (+dog) with cuddling and horror movies.
November - Took holiday photos of Little Miss Elle for our Christmas cards.
December - Found our dream house and put an offer on it. Celebrated Christmas as a family. Officially bought our dream house - now we wait for the closing date.

All in all it was such a wonderful year. I feel so very blessed to have had such an amazing year! I can only imagine what will happen for us in 2012. Will be so hard to top 2011! This is my life!

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

I've got to be honest... juggling caring for a newborn, keeping house, going through the process of purchasing a house, the holidays and a marriage is hard! You're bound to drop the ball on something. Sadly, in my case, I let my marriage falter for awhile.

The stress of everything had been piling up on my shoulders. I was cranky and frustrated. I felt more like the nanny/maid/chauffeur than a wife and mother. I made the mistake of taking my frustration out on Turkey Butt. We ended up fighting and arguing on a daily basis. Heck, most days we weren't even speaking to each other because saying nothing was better than saying something we might regret.

The low point came one morning when neither of us could remember if we had ever been happy together. Believe me when I say this was the worst because we've had such an amazing relationship full of so much happiness! We were just becoming blinded by the bad. For awhile that day I honestly thought we might not make it. But then Turkey Butt, after awhile of nothing being said, told me loved me!

Well folks, that woke me up! Why was I getting so frustrated and pessimistic? I have an amazing husband who is so in love with me he bawled at our wedding. I have the most perfect baby girl whom I have waited my whole life for. I have an adorable, lovable dog. We're in the process of buying our dream house. I have wonderful family and friends who fill my life with joy. So why was I so angry all the time?

Enough was enough! After that low point, I vowed to take a deep breath and relax. My life is absolutely amazing and I plan to enjoy every last second of it. It's only been a few days since I vowed to see the glass half full instead of half empty, but I can already feel the difference. I talk to sweet hubby respectfully, I can laugh about all the house buying hoops that I jump through daily, and I'm enjoying my time with Little Miss Elle!

Instead of trying to end my maternity leave so that I can go to work and feel as though I'm accomplishing something, I'm taking the Little Miss out into the community to meet new people. Yesterday we visited my Great Great Aunt and her husband. They don't get many visitors and have been under the weather lately so it was truly amazing to see how much they adored their visit with Little Miss Elle. We also stopped in to the Nursing Home I used to work at yesterday. The little old lady's all got a kick out of holding the squirming baby and giving her lots of kisses! Having one of the Alzheimer's patients ask me who I was really made me appreciate my life. I think after the new year, the babe and I will have to visit more frequently. It is wonderful the joy ten minutes with a baby can bring!

As always, thank you for listening to my rant. This is my life....

It's All In The Details.

It may or may not be apparent to those reading this blog, but I am a details person. To me, everything has to be planned down to the most minor detail and everything has to go perfectly according to plan. Now this doesn't mean that I'm a neat and tidy person, just ask my hubby. In fact, I live quite happily in a minor degree of clutter and chaos - but everything is exactly where I need it to be. Therefore, when the afore mentionned hubby goes on a cleaning spree (a.k.a. out of sight, out of mind) it drives me crazy til I can get things happily messy again. Now take all this into account and then add to it the fact that I just planned my wedding, while quite pregnant. As you can imagine, I had a minor bridezilla moment before we went to the Hall to decorate the night before my wedding. Something along the lines of, "If you're coming to the Hall then you have to know that I'm the boss so you have to do as I say and if you don't I'll cry!"

Luckily everything turned out just exactly as I'd planned and we got so many compliments on all of it. Now I wanted to share some of those minor details with you!

We bought a couple old doors and hinged them together as a backdrop. The wedding was supposed to be outside but the doors worked well inside too.

This was my sister's perfect idea! Two old crates that had washed up on the beach, piled on top of each other as a signing table.



We spray painted pumpkins and ghords black and white and used washi tape to put monogram on it.



Might be hard to see, but the pumpkins in front of the fence to the left say "THANKS"

Sticking with the black and white theme.

This was a last minute detail I found on Pinterest.

We used Mason jars with candles or photos in them. As well as other random items (like this snow globe) as our centrepieces.

Mason jars filled with markers on our Guestbook table.

Our dessert table/candy bar. The groom's cake stand & cupcake stand are white with black polka dots. All the plates are black & white and were found at a used cloting store. We had black & white treat bags by the candy so guests could take some home with them!

I found this black and white frame on the side of the road during town clean up week. Nothing better than FREE.

To the left we had photos of my Grampie and Turkey Butt's Nanny - both of whom passed away almost three years to the day before our wedding day. The sign says, wish you were here. The dresser drawer was another free roadside find and made a great place to put cards and gifts. The right side of the table is Guestbook stuff.

Found this photo in a mason jar idea on Pinterest. The Mr. and Mrs. were Etsy finds.

My amazing best friend Aye wrapped all these lights around the beams and my sister's boyfriend hung all the lanterns.

Our beverage area. More paper lanterns. "Candy" names for each of the drinks (i.e. peach juice and sparkling water was called Fuzzy Peaches).

Well folks, thanks for bearing with me through more wedding photos. I'm sure this won't be the end of them either. After planning for something for over a year, it's nice to drag it out as long as I can :) This is my life.

Mrs. Turkey Butt

This past Saturday I married the love of my life in the most perfect little country wedding ever! Now the honeymoon is over and we're back to reality but I still can't stop smiling at him and calling him my husband :) What a perfect rainy day! This is my life!