Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Happy Holidays!

Isn't it crazy that the holidays are almost over?? It feels like you spend so much time and effort getting everything ready, and then BOOM it's over.  But at least we still have NYE!  That's always fun.

We spent Thanksgiving this year at my brother's house.  There were almost 35 people there this time, so there was a lot going on!

Tony and Chloe sharing a post-turkey snuggle.

And here's our lonely Christmas tree.  Next year I'll have to remember to add something else to that corner to liven it up!


After hearing about multiple tree-spider incidents this year, I've thankful for our fake lil' tree.  Although I do miss going to the Christmas tree farms.

I got a little creative this year with the gift tags I made for the presents.


 I didn't realize until gifts were being opened that I forgot to add who they were from. This lead to a lot of:

"Who's this from?  What about this one?  There's no name!"

 "Me!  It's from me!! Over here!"

Oh well, they're still cute!

At the beginning of December, we welcomed Holly into our home.  She's been a fun little addition!


Chloe and I attempted to make cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.  Let's just say we ended up leaving him a pack of Nutter Butters instead...

I swear I followed the recipe!!!

My good friend Kim had a cocktail/white elephant party this year at her amazing house on the lake. It was fun to get dressed up for once!!


And on Sunday, it finally snowed!  It's actually snowing a lot in this shot, but it just sort of looks like rain in the pic.  Sadly, it didn't stick at all.  But it was still really pretty to watch out the window.


I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!! xoxo

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Updates!!

Hello friends!!

Even though I'm not into blogging as much as I once was, I love writing the occasional post full of updates. I basically use this blog as a diary, so it's fun to go back and read older entries.

So without further ado...

I'll start with the less exciting news. For the second time in my life, I'm a proud owner of braces!! Yep, adult braces. I'll spare you the boring details, but the short story is that I'm having corrective jaw surgery in February and the braces are a sort of prerequisite. Luckily they are not as hideous as they were when I was in highschool (I opted for clear ceramic braces this time)! But they are beyond annoying and I'll be SO happy to be done with all of this!



And now for the major news: I'm engaged!! Yep, after 5 long years, Tony popped the question. It was simple & sweet & perfect. We were "glamping" at this awesome campsite called Pampered Wilderness the last weekend of September. He was waiting all evening for the perfect moment. I think I made things harder with my non-stop chatter around the campfire. He finally asked just as we were going to bed. I'm not typically one to share the mushy details of my life, but I really want to write this down so I always remember. He asked me if I would marry him, and pulled the ring box out from under the pillow where he'd been holding onto it. I of course said "yes!". Then he told me that I was his perfect match, and that life is easier with me. See?  Sweet, simple & perfect.






We're now in the early stages of wedding planning. It's hard for me to pull the trigger on setting a date beacause I'm not 100% sure when I'll get these dang braces off. As of now, we're shooting for next February. What we do know is that we want something small, with just our immediate families and a few close friends. We're not having a wedding party, but Chloe will be involved somehow. We also want to keep things local, in Gig Harbor if possible. We thought we may have found a perfect venue for us (Harbor History Museum), until we found out they only rent the museum from 5-10pm. That includes set-up and tear-down, which just isn't enough time. So we're still on the hunt for something local and "us".

I'm going to end this post with a giant photo dump!







Xoxo,
Rachael

Monday, April 13, 2015

It's April again!

Hi, friends!!

I randomly decided to look at the ol' blog today, and noticed the last time I posted was almost exactly a year ago today!  So crazy, right?  I guess that means its time for a new post.

I was so into this whole blog thing when I first started out, but then life got in the way (a.k.a. I got really busy at work and no longer had free time to write new posts).  I wish I could tell you I have a bunch of awesome house updates to share with you, but unfortunately we've been moving at a snail's pace.  Mainly with boring things like painting trim, replacing doors, new toilets, you get the picture.  Nothing super exciting or photo-worthy, but still important.

I still love decorating (and always stop at the home section at Target!), but I'm not quite as obsessed as I was a few years ago.  I rarely look at the home decor blogs I used to love so much.  I guess I've realized that making real, live updates to a house is so much harder than creating inspiration board on Pinterest, and it kind of took the fun out of it for me!  I know that seems obvious, but I really sort of just lost my steam when it came to decorating.  So I guess I'm taking a "time out" for a little while.

But here's what I've been doing in the meantime.  I won't bore you with a year's worth of pics, but here are some of my favorite memories:

"Friendsgiving" at Nathan & Laura's house.  It was a potluck-style early Thanksgiving celebration in October, and I can't remember the last time I was so full.  The food was amazing!!  And I love, love, love the table set up!  It was perfection.

The gang!


In November I got to fly to San Francisco for a work conference, which I loved.  I never get to travel for my job, so it was a new experience for me.  The hotel was amazing!  I only stayed two nights and was working each day so I sadly didn't get to explore the city.  I definitely want to go back with Tony, because SF is awesome!


Hotel selfie!
The view from the top of my hotel.  Such a gorgeous city!

Christmas was very eventful this year, as always.  On Christmas morning we had Tony's family over for breakfast, and I had fun setting up the table.




And of course, we watched many, many Seahawks games this year.



On our way to the Superbowl party.

Last month a group of us stayed at a cabin near Mt. Baker for a friend's birthday.  Sadly, the weather didn't cooperate and we weren't able to go snowboarding, but we had a lot of fun playing games, walking through the woods, drinking, and watching movies.


A nature preserve near the cabin.  So pretty!!
Posing by the river.

 A few weeks ago I went on a much-needed girl's trip to Leavenworth.  This trip was so much fun.  We went to a few wineries, cooked some meals at the rental house, and relaxed by the river.



And one more random pic because I love it!

Lil' monkey!

Xoxo,
Rachael