Wrapping up 2010

I love Christmas - I like to think that the season brings out the best in people.  And sometimes, when I am waiting in lines of traffic, or at checkout counters for harried clerks, I try harder to see that.  This year, I am trying to not focus on how fast my life is moving, but to try and savor it as slowly as I can.

the night we got engaged - before dinner.

2010 has been a pretty epic year for me.  I started the year by getting engaged to my longtime boyfriend, and immediately became the bride of my worst nightmares.  Frantic, crying for no reason, unreasonable, stressed about budget and guest lists even though the wedding was 20 months away - thank god the hubs-elect didn't bail right then and there.

Then I went back to London, and continued to stress, long-distance style.  I bothered my roommates and coworkers, and spent hours scouring the Kn*t for potential venues, caterers, etc. I freaked out about Life in General - I needed to move home, and my parents needed me to remember that unemployed was bad.  My last job required me to give 3 months notice - this meant I was quitting my job with no next job lined up.  The building industry was hit hard by the recession, and even now has not recovered - finding a new job was going to be tough.  After nights of crying and fighting with my parents, I still quit my job in London (which meant I still had to work there for another 3 months...).

In wedding planning desperation, I began to branch out from the Kn*t, and all of a sudden things started to work better...I found the venue I had been searching for, and my parents and best friend were able to go out and have a look at it, and booked it the same day.  Then I stumbled across our wedding photographer, and through her...A Practical Wedding.  Which literally changed my life.  I still talked everyone's ear off, but I was calmer, and the despair was gone.  I lost the frantic edge.  A lovely lady in Philly offered to lend me her wedding chair covers to hid my venue's hideous pepto pink chairs.  And then, the best thing:  a woman I did not know gave my her wedding dress.  I cannot express how grateful I am to the community of women at APW in general, to the ladies I have now met specifically - but I will try, when I write a wedding grad post :)

ah coffee and pastries - how I miss our little boulangerie on Sunday mornings.  Panera is good, but not the same.

In June I took a trip with my roommates, a cruise to Greece and Turkey.  While we didn't know we were going to be the only unmarried 20-somethings on the boat, it was still an awesome time, and the best way I can think of to have ended a life-changing 20 months with those two.

When I got back to the US, it felt very surreal for a little while.  I had to adjust to saying "rubbish" less, and ordering my latte skim and not skinny, and to-go rather than take-away.  I had to remember that driving a car is different than driving using the Wii wheel in Mario Kart, and I missed my British TV shows.  I was back to living at home, except awkwardly living at home with the hubs-elect, except also sometimes living at his house.  I adjusted to my new job, and my much-more-horrid commute.

I met my friends I lovingly refer to as "the dress ladies," and enjoy very much that I have suddenly opened this door to a group of fabulously intelligent, resourceful, hilarious, and sweet women, who will listen to my wedding ravings and nod sympathetically.

 

yay, all our stuff...

And then, when we knew that it just wasn't working for us to live at home anymore, we made the decision to move out, and live on our own.  In two days, we went from searching, to found, to lease signed on our lovely little (and I mean little) apartment, where we are currently living (in sin.)

....and then we made it all pretty!  But it's not pretty anymore, we have acquired more stuff since then, and now it doesn't all fit.

We have learned to cook together in the same 5sqft of counter-space, to figure out how we want to do laundry, to try to encourage each other to work out and be more healthy, and to recognize when we just need to have a lazy evening to recharge our collective battery.  I am glad we have had the chance to do this - because with more living space, this could only get easier.  Like I might actually be able to leave the room when I don't want to hear the video games, or that he might be able to get some work done while I watch TV, or that we could both use a computer AT THE SAME TIME.  ahem.

And fast-forward to now, where we are getting Christmas cards that say, "hope you enjoy your first Christmas together," and I suddenly realize - this is it.  Our first Christmas together!  I am so very very excited, and I think 2011 can only get better from here.