What an eventful year 2010!

Started out with a bang in January when we prepared for our move out to Seattle. Our friends threw us a going away party in Boston on a VERY snowy night, I couldn't believe how many people came to show us love.

We moved in on a rainy night- shocker! Eddie got stuck in the elevator moving up some furniture and we had to call the fire dept to get him out.. Welcome to Seattle!

We attended MANY Mariners games. Eddie purchased season tickets for his work thinking he would take clients, turns out, it's not like Fenway.. you can't GIVE Mariners tickets away!

We took in our little fur baby, Russ, in April.

We cruised the Eastern Caribbean with BOTH our families. 

I met Natasha Bedingfield at Snoqualmie Casino- NO ONE knew who she was and I ran up to her like a screaming 7th grade kid. I'm sorry but the I Love You song STILL rocks my world.

We danced in the sunlight at midnight in Alaska in May.

We escaped the Seattle clouds by camping in Eastern Washington w/ good friends in June.. thinking we didn't need sunscreen- OUCH.

We traveled to London and got engaged in July!! - hands down the BEST month of the year.

I discovered that I could visit San Juan without being in Puerto Rico. Washington is home to the beautiful San Juan Islands- we fell in love with Lummi.

Vegas baby VEGAS for one of my bests bachelorette's in September

and of course my 2 gorgeous friends got married to their loves!

2010 you did me good, can't wait to see what's to come in 2011- a move to a new area of the city is in me and Eddie's very near future!!

Happy New Year!

Romping around Seattle with the Mitchell's

What a great week we've had! Thoroughly enjoying the time with the fam. Sadly said goodbye to the bro this morning, well last night rather as he left at 4 am to catch his flight! yikes! Thanks to my dad I was able to sleep in, he drove him to the airport. I had a tad too much fun yesterday in Woodinville (wineries and breweries, no further comment!) to be waking up that early! This morning I was trying to think of the next time I'll see him, a trip back to England isn't in the plans any time soon- tear. Hopefully it will be in July when Eddie & I go home for a week, I am going to try to plan it so it's when he is vacationing home too.
So until then brudder- hope you enjoy New Years in New York with your friends!

I left my camera at my friends on Christmas Eve and have yet to retrieve it, fail! Luckily my mom has hers so we could capture some of our fun!

We went to the Boeing Flight Museum, which was much better than I thought it was going to be! Got to step through a retired Air Force One!

Pikes Place, a tourist staple!

There is a theater right near my apt that I've been dying to catch a play at so I took advantage of that this week. We saw Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Christmas Carol at Taproot Theater- it was really good! I highly recommend this theater- so intimate!

Wine tasting at Columbia Winery in Woodinville, one of Eddie & I's favorite places. If we planned our wedding out here, it would soo be at one of the lovely wineries in Woodinville! I swoon over Columbia's bridal book that's on showcase.

After the winery we headed to Redhook Brewery. They have one of the best brewery tours I've ever been on! Maybe its because they fill up those little taster cups so many dang times, and the tour is only one dollar! We even caught happy hour after where pints are only $1.25. I do cherish the happy hour's out here, Boston banned happy hours years and years ago before I was even legal, boooo!

The tour guides are usually quite cute and hilarious too I might add!

And of course lots of playing  w/ the pup! He's going to be so mad at me when I have to return to work!

 Still have 2 more days with my parents! Yippeee!!

I'll see you next year Saint Nick!

So Christmas is over but I have a full week off to relax and act like a tourist around Seattle with my family. There's so much that Eddie & I haven't seen around the city yet so I'm excited! Of course I plan to do A LOT of shopping too. I have the itch for a new purse big time!

In other big news the first day of dress trying on commenced yesterday! My Mom and I had such a fun time. She got me a Flip Video for Xmas so we were able to video some of the appointment so I can share it with my beloved bridesmaids. I wish they could've been there although I must admit trying on dresses is sort of an awkward experience! I found it a little hard to critique myself in the mirror while people were looking at me, and there was only my mom, the salesperson and the assistant in the boutique so god knows how I would've felt if I had my whole bridal entourage there! I did find 2 dresses that I loved. One of them I posted a picture of in a previous post, but as of now it's a contender for "the one" so I will not disclose which dress it was! I still have so much time until the wedding, probably won't make the big purchase for another few months.

 I leave you with a picture of me in all my awkwardness glory.. this dress was unflattering on me- the mermaid style does not work. My mom said this is the face I make to a T when I dislike something. I can never hide my expression, EVER so if your annoying me, I don't like something etc. you can read it from my face! Excuse the stringy icky hair- it's Seattle people -we got poured on walking to the store.

Santa is bringing me my family!!

I woke up at 7 am today giddyy like a kid on Christmas day because today, my family flies into Seattle! Well.. HOPEFULLY! I say that because my brother is flying in from London and I don't know if ya'llve been watching the news but the airports over there are a nightmare with flights being cancelled left and right! But I have faith he'll make it here safe and in time for Christmas.
Its been 3 months since I've seen my parents and almost 6 months since I've seen my brother! YIKES. Seriously longest time everrrr.

But today THEY WILL ALL BE HERE!!

One of Fed Ex elves left a package at my door last night. Inside was something I've been wanting for the longest time!! An Alessandro M. wine opener, this thing is genius and great for the wine opening challenged i.e. me.

Thanks Mamma! Brings me back to Christmas eve when I was a kid, I was allowed to open one gift. And here it is this year! :)

Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday! xox

A Snowy Memory

We moved into our house in October of 2009- just a little over a year ago. Little did we know we would only have a few months to enjoy it until we moved across the country. Eddie was offered a new position just weeks before Christmas last year. The first picture hangs in our apt now as a constant reminder of the home we have in Mass that is ready for us when we move back. Which we will, but who knows when! Luckily, we have a great tenant in there now and a lot of family in the immediate area who drive past it pretty often so we know it's still standing! :) The holidays of course are making me miss Massachusetts VERY much, but I am thrilled to show my parents and brother around our temporary home when they get here this week!

4 more sleeps till SANTAAA!!!

Belltown Bride here I come!

Just booked my first dress shopping appointment for the day after Christmas with mi mama! I am SOO excited. We are hitting up Belltown Bride. I've heard some great things about this store, they sell sample designer gowns. So samples sizes means everything is pretty much a size 8 or less. Hopefully I'll be able to fit into more than 1 dress in the store! I've heard that wedding dresses run smaller than your actual size, like a size 8 in regular clothes is a size 10 in bridal. We will see! Right now I've finally got myself down to a size 6. This is the size I have always been pre-Eddie. I totally put on the love lbs after I met that boy! I attribute the loss of 15 lbs in the last 4-5 months to hot yoga, running and those yummy lil special K shake drinks! I'm a firm believer in the Special K diet, mostly because I could eat the red berry cereal every morning, yummy!
Back to the dresses. Belltown Bride also carries dresses from Amy Kuschel that come in any size. I had never seen any of her dresses until this afternoon. Now I must say I.AM.IN.LOVE.

this one didn't have a back view! boo.

And to end, my favorite!!!

Happiness- It's almost the weekend!

heart this video- "Calming the baby beast"

I feel much like the baby beast today ..when the music turns down that is.. wish I had some darn speakers that worked at my desk because I think a little Florence and The Machine would really brighten my mood. I blame this on the few too many glasses of wine I had last night. Thankfully its Friday and I have a fun weekend planned! I love how holidays bring everyone out and together!

On a happy note- I finally got my bum to Vain aka the BEST salon in Seattle (Ballard location). My hair dresser Scott rocks my socks off. After 3 hours in the chair- my hair is perfecto, just in time for xmas! Anyone in the Seattle area hit.him.up. you won't be let down! He turned me on to the Moroccan Oil line a while back and last night he introduced me to one of their newer products, the Luminous Hairspray.

This stuff is amazing -I highly recommend! It's not sticky like most hairsprays and smells SO good too. I just wish their stuff wasn't so dang expensive. Dear, Moroccan Oil- my wallet hates you but your in luck because I will continue to buy your products because my hair LOVES you.

Congrats Patrick!

The Biggest Loser finale aired last night with Patrick taking the win. The prize was a quarter million dollars and not to mention his health! He was definitely one of my favorites, although I was rooting hard for all of the contestants. Patrick lost 45.25% of his body weight! This show is so motivating, it inspired Eddie and I to challenge each other last month in our own biggest loser competition which ends on Christmas. As of now I'm in the lead, which I plan to hold on to, still haven't thought of my prize though! Ideas welcome!

Now I'm off to happy hour w/ my coworkers- hopefully this post will motivate me enough to not snack on a whole plate of fried calamari- my favvvv!

Farewell Dear Tanning Bed

After YEARS.. and I'm talking legit YEARS of subjecting my skin to tanning bed rays I am finally throwing in the towel (well not completely, I'm sure I'll go a few times before tropical vacas and of course the wedding!). This post kind of embarrasses me because I really can't believe it has taken me this long, with all the studies that have shown just how terrible tanning beds are for you. My milky white Irish skin, that I haven't seen since junior year of high school, won't be showing itself just yet though.. as for now I have moved on to spray tanning. I went for the first time last Wednesday... and I was SO nervous I made the chick go over EXACTLY what I was supposed to do at least 3 times. I kept thinking I was going to mess up and pull a Ross (you know what episode of Friends I'm talking about!) I kept thinking I was going to come out bright orange... and I think I kind-of did, in pictures I think it looks way more orange than it actually is in person.

Exhibit A (2 days after spray tan)

All in all though I think it looks pretty decent so I will continue to be a tanning salon patron- now just moving on to the more healthier form of faking and baking. My tips to those who want to try 1. give yourself a good exfoliate before you go in. 2. go just before bedtime so you give yourself a good 8 hours after without showering 3. take your time with the blocker lotion they give you before you head into the booth, and make sure you get all the creases of your hands and feet- esp palms!

....Mom, I'm sure your going to be very happy about this post... :)

Happy Monday (now that it's almost over- Mondays are the WORST!)

Weekend Recap Vancouver!

For my work holiday party we were treated to a trip to Vancouver. We stayed at the Four Seasons and romped around the city for 2 days. Another place knocked off my bucket list. As hard as the move out here has been I am so thankful that it has given us the opportunity to travel to all these new places. So now we have Alaska and Vancouver down and a trip planned to Maui in April! Sidenote on the above pic.. gotta love the Burberry rain boots, a birthday gift from Eddie. These snazzy boots make the Seattle rain so much more bearable! Yesterday we spent the day walking around the Gastown area - it reminded us a lot of Boston's Faneuil Hall, cobblestone streets filled with cute little shops and restaurants. We ate lunch at Steamworks Brewery and had a gorgeous view of the water, mountains and North Vancouver.

Of course we had to indulge in the beer sampler. These were some of the tastiest beers I have ever had!

Poor Eddie had to wake up at 6 am to catch a flight to Dallas for work this morning. So today its just me and my furbaby Russ making the best of this rainy Seattle Sunday!

The search for a dress I can shake it in!

As I mentioned in a previous post I'm nearing the day when I will be trying on my first wedding dress. *squeals of joy* I have absolutely no idea what sort of dress would look best on my body type- I need to do some researching on that. I do know that I don't want a heavy dress that will make it hard for me to shake my booty on the dance floor! Here are some of my favorites so far.

I think I just LOVE her hair in this picture

Aivina Valenta


 

Liancarlo



JLM Blush



Aivina Valenta



 My favorite!!!



Jenny Packham



and no not because Miley wore it... ;)