Well, I clearly dropped the ball on this one seeing as we’re already a week into January! haha. December was full of: weddings (we had 4 this year – which is not normal for us! We usually have 1, tops), holiday parties, decorating, wishing for snow (we still haven’t had anything that has stuck in Chicago! Such a bummer!), and doing our best to enjoy the holiday season in the midst of wrapping up a crazy busy year!
I’m excited for a clean slate/new year/new month and am nearly wrapped up with all our December wediting so we can roll into getting our brains 100% into 2013 mode! James and I are heading to a lunch meeting today where we will each write down our reflections on 2012 (what we think we can improve on, and what we did well), and write down our goals/dreams for 2013 (both business and personal), and then we’ll compare lists! I’m pretty excited about this because we haven’t done this ever before (given that this was our first entirely full-time wedding season)… so I’m stoked to see what we come up with, where we match, and what different thoughts J has from me!
Anyway – I’ll update you guys on how that goes in a post soon-to-come, no worries! I plan to share my goals/dreams so that you all can hold me accountable. Yes? Sounds like a plan! In the meantime – let’s get these December phone camera pics rolling! 🙂
**OH! And those of you that are fellow Bachelor/Bachelorette fans – don’t forget that a new season starts tonight with Sean as the Bachelor! (I’m not a huge fan of Sean, but you know I can’t help but watch regardless!)**
1. Early morning snap of my loves cuddling in bed. <3
2. It was SO WARM in December I walked Chloe in shorts! What the what?! Not okay.
3. She is always so excited when we get home even if we were just gone for a few minutes. This one is after I got home from a client meet-up. 🙂
4. I dyed my hair darker again (circa my 2007 self) and J insisted on photobombing my attempts at a self portrait. 🙂 (Maybe that’s where Chloe gets it from?!)
5. My Let It Snow decoration seriously disappointed this year!
6. A little holiday cheer in my office to keep me going.
7. James gave me gifts throughout the month of December instead of all at once and I loved it! Here was one day’s gifts – Mumford & Sons (which I’ve been listening to pretty much non-stop since I got it), and the complete series of Chappelle’s Show! (Our tastes are all over the board, clearly. :))
8. The view from our 12/12/12 wedding – on top of the Hancock!
9. Chloe has an obsession with Christmas trees. She smells them, sits by them, and tries to eat them. haha.
10. Holiday nails! (Not going to lie – I’m pretty excited that I’ve actually had time to paint my nails again!)
11. More morning cuddles… awww. (James is going to kill me when he sees this post! haha)
12. Air mattress in the living room + family cuddles + a Packer game = Perfect Sunday!
1. All dolled up for a change and ready to head to our SHARE group holiday party!
2. I’m obsessed with these candles from West Elm (in the white ceramic bowls), they smell perfectly Christmasy without being too overpowering, and they were the perfect compliment to this adorable pinecone candle from Amanda!
3. Shopping for new frames for James at Luxury Eyesight! (so serious!)
4. We got this adorable calendar from PAWS Chicago (with a Chloe look-alike in it!) as a thank you for our contributions this year. Thanks to the amazing couples that have booked us since we made our announcement – we’ve been able to donate $700 to PAWS! I can’t wait to see what we’re able to do in 2013!
5. James recently took up running (which continues to blow my mind – since this guy has HATED running his entire life until a few weeks ago!). Here he and Chloe are (before they got official running gear for Christmas) all bundled up and ready to head out for a run! haha.
6. A cozy winter day in the office in my usual office wear. (Hence why photo #1 is such a big deal! haha)
7. Holiday nails again! These are my FAVORITE! I definitely will be doing this again when I have time. And they lasted for almost 5 days!
8. On our way up to Wisconsin for Christmas with my family and it was like a switch flipped and suddenly it was winter/Christmas time! LOVED IT!
9. Chloe was a little more uncertain about the snow. haha. Last year she loved it – but it’s so foreign to her this year!
10. Christmas crazies!
11. And Christmas cuddles under lots of blankets…
12. Heading back to Chicago after the holiday and Chloe has to be as close to the action as possible.
1. Smartest thing I’ve ever done – use our Christmas money to hit up the outlets on our way home the day after Christmas. We got 4x as much stuff than we normally would for the same amount of money! Amazing. (Also – clearly I have a thing for coral/tangerine this season. haha.)
2. My brother Josh missed his flight home to FL at O’Hare so we headed to the airport to pick him up and get a little extra quality time together! Chloe was extra excited. haha
3. I tried to get some work done that night – but Chloe had other things in mind… like cuddling/taking over my lap/arm. 🙂
4. Chloe’s new running gear! This thing is so awesome and doesn’t rub her raw while she runs!
5. We hit up this awesome Cuban restaurant in the city and in the waiting room you could write on the walls… I found what J wrote around the corner… 🙂
6. Who needs mink when you have a warm puppy to keep you warm?!
7. Our attempts at a bedtime photo were foiled when Chloe wanted in on the bedtime kiss!
8. Out to dinner with J’s brother, Rich, and his girlfriend, Amanda!
9. All our wishing and hoping finally paid off! We had a beautiful snowy winter day for our last wedding of the year!
10. J & I toasting to an amazing 2012 wedding season!
11. My brother Ben made it for a visit too! Yay for so much family time over the holidays!
12. Heading out for our low-key NYE dinner to close out the year!
I love looking through these and remembering what our months were filled with! Now let’s get started on January! Eeps! 🙂
