MLK Weekend

Birmingham
I sure enjoyed my three-day weekend with Brian in Birmingham. There's something about that one extra day that makes all the difference. We ate lots of good food, ran along our favorite trail and visited with his friends.

Drew and his dog Brad by the fire

We like running through Jemison Park, which has pretty scenery and gorgeous Southern homes.

We ate lunch at Five Guys. It's amazing! I can't believe I've never been.

We went to see Contraband -- a great movie for those who like fast-paced action. It definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

Grandma
My grandmother (also a roommate) has been sick. She ended up back in the hospital this weekend but is coming home today. Seems to be the long holiday weekends that she gets sick and ends up in the hospital (last was New Year's)...maybe she dreads us all being home for three whole days.



Save the Date!

Here's our save-the-date card! Excuse the iPhone-quality photo. We picked out the card from this website.

Wedding Update: 136 Days

Only about 4.5 months to go! I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by, and I figured it was time for another update.

Cake
We selected a cake baker! After a couple meetings, we chose to go with Create a Cake. The small business is owned by two young women who design and make cakes of all kinds. We'd heard good things about them and loved the samples we tried.

Save-the-Date Cards
Cards have been ordered and addressed! We made them through this website and are pleased with the final product. All we have to do is mail them. I'll post a photo of them one day, but not until all guests have received theirs!

Bridemaids Dresses
Dresses will be ordered Jan. 10! You can see what they look like here.

Gift Registry
Brian and I have registered at four places: Babcock, Macy's, Williams-Sonoma, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Accommodations
For those coming from out of town, blocks of rooms have been reserved at two local hotels.

We still have more left to do, of course. Here's what's next...

• Invitations: We have an appointment at a stationery store on Saturday.
• Dress fitting: I need to alter my dress.
• Shoes: To hem my dress to the right length, I need to pick out shoes to wear on the big day!
• Honeymoon: We're continuing to meet with a travel agent and will start booking stuff soon.

Brian and the New Camera

For Christmas/birthdays, Brian and I bought ourselves a new SLR camera (this one) -- something we wanted to get before our honeymoon in May. We've both enjoyed playing around with it, but Brian especially has loved learning its bells and whistles. With his time off from school, he's been studying the manual and practicing the different settings. Today he went to a nearby park to test it out, and I thought I'd post his photography. Looks frameable to me!

2012, Here I Come!

I almost never make New Year's resolutions. But with the changes ahead in 2012, I decided that now would be a good time to write down some of my top goals for the upcoming year.

I tried to make each goal as measureable as I could, following advice from one of my favorite blogs.

Even though I feel a little silly announcing my resolutions on my blog, I'm doing it any way to hold myself accountable.

...So in 2012, I aim to do the following:

Wake up early enough each morning to eat a healthy breakfast and pack lunch. This might seem simple enough, but especially lately, I've found myself hitting the snooze button far too many times. Though I'm not late to work, I feel rushed getting out the door and often grab a quick (insubstantial) breakfast. And when I don't pack a lunch, I'm tempted by all the unhealthy options in our hospital cafeteria. Plus the cafeteria costs extra money. Not smart.

Exercise three times a week. Because it's good for me.

Run the Road Race Series again. I loved doing it for the first time this year, and I'm hoping Brian will run it with me in 2012.

Run a half marathon. Yes, I was supposed to run at least one half marathon for the Road Race Series this year, but I didn't.  (I didn't run any more of the races after the first 10 miler.) I will do a 13.1-mile race!

Start graduate school. I would like to enroll in a local MBA program for the fall semester.

Blog at least two times a week. I started this blog in May and have thorougly enjoyed blogging! But I've only done, on average, a little more than four posts per month. In 2012, I want to blog more often and take more pictures to capture our memories.

Enjoy a happy, fun marriage with Brian. Most importantly, I want to put our marriage first in 2012 (and all the years after, of course), as we adjust to married life together. Marriage is the biggest change we'll face in 2012, and I can't wait! Without getting too cheesy, I look forward to embarking on this journey with Brian and growing in our relationship together.

Celebrations

My birthday has turned into a birthweek! I've been celebrating my 24th birthday since Monday! I feel so grateful to have such wonderful family and friends who have made this week so special.

It started with a joint celebration with my co-workers. My co-worker Amanda's birthday is Dec. 28, so she had us all over to her apartment after work Monday for a cocktail hour to celebrate both of our birthdays.

On Wednesday, Brian took me to dinner at Felicia Suzanne's for my birthday. We met Avery, Allie and Lizzy afterwards for a drink at Alchemy.

Thursday, I celebrated with my family, and we ordered my favorite pizza from Ciao Bella.

On Friday, my actual birthday, Brian came over for appetizers before the second annual Ruff wacky tacky Christmas party. I also visited with the Weltons and was so excited to see my own stocking on their mantel!

The Christmas party was a blast! Brooke and Daniel are such wonderful hosts, and Brooke made delicious holiday appetizers. 

Christmastime at Laurel Hollow