oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree....

don't you just love my super original title? well, I maybe lacking creativity in blog-post-naming but I'll make up for it with excitement [and tons of photographs] I'm so excited to say that the chrismakuh has officially arrived in our household... our halls are decked - the tree is decorated and I'm almost done with our holiday shopping [one gift left to buy and I know what we're getting, I just need to go buy it]... I haven't gotten pictures of everything yet but here's a glimpse of our lovely Christmas tree [and Oliver, duh]... so yes, more holiday decor pictures to come - but for now, enjoy our lovely tree [and puppy]

Oliver wasn't quite sure what to make of the Christmas tree but  he's being a good boy and has only stolen a few ornaments off the tree... We even had a little photo shoot as I put the tree together,  he's such a little ham, I love it... it's crazy to think this time next year we'll be wrangling a dog and a baby for Christmas tree photo shoots.... wow. really crazy. [is it strange that it still doesn't feel real sometimes that we're having a baby?! anyways, back to the Christmas tree...]

I grew up in a household of multi-colored lights on the Christmas tree, but I am so partial to white lights, to me there is something magical about simple white lights in contrast to the dark green tree and the bright pops of color from fun ornaments... 

one of my favorite parts of decorating for the holidays are unpacking all our ornaments - I love pulling out ornaments and thinking of where they came from or who gave them to me or where I was in my life when I received/bought them, such a powerful time to reflect while being completely in the moment [if that makes any sense at all?!]

...I didn't get a lot of good pictures of ornaments, but I'm going to go back and take some more and do a whole post on our favorite ornaments! (get excited, hah)

like I said, all the gifts are bought - the ones we have [some are enroute via the mail] are all wrapped and under the tree... I LOVE wrapping gifts, it's kinda sick. It's going to be hard not to run out and buy more gifts once they're all wrapped [I've already told all the family that I'd be happy to wrap their gifts, I have faith that my MIL will let me help her wrap all her gifts so I think I'll be able to get my fix in once we're done]

the finished product....

Oliver approves.

what do you think?

are you decorated for the holidays yet?

white rose bridal bouquets...

so one of my favorite parts of my wedding weekend was when my bridal party and mom and I made our bouquets for the wedding. so it should be no surprise that one of my favorite parts of tiff and josh's wedding was when we got together the day before the wedding and made the bridal party bouquets - they were white roses and just so perfect and simple....

aren't the beautiful? I love the simplicity behind the all white bouquet and the roses - I love it. so that was it, that was our last wedding of 2011 - and believe it or not we currently don't have any weddings on deck for 2012 - I don't know that we'll be going to any 2012 weddings but I have a feeling 2013 will be a busy year for us..... we have a lot of friends on the "brink" of getting engaged [at least in my opinion, which clearly is always right] so I'm thinking we'll be clear for 2012 and busy for 2013... fingers crossed considering baby j will be joining us in the spring and travels will definitely be limited for 2012!

tiff & josh's wedding...

last weekend I had the great honor of marrying two people who are very near and dear to my heart. the wedding (and whole weekend) was a perfect reflection of who they are and their love for one another. I already shared a run down of our weekend and their rehearsal dinner.  next came the wedding day, the ceremony and reception were at Balcony at Dock in Wilmington and Tiff and Josh had so many personalized DIY touches that made the wedding so special and so them. Such an amazing day celebrating great friends and great love.

here are some of my favorite shots of the day...

love. love. love.

it was such an honor to be the one that married them and words can't describe how happy I am for those two, their love is truly special and they are such a great pair!

thanksgiving recap

thanksgiving has come and gone. it was a whirlwind of food, family, and fun. it was exhausting but priceless. I hope you enjoy the following photo recap...

yup. 

I sure have a lot to be thankful for.

I love us....

Perfect way to spend a lazy Sunday night....

l.o.v.e.

I love us.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

15 weeks...

hey hey, 15 weeks down [almost] 25 to go! it's crazy to think in 5 weeks I'll be halfway through this pregnancy, somedays I feel like I just found out I was pregnant, these 15 weeks really have flown by.

this week was a trying one when it came to my pregnancy, I ended up leaving work early on monday and spent tuesday and wednesday unexpectedly at home due to some major back pain. I ended up getting bounced back and forth on monday afternoon between my OB and Urgent Care [luckily they're in the same building] and finally got some answers - apparently I'm having SI Joint Pain which usually doesn't come until later in pregnancy - lucky me, such an overachiever it's coming early and will only get worse. Oh and I'm probably going to have back labor - what fun?! Anyways, thanks to lots of rest, heating pad and muscle relaxers [that are okay to take when I'm preggo] I'm feeling much better.  We also unexpectedly got to hear the fetal heartbeat on monday so that was a nice reminder that baby j is doing great!

overall, things are going along just swimmingly, I'm definitely showing but I still think I just look chubby rather than pregnant, DJ is being awfully sweet and keeps telling me I just look pregnant and have only gained weight in my belly [he's sweet to lie isn't he?!]

here's the 15 week breakdown:

• Baby J is the size of a navel orange! 
• SI Joint Pain: unbearable at first and now manageable
• Apples eaten: probably close to 100
• Pants worn without an elastic waistband: ZERO
• Weddings baby j officiated [or at least was present when I did, haha]: ONE [pictures of the wedding coming soon, I promise!]
• Thanksgiving dinners eaten: one [and one amazing leftover sandwich]
• Hours spent black friday shopping: 8
• Books Read: 7

other than that....
- I can finally eat anything and am not living off carbs and ginger ale! oh fruits and veggies how I've missed you!
- SO ready to start feeling baby j wiggling around in there!

still no bump pictures but I will leave you a snapshot of what my 15th week has looked like...

[thanksgiving day, pregnant ladies doing what they do best: napping waiting for dinner!]