In the year of 2011.

Well another year has come and gone!
Once upon a time I was the girl who was told "the older you get the fast time goes" and didn't believe it. Well, I believe it now because 2011 went in a hurry!  December 2010 pretty much determined how this year was going to be. I got engaged the day after Christmas and we set our date before the first of the year. 2011 meant Wedding Planning!  Yet life threw me serious curve balls by dealing with the loss of two very close people in my heart. All in all, it was the happiest, most special year I will never forget!

Here is my year, 2011♥

We brought in the New Year with a lot of our friends by attending the DeLoaches annual New Years Party 

 Spent most of January finding & booking vendors which got a little stressful but my favorite was dress shopping with my Mom & ladies.

Then the following weekend was the Savannah Bridal Show. My first action as a bride-to-be - great fun!

 Aaron threw my for a surprise when he told me a heart drop/exciting secret ... not really. Thank goodness that was just a phase. Wedding planning was in full force planning in the month of February along with

our Engagement Party

Engagement Pictures

& my second bridal show

We celebrated the Super Bowl as the Packers took the title - Aaron was jealous & Paul and Amanda were stoked. We had a blast. Who could forget about Valentines Day? Aaron & I spent the weekend in Santee Cooper relaxing & fishing, a wonderful weekend it was.

March  & April were easy months filled with a lot of dinner and beach dates & our nights were American Idol & two shows we were introduced to us - The Bachelorette & Swamp People .

 May kicked it up a notch when all the preparation & DIY projects started for the wedding. Morning coffee talk was wedding wedding wedding! Spent Memorial Day weekend down at Ft. McCallester camping on the river with several groups of people.

Wanted to surprise my "fiance" by taking him to one of his favorite singers, Brantley Gilbert who was putting on a concert in Savannah. It was such a wonderful date until we cut it short because somebody was a little intoxicated. Whoops!

And also saw Luke Bryan & Tim McGraw in concert {I don't really remember the month, I just know it was after this concert.}

June was a month when 'Getting Married' felt real. Mama threw me a Bridal Bash where my maids & Moms put together 30 table arrangements and other wedding must do's. It was a great.

June also was the month weddings flew in. It was three to start with but sadly we only ended up making one which was a hometown friend of mine, as a blogger Caitlin from A Country Nest & her hubby Cliff.

The following weekend Aaron and I made a 17 hour road trip to New York where we ended up in the city... driving. I was driving. #Couldn'tPayMeToDriveThereAgain  Ending in the month of June was my first bridal shower thrown by Aaron's sister & cousin "Around the Clock Shower".

July kicked off with my 26th Birthday which was spent in St. Augustine with my parents & my niece & nephew. Great getaway! We want to go back soon!

Daddy & Diane came down & stayed the weekend at our house just in time for our His & Her shower hosted my bridesmaids with all our family & friends - It ended up being 8 hours long & in the pool by the end of the night! It was the perfect day.

The world welcomed our fourth nephew Ryder Patrick on July 28th - he made us an Aunt & Uncle to NINE! Whoa! Ended the month with new debt... we bought a camper!

Pressure & stress hit when August first arrived. I had one month before the wedding & I pretty much shut myself out from the world the first week due to seriously freak out.  Thank GOD for an addiction that was created right around this time.. Pinterest it brought me back to pure happiness - we went on our

 Bachelor/ette Party in Atlanta Georgia {girls} & Jacksonville, Florida {guys} {which I've yet to post about}. It was pretty awesome!
History was made: It was my last night ever letting myself get completely wasted. I made a new best friend that night... the Marriott toilet. I said I'd never do it again after my 21st birthday however I lied. I'm serious this time. The last weekend of August, Rachel my bridesmaid hosted a Lingerie Shower for me. It was so fun & made me feel so special.

Just six days before the wedding & three days before September I took my Bridal portraits {that weren't supposed to happen due to getting my dress back so late} Never have I ever felt like a fairytale more than I did on this day. So.Much.Fun! She's the BEST for making it happen!

Three days before the happiest day of my life, there we were completely devastated over the death of our extremely close friend, Cj. This was hard to juggle with family members arriving and happy times ahead. But nothing could stop my from marrying my other half of my soul on September 3, 2011. The happiest day of my life, my dream came true, history was made! My ever after happened & I was now a wife.

Had the  most amazing Honeymoon sailing Caribbean Sea - visiting Mexico & the Cayman Islands. We didn't want to come home. {Honeymoon Post coming soon, I promise!}

After days of getting adjusted we celebrated two special birthdays - his  mom & my step dad. We took my parents out downtown Savannah to dinner & then to a 50's show. Nothing could ever re-pay the love & cost of our wedding day. We had a wonderful night!

September ended with a my biggest Pure Romance Party, I sold $1100 worth of product! = Awesome!
October was insanely busy & started off directing my first wedding for Ashly & Jeremy and then to follow another wedding of Lindsay & Timmy -also celebrating my husbands 27th birthday. Jon & Shanna found out the sex of their twins with a wee-miniature gender reveal - Girls!

We attended our third wedding for Tiffany & Trey the last weekend of this month. Holy Love!

November started celebrating Reid's 2nd birthday & drifted into an extremely relaxing month for us. Home together we were - cooking, movie dates, & just doing nothing. However we did attend my childhood best friends wedding -

& also had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebrating with both our families.

December is always busy

Gingerbread House Party, Our annual Christmas Party, Heather & Brett's holiday party, Christmas at Mom & Aaron's, Christmas Eve, Day, but the most special thing that happened was it was our first Christmas as husband and wife.

What I learned this year♥

My gosh, I learned so much this year; little things & big things. However, something that hits home {& was my biggest struggle} was learning to let go. Even though this year had so many high moments I can't even begin to explain the joy in my heart, 2011 had it's low moments as well. One thing I finally came to realize is people change & friendships can be lost and out grown. Being I've always held on tight to the ones I love and who are apart of my life, this year challenged me and brought me a whole new outlook on letting go of people that no longer are good for your life.

2011 was oh.so.happy, yet it also was one of the hardest years.  Good-byes have never been easy for me but what I learned is my friendships are more valuable than I ever ever EVER realized they were.  In this year I've become more grateful & learned to not take anything for granted -

Life is precious and you never know when a person can be gone forever. Count your blessings everyday! And I do.

 

.... & that's a wrap!

2012 plans to be much slower, more relaxing, & doubled the get-a-ways... or we hope anyway!