Friday, January 27, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
2011, by the month
Okay, the time has come for me to see how this year stacks up compared to the last. I think it was pretty good ;)
January 2011 ... my mother's mother passed away, resulting in the largest family gathering in quite some time!
February 2011 ... I celebrated my 26th birthday with great friends!
... and then we went to Gatlinburg for a long weekend (I didn't take enough pics!)
March 2011 ... was a little slow! Duncan decided to show off his accomplishments
April 2011 ... we hosted a murder mystery dinner party
... and went to opening weekend for the Cincinnati Reds
May 2011 ... we attended my cousin's wedding in Cleveland
June 2011 ... I went on a family vaca to Florida
July 2011 ... I went country concerting in Pittsburgh
... and then we celebrated my college roommate's wedding!
August 2011 ... we went to Goettafest (if you don't know what Goetta is, think the best meat product ever! It's a Cinci thing)
... and we went to the My Morning Jacket concert
... and THEN we celebrated the wedding our friends Ashley and Eric. (oops - dress repeat)
September 2011 ... we went to Oktoberfest in downtown Cinci. I'm sure we were sober at this point. Don't you think?
October 2011 ... I went back to my alma mater with some of my besties
... we went to a Halloween hayride
... and celebrated my little sister's birthday
November 2011 ... we got engaged!
December 2011 ... Duncan celebrated his second birthday ;)
... and we celebrated the holidays with friends!
Here's to 2012!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Friday, Friday
Happy weekend everyone! My week consisted of delic cookies, a new purse, a sleepy, needy puppy, and some wedding planning stress relief. Hope you've had a good week!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
@ West Elm
I'm loving West Elm's bathroom collection right now. So many beautiful stripes and patterns!
I totally love the white towels with the subtle woodgrain pattern. Beautiful! What's your fav? (psst: 20% off right now!)
images: West Elm
Friday, January 13, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
1.11.11
Today has been a rather somber day, as it is the one-year anniversary of my Grandma's passing. I'm never spiritual or religious on this blog, but today, I'm going to be. Just a bit. To each their own, if you don't see eye to eye with my views, I certainly don't care. But please do not share your disagreement with my thoughts as this is a parade I've built in my head of her passing. Do not rain on it.
I will probably never forget the feeling when my dad called before work on that Tuesday morning when she had passed. I cried the heaviest of cries, regretting that I did not go visit her the week prior. Her future was uncertain, but it was looking up the few days before she died. I was grateful for her positivity, but also grateful I wouldn't have to get on a plane in the foreseeable future. I have developed this dreadful fear of flying, and she was living in Austin, Texas. I still regret not going to visit her in those last days, but was lucky to have seen her in November for Thanksgiving. Around the time of her death, I was reading a nightly prayer book and the message on January 12, the day after her passing, could not have left me feeling more reassured. Uneasy about her death, as well as my impending flight, I am so grateful for this message.
(This is a little lengthy, so bear with me.)
The Slavery of Our Fears
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
"Through death he might...free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life." Hebrews 2:14-15
"I know a woman who has refused to fly since 9/11 in spite of the fact that her children and grandchildren live on the other side of the continent. This seems to me a slavery to fear, particularly given that there are upwards of 30,000 flights in the U.S. each day and crashes are extremely rare. One is in much more danger driving to the airport than flying in an airplane.
It's easy for me to see her fear as silly - until I am alone with the dark at 3 a.m. and fear creeps into my bedroom like a thug to hold me hostage.
It is a struggle to break away from my fears at night or even during the day when I am sick or stressed or grieving. At those times, when all of life looks bleak and frightening, it is a slavery, and the only thing I have found that can loosen its bonds is prayer." - Aileen O'Donoghue
I have carried that, as well as a few cards she had sent me in the past, in my day planner. The last "card" I received from her was a red envelope. On the front it said "Allison - Very Much Love - Allison & Merry Christmas!" Inside were four photographs of myself. (She was getting a little eccentric at that time!) One is an extremely flattering close up of my young self with chicken pox. If you're lucky, maybe I'll share it one day ;)
It obviously meant something to her.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Playing Catch-Up
Hello, here I am, the worst blogger ever. I'm actually blogging from my phone - Chris and I went the romantic route this Christmas and got each other new phones - so this is a test run. If it looks like poo then iPhone blogger no more. Anyway, I thought I'd do a "phone dump" of sorts to catch you up a bit...
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