January of last year came blazing in with bad weather, a long commute still on my plate, and a house that was getting tons of renos. I started this blog to keep track of all of our achievements, and along the way it became less of a simply house reno blog and more of a life blog. A new year. A visit from the Millers + Tullers to Wilmington. And after viewing the photo below a few times, we decided the kitchen reno needed to happen ASAP.
In February, my birthday month, I hosted a sorority reunion at our house while J was away for the night, where food played a main role. We spent my birthday weekend at Delaware Inn, a Rehoboth bed + breakfast and hit up the outlets. Two weeks later, we took off for NYC to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. February was packed full of events that I loved. This year February will bring another special little gift to us!
March brought our official "let's do this kitchen thing" motivation. We decided to dip into savings, tear apart our existence, and build a new kitchen. The demo was quick and the cabinet decisions and pieces were many. We did take a break from the reno to attend the annual St. Patrick's Day Party! J ran a chili run 5k (you run 2 miles, eat chili hot dogs, run another mile), and we celebrated our nephew's 4th birthday with green icing cupcakes and cute pictures.
April was a month of many renovations, trips to ikea, and friends. We turned the office into a functional space (which is now being renovated into a baby room), Jamie ran the Tough Mudder and one of his teammates got hypothermia very comforting, a philly Roma Reunion, and we closed out the month with a wine country trip to San Fran and Sonoma with my best friends, their husbands, and the late entry of Matt + Sam for a winning combo of people. Oh, we J also did some MAJOR kitchen renovation work and almost brought that project to a close.
The beginning of May was kitchen reno deadline, and we did quite well. After many trials and tribulations to get my countertops on time, this was the "finished" product. Still needed some work, but functional. Fantastic. We celebrated me becoming a doctor (!!!) We also encountered crazy cats and talked about prozac, more prozac, and how prozac + pheromones changed our lives. A quick visit to CT for a girls night with Sarah + Kelly at the Tullers. We rounded out the month with a discussion of babies and the future over our Memorial Day Dinner with some of the last wine I would be able to enjoy for awhile!
June brought a month of celebrations including the return of wedding season with Mary + Alex, the beginning of many trips to Rehoboth, Lindsay's bridal shower, my mom's retirement party + father's day, finding out on father's day there would be a little baby Walls making an entrance (and having to fight so hard to keep it in), and yet another trip to Rehoboth to discuss graphic tees with Lauren + Baback.
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| the day we found out we were going to be parents (we didn't even know yet...) |
July was another busy month... and the beginning of a nice little friend we call morning sickness. A trip to Bermuda to celebrate J's bday and some quality time (and a whole lot of sleep and feeling yucky too- baby was at work growing!), facebook got hacked, roma summer reunion, Jen + Tim married in NY, Philadelphia Union soccer games, faking many vodka tonics, and telling our parents about Baby W on the way! Oh, and I also experienced my first Delaware State Fair.
August started off relatively quietly (mostly because I was exhausted and ready for bed at 7pm), but was followed by two Rehoboth beach trips, during one of which my parents joined us at J's family cottage, a trip to Connecticut to tell the grandparents about their great-grandchild, the hurricane that wasn't so bad after all, and we ended with our annual Mt. Washington trip with the family. I also finished my job andd my 1.5 hour each way commute. A huge weight lifted.
In September, I started a new job (which has no commute and great coworkers), celebrated Lindsay + Dave's nups in Philly, finally got to talk about baby on the blog! (and in real life), started loving Pinterest with a passion, obsessed over fall trends, boots, and fresh picked apples,visited Linvilla Orchards with J, and oh yeah, was totally consumed with preg cravings, especially eggs! We also got to meet Laurie + Joe's gorgeous baby boy, Logan!
October is my favorite. Favorite because of leaves crunching and sun shining. Favorite because Starbucks brings back its fall drinks. Favorite because it marked one year of being Mrs. Walls. I also blogged A LOT (26 times!). We learned new things- like Baby Walls is a GIRL, Neti Pots are silly but fantastically productive, and that we're pretty good at picking out great tile. We finished the backsplash in our kitchen, wished happy 1st birthday to Hazel, celebrated our First Anniversary! with a trip to Winterthur, dinner at Moro, and night at Hotel Dupont, and snuggled up under blankets on Halloween as the little kiddos came to get candy. A perfect month. No wonder it's my favorite!
Are we really to November already?! A rather tumultuous eleventh month of the year, with the lowest moment definitely being when we lost my grandfather. He was a wonderful man, and we certainly missed him through this holiday season. And I learned (or was reminded) how a visit with friends after a sad event can help you get through. Stopped in NYC on the way back from CT for a dinner in the West Village with the Tullers + Millers and got some much needed love. Two of my favs got engaged(!!), The Hewells had a housewarming party, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family and spent a long weekend in Philadelphia for mom's 60th birthday (with a heartfelt gift). We also got to see 3D baby walls- pretty cool. A real live baby! Who yawns. In love.
The end of 2011 swept in with a warm December. We started out the month with some baby room preparations. My mom threw me an AMAZING baby shower in Yardley, baby shower "lunch" the next weekend to include the grandmas, celebrated grandma's 85th birthday. We got our glider and our crib. The office transformed to baby room. Christmas came this year with a bittersweet taste with grandpa missing. We toasted Melissa + Scott's engagement on the 23rd, and followed it up with the annual Christmas eve party. Christmas morning we rolled ourselves out of bed early and opened presents with J's family- little kids are so fun on Christmas. We rang in the new year with my family and toasted to "happy new year/happy baby year!"
Happy 2012- Here's to a GREAT year! xo
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