A Year in Review: 2011

Every year, Lauren over at Dreams Take Flight, posts her year in pictures.  Isn't that such a cute idea!  There were a few major things that happened in 2011, and I wanted to review the year in pictures too.  Unfotunately, Ryan and I didn't get to take a real vacation this past year, but we were able to fit in a couple of weekend getaways.  Let's take a look at 2011, and aim to make 2012 a great one!

JANUARY

We started off the New Year by celebrating my brother's birthday at one of my all time favorite bars: The Eaglebrook Saloon in Norfolk, MA. I don't get to this place nearly as much as I'd like because it's so far away from our house.  If you find yourself in the Norfolk, MA area (maybe at a football game at Gillette Stadium?), you should try out the blueberry beer and buffalo chicken pizza at Eaglebrook! 

The rest of January was spent crafting and being lazy. My dog Liberty and I hung around in our matching snuggies. 

FEBRUARY

Ryan and I celebrated our first Valentine's Day as a married couple in York, Maine.  We visited the nearby outlets in Kittery and stopped at Yummies, a candy store that is always featured on The Phantom Gourmet.  We also drove along the beach to take pictures, and visited Cape Neddick and the Nubble Light, and had dinner at Ruby's Wood Grill. I was so excited for this weekend, because I got to give Ryan his Valentine's Day/30th Birthday present..A Movado watch.  His 30th birthday wasn't until April, but I knew I couldn't wait that long!

MARCH

We began house hunting! Of course, I had been looking at real estate listings for months, but we weren't originally planning on visiting any properties for several more weeks.  But then, we found 3 properties that we really wanted to visit, and after seeing the 2nd property, we found our house, made an offer, and it was accepted!  I took tons of pictures of the house when we first went to see it so that I could begin planning how I would decorate! 

APRIL

We closed on our house in mid-April. I couldn't believe how quick the whole process was.  We began moving in an hour after the closing, but because we ordered all of our furniture brand new from the store, we had nothing to sit or sleep on!  I got to open all of our wedding gifts that we got almost a year earlier. It was better than Christmas!  And then we spent hours painting the rooms, because we wanted them to be done before the furniture arrived a couple days later.  And at night, we slept on a blow up mattress in our dining room.  Our family and friends came over that weekend to help us finish painting, but we had gotten it all done. Instead, we hung out and ate food!

MAY

We had our first dinner party at our house.

And I made yummy frozen beer margaritas!

JUNE

Ryan and I tackled our first major house project: We made a walkway!  We also celebrated our friend Bobby's 30th birthday.

JULY

We celebrated the 4th of July at our friend Keith's parents' house on a lake.  This is also the month that I started my blog, was pregnant for the first time, and sadly experienced a pregnancy loss.

AUGUST

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary at the Mattapoisett Inn.  The Inn is right down the stree from the lighthouse where we get got married. Our wedding anniversary happened to be the same day as Hurricane Irene. This was one of the best weekends of 2011!

SEPTEMBER

On September 26, we said goodbye to my Nan, the most special woman in my life.

OCTOBER

We spent a weekend in Long Island, NY celebrating the wedding of one of Ryan's friends.   We also finished another one of our house projects: updating the mudroom. Ryan's dad removed the carpet and installed tiles!

NOVEMBER

We celebrated our first Friendsgiving at our house!  We also found out on November 3, at 5 in the morning, that I am pregnant again.  I am due on July 16, 2012!!

DECEMBER

When I wasn't at work, I spent nearly the ENTIRE month of December in bed with all day morning sickness.  We did manage to get me out of the house to celebrate 4 Christmases though!