2019 Year in Review
2019 was a huge year for me. It was exciting, challenging, fulfilling and will forever be a momentous year in my life. From me and Michael buying our first home, to getting engaged and married, from experiencing loss and facing changes…this year had it all. Now, on the last day of the year and decade (!!!) I am taking a little time to reflect back on what this year was and how every month was so special.
JANUARY
I turned 25! I have always really enjoyed having my birthday at the beginning of the year since I remember the year and my age together and 25 was the biggest year of life so far.
FEBRUARY
Michael and I bought a house! Over the past year and a half we probably went to around 80 different houses. We had been saving for years, falling in love with homes that were out of budget, too small, too big, right area, wrong area, you name it and this month we found THE ONE. The stars aligned on this because just as we had our financing figured out and some plans in place our new home came on the market and we jumped on it. We entered escrow on Valentine’s Day and closed just two weeks later!
MARCH
Demo time! Days after escrow closed on our house, we hit the ground running to start our renovation. We were going to be living in our apartment till the middle of May and wanted to get as much done as possible while we could.
APRIL
A new chapter in my career begins. After a year and a half working in the fashion industry for Novella Royale I had a tough choice to make to start working for my family full time. I loved my time working for such a great and small company. I learned a ton and loved being in sales. But… my family needed me to take over for someone very special who had worked for us for nearly 40 years. I had been working part time for my family since graduating from college and it was the right time and an important time for me to come on and manage my grandparent’s ranch household and my grandmother’s team of nurses. It was also such a special time getting to spend some invaluable time with my grandma.
MAY
We got engaged! After having an incredible couple of weeks in the south of France with Michael’s family and celebrating his sister’s 30th, Michael swept me away to the most incredible place I have ever been and asked me the best question ever. The answer was obviously YES. I spent the rest of the trip, and the summer really, with the biggest smile on my face.
JUNE
Wedding planning to the max! Michael had always wanted a short engagement so we set our day for just 3 months later on September 14th. Sending out invites, hair and makeup trials, cake tastings, cater previews, table settings, photos, flowers. It was crazy busy but I loved it all!
JULY
My bridal shower! Being a bride to be is really as exciting as it looks. My aunt threw me the most amazing party and I was really showered with so much love and support from my family and friends. The 50 day countdown made everything feel very real and very exciting!
AUGUST
My nana became an angel. This month was so hard for me and my family. With my wedding just a month away I had so much to look forward to when one of my best friends was called to heaven. My grandma had been so so excited for me to be a bride, she had been waiting for years for one of her grandkids to get married and I was so excited for her to see us say “I do”. She was the first person in my life that I’ve lost and going from spending time with her everyday to not having her around was so hard. Her funeral was beautiful and brought us the closure we needed to focus on happy things again but it was a hard month mixed with many emotions.
This month was also a time for celebration as Michael’s family from Ireland started to arrive, we celebrated our bachelorette and bachelor weekends with friends. We started taking dancing lessons, putting finishing touches on everything for the big day and just soaking up the end of summer with family and friends.
SEPTEMBER
Wedding bells! Michael and I were married on September 14th, on the Harvest Moon. We chose this date to coincide with our unofficial theme. Our first dance song was “Harvest Moon” by Neil Young and that had been our song from our very first date over 6 years earlier. A few days after our wedding we took off for our honeymoon in Fiji which was a once in a lifetime trip we will never forget. Lots of sunshine, tropical drinks and relaxing.
OCTOBER
Michael turns 27 and we have our first party at our house! While the bulk of renovations were done midsummer and we hosted Michael’s Irish family, it wasn’t until now that most of the finishing touches and details were all done. I got into the decorating spirit, we threw an 80’s themed costume party and finally lit our fireplace! Spooky season was upon us.
NOVEMBER
Making our house a home. We started to feel really settled into our space. The changing of the seasons, decorating for Christmas, this was a great and mellow month just soaking up life as newlyweds.
DECEMBER
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…. something I really wanted to focus on this month was making some new traditions for me and Michael to have. As our first married Christmas, and our first Christmas in our own house, it was a special one. A couple years ago we started giving each other a mini getaways for Christmas instead of gifts. This year we went to Big Bear and brought the dogs to the snow. We can’t wait to go back. We also established our Christmas Eve tradition; making chicken chipotle pasta, Irish donuts, wearing our Xmas onsies and watching Elf.
Typing this up right now on New Years Eve it’s so crazy to think about how much has happened this year and how fast time has flown by. I am so excited to see what 2020 has in store for us. Cheers everyone!