10 Highlights from 2011

As I said yesterday in my post about our Christmas traditions, every year we plan on making a highlight/recap video from the year.  I tend to be horrible at remembering years of my life, as in I can’t say things like, “Back in 2005 I ________.”  My brain doesn’t work like that.  I can say “Back in first grade, blah blah blah” but I’d have to do some math to figure out the year.  Now that I’m in my last year of college for a very long time or perhaps forever (praise the Lord, hallelujah), I won’t have these school references to remember things by, so by making a video perhaps my brain will be more likely to remember things by year or at least I will have a quick video to watch as a refresher course.  I’m hoping I will never forget this year, but in case I forget the year we were married, I will have a sweet little (slightly awkward, dorky, and humorous) video to look back on.

Here is our video for this year.  Well, actually wait – I’m a little nervous about posting a video of myself and Mr. Converse Sneakers in case you all think we’re nutty and never come back after watching 10 seconds of this video, so I’m just stalling.

Okay.

Here are our 10 highlights from 2011 (in no particular order):

In case you can’t watch the video for whatever reason, here is what we covered (and a little more) in a nutshell:

#1: My Graduation

I graduated from four crazy years of college with a BA in English and a minor in Family Studies.  It felt so good to finish everything!  I was very proud of myself to graduate Summa Cum Laude after working about 25 hours a week all through college and planning our wedding.  It was no easy job, but I’m definitely not a party girl and managed to get everything done and still work out and sleep most days.  By May of this year I will be a licensed teacher since I am almost done taking the grad classes I need and will be student teaching all spring.

#2: My Bridal Shower

My maid and matron of honor put on my bridal shower which was held at my parents’ house in June.  My closest friends and family were there and we had a great time!  It was a Hawaiian theme.  The games were hilarious and the presents were seriously awesome – I was so surprised at what we were given!  I will never forget all of the support and love we had at every wedding-related event.

#3: Our Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties

We had our bachelor and bachelorette parties on the same day.  Lots of crazy randomness went on, which I don’t think we need to elaborate on, but it was all good, clean-ish fun that definitely made for many laughs and an interesting night.  Mine had a polka dot theme, which is so me and so cute!

#4: Our Wedding

I’ve probably rambled on too much about our wedding, which you can read about in detail here.  I’m not sure why we didn’t order these highlights, but the wedding was by far the best day of the year (and possibly our lives).  Some say that wedding days aren’t the best day of the year, but for us it really was.  We had been waiting five and a half years for that day, so needless to say we couldn’t wait!  Everything was perfect and we wouldn’t change a thing.

#5: Our Honeymoon

We went to Duluth for our honeymoon which is just a couple hours north of where we live now.  We had never been there and thought it was kind of close to going somewhere on the coast since Lake Superior is so large I could easily mistake it for an ocean (since I’ve never seen an ocean before).  I had been sick since a couple days before the wedding and it just got worse over our honeymoon, but Mr. CS wouldn’t let that keep us from sightseeing and eating a ton.  I would have loved to stay in bed all day watching Dish Network that our hotel room had (since we don’t have cable) – because seriously aren’t people supposed to stay cooped up in bed all day long on their honeymoon – but Mr. CS wouldn’t have it.  We’re both foodies, so our honeymoon photos mostly consist of what we ate.  Check out the video for lots more.  It was a great time to be away from work and responsibility and to just focus on each other and the promises we had recently made.

#6: Moving into Our First Home Together

Moving in together was one of the most anticipated things we did this year.  I couldn’t wait to finally get to see the love of my life every day.  We’ve loved making our little apartment more homey, but cannot wait for the day when we can move into our first owned house together.

#7: Began Exercising Together

Now that we live together, we really enjoy working out together.  We were fairly good about exercising on our own before we lived together, but now we have another person to hold us accountable and keep us motivated.  I haven’t been very good about exercising lately because school, getting ready to student teach, adjusting to married life, keeping up with this blog, and finding time to eat and sleep have wiped me out, but I’m hoping to get back on it soon.  We mostly stick to the Supreme 90 Day workouts, which I talked about in his post about Tabata Inferno.

#8: Courtney’s Baby

Since I am one of the first among my friends to get married, I only have one friend who is already married, Courtney (she was the matron of honor in our wedding).  She was almost 9 months pregnant at our wedding and had little Parker Theodore just a couple weeks after.  I was given the honor of taking some family photos (above), which you can see more of on my photography website.  I could not be happier for Courtney and Pat!  Parker is beyond adorable and looks just like Courtney which melts my heart.  He sure does not help us want to wait for kids!

#9: I Started Grad School

Grad school doesn’t feel much different than going to classes as an undergrad did because they are at the same place, but I feel kind of cool knowing I already have my degree and am going back for higher level credits.  My wallet doesn’t feel so cool, but it’ll thank me one day (I hope).

#10: Found Our Church

My hubby man’s boss invited us to church in September which we went to a few times.  We absolutely love it, but don’t love that it’s half an hour away.  After a couple months of deliberation, we decided last Sunday to make this church “our” church since we love it so much.  I was raised going to a Lutheran church and Mr. CS went to a very strict, I believe Baptist church, but we don’t feel very strongly about sticking with either denomination. The church we have decided to keep going to is non-denominational but fits our beliefs about Jesus and the Bible.  It’s catered to a younger crowd but gives incredible tell-it-like-it-is sermons that are shockingly real but make us inspired to be better people.  We love it!

So, there you have it!  This was a big year for us, but we know the years to come will be big too since we have lots of major life events we’ve been dreaming about.

What were some highlights from your year?