2011 highlights

Since the new year is just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to reminisce on some highlights of 2011.

JANUARY

We rang in 2011 with a bang!  Not really, but wow!  Look how short my hair was!

The first snow of the year fell the day before my 27th birthday.

Our kitchen walls put on a second coat of paint, from a yellowish beige (Behr's Camel 350F-5), to a more calm, sage green (I think it was Behr's Palm Breeze 420E-2).  Very subtle, but we like it. 

Before

 After

FEBRUARY

We had a bit of cabin fever the first week of February.  I was able to breeze through Hunger Games, and we got to play in the snow!.  This may not be a big deal for some people, but if you live in Texas, even an inch of snow is a very big deal!

Celebrated our first Valentine's Day as a married couple.  The frog is an inside joke that goes way back before we started going out.

MARCH

We finally got our plantation shutters.  The formal living room already had shutters when we moved in, but the formal dining had absolutely no window treatment whatsoever.  Paper blinds from Home Depot were used when we painted the walls blue, and left them on since.  We went ahead and put shutters on all the windows in the main area, and we're so pleased with the results.

Because of the freeze, our water pipes had a leak, which led to the picture below.  Read more here.  We almost wanted to rip out our newly installed shutters and get our money back =(

APRIL

I ran my very first 5k to raise money for lung cancer research.  We'll be participating again next year, and hope to make this a tradition. 

MAY

For Mother's Day, my sister and I took our Mom to Fredericksburg, TX.  It's tucked away in the Hill Country, about southwest of Austin.  It's basically Texas' version of Napa Valley.  It was our first time there, and I'd love to go back with Paul someday.

JUNE

We celebrated our first Wedding Anniversary on the 19th.  We had dinner at Fogo De Chau the night before, and went to Top Golf, since our anniversary fell on Father's Day.

Bailey celebrated her 4th birthday with a "Tutu Cute" outfit and some Frosty Paws.

Got our exterior painted, and it looks as good as new!  Our front door got a nice, shiny black coat, and our fence restained.

After 9 years of living in Texas, I officially became a US Citizen! 

JULY

Spent my first Fourth of July as an American.

My wish came true!  We went to Maui and it was everything I imagined Hawaii would be.  I miss it so much, and I hope to visit the other islands in the near future.  I wish I had a blog then so I could share more pictures.  Maybe if I'm desperate, I'll write a post!  But for now, here are a few of my favorites.

As a late birthday present, we took our Mom to the Katy Perry concert.  I'm not a die hard fan, but I actually had fun with the tweens!  There were many dads there, and you can tell that they were forced to go (kind of like that guy on the right).  It's a good thing Katy Perry's easy on the eye. 

We went home to B.C. to spend time with family.  One of the main events was my cousin Tincy's garden themed engagement party and it was super cute.  We're so excited for their 2013 wedding in Europe!

{photo via ShariLee Photography}

AUGUST

This month was apparently uneventful since I only have pictures of my paint swatch art.  So, let's move on to...

SEPTEMBER

For Labor Day weekend, we took a little road trip down to Austin (read more here and here).

OCTOBER

I got to meet Grace Bonney, the creator of Design*Sponge.

NOVEMBER

We finally furnished our formal living and dining rooms, just in time for hosting our first Thanksgiving at home.

DECEMBER

Spent my first Christmas with Paul's family.  I'm so lucky to have gained such wonderful people in my life.

  

2011 was quite a year, and I hope 2012 is just as good, if not better!  We celebrated many "firsts", and we hope that God continues to shower us with more blessings to come.  Here's to new beginnings and new memories to be made.  Happy New Year everyone!