1 Year Bloggerversary!

It's really officially official!  Today I have been a blogger for a year!  It has officially been one year since my very first post!

If you took the time to click on the hyperlink I just gave you, well thank you.  Yes, that is technically my very first post, but there was really no content in it.  No feeling.  Just a greeting and a very short introduction of me and why I decided to hop on the blog band wagon.

Needless to say, I have had a few intentions with this blog since a year ago.  This blog started as a modern day mommy diary/baby book.  After I gave myself a redesign and not just used a template from a 3rd party and added some buttons and a badge, my blogging head was held a little higher and I began to write more about my life and experiences, in addition to being a "mommy blog".

I then got brave and wanted to stray from Blogger and buy my own domain name and use WordPress, but without knowing anything about the ins and outs of being self hosted or not...I backed out of that (for now) and have been blogging everything under the sun on Our Foto Friendly Family blog.  Once I am able to become self hosted, I will, but I predict that will be some time from now, as that is not really high on my list of priorities.  I am doing just fine on this little "free" blog of mine.

Now, I'll admit, I feel that I have out grown my blogging skin here a little and I don't want to be known as "FotoFriendlyMom" forever either.  I will eventually change that when I am ready and able.  I am, however, very comfortable in saying "one year down, a hundred to go" because I love blogging that much, that I can see myself doing it forever...or at least as long as my hands can do the typing as my brain does the talking.  :)

So here's to being a blogger for a year, thus far!

CHEERS!

How long have you been blogging?

One Good Thing - Anniversary

You may have realized by now that Justin and I, we don't just have an "Anniversary day", we celebrate the whole week!  "Anniversa-week!"  So this week's One Good Thing Thursday link up is in honor of my two year wedding anniversary - I know...you're surprised.  :)

This past Tuesday was Justin and I's first wedding anniversary when it wasn't just the two of us.

Last year was our official 1st anniversary.  It was the only anniversary we spent just us two before having a family.  We didn't exchange gifts, only cards, because we were going away for the weekend and that was our gift to each other.  We spent the Saturday down at the Inner Harbor, walked around a lot and went to the Baltimore Aquarium.  It was a beautiful day despite the summer heat.

The view from our room

  We had plans to go out to a nice fancy dinner but because I was 7 months pregnant and we had just walked around all day in the blazing sun, my feet were beyond killing me and I could barely finish the walk back to our hotel room.  We decided to improvise and order room service, which was exceptionally delicious and stayed in for the evening and watched Bridesmaids.  That movie isn't for everyone, but Justin and I thought it was hilarious to the point where we thought we were disturbing other guests in other rooms!  We never got any complaints, so that was nice.  :)

I had an east coast favorite Maryland crab cakes and Justin had yummy steak.  And yes both desserts of ice cream and cheesecake were mine...and I ate them both.  Don't judge, I was pregnant ;) hehe

The next morning (On the actual date of our anniversary) we had an appointment outside of Baltimore to have a non-medial ultrasound done.  We did this so we could get a video of our baby moving in the womb and boy was it amazing.  We have the video on a DVD and it's about 30 mins long so I'll just share with you a couple pictures.

Her beautiful face with daddy's nose.  

An arm over a foot.

It was a great way to spend the 1 year celebration of our wedding day.  We got to see our unborn daughter and say a quick "hello"!  ...And emotional mommy got to shed a few happy tears on the way home too!  :)

Fast forward a year and Justin and I happily got to share our two year anniversary with our daughter present again!  This time in our arms!  I have to admit, the day felt just like any other ordinary day.  Justin came home from work, I made dinner ok, that's not so ordinary, and Annaliese fought sleep until midnight.  Luckily she did sleep through the night for 8 1/ hours that night, so I count my blessings, but it was rough getting her there!
Justin and I exchanged gifts this year.  I got him a nice card, a pair of white sneakers that he wanted, an iTunes gift card to purchase the new Jim Gaffigan album coming out next week, book 3 of The Game Of Thrones series and a special edition of Rolling Stones Magazine.  He came home with a dozen beautiful red roses for me, a really sweet card, book 2 of Fifty Shades of Grey, the movie The Vow, and the promise of a personalized with photos iPhone case (which still needs ordered) from Erin Condren!  I am so excited to get this case, but I might wait until we get our family pictures taken on Sept 24 to order it.  We don't have many pictures together as a family and I would want my case to have my little family. :)

My mom was nice enough to watch Annaliese last night so Justin and I could go out to eat and have some alone time together for our Anniversary.  It was very nice.  Candlelight.  Frank Sinatra.  Yummy food!  I had crab cakes again...I'm starting to see a trend here...and Justin got a famous Greek dish called Pastitsio.

It was a great "Anniversa-week" we shared together.  It was different this year, but we wouldn't trade it for the world.  We hope that possibly on our next Anniversary we will be in our OWN home and perhaps baking a little sibling for Annaliese ;)

Hope you all have a great evening!  Happy Friday tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday- In Memory

In memory of my late Yiayia (Greek for grandmother) and in honor of my wedding anniversary this week...

I miss her so.

Two Years Since the FIRST Best Day of My Life

Today marks the two year anniversary of one of the best days of my entire life.  

The day that I had dreamed about since I was a little girl.

The day that I woke up next to my best friend, put on pretty make up, got my hair done, and wore a beautiful ivory dress all day long.

The day that Justin's father would get to live out one of his dreams of being able to marry his eldest son after a bad health scare 2 months prior.

The day that came and went in the blink of an eye after a year and a half of preparing the silly details that no one really ever cares about.

The day that tons of family from across the country and our closest friends gathered to celebrate the joining of two hearts.

The day that Justin and I both gained a brother.

The day that my dad gave away his baby girl.

The day that my talented brother sang a beautiful song that is dear to me for everyone to hear.

The day that Justin who HATES sweets actually ate some cake for tradition's sake.

The day that I got to slow dance to Bruce Springsteen's "Jersey Girl" with my father. 

The day we read to each other our vows and my last name changed forever.

The day I was a bride and became a forever wife.

I remember it like it was yesterday.  Our wedding day was more than I had ever expected.  The abundant feeling of love from our guests, the many smiles and tears of happiness shared, the butterflies surrounding our outside guests as we stood at the alter...after all of the hard work we spent putting into the day, it had finally paid off and it was PERFECT.  Some things went wrong but we brushed it off and laughed about it.  Nothing was going to ruin our day.  Nothing did.

The past two years being married (and almost 6 years of being together) have been the best years of my life.  The day after our wedding, I was ecstatic!  We got to travel to Jamaica to spend a week alone after all the hustle and bustle of preparing for our big day.  I was immediately relieved that the nervousness and stress of the wedding day was put behind us and SO excited for my lifelong future with my best friend.  I can't wait to grow old with this man.

I know that no marriage is perfect, including ours.  We all have our flaws and room for improvement, but I know that he and I are compatible and can make marriage work.  We do not believe in divorce.  I still feel like I did the day that we got married and I am still excited for my future with my best friend.

This one's for you, honey!  Hehe!  It's our Anniversa-week!

I love you, babe.  Happy Anniversary!