So, I did a post similar to this last year because I really love looking back and seeing how much our lives can change in the matter of a year. Have you ever heard the C.S. Lewis quote, "Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different". It's so true! Reflecting back is such an important part in life, so you can celebrate your highs, learn from your lows, and continue to grow.
So, what have we been up to this year...?
Where to even begin...
We started this year watching fireworks and eating a delicious meal with some yummy cocktails at a local seafood place here called Whiskey Joe's. They have some of the best meals and are right on the water so the firework show was pretty incredible.
The first was also our Ollie Bear's 3rd birthday! We got this baby boy when he was only 3 months old and it breaks my heart to see my boys get older!
One big thing that happened for me spiritually this year was I was finally baptized. I had made the decision that I wanted to be baptized many years ago actually but never found the right place to have it done. Philip and I had been attending a local church and they announced their beginning of the year baptism so I jumped at the opportunity and signed up! My family was so supportive and all attended and even threw me a surprise dinner party with all my closest friends and family.
In February we celebrated Philip's 22nd birthday by going to Busch Gardens Serengeti Night Safari.
If you have not been, I completely suggest it! It is an experience of a lifetime. You arrive at the park after hours, so you and about 20 other people are the only people in the park for the rest of the night. You start your night out with an open bar and a huge buffet filled with delicious food, where you fill up before the night begins. Then you walk around the animal section of the park watching the animals get fed, and appear to be much more active at night. My absolute favorite was the Hippo! Then after a decent amount of walking they give you night vision binoculars and you load into the back of a safari truck and head out to Busch Gardens open plains. When out their you see animals from giraffe's, zebra's, rhino's, and really so much more. Towards the end of the night you get handed a head of lettuce to feed the giraffes and get some pretty cool photos.
After a couple hours of exploring amongst the animals, they drop you off in this enclosed area outside in the plains to have a bonfire and you sit around and listen to stories from the tour guides who are pretty worldly in their travels and have some amazing stories to tell.
We finished the night off with a night cap and some dessert and headed home, I think it's safe to say he had a pretty great birthday.
Right around the corner from that was Valentines Day. Philip and I had made a decision that to save money we were going to lay low, maybe do dinner at home and that was it. I should have known he would be up to something though...
Not only did he have flowers delivered to my work and some goodies waiting for me at home, but when I got home from work I found him dressed up and told me to get ready to go! We had an amazing dinner at Maggiano's (a local italian restaurant) where he had champagne and flowers waiting at the table. Do I have a keeper or what?
In March, we found out that a town near us had a Antique Car Show the first Saturday of every month so we made that a MUST DO! There is something about antique cars that I just absolutely love, and the mixture of the older music and the atmosphere had me transformed into the past. We finished the day off at my favorite restaurant in the area, Kafe KoKopelli! If you are ever anywhere near Dade City go there for their fried green tomatoes!!!
Towards the end of March, our city has an Airfest at MacDill Air Force Base and the show is pretty amazing. We spent a day out on the blacktop, watching the talented pilots and not so much minding the beating sun onto the blacktop. We ended the day off spending a hour trying to find our car and actually losing each other in the process, but making some new friends! haha
Come April, I had purchased Philip tickets to the annual Festival of Speed where he became one with the cars! I couldn't drag him away from any of them haha!
This month was spent with good friends and family and lots of good times!
Towards the end of April, Philip and I went on a week vacation to Gatlinburg, TN. I have to say it was hands down, one of the most amazing trips of my life that ended in a bang! The week was literally filled to the brim with amazing experiences and fun times. We had many fun pit stops on the drive up and got to see some pretty beautiful things.
Our cabin was at the TIP TOP of a mountain that took about 45 minutes to get to from the bottom so the drive just about scared me to death each time. Our first night there we were so tired from the long drive that we did not have too much energy to do anything besides eat, haha so we went out to dinner at The Cherokee Grill. We were seated by the fire and had a delicious dinner for two!
The next morning, it was go time! We wanted to do things and see sights! Our first stop was the Titanic Museum which was nothing short of amazing. They give you a boarding pass instead of a ticket that has the information of an actual crew member that you are essentially playing while you are on the ship. We had such a great time learning about the ship, got to touch an actual ice burg, and put our hands in water that was the temperature of the water the night the ship sank. We lasted 5 seconds and our hands went numb.
After a fun morning boarding the Titanic we ventured off to find some delicious authentic Mexican food!
After getting completely full off of some amazing burritos and drinks, we headed over to the Hollywood Stars & Cars Museum and saw some pretty cool cars from some of our favorite movies.
We spent a lot of time exploring the shops of Gatlinburg and loved how quaint and eclectic it felt. We made a pit stop at the Ole' Smoky Holler where they brew moonshine and we joined them for a moonshine tasting.
We ended up liking it so much that we brought two bottles home for family to try! The blackberry moonshine was my favorite, it tasted like red wine!
We enjoyed a lot of peace and quiet out there and had an amazing balcony with a Jacuzzi that overlooked the mountains and was just breath taking!
The next day we went to the Forbidden Caverns! Which is a 650ft below ground cavern that was used in the past to brew moonshine. The cavern is year round 60 degrees and has running water in it from the stream that is clean enough to drink. It was beautiful down there and I love all of the little critters and bats!
We tried to take a picture together but it was just too dark down there.
We spent the rest of that day just exploring the town, shopping, eating at a local burger diner called Happy Days, and just enjoying our time off. That night, we had dinner at the World Famous Calhoun's that had THE BEST ribs! (Just see the sign)
The next morning was full of adventure! We drove over to Bluff Mountain Adventures and got geared up to go ATV'ing up to the top of the mountain. This was probably one of the funnest days of my life!
When we made it to the top the views were pretty breath taking! I wanted to sit there all day and just watch the day go by.
We left smiling from ear to ear, sweaty, soaking wet and covered in mud! We had one hell of a ride.
We needed to hurry back to the cabin though and clean up because we still had big plans for the day. We had tickets to Dolly Parton's Dinner Theatre, The Dixie Stampede!
The night started off in a mess hall type of room where you could fill up on drinks and appetizers while listening to a really awesome country blue grass band!
The Dixie Stampede Show was amazing and of course we rooted for the South! It was a really fun night and a great way to (what I thought) end our trip ;)
The next morning, we loaded up our car with all of our luggage and began our journey back home to Florida! We stopped on our way and had seriously the best breakfast I think I have ever had in my life at Davy Crockett's and they served the largest pancakes I have ever seen.
Once I thought we were finally homeward bound, Philip told me he wanted to get some more pictures of the Smoky Mountains National Park before heading out. We drove around all throughout the park until he found the perfect spot. It was right at the bottom of the waterfall where a little creek had formed and sitting at the bottom was a giant boulder that had smaller rocks that spelled out I love you.
I thought it was absolutely gorgeous I had to get a closer look. Before I knew it, we were standing on that very boulder, and Philip was reaching into his pocket and dropping down to one knee! That day, in the heart of the Smoky Mountains, I went from girlfriend to fiancé! I am getting married!!
I was full of tears! HAHA!
I could not believe it! He was so sneaky about it, I really had no clue that it was coming. I was fortunate enough to inherit his grandmother's ring! His grandparents are two of my favorite people, and have been married since they were teenagers, I felt it was such an honor from them to us. I could not wait to start calling friends and family and share the great news!
When we got home, this is what we found!!!
Excuse me while I melt....
After getting engaged, this year was still filled with so many great times. We attended the local Blue Berry Festival and picked a TON of blueberries to take home and turn into pies and cobblers!
Courtesy of Lynda, my soon to be Mother-In-Law
We celebrated our engagement at my favorite restaurant The Melting Pot!
We spent some quality time at an Alpaca Farm and made some new little buddies
In May, my birthday came and I turned 22!
Yes, I was singing Taylor Swift all day, "feelin 22", can you blame me?! For my birthday Philip surprised me by taking me to Ft. Myers where we spent all day shopping at their outlets and then boarded the Seminole Gulf Railway Murder Myster Dinner Train. It was such a fun night!
My job was even sweet enough to celebrate with me!
Towards the end of May, I was feeling the Wedding fever and wanted to start some planning! Philip and I took a trip out to tour a wedding venue and just completely fell in love with this place. It's like they say, when you know, you know, well I knew the moment we arrived. It was exactly what I had envisioned for our special day.
The Lange Farm in Dade City has this beautiful dusty blue antique barn that you can rent for your wedding reception. It was as if my imagination was right in front of me as to what I wanted.
We were sold!!!
My birthday is right next to two of my best friend's birthday's as well so the next couple weeks were filled with dinners, parties, and so much girl time!
Oh, and did I mention a Katy Perry concert?
In June, we took a trip out with the Smith's (my fiancé's family) to Dade City Wild Things. Philip and I had been there a couple times before and just fell in love with the place that we wanted to bring his family for their birthday gifts. It is an animal sanctuary that is on the property of someone's house, much like the movie "We Bought A Zoo" and the people that take care of the animals and this property are just so amazing that I love to support them! Philip and I had already done a tiger cub and a baby zebra encounter, so we decided to try something new...
A baby bobcat!! :)
Philip's family did the Tiger encounter and I am pretty sure they loved it!
In July I was fortunate enough to take my first real business trip and headed to Charleston, SC. It was just stunning, there is no other way to put it! Even though I was there on business I had plenty of time to explore downtown, see the River Walk, try some delicious meals, and enjoy their night life as well!
The view from my hotel room was nothing short of beautiful
That was the view from one of my lunch meetings, I mean, you really can't beat that!
Charleston, you have forever stolen my heart!
In July, I also had a huge life changer when I purchased Tone It Up!
If you have never heard of Tone It Up, well... Have you been living under a rock?! Karena and Katrina are two amazing women that have created this fitness community full of workout videos, recipes, motivation, challenges, prizes and more that just make you feel amazing and get so inspired to get moving!!! Within my first month on the program I was down 11 pounds and felt so much more healthier and confident!
I have only just begun my fitness journey but I am so proud of myself for what I have accomplished so far, and so excited for what is to come!
August was the start of a dark couple of months... We lost Philip's aunt Lisa in August, or as she was better known Teta. All of our hearts were broken. She was one of the funniest, kind hearted, and just genuine people I have ever met. We know that she is in a better place and is her healthy self once again but that doesn't mean that we all don't miss her like crazy. Its interesting though, when someone passes, they are gone from this world and their human body but I do believe her soul is still so very much alive and I feel her presence often.
In September, I checked a new thing off my bucket list and shot my first gun! I had been itching to go for awhile and finally Phil and I made a date night out of it and went shooting!
Towards the middle of September, Philip came home with a surprise...
Haha I was surprised and excited to say the least!!!
In September, Philip and I also celebrated 8 years of being together! We had an amazing night at a local winery, Cooper's Hawk filled with delicious food, drinks, and lots of love <3
The next few weeks were just full of good times, going out with girlfriends, parties and more...
My friend Nancy and I made these awesome broken glass bloody cupcakes for a Halloween party!
Philip and I dressed up like Mr. and Mrs. Smith for the costume party!
We also signed our contract in October at the Lange Farm and set our wedding date!! So exciting!!!
November was once again full of birthday festivities and of course the obvious Thanksgiving.
I also was fortunate enough to finally buy my first car!!!!!
Towards the end of November, I gathered all of my closest friends and family and went to try on Wedding Dresses, and guess what!? I found the dress! Even though it was my first time trying on dresses, I just fell in love with this dress! I didn't want to take it off! It was the second dress I tried on and I sat in it for HOURS!
December was full of Christmas Cheer in my home and the tree and stockings went up right away!
In December, on Christmas Night, Philip and I flew to Boston, MA so that I could meet his dad's side of the family for the first time! We had an absolute blast and just got home this week! We had such a good time and it was so nice to meet his family! The trip was filled with games of poker, delicious meals, a trip to Harvard! A two night stay in Downtown, visiting the Breakers in Rhode Island and seeing the Vanderbilt's summer house which was outstanding!
It was so nice to finally meet his family, can you believe it, 8 years together and I still had not met his Dad, Step Mom, Grandma, and cousins! I was so glad that as soon as I got there I immediately felt comfortable and right at home! They did everything they could to show us a good time.
AND I GOT TO SEE SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME!
Philip's Dad and Step Mom knew how badly I wanted to see snow on my trip up there, so they went out of their way to drive me north to Wachusett Mountain where there was still some snow from the previous fall!
Unfortunately, we were out of town for both of our babies birthdays :( Balto turned 5 on the 28th, can you believe it!! 5!!! and Ollie Kins turned 4 on the first! I love my fur babies so much!
This year has been like a roller coaster, lots of ups, and lots of downs but one thing is for sure, I am still on the ride and excited what to see what 2015 has to offer!
Happy New Year Everyone!
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