2013 was quite a year!

We started off the year with a new addition to the family - and we can't believe our niece Mira is almost a year old already! 

And to make us feel old, our oldest nephew graduated from college.
Mark sold his house - sad but really great too! Had to have one last party before we turned over the keys. Loved that bar he made so much! Hope they appreciate and love it too.
We went to New York for Uncle Leo's 95th birthday...
and had the BEST antipasto plate ever.
And of course there was lots and lots of wedding planning. Went to a ton of bridal shows to try out all the photo booths. Pro tip #1. Make sure you compare photo booths - the quality of the photos really varies.
A fabulous bridal shower kicked off the festivities.
Then came a super fun Bachelorette Party including a rockin' party bus. I wish I could live on that thing!
Rehearsal Dinner at Angelo's Nido Italia was a great time to get together with all the out of state family before the craziness of the wedding kicked into high gear. Pro tip #2 - have your rehearsal on Thursday - makes things sooo much better! You can stay up late and enjoy without worrying about being tired for your wedding day.
So much prep work to be a bride!

Hair, nails with the Mom's and lots of cake tasting

Then - the big day! All year came down to this one day. All the planning and frustrations and expense were totally worth it! The weather was absolute perfection and we had so much fun. We wish we could go back and do it all again! In slow motion. That day was the fastest day of my life!
No honeymoon pics yet because that won't happen until next year sometime ~ Mark got a new job (yay!) so we're still figuring out when and where to go.

The weekend after we got married was my reunion. I loved showing off my new hubby and he was quite the hit of the party.
I loved having a house full of wedding flowers for the weeks after the wedding. Pro tip #3 - if you are getting real flowers, don't go on your honeymoon right away! Wait a week or two so you can actually enjoy them. Life in Bloom in Avon was my florist and she did an amazing job! I dried some flowers from my bouquet and centerpiece flowers and made a Christmas ornament out of them.

This....

...turned into this!

There were Halloween parties with tasty seasonal cocktails:

Spiked Cider

Pumpkin Pie Martini

We took advantage of Beer Week on a train:
I experienced my first coffee pour over - yum!
I participated in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap for the 3rd year.

Limoncello biscotti

We really enjoyed the past three months tremendously, settling into married life. We celebrated a lot of firsts including our first Christmas.
And Mira's 1st Christmas
Our first New Years Eve was spent enjoying the day and each other's company. We went to Slyman's
and to Glow at the Botanical Garden - where we not only enjoyed the festive gingerbread houses and Christmas trees, we also got to see our wedding ceremony site blanked in snow. This event is a Must Do - it's so festive and fun and a great excuse to get out of the house when it's freezing outside.
We also went to see a movie on NYE for the 1st time. The Hobbit was excellent and made this J.R.R Tolkien fan very happy. Luckily we went to the earlier show since the movie was 3 hours long! Afterwards, instead of going to parties or hitting the town, we decided to spend our 1st New Years snuggled up at home. And it was perfect.
Hope your 2014 is off to a great start in spite of the record breaking cold temps. Looking forward to the year ahead - I have a feeling it's going to be a good one!

Happy New Year's Eve everybody!  Today I'm officially back to work after many glorious days off celebrating the holidays and experie...