Hi, hello, YES, another update post. I know this is mostly for me (it's all for me) and no one at all cares. And that's very fine.
JANUARY
Later in January, we celebrated Christmas with my dad. I can barely handle it when my brother, Dad, and Sammy are in the same room. Best men alive.
We ate random leftover apps and a big ol' casserole.
Braved the cold to go to another library sale with my love Kat.
Convinced my entire team at work to watch Jason Reynolds's inauguration as the new National Ambassador of Children's Literature for the Library of Congress.
We had our tasting at our venue which was such a fun day with our parents.
We also chose Michael Jordan's Steakhouse for our bridal shower with Sammy's family. Very on brand choice as we're his #1 fans.
Later that night we had a date night in the form of HP movies (I swear I'm not a fan) and popcorn taste testing.
My dress made its way home in January too! I can't believe I haven't caved and tried it on since it's been here.
FEBRUARY
We celebrated Sammy's birthday at the beginning of the month. And I made him take various pictures around the house.
Mr. Personalization got personalized cuff links from me as part of his gift. He really loved them.
A bitch found a hat that doesn't make her already absurdly large head appear larger.
Went to my first bookstagram event in person on Galentine's Day! It was so fun. We did a blind date book event type thing and it was such a fun way to get to know people/get conversations rolling.
We had a really nice Valentine's Day at home. I made dinner and Sammy made the cocktails. He also wrote me the loveliest card that blew mine out of the water.
The next night I hosted a viewing party for PS. I Still Love You because I'm obsessed and that kind of energy is both awesome and creepy for hosting parties.
Alicia made the cutest essential oil rollerballs as favors!
We had all on-theme food and drinks.
I tried to make our basement look as sleepover-ish as I could.
And, of course, Alicia's sister made us Kavinsky shirts 'cause we have a sickness.
Sammy even made us chocolate covered strawberries (which has nothing to do with the movie and everything to do with the fact that I love them, bless him).
Then this happened and my life peaked.
And then I wore my Kavinsky shirt to work which was the least appropriate thing to do but...it was Friday. Over it.
Sammy and I ventured out to the coffee/wine bar in town and had a wedding planning session as a date night and it's worth mentioning because it was way more fun than I expected it to be haha.
Chelsie and I have a sister trip tradition each year and last year we weren't able to go anywhere that far with everything that was going on during the year so we planned a spa-ish trip up to Lake Geneva. We started our trip with fried food which is very on brand for us.
We shopped downtown all afternoon which was so nice and leisurely before heading back to the hotel for our massages.
We stayed at the hotel where Sammy and I will stay on our wedding night so it was cool to check it out with Chelsie beforehand.
We brought the essentials.
We hit the buffet before we left the next morning. The weekend was exactly what I needed. Even months later I can remember how much good it did me.
In March I went to the sweetest bridal shower for one of my favorite women. The wedding has since been postponed but Sammy and I can't WAIT to celebrate these two.
It's important to note the evening Sammy came home from work with this Paris print he saw on Facebook Marketplace and bought because he knew I'd love it. I cried because I'm that bitch.
I had major book hangovers from my first Amy Harmon historical fiction work. I loved it, it was like Outlander vibes but Irish and a little more solemn in tone and certainly less Action (and I mean that in a good, simply descriptive way, not a critical way). Very romantic and historical and lovely. I was sobbing under the covers by the end.
We got to register in March, back when we thought our wedding would happen this year. In retrospect, I think I knew even then that we'd have to postpone but we were holding on to any shred of hope we could.
I've been wanting to register at Crate & Barrel for YEARS because I have always been age 45 and over in my heart. I used to drag Sammy into Crate & Barrel in high school to look at things. And the man put up with it and even indulged me by giving opinions on silverware and table settings. Needless to say, I was very, very excited to do this.
And they gave such cute favors at the private event!
March was also when we started working from home and I naively (along with most of us, I'm sure) thought it would only last a month or so.
I've since made my "office" happen in every room in our house except our bedroom. I keep switching depending on my mood. It's driving me a little nuts but I'm also grateful I can do it.
We celebrated St. Joseph's Day in March and I made mediocre bread (thank God I've learned how to make better bread since then) and other various St. Joseph Day dishes.
And Henry wore his traditional red bandana to commemorate the occasion.
I'm so grateful an ARC of this book was sent to me to review. It is such an amazing work of art and words. And I realized the author/illustrator is from my hometown and we're almost the same age which was pretty cool. Highly recommend if graphic novels are especially your thing or you're looking to get into more graphic novels, like me. This medium made reading about heavy grief a little easier, possibly even more relatable too.
We've been trying to be deliberate about at home date nights during quarantine and we've gotten really good at setting time aside to spend together (if I do say so myself). This particular night we watched Ratatouille and had a picnic-style dinner in front of the TV with some cocktails and it was lovely.
This is photo evidence that we've attempted doing activities together like puzzles. This lasted one day. The puzzle didn't survive. Our relationship barely survived.
We've also been trying to order out more lately to support local businesses which has also made dinner feel like date nights.
I've also been trying to make an effort to make new recipes instead of pulling from the same ones in my arsenal over and over. I made champagne lemon risotto recently that was outstanding.
In some ways life has stayed the same since March and in some ways it's gotten weirder or more fun or something else, who knows. This COVID world we're living in is a weird one but I'm making an effort to record it on here anyway.
