2013 Resolutions, and 2012 recap!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it's so late. I promised I'd have my New Years Resolution Blog up by the end of today. I spent most of the day lounging around. Surprisingly after a wonderful party with good friends last night I came away relatively unscathed. No major New Years Day hangover to report. However it is a transitioning point in my life at the moment in more ways than just the new year. I have left one aspect of my professional life and am beginning a new journey starting on Thursday and I'm very excited for the venture. So now that I am winding down my day I figured I'd get to it! I have quite a few resolutions I'd like to begin or continue so without further adieu here they are.

1. Perform more Random Acts of Kindness for both strangers and friends/family.
2. Finish my first 1/2 Marathon which is the Disney Princess 1/2 on 2/24
3. Continue and maintain my fitness routine and goals
4. Hire a personal trainer if possible.
5. To drop 4-6 pant sizes by the end of the year
6. Sign up and complete a 2nd 1/2 Marathon
7. Get more organized both in life and my household.
8. Maintain a clean house by making sure when new things come in old things are donated or thrown out.
9. Purchase a real Louis Vuitton purse (I Know this one is shallow but I've always wanted one)
10. Begin to plan our trip to London/Paris in 2014
11. Travel more before we start trying for children
12. Take my blogging/vlogging to the next level and continue to produce new content regularly
13. Possibly consider going back to college for a post graduate degree
14. Eliminate debts that can be eliminated....I want to try to pay off my student loans and health care credit card.
15. Begin to put money away and start looking to purchase our first home together.
16. Start taking prenatal vitamins to prepare for having a child in the future
17. Have fun, take more chances, stress less, live more and live for the moment.

So there you have it, my list of New Years resolutions, some of them are very personal and some of them are your normal resolutions, some are shallow but things I want to achieve. So that's it. That is what I would like to Achieve in 2013 and beyond. My goals are to make my life and my marriage the best that they can be and continue to grow as a person and a wife. 2012 was very good to me I did a lot and I saw a lot. So here's a quick recap of the major events that happened in 2012.

March - I saw Les Miserables live at Shea's theater, it was a production that changed the way I see musical theater it was an amazing experience. It was probably my 7th or 8th show that I've seen live and by far one of the best at that point and time. I was also full swing into planning my October 2012 wedding which at that point was almost finished, very ahead of schedule.

View from our seats before the show started

The stage Screen

Me all dolled up fro the production

Live guns!

The Production Poster

May - I have to say that outside of October May was my absolute favorite month of 2012. I was able to afford for Ben and I to take an awesome trip to Manchester, England. It was stunning and so much fun. England is my favorite country and this time it would be just Him and I. Our first trip overseas together. (We went to England/Scotland in 2010 with his parents for his sisters wedding which was also an amazing trip). The main purpose of the trip this time was to see Ramin Karimloo who is a West End actor who was branching out into a music career as well and had just released his album. His voice is absolutely stunning so I knew I just had to get tickets. We ended up getting 2nd row tickets because we bought them so early. On this trip we also were able to get tickets to the Phantom of the Opera production in which John Owen Jones and Simon Bailey were the leads. It was absolutely a stunning production and the staging was just amazing! It is right up there in my book with Les Miserables. We visited the Arndale Shopping Centre and City Square. It was amazing. We also happened to be there when Manchester City won their title in football (Soccer). The only downfall was that I didn't have proper shoes for all of the walking we did so we did spent more time in our hotel that originally planned but it was still an amazing trip and we did a lot. I cannot wait until 2014 when we get to go back to England. The Ramin Karimloo show was the close of our vacation and it was outstanding. It was such an intimate concert, not like shows I've been to in the past. He has such raw talent and it was worth everything we paid to enjoy this show. An amazing way to just forget about the wedding planning for a little while and a way for Ben and I to just connect and explore the world.

The Canal Side

More Pretty Water

 I <3 MCR

Manchester Cathedral and a Mini Cooper

The Window at the Cathedral

City Centre Hall

Phantom production poster

City Hall again

Shot from the Concert (Sorry it's Blurry)

Facinator! I wanted it soo bad!

Love Manchester

Simon Bailey and Me!

John Owen Jones & Me

More Blurry Concert Shots

Fish and Chip Shop!

The handsome and talented Ramin Karimloo and myself.

September - This month's highlights were my Bridal shower, which was so much fun. It was held at a state park near Niagara falls. It was a very fun day! My closest family and friends were there to celebrate with me! Also in September I was able to go see Ramin Karimloo again but this time it was in Pittsburgh, PA which is only about a 3 hour drive from where I live. He ended up announcing a US tour shortly after we arrived home from England and since his show was so good in England we figured we'd go see him here since it was so close and we were able to use points from one of our credit cards to book into the Hampton Inn, Pittsburgh for free. It was a gorgeous hotel room with a view of the whole city! The Ross Park mall was AWESOME! There was a Louis Vuitton store (which is where I will be getting my purse from later this year) and a Vera Bradley store. It was a pretty cool mall. The show was incredible. We had meet and greet passes and were able to meet him and talk to him for a moment. He really is a sweetheart! He remembered us from England! It was a very intimate show, only 500 tickets or so were sold for the whole event. His voice is amazing and if he performs in any more West End productions hopefully we can work it into our budget and our schedule to see him, so maybe he'll have something in the works for 2014 when we are planning to go! So THAT was an amazing trip.

Ramin and myself! He is so sweet!

Concert shots! I was allowed to take my SLR to this show!

Banjo!

More Banjo shots!

Dancing Fountain

More of the Dancing Fountain at the Hard Rock

Shot of the City

Gorgeous Downtown Pittsburgh

Another Shot of Downtown Pittsburgh

Krispy Kreme! I haven't had these in years!

Iced coffee goodness!

Vera Bradley Store

Lunch at 5 Guys

Shot from the car window!

View from our hotel room from one window

More of the hotel view

View from the other window in our room

One more concert Shot!

October - This month was amazing and so full of family and love. My birthday was on the 20th and we celebrated by having my bachelorette party! That was a good night! I had an amazing time with my friends. The next weekend was the event I'd been waiting for and planning since June of 2011. The day I married my best friend. The weekend started on 10/26 with the rehearsal dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls, NY. It was so much fun. I gave a speech and Ben gave the most wonderful speech! Then we retreated back to our hotel where I spent the night in the most gorgeous hotel room, I've never stayed in such a room, it had a living room area and a bedroom and a huge bathroom and also a kitchen area! It was bigger than my townhouse! (Not really, but it was huge). We spent the morning getting ready just the girls! It was raining all day but that didn't stop us we still had a wonderful wedding! We were able to take photos at a winery indoors and it was  so much fun! The reception was amazing! We had the best tasting food, stuffed pork and chicken parm. There was a photobooth and the DJ kept it rocking all night and played TONS of Disney music! Score for him! We had Ben's family from England, and my family from all over New York State and we were surrounded by our closest friends as well. It was just a wonderful night and I can't believe it went by in the blink of an eye. I'm so happy to be married to Ben, he is my friend and though in our 6 year relationship we had some ups and downs, we made it through everything and couldn't be happier!

Spinny Picture

Vows!(Photograph by Joseph Diebold Photography)

We did have our first Christmas together as a married couple and we decided this time to just to stay home with our beagle and spend the holiday together. Next year we are planning to have a big family Christmas so we'll see how that plays out. It's been an amazing year with way more ups then downs. I am hoping to make 2013 my year and start our lives together and plan some amazing adventures and hopefully make myself a better person and the best wife that I can be! I know it won't be completely perfect but I do know it will be a year to grow as a person and I plan on making it the best that I can!

Sorry it was so long winded tonight folks but I had a lot to share! I hope you like the 2012 Photo tour and I hope you continue to want to share with me in 2013! Stay tuned in the coming days for more fun things in store!! Happy New Year!!!