January: I attended the Women's March in Seattle with my friends, Mirela and Sarah.
I blogged about it here. I so loved being a part of that! I also loved seeing all of the young girls out there holding signs. Earlier in the month, I added cherry blossoms to
my tree tattoo, baked a
vegan chocolate birthday cake for my mother-in-law, attended lots of
barre3 classes, and found my dream wedding dress at
BHLDN! Two of my bridesmaids (Sarah and Kendal) even flew out to Seattle to
help me shop for a wedding dress. It was a wonderful weekend and I was so grateful to have them there.
February:
My friend Anna visited and stayed with us in Seattle for about a week. I've talked about Anna on my blog a few times before, but we met through blogging years ago, and finally
met up in person for the first time in China. It was fun getting to show her around my city on the other side of the planet! We ate tons of food of course and after discovering Anna was a karaoke fan, I quickly got a group together at
Rockbox, my favorite karaoke spot in the city and we
sang our hearts out for a few hours. We also explored beyond Seattle for a day and took a trip to beautiful Lopez Island.
I blogged about that here! Later in the month, I bought a
new camera and lens (still loving both!) and Adam and I took a weekend trip to the Oregon coast for Valentine's Day. I'm realizing I totally forgot to post photos from that trip... But the Oregon coast is sooo dreamy. We even went to the
Tillamook factory! My cheese-loving heart was pleased.
March: Adam and I took a ferry to Vashon Island since I had never been before. It was a dreary day, but we drove around, visited bakeries, and enjoyed the views. Vashon is where the
J and K pods (our resident orca whales!) were hanging out for a while last year. I have yet to see orcas in Seattle, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! My friend David was here for work for a few days so we hung out one night and got dinner and ice cream on Capitol Hill. It was great to see him!
April: Oh man, April was awesome. Adam is crazy sweet to me and booked a surprise trip to Disneyland for my 30th birthday! Our friends who live in California met us there too, which was another surprise on top of that already big surprise. I was thrilled! Adam even contacted my boss months beforehand and asked if I could have that Monday off work! Sneaky... We had sooo much fun.
I blogged about that trip here. It was the best way to turn 30, that's for sure. I felt so loved. Later in the month, Adam turned 29 and I baked my 2nd vegan chocolate cake of the year and topped it with sparklers (which we lit outdoors). In April we also saw
Todrick Hall, I did some hiking with my girlfriends, and we spent some time in Hood River, Oregon and finally got to meet
our friends' new baby.
May: At the beginning of the month, we flew to Wisconsin for a wine tasting and open house our wedding venue put together. It was just a time for you to get familiar with the grounds, envision how you wanted to decorate, and taste the wines they offered. It was so nice of my in-laws to make the trek out to the Midwest for it! After leaving Wisconsin, we flew to Arizona for
my sister-in-law's graduation and enjoyed a few days in the hot sun. We spent Memorial Day
camping in Hood River, and at the end of May, I finally got to see Taylor Swift in concert!! It was a gorgeous night, and she was amazing.
June: We spent lots of time outdoors and
made friends with some seals in Puget Sound. I saw some of my friends
graduate with their Master's Degrees from Seattle Pacific University, and
I baked my friend Tessa a cake for her Hawaiian-themed graduation party. We spent
father's day out on my in-law's boat and got lots of sun... Too much sun if I'm remembering correctly. June ended on a bit of a sad note. My 19-year-old cat, Molly crossed
rainbow bridge. Thankfully my mom was with her when she passed. She definitely lived a long and happy life. We miss her. <3
July: I spent
the 4th of July with my friend Sarah and her mom in Tacoma. Soon after, I took a trip to Canada to see Adam and his brother compete in a triathlon.
I blogged about that here! A week later, my friend Brian flew out to Seattle for Adam's bachelor party. The guys went mountain biking and white water rafting. Unfortunately, Brian crashed his mountain bike and suffered a concussion. He also had to get stitches in his cheek and above his eyebrow. (The photo above was taken a day before the accident.) He's okay! But it was definitely scary. Later in the month, Adam and I took another trip to Wisconsin for my friend,
Chelsea's wedding. My mom also threw me
a bridal shower. At the end of July,
I took a baking class which was so much fun, and we met some friends in Leavenworth for a chill weekend.
August: I have the greatest friends on the planet! My matron of honor, Ashley, planned my bachelorette party (cat-chelorette if we're being completely accurate) in Austin, Texas so we all flew there to celebrate. My bridesmaids were literally scattered all over the country (Wisconsin, Washington, Colorado, California, and Texas) so it was awesome getting them all together for the weekend. I had a blast and it was surreal seeing them all in the same place at the same time.
I blogged about our Austin adventures here. At the end of the month, I watched Adam compete in his last paddleboard race of the season. Ahh, Seattle summers are so good.
September: We wrapped things up at work and at home before taking off for nearly an entire month for wedding-related festivities. WE GOT MARRIED on September 9th and it was pure magic!!! The day couldn't have been better, really (except for Adam's awful, awful head cold of course!). I'll eventually post some wedding photos and talk more about that day, but for now, I did share some of
our photo booth photos here. The day after our wedding, we left for our honeymoon. I didn't think that was a great idea at first, but looking back, I'm so glad we did it that way. September was just the most wonderful month! We went to
Switzerland,
Italy,
Greece, and spent one night in London before heading back to Seattle. I have lots of catching up to do!
October: Back to reality! It was hard returning to Seattle after having such an incredible time abroad. Our honeymoon was the best. BUT I must admit it was a bit of a relief to finally have the wedding planning process behind us... I guess I didn't talk about it much in this recap, but we spent most of the year frantically planning this wedding from afar and a few weeks out, I started to go into full-blown panic mode. I even broke down at work one day and my boss told me to take the rest of the day off to relax at the spa, haha! Weddings are s-t-r-e-s-s-f-u-l. Was it worth it, though? Yeah, I think it was! I don't regret having a big wedding. It was the greatest party we've ever thrown! Anyway, back to October... I decided I wanted to start a photography business. Haha, yeah, I think I was feeling like I needed another project to occupy my time since the wedding was over. So, I asked for some volunteers to help me grow my portfolio. On a beautiful fall day after work, my friends Katie and Jeff and their dog Mabel met me at Discovery Park for a portrait session. Later in the month, I took an
aerial fitness class, and Adam and I got some pumpkins and watched scary movies while we carved them. I also decided to
chop my hair off. I really missed my bangs!
November: I had
lots of photoshoots! I absolutely love taking photos of people and I was so excited to get this little business rolling. As of November 1st, I officially became a business owner! I received my a business license in the mail and have been working hard to get my website up and running. I'm still working on a few things here and there, but the name of my business is Shutter Pine Photography and
my site is currently LIVE as of yesterday, and I'm ready to rock and roll. If you know anyone in the Seattle area looking for a portrait photographer, please send them my way! Later in the month, Adam and I were invited to attend a murder mystery dinner.
I blogged about that here. We ended the month cooking a giant feast with the in-laws for Thanksgiving. So. Much. Pie.
December: We went Christmas tree hunting at the beginning of the month and picked out the cutest little tree I ever did see.
I blogged about that here. Adam had to go to China for work, but thankfully he was home in time for the holidays. We spent
Christmas with the in-laws. Our original plan was to go out to eat since Adam and I were leaving for Hawaii in the morning, but after seeing the prices of the restaurant we had in mind, collectively decided it wasn't worth it. We spent all day unwrapping gifts and snacking on appetizers before coming to this realization, so by the time dinner rolled around, it was too late to start cooking. We ended up getting takeout from a Vietnamese restaurant. My first time having a banh mi for Christmas dinner, haha. It was sort of nice, though! I think the holidays should be spent enjoying each other's company and not rushing around all day like maniacs. The morning after Christmas, Adam and I jetted off to Hawaii for five days. We both had off work that week and were able to find cheap tickets, so we thought, why not?? We're fortunate to live so close to Hawaii so it's not crazy expensive to fly there.
We loved it so much, we're already planning our next trip!
Wow, 2018 was quite the year for me! It's always fun looking back and reliving the memories. If you're into this sort of thing, here are my
2016 and
2017 year in review posts. I hope you had an amazing 2018!! Cheers to new beginnings and many adventures ahead in 2019! As always, thanks for reading! xo
