Sileo Family Christmas

My mom and Jack are in town this weekend to celebrate the holidays. We did this last year and it is pretty nice to have an extended holiday and way less stressful!

So far, we've ate and drank our way through the weekend. Starting with a holiday dinner at Chris and Missy's, where we opened gifts. The next morning, Carl and I had everyone over to our house for brunch. It was a beautiful day so the girls loved being outside. It was quite challenging to get a picture with the two of them in it and both looking at the camera so there are some cute ones of them separately.

Yesterday, my mom and I along with Missy and some friends, went to try on wedding dresses. It was my first time trying anything on and while I thought I knew what I wanted, it helped to confirm what I don't want. There are so many beautiful options out there, though that I have to try on more. It's also tons of fun!

Last night, we went out to dinner to celebrate mine and Carl's engagement and tonight I'm babysitting the girls with my Mom and Jack while Chris and Missy go out on a much deserved date. Carl left town for the week today and I already miss him. We've been together for the past 3 weeks and I certainly got used to him being around. Hopefully this week I'll get some more wedding planning done, though, as the clock is ticking.....

Big Sur

While of course our engagement at Big Sur was the highlight of the trip, I thought I'd share a few photos of what we saw. We went a bit overboard with the number of pictures we took so I'll spare you all the repetition. It really was a beautiful place and, of course, will always remain a special place in my heart as the beginning of the next stage of our life together.

Of note, the first picture of the two of us on the beach was right after we got engaged. We celebrated with our picnic lunch of almond butter and jelly sandwiches, oranges and beef jerky!

Happy New Year!

2011 was a pretty remarkable year. I look back on it with such gratitude - for my job, my friends, my family, my relationship with Carl. And 2012 is already giving me so much to look forward to. As I'm sure all of my adoring fans know by now, Carl proposed to me last week while we were in Big Sur.

Even prior to his proposal, we'd had a great trip. We enjoyed 4 days in San Francisco, staying at Jenn and Tom's house while they were out of town. We both loved walking to eat, going to the movies, driving to Napa, eating Chinese food and sleeping in. It was one of the most relaxing trips I've ever had.

Big Sur was, of course, beautiful and relaxing in its own way, too. We couldn't get enough pictures of the waves crashing on the enormous rocks. Of course the best part of the trip was our engagement. Carl surprised me after a hike one afternoon with a proposal and beautiful ring. While I had no doubt we'd get married it's great to officially call him my fiance and begin to plan our wedding and life together.

A Year Later....

Carl and I celebrated our one year anniversary this past weekend. It's hard to believe that it's been one year since our first date - burgers at lunch on a cold Friday afternoon (yes, he was still wearing flip flops). But what a great year it's been!

We didn't do much to celebrate this weekend since we were with his family in Houston but that was just as important to me. I've met them all several times now but this was the first time to spend an entire weekend with them and to celebrate a holiday. His family is very different than mine - bigger and louder for sure - but also so loving and kind (that's not the part that's different from mine). I feel like a part of their family when I'm with them and so appreciate that.

I actually think that Stewart Family Christmas is much like Carroll Family Christmas, which is my mom's side of the family. She, too, is one of 5 children and there were 12 grandchildren (to the Stewart's current 7). I have such fond memories of my childhood holidays with all my aunts, uncles and cousins, that maybe that's why it all felt so comfortable and familiar.

I also now have a better idea of how my parents probably coped with the chaos - wine! I had enough to put me to bed (with the lights on) by 10pm. Feeling great the next morning, though, we headed back to Austin. I'm just grateful that I ran my 6 mile run before the wine drinking started.

I won't make this a sappy blog post about how great Carl is and how happy I am that he's in my life but suffice it to say we're in a great place and I look forward to many more years with him.

Traditions

As previously described, I'm a big fan of traditions, especially around the holidays. Some traditions I have with my friends include volunteering with Coats for Kids. I try to find ways to regularly volunteer and this is one event that I really enjoy and look forward to giving my time to. Both Haley and Devon are in the Junior League, which puts on the event every year. It's a great chance to support those in the Austin community who may not have coats to keep their kids warm. I know, it's a bit ironic to worry about coats in Austin, but we have had a cold spell already and our blood is thin here! I need coats (at least 10...)

So Kelsey, Devon, Haley and I started our weekend with an early wake up call to volunteer. I'm already committed to next year and can't wait until Devon and Haley take over this committee and make tons of improvements!

The next tradition this weekend was watching the movie Love Actually. For the past several years, my girlfriends and I have gotten together to watch this movie, all while wearing comfy clothes and eating junk food. This year, we decided to make the event bigger and rented out the Alamo for a morning brunch event and invite other friends to join us. To make it more fun, we did a toy drive for Toys for Tots and had a bingo game to fundraise for Jen's half marathon. The whole event was a huge success and I hope we do it, again, next year!

The final (new) tradition this year was some crafting projects at Devon's house. This time we made some hot chocolate mix and mini gingerbread houses. It was tons of fun and I think our houses make a cute little village.

So it was a quite a busy weekend but full of fun things. This coming weekend I'm going with Carl to Houston to celebrate Christmas with his family. I'm looking forward to seeing what their traditions are!

Mindfulness Project - November Update

During the month of November my goal was to work on relationships. Admittedly I didn't have a specific goal in mind but I did want to work on reaching out to friends that I don't talk to as much, seeing friends that I don't see as often, spending time with those I love and thinking about my relationships at work. Some of the things I did accomplish were:

1. Beginning to work with a leadership coach at work, which led to the completion of a 360 evaluation from my peers. This was a great way for me to learn what people think of me and put goals into place to continue to grow as a manager and leader.
2. Reaching out to friends, via email and phone, that I may not talk to as often.
3. Being purposeful in spending time with friends, family and loved ones and expressing my gratitude for that time.
4. As previously posted, spending Thanksgiving with Carl and honoring that relationship on our first Thanksgiving.

As always, I'm reminded how lucky I am to have such great relationships but I can always work to do more. I hope my family and friends know how much I appreciate them and the support they constantly provide to me.

Oh Christmas Tree....

Last night, Carl and I put up our Christmas Tree. As you may recall, two years ago (at an amazing end-of-the-year sale) I got a fake tree. While I mourned the loss of real trees and real tree smells, I was reminded last night why I got a fake tree. It's a perfect little tree for my perfect little house.

Carl isn't much into traditions, which is something I'm working to accept but he loves me very much and supports my desire to have traditions. So while I was unpacking the ornaments, he put on some holiday music and hung the lights outside on the front porch.

Even though Carl and I started dating right before Christmas last year (our third date was on Christmas Eve) this is our first big holiday together. To kick it off, we already bought our Christmas gift to each other - a great new, 'fancy' SLR camera! I'm excited to take it on trips, especially our upcoming one to California.