A Year In Review: 2015

2015 has been an incredibly fulfilling year. Without further ado, I present my very first:
 
Year In Review: 2015

January:
The beginning of 2015 was off to a great start. We took a weekend trip to Fort Worth, ran a 5k, and celebrated Professor's 3rd birthday. 

February:
This month brought our first snow of the season. We took a short trip to Colorado with friends, celebrated Valentine's Day, and I went to a Maroon 5 concert in Houston.

March:
In March, we had more snow, I made new goals, caught up with friends, and Yung started a new job. 

April:
April was busy with working extra shifts. Plenty of fun gatherings with friends, dogs, and Yung.

May:
May was a great month. More extra shifts at work kept me occupied in between the babies, weddings, concerts (in Houston), and planning for the summer. Yung joined me in Louisiana for Memorial Day weekend. 

June:
Taiwan took over for the month. Aaron and I traveled overseas and had a blast. You can find all the posts for Taiwan here. 

July:
It really felt like summer towards the middle of the month. We had a fun July 4th. I got my wisdom teeth taken out. We had several weddings and baptisms to attend as well.

August:
August was a pretty typical month. I attended Aaron's White Coat Ceremony in New Orleans, and spent the remaining weeks working plenty of extra shifts and preparing for the fall. 

September:
From Labor Day to my birthday, to everything in between-- September was an eventful month. We were anticipating our busy fall to come.

October:
This was by far our busiest month. We had out of town weddings, our California trip, the State Fair,  Yung turning 30, and our engagement to name a few events. It was a memorable 4 weeks. 

November:
Yung vacationed in Japan with friends, and we all got ready for the holidays to begin. I spent Thanksgiving in Louisiana and loved my time there.

December:
December has flown by all too quickly. We got into the Christmas spirit by spending time with our families, visiting ICE, treating ourselves to Fogo De Chao, and watching the new Star Wars movie. Yung's work set us up with tickets to a private screening, and I am now turning into a fan!  

In 2016, I hope to accomplish more things on my 30 before 30 list. Just like last year, I'm not writing down any New Years Resolutions. I have plenty to do with my 30 before 30, and we have a fun wedding to plan <3  

As I always say: Here's to a year of happiness, healthy decisions, being brave, and living a life filled with significance.

Sending you love well wishes,
Connie

Christmas Cheer

Dearest Friends and Family,

May your holiday season be filled with joy and cheer.  Although I will be spending Christmas at work this year, I plan to put away the lists for a while (at least for a day!). I'll be enjoying a a quiet Christmas here in Texas and anticipating New Years in Louisiana next week.

Have a happy and healthy holiday. Sending love and merry wishes to all. 

Love, Connie

P.S. My Christmas card from Yung is the best. It is so creative and unique. I often feel like I need to frame everything he makes me <3

California: Part 2

After our first night at the Country Inn, we woke up to a cloudy and cool day and started out with a delicious breakfast. Then we took a short walk/jog to Glass Beach before coming back to get ready for Tammy's Wedding.

Breakfast #1 at the Country Inn. You are looking at eggs, sausage, and cream filled french toast with craisins and peaches.  I've never tasted such a scrumptious breakfast.

Until I had breakfast #2. Eggs, potato cake (it was literally the yummiest mashed potatoes clumped together beautifully) and a berry scone. 

Tammy and I have been friends for almost 5 years. She was the very first registered nurse that I trained, and she has flourished and grown so much over the years. She and her (now) wife, Paige moved to California about 2 years ago, and have now settled into life on the West Coast.  Although the day started out cloudy, the sun came out just in time for their noon ceremony. The wedding was thoughtful, intimate, and look place in the MOST breath taking setting. We had a wonderful time celebrating the brides, and loved meeting her family, colleagues, and friends.

After the wedding, Yung and I planned to go on a hike at the Jugland Nature Reserve. This is where he proposed!!!!!!! You can read about that here.

We shared an Italian dinner that evening and were treated to some live music. It was a perfect evening.

The next day, after another run to the beach, we made our way back to San Francisco.
Muir Woods was our next stop. It is home to gorgeous redwood trees that we enjoyed on our walk.

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and doing a little exploring in the city. I was too busy sharing the news of our engagement and staring at my ring to really focus on anything else :)

We had several delicious meals as well.

We did make it up to Twin Peaks, which is the 2nd highest point in San Francisco. It was a great way to see an overview of the city.

We are ready for our next adventure!

Where we stayed:
The Country Inn, Fort Bragg, CA
Air B & B

Where we ate:
Khooma Lana, Santa Rosa, CA
Whole Foods
Tartine Bakery, San Francisco, CA
Ramen Dojo, San Mateo, CA

Don't forget to catch up with California: Part 1.

All photos taken by Yung. 

ICE

ICE at the Gaylord Texan Resort has been on my Christmas bucket list for many years. It is a special hand carved ice sculpture exhibit that takes place every year between Thanksgiving and New Years. The sculptures are prepared and crafted by special ice sculptors that are flown in from China each fall.

In the past, they have had themes such as Shrek, Snoopy, and Frosty the Snowman. This year, they featured "Christmas Around the World." We learned how other countries celebrate Christmas, and what makes it unique to them.

Here are a few tips to consider when preparing for your trip to ICE:

1. Dress warmly. As you can see in the picture below, I was not appropriately dressed. My feet were ice blocks by the time we had finished the exhibit. The temperature inside remains about 9 degrees Fahrenheit. They do give you big jackets to help keep you warm (which we were wary about wearing because thanks to me, we are becoming big germaphobes), but make sure you wear shoes that cover your feet and pants that cover your ankles. Bring gloves too. Although the jackets are pretty large (one size fits most), there are no pockets.

2. Visit during a non-peak time--either on a weekday, on a weekend when they first open, or after 5pm. We got there around 3pm and stood in a very long line It moved pretty quickly, but when we left around 5pm, the line had completed disappeared.

3. Allot time to walk around the Gaylord Hotel. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, and it reminded me a little of the San Antonio Riverwalk. 

4. Use a Groupon or other coupon if you can. It can really add up after you get tickets and include parking. Unfortunately, we were not able to take advantage of any deals. A Groupon for ICE came out the day after we visited.

5. Have fun and take pictures plenty of photos!

Photos by Yung.