Sunset in a Cup.

Life in Pictures 

Homemade vanilla ice cream on Christmas Day

The newest addition to the Clement family... Kayanne

Christmas Day Dinner! YUM

Christmas morning - 30 years old and Santa still comes

Dennie and Adrian after Adrian's marble-in-nose scare

Mathias.. just chillin. On the floor

My funfetti cookies - a HUGE hit!

My first attempt at an Old Fashioned with our new bourbon

Homemade meatballs

Finished product

Homemade chicken soup

BUY THIS NOW. Its only at Trader Joe's for a limited time and.... is seriously...

The most delicious bread I have ever eaten.

I just think this pic of my mom and dad on her birthday is SO adorable.

And now... for some of my favorite Christmas gifts this year! (I am going to try to find all online pics, so here we go)

Anything to get me wearing my fitbit again! Love these wristband colors.

PJS and slippers galore! These are neither the slippers nor PJs I actually got, but I received a whopping 3 pairs of slippers, 1 pair of slipper socks, 2 pajama sets, 1 onesie pajama, 1 robe, and 1 pajama pants.  My God!

Yes I got this bake pan, but also a load of different all-natural Trader Joe's baking mixes! We've already baked 2 different breads and they were SO yummy.

This stuff is basically magic. I normally don't use any face lotion but I'm not kidding this makes my skin look awesome.

My new glittens! This is not my color but this is basically them in white.

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes.

I cannot WAIT for 2015!!!! But before we go on to the next, here are some special moments from this past year:

January
Having Marvin's family over to our apartment for the first time for Marvin's birthday, and everyone meeting!

February
Weekend trip to DC to see my college roommates, and get a private tour of the White House

March
This was a big month... Our engagement!!! And the amazing birthday/engagement weekend that followed.

April
Nothing momentous this month... but lots of wedding venue research, and an amazingly relaxing Spring Break in Brooklyn

May
Marvin graduated with his MBA from Molloy! I was so proud of him. We also got a new camera, booked our venue, and two of my best friends and now bridesmaids (Ava & Jackie) had their babies!

June
Ummm, nothing too momentous here either. School ended! I started my first summer break in Brooklyn.

July
We had our engagement BBQ and got to celebrate with all of our family and friends

August
Two out-of-town weddings (Katie's in Portsmouth, Maine & Betsy's in Newburyport, MA) and my sister's HS graduation party.

September
Ok. So much of my year was marked by wedding planning accomplishments, HA! We booked our DJ, photographer, AND honeymoon. Lots of big ones checked off the list.

October
I said yes to the dress!! Chose bridesmaid dresses, celebrated our 2nd Halloween on the stoop, and participated in the Out of the Darkness Walk for the first time.

November
My second favorite holiday, Thanksgiving... lots of cooking, amazing food, and spending time with my new little cousin Vivian

December
Just wrapped up my first favorite holiday and had one of the best this year with lots of quality family and Marvin time.


Its funny. Aside from wedding planning related things, lots of my "most special memories" really centered around others' special events or celebrations. Weddings, graduations, birthdays. So how do we measure a year? By the accomplishments of the ones we love? The time we spend surrounded by family and friends? Or the personal achievements of goals we set for ourselves?

I guess for me, its all of that and then some.

The pure looks of joy on my friend's faces as they walk down the aisle, or stare into the eyes of their newborn. The sounds of my family, new and old, laughing and sharing stories (sometimes the same ones over and over) across tables filled with home-cooked food. The scent of my sisters' hair when they lean on my shoulder. The sighs of relief when a difficult moment has passed. The tears over shared grief, the comfort in moving on, helping, being helped. The tiny hands of new additions to family and friends. The excited anticipation over upcoming endeavors, the bittersweet satisfaction when they end.

Marvin. His open-mouthed smile, his eyelashes resting on his cheek, his hand covering mine. His neck, stretching over a crowd, locking eyes with my own, reminding me: I am here. The word forever; inviting, exhilarating, comforting... a soft blanket I can finally tuck myself into.

And, yet. As I begin to end this post, the gray clouds open and spew snowflakes frantically. I pause and lift my eyes to the window, watch. Less than a minute passes, the snowflakes recede, the sun peeks from between the leaves. What is it that the universe is reminding to remember?

My Grandma.

Should we measure our years by loss? I think, yes. Loss becomes part of who we are by defining how we move on. This year I kissed my grandmother's cheek for the last time. I miss her every day. But I know she has left her mark on me, and will therefore leave her mark on generations to come. So don't worry Grandma, I didn't forget about you. I just know you will continue to live on in 2015, and the year after that, and after that, and so on...

Forever is composed of nows.

I was just about to write a holiday post and realized there was still one sitting in drafts! So as I sit here half watching 90 Day Fiancé & drinking and Old Fashioned, I'll quickly finish up this post.

Lots of family events going on lately, even before the holidays. Here's Marvin with his nephews during his parents special Thanksgiving mass (and our 3 year anniversary!)

We've been trying to go back to a Paleo/Whole 30 lifestyle again.. Very VERY difficult with the holidays. But anyway, cage free organic egg, grass-fed organic ground beef/turkey, and sweet potatoes have been a STAPLE in making this transition again. 

Scrambled Eggs with sweet potato hash, ground turkey sausage, and avocado.

A big 'ol plate of sweet potato hash

A big 'ol pot of ground turkey sausage

A delicious dinner of sweet potato hash and ground turkey, with a yummy fried egg on top 

Santa and Rudolph at Trishy's Christmas party

And Brooklyn looking absolutely adorable with her little Afro puffs!

That's how strong my love is

Today's one of those headache days where nothing will make it go away no matter what I do or what I take... so here's to trying to distract myself.

My life in pictures over the past few weeks.

My new baby cousin Trent, looking adorable and tiny in his swaddle.

Mom & Dad on their 33rd(?) anniversary. We took them out to this amazing new seafood place but sadly somehow wound up spending over $250!

Save the dates went out! I guess we're officially getting married now :D

The turkey! I actually entered this pic into an instagram contest to win a $200 gift card to one of my favorite stores... but I guess it wasn't good enough 

Another new baby cousin! Vivian stuffing her cute little face.

The tuxes! Still trying to decide if Marvin should go gray or charcoal...

Very blurry pic but some of our outrageous Thanksgiving leftovers. And these are Italian/American/Caribbean leftovers!

Our tree! We didn't even try but literally have the EXACT same setup as last year. (But this year's tree is a little bit bigger)

My new lotions from Origins! Everything on the right was free!

This is how a child was reading in class. Like seriously.

Marvin putting the angel on his mom's tree

Ah-MAZING pumpkin muffins I made yesterday!

Learn what you are, and be such.

It's been awhile! 

Life lately...

Marvin's "costume" on Halloween

My first time making roasted chickpeas! They were delicious but I tried 2 batches and couldn't seem to get them exactly right (first batch a little overdone, second batch a little underdone).

Crazy hat day at school, some of my favs who are slowly becoming the loves of my life...

Syniah:

Brooklyn (left):

Jasmine

Baked white carrots! These were so good and literally tasted like a slightly undercooked french fry. Marvin loved em too!

Some intimidating looking cranes on Flatbush Ave

Brunch after the Out of the Darkness walk. Of course only one person looked... but it was the most important person :-)

Before the walk. Blue beads mean "I support the cause. Purple means "I lost a relative to suicide"

A tiny little boy who truly believes he's batman (Adrian)

Homecooked meal from Marvin's mom: Pan fried swordfish, cole slaw made from scratch, and green beans from the farm. Also... something brand new that i tried...

Coo-coo! Yes, coo-coo. I have no idea where they got that name from, but its basically cornmeal, chilled into a block, sliced, and then fried into these delicious chewy crispy "chips." If they weren't deep fried I would have eaten a million.

Bridesmaid dresses... Check! I finally found the perfect color, honeysuckle, and can't wait to see them on the girls.

A few weeks ago at Tricia's birthday... drinks at Stone Street after. Even though Stone Street is like a frat house for Wall St. bankers, I love it there and it reminds me of Europe.

We've been drinking a lot of Sixpoint lately... this is not really one of my favs though,

I just loved how this tree looked on a perfect fall day.

Apple picking with the Clement clan.

The truth: 

Highlights of a 5-day weekend

I'm grateful for the perfect weather and LOTs of time I spent relaxing during this 5 day weekend. Here are some highlights:

Wednesday night: Obsessed over wedding planning (not really a highlight but I can't remember what else I did).

Thursday: Booked our photographer! Then ate chicken quesadillas from Mama's Taqueria

Friday: Starbucks with a coworker, bought new flats... Happy hour pumpkin beers and good conversation at 200 Fifth (which I am now, embarrassingly, the Dutchess of on Yelp). 200 Fifth is the best place for happy hour beers; all their drafts are half off and they literally have like revolving drafts. Also, they have huge windows/doors that they keep opening, making any bar seat a great spot to feel the breeze and people watch. 

Saturday: Long walk to Mr. Lime to buy some cheap fruits & veggies. Watched The Last 3 days on our couch with some cocktails. 

Our most common home cooked dinner lately: stirfry with chicken and veggies (using cotsco frozen boneless skinless tenders and frozen premium veggies)

It's perfect to bring for lunch with some cashews on top!

For some reason this giant spaghetti squash was on sale for $1.49 today. After roasting it and scraping it, we has it for dinner with some Parmesan cheese grated on top. YUM

I just finished reading The One and Only. It was okay. I'm not really into football so I skimmed a lot of pages. But I really loved the main character, Shea, and I love how the story ended. 

Now I'm onto Visitation Street. Another book that takes place in Brooklyn. Supposedly the style and plot is supposed to be a lot like Gone Girl. So far it's okay, I have been skimming pages... But trying to stick through it.