February Days

It's been a while since we last posted a topic on the blog (mostly my fault - but what can I say, life in Brockville is pretty busy :P). February has always been a fun month for me having both Valentine's Day and my Birthday all within a 2 week period! At this point I'm sure people know that I'm not very into celebrating my birthday. I mean I have a great dinner with the fam, and Luke and I often go out for a dinner and a movie (since going to the movies is one of my favourite things to do!). And that's pretty much sums it up. I don't normally do a big birthday outing/party, in fact the biggest thing I ever did was have a birthday dinner at Jack Astor's last year when I was turning 25, and (typically) I don't have any proof of it actually occurring. But it was fun! lol.

When Luke and I started doing long distance, Luke would be a sweetie and send me Valentine's Day flowers and gifts all the way from Canada's shorts...uh I mean the US :P

Haha but in all seriousness the gifts were always beautiful and sometimes delicious as well.

                                                                 Flowers from 2011

And these:

                                                     Flowers and chocolates from 2012



Actually Luke and I recently celebrated Valentine's Day together for the first time in 4 years! We were in Toronto together last weekend looking at a wedding venue (yes we are going to book it, and no you'll have to wait to hear about it in another post). We went to Jack Astor's (apparently this is the only place I go to lol) which wasn't overly romantic but the food was yummy and just being in each others company was more than enough. Hopefully if all goes well Luke and I will FINALLY move in together this fall and will get to spend all the future Valentine's Days together! *applause* Yay!
In terms of birthdays, I don't have any major plans for next week (surprise surprise) but I'm sure there will be wine involved.

Cheers,

Tyler

Birthday Celebrations of Years Past

Hello friends and family! Sorry for, again, making a post so late in the month!

One of the topics Tyler and I chose for the month of January is, of course, my birthday. I love birthdays. Tyler isn't as into them as much as I am, but I have always loved having an excuse to get all my friends together and usually doing what I love most: going out to eat and then socializing with drinks afterwards. My first birthday with Tyler was in 2008 and was actually very shortly after we started dating (less than two months in). You would never know our relationship was so young based on the photos from that night.

Tyler and I looking at each other adoringly over dinner.

But then again, for those of you who didn't know, we first told each other we loved each other two weeks in, so to say it was a bit of a whirlwind romance is a bit of an understatement :)

What I also love about looking back at these photos is how quickly our friends accepted the "new guy" with such open arms. As Tyler had mentioned in his last post, I became pretty close with his circle of friends fairly early on. Fortunately my friends seemed to feel the same way about him early on.

My close friends Karly and Marissa with Ty and me being dorks

What I also love from that year was Tyler's present. He got me a bunch of small inside joke type things that I WISH I had taken a picture of. The ones I recall are a McDonald's gift card (I was a big fan of late night quarter pounder runs after a night out) and a Lego Star Wars set. Oh, he knew me so well.



The following year (2009) was also pretty memorable. I had decided that I was going to do my two favourite things: dinner with my besties as well as drinks in a lounge, spread over two nights. Dinner was… interesting to say the least. We went to our favourite Italian restaurant at the time (which shall remain nameless, you'll understand why in a bit…). Unfortunately it was more memorable for its series of strange events. Long story short: our particular waiter was not as attentive as we would have liked, and a number of us were not very happy about it. One particular guest (he was dating one of my BFFs at the time) decided to 1) stick mussel shells in the wine jug (don't ask me how he got it in) and then stole a pepper shaker and gave it to me as a birthday gift. You can tell how happy Tyler and I are to have an authentic Italian pepper shaker (which I believe ended up going to Tyler's parents house when I left Toronto… I wonder if it's still around somewhere)

You can also tell how much it had been snowing on my birthday. Serves me right for being born in January and living in Canada

Fortunately my second night out was a LITTLE more classy. I had friends over at my apartment (God, I still miss that place), but not without shameless selfies first:

 When the guests arrived is when the dancing began.

Two of our BFFs Gio and Nigel

Afterwards, we went to a swanky lounge near my apartment called Panorama

And even the snow didn't stop us from having epic dance parties on the balcony

So those were probably the two most action packed birthdays. Unfortunately, with our current situation, our birthdays haven't been spent together. This year I got two things that I wanted for my birthday: video games and a visit from him shortly before my birthday. What more could a boy ask for? :)

Tyler and I in Newport; January, 2014

New Year's

Sorry for the late response! Things have been a little crazy this month for Luke and me!

Given today's occasion we thought it would be a fun idea to discuss past New Year's we celebrated together. Our first New Year's together was in 2008 celebrated in our friend, Katie Ann's, basement in Etobicoke. The whole Saucy Posse was there and Luke had officially been accepted as a member. For those who don't know the Saucy Posse is a close-knit group of my friends from my highschool and Luke was officially the first addition to this group ever. Kinda a big deal. Overall the night was great and we shared our first New Year's kiss as a couple! Yay memories!

Fast forward a year (2009) - Luke and me are living together in his apartment in Toronto and this is our first time hosting New Year's with all of our friends. It was a lot of fun! Preparing the appetizers, drinks, champagne toasts, etc. Luke had to go to bed a little early since Calvin made him drink sketchy Jamaican rum which proved a bit too much (an ongoing theme that Calvin and Luke share). lol. Also a fantastic year. Luke and I really loved his apartment in Toronto and still miss it. It definitely was a great evening.

Our favourite New Year's was in 2010 when Luke and I stayed with our friend Marissa in Toronto in the Gladstone Hotel! A bunch of people showed up including some friends of Marissa, the Saucy Posse, and some randoms that ended up crashing the night... it was a serious party which ended early for me and a difficult morning. But a nice breakfast with Luke and Marissa at the Gladstone hotel and some Koren food later that day for lunch did the trick. The hotel had great panoramic views of downtown Toronto which made the night extra special!

These years stand out mostly because they were years that for the most part Luke and I were actually together living in Toronto. The years after that have been great but not as extravagant as our earlier years with all of our friends :P Tonight Luke and me are having a nice relaxing New Year's eve at his new place in Providence, RI. Still dressed up with drinks, music and good company. :)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

So December is officially upon us (although looking out my window in Providence on this rainy Sunday, it's hard to believe winter is around the corner).

Of course December always conjures up memories of Christmas for Tyler and me. Tyler is REALLY into Christmas, and particularly gets into listening to the Christmas music. This was a bit of an adjustment for me early in our relationship (particularly since we started dating right around when Christmas season was starting), as Christmas music is not usually my cup of tea (you can ask anyone who has been in the car with me when Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" comes on… I'm not a happy camper).

But don't get me wrong, I love the Christmas season. It was especially fun back in 2009 when I tagged along with Tyler's family for their yearly Christmas tree cutting tradition. Growing up myself, I was not a stranger to getting a real tree for Christmas, but I was new to the idea of Christmas tree farms. When Tyler had initially told me that such a place even existed, I thought he was joking. It sounded somewhat ridiculous, but also pretty cool. I particularly got a kick out of us cutting down the tree ourselves with a tiny saw. These Canadians are so self-sufficient! But in all seriousness, it was great to be included in a major Milton family tradition. Looking forward to many more!

Special Day

Tyler's and my second date in November 2007. We were only 19 years old!

Hello friends and family!

Today is a special day, as not only is it Thanksgiving for those of us in the US, but also Tyler's and my six year anniversary! ALSO it's about the one year mark for our wedding (due to snafus with wedding planning, an official date has not been set yet but we are working on it!).

Given all of the great stuff happening today, I thought it would be a good starting off point to make a blog looking back on the best moments of our relationship. The basic premise is that two times a month, Tyler and I will each write posts looking back on special moments in our relationship over the past six years leading up to the big day. You can kind of think of it like Throwback Thursday but with the stories to back up the ultra filtered photos.

Since we have quite a long history together, I don't think it will be too difficult finding material to write and reminisce about. And I might throw in some other current stuff as it comes along as well.

Look out for new posts on the first and third Sunday of every month!

Happy anniversary, Ty!

Tyler and I, September 2013, considerably older but not much wiser