New Year New Decade

As I enter a new decade of my life....I reflect on the past one.....and look forward to the new chapter I have just begun....may 2010 bring us happiness! Every New Years Eve we get together to celebrate the past year  and toast to the hope of a successful new one. This NYE was spent in Atlanta with close family and friends. It was a short lived trip, but a pretty amazing night. I still remember the countdown, the toast, the kiss, and the words "I love you" at the stroke of midnight...and in that moment we entered a new decade. How was this new period of time going to play out we had NO idea. I was so happy in that moment, so surreal my life was, almost as if I were dreaming and needed to wake up.

That following January we got hit with big snow storm. It was the largest one Tennessee has seen in a long time. I was out of work for a few days waiting on the ice to melt.  I must say this though, it was nice to be

locked up at home with my two favorite men. This was Bentley's first snow, and he loved it!! I was getting ready for a year a travel...In store for Feb was two more trips to Atlanta, one for my birthday party and another for shoe modeling.

The Birthday party was something that I had planned as a surprise for my sister and my best friend Chris...both had wanted to do something fun and different...so I made arrangements to spend the weekend in Atlanta. I booked all the hotel rooms and the VIP table for the party. I surprised them both with actually being there for the weekend. Both thought I had made other plans. Chris was so funny and depressed that Tamara or myself didn't plan anything big for our 25th bday and she was taking him out of town away from his friends for the weekend, and as for my sister she was just bummed that I wasn't able to come to her party...both surprises turned out perfect. I was able to get there before them and decorate their rooms and record the surprise!!

 Later that evening we went out on the town and celebrated....I was so happy that my plan worked but really sad that my girlfriends didn't come, but all in all I had the most important people there.

That following weekend I was back in Atlanta for the shoe show...I didn't get to spend a lot of time with my local friends the weekend before but this weekend was dedicated to shoes and Alexis. Her and I had became really close friends over the past year and half. I always enjoy my weekends modeling shoes...what women wouldn't??? I mean you walk in this amazingly large convention room full of shoes that are all your size!! Well you can say 3 days of SHOE Heaven....I love everyone I work with too, Sofft Shoes are simply amazing...every February its a tradition to go to dinner for my birthday after the show...this year it was Cheesecake Factory... yummmm one of my faves...The next day at work I got about 15 pairs of shoes as a birthday present as well to take home from that lovely trip. Lets just say it was an amazing weekend!! Once I got home my birthday was only a few days away. I planned an evening out to dinner with my friends in Nashville. A small select few of us went. My choice was Urban Flats it is absolutely one of my favorite places to eat in Nashville. The food is amazing and the price is right! I enjoyed the company of friends and family over wine and flats.

I spent the last weekend of my birthday month devoted to my baby sister. She met me work with the cutest birthday card ever! We hit the road to Memphis, it was her first time there. She was excited! I was taking her gambling for the first time.We got in late that night around 9 pm. I told her we had to change quickly and get down to the tables...LOL I was ready to make some money! I had a little bit of free play to get us started...But the best news was running into my friends that are always there.We ended up doing pretty well that night...She couldn't believe how lucky we were and how much fun playing blackjack was. The next day I had plans for us to go to a concert to see Eric Clapton. It was such a fun night listening to the music of a legend! I was so happy to see this in my lifetime...another check off my bucklist.

 On our last morning there, we woke up early and explored Memphis, had world famous BBQ on Beale Street, we also got to see the Peabody Ducks walk down the red carpet...It was one of the most beautiful days ever. The ride home was amazing and Britt was excited to be coming home with cash in her pocket!  But I was more excited about my future plans in March just a couple weeks away to scratch off my buck list!!

Home for the Holidays

The Holiday season is best spent with the ones you love and hold so dear...well this season was the best one I had ever had...As I made my return to Nashville from my weekend in Tunica, I came home to a lovely surprise...Trae had set up a date night with some of his friends at 3rd and Lindsley, a live local venue to see artists. Well we became fans to a great rock band called THE COLD STARES....it became our date night tradition together to go see them when they played in town.

As the season changed and the weather colder...I felt like we were growing closer to each other and building our home and life together. Trae's best friend had moved backed to Brazil for awhile, but came to visit us for the holidays...He was pretty excited that he was coming to stay with us. We had a full house this year and I felt blessed to be surrounded by everyone. I grew to learn CL that winter, we shared stories, laughs, and developed a friendship. I really wanted to decorate the house the holidays this year, it took some persuading, and lots of home cooked hot meals to get Trae to agree to it but he did. I was so excited to put up a Christmas tree, and I even talked him into putting Christmas light on the house. So we took a trip to Home Depot for some shopping.

This year was going to be our first Thanksgiving at our home. I was so excited to have my family over, as well as friends that were from out of town. The day started early in the morning as I made breakfast and started preparing our first turkey, just I watched my mom do as a child. The aromas of food cooking in the kitchen, the sounds of family and laughter filled our house with joy that day. I couldn't have been any happier with this day. I was very thankful to have shared those moments with such precious people that meant the world to me.

The month of December consisted of many nights in front of the fireplace with either a good glass of wine or a warm mug of eggnog, and a game of monopoly with good friends, we would all sit around the coffee table and enjoy each others company. That Christmas morning was the first I spent away from my parents. Trae and I spent that morning together in our home. I got up to make a yummy southern breakfast and we opened gifts under our tree. One of our Christmas presents was tickets to the Chargers vs Titans game that night. It was so much fun and a very blessed Holiday season. As my year was coming to a close I was as happy as I could be. I had the love of my life and a home that we were slowly building.