Sunday, January 1, 2012

2011 in review

2011, obviously, is my favorite year to date. 2007 was my fave for awhile because that's when I both graduated college and met the love of my life, but 2011 stole the show when I married said love of my life! So, we began 2011 in January with our bachelor/bachelorette parties and my bridal shower(s) (one hosted by my wonderful aunt and mother, the other by my home church), then our wedding in February! The rest of 2011 was just enjoying life as newlyweds! Everything is recapped below:


January 2011 (pre-wedding):
The beginning of 2011 was super busy and soooo fun! I had my bridal shower, my bachelorette party, Aaron went fishing for his bachelor party (but then he went out with his guys the night before our wedding because they were all in town), and we had a couple's wedding shower that our church hosted for us! My bachlorette party was on Saturday night, January 29th and my MOH Crystal organized everything and they surprised me, blindfolded at the Grand Bohemian Hotel downtown Orlando where we had matching t-shirts and a Tiffany and Co. theme, then we went to a fantstic dinner and night out in downtown Orlando, it was a blast and I appreciate all the work from Crystal and all my girls! My bridal shower was the next day January 30th and this was hosted by my Aunt Kim and my Mom and was held at my mom's house, it was a french/pink and gold theme and was absolutely stunning! Our couple's shower form our church family was so sweet because it was something Aaron and I could enjoy together and they even set up a money tree for us and did a beautiful job on everything!

Bachelorette Party!



Bridal Shower!
Aaron Fishing trip with my Dad, etc.

February 2011 (WEDDING!)
February 12, 2011.... best. day. ever.


Remainder of the Spring 2011 (Post-Wedding):
We spent immediately following our wedding just getting back into the routine of things (ie. returning to work and grad school), as well as me getting my name changed from Brooke Nicole Roberts, to Brooke Roberts Druliner! Soooo exciting (although the actual process of changing your name is ridiculous!). We enjoyed our time as the new Mr. and Mrs. and wrote a bunch of thank you cards form the wedding! People were so generous and amazing to us!
Newlyweds / Thank You Notes

Summer 2011:
During the summer we discovered the panhandle beaches and spent a lotttttt of weekends on Destin Beach. Both of us grew up at the beach, but neither had to been to the panhandle gulf coast and let me tell you, the beaches here are 2nd to the beaches of a Caribbean Island!!! Clear blue/torqoise water and sugar white sand... heaven!

Hanging out on the Gulf Coast beaches and our favorite restaurant for oysters in Destin, The Back Porch!

Fall 2011:
One of the most memorable things about the fall 2011 is that we took an awesome trip to Boston, MA! Neither of us had been there, and it was the first time we rode on a plane together (Aaron's first commercial flight actually!). We had a blasttttt! I had a conference up there that I had to present at, so I did that for a few days then we got to have some fun! Boston is amazing and we are both kind of obsessed about moving there possibly one day (post-doc at Harvard for Brooke?? We'll see!) We did the famous Duck Tour which is a tour of the city on an amphibian vessel that they used in WWII, so it drove on the road and turned into a boat and we sailed on the Charles River, it was great because we got to see the overall tour and then we knew which places to go back and check out further. So, we visited the John Hancock Tower, the Prudential Building (ate lunch at the very top), visited Harvard and MIT, the Isabella Stewart Gardener art museum (Aaron was in love), cemetery where Sam Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, etc are buried, the North end with all the Italian food and Mike's pastries, as well as the Old North Church where Paul Revere lit the lantern, Boston Commons, Bunker Hill monument, Fenway, ate at Smith and Wollensky's.... etc.! I'm probably missing a bunch of stuff!

Just some picture from our Boston trip!

... and my brother Brent moved to Tally for a semester at TCC, we miss having him here! We also bought a GMC SUV which we love!

Getting Brent set up in his apartment/dorm room in Tally!

Aaron and his new whip!

and finally for the Fall, we got our little bundle of joy:

Sugarbear!!

Christmas 2011:
This Christmas was wonderful because it was our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs.! And, it was really the first time since the wedding we got to see everyone again in a big group so that was nice! Here is our first Christmas card as "The Druliners":

Merry Christmas from the Druliners!

I'm sure I missed a lot of stuff since I am trying to catch up, but those are a least the highlights of the year! And with that, we are ready for 2012!!