life is very long

life is very long. - t.s. elliot

not the first person to say it. certainly not the first person to think it. but absolutely spot on.

we've spent the last few months in a state of utter exhaustion. tired of looking for a house, tired of estimates that were way to high to fix things (like bathrooms), tired of asking "do we want to even live in florida?!" so we just stopped. and we prayed. and we asked for advice. and the universe told us that life is very long, and that we are very young, and roots can grow when you are standing in front of a house with a "sold" sign, but they can also form with a lease in your hand and your husband by your side in a city that you're just kind of okay with. life doesn't have to look a certain way. and it's never going to. because at 29 and 30 - maybe we want to hold off on finding out all of our surprises. 

welp, that was a doozey of a year

2013 was a beautiful balance between all the great stuff that makes this life so wonderful with all the terrible, no-good-stuff that comes with it.

whoooooooooooooooooosh...it knocks the wind out of me when i think about everything that happened.

and tears brim my eyes because i know there was absolutely, positively no way that i could have gone through any of it, had patricio not offered his arm and helped keep me steady, never wavering in his love and devotion to not only me, but my parents and my brothers.

you make me so grateful that marriage exists, patrick. 

farewell 2013. you came too fast, but i'm glad you're not sticking around. (that's what she said?) 

i have a lot to do in my last year of being a 20-something so 2014 take your sweet time rolling on through. 

merry christmas!

cheers to yet another beautiful christmas season.

celebratory season

i've spent the last few days repeating myself over and over "how is christmas next week?!" but it is next week. exactly one week from today is christmas day and 2013 is coming to a close and it's just so crazy...this time of year plows through like a freight train. here for a second, and then gone. 

i digress. today is december 18th. since i was five, i've loved december 18th because it meant the lewis family officially kicked off their celebratory season. the three of us have our birthdays within three weeks of each other. december 18th kicked off three solid weeks of presents, and parties, and cake, and delicious food, and then more presents, more parties, more cake, and more delicious food. don't forget about christmas! and new years! and throw in the fact that we would travel across the country every other year to celebrate christmas in new mexico. wrapped presents and all! the amount of patience, and coordination, and work that went into making not only each christmas but each birthday SPECIAL....and it all literally happening at once...geez, my parents are amazing people. 

and then i met pat, and december 18th became even more special, because it's HIS birthday. and so now the lewis family has one more reason to celebrate december 18th-january 9th because we have not three, but four birthdays! 

happy birthday, daniel and patricio! 

daniel, you completed the five of us - the icing on the cake, as you like to call yourself. i am so so proud to be your big sister.

and pat you are where my new family begins. i am so very lucky that i get to do life with you.

so, here's to you both. 

you're loved and celebrated, not only on december 18th, but every darn day of the year.

what he wore

patrick was not super involved in the planning of our wedding. and i mean that in the BEST possible way. he helped me whenever i asked, gave his opinion on things that mattered to him, but for the most part it was "you like it? and your parents are okay with it? okay it looks great to me." he was the ideal groom...but there was one thing he was very particular about and that's all things having to do with his attire.

he said from the very beginning that he would not be wearing a tuxedo. and that was just fine by me. if you went to our wedding you can kind of see how a tuxedo would have looked a tad bit out of place.

he chose a grey suit early on, which made my decision about the bridesmaid dresses even easier. he chose the "fitzgerald" suit from brooks brothers. they were amazingly helpful in placing orders to dozens of stores across the country so that our groomsmen's suits could be pieced together.

contrary to what my father says (he still turns beat red whenever we bring up the fact that last christmas he asked everyone "who wears bowties besides a clown?!" and pat solemnly said "i do.") bow ties are the bees knees! and patrick heckel is a man who can pull them off flawlessly.

navy was the obvious choice, and as an ode to his unwavering love for his wife....he went with polka dots. we bought all the ties from the tie bar  and gifted the groomsmen theirs.

much like his decision to not wear a tux, he was also dead set against a very feminine boutonniere. when we sat down with our florist for the first time and the subject of his boutonniere came up he immediately said "no, no, no, no" when we started to flip through a book of flowers. he wanted something simple. something masculine. with some green. and silver brunia was just what he was looking for.

last little deets..

shoes are cole haan via nordstrom. 

belt is from childhood (probs made it in boys scouts to be honest, he loves that thing and i fear the day the leather finally gives). 

and bless his heart, he wore his watch. i gave it to him as a birthday gift a few years ago, and when i saw it on his wrist at the altar i found something so sweet about it.