Our Reception Video

This is the video Chris Babbit made for us for our reception.  Both songs in the background are the ones we danced to with our mom and dad on our wedding day. I will say, I just watched it for the first time since the wedding, and...i cried a little.  I will also say...Taylor was a sweet little baby :)

2010: Our Year in Pictures

2010: Our Year in Pictures

1/2/10- Was honored to stand beside my high school bestie, Kendra Cosko, and watch her become Mrs. Kendra Franke!

...caught the bouquet :) (me next?)

1/31/10- Traveled to Miami, FL with Megan for Super Bowl Weekend to meet Taylor and some more of the Power Balance Crew.

...and for Chad Ochocinco's Super Bowl party, sponsored by PB.  

2/20/10- Went up north to go skiing with Jessie.

4/3/10 - 4/9/10 Roadtripped to Charleston, SC for my Spring Break to see my college friends!

4/8/10...was surprised to see Taylor there in Battery Park later in the week...

And he asked me to marry him :) (video below)

I said YES! So, we celebrated!

4/10/10- Drove to Cleveland with Taylor and Ryan to do some PB work at the Cav's game...and run a PB promotional "meet-and-greet" with Shaq...

5/8/10- Traveled to Atlanta, GA to celebrate my sweet college roommate and friend Lulie's wedding!

5/29/10- Flew to CA on Memorial Day weekend to see my new fiance and celebrate our engagement with friends and family there.

 

5/31/10- Got our engagement pictures taken by the wonderful Matthew Morgan (http://matthewmorgan.net/) in Laguna Beach, CA.

6/4/10- Finished my first year of teaching 6th/7th grade math at Columbus Collegiate Academy, an amazing charter school in inner-city Columbus.  Was very sad to leave the wonderful things going on at our school and to leave my students :( But, excited to start a new life in CA with my soon-to-be husband!

6/18/10- Celebrated the marriage of one of my best friends from high school, Olivia, and her new hubby Dana!

6/27/10- Roadtripped across the country with my high school best friend, Katie Jacobs, to move out to CA.

 

7/10/10- Taylor stood alongside Clark Hardman as his best man in his wedding as he married his new wife Val :)

8/3/10- Drai's in Hollywood for a PB celebrity poker tournament and benefit, raising money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.  Met some Westerville friends there!

8/5/10- Traveled to Charleston for my Bachelorette weekend!

June-August- Had a some beautiful wedding showers...hosted by sister and Taylor's aunt :)

August- Got a job teaching 7th grade math at LePort Schools here in CA!

10/9/10- Married my best friend :)

10/15-10/22- Honeymooned in Bali, Indonesia

11/25-11/28- Traveled back to OH to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

11/26/10- Had my 5-year high school reunion.

12/11/10- PB Christmas Party

12/19-12/26- Daddy and Megan came to visit us and spend Christmas in CA!

New Hobby

Taylor emailed me the other day, sharing with me the new Groupon for Orange County.  If you aren't familiar with Groupon, it’s awesome and you should definitely sign up for the one in your area (go to groupon.com)! Basically, Groupon negotiates huge discounts—usually 50-90% off—with popular businesses in your area. They send the deals daily to you in an email.  The deals are usually coupons for restaurants, massage places, fitness classes, oil changes, hair salons, etc.  Anyway, the Groupon Taylor sent me was a 50% coupon for cake decorating classes at a local bakery. 

I have been really into baking lately (and cooking), mainly because of the new and fun kitchen gadgets people blessed Taylor and I with as wedding gifts :)  I also did a lot of baking in college with my roommate Sophie, who is now working her way through culinary school in Washington DC to become a pastry chef.  She taught me many different things to bake and cook in college.  We'd stay up real late and bake for hours— things for friend's birthdays, things for our neighbors, things for parties we were going to, or just things for ourselves and roommates (which probably didn't help us defeat the "freshman twenty").  Most of the time, I would actually just watch her and chat with her for hours, because I couldn't do nearly as good of a job as she did.  I think, though, this is when I grew to love baking. 

So, I ended up purchasing the Groupon, and am super excited excited about it! The deal includes a 4-week course on any level I choose.  (I will stick with beginner course for now) The classes will be 2 hours each session, 1 night per week.  In the beginner's class, we learn how to create: 

·  borders, scallops, basket weave, roses

·  my own choice cake

·  cupcake bouquets

·  and character cakes

Just the basics for now—since I know nothing so far. If I decide to take further classes, we learn how to make wedding cakes, bikini cakes—wohoo :), fondant, flowers with gum paste, fondant bows, color flow, and other decorating techniques.

For the classes, and obviously to continue cake decorating on your own, you do need a lot of supplies—tips, couplers, a rose nail, a turntable, a cake comb, and drape markers.  So, if anyone knows a way to get those items at a discounted price, let me know! :)

I'm really excited about it!  After baking a lot this Christmas season (and loving it), I tossed around the idea of maybe pursuing it a little bit further someday...opening a bakery, doing some in home baking for people as a side job, doing it for charitable purposes...who knows?  The beauty of being a teacher is having summers to enjoy new hobbies :)  I'd love to continue learning and seeing how well I like it….I’ll keep you posted!

New Years, LA Style

Want to feel like you were with us on New Years Eve?  Check out the video I made using my new Flip video camera we got for Christmas.  Enjoy :)

Happy 2011!

Welcome, 2011!  To begin the new year, Taylor and I decided to start a blog as a way to document our first years of marriage and to share the fun times, hard times, changes and anything else we experience as newlyweds. 

As a perfectionist by nature, I (Amanda) have never been good at writing regularly in journals because of my personal desire to always best express myself and my thoughts both eloquently and clearly. The thought of starting a blog always sounded even crazier to me, considering that now other people will actually be reading my writing--that means I need to be that more articulate and eloquent with my words, right?  However, I've decided this blog will be everything but eloquent. I'm just kidding, but I do plan for this blog to be a simple one, with the sole purpose of keeping in touch with our friends and family--sharing pictures, videos, quick stories, things were learning, things were praying about, things we need prayer for, ways the Lord is working in our lives, ways God has shown his goodness to us, etc.

Now that you feel overwhelmed thinking about the amount of effort that went into just this post :), here goes our first ever blog, "Everyday a Holiday." We're excited to share this journey with you all :)