*NWR* Christmas & Traditions

*NWR*=Not Wedding Related

 

 

 

This was Josh and my last Christmas as "singles". We have been together for 7 Christmas. Since we have been living together we have already started some of our own traditions, but I can no wait to add more as we start our own married lives!

One of the time honored traditions I have been apart of since I was born, and my parents went to for years before I was even thought of. Josh has now been apart of it for 6-7 years.

Every Christmas eve we go to my parent's and my dad's past co-workers house. There is piles and piles of food, and sweets and drinks and FUN! And ever since I can remember there has been a "fruitcake name drawing" tradition. This fruitcake has to be between 20-25 years old. Apparently someone had brought the fruitcake to the party, and Glenda joked "What am I suppose to do with this??"

So what did she do, she kept for a year in the freezer, then decided to put everyone's name into a bag and have the kids pick 1 and whoever it was had to take the fruitcake for the year and keep it and bring it back the following Christmas eve. Once, for 4 years in a row, I picked the same name!! After that I wasn't allowed to draw anymore. Now this year, because Josh and I are old enough to be getting married our names got thrown into the mix. And who won the fruitcake this year?? Yes, that is correct, say hello to Mr & Mrs Fruitcake for the year. It is now sitting in the back of my freezer. I can not wait to go back next year and pass this fruitcake one. (fingers crossed we don't get picked again).

This has been an amazing Christmas filled with so much love, and joy and excitement for next year.

 

Merry Christmas from the future Mr. & Mrs. Hertel!



*NWR* Halloween

*NWR*= Not Wedding Related

 

 

Josh and I are big fans of Halloween! We have dressed up every year, and there has actually only been 1 year he did not go out with me. We also dress up Whiskey (our dog) of course!!

We've gotten more creative as the years go on!

 

Starting at the top left (2008) Scotsman,, and "St Paulie's Girl", top right (2009) Spartan, and school girl, bottom left (2010) Link and Zelda [We had a whole group of us go out at the Super Mario Smash Bros-one of the best years yet], bottom right (2011) Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the White Rabbit.

 

(2012) Flynn Ryder and Rapunzel

 

 

This year was no different, I was so excited for this Halloween, I had my costume picked and planned a few days after Halloween 2012. Josh took a little long to decide on his, but it was EPIC!!!!

Obviously we are 90's kids, that's what we grew up in, so these costumes were a testament to that. Anyone older than the 90's didn't get it and anyone younger thought it was cool, but didn't understand.

May I present:

 

Carmen San Diego & Quialman!!!! 2013

 (This is the top contender for best Halloween yet!)

My co-maids of honor cam out with us, Stephanie (on the end) was a witch, and Aubrey was Robin Hood



 



*NWR* Hockey Home Season Opener

*NWR*= Not Wedding Related

 

 

We had the FL Panther season opener on Oct 11 against the penguins. It has also been 20 years of hockey for the Panthers. I could not have been more excited for this hockey opener.

 

For the first time in 6 years I got to go to the hockey season opener with the guy I met 6 years ago while working the season opener.

 

 

That's right, for the last 5 hockey seasons (that I did not work) I went to all the season openers and most of the games with friends. I always had to sit and look for Josh working, and settle for a quick walk by kiss as he was on his way to fix something.

This year Josh was an actual guest to the hockey game. We met up with some friends and "picnicked" in the parking lot.

This momentous occasion called for something special, and Josh pulled through and got me a corsage! <3 He said this was like our own little version of prom.

 

Here are the pictures from the day, and you can tell on both our faces, we could not have been happier!

See the pretty corsage?!

 

Our seats

And to top the night off, the Panther won!

 





*NWR* Disney- Star Wars Weekend

*NWR*= Not Wedding Related 

 

 

We went to Disney a few weekends ago for Star Wars weekend. Josh has been dreaming of this visit forever! We finally set it in motion and it was AWESOME!!!  I haven't been to MGM studios in 10 years, so a lot has changed and I was brave enough to go on the rides. There's not much more to say, so I will let the pictures do the talking.

 

 

The first picture of the day with the Storm Troopers

Josh was so excited to meet and take pictures with any and all characters

Had to wait 45 minutes for this- well worth it!

We made our own droids (too bad we already have our cake toppers)

This is Tower of Terror, shit got real on this one. Pure love: Josh laughing at me, while I am terrified

Sheer adrenaline, This went from 0-60 in like 2 seconds

Had to try some hats on!

We had so much FUN!!!



*NWR* The Weekend

*NWR* = Not Wedding Related

 

 

This weekend was a lot of fun! However as the title explains it is not wedding related. Josh and I had signed up for a 5K obstacle race back in November. This past weekend was the day! It was called  Run for your Lives . It was a zombie infested 5K and obstacle course. It was A LOT of fun! I never thought I would enjoy this. We I should have trained more for this. I walked/speed walked a lot of it and ran through the zombie patches, when I had my flags. The obstacles were the most fun! I would do a 5K of just obstacles the whole way! We both were and still are sore for the untrained running, but we cant wait to do it again! We also have a few battle scars. As part of the course you had to crawl through a mud/sand pit with water....and rocks.... my knees are a little beat up, but its just part of the story. Josh had all 3 of his flags and was bobbing and weaving from the zombies hit a water spot and went down, he's got some scratches on his shoulder from that. Below are some pictures of us after the race.

 

You can tell how muddy and grimy it was by the way we look, but SMILES :)

We got cleaned up and a had a picture with the banner

They gave us beer when we crossed the finish line!

 

See the partial shirt I'm wearing in that last one? That is the next race we are going to prepare for. This Run for Your Lives was in Hialeah, Miami. Armageddon Ambush is what my shirt is promoting, and we are going to try for that one in Davie, the date is TBD.

 

 

Sunday was a great day as well. The weather was perfect!!! So we took advantage and took a small picnic to the park with the dog, kites, and Frisbee.

Look at those beautiful blue skies and the kite extraordinaire and helper Whiskey.

 

Josh had gotten us kites for Easter. Mine is the angry pig green on and Josh of course had Star Wars, Yoda.

 

 

 

Not that I am going to divulge into some wedding stuff, I will just say there is a lot of wedding things going on this week and those updates will be up later. :)