A year in review

What a year 2011 has been! Last year at this time, the mister and I were getting ready for the movers to come pack us up and bring us home to San Diego. We had such an eventful year!

We started 2011 with our amazing Antiguan honeymoon. Not only did we fall in love with the beautiful scenery, the friendly people and the amazing beaches, we got some much needed rest and relaxation before starting new in San Diego.

We had so many visitors our first month in our new house. My sissy love was on leave between South Korea and Huntingdon, England. She stayed with us for about 3 weeks, so of course our parents came out to visit for a family reunion! It was the first time in over a year our whole family was together so we needed a new family photo. We flew out my cousin Kristine (who also shot my wedding) to do our family portraits. She did such a great job!

In April, one of my best friends came down to visit with her kids for a week! We had so much fun watching old episodes of Inspector Gadget, drinking sweet tea vodka at book club, going to Sea World, exploring Balboa Park, crashing housings Easter Egg Hunt and a birthday party! The kids had so much fun at Auntie Teeta's house :) 



Being pirates at a toddlers birthday party!

In May, the mister and I got to go to Santa Cruz together for the first time. Unfortunately it was for his grandmas funeral, but it was nice to meet the Donatelli side of the family finally. Anthony hadn't seen some of his cousins for 15 years so it was really great to finally meet them. We got to see them all again in November for a much happier occasion, his cousins wedding! I am so close to my family and I hope we can have the same kind of relationship with his.

Some of the cousins with the "new" Donatellis!



This summer was the first time in probably 8 years that I had time off to take a proper trip to Minnesota! My doctor takes a week off in June every year and I took the opportunity to go visit my parents. It was so nice to go out there and not have to rush to see everybody! I even got to go fishing!

Don't you love that my mom has kept her Kearny Cheer sweat shirt all these years!

The rest of the summer flew bye with a couple of my cousins visiting! It's always fun to show off all San Diego has to offer. We don't get to see the "touristy" things very often since we have lived here so long. I went to the Zoo for the first time in probably almost 10 years with my cousin and his wife. I also went to the Del Mar Horse Races with my mini me cousin Katie to kick off her college education! We had so much fun!

The summer ended with a Wine Diva's reunion! Four out of our seven original Ventura Diva's now live in San Diego. I am so happy to have them all here! We get together a few times a month to do what we do best... Drink wine!

My sweet husband turned 30 this September, and to ring in this new decade we got a PUPPY!!! Little Sadie Rufus Rose (Bear Butt) Donatelli joined our family October 29th. She has been quite the addition to our little family! It is so rewarding to watch her grow and teach her how to be a good girl. It helps that's she's the cutest puppy in the entire world :). I may be biased, but she really is freaking cute!

September was also our 1st wedding anniversary! We had an incredible dinner at home just the two of us. We don't always get to do that, so it was very special.

The day after our anniversary, I flew out to London! What an amazing trip! My sissy love and I had the BEST time together exploring Edinburgh, Scotland and she even braved the rain in London for me. We drank a LOT of cider, walked circles around the city, almost got in a plane crash and had a bunch of Harry Potter trivia thrown at us in the short time we got to spend together!  

We spent Thanksgiving in Arizona with my aunt and uncle. Anthony got to golf with my uncle while I got to shop and hang out with my aunt. It was such a relaxing 5 days! Beautiful weather and great company. You can't ask for much more!

This month, I got to do something I've been wanting to do since before our wedding! I FINALLY trashed my dress!! I worked with an old friend of mine and his cousin, and the results were beyond incredible! The best part of the whole experience was how much FUN we had! I was tossed around by the waves and crawling in the sand and spent the next couple days digging sand out of my hair and ears, and it was so worth it!

Christmas was very nice and quiet. We had the Brodies over for dinner and played some Monopoly! New Years will probably be the same. We like to be low key around the holidays. Keeps the stress levels low!

My hope for 2012 is that it does not go as fast as 2011 did!

From  my little family to yours, we hope you all have had an amazing year and here's to a happy and healthy 2012!

Until next time!

T.Don

It's Christmas Time at the Donatellis!

At Anthony's work Holiday Party

Christmas is only 3 days away!

This year has just flown bye. The mister and I are so excited to celebrate our second Christmas as a married couple. This is our first year in a house, so we have been stoked to FINALLY be able to put up Christmas lights. Well we were, until we got a notice on our door from the housing office saying we were going to have our houses painted the weeks before Christmas. Go figure. The worst part is that it is now 3 days until Christmas, and they STILL have not gotten to our house! Today I said screw it, and put some lights in our bushes! We're hoping to get the lights on the house tonight or tomorrow. We are not going to let them ruin our excitement! 

Even though we haven't been able to decorate the outside, I've done my best to bring the Christmas spirit inside. We got our tree a couple weeks ago and I love it! Normally we get a bigger tree (6 or 7 feet), but this year we went with a perfect little 4 footer! We were concerned (and rightfully so!) that the pup would try to eat the ornaments and possibly knock over the tree. We put our little tree up on a table so it's completely off the floor and away from the dog, and it' is absolutely perfect!

One of our traditions at Christmas time is we wrap all our paintings and framed photo's with fun holiday wrapping paper so it looks like we have presents on our walls! I use the one in our entry way to hang our holiday cards to display them. This year I also got some fake snow to decorate our kitchen window and our wine bar. It's really cheesy, but super fun for me! Plus, it's festive and looks great!

Some of our favorite wine staying festive and our snowmen chillin in the snow!

Oh, and of coarse we had to add a stocking for our newest addition!

One of our most fun traditions is hiding our Christmas pickle on the tree! It's been a tradition in my family for years, so when I moved out, my mom gave me my own to continue it on!

I love that our tree is completely unique! We don't have 2 ornaments that match, and most of them have some special meaning to us.

After a year hiatus, we actually got our holiday cards in the mail yesterday! I love that Anthony and I have connected with his extended family this year, which made his list just as long as mine! I love having a big family :). I sometimes miss the craziness of the holidays with my side of the family, but the peacefulness of staying home and spending quality time with my husband is just as special to me. We are starting our own traditions. Who knows what they will end up being!

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas!

Until next time,

T. Don