2010, the year that wouldn't relent (in a goodish way)

Somehow, I don't know how, it's November 10th. The last thing I remember, it was the middle of summer and the second half of the year was still stretched out before me. So what happened between then and now? A lot. And rather than write a 5000 word essay to explain it all, I'm going to try and keep this brief so that I can feel caught up without boring us all and then happily move on to other things!

In April, I got engaged. Later in April, we decided to get married in September. I suppose that decision was pretty primary in where my summer/fall have gone.

The wedding planning was non-stop and intense, but fun. After five years together, boyfriend and I felt there was no reason to draw out the engagement and with a venue in place (the charming historic farmhouse where my parents live), everything else just came together. Just like magic! Ok, not really, but with a little work and a lot of time, we made it work.

boyfriend got an upgrade; he's a husband now!

It was a wonderful day and we had a great time, even if it did rain during the ceremony (we thankfully had a tent filled with twinkle-lights as a back-up). The upside to the rain was that we'd chosen this as our cake topper:

who needs the sun when we have each other?

Looks like it was part of the plan all along, right? Yeah, we're clever like that ;)

So now we're happily married, had a wonderful honeymoon in Hawaii, and are on the hunt for a house (another all-too-time-consuming activity, but alas, we--or more accurately, our possessions--have outgrown our midtown Toronto apartment).

Between the wedding planning, the wedding itself, the honeymoon, the house huting and everything that goes along with them, I also became an aunt for the first time (on my birthday no less!), got a promotion at work (officially an EA instead of just an AA) and have read many books (both for work and for pleasure when I can manage it)!

like this, except less tome-like and more teen litish

Unfortunately, the busy life I've been leading has left a pitiful amount of free time to work on my next book, and that kills me because my excitement level for it has never waned. But now I'm back on track, trying to work on it when I can (though I find I'm working right through my lunch these days, which had previously been prime writing time). Along with finding a house, I want to make finishing this book a priority.

poor, neglected book baby

With mere weeks left in the year, I feel like I'm missing time, but there are many reasons to be happy it's November. Case in point:

oh, HermioRon, i heart thee so!

Also, the holidays are on their way and though November is still a bit early for me to start decorating, I can't help but feel a bit of holiday spirit bubbling up inside when I hear Christmas carols in all the stores (even if they did start playing them before Halloween, which, let's face it, is kind of insane).

Mostly, I'm just happy to be married now and have all the planning out of the way. It's good to finally get back to "normal", whatever that means, and have more time to write and look forward to everything that comes next!