" I love her, and that's the beginning and end of everything."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
Valentine’s Day is here! Ever since I was a little girl, this holiday has had my heart all aflutter!
It’s a day to celebrate all the l o v e in your life, not just the love you may have for a significant other – but the love you share with your family and friends, too.
Recently, you may have noticed that we took an unnecessarily long hiatus - absence makes the heart grow fonder …. right? And what better way to mark Valentine’s Day than with sharing what I was up to all those months. For starters, we moved into our first home together, had the wedding of our dreams this past June, followed by a magical honeymoon, and have been settling into married life quite nicely for the past 8 months.
On June 11, 2016, I had the fairy tale wedding I always dreamed of! Have you ever heard the story of how my husband and I met?
Thanks to a mutual friend hosting the first half of his bachelor party on my Dad's wiffleball field (if you build it they will come...and if you're lucky enough, you can marry your oldest daughter off to one of them), I first noticed Justin as he was running around the bases with his shirt off, and his pants hanging well below his waist. Well actually, let me rewind here, my MOM, first noticed Justin and quickly pointed him out to me. Apparently Justin was alerted to me as well, but had some difficulty determining which one of the Asmar girls was the 23 yr. old. But, that didn't stop him from doing numerous back flips into the pool to "impress" me, as my sisters quickly noted.
Later that night a friend and I met the group out for drinks, and Justin quickly determined which Asmar girl was of drinking age. After hanging out that night, I made the bold decision to invite him to a Yankee game the following weekend. BUT, being ever so the gentleman (oh, how he had me fooled), he noted that I could not be the first one to initiate a date, so I agreed to let him take me to dinner the Thursday before the game. Our first date at La Campagna in Morristown, NJ opened his eyes to my love for food, and the fact that I'm not afraid to hide it ... and the rest is history!!!
After a traditional Catholic wedding mass, we celebrated our marriage with the closest of family and friends at the Basking Ridge Country Club in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The day was everything we could have dreamed of and more!
One day later, we were off to Antigua on our honeymoon! It took months of research and weighing the pros and cons of each Caribbean island before we finally settled on Antigua (no joke, the decision caused me more stress than planning our wedding)! I have traveled my whole life throughout the U.S., Italy and France, but I have never been to the Caribbean (one afternoon in Tijuana doesn’t count, right??), so I was determined to find just the perfect little retreat for us! I stumbled upon Cocos Hotel, and it turned out to be the best honeymoon we could have ever asked for! A tiny boutique hotel, with 30 huts built into the cliffs overlooking the ocean (of course we sprung for the hut with the private infinity pool)! By the end of the week the staff knew both our names, and our drink orders, we had met some great new friends and we definitely did not want to leave!!
We’re settling nicely into married life. Not much has changed since we lived together for quite some time before tying the knot, although I still forget to sign my new last name every now and then! The wedding hype is over and we spend our days working and completing small projects on our home. You may have noticed we’re in the middle of a tiny DIY bathroom renovation, and hoping to update our kitchen within the next few months.
Life is definitely an adventure and we are excited to see what’s in store for us. 2017 marks not only our one-year wedding anniversary, but my 30th birthday as well!! It will also mark a new and exciting adventure for The Social Peacock … you’ll just have to wait and see what that’s all about!!
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Love the ones you’re with! xo