A Glimpse of 2010

I must say 2010 was a wonderful year. There were lots and lots of awesome things that happened! Most notably of course would be my wedding to my most wonderful husband, Collin! I will look back at 2010 and always remember with fondness the precious memories that were made. It was not all without hardships but in the grand scheme of things none of that matters. Here's to hoping that 2011 will be even better filled with more blessings than I could ever imagine!

Enjoy a small glimpse of my 2010!

On April 24 I married my best friend and became Mrs. Collin Pastorius and I could not be happier! This marriage is the best thing to ever happen to me and I keep falling more and more in love every day!




For our honeymoon we traveled to Atlantic Beach, NC for a few days. We unfortunately couldn't go on our Mexican Riviera trip we had planned due to unforeseen circumstances that came up. We decided that in order to save as much money as possible we'd do a shorter and closer trip. However, it was such a wonderful and relaxing 4 days! Collin grew up in Havelock which is about 30 mins from the beach so he had lots of fun showing me around the area. And we got to go mini golfing, go to the aquarium, eat at Sonic, and just enjoy our first few days of married life. It was quite chilly and windy while we were there so we unfortunately only got to go to the beach for about an hour one afternoon and we didn't get in the water; we played in the sand and it was fun! That trip was simply wonderful.




Since we didn't get to take a "real" honeymoon my cousin and her husband sent us on a Disney cruise to the Bahamas in September and that was the most amazing trip! Neither of us had ever been on a cruise before and we LOVED it. We did nothing but relax. It was a much needed break from the hectic-ness of the previous several months and we came back completely refreshed and in love. We traveled down to Florida a few days early before the cruise and actually spent some time in Orlando which was really nice as well. It was such a great experience and trip. We will definitely be cruising again.



Collin and I both grew up with pets. I had a couple dogs and several cats throughout my childhood (my parents still have 3 cats now) and Collin had a dog and several cats (his parents still have 2) so it was only natural that we would want pets. When Collin moved into our town home before the wedding he ended up taking one of the cats from his parent's. He was practically Collin's cat anyway. Stank seemed to love being with us but he seemed a bit lonely so we toyed with the idea of adopting a new cat to keep him company. We would go to the adoption days at Petco almost every week and just look and see what was there. And one day we went and saw this beautiful black cat with the sweetest disposition. We adopted her right then and there and that's how we got our Shadow.




In October my baby sister got married! It was a beautiful day and I was so excited and happy for her to finally be marrying Tim. They'd been together for 4 years and were so ready for this next step in their relationship. It was a blessing to be able to share in her special day.


There are of course some other things that happened that I don't really have photos for but have impacted me in a big way this year. First of all, I moved out of my parent's house. Granted I didn't live there when I was in college, but I never really lived "on my own" per se. I always lived on campus in college and I would go home on breaks and then I eventually moved back home after graduation. It was scary, but also really exciting to finally be independent. And what a better person to become independent with than my best friend and husband. It's been fun figuring out all the little things that make having a home successful. I like being a housewife and as I've mentioned before, if I could, I'd make that my full time job! And something that goes along with moving out, I began cooking. My mom is such a great cook I didn't really have a need to make my own meals. Of course there were the rare occasions when I would have to prepare something for just myself or for me and Collin but that was usually a really simple microwave type meal or macaroni and cheese. Even though I don't really like to cook it's a necessary evil in my life and I've begun cooking more and actually enjoying it on occasion. This is HUGE for me and I know that if I was more prepared (as I've also mentioned before) I would actually enjoy cooking more. And I've always known I enjoy baking but just within the past several months I've come to realize that I love baking. I love sweets and so it's only natural for me to enjoy making things I love. But baking is so therapeutic and fun!

Another milestone for me would have to be that I've not only been singing on the praise band but I've been playing keyboards too. Every once in a while I would fill in for the piano player if for some reason he wasn't able to be at practice or there on a Sunday but really I was just a singer. Then we went to a worship leader's conference and saw how integral a keyboard (in addition to a piano) can be. What texture and warmth it can bring to songs. We finally decided to add a keyboard and I've been having a lot of fun figuring out what to play and what sounds to use to add to the songs. I've definitely become a better player because of all of this, more confident and adventurous. But the biggest accomplishment I think is that I don't get nervous playing anymore! I still get a bit nervous if I'm playing a solo piano piece but playing in the band doesn't bother me. It's the most wonderful feeling for me to actually enjoy playing in front of everyone. And I can sing and play and do just fine. I never thought that would be something I could do. And I guess it's really not something I can do, at least not by myself. And so it's been great working with God to be able to be at this stage of my worship leading.

So as you can see 2010 was a great year! I'm so grateful for all the many blessings that God gave me. I hope that your year was just as much a blessing as mine. If you wrote a 2010 review post, leave the link. I'd love to read about it!

Here's to a joyful and blessed 2011!

Cindy