December

The month has gone by in a flash it seems. We wasted no time getting out Christmas decorations and lights up. The beginning of the month brought us expensive visits to the vet for Hilo (aka Baby or Kitten), the youngest of our furry "kids". He's been battling the equivalent of kitty kidney stones which is life threatening for cats. After some emergency trips in and a long weekend stay he required some serious nursing at home. At one point he was skin and bones and was too weak to even jump into my lap, which was heartbreaking to see.

We were planning to head to Miami the first week of December to turn in Wade's graduation paperwork and see off our friend Marilyn before she moved to the Virgin Islands, but due to Hilo's issues, Wade had to make the trip alone while I hand fed Hilo 5 times a day plus stuff meds and water into him. I was really disappointed to not be able to go see Marilyn, but it was a huge relief to see the kitten eating on his own by the time Wade got back. Below is a picture of the sleepy Kitten on our bed.

The second week of December I spent in DC for work. It was a great to see my friends in town that week, but nasty weather book-ended my trip and left me stranded in airports/on the tarmac for 13 hrs on both Monday and Friday. This also made me miss a key meeting I was going to DC to lead, which was a frustrating way to start the week. But I was just happy my flight wasn't one day later - DC was buried in snow the night I left!

Thanksgiving

This year we had a smaller crowd for Thanksgiving - me, Wade, my mom, and Larry. So, we thought we'd mix things up a little and try some new vegetarian gluten-free recipes for Thanksgiving. Last year was our first vegetarian Thanksgiving, and I honestly didn't notice a difference since we had so many sides to enjoy. This year was a bit more daunting since we needed to cook without wheat... yeah, let that sink in, then think about how much of your traditional Thanksgiving foods have wheat (flour, bread, pic crust, etc) in them. Yikes. Fortunately, we all got a little creative and thought outside the box and came up with the following feast:

Stuffed squash, sweet potato goodness (casserole), potato leek au gratin, green bean almondine, corn on the cobb, cranberry apple sauce, carrot cake with creamcheese icing, and we found gluten free pumpkin pies at Whole Foods (yes!). By the end of the day we felt accomplished, satisfied, and not so full we wanted to barf. Success! We even had leftovers for the rest of the weekend too. (Below, stuffed acorn and butternut squashes fresh from the oven.)

We used Skype that day to also talk to my step-sister, Janis and her husband Miles who were also eating a gluten-free diet due to some strong suspicions about their 3mo. old Samuel's ability to handle wheat. It was nice to know we weren't the only one on a food adventure that day - Janis was brave enough (unlike me) to make her own pumpkin pie from scratch!

We hope everyone's Thanksgiving was filled with good food, family, and friends!

Annapolis, MD

The week before Thanksgiving I headed to DC, then to Annapolis, MD for meetings for work. Monday and part of Tuesday I was in DC for some meetings on Capitol Hill, then I carpooled with the rest of my team to Annapolis for a few intensive days of meetings.

Annapolis ended up being quite a surprise. I'd never been there before, but found it to be quite charming, historic, and beautiful. We even went on an educational skip-jack (historic sailboat made just for oyster dredging) tour with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Below are some EDF'ers hoisting the sails.

It was really cold, but fun to be out on the water with my colleagues. I proved to be a source of entertainment due to the absurd number of layers I had on to stay warm (me below with my colleague, Pam, in our matching sherpa hats).

Home at last

It has been glorious to be home. In October, I was literally traveling more than I was home. I traveled 3 of the 4 weeks of October. The "cool" fall air (open windows and no more AC!) is settling in, Halloween decorations have come and gone, Thanksgiving decor is up, and the birds are singing. I’m also enjoying the finer pleasures in life such as using a real shampoo bottle instead of a tiny travel size one, eating home cooked wheat/gluten-free meals, and snuggling kitties.

However, the last week of October I had the house to myself as Wade was in Miami for some training for work. It was a little weird being the one at home while Wade traveled. And not entirely pleasant. When there’s dog barf first thing in the morning, I clean it up (while gagging). When the Carolina Wren sneaks in our window to explore the kitchen and dining room for nesting space, I have to herd him out (after Marley pounces and pulls out some feathers). After cooking dinner, I have to do all the dishes. And for some reason, I always seem to get sick when Wade’s gone, which made cooking for myself kind of sucky. Oh the harsh realities of living alone - yes honey, I really do appreciate all the things you do around the house!

We've taken the last two weekends to do some spring cleaning around the house. With the windows open and the breeze blowing, the time felt right to do all the pesky chores and deep cleaning items we've been putting off. It's nice to feel like things are in order and we're ready to enjoy sitting on the deck (once the mosquitos are gone for winter) around the fire pit.

And just in time, I'll be in DC again next week for more meetings, so I know Wade will be happy to have a clean house while I'm gone!

No thank you New Jersey

The day after the Miami peeps left I packed a bag and headed to the Jersey Shore for an all-staff retreat for work. It was really incredible to be able to meet the 300+ people in our organization. Since I work in a remote office (read: alone) with only one co-worker (Michelle) who travels more than I do, my favorite part of retreats is getting to hang out with people.

I roomed with my co-worker Michelle, and once we checked into the hotel we checked out our first view of the Jersey Shore. We were underwhelmed. “Shore” is the closest term I could use because a “beach” it wasn’t. We have discovered that we are what someone might call a “beach snob”. This is compounded by the fact that we have absolutely no problem telling everyone how much we love Sarasota and how no one has seen a real beach until they’ve been here. Ahem, we are occasionally capable of modesty, but we don’t particularly enjoy it. (haha)

We were there for 4 days and I only made it outside once, but that was enough. See, I even took a picture, and I tried my hardest to make it look nice:

However, flying out of Newark airport was all it was cracked up to be, and more. I have always been told that if you have the option of flying through Newark or going to hell, that hell is the better option. And now I see why. After encountering a myriad of “helpful” and “charming” people at the airport we could not get home fast enough. I quite literally almost lost it when the security folks dropped my new laptop on the ground and didn’t even notice. Thankfully, I had it in a protective sleeve (NEVER put your laptop through the machine without at least a protective sleeve) so it seems to be ok for now...

Miami comes to us

The third weekend in October was our last weekend with the beach house. To make it an official party though, some of our Miami peeps came to join us to revel in the last days of summer. Unfortunately, it seemed that summer decided to head out early before Marilyn, Jason, and Rachel actually arrived. The weekend was cooler than we expected, but we toughed it out at the beach anyway to play some bocce on Saturday.

When we couldn’t take it anymore we headed to the house to play some games (Pass the Pigs and Uno), enjoy my special rum punch, and push the Uno loser into the pool (Jason) - which Rachel seemed to particularly enjoy.

It was all downhill from there as the rum did it’s job (one of the perils of starting drinking at 11am I guess...). As per Jason and Wade: “ You guys got all girly and sappy and talked about weddings... there was hugging and stuff, so we went outside to have beers.” We grilled out, had a nice dinner, then began dropping like flies. I am embarrassed to say I was the first to go and the indicator was when I laid on the floor using the dogs as pillows.

The next morning the gang headed to Busch Gardens, minus me. I was in no shape to ride roller coasters, let alone ride in a car. I spent the entire day sleeping, then eventually reading and snuggling Marley (it seemed I did not have a choice in that matter).

Once they all got back we went out for a last dinner (at which everyone looked wiped and a little green around the gills) before the Miami folk headed home. It was a lot of fun and wonderful to see them. I did however require a prolonged detox period afterwards...

Fall at last

The second week of October we headed to Waynesville, NC to visit my mom and step-dad and take in the mountain views. It was a much needed break for both Wade and I since we haven’t been able to take a vacation since our honeymoon almost 3.5 years ago. We have squeaked in little trips here and there around other events, but none that have been planned solely for the purpose of just sitting and relaxing. We’re hoping to remedy that in the spring. We were lucky enough to be able to make this trip happen after a project at work forced some rearranging and we had to unexpectedly go to PA for Wade's grandfather's funeral.

We flew into Asheville where Mom and Larry picked us up and we headed into town for a little shopping at REI (we don’t have any stores in Florida) and a fantastic good southern vegetarian meal at Tupelo Honey Cafe. It was delicious and the perfect beginning to the trip. The nights were cool while we were there and the days just the right temperature. We went hiking in Smoky Mountains National Park to see Clingman’s Dome one day (see below), we drove to Cataloochee in the Park another day to see elk and turkeys, we strolled main street Waynesville for some shopping and an art fair, and we enjoyed the mountain vistas as the leaves were changing. The last day we were there was Larry’s birthday so we opened presents then went to see a movie in Asheville. Afterwards we did some shopping at REI again (sale!) and met up with my old coworker Kellyn. We said our goodbyes to Mom and Larry and took Kellyn to a nice dinner at a cool vegetarian place in downtown Asheville called Laughing Seed. Our return flight was absurdly early the next day, so Kellyn offered to let us sleep over and take us to the airport since she lived so close.

We really enjoyed being able to photograph all the beauty of the mountains while we were there. We were a little early for the peak of fall, but we did see some nice color. You can check out our Picasa site here to see more pictures.