Well hello there 2010

It was nice to actually be conscious to ring in the New Year this time. (Last year the flu had completely subdued me - see Wade's post from last year for proof) Apparently we can't get enough Mexican food, so we made our own Mexican fiesta at home complete with mariachi music and a pitcher of margaritas. After stuffing ourselves on tacos, we took on the challenge of breaking in the new Wii Fit Plus I got from Mom and Larry for my birthday. Let's just say that balance games, 10 pounds of Mexican food, and margaritas do not mix well. So we gave up and watched a movie until the new year rang in.

The next morning we came to our resolution for the year. We need to get off our duffs more and exercise together (and see more of the world). So I have started running with Wade that way we can motivate each other. Yikes, did I really just say that? That's an activity that usually doesn't stick with me. I am usually of the mind set that "unless something is chasing me, I have no desire to run". (Mostly this is because getting over the "hump" to where running is enjoyable feels like forever to me) But, I realized that tight pants, the summer bikini season, age, and our upcoming trip to Yellowstone are chasing me, so I must run. (We've decided to take a trip to Yellowstone National Park in February for our anniversary. We're really excited and looking forward to seeing the park and wildlife during the quieter, more peaceful winter season) We both need to stop being sloths and get our endurance back up so we don't keel over while snowshoeing in the snow at elevation. Which brings me to an important question - how do you keep yourself motivated when you workout? Leave a comment below or drop me an e-mail, I'd love to hear how others keep themselves going!

We celebrated New Year's Day with dinner and a movie with Mom and Larry. We saw Sherlock Holmes which was really funny and great. I am also vowing to read more and working on my writing this year - after seeing this movie I am now interested in reading the Sherlock Holmes stories and more of the "required reading" from high school that I purposefully avoided until now. Last year I was on quite a kick of books from the Young Adult section, but this year I want to get through more classics. Whatever people might think of the Twilight or Harry Potter books I think there is one very important thing they have in common: they get both kids and adults reading. They both got me started on my reading kick last year, so for that I am thankful.

What are your New Year's resolutions?

Happy birthday to me

This year we took a rather laid back approach to my birthday. The night before we enjoyed a great dinner at our favorite Mexican place with my mom, step-dad, and friends CJ and Michelle. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we stumbled upon a tradition at the restaurant we hadn't encountered before: Mariachi Monday. There was a full 6 piece band in costume playing that night and we enjoyed the great music which included the Spanish version of Happy Birthday for me "Feliz Cumpleanos", complete with sombrero.

After that we met up with my Aunt Cindy and headed over to a movie theatre that served beer, wine, and ice cream(!) so I could have an ice cream bar while we watched Avatar (which was awesome). Unfortunately it was pretty crowded so we got stuck in the seats up front, but Mom, Larry, and Cindy were good sports about having to sit in the front row - it was a bit of an "immersive" experience given how close the seats were to the screen.

For my actual birthday, Wade made me a fabulous breakfast of biscuits, hashbrowns, and eggs. Mmmm.... I'm so lucky that Wade's such a great cook! After that I opened presents before we headed down south to check out a state park we haven't been to yet: Oscar Scherer. We hiked some trails and took lots of pictures (once we process them all we'll add them to our Picasa site). It was a bit chilly that day, but thankfully the sun was out.

On the way home we had dinner at the quaint Spanish Pointe Pub. The view was beautiful, the rum runners dee-lightful, dinner was tasty, and the sunset was picture perfect. We practically had the deck to ourselves so it was a really laid back way to end the day.

Once the sun went down we were essentially freezing, so we high tailed it home for hot brownie sundaes instead of birthday cake. It really doesn't get any better than that in my book.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve we headed up to Anna Maria for dinner, presents, and our new tradition with my mom and step-dad: Christmas cookies at sunset on the beach. Two years ago when my step sister, Janis, and her husband, Miles, were visiting for Christmas we kicked off the tradition with margaritas on the beach. :) I am a self confessed Cookie Monster, so it seemed appropriate to do cookies on the beach. I made gluten free sugar cookies (w/ icing) and snickerdoodles on Christmas Even morning (they were awesome if I do say so myself) so we'd have fresh treats for the beach. We has a great dinner then booked it down to the beach to catch a cloudy sunset. So we decided to make the most of it - you can just barely make out our Christmas wishes in the sand.

Christmas morning we spent at home with our furry kids. It was nice to spend the morning in our PJs eating cookies for breakfast and opening presents. We did the kids presents first and Hilo in particular fell in love with a toy that Wade's mom sent - it's a tweeting bird on a spring that cats can bat around. It was definitely the spunkiest we've seen him since he's been sick, so it was really wonderful to see him happy and playing (see below). After this picture the bird ended up in his mouth, then on the ground with him while he kicked it. Hilarious.

For dinner we headed over to my aunt and uncles for dinner with the family. It was nice to be with the whole family and see my cousins who were home from college.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

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!