Happy Half Way Through The Year!

What just happened?!  A time warp I think.  The months have rolled by so quickly. It's mostly due to the job taking up all my mental energy.  

Funny things, poignant things, weird things have happened and I think "I'm going to blog about that."  I especially think this about things Dave says, sometimes I write them down on post-its and find them later in the car or in my purse.  Like when he found out our niece was starting to eat rice cereal, he ranted for 10 minutes about how excited he was to eat her leftovers and wanted to help feed her just so he could get a taste of that fantastic cereal.  

One note I found recently was from when we had come home to find empty gel pack wrappers all of the floor, Murphy must have jumped up on the counter and helped himself to a snack.  

Athletes, especially triathletes  use them for quick energy during workouts and races. There was probably 3 or 4, at 100 calories each, that's quite a snack, not to mention all the caffeine, we were surprised he wasn't going crazy.  Murphy knew he was bad and was doing his low tail wag of remorse.  

But Dave still scolded him:

"Why are you so convinced that you're getting enough to eat. You look good,  get used to it!"

He sounded one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser talking to a contestant that had a lapse in self discipline, it still makes me laugh to think about.

  

I Quit!

My job! (I think I mentioned about a month ago that I had a lot going on) It's been a few weeks now and I already started my new job, but it's still exciting to announce. I gave my two weeks notice, which was scary, thrilling and a relief all at once.

I timed it to have the week off for Christmas. It was so nice to have so much time to celebrate, much more relaxing than normal. I was really spoiled this year, Dave gave me a beautiful necklace from Tiffany's, I've never opened one of those blue boxes before, now I see what everyone's so excited about. My sister gave me a beautiful coach purse - coach! Our parents went in on a new lcd t.v. and it is awesome, high def realy is cool.

I went into my new job this week, on Monday so I could get the benefits started. Then we had Tuesday off for New Year's day, a nice way to start off the job.

I'm literally right next door to my old company, which is good because there are so many people there I miss already and want to meet up with for lunch. That list includes dasszle and some other bloggers (but I'm not going to out them here). Amalah used to work at my old company, she inspired a lot of people to get in on this medium I think. It was a chain reaction.

I feel very optimistic and excited about this new job opportunity and am excited for the next year! Starting fresh takes a lot of courage and I put it off for a while because I got too comfortable in my old place. I'm glad I finally moved forward, I can see things working out well.

Thinking about it, I realize I became inspired a couple months ago at the After Eve conference at my church. I specifically remember one of the speakers saying that this is your life, now, you have arrived, whatever you're waiting for, there's not guarantees that's every coming (for ex. a baby), so start doing something with what you have. Whatever's been in the back of your mind, whatever you're thinking about, it's probably time to make that move, all you need to do is step out in faith. So I did.

Happy New Year!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 3-Year Anniversary to us! We got married on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Gramercy Mansion, it turned out very nice for December – we even got to take outdoor photos.

On our first Anniversary, we went to Vail to ski with a bunch of friends. For year 2, I can’t remember and Dave’s not here for me to ask. This year, we celebrated over the weekend with dinner on Saturday night. Good thing we did too, because Dave is busy at church tonight. He’s helping with the video crew for the Christmas program on Friday and Saturday night and they are rehearsing all week.

We truly have enjoyed being married, like anyone, we have times of disagreements and frustrations with each other, but thankfully, we had some great mentorship before we got married and we’ve been in a couples small group pretty much for our entire 3 years. I think this has really helped with our communication, commitment and keeping our marriage fresh. It’s continuously surprising to me how little effort and investment people put in their marriage relationship. It seems people put more into maintaining their cars than their marriages.

Our small group is currently finishing reading Divorce Proof Your Marriage. It is an excellent book. A part I particularly liked was when the authors spoke of the myth of the 50/50 marriage, how that ends up not working because people are always keeping score of who did what. What they say really works is a marriage where both people are giving 100% effort into serving one another. And really, what we should focus on is the things our spouses do that often go unrecognized on a daily basis, not what they don't do and not tout the things we do.

So here’s a list of things that Dave does in our marriage that I really appreciate and that I also realize I have seriously not done in the 3 years we’ve been married (most of these Dave does 100% of the time, a couple maybe 99.9% of the time).

Mow the lawn
Rake leaves
Change oil in cars
Do anything that has anything to do with the cars
Brush dog’s teeth
Cut dog’s toenails
Bathe the dog
Pick up dog poop (it’s gross)
Grill
Take care of our bikes (I only know how to pump the tires)
Make the internet work at our house :)
Make the computers work in general
Make electronics work at our house
Do anything that has to do with tools around the house

Thanks Dave for all the wonderful things you do everyday – you’re a great husband. Happy Anniversary!

Moving On to Joy to The World

I was pretty disappointed after Dancing With the Stars last night and Dave was sure to let me know that his choice of winners won once again, (seriously, he always picks the winners, it was this summer's Big Brother all over again, yes we watch that stupid show, it's such bad television). I'm already over it.

I felt especially content driving home from work tonight. With the Christmas Season upon us, it can be a stressful time of year. (And we have some other things going on that I may expand upon in later days, but I can't right now, the suspense is kind of exciting right?)

I just kept hearing everyone else talk about it, on the radio, t.v. and in the office.

"This time of year is stressful, I'm stressed are you stressed"

"Are you done your Christmas shopping? I'm done, I'm are you done? You should be done!!"

And Gap/Old Navy, you're not helping, seriously too. many. commercials. I fast forward through all of them (thank you tivo) and it's still too many. You won't even say "Christmas" in your ads and we all know that's the "Holiday" you're talking about, so I'm not buying from you, thank you very much!

Anyway, with all the decorating, buying gifts, making party plans, sending out cards, it really can be overwhelming (who has time for all of this!). It's a lot to do and a few nights ago it felt like we have way too much going on right now, I need time to stand still ok?

But I've decided that even though most of our decorations are still in storage, our cards will probably go out late, I'll most likely still be shopping on Christmas Eve, and not get to bake as many cookies as I wanted to (snickerdoodles are a must though) - that really, it's all ok.

I'm going to concentrate on the joy right now. It's a fantastic time of year, this advent season, and really, it's all about the little baby in the manger that first Christmas morning.

Send some your peace our way little Prince.

This Could Be the Most Important Thing You Do All Day

If you're reading this, I have an important task for you. A task that could help avert one of the biggest potential disasters of 2007. By now you probably know what I'm talking about - Dancing With the Stars.

(All Helio and Marie fans please discontinue reading, go on your merry way and don't worry about voting, we have it covered).

Everyone else, please go here tonight (or tomorrow by 12 p.m. ET), and vote for Mel B.

Earlier in the season, cheetah girl, Sabrina Bryan had the competition stolen out from under her.
(moment of silence)

Of the remaining contestants, Mel B. has the most talent and needs to win this thing or the entire universe may collapse on itself (is that too dramatic?).

Seriously, I just want to see a good dancer win and the people I always pull for in these reality t.v. competitions never win ( for example, amazing race, and other shows I won't admit watching, but one of them may or not have the words Road Rules and Real World in its title and be on at the 10 spot)

p.s. - We had a great Thanksgiving. It was so nice to have the 4-day weekend to relax at home, catch up with friends and family and watch movies.

p.p.s. - Things I learned on my Thanksgiving break:

1. Everyone not at the mall on Friday, was at the movies! The line was 1000 people long, luckily it was mostly for Enchanted , we were there for American Gangster. Which leads me to my next lesson.

2. Denzel Washington is for sure one of, if not the finest actor in the world. Loved that movie.

3. If you need a good recipe, see the Barefoot Contessa, her cranberry conserve was fabulous! My sister and I made it together. We left out the raisins and walnuts, b/c they are gross and we are sisters and agree on such things.

The Stork Brought the Perfect Package

We're an Aunt and Uncle and it's a girl! Whew! She is just perfect, but getting here took a lot of work (for my sister). The little baby, Cricket (not her real name, my sister doesn't want me to put it on the internet) had quite a time getting here. After inducing and waiting all day, they finally had to do a c-section. But, when it was time to go home, there was a delay. My sister developed a fever and Cricket had what seemed to be a breathing problem. She was making some odd noises and kept waking herself up by snorting (a trait my sister and brother-in-law, thought she inherited from me, I only do that when I laugh though, and it has to be something really funny, seriously, I don't do that all the time).

It was a little worrisome there for a while, thinking the poor baby's lungs weren't working right. The doctors did some tests and discovered that the problem was just a big booger up Cricket's nose that was blocking her and making her snort (yes a huge booger). It was quite a relief that she had no real problems and they were able to leave.

Since being home, Cricket has not been shy on making her needs clear, my mom has been quite a big help though and my sister and brother-in-law very much appreciate her!

The dogs like the baby, my sister's dog, Bella is a little confused and thinks when Cricket cries that she should step in and lick her like she did for her own puppies - she seems to be catching on that my sister has it covered. The Murph has visited a couple times and is just genuinely confused by the noisy package.

This weekend, Bella was in desperate need of a good walk since she pretty much won't leave my sister's side, she won't even walk with my mom. We figured the Murphy could get her out of the house and it worked! As soon as we grabbed the leashes, Bella was ready and ran out the front door ahead of us. In fact she ran right to the back of my car, waiting to be let into her normal spot. I guess she's figured out that when I come over with Murph, we'll be doing something fun. Those dogs catch on to more than we think.

We're already scheduled for some more dog duty this week and the babysitting is just around the corner (we've been told). Bring it on we say! We have to earn the title of favorite Aunt and Uncle!

Too Much Candy

We're still recovering from eating too much candy last week. We still have so much in our house - I can't eat another bite (after this one last milky way in my hand). We fell for the early Halloween marketing and bought plenty of candy weeks before – Kit Kats, Peanut Butter Cups and Butterfingers. Of course barely any of that was left they day before the 31st and Dave went back for more. (Seriously, he ate most of it - seriously).

The thing is that on Halloween day, there isn't a lot of the good stuff left, so he got a couple mix bags – one was filled with junior mints/Charleston chews/tootsie rolls/something else.

On previous Halloweens we were a popular house b/c we always have Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Kits Kats. Seriously, the kids were always so excited when I presented the bowl - especially the Reese's. They would say "Awesome, can we take a couple" or "I love these, I'm so glad we stopped here".

Noone says that about tootsie rolls. Noone - especially 12 year olds. It's a scam and they know it. Tootsie rolls aren't cool, they aren't anything, they're not Chocolate - they're mostly wannabe taffy.

So I put that undesirable candy on top of the much cooler milky ways/3 musketeers/snickers that were also left at the store. I just wanted the tootsies out of my house, quickly. I knew the little kids would come first and just grab whatever (there was one kid that didn't take advantage of my offer to "take a few". After grabbing Junior Mints, she looked through and said "nah, there’s nothing else I like". I understood.

It got better though - I was able to supplement with the end of better candy eventually just in time for the big kids.

I considered wearing a costume since I had worn one all day at work (we had a parade and everything, my work is like that)...



...but I remembered as a kid being freaked out by the adults that opened the door in costume.

I stole the costume from Dave from the previous weekend b/c his costume looked cooler than mine:

Murphy went as "a dog that got a big gash in his leg b/c his owners are dumb and let him run around in the dark near chains blocking driveways so when you do cut your leg on that chain you have to wear a plastic collar so you don't lick at it says the vet" – poor guy: