Everyday I wake up with a small yet mighty battle that is waiting to be fought. This is a battle that has caused me a lot of trouble and many lost hours of sleep. I am often puzzled by the source of this battle and have tried numerous times to change my strategy in order to ultimately come out victorious. Some days I'm able to win this battle, and some days I am unequivocally defeated. Today was one of those days.
This battle that I speak of is the battle to keep my dogs in the kitchen (and out of the rest of the house) during the day. As I mentioned before I have tried many tactics to defeat my enemies...er, my pups. Just a few days ago I developed my newest battle defense, an impenetrable fortress consisting of a flat board backed by a gate, locked in by 2 sturdy chairs for extra measure.
Surely, my dogs wouldn't be able to break through this elaborate defense system! But, no. I was wrong. Apparently my dogs are smarter than me. And vengeful. Thus, the battle must rage on until I am victorious!! (Or until I say fuhgettaboutit and just let my dogs sleep on the couch all day.)
A quick update for those of you following my Project Life progress: I have decided to post my pictures to Picasa instead of Flickr (limited photo storage...not my style). You can follow me on Picasa here.
Today is January 3rd and it was sunny and clear with a high of 79 today in San Diego. And yesterday was just a precursor for today, so really, is there any question why we live here? We definitely got to soak up some of the sunshine the past two days. Yesterday, we headed down to Fiesta Island with the pups to meet up with Mike and Kyle so that Daryll could throw around the baseball with them. It was sooo nice out and the pups were sufficiently tired when we piled back in the car to return home.
This morning we woke up early(ish) and hiked the canyon near our house. It was the first time that we'd been back there since the ill-fated rattlesnake incident took place last year. But luckily we didn't have any run-ins today and finished our hike feeling rejuvenated and ready for the day.
Most of the rest of the day was spent doing some New Years cleaning and clearing out, watching some football, and grocery shopping for the week. Tomorrow it's back to work for both of us, but tonight Desperate Housewives comes back on the air to bring us some answers to the dramatic airplane crash conclusion in early December!
And so a new year starts. Just like that 2009 is over and done with and the promise of a fresh start comes in with the new year. And just to make sure that 2010 started on a good note, my Ohio State Buckeyes pulled off a resounding victory today against Oregon. I couldn't be more pleased (after all, even I must admit that it has been quite a while since OSU won a game of any consequence).
We rang in the New Year with friends last night with a low-key game night at our house. Jeff, Lindsay, Jared, Alice, and Colin joined us for dessert and games in the hours leading up to midnight. I couldn't think of any way that I'd rather finish 2009 and start 2010 than that!
Today Daryll and I started the dreaded task of putting away our Christmas decorations. With everything removed from the staircase, walls, and doors our house looks so bare that one might believe we were packed up to move! But I secretly enjoy this brief moment in between holidays when we're just surrounded by "white" space. But don't get me wrong, valentines and superbowl decorations will find their way into my decor in due time.
Now in the spirit of New Years, here are my resolutions: 1. To take a picture every day in 2010 (to my faithful blog readers this resolution may sound strangely familiar...I admit it, I made the same one last year. And failed at it! But this year for Christmas Daryll bought me a "Project Life" kit that feeds right into my picture a day concept, so I'm feeling extra motivated!) P.S. You can follow my project life journey on flickr by clicking here. 2. To take classes on both Photoshop and Illustrator (yes, this is also similar to last year's resolution, but I will say that I did succeed in learning a lot about photoshop on my own in 2009, but I feel like it's time to take it up a notch in 2010). 3. To make new friends in San Diego!
Also, as an aside note about setting and achieving goals, I am proud to say that I successfully completed my 90 day challenge and never once cooked the same meal twice in that time frame! Woo hoo for me!! Daryll was happy to try all the new food combinations (and now he's happy that I can cook some of our favorites again!).
I hope that you all have a happy and healthy 2010! What are some of your goals/resolutions for the new year?
Daryll and I had another busy Christmas season this year. We headed up to Burbank a week early for a Christmas celebration with Dad, Melanie, and George. We had a lovely brunch at the 94th Aerosquadron before going back to Melanie's for some cake and presents.
Daryll had to head back to San Diego for work, but I spent the week before Christmas up in Burbank visiting family and friends and shopping and baking. Daryll joined me on Christmas Eve to visit wiht my Mom and Pete, Grandpa, Uncle Rod, Amy, and Conor. One of the highlights of the evening was seeing Conor model his new footed pajamas!
Christmas Day we ventured to Daryll's large family gathering in Pasadena for more visiting and merriment. Brandon and Meagan came down to San Diego to visit for a few days after Chrsitmas and it was so wonderful to see them! (But too brief, in my opinion!) The entire Christmas season went by entirely too quickly, as per usual, but now I'm looking forward to 2010 and a new and better year! One more thing... even more Christmas pictures can be seen here.
Today is my blog's first birthday! We've had some tremendously good times in its first year of existence and I'm looking forward to many more! We've gone through times of a lot of posts, and times where the posts were few and far between (see: recent months). But my blog's roller coaster pattern mimics real life and I'm still proud of all the posts from this past year! I have a lot of goals for my blog in 2010, such as a blog makeover (even I'm getting tired of the blue polka dots) and more frequent posts. We'll see how each of these goals are accomplished (or not) in the coming months! Until then, Happy Birthday Blog!
I just love my house at Christmastime. I think we have the perfect house to dress up in Christmas cheer. I love the banisters wrapped in garlands, the stockings hung from the chimney with a pinecone garland draped across, our beautiful tree with all the ornaments from my childhood and today (and Daryll's lone ESPN ornament), the 4 wreaths that adorn our doors and staircase, the vintage sheet music window hung behind our couch, the bells that jingle when the front door opens, the cards that crawl up the holder on our wall, the cookie jar that is seldom empty this time of year... The Christmas season always goes by way to fast in my opinion. I love the feeling of this time of year, and this year especially we are trying to get back to the real meaning for Christmas. That means spending less money on fewer gifts, spending more time enjoying time with each other and our family and friends, and remembering how truly blessed we are. I am so blessed to have a wonderful family who gives me a ton of love and support through everything. I hope to continually repay all that they have given to me, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to catch up!
This year I decided to make most of my gifts for Christmas, which means everybody is getting at least one thing handmade by me. (Pictures will be shown when the gifts have been given!) The idea came about initially as a means of saving some money, but it has grown into more than that. It has truly been a challenge to come up with unique but (hopefully) likable gifts for everyone on our list. It was an experiment in finishing. So many times I thought it would just be easier to go buy gifts from the stores, but now that I'm finished I feel so rewarded. I can't wait to see everybody's reaction to their handmade creations!
Tonight is my last night at home before Christmas and I'm going to relish in every second of it. The tree is lit, Daryll's playing Christmas music, and the puppies are cuddled up sleeping next to me. Life really doesn't get any better than this.
My house is all decorated for Christmas with the swift change in the season, temperature, and month, but I haven't had a moment to reflect on our Thanksgiving experience yet on the blog, so I thought I'd take a moment tonight to recount the lovely day. Thanksgiving was everything that it should be this year; a day of peace, family, good food, and a spirit of thankfulness overwhelming. This year I personally have a lot to be thankful for: a good job that I love, a supportive husband and family, an inner peace and joy that seem to be overwhelming my spirit recently... As I prepared to host our first Thanksgiving, I tried to keep this feelings at the forefront of my mind and allow the spirit of the season to dictate my actions. Many people asked me if I was nervous or overwhelmed at the thought of hosting my first Thanksgiving, but I didn't feel any anxiety. On the contrary, I was excited to have our families gather at our home to share a meal and each other's company. Throughout the weekend we were delighted to have Daryll's parents, my Mom and Pete, my Grandpa, and Dad and Melanie visit with us. We started a new tradition this year of asking each person in attendance 2 questions for them to answer on camera, which turned out to be my favorite part (Daryll might still go with the turkey dinner as his favorite...) We took turns recounting our favorite past holiday memories, life lessons, and hopes for the future. And I am so thankful to have not only "survived," but to have relished in our first hosted Thanksgiving!
I recently wrote down some thoughts that I had on potential scrapbook journaling that sum up the logistics of Thanksgiving. Here are the "Numbers of Thanksgiving" for your viewing pleasure:
7-The number of people who gathered around the table for Thanksgiving dinner (Don, Andrea, Mom, Pete, Grandpa, Daryll, and me)
6-The number of side dishes that were served: green beans, twice-baked mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, corn casserole, sweet potatoes, and roasted garlic and Italian sausage stuffing (and garlic cheddar biscuits too!)
5-The number of items on our Thanksgiving menu that I had never cooked before (turkey, creamed spinach, stuffed mushroom appetizer, roasted garlic and Italian sausage stuffing, and garlic cheddar biscuits)
4-The number of hours the turkey cooked for
3-The number of days we had visitors over Thanksgiving weekend
2-The number of questions each person was asked on camera for the new Thanksgiving tradition we started this year
1- The number of times we dropped the turkey! (Before we cooked it, of course!)
