Long live the king...

Today as Piper and I were driving home I turned on Coldplay's Viva la Vida, a personal favorite of our family, and turned it up and the windows down. I started dancing in the drivers seat - as much as you can when you're driving - and was bouncing and fist pumping to the drums in the song. I looked in the rear view mirror at Piper and she was in her own little world rocking out to the song. She was kicking her legs and pumping her fists. When the song ended her little voice piped up "More Mommy!" I pressed repeat on the song and we both car danced all the way home and the whole time I was really quite sure my heart was gonna explode from the sweetness of that adorable moment.

old man river

Patrick and I met for a quick lunch today at a tiny little Italian place in between FCCJ South Campus and the office that Patrick is working at this week. The restaurant was decorated in typical Italian style with old black and white pictures of NYC in the early 1900s. The Manhattan Bridge being built, famous NY Yankees baseball players swinging bats, the New York subway under construction.
As we were getting ready to pay our check some folks a few tables behind us were getting up to leave. We heard one of the ladies at the table say to the waitress, "I bet he is the oldest customer you've ever had in your restaurant." The waitress politely said "Oh really, how old are you sir?" The most adorable, wrinkly, shrunken little man looked up and said "I'm 106!"
Can you believe that! 106 years old and he is out to lunch!
I've never even met anyone who is 100, much less 106! Patrick and I watched them leave and then turned back and looked at all the old photos on the walls. Some of them had dates on them and it just floored me that that precious old man - who was born in 1904 - was alive when those ANCIENT looking photos of the Manhattan Bridge being built (which wasn't even completed until 1909, fyi) and it was still 8 years until the Titanic would sail out and then sink, the III Olympic Games were held in St. Louis, MO and the NYC Subway opened (yes I googled all of that).

Who is the oldest person you guys have ever met?

oops

So I got sidetracked and forgot to post for the last two days. Two days ago I was an exhausted, bleary eyed sloth and was in bed at a time when most people are still eating dinner. And yesterday I had a crazy virus on my new/old laptop (Sue Anne's hand-me-down laptop that is what, like 5 years old?) and couldn't even turn it on without 5 porn sites popping up immediately and a surge of anti-virus software warning me that my computer was about to explode. So Patrick ran a big virus-scan all night and voila...my new/old laptop is back to its old self.

Let's see, what have I not told you guys?

Big news - I dropped off my nursing application at FCCJ on Tuesday. I had to drive out to the campus with the nursing school (FCCJ North Campus, what a creative name. not) which is about 20+ minutes from home. I had everything set and ready and gave the application a kiss and a prayer and turned it in. The deadline closes this Monday, Feb. 1 and I will hear something within 6-8 weeks from that date. My scores are very high - 213.64, out of a possible 220 points. The cut off is usually around 200 points to get into the program. But still! What if! Ugh, I could stress myself out like crazy over this, but I am too tired to right now. If i get into the program, classes begin in the end of May. It's a 16 month program, but if all goes well with #2, I will be looking into taking one semester off to take care of Lynchkin 2.0 around September when that baby is born and, coincidentally, a new semester starts. Not sure how/what/if the department allows you to take a semester off. I've heard from some professors (who are not with the nursing department) that you are allowed to take one semester off, but you have to wait for a seat to be open to get back into the program the following semester. I'm gonna try and not worry about this until I actually get into the program, and get further along with this pregnancy. Bottom line, it will all work out. I know it will, I just like to worry and fester and do lots of "what ifs."

Piper has been so sweet and fun and exhausting lately. She kicks my butt on a daily basis, but is so precocious and spunky. When the phone rings she has started saying "hi babe" mimicking the way Patrick and I greet each other on the phone. And she says it with this huge, proud grin on her face like she knows she is being hilarious and cute.

I pointed out her shadow on the wall in her bedroom the other day and now she is delighted every time she notices a shadow. Shaa-woo! Shaa-woo Mommy!

I love Piper's bedroom. The cheerful green paint, the colorful Amy Butler fabrics and the super cute little birds above her crib. It's such a cute, happy kids room.

Kids (plus Maddie)

kids

I love Sue Anne's expression in this shot.

"Now do something funny!"

"Everybody kiss..again!"

"Everybody kiss!!"

Five Guys

Heaven...on earth.

We just ate Five Guys Burgers and Fries for dinner and my lordie! Ever since seeing Fast Food Nation I have cut my beef consumption by about 95%. But I am more than willing to eat my weight in the hamburgers at Five Guys. If you have not eaten there you've got to give it a try.
This is what you should order:
Little Hamburger ($3.12) with grilled onions, grilled 'schrooms, A-1 Steak Sauce and bbq sauce. And split a regular sized french fry ($2.79).

All the hamburger toppings are free and the regular sized french fry is literally large enough for a family of 4 to split.

"Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work"

Currently on PBS:

http://www.pbs.org/opb/monarchy/episodes/

And I just can't seem to turn it off! It might as well have been called the Royal Family Soap Opera.

Speaking of soap operas...I am staying up to watch the last Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. I just can't believe how NBC is treating him and I feel bad for him. Well, check that, he is getting something like $30 million, so not that bad. But still, he moved his family, his staff and their families all moved for the Tonight Show and 8months later its over.

Ah, whatever, it will all work out for him. I am hoping he gets picked up on HBO or Showtime, could you imagine how funny he would be without the constraints of broadcast television?

HA!! The local JAX new just showed a clip of the Tonight Show and it was Will Ferrell dressed as the lead singer of Lynard Skynard, Ronnie Van Zant, and he was singing Freebird! Oh man, I can't wait. It's going to be over the top.

He had Adam Sandler on the show earlier this week and they were reminiscing about their days at SNL together. Conan was a writer for SNL when he was picked to host the Late Night show and they talked about how Loren Michaels pushed for Conan to get the show. Pretty crazy??? Think of all the funny people on SNL in the early nineties...Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Dennis Miller, Chris Rock, Dana Carvey, Mike Meyers, Phil Hartman, Kevin Nealon and the tall, lanky, red headed writer gets chosen to host a late night talk show? Did you know he went to Harvard?

OK, enough about Conan, I am sure you are wondering why I am going on and on about Conan? Or, perhaps you are wondering why this post doesn't concern cooking, Patrick, gardening or Twilight? It will all make since once I tell you that this is Patrick writing this post. Sarah and I were staying up to watch Conan, but she couldn't hang and before she fell asleep she asked me to guest blog for her. Hope you enjoyed it. And yes, I really was watching the Royal Family PBS special and it really was interesting.

Really?

Really? Not even one comment on my last post? Lame people, really lame.

I would be annoyed, but I'm too ecstatic over the absolute, crazy, unbelievable miracle that happened today. Loooooooong story short - the manager of the testing department at FCCJ called me today around noon and told me that after a "sleepless night and thinking about my situation non-stop" since I left the testing center yesterday, she had scheduled a meeting with the Dean of Testing Center (really? that's a job?) she has decided to reinstate my scores.
Honestly, our conversation was extremely long with her telling me all about her bible study class she went to last night after she left work and how the entire class had discussed what happened with me, and how it was unfair, but how she didn't know how to handle it. And how she tossed and turned all night and when she came into work this morning the other test proctor (who had found the "mistake" and brought it to her attention) took her aside immediately and said that she had been thinking/worrying about what happened with me yesterday and felt like the situation was handled unfairly. And she also told me that since I was "gracious and honest from the start" she felt I should have been treated fairly and that a student like me "should be encouraged into the FCCJ program" and how "we need more nurses who are gracious and honest" like me. It was all a HOOOGE ego boosting on my part.
So after a meeting with the Dean it was decided that I was treated unfairly, despite the rule being broken, and that my score would be reinstated.

I'm still in shock. This just doesn't happen! I am so so so happy!

Advice please.

I need advice.

*Brace yourself, this is a long one.*

Today I took the Nursing Apptitude Exam for FCCJ's nursing program (my application is due by Feb. 1). It was my third time taking the exam; my first time was in June, then in September and now today. I've always been told you can take the exam as many times as you'd like, you just have to let 90+ days pass in between the time you take the exam.
So today I tutored in the Chemistry lab from 8:30-2:00, rushed to the bank to deposit some checks, then ran back to campus and checked in at 3:00 to take the exam. I paid my $35 testing fee and started filling out a bunch of forms. One of the forms had several questions and I had to initial them stating that I agreed to the question. Are you a resident of Duval County? Do you have a valid form of identification? Has more than 90 days passed since you last took this exam? Have you already taken this exam twice in the last 12 consecutive months? I initialed all the questions, but left the last one blank, since this would be my third time taking the exam. I took my form up to the test proctor, pointed to line I left blank and said "This will be my third time taking this exam. Is that a problem?" She asked "Has more than 90 days past since you last took it?" "Yes" I replied. And she said "It's not a problem, just as long as 90 days has past."No problem right? So I went into the testing room and took the exam. THREE AND A HALF HOURS later I emerged, got my test scores and freaked out when I saw how awesome I did on it. My scores were incredible, a good 23+ points higher than last time. The proctor who had printed out my scores even congratulated me at how high my scores were. I should have just taken my freaking scores and walked out, but I asked the proctor if she would look and see how much better I had done then last time, because I don't know, I guess I'm competitive.
**side note: When you submit your nursing application to FCCJ you attach your Nursing Apptitude Exam score paper with your application. It's a complicated looking print off that would be nearly impossible to forge with watermarks and graphs. There are 6 sections to the exam, but FCCJ only looks at the scores from 3 sections. Say I scored higher in 1 section when I took it in September, then I did when I took it today, then I could include both my scores from today, and from September, and they will look at both and pick and choose the higher scores. Oh, and when you get your scores printed out you ONLY get TWO copies. Period. **
So there I was waiting for the proctor to look at my scores from my last exam in September when she said "oh...oh dear." She printed off a copy of my score and asked for one (of the two) copies in my hand. I handed it to her and she disappeared into a back office. A few seconds later she called me into the back office. She and a manager explained that a rule had been inadvertantly broken. Students are only allowed to take the nursing apptitude exam twice in 12 months. This was my third time. I started stammering and explained how I hadn't initialed that question on my form and how I confirmed that it was not a problem with the proctor before I took the exam. They explained that the proctor who had told me it wasn't a problem was new, and didn't understand the rules. And as a result, my test scores would be voided. VOIDED. I started crying. Long story short the manager held onto the two copies of my scores, apologized, said they would speak to the new proctor, refunded my $35 and escorted me out. I walked to the car sobbing the whole way, got in the seat, opened up my folder and there it was. An extra copy of my scores from today.

Now as I said before, when you apply to the FCCJ you attach your test scores to the application and that is what they look at to verify your scores. As far as I'm aware they do not verify scores with the testing center, since the score copies are impossible to forge and they ask you to submit copies of whatever scores you want them to consider (see my note).
I drove directly home, sat at my kitchen and totalled up my points for my nursing applicaiton. FCCJ goes entirely on points: pre-requisite grades + nursing apptitude exam score = X amount of points. Those points are placed next to your social security number and they take the top 93 students with the highest point total. 200 points is a competive number, but would not guarantee you a spot in the program. When I totalled my points with my exam grade from September my points are 203.36. My points totalled with my exam taken today are 213.46. I could pretty much go ahead and buy my nursing textbooks today if I applied with 213.46. I would probably be close to the top of the application pool with 213.46. With 203.36 I could very well not get in, or be wait listed.

So my questions:
Do I submit my application with the test scores from today? I did not cheat for those scores, I made them with my own intelligence. If I hadn't of made that proctor double check the computer I would be sitting here gloating in my awesome test scores and brilliance. Was the fact that I somehow still had a copy of my test score in my folder when I walked out a second chance gift from the universe?

Or do I submit my test scores from September? I've never cheated in any of my pre-requisites and some of the bitches that cheated their way through Anatomy are now in the freaking nursing program. So how far does honesty really get you? Am I even being dishonest? The proctor just took my score copy away from me. They didn't blacklist me in the computer program, they just literally took my paper away from me.

Or do I submit both my scores from today and from September and let FCCJ decide which scores they want to look at? If for some strange reason they do verify exam scores in the computer they will see that my scores from today are voided (i'm assuming?) and they would take my September grades. Or maybe they don't verify grades and will take my scores from today. Either way, it's up to them and I was honest - giving them both scores.

Halp me please.

intrigued

I'm intrigued by this recipe I read about on Smitten Kitchen. It's a recipe for Tomato Sauce with Onions and Butter. She raved about how easy and excellent it is. I can't imagine it would taste so good since all I know in life is to add 10 cloves of garlic, tons of basil, oregano, parsley, a sprinkle of brown sugar and red pepper flakes (just to name a few) to my spaghetti sauce. So this recipe goes against everything I have ever known. But I'm intrigued and I think I might try it next week.

Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano, if you can find them)*
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste (you might find, as I did, that your tomatoes came salted and that you didn’t need to add more) and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

Serve with spaghetti, with or without grated parmesan cheese to pass.

halp

This shit in Haiti is breaking my heart on an hourly basis. I was in tears tonight watching the Nightly News. It's almost too much to bear. The massive death toll, the people still trapped, the dead bodies having to be moved by bulldozers, the fact that people waited in line today for SIX HOURS for ONE bottle of water, the moving hospital that is averaging 70+ amputations a day, mothers lying over their children's lifeless bodies. I feel so powerless.
Which is why I feel like I have got to do something. I know donating to the cause of my choice is helpful. But I want to do more. I want to be there. I think I can't possibly feel like I'm helping enough unless I'm there grabbing supplies and handing them out and seeing/touching people. That is one of the things I look forward to when I become a nurse - that I really could go and provide real, medical help to people in need.
In the meantime, I've been thinking about what I can do from Glendale Street to help. Monetary donations, collect supplies at my home and drop them off at the Red Cross, bake sale/garage sale to raise more money?

O-town

We are heading out first thing tomorrow (Saturday) morning for a weekend camping trip at Tropical Palms Campground in Orlando. Some family - the Giampas - from the Purnell side in Maryland is down in Orlando for the weekend for a soccer tournament for their boys. My parents arrived today in their kick arse RV and are staying through Tuesday. We head down tomorrow morning and will stay through Monday. Coincidentally, Patrick got assigned to a client in Orlando for next week so Monday morning he will drive over to his client and I'll spend the day with all the relatives and then head back to Jacksonville after lunch.
I would LOVE to go into Disney since it's been years and years since I've been inside the park. Actually, Lisa I think I was with you last time I was inside Disney. It was one weekend we were down in Orlando visiting Will and Ben (woah!) and Jane let us use their yearly pass.
Anyhoo, I would love to go into Disney. Just for a few hours. I don't want to mess around with the lines or anything. I would love to just zip in, ride a few rides, eat some fun food, do a quick power walk through Epcot and then end at Fort Wilderness. I have the best memories of Fort Wilderness. We always stayed there growing up and I reall think my sisters and I liked Fort Wilderness better than the actual Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Each night there were campfires and all of the Disney characters would show up and afterwards they would play a Disney movie on a big screen in the middle of a field. There was a "General Store" that had awesome candy and like 5 pound jawbreakers. The most unreal petting zoo was there with tons of goats, sheep, pigs, etc. And every morning you would wake up and there would be little rabbits hopping around your campsite while a baby fawn would leisurely stroll by. Super fun, sweet childhood memories.

Mr. Rogers

"When I was a boy, and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people that are helping.'"
-Fred Rogers

oh...my...gawd

Last night I pulled out my FSCJ nursing school application to try and rework my points for when I reapply next month. While I was re-reading all the info my eyes skimmed across the application deadline and my heart stopped beating for a second. February 1 is the LAST date to apply. I had misread it a few months ago because I thought February 1 was the FIRST day to apply.

I ALMOST MISSED THE APPLICATION WINDOW!

I hadn't planned to even look/think about the application until the beginning of February. Good lord, I would have been so screwed.

This was such a close call that I was shaky for about an hour last night. What the hell would I have done if I had pulled out my application information on, say February 11, and casually looked down and realized I had completely missed the deadline. oye.

Jenga!!

I love the expression on Peter's face in this picture. Wow, he was really into this game of Jenga!

Christmas morn

wwyd?

i just ran a large load of super dirty clothes and took them out of the wash, started them in the dryer and then realized i never put detergent in the wash.

wwyd? would you put them back in the wash, with detergent? or would you hope the cold water wash cycle cleaned them well enough.

sunrise, sunset

I was up at the buttcrack of dawn this morning and in the car before 7:30am driving east just in time to see the most amazing sunrise. The sun looked like a gigantic, vivid, orange egg yolk and it illuminated every single thing it touched. Cars, buildings, the water on the St. John's River. I was spellbound staring at it while I whizzed through morning traffic in the 28 degree freezing cold. It made me think of that scene from American Beauty where he films the plastic bag floating in the breeze and was crying about how beautiful it was. Because the rising sun shining off of the miles and miles of office parks, skyscrapers, cars lined up in traffic along the interstate and highway signs was just so beautiful and inspiring.
Then this evening I took Piper and Sammie out for a long walk. We walked to Boone Park, which is a great park that our old house use to back up to. It runs the length of about 15 city blocks and in the evenings the trees are full of hooting owls and there is a cute little stream that runs along the whole park. At the end of the park is a great playground, which apparently is the place to be in the evenings if you are a yuppie Avondale mom. We hung out there and Piper played on the slides and I tied Sammie up to the fence and every.single.kid at the playground came up to him and was petting him, loving on him, feeding him woodchips. I was so proud of that old dog. He sat there patiently putting up with the kids all over him when all he really wanted to do was run like crazy across the park and smell everything. We started home around 6pm and as I headed west to our house the sun was just starting to set and it was, again, the most brilliant, bright sun. The color it was giving off had no name. Within seconds the entire sky was illuminated BRIGHT, technicolor orange and it was just so gorgeous. I enjoyed the sunset the whole walk home and Piper chilled in her stroller, not saying a word (which is VERY rare), and I like to think she was enjoying the nice end to the day as well. It's not often I see the sun rise and set in one day (I'm not a morning person!), but I really felt so honored to have witnessed it today.

back to school

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is my first day back in school after a glorious 3 week vacation from classes. I should have emerged from my relaxing cocoon refreshed and energized and ready to take on whatever academic challenges await me. Instead I am bitter that I have to drive 25 minutes to get to class this semester, MAD that I will be making that drive at 8am, annoyed that I have to take another chemistry and all together burned out with having to sit through another class that is not a nursing class.
I'm taking CHM 2045, or Chemistry & Qualitative Analysis. I do not need this class as a pre-req for the nursing program (I'm officially DONE with all my nursing pre-req's), but this class is needed as a pre-req for the masters in nursing program at University of North Florida. I figured that it would suck big time for me to be done with 16 months of nursing school, and be working as a nurse and try and get the motivation to go back to school to take ONE chemistry course (after having forgotten all the chemistry I've learned so far) that I would most likely have to take as a night class since I'll be working all day. So tomorrow I'm heading off to this craptastic class.
I really do not like chemistry. I'm a visual learner and it's really hard for me to try and understand chemistry fundamentals since you can't see or touch an electron/proton/neutron and instead just have to trust that what you are being told is fact. I've done really well in my chemistry class, and was asked to tutor Chemistry 1 (toot toot!!), but I just find the whole system so confusing and hard to believe.

hello?

Blog topic suggestions please? I'm getting pret-tay, pret-tay, pret-tay lame here with weather & recipe posts and I'm trying to stick to my resolution to post each day in January.
Patrick's suggestions were all sports related which, duh. Not interesting. Although he does represent my entire male reading population.

witches tit

It was 32 freaking degrees today. And not just at the buttcrack of dawn this morning, but in the middle of the afternoon. 32 degrees in the middle of the afternoon in Florida! As you all probably know, Patrick and I get cold when it is about 70 degrees, so this cold has been unbearable. I have not taken off my fleece ONCE today. Not inside the house where our heat is on, nor inside our car with the dry, hot, heat blasting. By the way, Piper is naturally hot natured and it is not uncommon for Patrick and I to be bundled up in numerous layers and fleece jackets and shivering and she is toddling next to us in jeans and a long sleeve shirt.
Patrick just went outside to check to make sure the faucets are leaking because it is now 26 DEGREES! And it is only 8:30pm, there are several hours of freaking cold darkness between now and sunrise for the temperature to drop down to the very low 20s!
It snowed in Palm Coast and Gainesville this morning too. How insane is this?

I will sign off tonight with a beg and a plead for you guys to check out How I Met Your Mother on netflix. It is so freaking hilarious. You have to start at the very beginning too. We watched 4 episodes today during Piper's naptime and my abs hurt from laughing so much. Neil Patrick Harris is painfully funny in it.

...

I had a nice lunch today with a friend who basically poured her heart out to me for about 45 minutes straight. Their house has been on the market forever with no buyers in sight, money is beyond tight, her husband has gone off his meds (due to side effects) and his depression/anxiety is really difficult on her, her daughter is 2.5 and is not even remotely interested in potty training, she is thankful for her job but is realizing how underpaid she is and really needs/wants to make more money. It wasn't a depressing lunch (as it probably sounds) by any means and I had purposely asked her out to lunch because I knew she has a lot going on and I figured she needed to vent...which I was right about.
I don't want to see her upset, but it is comforting in a way to see that we are all going through rough patches. Patrick's traveling is so sad/difficult/frustrating, I need to find a part-time job, what the freaking %$#^ will I do if I don't get into nursing school next semester, what can I do to help Patrick in his job search? Those are the shitballs that keep me up at night. I don't want everyone else to suffer, but I guess I feel sorta better that it's not just me. We all have our little battles to deal with.
Makes me think of this quote I read once:
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

I witnessed the WORST road rage episode the other night. I pulled behind a car that was trailing and honking at a car in front of them. When we came to a light the woman in the trailing/honking car got out of her car - in the middle of on-coming traffic - and starting banging and hitting the drivers side window of the car in front of her. "You fucking bitch, you almost ran me off the side of the road. Get out of your fucking car! You stupid bitch! Get out of your car!!" The light turned green and the car started to slowly pull away (so it wouldn't hit her) and the woman ran back to her car, got in, turned left and went about 90mph down a residential street. I was the first car directly behind the screaming lady and I sat there frozen in my car for about 30 seconds before I started to move. I was just in shock. My first thought was what could possibly be going on in that woman's life for her to be so upset and raged over a stranger who is a crappy driver? After I came to and got myself a clean pair of pants because I really thought I was gonna see a fight go down in the middle of freaking traffic and I had practically pooped in my pants, I just felt so sorry for the road rage lady.

Basically, I've been thinking today that we all have our little, and big, issues that we are dealing with and some sympathy and kindness can really go far.

Smitten Kitchen

I am loving Smitten Kitchen right now. There is a caramel pudding recipe that I'm dying to make, but it calls for whole milk which I never really have.
I made this Chicken Pot Pie recipe tonight (except for the homemade pastry, I used a frozen pie crust I had in the freezer) and it was so great. The perfect dish for a cold, dark night. My friends Carol and Greg stopped by for dinner and they loved it too.

I say this all the time, but I really want to try making some new dishes. I get stuck in my comfort zone of meals that I make all the time. They are easy, good and I always have the ingredients so why take them out of the rotation?

My go-to rotation of meals:
-black bean soup
-home baked pizza and/or Hungry Howie's pizza ($5 for a large!!!)
-any variation of bean soup: black bean and sausage, chili, black beans and rice
-rotisserie chicken
-chicken soup
-baked pasta (baked ziti or baked spaghetti)
-any type of soup you can think of
-taco salad
-baked potato night

What are your go-to meals?

Night Night

Its 23 degrees in JAX right now, that is so wrong. What temperature is it in SF, AA, STL and DEN tonight?

New Years Eve

My Mom took this right before we went out for NYE. I think Peter looks the funniest.

Life List*

part 1 of 4...

1. Become a yoga instructor
2. Explore the Caribbean (more)
3. Live and work overseas
4. Learn to cook really good & yummy healthy food
5. Become functional in Spanish
6. Organize my closets
7. Go to the beach more often
8. Sew more
9. Go to wine country during the harvest and watch grapes become wine (Lisa got to see this)
10. Take Piper to Auburn for a weekend
11. Fly to visit my family more
12. Fly to visit my friends more
13. Practice yoga daily
14. Run another half marathon
15. Become financially secure so that our children don't have to worry about helping us out when we retire
16. See Eclipse and Breaking Dawn
17. Take advantage of strawberry season each summer
18. Graduate with a GPA above a 3.5
19. Do less while I drive (ie, no cell phone calls, looking for stuff in my purse, etc while I drive)
20. Write my Grandmother more

*I'm approaching the Life List as a sorta Bucket List meets Dream List. Stuff I just really, really want to do no matter how big or small.

home

We got home late this afternoon and it feels so good.

Our two week vacation/family reunion was awesome in every way (except for the major cold & wind) and we didn't want it to end, but walking in our little house was like a nice big welcome home hug. The house was clean and (relatively) warm and we had a huge stack of mail waiting for us. We both LOVE to go through mail when we get home from a long trip. We had tons of Christmas cards, which I was pleased to see that so many people - 13 to be exact - were late sending out their Christmas cards. I really enjoy the tradition of the photo Christmas card; I love seeing how everyone has changed over the year, to see the cute pictures, trendy card designs and hear updates. However, what is up with people sending out like $2.50 a piece cards with professional, super expensive photos on the front? Everyone is trying to outdo the Jones'. Anyhoo.

Tomorrow I think I'll post the first of my Life List.

!

Just saw New Moon for the second time (with Wannie) and it was...wait for it...even better!

2010

New Year's Resolution #1 - to update my blog each day during January. Any suggestions for topics please?

Two weeks in St. George Island have been so awesome. Tons of major family bonding, power walks with my sisters, watching the boys pound beer after beer after beer, eating so much food that after the first week my jeans were already feeling tight. The weather has been really cold, but we had a few nice breaks in the 50-60 degree weather and were able to get out and let the kids play/wade in the water and the boys took out the boat and kayak.
It's been so relaxing not having any school work to worry about, or school projects looming over my head that makes me feel guilty about lying on the couch. I made it my goal to finally read The Four Agreements, a book that I've had for like 3 years now, but I only made it about 30 pages in because every time I sat down to read there was something more fun going on.
So my jeans have been tight since like, day 4 of being down here and that is 100% due to the awesome meals Xta, Wan and I have been making. Hoppin' John and fresh (local) turnip greens, high fat scrambled eggs made each morning by Jason, Xta's daily batch of brownies, bacon wrapped marinated pork tenderloin hereto known as The Baconator, dozens and dozens and dozens of fried oysters, THE BEST ranch dip ever, sweet tea every day, ranch/parmesan baked chicken, mashed 'taters, Low Country Boil, and it just goes on and on.

Piper has had quite possibly, the best two weeks of her life. She is loving every single moment with her cousins and is now obsessed with Uncle Peter after he took her around on a little kayak trip. She is waking up each morning scratching at the door to get downstairs to play with her "cusns" and is adoring Ashling ("Ashing!!!"), since she is the closest oldest cousin to her. It's so sweet. Each night she collapses into bed and snores like an old man until 7:40am the next morning when we hear "Daddddddddy.....Mommmmmmmmy....Daddddddy" over and over and over until we go to get her.

I'm drinking a cup of tea that my mom just made me and the tag on the tea bag says "Let things come to you." How nice.

Back to reality on Monday when my next semester starts.