10 of '10

My favorite part of New Years is all the lists. I love lists. Each year I do my own list of 10 things I'll remember about about the year - not the biggest or best, just ones that stick out to me. Here are this year's 10:

1. Adopting Kali & Rocky. They are adorable and I can't imagine what life would be like without them now. They've rounded out our little family perfectly.

2. Buying the House. House shopping was more trying than I ever expected it to be. With only a few weeks left for the first-time home buyer credit, everyone seemed to be shopping for the same houses we were. We missed out on the first place we loved and then had to steal this house away from someone else. And then, closing got pushed back. It felt like we'd never get here - but we made it! I love this house.

3. Getting Out of the Country. Except for a few hours visiting the Canadian side of Niagara Falls when I was little, I hadn't been out of the country before. This year, I got my passport and used it to visit Grand Cayman, Honduras and Mexico.

4. Rediscovered Reading. Before college, I loved to read. Unfortunately, I chose to major in Journalism and History - which meant four years of a lot of forced reading and writing. It burned me out so, so much that the thought of picking up anything - even the fluffiest chic lit - made me feel sick to my stomach. Just after Christmas last year, I bought a bunch of the Sookie books. I loved them. It got me back into the swing of things. I started visiting library sales and joined up with the Nest Book Club's Spring Book Challenge.

5. Being Wedding Guests. I loved our wedding but I don't miss the planning or being the center of attention at all. We had our day and now I love that we're able to sit back and enjoy seeing our other friends and family get married. This year we got to go to two beautiful weddings - for Kristen & Cliff and Janel & Craig.

6. Hanging Out with the Nesties. I love my online buds and was fortunate enough to have two visits with them this year. In April, Nicole flew in for a few days on her way through the area. In October, Mark and I went up to Boston and met up with a whole bunch of the other girls and their husbands for a great weekend.

7. Cooking Up a Storm. In the Spring, I read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and it really made an impact on me. Since then, I've made more of a point to cook more and started my own food blog.

8. Checking Out the Chocchoben Ruins. We got to visit these ruins when our cruise stopped unexpectedly in Costa Maya, Mexico. One of the classes I took in college was on Mayan human sacrifices so to see the ruins of a sacrificial temple was amazing and something I never thought I'd be able to experience.

9. Starting to Run... Sort of. I am, quite possibly, the most un-athletic person in the world. In January, I started the C25K. And then I re-started about a month later. I quit that time too, but it was still the most I've ever run and quite an accomplishment.

10. Co-Hosting the Morning Show. When we were on the cruise I got to be on the morning show. It was less than five minutes of my life but I loved it.

What will you remember about this year?

Quick Christmas Recap

I didn't feel comfortable switching over to New Years stuff on the blog without posting some kind of recap of our Christmas festivities. So, here we go - our Christmas!



Our kick-off event, so to speak, is always the family party for my Mom's side of the family. Lots of food and then lots of gifts. We had made up tins of cookies for everyone and we went home with a huge bag of cookies, candy, wine and other holiday stuff. We also got news that we'll be getting a new family member come June!



Christmas Eve is the family party for Mark's Dad's side of the family. Another big meal. And more gifts.



They do a secret Santa for this party so each person has just one person to buy for. The two people we bought for seemed to like their gifts - and we loved ours. I got a great new cookbook and Mark got a dresser organizer and the first season of Fringe.



Christmas Eve-night was really special. It's the first time we've gotten to spend it together at our own home! We woke up and headed downstairs to see if Santa came... he did!

The kitties got treats, a laser pointer and a kitty door (which, hopefully, will be installed soon!).

Santa completely spoiled me. I got that cute, pink apron I really wanted, a Bon Temps Football shirt, a rum cookbook, a Jamie Oliver cookbook, a few movies, a bath pillow and bubble bath.

Santa was pretty good to Mark, too. He got a bean bag toss set, volleyball set, badminton set, gloves, a wireless mouse and a Seton Hall shirt.

Later in the afternoon we hosted both our families for Christmas dinner. We made a big ham and they brought the sides. It was another great, big meal. Afterwards, we exchanged gifts with them.

Again, we got so much great stuff. Mark got more yard games - horseshoes, croquet, ladder ball (we're going to have to throw a big party in the spring!) - and a pole saw for trimming trees. I got one of those tiny cupcake makers, some new Winterberry dishes and a yard of licorice. (Or, 14 yards, to be exact.)

Afterwards, everyone curled up in the living room to watch Despicable Me. Super cute movie and a great way to end the day.

Now, on to the new year!

A Touch of White

So, we've officially weathered our first snow storm in the new house. Let me tell you, getting the driveway paved has suddenly been bumped way up the list of projects for the spring.


When all was said and done, we got about a foot of snow. It's really hard to tell exactly how much because the wind has been awful and the snow is drifting like crazy. In parts, it was over my knees - other areas only had 5-6 inches.

And a few areas, like around the tree out front, had no snow. It all blew away.

Yeah, there's a street out there somewhere:

And that was after they plowed. We're counting our blessings that neither of us had to work today. Or tomorrow.

A feast of pretzel proportions!

A few weeks ago, Auntie Anne's sent me an At-Home Baking Kit to try out - with the stipulation that I make something other than pretzels. When it came, Mark was whole-heartedly disappointed to hear there were no pretzels in his future... so much so that I felt badly.

I was also surprised by how much those pretzel kits make - 10 pretzels! A great size for a family but quite large for just the two of us. So, I decided to tackle making a few different things with just one kit.

We made:


Pretzel stuffing, which Mark absolutely loved. It was a great combo of pretzel flavor and traditional stuffing. We used this recipe, scaled down.

We also made cinnamon-sugar pretzel bites. Yum. Served with cinnamon caramel dip. Double yum.

And, of course, some regular pretzels. Just for Mark.

I loved everything about this kit. I'm always a bit skeptical when you try to make restaurant dishes at home - they never quite turn out the same - but these were great. The instructions in the kit were great and easy to follow.

We loved having a week of pretzel madness. Thanks, Auntie Anne's!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Yesterday, we hosted both of our families for a nice Christmas dinner. It was the end of a very fun Christmas holiday. Despite the lack of blogging lately, I haven't felt overly rushed with Christmas prep. I loved every minute of this holiday.

This morning we got up and hit some after-Christmas sales and then headed home to hunker down for the impending blizzard.

Oh, yes, it's blizzard-ing:



If we had to be snowed in, I can't think of a better day. The house is loaded up with leftovers from all of our parties. We have copious amounts of new movies and toys to keep us occupied. And, there's nowhere we have to be for days.

Let it snow.

Merry Christmas!

These are the Shutterfly cards we sent out to family and friends - and I wanted to send a virtual version to all of you.

I hope you're all having a wonderful day surrounded by family and friends and enjoying the magic of the season.

Merry Christmas!

Our Tree (And the kitty who loves it)

I haven't been able to get a really good picture of this year's tree. The light from the picture window really throws thing off - but it does look beautiful all lit at night when you see it from outside!

As much as I'm enjoying our tree, I'm pretty sure Kali is enjoying it more.


Aside from climbing it and batting the ornaments down to play with, she loves sleeping on the tree skirt. It makes it impossible to put gifts under the tree (or, keep the skirt straight for that matter) but she looks so cute sleeping under there that I really can't complain!

New On the Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree looks a little different this year. We weren't sure what the kitties would do with it so we have no breakable ornaments up. That cute shell ornament we picked up in the Outer Banks over the summer? Still packaged up safe and sound.

We do have one new ornament on the tree, though:

It's a mini replica of the cruise ship we took in the fall. (And, it's plastic so we don't have to worry about Kali knocking it down and breaking it.)

Do you have any new ornaments on your tree this year?

New Wreath, Hello Christmas Cards!

Things have been busy around here. Not a bad busy, just busy. Christmas shopping, Christmas cards, Christmas baking, Christmas decorating. Busy, but fun.

Saturday was a marathon baking day so I would be able to sit on the couch on Sunday and watch the Giants game. Unfortunately, the game was moved to tonight (thank you, Minnesota snowstorm... not) so I had to find something else to do with my time.

So I made this wreath:



Pretty cute, right?

But if you look closer all of those little lines are really clothes pins.



See where I'm going with this? The clothes pins make a perfect holder for all of the Christmas cards we've been getting!



This was a really simple project - an old box, some scrapbook paper, clothes pins and glue is all you need.

Other years, I've just taped the cards up on the door but there isn't a good door in the new house for this. I love this as an alternative and love the way it turned out!

Wordless Wednesday: First Christmas Lights on the New House

Love it!