2011 In Review

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Got pregnant. Gave birth to the most beautiful baby boy.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Last year I resolved to try a new vegetable recipe every month. I did this for about 5 months before getting distracted and stopping. But I did end up working more vegetables into my diet throughout the whole year, which was the overall goal of the resolution, so I’m going to go ahead and chalk this one up as a win.

My primary resolution for this year is simply to be the best mom I can be.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My best friend Amy had a gorgeous little girl 5 days before Alexander was born.

4. Did anyone close to you die? No, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit? We stayed in the states all year. But in 2010 we visited 5 countries on our Mediterranean cruise. In 2011 we were too focused on selling the old house, moving into the new house, and growing a baby to do a ton of traveling.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? I’d like a calmer year this year. Last year we sold a house, bought a house, moved, and had a baby. That’s a lot of major life changes for one year. This year, I’d like to just sit back and enjoy all the wonderful things we have.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? October 2, the day Alexander was born. And, although the calender dates aren’t etched upon my memory, I’ll always remember the moment we found out we were having a baby, and then the moment we found out he was a boy. I always thought I wanted a girl, and when Tim and I talked about how many kids we wanted, I’d say “2, unless we have 2 boys, in which case I might want to try one more time for a girl.” I never knew how much I wanted a son until I found out I was having one. Now, having lived with my baby boy for over three months, I feel like I could have a house full of sons and be immeasurably happy.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Giving birth, no question.

9. What was your biggest failure? I wasn’t as focused on my dance classes as I could have been and, as a result, had a couple of performances in which I made several mistakes and didn’t perform as well as I could have.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing major, though I was completely caught off guard by how difficult it was to recover after Alexander was born. I assumed that since I was in good shape, the physical recovery would be a breeze, but boy was I ever wrong. Exhaustion and hormones aside, it was a full six weeks before I had all my energy back and could return to any sort of normal workout routine.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Our new house.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Tim, hands down. He has been my rock through all the craziness and emotional instability that comes along with pregnancy, childbirth, and new parenthood. I couldn’t have done it without him, and no matter how hard I try, I’ll never be able to adequately express to him how much I appreciate everything he does for me. I’d be completely lost without him.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? The Realtors who sold our old house. They were mostly useless and unethical, and working with them was a nightmare.

14. Where did most of your money go? The new house. Worth every penny, though!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? My amazing baby boy.

16. Compared to this time last year, are you:
(a) Happier or Sadder? Happier. So much happier. Not that I was unhappy last year, but I was stressed about selling the old house, and I hadn’t yet experienced the life-changing happiness that comes with having a baby.
(b) Thinner or Fatter? Fatter, but I’m only about 15 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight, so I don’t mind it so much.
(c) Richer or Poorer? Probably about the same financially (I think? I got a raise last year, but I’m also just coming off the un-paid portion of my maternity leave, and our mortgage payment is bigger, so I don’t really know.) Definitely richer in the non-material sense.

17. What do you wish you’d done more of? Slept, especially toward the end of the year.

18. What do you wish you’d done less of? Cried. Pregnancy and post-partum hormones made me cry so much more than I normally do. I’m not a big crier, so this really bothered me. And then I cried about how much I was crying all the time. It was no good.

19. How did you spend Christmas in 2011? We went to Virginia to see Tim’s parents, then flew home Christmas Eve and spent Christmas with my parents. It was a busy couple of weeks, but lots of fun!

20. Did you fall in love in 2011? I fell head over heels in love with my son. And I fall more in love with my husband every single day.

21. How many one-night stands? What a married man and woman do in the privacy of their home is none of your business.

22. What was your favorite TV program? How I Met Your Mother. We finally discovered how hilarious this show is and watched all six seasons on Netflix before getting caught up with the current season.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Not even a little bit.

24. What was the best book you read? I enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy and The Night Circus. The Best Birth was great for preparing for labor and delivery.

25. What did you want and get? A new house. The most perfect baby boy.

26. What did you want and not get? A quick sale of our old house at a good price. But it eventually sold in the end, so I can’t complain too much.

27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 28, and went to Ft. Collins and did a tour of my favorite Mexican restaurants. It was a delicious, burrito-filled weekend!

28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Elastic. Maternity clothing is a study in uncomfortable layers of elastic, and I’m so glad to be done with it.

29. What kept you sane? Tim. Also, being able to eat all the cheese and burritos my heart desired. But mostly Tim.

30. Who was the best new person you met? Alexander, obviously.

31. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. Nothing in the world can prepare you for the incredible joy that comes with being a parent.

January 14, 2012 | Filed Under SangriaBaby, The New House, Tim, tv and movies | 1 Comment 

On Being a Good Husband

Did I mention that the day Twilight came out Tim suggested we go to the store and buy it on Blu-ray? And then he watched it with me without complaint? And then I caught him downloading the audio book of New Moon because he was trying to share in something that he knew I really enjoyed? (He didn’t make it very far into the audio book before getting bored and giving up, but still. It was a very nice gesture.)

I wonder if he’s been trying to make up for that day I had the stomach flu and was laying on the couch, trying not to die, when, on his way out the door, he very cleverly slipped the following into our morning good-byes: “By the way, I might have accidentally bought a PlayStation 3 on e-Bay last night. See you tonight!”

April 10, 2009 | Filed Under Tim, tv and movies | 6 Comments 

Loving It Lately

Dancing. My first (ever) dance competition is in just under two weeks, which means we’ve been having extra practices to perfect every last step. Not only is our competition piece fantastic (if I do say so), but I’m also loving getting to dance more than once a week. Gets me thinking about whether I might be able to make another class or two fit into my schedule and budget next year.

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Big Love. Even if there is excessive nudity on the part of Bill Paxton.

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Hunger (and not being afraid to satisfy that hunger). After more than 48 hours of stomach flu-induced starvation, few things are more exciting than feeling hungry and not having to shy away from foods that have never been marketed by Bill Cosby.

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My job. Seven months in, and I still can’t get over how much I love my career. There are a lot of really good things happening at my office, and I’m very excited to be a part of it all.

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Jury duty dismissal. I know it’s my civic duty, and I should be happy to trade a minor inconvenience for the freedom of democracy. And I am happy to make that trade, really. But after missing work Thursday and Friday (see above), I was anxious to get back into the office on Monday (see above again). So when the Jury Commissioner turned off Apollo 13 mid-way through the morning and told those of us still waiting for our numbers to be called that we were excused, I was relieved not to have to miss another full day of work…even if it meant I didn’t get to find out whether Tom Hanks ever got to walk on the moon.

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My husband. Any man who caters to every whim of his pukey and unshowered wife — going to the store for ginger ale, going back to the store for jell-o, making chicken noodle soup and straining out the broth because he knows the chiken and noodles will never be eaten — is a definite keeper.

March 10, 2009 | Filed Under Dance, General Happiness, Have Red Pen, Will Edit, Tap, Tim, tv and movies | 6 Comments 

Love It/Hate It Monday

Love It: When my house is clean.

Hate It: When I have to clean it myself because the cleaning fairy is too lazy to pay a visit.

Hate It: When the dogs track mud through the house just hours after I vacumed.

Love It: HBO’s Big Love.

Hate It: The fact that I’m just now discovering how good it is and have a lot of catching up to do.

Love It: The promise of Big Love DVD marathons in our future.

Love It: When Tim finds a way for us to save $300 per year by upgrading to an HDTV package with a different satellite company.

Hate It: When I have to argue with the representative of our current satellite company to get her to cancel my service even after I gave them a chance to match the better offer and they refused.

Love It: Stimulating the economy and getting a High Def. TV to go with our new, less expensive package.

Love It: Tim’s pay bump for having a Master’s Degree kicks in next month, which helps justify the new tv.

Love It: When I finally start to see some results from a month of eating healthy and working out every single day.

Hate It: When I have to throw away my favorite lounge-around-the-house pants because they’ve developed a hole in the butt too giant to be appropriate even for lounging around the house.

Love It: That Janet surely won’t mind that I stole this post idea from her, right down to asking you all to leave your loves and hates in the comments.

February 9, 2009 | Filed Under General Happiness, Tim, tv and movies | 4 Comments 

Vampires and HBO — What’s Not to Love?

Did anybody else watch the premiere of True Blood tonight? Tim and I saw it advertised last night and both thought it looked interesting enough to check out. Tim was interested because he has yet to meet an HBO original series he hasn’t enjoyed, and I . . . well I am a sucker for any good vampire story, especially if HBO and the makers of Six Feet Under are behind it.

So last night we set the DVR to record all new episodes, and tonight we watched the premiere. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. It sucked me in right away with well-written characters, a good dose of romantic tension, a healthy serving of mystery, and, of course, Hottie McHotterson vampires (I’m allowed to say that since Tim spent the entire show drooling over Anna Paquin).

Though I haven’t read the Twilight series yet (I know!), from what I know of those books, all of you Twilight fans would probably dig True Blood. The show’s leading lady has the hots for vampire Bill (and who can blame her?) but at the same time her cutie-pie, non-vampire boss (who, by the way, may not be a vampire, but I have my own theories about just how human he really is) totally has the hots for her. There’s a similar plotline in Twilight, no? Isn’t that what all you Team Edward/Team Jacob people are always going on about? (Oh, I make fun now, but you know that as soon as I get around to reading those books I’ll be just as into it as all of you are.)

Anyway, True Blood looks like it’s going to be another kick-ass HBO series. The only problem I had after watching it tonight was that I couldn’t immediately put on the next episode, as I am so accustomed to doing with HBO shows. Sure, I’m glad that I don’t have to wait until it’s out on DVD to watch it, but I sure wish I didn’t have to wait until next week to find out what happens next. Because the end of tonight’s episode definitely left me wanting more. And not just because of the hott vampires.

September 7, 2008 | Filed Under tv and movies | 7 Comments 

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