Home for the holidays

Scott and I had a whirlwind four days home in Chicago. While it was busy, it was a lot of fun catching up with everyone.

We flew in on Wednesday, in the middle of a blizzard. Before the Christmas Eve festivities began, Tim, Dana, Ellie, Scott and I all played in the snow.

As you can tell from these pics, we all had fun!

Then Dana and I put up the garland on the front porch. To say we had the giggles, is an understatement. It took a little extra time decorating from all the laughing!

My mom made Dana and me matching aprons this year. This caused another round of giggles. They're so much fun...Christmas on one side and daisies on the other. Thanks again Mom!!

There were a few cooks in the kitchen that night. Here's a few of us in our festive aprons.

Santa was extra good to Scott and me this year. Here's us Christmas morning trying on our new workout clothes.

And here's our last day home...visiting Dana and Ellie again. We hit Cooper's Hawk after this and were able to have a great meal and catch up with Tim. Scott and I both had food coma after all of it!


This was Scott's first Christmas in Chicago with my family. I'm not sure if he's quite come down from all of it, but we had a great time together! It was so much fun sharing my traditions with him. And I know everyone loved having him there. This is just the first of many.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Run Run Rudolph!

I'm a little late in posting this, but last weekend Scott and I along with a couple friends ran the "Jingle Bell Run" 5k here in Somerville. We ran through the neighborhood, which was fun because it was a side of it that we've never really ventured off to.

Since it was a holiday run, we had to get into the spirit...








Before running, Scott had to try on his new baselayers (a fancy word for long underwear). Let's just say he liked them...






Don't be surprised if the antlers make it home with us!!

I did it...

I finally caved in and joined Facebook. I may be one of the last one of my friends to join, but I did it. It seems to be the usual thing to say, but I can't believe I waited so long. There's so much cool stuff to do on it.

My life may never be the same.

Hooray for Scott!

Scott got a new job yesterday.

He'd been interviewing with a few different companies over the past couple of months and on Tuesday he got an offer. We were thrilled. To say he was unhappy at his current (I guess former now) job, is an understatement. It turned out to be something completely different from the job that was explained him over a year ago. That combined with the fact that the market's in the toilet right now made things a little tense.

But not anymore...

Yesterday he joined the ranks of Keurig. To check them out, click here. It's a coffee company which is right up his alley (anyone remember his coffee maker with the weather??).

He starts in 2 weeks and has the time off in between now and then. So if you need him to do something, he has some time on his hands. Just remember, my list comes first!

This might not be exactly what we planned when we came out here. We did move here for his job after all...but this is a great opportunity and will only lead to better jobs in the future.

So everyone join me in congratulating Scott!!

The Christmas Dance

Some of you may not know this, but I looooove to dance. Okay, it may not be dancing in the true sense of the word it's more of what I call "stupid dancing". Sometimes it's at home with music on. Sometimes there's no music. I do the "It's Friday dance", the "Going out to dinner dance". Sometimes Scott joins in, sometimes I'm on my own. Well, this is the "I'm excited it's Christmas dance". And while you may not be able to hear it, there's actually Christmas music playing in the background...I swear.

Hope you get as big of a laugh out of this as Scott and I did!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Yesterday was our day to put up the Christmas decorations. We started out by heading down the street to a local church that was giving away Christmas trees. Scott and I knew we wanted the typical Charlie Brown tree so that seemed like a perfect spot to get one.

I think Charlie Brown would approve of this little guy.

Once we got home, I started decorating the apartment. We saved the tree for last. After dinner (and a little champagne) the fun began.

Both Scott and I have had the tradition in our families of getting a new ornament every year. The ornament usually has to do with something that happened since the last Christmas. So while in Thailand, we picked this one up. We couldn't wait to find a good spot.

Since our tree wasn't too big, we couldn't fit all our ornaments on it. So we decided to put up all of the "old school" ornaments. You know, the macaroni Christmas tree, our mobiles turned into ornaments, maybe even the gingerbread man with raisin eyes.

We were so happy to see how it looked all lit up. Then it really felt like Christmas.

Today it's even snowing for the first time. Guess that means that winter's really here. But winter means Christmas so I'm okay with that...at least for now. In February I might have a different opinion!

By the end of the day, Scott was in the holiday spirit too!!


Wishing everyone a happy holiday season!

Thanksgiving in Ohio

Scott and I headed to Oxford, Ohio Thanksgiving morning to spend the holiday with his family. It was so good to catch up with everyone and I think we're both still full from all the goodies we ate.


The welcome wagon came and got us at the airport with the welcome sign in hand. Bob was there outside of security ready with the hugs. Mary was at home cooking up a feast, but she made sure there was a drawing of her on the sign so we knew she was thinking about us.


Since we didn't get in until mid-afternoon, there wasn't much time before dinner. But Thanksgiving isn't the same without baking a pie. So I quickly headed over to Nana's to whip up a pecan pie. Mary also made a pumpkin pie later in the week that we enjoyed with leftovers. And there was plenty of those!



Scott enjoyed some time to himself while Nana and I hung out in the kitchen. He needed it too. He's been a busy bee at work!


We also got to catch up with friends while we were there which was great. I went to my first "Townie Night", we played cards in the annual pitch tournament. Scott even won the grand prize! All in all it was a great holiday weekend!

Now we're on to Christmas!! Can't believe it's only 3 weeks away! Where did 2008 go? We're looking forward to seeing the other side of the fam in just a few short weeks!

Happy Holidays!!

Twilight

I'm sure a few of you have heard about this. Twilight is a new movie coming out next Friday. It's based on a book by Stephanie Meyer. To say the book is good is an understatement. I'm on book 3 of the four book series...and I read book 2 (over 500 pages) in one night. Sounds crazy, I know.

To give you a quick synopses the book(s) are about a group of vampires and how they fit into the human world. Again, I know this sounds crazy, but if you're looking for a good, light, quick read you've got to check these out. I'm a big reader, but I've never been so addicted to a book to the point where I had to finish it to find out what happens next.

If you want a better guide, check them out at amazon here. And if you've read them already, then you know I'm not alone.

Halloween

You know we couldn't let Halloween go by without a little fun...

We went out with some friends at work and we had quite a few laughs. It started with a train ride downtown. I'm sure you can imagine some of the looks we got...






The funny thing was that these guys wore there costumes to work that day...and saw clients!!! I saved Wonder Woman for after work.



If you think this picture is funny, imagine the sumo and ostrich dancing. It was hysterical!





Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!

One year

That's how long Scott and I have been in Boston. Neither of us can believe it!

To celebrate, Scott had a surprise in store for me. On Saturday, I came home from yoga to a note on the door, telling me to be ready to leave at 3:00 and my bag was next to it. He had a fun night planned complete with a hotel stay downtown, a fun dinner out, and even a club to go to afterward. It was wonderful. The club part was kind of funny...large groups of girls all dressed up, bass thumping in the background, and Scott and me hanging out at the bar. We really had a blast!

We ended the fun the next morning with brunch at a local pub that we've been wanting to try.

If you asked me a year ago about Boston, my answer might have been different, but we're having a lot of fun. Here's just a few of the things we've done in the past year:

-Got married
-Traveled to Thailand
-Hiked some amazing mountains in New Hampshire
-Ate lobster in Maine
-Surfed in the Atlantic Ocean
-Backpacked in what could be considered our backyard
-Had fun with friends and family visiting
-Had even more fun going home to visit friends and family!!
-Realized we can do anything as long as we have each other (ok, I know this is cheesy, but it's so true!)

We've had a lot of fun and we know there's only more in store!

Scott's been away in Montreal the past couple days on business. While he's away I've learned a few things...

1. Scott radiates heat. I think I could go all winter without turning the heat on if he was always here. Ok...not quite, but it sure is a lot colder in bed without him.

2. I dislike cooking for one person as much as Scott does. It's much more fun when someone else can enjoy it.

3. I'm scared of the dark. Sadly, I've been sleeping with either the bathroom or kitchen light on.

I can't wait until he gets home tomorrow!

October Ladies

Scott and I were in Ohio over the weekend to celebrate some very special birthdays...

His mom, grandmother, and sister all have birthdays the same week. It's tradition for us to visit for them and this year was no different. The only thing that changed this year is that we kept it a surprise. And no one was more surprised than Nana. Some might say it's not a good idea to surprise a 90 year old woman (yes 90!), but we were so glad we did. The look on her face when she opened the door to us saying "Happy Birthday", was priceless.

We had a great time visiting the family, and look forward to spending more time with them over Thanksgiving!


There was another special birthday celebrated this past weekend. Our little peanut, Ellie, turned two! From what I hear, the party was a lot of fun...complete with a pony!





Ellie sure is getting big. She can recite the alphabet, count to ten and talk like you wouldn't believe! Can't wait to see her and the rest of the family over Christmas!

Happy Birthday to all the October ladies!

He did it!

Scott ran the Chicago Marathon on Sunday in an impressive 4 hours and 23 minutes!

He was 1 of about 45,000 people in the race. If you think that's a lot of people you won't believe how many spectators there were...about 1.5 MILLION!!


It's such a cool experience to run the marathon and equally as fun to watch one. To see the support from all the communities is nothing short of amazing.

Scott did so well and even managed to have a smile on his face most of the way!





He also had a great pep squad cheering him on. Scott's parents, sister and my mom were there at numerous points during the run to keep him going. Aunt Carol and Kelly also stopped by to see him finish. I was lucky enough to join him at mile 20 to keep him motivated. Not that he needed much help!

Scott also found out this weekend that he received an entry into the Boston Marathon in April, through the Livestrong Foundation. He's already raised almost $7000 for them which is unbelievable.

To see more pics and Scott's fundraising efforts go to www.lafrunner.blogspot.com

Way to go Scott! I couldn't be prouder of you!!

Our blog

As you can see, we've made some changes to the blog. I was getting bored and wanted to jazz it up a bit. Stay tuned as more changes are in the works!

Apples, Apples, Everywhere!

Scott and I went apple picking last weekend with a friend from his work. I seem to say this every time we do anything...but we had so much fun! Not all the apples were ready to be picked, but we still came home with a good amount. The apples were so good it was hard not to fill your bag completely up!


We picked 3 or 4 different varieties. I keep saying I'm going to do some baking, but all I'm doing is eating them. They're so good!

Of course, I had to do a couple taste tests before we picked any.


We even got to go on a hayride to the picking area.

I couldn't reach the good ones, so I needed a little help.


Such a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon...

And Scott got his "play time" in!

Time for a change

When I grew my hair out after college, I vowed never to cut it again. Oh sure, I'd get an inch cut every so often. But if I cut an inch I let it grow two more before I got it cut again. Every inch cut off felt like 6. I turned in to one of "them". You know, the girls who cry in the salon when it's cut too short...and it's to their butt! I started having visions that I would be one of those old ladies walking down the street and their hair is so long you want to pull out your scissors and cut it yourself.

Plus...I just wanted a cute new haircut.

I walked in, told my stylist what I wanted, and he went to work. He immediately put my hair into a ponytail and cut the ponytail right off! Kind of like pulling off a band-aid...the faster the better. I didn't even have time to change my mind.

Here's the new me:


What do you think?

My husband

Scott's always doing something funny to show me how much he loves me. Here's just one example that he did on Friday night...






Probably doesn't seem all that silly until you read the note that's attached to him...




Yes, he's a goober, but that's part of what I love about him!


He also does other random things...like bringing me home flowers for no reason on Saturday afternoon.

Guess that's why I married him!!

Family, Fun, & Food

My mom and Tim came to visit this weekend and we had so much fun. So much that I had to take a nap after the left! It was a short visit, but we managed to squeeze a lot of fun in.



We ate pastries in Little Italy...




There was brotherly bonding...



More eating and drinking at a great seafood restaurant...


Wine, wine and more wine...




Fun family time...

And more eating!


Thanks Mom & Tim for all the fun!