Looking Back on 2010

I've noticed a lot of lists lately on your blogs ... people are rounding up their favorite recipes, etc, from 2010 and I just had to jump on the bandwagon. I thought I would look back on 2010 in photos and talk about my favorite moments.

Taking down the Christmas tree, shortly before Matt deployed.

No photos of deployment ... because it was NOT one of my favorite moments of 2010, and also because we just didn't take any photos. Because it was very teary.

Spending my birthday weekend with my BFF Lisa, and my bloggy BFFs Jenn and Jenny.

We had lots of snow days ... and Oscar and I did a lot of this.

Met my other bloggy BFF, Lindsay.

I met my friend Anna's beautiful daughter, Mae, back in March when she was around 7 weeks old.

My mom taught Oscar how to play cards ... or maybe it was the other way around?

And for 5 glorious days, I got to vacation in Destin, FL, with Matt before he headed to Kuwait.

At the end of April, I met my friend Jenna's sweet son Corbin just two days after he was born.

I got an organic farm CSA share!

With the help of my mom, I picked out plants, planted, and successfully kept this beautiful potted plant arrangement alive.

I took a DSM-IV class - and aced it with an A.

I went to the Great White North to hang out with Jenny and Lindsay.

While in Canada, Oscar picked up some sort of allergy that involved him licking some hot spots on his tail. Okay, definitely not a highlight of 2010, but I do love this sad little photo.

I vacationed in northern Michigan with my parents on Bear Lake, which was absolutely gorgeous. Oscar loved it too, and spent several hours a day swimming.

Bear Lake at dusk ... just amazing.

I grew my own little herb garden - basil, sage and oregano.

I went to Chicago with d.a.r. and MTM, and had an awesome time wandering around the city!

Oh, and we ran a little race, too.

And a couple of weeks later, I ran another 5k with my friend Jenna.

I got to meet my friend Jenn's sweet baby girl, Cora.

Oscar helped me make some welcome home signs for Matt, as we started to think about his return ...

I attended my friend Kyle's baby shower (she's due next week - so excited!!!).

And then, after ten long months, it was time for me to hang up the welcome home signs. This one was my creation:

And my Little Sis, S, made this one:

Hands down, the best moment of 2010? Was this one.

I saved all sorts of stuff and food items all year to show Matt when he came home. For whatever reason, I felt the need to pull absolutely everything out that first night he came home to show him. I have no idea why.

Happy, happy mess! The mess of Matt unpacking.

Our 2nd anniversary, November 8, 2010. Self-portrait. Duh.

Surprisingly, Matt teaching me how to shoot was a total highlight of 2010. It was just TOO fun.

Sweet puppies, perfect light.

Matt and I took a tiny post-deployment vacation (i.e. one night) to Asheville, TN and had this amazing dinner at Tupelo Honey.

Best. Drinking chocolate. Ever.

Matt and I got to spend some quality time with our sweet friends Anna and Tim, and their baby girl Mae - who was then 10 months old. So much personality!
The rest of my highlights don't have photos, unfortunately.

-Spending a weekend in Chicago with Lisa, Randy and Bacon was incredibly fun and relaxing, as always.

-Spending the holidays with our families.

-Just spending time with Matt, in general.

The end. I wish all of you a peaceful (or party-filled) New Years Eve! Matt and I will be relaxing with Kyle and her husband Rob, and our dogs, thinking happy "baby-come-out" thoughts for Kyle.

Talk to you next year!

Christmas = Awesome!

I don't know about y'all, but Santa was very good to me this year. And by Santa, I mean my sweet husband, family, in-law family and friends. I was totally and completely spoiled. Here is just a sample of some of the amazing things I found under the tree this year:

Yay! And now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to play with all my new stuff. I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season! xxoo

Happy Holidays!

Snow day, handy husband, and Christmas decorations!

1. Snow Day - I have a snow day tomorrow! We are having all sorts of winter storm warnings, and they preemptively closed school for tomorrow. No complaints here! So now I'm staying up too late, having fun, and tomorrow I will sleep in, clean, do laundry, and pack for vacation. Woot!

2. Can I just say how awesome it is to have such a handy husband? Not only am I married to someone who can fix almost anything, but he can also build stuff! He has been hard at work the last few weeks, building this beautiful chest/coffee table. What do you think?

Isn't it amazing? I am so happy to have a nice, strong, solid piece of furniture that Matt built - it will literally last forever, and it's something that can stay in our family for, well, a long time!

3. Christmas decorations! Yes, I did decorate a bit for Christmas despite not getting a tree. And for those of you who are concerned we don't have a tree ... well, I'm pretty sad about it. But since we were just on vacation, and we leave again on Friday, there just wasn't a point. I did a few little things to make me feel more festive.

Like put these cute little dishes out ... for no reason, because we are not entertaining. It's strictly because I never use them and I think they are so cute.

This is actually a Christmas ornament of the place Matt and I had our wedding reception. It's massive, so I put it out on the counter instead of on our nonexistent tree.

I filled my fave kate spade rose bowl with a ton of glittery ornaments, and that vase o'glitter makes me very, very happy.

Oh, and we can't forget Oscar's stocking!

I tied this super cute mistletoe to ... the uber romantic ceiling fan that is on top of the dining room table, thus ensuring Matt and I will never, ever be directly under it. Seriously, where do people hang mistletoe? The only other viable option in our apartment was Matt's pull-up bar. Talk about romantic.

I just threw out some more cute Christmas dishes on the table, along with my other fave kate spade vase with some sparkly Christmas tree-y branch dealies.

Aren't those cute?

Wellllllll that's it. Like I said, I didn't do much, but the tiny bit I DID do makes me feel warmer and fuzzy-er inside. That's all for tonight ... if you live somewhere in the midwest and you're also getting this snow storm, stay safe out there! xxoo