Happy 2009!

Happy New Year! I can't believe another year is over. 2008 really flew by. So much happened this past year for us. It was a very good year! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to post a year-ender photo album. I had a lot of fun with that last year. (Thanks RB and LK for the idea!) 

I'm not sure if I have any resolutions this year... I'll have to think about it. Eat healthier? Be nicer to people? Save more money? Exercise? Blog more? Hmmmm.... Anyone else making any resolutions?? 

Happy 2009!

Family Portrait Day

The Hayden Brothers were all in town at the same time, and all the kids were here too. So Paula & Gary thought it would be fun (or was it just Paula's idea?) to go to Sears for a big family portrait. Here is one of the pictures of the whole crew. Little Kelly in the bottom row middle was very squirmy, so the rest of us had to stay perfectly still, smile and stare at the camera while they waited for her to look and smile. This was quite the feat for the 2 young, um, well-endowed female photographers.... at least the boys had no problem keeping their focus...

After the photo shoot, we came back to our house for a pizza party. Greg, Diane and their kids hadn't seen our new house yet, so it was nice they were able to visit. And we all know how I love to entertain... Here are some photos from the day. There are no behind-the-scenes pictures of the photo shoot because I was scolded for trying to take pictures... but the rest of the day is very well documented. Enjoy!

The 2008 Meme

Here's a fun "meme" I received. I'll spare all my friends and not email it to them and expect them to email it back... but if you do want to send it to me all filled out, I'd love to read them! Just copy and paste into an email and change the answers to your own. Or post it to your blog...

-----

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
I got married... in a courthouse!

2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?
I don't remember my resolutions from last year... perhaps that will be part of my resolutions for next year. To remember what they are!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Eight (8) co-workers had children this year. Isn't that insane! And don't worry, I'm not drinking the water...

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

5. What countries did you visit?
Just this one. Our travels were limited this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A nice long vacation that doesn't involve moving trucks.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
July 31st. My wedding date.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Co-ordinating the sale of our townhouses and the purchase/move to our new house. Phew!!

9. What was your biggest failure?
Nothing major stands out.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Thankfully, no.

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

12. Where did most of your money go?
See question #11.

13. What did you get really, really excited about?
Marrying Eric, of course!

14. What song will always remind you of 2008?
That Flow-Rida "Low" song... "Apple Bottom Jeans... and the boots with the fur." When Alex and I drove to Cleveland in April to see the Red Sox play, it was on the radio constantly. Whenever I hear it now, I think of that trip.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you: Happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter? Richer or poorer?
Happier. The exact same. Richer. (Only because it's combined now!)

16. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Relaxed.

17. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stressed out about silly things.

18. How will you be spending New Years Eve?
Not sure yet... perhaps just enjoying our new home, watching Dick Clark... or is it Ryan Seacrest now?... Or maybe we'll get to go to Meghan MacMurphy's!

19. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I was already in love...

20. What was your favorite TV program?
I re-discovered HGTV. And my favorite show this year was definitely "House Hunters".

21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Hate? No... I don't hate anyone.

22. What was the best book you read?
I just read 2 fun Carol Higgins Clark books... I love the "Regan Riley" mysteries.

23. What was your favorite film of this year?
Ironman.

24. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
We went out to eat at Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse... and I turned *gasp* 40.

25. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I think I had a very good year!

26. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Comfort.

27. What kept you sane?
Kept me sane? That would mean I was sane to begin with!! Ah ha ha ha ha ha....

28. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I don't think I really fancied any public figures or celebrities. Although what Michael Phelps did at the Olympics was very cool.

29.. What political issue stirred you the most?
Nothing really stirred me, they just annoyed me. There was way too much politic-ing this year!!

30. Who was the best new person you met?
Hmm. Did I meet anyone new this year? I didn't get out much.

31. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Chill out!

32. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"We got the beat..."

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas... I'm coming to you from my new laptop! Santa was verrrrry good to me this year!! I must have been a very good girl...

So far Christmas has been lots of fun. And we're only half way through the day. We're getting ready to go to Sheila's house for a nice Christmas dinner. And speaking of dinners, last night we went to Yvette's house for a nice Christmas Eve dinner. (Yvette is Eric's ex-wife - Kelsey's mom.) Click here to the see photos.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas! I'll post today's photos sometime tomorrow...

* * * Update! * * *
Click here to see photos from Christmas Day....

Merry Christmas Eve!

I really meant to update this in the last few days. Time is sure passes by quickly! Lots going on getting ready for Christmas. I mentioned last time that I was going to post some photos from around the house. I fully intended on getting to that the last few days, but obviously failed miserably. Well, for what it is, here goes the rest of the house tour.

This is a cute ornament we got for Jenny this year. Since we got one for the 4 of us, we didn't want her to feel left out. She had some assistance hanging it on the tree.

This is the outside of the house. I only put up a couple of wreaths this year for decorations outside. Next year, maybe I'll get daring and throw up some lights. The snow was a natural occurrence, not a decoration from me... (Hey, I used "occurrence" in a sentence and I even spelled it right!)

This is my favorite Nutcracker guy. Standing tall overseeing the festivities. Well, at this point he's just waiting for them to begin. He's been waiting for awhile now!

This funny looking Santa was a gift several years ago from a Secret Santa gift exchange. I think he's neat. He sits at the bottom of the stairs next to a Poinsettia. He reminds us of the Davey Jones character from Pirates of the Caribbean. The one with the crazy snake type creatures coming out of his face.

Since we don't have a chimney, fireplace or mantle... this seemed like a fun place to put all the stockings. Kelsey's stocking is the gigantic one with the green top. Alex has the next biggest one on the far left. Eric and I have the "small" ones in the middle. And no, the giant stockings do not get filled all the way. Just because there's more room, doesn't necessarily mean they get more stuff!

I have no idea where this little snowman came from. But he's sweet and I like his big red heart. He's in the dining room with the red candles and centerpiece.

And that's about it! I sincerely hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and is able to spend time with family and loved ones. And I hope Santa is good everyone!

I. Hate. Snow.

It's true. I don't like snow. I don't like winter either. Or cold weather for that matter. But here I am, in one of the snowiest parts of the country. And I'm never moving again. So it's a necessary evil that I must endure each year. It's beautiful and warm here for about 5 months a year. Then it goes downhill fast. It's not even officially winter yet and we've had almost 50" of snow already.

I do love the holidays though, and I don't mind looking out the window and seeing the snow. I just don't like being out in it or driving in it. So while I'm inside, watching it snow outside, I like to enjoy the holiday decorations around the house. I've shown some photos of the gigantic tree, but over the next few days, I'm going to post a few various photos of some other decorations around the house. Kind of a fun Holiday House tour. The kind where you don't have to leave your house!



This is an ornament that our friend Beebs gave us. I just love it! On the other side it says "First Christmas In Our New Home". Very sweet!

And this is my new favorite Santa. I got him at a 90% off sale last year at Jo-Ann Fabrics after Christmas. I think it was under $2. I had forgotten I got him until I opened the boxes of decorations this year.

A Disappointing Occurrence

That's o-c-c-u-r-r-e-n-c-e. Occurrence. Could you have spelled that correctly without looking? Would knowing the origin of the word helped? Or the definition? Well, it wouldn't have helped me. And I guess it didn't help Alex either. He had made it to the finals of his Middle School's Spelling Bee. He was in the Top 12 for the whole school. And the Top 3 get to go to the Post Standard Spelling Bee (which is incidentally aired on Eric's station....) Well, Alex came in 4th place. Needless to say, he was VERY disappointed. But... there's always next year. He's only in 7th grade. 2 of the top 3 finishers were in 8th grade. So odds are good for next year. We'll start studying tomorrow.