The Post You've Been Waiting (Forever) For

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't blogged in
forever. We got super busy doing all sorts of blog worthy stuff, and
the more blog worthy stuff we did, the longer the next post had to
be. And the longer the next post had to be, the less I wanted to do it,
and the more excuses I came up with for not doing it. It has gotten
ridiculous. I haven't even blogged about my amazeballs Christmas party
yet. So, because it's been so long, and I'm rather lazy, here is a
semi-condensed version of life since my last blog post. Hopefully, catching
up will get me back on track.

December:

Our 2nd Annual Christmas Brunch was awesome, although the child to adult
ratio was seriously off. Next year I may put that kids are welcome to
come in a smaller font than the one that says the mimosas will be flowing.

Just in time for the party, Derek spruced up our guest bathroom. He repaired the holes in the wall, sanded and retextured the walls, painted, put in a new light fixture, a new medicine cabinet, and built a new cabinet complete with a new sink, counter top and faucet! The plan is to sand down and stain the original doors, but that project is still in the works.

Before- Don't you just love those
hand painted cabinets?

After

Christmas was great. We celebrated with family early, and got to see my
sister graduate from UM. I am ridiculously proud. It goes to show you
that as long as you believe in yourself, everyone else can shove it.

Christmas with Derek's family was especially special this year because
it was our niece's first Christmas. She's too young to get it all this
year, but having a child around for Christmas makes everything more
magical and special. Because we celebrated early, we were home for
Christmas, and decided to take our Christmas present to each other out
for a test ride. It was awesome!

 

 

January: 

My sister in law and brother in law went to Vegas and left me with my niece for 5 days. It was epically fabulous. 

While I was gone, Derek put up heavy duty shelves in the garage and got a good 70% of the junk off of the floor. We're no where near being able to fit a car in the garage yet, but I can now get through the garage while holding a load of groceries without knocking anything over, so I consider this major progress.

Before

After

I ran my second (and my last)  marathon with my best friend. It was such
an incredible experience to do such a difficult thing with such
a great friend. Unfortunately, I unknowingly pushed it a bit too far,
and that I'm combination with the fact that I slacked on strength
training and lost important core muscles, led to a pinched nerve that
causes my foot to go numb. Joy!

February: 

My sister visited in February, and she got a puppy while she
was up here. It was then that I decided that (1) I  would never get a
puppy-they're a ridiculous amount of work, and (2) I would never get
anything other than a shelter dog. Don't get me wrong, my sister's dog
is super cute, but I just couldn't dump that much money on a dog, when I
could save the life of a dog for way cheaper.

This was her puppy's 4th bath in the same day.
FYI- Puppies poop all over themselves.

In February I also took the sweet little boy I mentor to
Chuckie Cheese. I hadn't been there since I was an excited child, and I
knew it would suck, but damn, that place is hell. As you look around,
you see kids with looks of pure joy on their face. They're so excited
and so happy. And the you look up. There was not a single smiling adult
in the place. I'm pretty sure Chuckie was even frowning under his big
costume head. Even the adults there celebrating their child's birthday
looked like all the life and joy had been sucked out of them. I'm pretty
sure Chuckie Cheese is the 7th layer of hell. In the end, a day of pure
misery was worth it because my little love muffin exclaimed, "This was
the bestest day of my whole life!"

You're not fooling me Chuck

March:

March is always a busy and awesome month, and it started out with
the most important day of the year... my birthday! As is to be expected, I
wore a glittery dress and got hammered. Some things never change.

My birthday was, however, only the appetizer for the awesomeness to come in March.

In March I also got my first ever raise, and my first ever bonus! There
is no comparison to the awesomeness of corporate life. To top it all
off, they sent me to Boston for a week for training. It was the best
trip ever. Why you ask? Was it the free flight, room, food and corporate
card? Was it the fact that you got to visit a place you've never been?
Was it the in-freaking-credble training facility where you learned just
how awesome your company is? Nope. The best part of my trip was SNOW!!!
It was my first snow ever and I literally squealed with joy every time I
saw it. Everyone else saw it and groaned in disgust, as I stared out
the window, wide-eyed like a fat kid at an all you can eat buffet. From what I'm told,
none of what I played with was "real snow," it was just icy slush. But
that icy slush made me the happiest girl in the world. I made a snow
man, a snow angel, and had a snowball fight. The only snow related items
on my bucket list are to go sledding/tubing, and to see snow as it
falls.

When I got back from Boston, I missed my love muffin tons, so I took him
to the zoo. He's an animal expert and lover, so it was an awesome time.

 

After being home 6 days, I was off again! Derek and I went to Louisiana
to visit one of my best friends. It was awesome. I always love going
there. Louisiana is so laid back and not at all pretentious. While
there, I ran the Zydeco half marathon. Since my injuries from the full,
I've barely run at all, so I was scared that it wouldn't be pretty. I
half considered starting it with my friend, and a mile in having the
boys pick me up and then drop me off at mile 12. But I did it, and
shockingly enough, I didn't have to walk at all, and I felt pretty good
after.

 
After a few care free days in Louisiana we celebrated our anniversary
early at my favorite place in the world, Seaside, Florida.

If you've never been, put it on your list. It's a beautiful little beach town in the panhandle where they shot the movie The Truman Show. It was a relaxing little get away for us, which we enjoyed greatly. If you do go; however, I wouldn't suggest March. Apparently that's when the Spring Breakers take over. September-November, and May (with the exception of the last week) it is beautiful and quaint (and much cheaper).

April:

After only 2 days home, we were off again! Our niece Aliyah turned 1, and had the best party ever! We were so excited to celebrate with her, especially since her mom lifted the dreadful "No Hair, No Hair Accessories," ban for the day. ;)

It's been a great few months chock full of blog-worthynes, and, as always, there is more blog-worthyness to come! It's officially been 2 years since we became foreclosure homeowners, and, while I can't say we loved every minute of it, I can surely say it's been an adventure.