2010...positively

Ok, so I realize that my previous post "welcoming" the new year may not have been the World's Best Post by any stretch of the imagination. A lot of the time when I think about 2010, it leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth as much of the year was filled with stress which lead to more questions than answers. The purpose of this post is to look back at 2010 through a looking glass that can only see things positively!

In January we began the process of moving into this apartment. While I've had my share of complaints about it, I realize the purpose of moving here was to save money to buy a house. Our lease ends March 21st, and we're currently in the process of house-hunting. Mission: accomplished.

In February, our Godson turned 2! We weren't able to make it to his birthday party due to moving, but Kim, Ken, and Zach came down here and we had a lil birthday party of our own.

We also survived "Snowmageddon"

and Insull came to visit! (Apparently I didn't take any pics of us together though?!!)

March came and went, and in April Kelley and Pete came to visit us! Chris and I also ran in our first 5k of the year!

I also joined a kickball league, our team was appropriately named "Here for Beer"

In May, Chris' mom came to visit and we ran another 5k!

and I trekked up to NJ for JL's bridal shower!

In June, Katie came down to DC for a visit!

and my dad turned the big 6-0!!! :)

July was the busiest month of the year! We kicked it off with the 4th of July/my 26th birthday!

then back to NJ it was for JL and Mike's 7/10/10 wedding!

that same day, Lindsey and Chris tied the knot!

The next weekend, Chris turned 27 and I guess I didn't take a picture... :( sorry Cristobal!

Then it was off to CO for Matt & Amanda's 7/25 wedding!

In August, we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! (2nd on the 2nd!) The CO trip also served as an anniversary trip :)

October was filled with celebrations for our family around the country: Mom and Dad's 37th anniversary on the 20th, Kelley's birthday on the 21st, Shawn's birthday on the 22nd, and Mom's birthday on the 29th!

I also ran my first Half Marathon!

In November, we were fortunate to spend our first Thanksgiving in Maine in 5 years! We were also home for a whooooole WEEK! BLISS!

We also spent Christmas at home in Maine and my whooooole family was there! That hasn't happened in about 100 years! It was amazing.

(Christmas pictures to come soon!!)

New Year's was supposed to be spent in NJ with Kim, Ken, and Zach, but instead we were stuck in NoVA wiping each others boogers. We both came down with horrible colds and even had a sick day at home together earlier in the week. We're still trying to shake it, but doing much better.

While 2010 will certainly go down in the books as one of my most "challenging" years, it is important to remember and reflect on all the good things too.

I know that in 2011, miracles will happen, dreams will come true, and prayers will be answered. I certainly have high hopes for this new beginning.

MMXI

Well, 2010 was a real beotch. I'm ready for only great things to come from 2011! God knows we've paid our dues!!!

Happy New Year 2011!!

I'm the worst blogger...ever!

I know, it's been 2 months since my last entry! Ah! Lots has been going on since then. A.Lot. To put it mildly, things have been very stressful and I feel like I probably have aged about 20 years in the past few months. Here, we'll focus on the positive and I'll ask for prayers for the "stressful." Believe me, if you send prayers for my fam, the Big Man upstairs will know what you're talking about, even though you won't!

So let's see...since November, Kristi got married!! She had a wonderful wedding! I knew it would be a great wedding though: a fantastic couple = a fantastic wedding!! It was great to share in their special day celebrating their love! They've been together for 10 years now, so it was a long time coming! And they know how to throw a hell of a party!!! Also that weekend we got to spend a night with Kim, Ken, and Zach which was great too. We wish it had been longer, but we were happy to have even a short time with them!

And then fall came and went...

And then I went to ASHA for the first time ever! It was great getting to see my Canadian friend, Insull :) And I got to spend time with Gigi too! (However, besides the social aspect, ASHA was pretty much a huge let-down!)

And Thanksgiving (in Maine) came and went (too quickly). It was so great being home for a week, but it wasn't nearly enough time. I miss being home so much already and can't wait to get back there later this week.

And the Christmas season came....and Christmas is almost here!

We are headed home on Thursday night and will be back on Sunday. So basically we only get Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home. Not nearly enough time :( However, on the bright side, Shawn will be home which will be the first time in about 6 years that we'll all be there for Christmas, so I'm very very VERY excited about that!

I hope everyone out there has a happy and safe Christmas. Enjoy your families!

If you want to be happy in a million ways,

For the Holidays you can't beat home sweet home

Random Updates on Yerxa Happenings!

This past week seemed to be long, busy, and basically just got away from me! I'd like to take this opportunity to wish my BFF Kell a very happy birthday (on the 21st) and my bro a very happy birthday as well! (on the 22nd) Hope you all had wonderful days and that you got to spend it doing anything you wanted! Although, since your bdays were on Thursday and Friday respectively, I doubt you did ;) hehe so I hope you both had a great weekend!

This weekend we went CAMPING!!!! Yes, camping on October 23rd :) Luckily we did not go on Friday night as we experienced the first frost of the year and it got into the 30s!! Saturday was in the low 70's, and dipped into the 50s at night, but was definitely comfortable.

We went with friends and went for a moonlight kayak tour in Pohick Bay!! And since the full moon was on Friday, it was alllllllmost full so it was pretty easy to see out there on the water. It was a guided tour with about 15 people. It went along at a leisurely pace, stopping every now and then to point out different things (certain trees and plant life, beavers and their dams, osprey and bald eagle nests, great blue herons, and an actual osprey. Unfortunately the bald eagle wasn't in the tree that night, boo!) It was so much fun! It was about 2 hr 15-30 mins on the water and we went about 6 miles. The water was so calm, not even a ripple. At times it made it hard to get your bearings! I had to keep looking over towards shore to make sure I was moving some of the time! The moon in the sky looked exactly the same as the moon in the reflection in the water since there were no waves or ripples or anything up against my kayak. Very strange! It was so clear out too that when we were paddling towards the moon, it was almost like going into the sun; it was a little bit blinding! I really wish I had some pics of it (they probably wouldn't have even come out though) btu I'm glad I didn't bring my camera since I did get pretty wet out there! Luckily I wore lots of layers so I wasn't cold at all.

Then we made a fire, ate s'mores, and did the standard camping things :) It was great to get out again since we only went one other time this summer! And it was great that it was nice and cool and we got to bundle up to sleep! I even slept in until 8:30!!! Amazing! I slept soooo good. I love camping sleep!

Today has been spent cleaning up from camping (washing all of our smoke-infested clothes, giving all our dishes/pots/pans a thorough scrubbing so they're ready to be put away for the year, etc.) and I took a trip to the mall with Erin. I got a couple of pants at LOFT for 50% off which I'm pretty pumped about! Even more exciting than the sale (if that's even possible) is that their petite size fits me so well! Usually I'm about 1" too tall for petite length, but 3" too short for regular sizes, which can be sooo frustrating!! (Although Insull changed my life by introducing me to Heat 'N Bond - you iron this glue/tape stuff in to hem pants, which is great since I can't sew! I actually tried it for the first time on Friday...I think it went well, but I haven't worn the pants yet so we'll see. :) The true test will be how it holds up to washing I think.

So now here I am, doing anything to avoid the realization of tomorrow being MONDAY. But I"m very excited for Friday: it's Momma's birthday (YAY!) and we're going on a Haunted Tour in Old Town Alexandria (we're doing the Special Halloween Tour, if you click the link and are interested) that takes us through some haunted buildings as well as some graveyards!! Spooky! :) We've never been on a tour like this so we're pretty excited! Hopefully we'll see a ghost or 2! Even if we don't, I'm sure it will be a fun experience with friends!

Here's some pics from the weekend:

Our campsite

Pohick Bay - where we went kayaking. This place we huge; it goes much farther in both directions

the canoes and kayaks for later!

the beach where we take off from for the tour

finally - looks like fall!

So as usual, I hate to say goodbye to the weekend. It was a great one! Halloween fun next weekend then off to NY for Kristi's wedding, which brings us to November!!! Soooo, where is 2010 going?!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE MOST WONDERFUL PEOPLE I KNOW!

My parents!! They are celebrating 37 years of marriage today and I am so proud of them!! They are 2 incredible people with an indescribable love for one another and I can't imagine better marriage models :) I love you both so, so much!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I also have a great cute kid story from today!

So, I was at a school working with a 2nd grader on articulation. S to be exact. He makes it kind of "slushy" so it sounds more like "sh."

We were playing an S memory game and we were working on discrimination between a good snake sound and a not so good snake sound so some of the time I was producing the words incorrectly and having him correct me. So for example, I might say, "I got sunflower and shun" (sun) and he's say, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Sun!!!!! (really emphasizing the S.)

At one point, I chose 2 cards and (not so surprisingly) did not get a match. So I said, "Awww shucks!" to which he responded, "Aww Sucks!!"

Oops :)

But it was a great S, kid.

One Helluva Weekend!

WOW! What a busy and exciting weekend we had!! Margy came in on Thursday evening. Once I picked her and Cristobal up from Pentagon City we just grabbed some dinner (Chipotle, naturally) and relaxed. On Friday we went into DC (Chris went into work for a few hours even though he had the day off, boooo) so Margy and I went to the American History Museum. (Sidenote: this museum was closed for a couple of years while they did renovations. It repoened in the Spring of 09 and was really not good. Renovations weren't completely done so lots of displays were still missing from the museum. Well there is so much in there now, it's really in much MUCH better shape! Just an FYI!)

Nastia Liukin's leo from 2008 Olympics

Fonzie's jacket

Archie Bunker's chair (this one's for you Dad!)

Dorothy's slippers

After the museum we met up with Chris and took a stroll thru the sculpture garden

Then we even hit up the Archives and checked out the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and Declaration of Independence

THEN we went over to the Tidal Basin to say hello to Jefferson and FDR. This little guy was flying overhead.

On Saturday, I ran a half marathon! Yup, 13.1 miles and I didn't stop or walk the whoooole way! When I originally signed up my goal time was anything under 3:00:00 and I thought I'd do it in the high 2's. Then the night before the race I set my watch goal time for 2:17:00 and I did it in 2:15:52...SUCCESS!!! It was an amazing day! Chris and Margy were there cheering me on and I appreciate the support of everyone, near & far! It all meant the world to me!

Heading to M&T Bank Stadium for the Expo so I could pick up my bib, etc

Before everyone lined up

Pre-race..getting nevous! but very excited!

So glad he was here keeping me calm :)

Getting ready to go!

Byeee! Off to line up!

My wave heading up to the start. See me in the middle?

Look at all the half marathon'ers ready to go! A great group of people!

Couldn't believe we spotted each other at the end! (Yes, I saw them too!) Only about .2 to go...just keeep runninggggggg!!!

I DID IT!!! 13.1 miles gets you a space blanket ;)

Victory tastes goooooood!

So you might be wondering how I'm feeling today? Well I am getting more and more sore as the day goes on but nothing I can't handle (although it is something I"ll complain about!) I'm definitely moving pretty slow and it's very reminiscent of the good ol' gymnastics days!

Yesterday I felt like...OK, I'm very, very glad I did the 1/2 but didn't feel an overwhelming desire to do another one, or to run anytime soon! However right now as I'm writing this entry I'm also looking up my next race! I definitely have plans for the Jingle All the Way 10k on Dec 12. They give you bells to attach to your shoes so that you DO jingle all the way! How cool! Also contemplating a November one. It'd be great if we could find one in Maine when we're there in November but I'm not sure if that's going to happen!

I also just found out that registration for the '11 Baltimore Running Festival opens in December...they have the 12 Days of Christmas promotion so I'm assuming it's cheaper if you register then and I'm seriously considering it! Could my next 1/2 be 363 days away?