2012 Baby!

Happy 2012!

2011 - Not my favorite year by any means!! It started out full of change and self-searching/questioning. By the end of March my world changed coarse officially and it started looking up from that point on! I really can't complain - I have it SO good and I'm very thankful for that! I'm happy, truly happy and pleasant to be around (at least that's what my parents & Jack tell me, haha!), and I am less stressed with my job. Now grad school...well, that's a totally different story!

January - I feel like it's been a month of food. Not like over-eating or anything, but more like us planning meals ahead of time better than we ever have, using our slow-cooker as much as possible, and eating actually healthier meals than we were. It's been a fun month and we've finally had SNOW!!! It made me want to re-do Christmas all over again just because we finally had the snow that Christmas is supposed to have!

I hope all of your 2012's started out fabulously and that you will be blessed with a fun, healthy, and memorable year ahead!

Jan 1 - Egg Harbor Breakfast at home! You can order online, select your pick-up time and pick it up all ready to go for you! This is a favorite thing Jack and I like to treat ourselves to every once in a while on a Sunday.

Jan 2 - Grandma's 87th Birthday!! My Grandma is one of the most amazing people I know - she's really done it all...and for a lot of things, she's done it twice! She is the spunkiest, funniest, and most adventurous older lady I know! I only hope to have an ounce of what she's got when I am 80-something!! Keep it up Grandma!! Love you!!

Jan 3 - All About Me Projects - finishing up grading all 62 of them (they're each 14 pages)!! How did you spend your winter break?! haha...

Jan 4 - I love all the Christmas cards that filled our home this year! We're so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family in our lives!

Jan 5 - Dayton coasters - a gift from Jack's parents this year

Jan 6 - Miss Sadie enjoying the sun warming up the floor for her!

Jan 7 - Box 1 of ornaments filled!

Jan 8 - Food bought for our week of cooking all new meals!

Jan 9 - Pork tenderloin, compliments to our slow-cooker!

Jan 10 - Spot It! A great new game we've found - finally got it in the mail, as all game stores in the area were sold out! Apparently lots of others are enjoying this game as well!!

Jan 11 - Beef stew night! Mmmmm!!!

Jan 12 - Tortilla soup!

Jan 13 - Sadie playing in the snow! It was the first big snow of the winter season and Sadie was ecstatic! This girls LOVES the snow! We have the hardest time telling if she really has to "go-out" or if she just is faking us because she wants to play in the snow!

Jan 14 - Mexican chicken and rice!

Jan 15 - Fruit kabobs made and ready for an afternoon of football with our good friends!

Jan 16 - Chili! OMG - this was my favorite thing we've made so far from our new recipes we're trying out!!

Jan 17 - Assessment of Bilingual Students - my 6th and final class for my ESL Endorsement! After this one, just 4 more classes to go and I will have completed my Master's degree!!

Jan 18 - Salad night, one of my favorites!

Jan 19 - Sadie discovering a pin cushion for the first time! She's so curious and it's just adorable to watch her.

Jan 20 - Jack and Sadie coming in from the snow - what a cute pair!

Jan 21 - Tree covered in snow!

And just a little over a week to go and it's already February! ....Where does the time go?? Seriously!!! ...But part of me is ready for summer, haha!! :)
Cheers, everyone!!

365 Update: Wrapping Up 2011

Final 365 update for 2011!! Many start a project like this at the very start of a new year, but my case was a little different. I did not get my new camera until February of 2011, and I wanted to start it on my birthday, March 31st. I thought it would be a neat way to remember my 25 birthday year.
It's going by fast for sure, it's still fun, but I'll be ready for it to be over come March 30th!!

Nov. 29 - trying out "Toad in a Hole" and seeing if it's worth doing it with my students for one of their labs.

Nov 30 - Chili Verde with Chicken - thanks to W.Sonoma for their starter sauce for this...yumm-o!!! And my mom joined us as well, which was great!

Goodbye November, Hello My 2nd Favorite Month of the Year (March being my #1!)

Theme for this month (for the most part) is ornaments. And now after having done it my mom and I were talking about how her, her mom, her grandma never really "collected" anything...except ornaments. My mom has definitely passed this on to me, which now makes my theme for this month even more special!

Dec 1

Dec 2

Dec 3

Dec 4

Dec 5

Dec 6

Dec 7

Dec 8

Dec 9 - Girls Night! Laura and I became friends at age 3 in preschool, she was one of my Maid's of Honor, and our Mom's are great-great friends! It was such a fun night out for a tapas dinner and then back to Laura's for drinks and dessert!

Dec 10 - Made Sadie's Birthday cupcakes today. Special mix for dogs and peanut butter flavored! Mmmm!!

Dec 11 - Happy 2nd Birthday Sadie!!

Dec 12

Dec 13

Dec 14

Dec 15

Dec 16 - Sadie looks guilty - do you notice all the stuffing in her bed with her? Yep, that's from a toy. Typical.

Dec 17 - 3rd Annual Christmas Party/2nd Annual Wine Tasting! All bottles unwrapped after everyone had tasted and voted. It was a great time!!

Dec 18

Dec 19 - Sadie had her Christmas party at school today, which also included a Secret Santa exchange. She brought home her gift and we opened it together. A yummy gingerbread-man treat and a beautiful sweater!

Dec 20 - New little arrangement I tried out this year

Dec 21 - What better way to kick off being on break than with some T.Joe's Vintage Ale!! Mmmm, sooo good!!!! (Sad that as I write this I'm on my last day of break!)

Dec 22 - Presents are finally getting wrapped!

Dec 23 - One of my favorite pictures from break! Jack and our niece Kailey bowling together on our traditional Pinstripes Christmas-Eve-Eve bowling night!!

Dec 24 - All of us on Christmas Eve

Dec 25 - Loved these PJ's for Sadie!!

Dec 26 - Little one enjoying her leather couch the day after Christmas

Dec 27 - Experimenting with one of the new lenses I got

Dec 28 - Sadie enjoying a new toy from Christmas, her "I-Cube". (Get it? IQ...I-Cube!! haha!) There are 3 toys in there and she's got to work hard to get them all out. It's an amazing gift that keeps her entertained for a while. The thing about her is she can actually get her whole face in the holes, haha!

Dec 29

Dec 30 - Sadie "made" us this ornament last year at her old school, but I just love it so, so much!! :)

Dec 31 - Went out for our traditional NYE dinner and Jack never ceases to amaze me with his dessert orders. This cake was HUGE...but sooooo good and worth it!!

I must say, 2011 started out pretty shitty and provided some major life questions I was forced to ask myself. But...I gave it some time, trusted in "everything happens for a reason" and behold I had a quick turn-around to what was the greatest happiness and end to 2011! I hadn't really realized life could be so grand!! Cheers to 2012 being wonderful and filled with lots of adventure, excitement, family & friends!!