Month in Review

January is done! Can you believe it? We are that much closer to spring. January was an interesting month, and a good one for sure. This month...

We rang in the New Year right!

Met Baby Jack, our honorary nephew, for the first time...

(Clearly this is not actually Baby Jack, but I don't feel that it is my place to post photos of someone else's child on the internet)

Started taking a yoga class...

Got snowed on even more...

Enjoyed watching our girl LOVE EVERY SECOND of the snow...

Got inspired by the snow and convinced the hubby's parents to purchase a family condo in Florida that I can assure you we will be taking FULL advantage of ASAP...

Rang in our friend Andrew's Birthday...


Solved my 6+ month health mystery...

And, most importantly, were blessed with another wonderful month together...

Today I am thankful for my relatively uncomplicated life. To some it might be boring, but to me it's all I could ever want.

And the answer is...

Deviated septum. This is what has been causing my persistent runny nose for the past 6 months. How did I get this deviated septum? No clue. Why did it only start to bother me last July? No clue.

My first thought when the ENT told me was "Great. Now everyone is going to think I'm a coke addict." Obviously, anyone that knows me knows that I have never touched the stuff and wouldn't even consider touching it with a 10 foot pole in a million, billion years. But still, you can't help but let your mind go there when you hear "deviated septum". Just the other night, I watched "The Heartbreak Kid", and if you've seen the movie, you can understand why I am particularly sensitive about it right now.

But, after I got over the initial shock, reality started to sink in. I may need to have surgery to fix this. Nothing is set in stone yet...I still have to go for a cat scan and try the nasal spray that the doc prescribed (not Rhinocort, thank God, but another spray for non-allergy rhinitis, which is what they call a runny nose not caused by allergies). He said that the spray may help, and if it does, it is up to me whether or not I want to have surgery. He did say that the whole runny nose thing will get MUCH worse when I get pregnant...pregnancy-induced rhinitis...so I may want to think about having it surgically corrected before heading to baby-land.

This is all so much to think about. Obviously I don't want to have a runny nose for the rest of my life, I don't want to be dependent on a nasal spray to feel OK, and I don't want to have miserable pregnancies, so all signs are pointing to surgery. But, on the other hand, I don't want to have surgery on my nose! It's all very close to eyes, ears, brains, etc... What if, God forbid, something went wrong? Ugh! I don't even want to think those thoughts! But, I need to remember that we are still a little ways from that. I think I just need to wait and see what the cat scan shows and what the doc thinks is the best option for me. Stay tuned!

In other very exciting news, I finally joined this millennium and got a wireless router for home! As we speak, I am lounging in my living room, feet up on the ottoman, with the hubbs on his own laptop across the room. LOVES IT!

And finally, how the heck did I end up with a deviated septum?!? I know, I know, I can't stop talking about it, but I can't for the life of me figure out how it happened. It was seriously the last thing I expected to hear. I thought maybe food allergies, or sinus polyps, or even a brain tumor, but not deviated septum. All day I've been trying to remember getting whacked in the nose. Apparently trauma/injury is the most common cause of deviated septums, so I'm trying to think of when something happened to me...but I cannot think of anything! All I can picture is Marcia Brady getting whacked by the football...have you ever seen that episode?

Today I am thankful for finally getting an answer to my nasal mystery! Although it is not over yet, I feel a lot of relief knowing what I do and knowing that it isn't something more serious.

Drugs are for rich people

So, last night I am running errands after bowling (which, btw, I rocked it last night...161, 190 and 214!!!)...Petco for dog food and CVS for gum, face wash, face lotion and my bff, Rhinocort. I get up to the pharmacy counter at CVS, happy as a little clam that my errands are nearly done and I can head home to have dinner with the hubs, and BAMMO! The pharmacy tech nearly gave me a heart attack with the following statement: "Are you aware of the copay on this?". Innocently, I say "No, why...what is it?". Here I am expecting maybe $30. Ha! Not even! She says "$75"!!! WHAT?!?!?! Are you kidding me? $75! For a little bottle of nasal spray that will last me like a month! I could not even believe what I was hearing! Needless to say, my response was "Forget that, I'll suffer through a runny nose". I probably could afford the copay, but I refuse to pay that solely based on principle. Unbelieveable!

Prescription coverage is a joke. What am I even paying for? How do people less fortunate than I afford their medications? Thankfully my Rhinocort is not a medical necessity, but what about people that need their medications to live? What do they do? It's so sad, so unfortunate and so unfair. Mr. Obama...we're counting on you to do something about this!

Since I am clearly not thankful for my prescription coverage plan, I am going to focus on something completely different. Today I am thankful for the technology skills I've accumulated throughout my professional career. My knowledge is being put to good use in a whole new way lately...helping my husband with his business!

Happy 6th Birthday Bailey!

Happy Birthday to You.

Happy Birthday to You.

Happy Birthday Dear Ms. Wonderful Monkey Bunny Best Dog in the World, Bailey.

Happy Birthday to You.

Today I am thankful for the six most wonderful years in history...the years of Bailey. She truly is a special soul and is a gift to this world, and words cannot describe how thankful I am to have her in my life. Her mere existence has changed me forever, and I cannot express how fortunate I feel to have had our paths cross, as I know I am a better person for it.

Project Closet

A few months ago (OK, well almost 5 months ago), the hubby and I finally joined closets. See, prior to my sister coming to stay with us, John used the closet in the guest room because I was taking up the entire closet in our bedroom. Since we figured my sis would need a little closet space to store her things (which we eventually found out that she didn't...she preferred to throw all of her things all over the floor and furniture), we cleaned it out and John moved his clothes into our bedroom closet. So, in one day my closet space got cut in half :-( But, being the good wife that I am, I rearranged things and made room. And it was sort of working for a while. But, as time has gone by, things have become a little less organized and a little more messy (and by a little, I mean a lot).

So, this weekend, it finally got the best of me. My recent obsession with organization led me to take on a closet organization project. It only took $40 and a few hours and voila! A beautifully organized closet. The biggest project was the shoe organization. I bought 30 plastic containers at Ocean State Job Lot for $1.29 a piece (hence, the $40) and then took pictures of each pair of shoes I own, printed the picture and then taped the picture to the container holding that pair of shoes. Then, I organized all the hanging items by type and color, and then organized the folded items the same way (by type, by color). It came out so great, and I think the closet is going to be so much more functional than it was before. Yay!

The explosion, I mean closet, before the organization project...


See how disorganized my shoes had become?



And my folded items were in complete disarray...

So, after taking everything out of the closet, I photographed all the shoes like this...

Printed all the pictures, affixed them to the containers and then neatly stacked the containers in the closet...


See how neat, clean and organized it is now?

And look how everything is organized by color! The best!

I love organization! It makes life so much easier, and makes storage areas so much prettier!

Today I am thankful for the drive I have inside that has enabled me to follow through on so many projects lately that I've been wanting to do for so, so long. I hope that whatever it is that has gotten me up and going stays around for a long time...I may just get my entire to-do list done!

How would you like to escape to this...

...whenever you want to?

It could be a possibility. Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens!!!

Today I am thankful for my brilliant real estate professional husband, who sure know how to give a girl exactly what she wants :-)

Why, TV Gods, Why?

How can you take this fine specimen of man out of my life?

For the past few years, I've shared my Monday nights with him. And now you are just going to take that away? What is a girl to do???


I guess I'll have to find solace in the fact that these babies are back on...



And, of course, when all else fails, at least I have this...

Today I am thankful for hats, gloves and big furry boots. Brrrrr!

Organization Shmorganization

I don't know what has possessed me lately, but I can't stop organizing! Organizing wasn't even one of my New Year's resolutions/goals, but maybe it should have been, because I am on fire! Seriously...in the past few weeks alone, I have cleaned out and reorganized (with new containers and all, compliments of the dollar store) the linen closet, totally reorganized the kitchen cabinets (with much assistance from the hubby, as it was his idea), cleaned out and organized my bedside nightstand (which you could barely open and close the drawers on account of how full and messy they were), completely revamped and organized my bookshelf with funky storage boxes and magazine holders from Staples, went through all of my old printed photos and threw out those that I really didn't care to keep (and I am now developing a plan to organize the keepers in chronological order in photo albums), went through every card and letter I've received over the past six years and kept only those that had special meaning, and most recently, I completely cleaned out my desk at work. We're talking gone through every file, reorganized, labeled, etc... If it has to do with organization, I did it! I am generally an organized person (although I occasionally let some things go, like said nightstand) but I am seriously taking it to a whole new level! It feels so refreshing to have everything so clean and so organized!

Today I am thankful for the motivation inside me that has allowed me to clean out and organize the clutter in my life. Simplicity is divine!

Maxin' and Relaxin'

Such a wonderfully relaxing weekend! The way all weekends should be.

I kicked the weekend off on Friday by meeting John and two of his buddies after work for a little happy hour cocktail and slice of pizza. After that, we headed home and caught up on some of our DVR'd shows. John likes to blame his Grey's watching on me, but he secretly loves the show :-)

Saturday began with a killer workout (yoga has been delayed two weeks, boo!) and after we got showered and ready for the day, we headed up to Northampton. We hit up one of our favorite spots in town, The Toasted Owl, for a late lunch (salad for me and a ridiculous amount of wings for John) and then decided to stay for some good old fashioned football. We called up my dad, who lives in Northampton, and had him come join us for some drinks. John ate so many wings, however, that he practically put himself into a food coma, so we ended up heading home before the end of the first game. Good thing, though, because the snow started coming down just as we left. We rounded out the night at home with the evening game snuggled up on the couch.

Yesterday was rather similar to Saturday...workouts and football. We decided to stay home for the games this time though. John was on yet another cleaning rampage, and after shoveling and sanding the driveway, he went to town on the house. I actually found him on his hands and knees scrubbing the grout on the bathroom floor with a toothbrush. I kid you not! He is so not like any other man out there, and I love it! It certainly makes my life so much easier. After the clean-fest, John built us a fire and we settled in to watch the game. John's parent came over to hang out and watch with us and we even got a visit from Jeff aka Salty (anyone who went to our Jack and Jill will no doubt remember him...he gave quite a memorable performance during the raffle) and his girlfriend, Chantal. They are expecting a baby boy (yes, another boy...can you believe it!?!) on April 1st. Where did all the babies come from all of the sudden? We went from not knowing anyone with children to having practically everyone we know expecting. But, I digress. We finished out the night with the Jack Attack! A new season of 24 began last night, and we are so pumped!

Well, it's back to business today. Hopefully work will fly by because my too relaxing weekend has resulted in many errands to be run today. A trip to Target, grocery shopping, carwash, etc... And, all of this needs to get done before Zumba tonight. What is Zumba, you might ask? Apparently, "Zumba fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy to follow moves to create a dynamic fitness program that will blow you away." My mom talked me into taking the class with her, and tonight will be our first time, so we'll see. It seems like a lot of fun!

Happy Monday!

Today I am thankful for the New York Giants losing big time. They sooooo did not deserve to win the Super Bowl last year and I can't help but think this is karma's way of letting them know it!

Quick Holiday Recap

Christmas...



Dad and Sister over for breakfast, up to Mom's for presents with Mom and Brother, down to John's aunts for Christmas dinner, over to John's parent's neighbor's for Christmas party. Whew! But wait...it's not over yet. Day after...over to John's parents for Christmas with them and John's sister, then trip up to John's grandparents for a little quality time. Talk about holiday overload!


Can I just mention the awesome gifts we got!?! Our new Keurig coffeemaker is quite possibly the best thing ever, my new camera rocks my picture-loving world, and my beautiful charm bracelet from my Mom is one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful and generous people in my life. I appreciate them beyond words.



New Year's...



Dave and Cammi over for apps, drinks, games and lots of fun! Great night...and the best part...being able to be in comfortable clothes, hanging with my doggie and going to bed when I felt like it. No driving involved!



A few pics from the festivities...


Us on Christmas Day at my Mom's



John and my Mom on Christmas Day...two of my favorite people!



The fam in-law the day after Christmas:


The house looking festive on New Year's Eve:


Johnny building us a great fire on New Year's Eve:



Me and my girl getting ready to ring in the New Year:


Bailey's New Year's gift to me:



John and Bail:



The delicious spread...notice Bailey drooling over the eats!:



Dave and Cammi's first picture of 2009:



Our first picture of 2009:



OK, I lied...this was actually our first picture of 2009. Gotta love it!:



Us getting silly at the end of a fun night:




OK, I'm pictured out. I just wanted to make mention of the fact that Baby Jack (Steph and Andy's son) was born in the wee hours of the morning this morning (on his due date, if you can believe that)! He is beautiful and mom and baby are both doing well. I am just counting down the hours until I can get out of work and go visit them in the hospital. I am an honorary aunt again!


Today I am thankful for Jack's safe arrival! Congrats to the Harris family!

Monday Miscellany

Happy 2009 y'all! I am so excited for the New Year and I am glad to be getting back to normal life today after several weeks of parties, eating, drinking, time off and all the out of the ordinary stuff that the holidays bring. I feel like I can finally start putting my "master plan" into action! Okay...maybe that's taking it a little too far, but I definitely do have definitive, concrete things that I want to...no, things that I will do this year in order to live my best life.

Many of these definitive, concrete things were included in my New Year's resolutions. I didn't reveal my New Year's goals, but said that many would probably be revealed through the blog as time progresses. Well, today I am happy to report that I've already made progress on one of them. My goal was to finally take a yoga class (something that I've been talking about doing for over 2 years!). As of this morning, I am officially enrolled in an 8-week "Yoga for Beginners" class that begins this Saturday. I am so excited I can's stand it. It feels so good to know that I am finally taking action on something that I've wanted to do for so long. Maybe I'll love it, maybe I won't (although I seriously doubt that), but at least I'm doing it! I am also excited that John will be taking the class with me.

This past weekend (which for me was 5 days!) was really wonderful and relaxing! It felt like I had 5 weeks off, not 5 days, which is usually not the case. My time off usually flies by way too quick. After hosting New Year's Eve at our house (just for one other couple), we took New Year's Day to relax and recover. On Friday evening, we went over to Steph and Andy's house for apps, wine and great conversation! There was certainly was no shortage of things to talk about, with Steph and Andy having just gotten married 6 days before (in an immediate family only ceremony) and expecting their baby boy any day now (literally...Steph is due on Wednesday!). It was so great to see them...they are dear friends and they are about to get very busy with the new baby, so it was good to squeeze in some last minute pre-baby quality time. On Saturday, the whole computer disaster occurred (see below), so much of the day was spent at home dealing with that. We did manage to get a little fun time in in the evening though...we watched football (boo for the Pats not being in the playoffs!) and had some yummy wine. Finally, on Sunday, I spent the afternoon with my best friend Crystal and her 4-year-old daughter Lily at the Yankee Candle flagship store (such a fun place and I got some great deals!) and then an evening at home with the hubby, watching football yet again. It's a good thing that I like football!

I do have some Christmas and New Year's pictures to share, but am delayed in doing so because my beloved husband managed to erase ALL of the pictures stored on our computer (along with every other file on it). Yes, that's right folks, he completely erased our hard drive. Fortunately I had many of the pictures stored in web albums and some of the newer ones are still on my camera, so I haven't lost everything, but there are certainly many pictures that I will never get back. But, I can't be upset with him, as it was an accident and he certainly lost a lot more than I did (including sleep!). I am happy to report, though, that after many hours spent this past weekend, he is back on track and he luckily had his critical files saved on a flash drive. Lessons learned for me...(1) save all pictures to web albums, (2) print pictures I actually want to keep, and (3) invest in a flash drive to save all of MY files on.

Well, that's about all from me today. I've got to get things here at work wrapped up so I can go home for the evening...I've got a very long to-do list to tackle! Happy first Monday of the year! I hope your's was as productive as mine!