Another Year

It's hard to believe that in just a few days, 2010 will come to a close. It's been quite a year...mostly turbulent, sometimes hard to deal with, but always interesting.


Unfortunately, I've dealt with two deaths...both my grandmothers. A mere 6 months apart. My family and I just got through our first Christmas without them, in combination with hubs being away, it wasn't the best of Christmases. 


Nile's been away for 9 out of the last 10 months. And when this thing is all said and done, he'll be gone practically a year. I've surprised myself in dealing with his absence. I thought I would be depressed all the time, but having an abundance of family and incredibly supportive friends around has helped me SO much. I've truly been blessed with the best friends and family I could ever ask for. 


And to complete the circle of life, two beautiful baby girls entered my world! My baby niece Lena was born in August and she's absolutely precious. I can't wait to watch her grow up. And, one of my very best friends, Amanda, had a baby girl just a month ago. I still haven't met her in person, but I'm planning a trip for February! Babies have been on the brain for me. Likely (and hopefully) Nile and I will have a little one on the way in 2011.


My sister got engaged in September, which is still hard to imagine. She went from a girl that swore she'd never get married, to suddenly being engaged and step-mom-to-be to four young girls. June 11...she'll be a Mrs! My next few months will likely be consumed with wedding planning and Matron of Honor duties.


Speaking of weddings, almost all of my college friends made the trip down the aisle this year. From Ohio to New Jersey, we've hit them all! I even served as a groomswoman in one :) One of my best friends and college roommate got engaged last week, so I'm already booking up my wedding calendar for 2011. I'm just waiting on one more...ahem...Katie.


I haven't yet sat down to write my resolutions, but I'll surely be doing that tomorrow. I need to go back in time to the day I started this blog and have a look at what I resolved for 2010. I know I didn't complete some of them, but I definitely checked off others. Some people say it's pointless to have resolutions. But it gives me something to strive for...completed or not. 


Stay tuned!

Just Dance!

Last week, I bought the first video game for myself that I have in a long time...with no prompting from Nile. I was over at the Seiler household recently, and they had Just Dance2 for the Wii. I didn't have high hopes for it at all...buttttt 4 hours later I had obviously been proven wrong. 


Not only was it a fun party game (you can play with up to 8 people), but it was a good workout! I was all kinds of sweaty after playing it. 


So I ordered it for myself...not only for fun, but to add to my workout routine. The concept? You follow the people on the screen to learn the dance moves. The more accurate your moves, the higher this score.

The playlist isn't bad either. And luckily, you can download songs as they become available. Some of the songs that come to mind are:

• Firework - Katie Perry
• Holiday - Madonna 
• The Austin Powers Theme Song (I forget the real name)
• Toxic - Britney Spears
• Hey Ya - Outkast

Did I look like an idiot dancing around my living room? I have no doubt about that. But I worked up a sweat. I can't wait to make Nile dance to some old school Madonna. 

Raunchy Reality TV

Rare is the occasion that I am so disgusted by a reality show that I actually turn it off. Take right now for instance, I have Jersey Shore on in the background. This show tends to make me extremely angry and feel dirty just for watching it. Snooki makes me physically ill sometimes, but do I turn it off? No. 


This past weekend, things changed. Not only did I turn off one show, but TWO! Oh, the humanity! 


First up was Bridalplasty on E! This show is just plain shameful. Contestants compete to win plastic surgery in order to be picture perfect for their wedding day and the winner is revealed to the groom right before their wedding. I watched approximately 7 minutes,  before I hit my limit. After I saw the first, perfectly lovely looking bride, being wheeled into surgery...I turned it off. I can't honestly believe that women are actually competing to surgically change their bodies before the day they're supposed to commit their life to a man that's already promised to love her unconditionally. Un-freaking-believable. 


Next up was Sarah Palin's Alaska on TLC. Now, it's not the show itself that horrifies me. I actually find it quite interesting and fairly enjoyable. It was the episode on Sunday night featuring none other than Kate Gosselin and her 8 children that pushed me past my reality show breaking point. I was actually looking forward to this episode, because I usually like the drama that Kate tends to create. I was fully engrossed in the Kate/Jon divorce drama and even took her side for a hot minute. 


In this episode, they went tent camping in the Alaskan wilderness. Newflash to Kate...Alaska is cold. Really cold. And there's bears. Lots of them. I watched it long enough to hear her start whining like an infant. Usually, it doesn't bother me. But it could have been my already existing headache, or perhaps a touch of PMS, but whatever it was, it drove me to change the channel. Even Wiggles couldn't watch. And he loves his reality TV. 

Photos of Christmas Past

Here's a few photos from some previous Christmases:


Christmas morning 2005 - Nile proposed!

Our first real Christmas tree 2007:

Nile and I last Christmas 2009:

Christmas Fill-in-the-Blank

I got this from another blog I follow...it's a Christmas fill-in-the-blank. Since it's my fave time of year, I thought I'd answer the questions.

1. Holiday spirit is: a warm fuzzy feeling that takes over me come Thanksgiving. It's a time to spend with family and friends, shopping, eating, decorating and enjoying each other's company. 

2. The holidays are incomplete without: Christmas decorations! I thought I might feel Scrooge-like this year without hubs, but when it came down to it, I couldn't have a house without Christmas lights, a tree and decor. 

3. My favorite thing about the holidays is: this is a really hard question. I love everything about Christmas. I love the smells, gingerbread, cookies, spices, evergreen. The lights! My parents used to take us out for drives when we were kids to look at the lights around town. Shopping. I love making lists of presents to buy for family and friends and get really excited when I find a good deal. And, yes, I'm done Christmas shopping. It's Dec. 7th. 

4. A holiday tradition my family and I have is: We have a lot. Gathering together Christmas Eve is our big one. Nana always hosted a big Christmas Eve at her house with lots of food and family. Everyone showered her with gifts, and every year she would say, "Oh my glory...I hope these aren't all for me!?" Every.single.year. I know she secretly like it :) This year, we'll continue the tradition. It's going to be sad, but we're doing our best to honor her memory.


Also, my sister, mom and I have a tradition of eating cookies for breakfast on Christmas day. We've been doing that for as long as I can remember. Not the healthiest, but it's only once a year. 


I also don't shower before opening gifts. The only exception to this was the year that Nile proposed to me on Christmas Day. Him and my mom INSISTED I shower...and I was PISSED. Buttt, it was worth it in the end :) Thank goodness I wasn't all crazy-looking for the pictures my mom took as he proposed. 

5. Holiday music is: a necessity. I didn't start listening until after Thanksgiving this year, but I've been known to bust out some music beforehand. Luckily, since I moved from PA, there's always been a radio station around that broadcasts only Christmas music during the holiday season. This year was no exception. And it's programmed into my radio presets in my car. Also, and I'm just putting it out there, one of my favorite Christmas CDs of all time is New Kids on the Block: Funky, Funky Christmas.

6. This year, I'll be spending the holidays: with my parents. Hubs and I go there every year, because Christmas is a special time for my family, rich with tradition. This year is no exception...but I'll be minus hubs :(  

7. Holiday wish list: The unrealistic wish is for hubs to come home. But that won't happen, so we'll have to have Christmas in February for him. Material stuff...I definitely want a new digital camera. Mine is at the end of it's miserable life. It's been dropped more times than I care to admit. On more than one bar bathroom floor. It's captured a lot of great memories, but it's time for something a bit newer. 


Happy holidays!

How Clean is Your House?

This weekend, my mom and sister made their way to MD to pay me a visit. 


My mom got here a little early, and spent the day on Thursday with the puppies while I went to work. I came home to a spotless house. She claims it's her duty as a mother to come to her kids' houses and clean. Her mother did it. Her mother's mother did it. And so on. 


Now, I consider myself a good housekeeper, but my mother took cleaning to another level. She cleaned things I wouldn't think about touching. Her first task was vacuuming my stairs. Do I hate this chore? Yes. Do I do it anyway? Yes. Butttttt, only every once in a while. Then she started asking me things like:


"Do you dust your stair banisters?"


Ummmmm...no.


"Clean your light switch covers?"


Does spraying Lysol on them after I'm sick count? No? Then, nope.


"Scrub the front of your cabinets?"


Yep. If you count the one time my sister did it for me when I moved in over a year ago.


"Scrub the fronts of your appliances?"


You get the idea. Perhaps I wasn't the housekeeper I thought, but let's get serious here...who has time for that? 


I'll see you later...I'm going to dust my ceiling fans.