The dog days are over. I love this phrase. I heard the song that's playing yesterday at the perfect time and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. I am thankful for this song. I woke up today singing it in my head again. It's telling me that it's a new year. And it's going to be fantastic. 

I'm choosing happiness over sadness and anger this year. Whatever happens along the way is up to me. 

Here's to your 2011. Choose to make it great. We are.

:: Thanks to our good friend Lisa for taking this picture for us! ::

New Traditions

You know you're getting old mature when YOU are the one hosting Christmas. 

My younger cousin recently asked me if I was planning to come down to my aunt's house for Christmas this year and I told her that we were actually hosting at our place. This was her response in a nut shell: "wow you sound so old". I love it - when it means I get to stay parked at my place for three days straight and eat.

I am so excited to have our house full of people this year. We are hosting our very own "Christmas Palooza" Dec 23 through the 26th. When we first bought our house, this was something I was so looking forward to. I thought it was going to be more of a battle to convince folks to head up North, but circumstance and interest has proven otherwise. I'm looking forward to new traditions this year and couldn't be more thankful to have such amazing people to celebrate with and entertain this year.

I've got a few goals in mind. We're going to be casual, relaxed, and stuffed to our brims with good eats. Here's some of the treats I am most looking forward to / getting an extra layer of chub from this week. It will be a group effort, mostly prepared by myself, my mom and my MIL, Voni.

• Hot Buttered Rums
• Baked Ziti 
• Oyster Stew
• Crab
• Pulled Pork Sliders
• Cranberry / Apricot Brie
• Pumpkin Cupcakes
• Peanut Butter Pie
• Egg & Sausage Bake
• Mimosas
• Honey Baked Ham
• Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
• Pumpkin Pie

Here's to new traditions and sweat pants this holiday season, from our home to yours.

Nice Rash

I got a rash in Hawaii. Yah, I said it.

I like to imagine myself as this beautiful sun goddess that instantly turns into freaking Giselle when I put my suit on while I work out. Not quite. Even after my 57 miles. Perhaps I should have started prepping much sooner than 19 days before our trip. (Who am I kidding?)

Not only was I not the sun goddess I pictured while I ran, I got a sun/heat rash. Sun goddesses don't get sun rashes.

Rash. I hate that word. (The actual "having one" part sucks too.)

Three days before we headed home, even after applying (and re-applying and re-applying) sunscreen, I ended up getting this blotchy red itchiness on my arms, legs, chest, and stomach.

Sexy.

After a sleepless night of itchiness (putting it lightly) we decided that we'd head to North Shore for the day and I'd stay out of the sun. While Ty was able to distract me for a good 4 hours, about 4 hours and 1 minute into the "adventure" I couldn't handle it anymore. I came to terms with it. I googled the dreaded words: "sun rash, heat rash, remedies" and found this:

• Take a bath in baking soda, corn starch, or oatmeal. 
• Apply aloe to the 'affected area'. (Gross)
• Don't itch. (Yah right.)

We made our way to a Safeway so I could pick up my "remedies". I thought our hotel staff probably wouldn't appreciate me taking a bath in corn starch or oatmeal so I decided on the baking soda. (I didn't need to see this on my bill: "Misc. Hotel Charge: Clogged bathtub drain due to an unknown, yet insanely thick substance - $1,000,000.00.) I snagged some aloe (sun goddesses don't typically need aloe so I didn't pack any - obviously).Ty dropped me off at the hotel while he returned the rental car. (Please note, the rental car place was 5 minutes away. He was gone for 2 hours. I can't imagine why. It's not like he needed any time away from me. I was so much fun to be around that day.) During this time, I poured an entire carton of baking soda into the tub with me in hopes of "washing" this rash (that word again... ugh!!!!) away. While it didn't work, it helped. As did the aloe. I love aloe.

It's been a week since the dreaded rash. But the lesson remains. I can still be a goddess. An SPF 70 wearing, spray tanning, Sublime Bronze applying goddess.

(The "Giselle" part? Yah, that's an "in your dreams" work in progress.)

P.S. Ty is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo dark. It's annoying.

Live for Now

It's fun for me to see that even after being together for 4 years, I am still learning so much about my husband. And us.

I have realized something new about us. Ty lives for the now. He lives in the moment. I, on the other hand, live for the future. I look forward to things. I get excited about what's to come. We are great compliments to each other when it comes to this.

Sometimes.

Sometimes, this is hard. I expect Ty to get excited about the things ahead. He expects me to slow the heck down and enjoy the moment.

He's right.

I often forget to stop, and realize that what we have right now is great. This moment is fantastic - and we are so lucky. We are learning how to balance each other out here without hurting the other person's feelings. It's easy for us to take the other person's perspective personally when we shouldn't. It's never my intent to disregard the right now when I focus on the future. I know it's never his intent to come across as lackadaisical about the future when he's perfectly content with this very moment. This is what I love about him. I know these things. We are stronger because we are different.

Learning every day over here.

What about you?