2010 - Year in Review

I just finished reading my 2009 Year in Review and am so glad I started this tradition of annual reflection. 2009 was a really great year and I enjoy being able to revisit it, in my own words.

I love this time of year, which brings about an end but also a new beginning. Often it brings a sense of relief, renewed effort, and big plans. I have big plans for 2011 and lofty goals. But one cannot move forward without first putting to bed the past.

2010 was a challenging year. I can truthfully say I felt great anxiety nearly every day of the year. I woke up January 1 with the usual drive and sense of renewed effort this day typically brings. I hit the ground running full speed ahead making big plans and trying to live healthfully. Unfortunately, none of this was exactly for me, but for my wedding. 2010 will forever be in my mind "2010: The Year of the Wedding". It was the Big Foot of my life, forever in sight, constantly glaring down at me. I worried for ten months straight about everything a wedding makes any bride worry about. It is cliche, but it is very real.

And it overshadowed everything.

However, it was all worth it. Our wedding was perfect. And the ten months of stress and anxiety just melted away, as the sun is melting the snow outside as I type. Looking back, 2010 feels almost like a sacrificial year. I gave a year to something that was important to me; that I wanted done right and on my terms. But now, I'm excited to move forward onto the next big thing (and re-instate Oktoberfest!).



Before I do that though, I want to thank our friends, parents and my brothers and sister-in-law. It is all of you that got us through 2010, and made the wedding so perfect. The wedding may have overshadowed the entire year but all of you made parts of it great fun. The Shower, the dress fitting get-togethers, the casual dinners at our place, the great laughter. Thank you. We love you.

I hope that next year will be "2011: The Year of the Home". Yes, Mike and I are planning to buy a home this Spring. I don't know what to expect. All we can do is educate ourselves and prepare best we can. I'm excited and optimistic and very much looking forward to doing things for us, not for an event. There's a sense of freedom that comes with getting past the wedding. My husband and I are now free to move about. Pun intended.

As I wrap things up, I cannot believe I almost forgot to mention that 2010 was also the year of the dog. I don't know if that's true in a Chinese Zodiac sense, but it was for us. 2010 is the year Cooper came into our lives and we can't imagine life without him. I think I'll go take a nap with him now.

2009 - A reflection

Looking back, 2009 was far busier, fun, eventful and happier than most years in recent memory. Yet at the same time, 2009 was downright difficult. It was a year. I will say that. It started right off the bat with mom's cancer - a terrible blow to the positive feeling new years brings. We struggled with that for ten months. However, simultaneously a new friendship was budding and grew to great heights while mom's cancer shrank to nothing. 2009 will always be the year Mom got cancer, but also the year I found my best friend.

And now I'm eager to leave the bad, grab tight to the good and march into 2010 with optimism and a clear plan. New Years is my most favorite time of the year I think. It's a clean slate - a time of hope and a golden opportunity for change. But before I embrace the new, I'd like to list some highlights of 2009 (in no particular order):

- "On a Boat" Thank you, Andy Samberg for the good times. 'Nuff said.

- Making Thanksgiving dinner with Mom (and not fighting once!).

- Closely watching new relationships form and getting to be a part of it. Seeing two great friends so happy together is awesome.

- July, 2009 Cape May Vacation with great friends. That was quite the hootenanny (to say the least).

- All the laughs, all the fun, all the drama, all the joys of having a best friend.

- May, 2009 trip out to Washington state and the San Juan islands with my brother and friend, Doug. The memory I have of us sitting on the cliffs at Lime Kiln Point watching Orcas in the wild will remain in my mind clear as a photo forever.

- Being tucked in every night for yet another year by my fiancee, my love, Mike - whom I look forward to spending every day of every year with for the rest of my life.

- Mom winning her ten month long fight against cancer. Go, Mom! I pray it doesn't rear its ugly head ever again.

- 4th Annual Oktoberfest party in honor of Mike's 30th Birthday - the best Oktoberfest to date!

- The cruise! That was awesome.

Like I said, it was a great year. Here's to 2010. Cheers!

My 26th Year

It's been a while since I've posted, but I thought this would be a perfect time to reflect on my 26th year with my turning 27 in just a few days. This was a big year in a lot of ways, both good and bad. It's the year I ran my first mile for one thing - something I consider a huge accomplishment. It's the year I got engaged - crazy. The year I read the Twilight series and fell in love with Edward Cullen. The year I made a new, and excellent friend, Jessica. But it's also the year the C word entered my life - Cancer.

Overall, it's been a fine year; normal for the most part with the obvious exception of my mom falling victim to Inflammatory Breast Cancer. I tasted new foods, tried loads of new recipes with great thanks to my cousin, Jackie. I read more books, saw more movies. But for the most part everything stayed the same and I take great comfort in that.

But I do feel older. Somehow it seems to me that someone who's 26 can still make mistakes and can still be immature at times because, well, they're still maturing. But 27 sounds so much more adult, like it entails more responsibility and accountability. But I think the cancer has also aged me. I guess you really start growing up the day you're faced head on with the realization that your parents won't be there forever - the day you realize, Oh My God, I've taken my mom for granted the past 25 and a half years! That's the hardest part of growing up in my opinion.

But it's unavoidable of course. So I look to my 27th year with great hope. I hope it will be the year I finally reach my goal weight, the year I run my first 5K, the year I see my Mom become a Survivor, the year I read more books and see more movies. It's going to start out great I know. With friends, a trip to the Olympic Peninsula with my brother Doug, and a vacation with friends in July. Bring it on.

Birthday weekend

This past weekend was incredible - very full, very fun, very diverse. Friday Mike and I got all dolled up and went to Sagami, a Japanese restaurant in Collingswood that supposively has the best sushi in the region. It was amazing! We really enjoyed our food. No fake crab in my California roll but Alaskan King Crab and I also got soft shell crab roll. We also planned ahead and Mike brought some Kirin with him to drink and I brought a bottle of Gruner which is supposed to pair very well with sushi. It did.

Afterwards we went home and changed and had a drink and went to a bar not too far from home to see a swing band we like. We drank $2 PBR's and even swing danced to an Eddie and the Cruisers song I really like. Mike reminded me that was another birthday gift.

Saturday morning Mike woke me up with beautiful flowers he had picked up early in the morning at the Farmers Market and gave me my presents. Once we were awake and ready we went out for pancakes and headed to the giant Collingswood May Fair where we walked around and checked out the hundreds of cars at the Classic Car Show and checked out the crafts and jewelry. We had perfect weather.

Once we got home it was time for a nap so we slept for a few hours then got ready all over again and headed to our friends Maria and Kevin's house. Unbeknownst to me we were going to my SURPRISE party. A whole bunch of my friends were there and it was awesome. Maria had tons of food and Amy made me two cakes. Rudy picked up my favorite beer. It was awesome! We played Apples to Apples and all hung out until late.

However, this all made the 7:30 am rendezvous to go hiking the next morning a wee bit difficult. But we all made it and Sunday morning me, Mike, Rudy, Kat and Mike May headed up to the DE Water Gap. My eight mile hike to Sunfish Pond was vetoed so we opted for a much shorter hike although it was to the top of Mount Tammany, the highest point in the Gap. Lets just say we basically rock climbed for two hours to get to the top of this thing. There were times I could hardly believe what we were doing. It was awesome, difficult, beyond our skill level, exhausting, and pretty crazy altogether. I am so glad I didn't pick the route. In fact it was downright dangerous at times.

Getting down was practically just as bad but for different reasons. For some reason there were fist sized to foot sized rocks everywhere and you had to step from rock to rock (lots of them turned out to be loose) or you had to maneuver around them. This went on for two miles and the land was never flat. After a while my ankles were really hurting from the constant twisting and turning. Luckily no one rolled their ankles although we all had some close calls.

We had beautiful weather and the hike really was awesome. It was real hiking not just a walk in the woods so I was very satisfied. And we saw some amazing sights and a gorgeous waterfall that looked like something out of a movie. We all agreed to go again and also agreed to go camping. I really wanted to start getting more into the outdoorsy stuff and now I am so I am pretty happy about that.

Pictures to come.

So Sunday we fell asleep very early. Monday Mike had to go back to work and I was home so I woke up very early as a result of going to bed so early and got lots done. I was able to lay out from 1:00 - 3:00 and overall, just had a nice relaxing end to a very fun and full weekend. Turning 26 wasn't so bad after all.

Wasted Time

I can't study anymore for my exam because I'm just over it and I have 45 minutes to kill before I go take my exam. 45 minutes isn't excatly enough time to do much of anything. There's dishes to wash and clothes to put away, but I thought my blog could use some updating and the laptop is keeping me warm.

This past weekend Mike and I headed up north to see friends and family. Ever since Mike transferred we haven't been up much. We made the mistake of jampacking the weekend and now I think I really know how my brother and sister-in-law feel when they come visit for Christmas.

It was non-stop! And we were hungover the entire time because we never got to sleep off the previous night's festivities so ended up just drinking more the first chance we got. We had a blast don't get me wrong but felt very rushed and committed to a schedule. So many times we had to leave one place before we were ready to and go someplace else later than we meant to.

But we saw everyone and did everything we wanted to do. I won four games of beer pong in a row (yeah, I carried my partner) and after four games of beer pong, you're pretty drunk.

The best exchange of the evening came after all that when I was very drunkenly boasting to Dustin that I lost 10.4 lbs as of that morning! He toook one look at my beer and noted that as of that moment I was only down 5.

Amazing. I weighed myself Monday morning and learned that I packed on 6 lbs in three days. I can forget about another loss this week since I have to spend the remainder of the week simply shedding what I put back on. It's a vicious cycle. However, I highly recommend awareness. If someone told me that over the weekend I'd gain six pounds, I don't think I would have done much differently. It was fun and it comes off with tons of water and tons of spinach.

This Saturday is Rudy's birthday in Atlantic City. You know you're all grown up when "Atlantic City" becomes a line item in your budget two months before you head down there.

Bohemian Rhapsody......Drunk

Well, we're all famous now, but Roman is the star of this show.

Yakitori Boy

Saturday night some friends, Mike, and me headed in to Philly for cheese steaks, had a few beers at one of my favorite Philly haunts, Tattooed Mom's (the upstairs) and then made our way over to Chinatown to what all we knew was a brand new Japanese Karaoke bar. Our friend's co-worker was having a party there and he invited us so we kind of crashed the party.

Upon walking in, I was pretty damn impressed. We were whisked away escorted through a very nice looking restaurant and sushi bar to an elevator where we were brought to the second floor, out through a very large posh looking bar to a hallway with many doors on each side. Each door had a small slit window so you could see in just enough. I couldn't help but smile. One room exposed two girl friends dancing rather vivaciously in a small room amongst their friends to what I'm sure was either a Madonna or Spice Girls song. Another room revealed a bachelor-ette party doing more of the same.

Our escort opened the door to what was to be our party and there sat a handful of drunk Asians singing God only knows what.

It was a small room and hot so we hit the bar for some Sapporo. I later ventured back for a decent rendition of the duet Summer Lovin' (Grease) with a new friend. I know everyone gets a little hotter the drunker one gets, but does that work for singing? I can't help but wonder if the sake and Sapporo improved my voice or at least how it was received.

We planned to stay for fifteen minutes, stayed for five hours. At one point, I was singing in the little room thinking to myself how much it was just like the karaoke scene in the movie Lost in Translation minus Scarlett's pink wig when a waiter brought in the most beautiful and BIGGEST platter of California, salmon, and eel rolls. The ginger was formed into the shape of a flower as was the wasabi molded into a similar shape. It was the freshest and most delicious California roll I've ever had. Yes, I was drunk. But I really think it was.

Later my group ended up at the large bar and Rudy, Roman, Jay and Mike belted out the funniest and most enthusiastic version of Journey's Don't Stop Believing I think anyone ever heard. The whole bar applauded. I then took on Lisa Loeb's Stay and Mike seems to think the bartender turned off the music after my performance. I think he's just picking on me - I did fine.

Really. ;-)

Anyway, the night ended around 3 am with all of us crammed back into the little room, all of us singing at the top of our lungs to none other than Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody head banging and all. You know it. And let me tell you something, there's something pretty damn cool about being drunk, drinking Japanese red wine out of the bottle and singing Bohemian Rhapsody with a bunch of Japanese people you've never met.

I would definitely go back there. The rooms can be rented for $30/hour and vary in size. Before 11:00, the rooms are $15/hour. The bar prices are pretty ridiculous. However, I was told that the food prices are very reasonable which offsets the price of the alcohol. I think that if you rented a room, it may not hurt to bring a bottle of a little something in addition to getting your Sapporo at the bar. Overall, I really liked the place and would totally have a party there.

But I think my friends and especially Mike have had enough of my voice to last a while.

Same time next year!

The party was AWESOME!

Friday night and Saturday was a very fun blur of preparing, chopping, cleaning, setting up, beer shopping, last minute touches, etc. It was all so hectic and then people started showing up and before I knew it, there was a party going on.

Everyone loved the food (and seemed impressed I must say). There was more than enough but everyone just kept taking eating breaks and there was nothing left but a handful of chips and some candy corn by the end of the night.

It really is a blur now - not only had I been drinking all day more or less but I was just so excited at the same time. All my friends were over eating my food wishing Mike a happy birthday and enjoying our home - it really is a great feeling and totally makes you feel "high as hell". LOL

I had a lot of fun with an old friend and made a new one, and strengthened newer friendships with some great people who I was just thrilled to have in my home so I really am just so happy with the way it went but wish it wasn't so much of a blur. But such is life - all the kick ass parts go by way too quick.

So this was our second Halloween type party so I think this will definitely be our annual party and I'm keeping the bratwurst on the menu.

I feel like Sunday never came though - we slept till 1:00 pm on Sunday and I went to bed for the night at 6:00 so I guess that would explain it. 13 hours of sleep and I still feel groggy.

But Mike and I are off tomorrow for his birthday! I'm looking forward to sitting by the fire with him tonight and just cleaning up and relaxing - we can do whatever he wants!

You will be missed

I was thinking yesterday about how some people have loads of friends that they know and correspond with but only through the internet - message boards, gaming, a specific sport or hobby - creating a friendship where most often alias' are their only means of addressing one another and private details other than location simply aren't offered up.

I was thinking of my step brother who passed a week and a half ago. I had a hunch that he most likely had these friends and thought to myself, they may never know what happened to him.

So I googled my step brother yesterday yet again and found that there was a posting on Wizards.com announcing his death. It turns out they did only know him by his alias and it also turns out my step brother owed two people some Star Wars mini figures from a trading arena. One of the guys, frustrated that his figures never arrived and annoyed my step brother never responded to his many e-mails, attempted to track him down. He found his Myspace page and while reading through the comments, soon realized that my step brother either passed away or moved. He then found the obituary and started a thread asking everyone to bow their heads for their fallen brother and to not expect any trades from him.

A two page thread soon followed where everyone posted very kind words of loss and speculation and asked how the original poster learned of this information which is when he replied with the details above. The majority seemed to assume (based on the obituary stating he had passed away in a hospital and the family request donations be made to a rehabilitation clinic) that my step brother died of cancer. they offered condolences to his wife and children not even knowing he was not married. They all agreed 34 was too young to die.

So I registered and sent a message of thanks to the original poster confirming that yes, my step brother died very unexpectedly and thanked him for alerting his friends on the message board. I offered no details since it's clear my step brother didn't speak of himself to these people. I also thanked everyone for understanding about the missing trades - a poster had said that his minis no longer seem that important.

Also in the thread, people tried to rally everyone to make a donation. Some did. The acknowledgments of donations were sent to my step brother's mom. I told my step dad and he seemed grateful and admitted he was curious who sent donations from Missouri and Wisconsin.

I guess even though we have "friends" we never meet, that doesn't mean they won't wonder where we've gone when we stop sending invites to play games or stop trading toys. You don't have to meet someone to know how cool they are and know that they will be missed.

Mike got older this past weekend

Mike's Birthday was a lot of fun. I was successful with my planning and everyone who said they'd come arrived almost on time. Mike's friend Rudy whom I never met until Saturday even showed. Mike and he kind of lost touch and have trouble finding ways to get together. I got his number and gave him a call. He was very nice and Mike was excited to see him.

To the left is Mike and Randy. Randy's birthday was last week and we love Randy. He's my favorite. Shhhh.

We all met at a hibachi restaurant, only seven of us in all. Those who couldn't make it to dinner were eager to meet up with us afterwards. The food was excellent.






This is Mike and I at the restaurant.
I'm pretty buzzed here and proceeded to get drunk in the
restaurant knowing that Mike would still be sober by the time we left and completely trashed by the time we'd have to go home so I took advantage of my time not having to be designated driver.

In a nutshell, Rudy invited us all back to his house where he has a full bar for a birthday toast and we never left. The boys drank beer and hard shots. I didn't drink at all. Mike got trashed and had a great time with his boys and his girl. I'm glad I didn't plan the night past dinner because I would have never guessed we'd spend 3.5 hours at one of Mike's friend's houses that I never even met.




This is Rudy playing barkeep. Mike's old friend Craig who he also hasn't hung out with in over a year is Rudy's roommate and came home shortly after we got there. Roman, Mike's best friend, even made it due to a power outtage at work. It really turned out great.

For some reason, I can't get the last picture titled, Mike happy & drunk, to load. Hmmmm. Well, take my word for it. Mike had a great birthday.