2010 in review.

whew, 2010 was a crazy year. two new jobs. 4 classes. 5 visits from friends and family. and all the little stuff in between.

in january i started job number one (aka. probably my last teaching job), we flew to hawaii for a work trip for charlie, and i started my third semester of grad school.

we had friends visit in february.

march brought spring break for me and our last ski trip for the season.

in april it finally started to look like spring AND i had my last snow day as a teacher and we went to our first rockies game of the season.

in may i finished by class, charlie's mom an aunt came to visit, my dad came to visit, and we celebrated our first anniversary with a trip to telluride.

i started a new job in june.

july brought hiking, canoeing, and fishing.

in august we hiked a 14er, i flew home to visit family and started school again.

alex came to visit in september, charlie raced in his first triathlon, and we made bouf bourguignon.

we made riceballs, carved pumpkins, and dressed poor henry up as a squirrel in october.

in november we cooked our first thanksgiving dinner together.

december brought christmas decorations, the end of my second-to-last semester of school. we celebrated charlie's birthday and charlie's dad and my family came to visit.

yesterday i was here snowshoeing with henry.

and let me tell you, it was so.much.prettier in person.

*sigh*

it is thursday.

i am drinking hot tea (because it is FREEZING at work) and listening to van morrison via youtube.

we went to heritage square last night with some of charlie's work peeps to see their chistmas show. it is hilarous. if you live in colorado book your tickets immediately.

my parents + 1 alex are coming visit today.

and i have 4 fabulous days off of work.

there is chili in the crock pot at home and i'm leaving work exactly at 4 so that i can clean, and then pour myself a glass of wine and collapse on to the couch.

merry merry christmas.

the goals of 2010.

i posted in january about what i wanted to accomplish for 2010. let's see how i did.

here are some [fun] things i'd like to do in 2010.

1. climb mount elbert.

uh, not so much. the trip was booked and then i ended up with a 102 fever and the flu.

2. comfortably ski some black diamonds by the end of the season.

yeah as long as we're talking perfectly groomed trails i am fine. but since moguls are a different story i consider this accomplished. sort of.

3. enjoy a weekend away for our anniversary.

duh. we went to telluride. i only wrote about a million posts about our trip. it was awesome and we're definitely going back. soon.

4. visit family. hopefully before the holidays.

yep. i went home for a few days in august. it was much needed and i'm so glad i did.

5. cook julia child's beef bourguignon.

check (with some help & a lot of direction from alex). :) it was goooood.

6. run the bolder boulder.

nope. the bolder boulder was the same day as our anniversary. i picked a trip to telluride over a 10k. so glad i did.

7. camp in wyoming.

nope. and i really wanted to. maybe next year.

8. use our canoe. with the dogs.

sort of. we used the canoe a lot. but not with the dogs.

9. watch my sister dance in her last nutcracker. even though i hate the nutcracker.

she didn't dance in the nutcracker this year. which is a good thing because there's no way we would have made it back for it. new goal: make it home for alex's graduation.

10. learn how to use our new camera.

eh, yes. although i still could learn a lot more.

11. learn how to use PSE.

as long as we're talking actions then, yes. i consider that a check.

12. finish my 2009 scrapbook. by the end of february.

apparently i don't scrapbook anymore. maybe i'll go digital in 2011.

here are some [serious] things i'd like to do in 2010.

1. be a better wife. cook more, appreciate my husband more, complain less.

i tried. and i do appreciate my husband. a lot. every day. i could work more on not complaining. i think i did a lot of complaining in 2010.

2. save more money.

check.

3. find a long-term job.

yep.

4. take AT LEAST 5 classes.

i took 4. i'm pretty proud of that.

5. set a budget.

nope.

8. read silent spring.

and nope.

and here are some things i will NOT do in 2010.

1. adopt more animals.

2. move.

3. wear heels when i can wear flats.

4. go to the gym instead of walking the dogs.

5. buy holiday decorations.

6. cook like julia, or martha, or my mother.

i accomplished all of these. apparently i am awesome at being lazy.

happy birthday, charlie v.

i find this picture hysterical.

yesterday (yes i am a day late) was charlie's birthday. and guess what? i actually had a present and a card for him to open! i'm slowly redeeming myself.

we went to the avalanche game and then headed out to grab a drink with some friends.

since his dad's in town he and charlie spent the day at the garden of the gods before the hockey game. i'm so glad his dad was here to celebrate with him.

i forgot how awesome hockey is. it is awesome. much more awesome than baseball.

anyway, happy birthday to the hubs. thanks for being so supportive this past year. for dealing with my whining about work, and for calming me down on those few nights when i was a huge ball of stress. i hope you had a great last year and i bet this one will be twice as good (because i'll only be in school for half of it, which means as of may 17th i will start to be fun again).

love you. lots.

happy christmas 2010.

lets pretend for a second that i sent all of our christmas cards out on time this year.

that means that people would have them hanging in various creative places all over the house (or have chucked them into the trash) by now.

i ordered our cards from tiny prints this year. this was a huge step for me. it was the first time our names actually appeared on a card AND that i didn't buy cards from REI featuring tents and labs hiking mountains. we're growing up.

i'm sort of a non-traditionalist and charlie was adament about our cards not being a giant picture of 'us' on the front. (we compromised. there is a tiny picture of us on the back.)

if you usually receive an xmas card from me, don't worry, it'll get there and until then you can have this image to hold you over.

i'll leave the back as a surprise.

ps. tiny prints is awesome & has great service.

pps. happy xmas, ya'll.

life of a wife.

or really, life of a person in a committed relationship (but it didn't rhyme nearly as nicely with life).

today i am taking my list final for 2010.

and what should be my third-to-last final for all of school. eek!

it's a good thing that the end is near today because i can tell you that i've been really crappy at maintaining relationships lately. phone calls, emails, christmas presents, etc. have all taken third place behind school and work. i suppose it can't be helped really. i mean we all have to prioritize the things in our lives and i just happen to pick a paycheck and a degree for the top of my list right now. but, that doesn't change the fact that i feel very guilty sometimes for this choice.

i've been a terrible wife lately. friday is charlie's birthday and i've had him make all the plans, i told him just go go buy his present, and i don't even have a card or a cake for him right now. that's right, i don't even have a card for my husband's birthday.

however, i did wake up at 5 am to go skiing with him on saturday. trust me, that is love.

i'm excited that school is almost done and that i'm going to celebrate christmas with my family.

but it's driving me insane that i haven't mailed our christmas cards or bought anyone a present. i keep reminding myself that those things aren't what the holidays are suppose to be about. that what matters is that we're spending time together.

but it does make me wish for a slightly more balanced life. one where family and friends are at the top of my priority list. someday soon ... hopefully.