Blog Challenge Day 21: My Biggest Fear

I have to admit I have a fair amount of fears. I think a lot of that is due to a fear of the unknown which I’m sure links back to a control issue and…well there’s a shrink somewhere needing a beach house just waiting for me to walk through the door.


So when it came to picking my biggest fear it came down to two. I’m going to call one a physical fear and one a mental fear.

I have a horrible fear of not being able to breathe; whether it’s due to drowning, suffocating or even strenuous activity like intense cardio. Even writing this is causing me to have to stop and take deep breaths and catch my breath. I’ve had to avoid movies and tv shows that may have scenes where characters can’t breathe and I am shocked I made it through Titanic 4 times. I blame that on youth and now I don’t think I could handle the last hour.

However, my absolute biggest fear is more of a mental one. I have this fear of not being able to get home and being separated from my family. I blame the Wizard of Oz. I have always disliked this move and as a child my parents chalked it up to the witch. Yeah, she was screechy and not nice looking, but witches aren’t real and I understood this very early. What really unnerved me about this movie was that Dorothy just wanted to go home and she couldn’t get there. She wanted her family and she couldn’t see them. I did not like this. Same with An American Tail and Land Before Time. While giant cats and Tyrannosaurs Rexes can’t hurt me, I could in theory get lost or lose my family.

When I was a kid and wouldn’t leave someplace my mom would do the typical “okay, I’m leaving, guess you’re not coming” and walk slowly to the car. My younger sister would barely look up and keep doing whatever she was doing but I was on my feet in a second begging her not to leave me. Really, I knew she wouldn’t leave me, but I couldn’t get that fear out of my head so just in case I’d follow immediately dramatically wailing for her to wait for me.

I think this is why I don’t handle car issues well because the thought of being broken down somewhere and not being able to get home terrifies me. I’ve called my husband in a panic with a dead battery demanding he be where I am within 5 minutes. I’m at near panic attack level until I see my out, my way home. When we got new car insurance I refused to agree to the new policy until I sure there was roadside assistance. I have to know I have a way home.

I actually thought I’d left much of this behind as I’d gotten older and (as horrible as this sounds) I no longer feared losing my parents as I was on my own. Then Isaac and I went to see the movie District 9. In the movie the main character gets touched or bit…can’t remember by an alien and slowly begins transforming into one himself. He is obviously distressed and the government is after him and through it all he is desperate to call his wife and to go home. I was hysterical. Isaac actually asked if I needed to leave at one point. I even remember quietly sobbing at one point “he just wants his wife”. I kid you not, I am tearing up just typing this. Isaac’s shoulder and shirt sleeve were soaked through by the time the movie was over.  So now my fear is not being able to get home and losing my husband. I think I hold his hand tighter than Carolina does when we’re out in large crowds.

You would think I had been abandoned on roadside somewhere as baby, but no, I was very much loved adn taken care of, maybe I'm just more of a homebody than I think! :)

Blog Challenge Day 20: What Do I Collect

My first thought when I saw this prompt was "junk in my purse". My purse is a monument to the receipts, pens, flyers and notebooks I accumulate. I am actually in between purse right now thanks to an incident involving a banana that I don't wish to discuss further...

However, upon looking around my house and discussing with my husband, who agreed with my first inclination, I found a few other collections.

Between the two of us we brought in a nice little shot glass collection that we've added to as we've traveled together.

A couple years ago we started keeping wine bottles we've emptied and lining the top of our kitchen cabinets with them. It's a cool visual and a nice reminder of all the bottles of wine we've shared with each other and friends. Although we've recently run out of room so I'm not sure what that says...

In the last year we've accrued a nice little collection of Doctor Who memorabilia. We have a Pandorica, most of the major characters, a sonic screw driver, a Dalek and a coffee table book! Our front room has become nerd central! :)

My step daughter has a snow globe collection that help her with by making sure each holiday includes a new snow globe as well as finding one any place we travel to. She loves getting them and now we just need a place to display them; her little shelf is getting pretty full!

I thinks that's all the collections here, it's still early, I may go add to that wine bottle collection!

part of the wine bottle collection

Blog Challenge Day 18: Where I am the Happiest

I think I'm happiest when I am at my house, in my yoga pants hanging with my hubby. Add a cold rainy weekend, a West Wing marathon and a bottle of wine and I'm pretty much in happiness overload!

That being said, I also find great happingess on a patio drinking a margarita, especially during summer months.

My husband calls Target my happy place and for good reason, I am very, very happy when I am there!

I also recently found a happiness I'd never experienced in a city before when I went to London on my honeymoon. I know part of that happiness was simply being on my honeymoon. But London in general lit a spark inside of me I'd never felt before. We were in London for several days, then went on to Paris and Rome and neither of those cities lit that spark that London did. I love Austin, but I London and immediately felt that I belonged there. Moving to London is now part of our 10 year plan. Get the kiddo graduated and her own fabulous life underway and then move to London!

One of my favorite New Year's Eve. Just hanging at home!

Girl meets London.

Blog Challange Day 15: 10 Things that Make Me Awesome

This was probably the most difficult challenge, I'm not great at recognizing my strengths. I end up asking my husband for his opinion and I'll add it after mine; it made me giggle.

1.  I'm very loyal. This includes friends, family, jobs, tv shows.. I stick with it!
2.  I'm good at finding family activities to do during kid weekends. I scour local blogs and websites trying to find fun stuff for us to do. If nothings going on I find baking and art projects. I've boredom breeds whining!
3. I'm a pretty good Wicked Step mom. I have my moments, that's for sure, but I think I try really hard and for the most part have a great relationship with my step daughter. She's only 9 though... I shudder as I consider her teen years. 
4. I'm eager to help. I'm a little shy about offering help, but if I asked I'm always eager to jump in and help where I can. 
5. I think I'm pretty well rounded. I can have a conversation that starts with latest Hollywood pregnancy rumors, moves into TV and movies, then politics and current events.
6. I'm very open minded. I figured out long ago that people and situations are all different. You do what's good for you, I'll do what's good for me. 
7. I love to do laundry. I think because folding it can easily involve watching TV.
8. I think I have a pretty good sense of humor. It can be a bit dry and contains sarcasm so it doesn't translate online well, but I love to laugh and making others laugh.
9. I've taken to international Soccer tournaments. This really only matters to my husband, but after a life time of no soccer watching I watched 2 World Cup matches and was hooked! Viva Espana! 
10. I'm nice. That seems weird to say, but that sums up a lot of it. I never go looking to be mean to others or make them feel bad. With close friends and co workers I can talk some snark, but I genuinely try to be nice to everyone. You have no idea what may be going on in their life, so even if all I can manage is silence, that's nicer than being rude!

Now the list my husband sent me!

1.       My Sweeteness

2.       Gets me breakfast when I need it the most

3.       Those Eyes

4.       Explorer at heart

5.       Best sense of humor I know

6.       That rear

7.       Loves The West Wing

8.       That front

9.       Bakes World’s Best Pumpkin Cookies

10.   Mywife!

Blog Challenge Day 13: Regret

First let me say I regret how many days I've missed. I had every intention of keeping up with these but then crazy days at work happens, extra days with step kiddo due to Spring Break happens, and time change induced haziness happens. But I made it back in time for regrets.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about regrets. I've made it a point to have very few for one simple reason; I love my life now and what if by changing something I regret, it takes me from my husband and my life now.
So while i sometimes regret things like I never had a college experience, where would I be now? Would I have met Isaac, would I have the friends I have now? I don't like that thought so I try to view every choice  in my life, good or bad, as part of what made me who I am today and not regret that.

The one area I regret is anytime I've hurt someone, intentionally or not. I hate hurting others and I deeply regret any time something I've said or done has made someone else feel bad. Every time my patience has left me too soon and I've snapped at Carolina. Every time as kids or adults where something I've said or done has hurt my sister or anyone in my family. Anytime I've lashed out at Isaac in anger and taken it too far stays with me.

I've admittedly pretty sensitive and I know how badly I feel when others hurt me and the thought of inflicting that on someone else makes me incredibly sad. So I try everyday  to think before I speak or act and ask myself if I'm about to do something I will regret. I fail many times, but I hope I've saved myself a little bit of regret.

Blog Challenge Day 4: Favorite Childhood Memory

Blog Challenge Day 4- Favorite Childhood memory


I feel like I had a pretty happy childhood, we had some nice vacations, my sister and I played together and I had plenty of friends. My parents divorced when I was 13, but I’ve always considered that just a small blip on my overall life. When I came to my favorite memories I realized I had a lot of good memories, but I couldn't pick a favorite. Until I remembered a weekend activity we would do several times a year.  The weekends our family would go bike riding downtown.

Austin has a really great running/bike trail downtown that loops around the lake and is well used and well loved by Austinites. Known simply as the Hike and Bike trail, it spans about 10 miles around the lake downtown.

I have great memories of Saturday mornings where my dad would get up and ask who wanted to go ride bikes. We’d eagerly get dressed, my dad would load our bikes in his truck and off we’d go. We’d park at Austin High School unload the bikes and be off. We usually did the full trail riding at times through trees and along the lake and then up on what is now Cesar Chavez but at that time was 1st street. We’d ride across the Congress Ave Bridge and in front of Auditorium shores by the old Palmer events center.

We usually rode with my dad in front with my sister and I in the middle and my mom bringing up the rear. As this was the early 90’s there were no helmets or knee pads we just rolled along with the wind in our hair and the sun on our face. Don’t worry, we wore sunscreen!

My sister, always the braver one, took on the hills fast, even after a couple spills she never backed off. I have always been much more cautious and if I wasn’t comfortable with a hill I’d simply hop off my bike and walk it to the bottom and then keep going! I think this says a lot about our differences, even today.

However, the best part of bike ride mornings were that after we’d ridden around for a couple hours we’d load the bikes back up and go get a late breakfast before heading home. There’s nothing better than pancakes and bacon from Magnolia Café after you’ve spent the morning outdoors!

Now at 30, I can’t even remember the last time I rode a bike that wasn’t in a spin class. Bikes aren’t cheap, but I’m hoping we can invest in some for ourselves and kiddo pretty soon. I’d love to take my family downtown someday and maybe have one of those amazing Austin mornings like I used to have.

Blog Challenge Day 3: What Makes Me Happy

I've been walking around all day trying to think about a good response for this and I realized I have many responses and that's a good thing! This is not a full list by any means but here are a few.

• Lazily drinking coffee on weekend mornings while chatting with my husband
• Family movie nights where all three of us end up under a blanket on the couch
• Waking up on non kid weekends and knowing I can sleep as long as I want
• Cold, rainy Saturdays spent in pj pants (not many of those in Texas!)
• The West Wing theme music
• A cold bottle of Coke
• Margaritas and lots of laughs on a hot summer day
• Hot pancakes covered in real maple syrup 
• a great run after work
• Doctor Who episodes
• Friday nights
• walking around London
• baking with my stepdaughter
• booking a flight to some place I've never been
• list making
• Body Flow class after a stressful day of work
• a glass of wine with dinner 
• For my uber sappy one, when I look at my husband of 6 months and have that "oh my god, we're married!!" moment.

 Just typing this out made me both happy and a little hungry!

Blog Challenge Day 2: Favorite Quotes

 "Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: All of them make me laugh."
W.H. Auden


I think this quote sums me and my life the most. I love to laugh. When my step daughter was about five she told me I was filled with laughter! I'll admit I have laughed at the wrong moment, but normally most situations can be made better if you focus on the funny. I love that I have managed to surround myself with people both at work and home who feel the same way. My husband cracks me up multiple times a day and his funny emails to me at work were one of the first things I liked about him!

I get to work with some of the funniest people I know as well and  the toughest days at work have been eased by someone cracking a joke that made me laugh out loud. Even those I don't sit in the same state with crack me up via IM and email everyday.  Laughter is the best medicine and I love surrounding myself with people that remind me of that everyday!

5 Things About Me

I've never done a blog challenge before, but I've had a hard time getting myself to blog on a regular basis and I'd like to improve my writing skills so this seemed like a fun thing to try. I also like it's not Mom specific. That sounds horrible, but as a non full time step parent, I feel hypocritical participating in Mom blogging, but sometimes it feels like that's all that's out there! I enjoy reading about other people parenting experiences, but I don't feel comfortable joining in on the conversation. I think that's what drew me to this blog challenge.

So here goes nothing!  Self portrait that makes me look like I have facial deformity, even though I promise it's just the way the sun was coming in the car window and 5 things about me!
   

1. I am obsessed with office supplies. Post its, pens, notebooks, highlighters, calendars, file folders, binders and so on. Lack of funds keeps me from camping out at Office Depot and the office supply aisle of Target. For all the supplies I have, I should be more organized than I am!

2. I never had a cup of coffee until I was on my second date with my now husband. He ordered a coffee and so did I so he would think I was cool. I now have at least one cup everyday! (My step daughter loves that story so much!)

3. As you will soon see I am a horrible editor of really anything. My brain just automatically seems to correct any errors as I read them. I can read things 10 times be convinced everything is fine, hit post and suddenly 10 things are spelled wrong. I need more than spell check I just need someone with more of an attention span to read and find errors for me. If they could also do my make up, my hair and make sure my outfit looks decent everyday I'd really have all my needs met!

4. I resisted hubby’s attempts to get me on Twitter for over a year but many of podcasts I like kept referencing it, so I finally logged in one Sunday. Within two hours Twitter was buzzing with the death of Osama Bin Laden! Quite the introduction to Twitter and the first time I really understood the power of social media.

5. If necessary I could sustain myself on Ritz crackers and cheddar cheese.

So that's five! So far so good, let's see if I make it through day 2!

I'd Like to Thank the Academy

Today was a big day for me, I achieved a goal today, a goal I've worked towards for many years but finally achieved this year: I have now seen every movie nominated for Best Picture in this years Academy Awards. It wasn't easy, it took many hours, because most of the movies this year are pretty freaking long. But I persevered and today my dream became a reality. So if you'll indulge me, below is the Academy Award acceptance speech. I saw all nine movies people, I earned this!!

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I can't believe this is happening, it's such a surprise! I've worked so long and hard to reach this point and I never thought it would come. I came so close last year, but I just couldn't bring myself to see Tree of Life or War Horse, I hate horses. I didn't do this alone though, and I have so many people to thank.

I'd like to thank Red Box for having Beasts of the Southern Wild on DVD, that was the least expensive movie to see and when you're seeing 9 every penny counts.

I'd like to thank my Flickster app and my Alamo Drafthouse app for keeping my up on movie times and locations. This takes a lot of planning and I couldn't have done without you.

Of course Alamo Drafthouse your beer and Queso Magnifico got me through so many movies. I just know I couldn't have handled Django Unchanined or Les Miserables without it. You've always been there for me, movie wise and I appreciate it more than you know. Also your showing of the Oscar nominated shorts every year gives me a movie street cred I couldn't get anywhere else.

To the Arbor Theater for showing any of the movies I couldn't catch at Alamo. We see each other every January as we celebrate this time of year and I cherish those visits. I also appreciate your large senior citizen clientele for keeping me abreast of the latest Chico fashions and loudly whispering plot points, just in case I didn't catch them.

For once I'd like to thank the Gateway theater for the 3D showing of Life of Pi, the 3D helped make that movie and for once, you came through.

To Les Mis for showing me what misery truly is. 

To my thick white shawl I use as a blanket, I couldn't have made it through the long freezing hours spent at the Arbor theater without you. I know they have to preserve their over 65 audience, but it gets so damn cold.

(Cue Music)

I know they're trying to play me of, but I just need one more moment!

To Ben Affleck, thank you for making my favorite movie of the year. I believed in you, even during the Gigli days and today I am proud to call myself Team Affleck!

Finally, to my husband. My movie buddy and most importantly my financier.  I couldn't have done this without you, mainly because you paid for most of them, but besides that you share the experience and we did 8 of 9 of these together. I love that we found movie mates in each other!

Oh and of course, I'd like to Thank the Academy!!

28 Days of Love Day 4

Today was a running day for me which meant I got to listen to my very favorite podcast and what I love most today Up Your, Downstairs. Up Yours, Downstairs is a Downton Abby recap podcast hosted by a husband and wife, Tom and Kelly. They begin every podcast with "we're properly married" and I've spent almost everyday since my wedding 5 months ago trying to work this into a conversation.

I love the episodes so much I have them reserved only for running so I'm always a couple episodes behind. I don't love that, but listening to the episodes while I run get me through even the worst days on the trail so by stockpiling I almost always have one waiting. The bad part about listening to the episodes while I run is that sometimes I start laughing so hard I have to stop and gather myself. Totally worth it though.

I love that besides a basic recap Kelly and Tom add their own, often hilarious, irreverent commentary, but you can also tell how much they love the show and the characters.Today I was practically crying during their description of Matthew and Mary's honeymoon as a drug fueled rampage (not verbatim) across France. There was context, trust me, but the image caused me to pause my runkeeper and just crack up while people passed me by with concerned looks on their faces! 

Besides the great recaps, other segments of each episode include Fashion Backward where Kelly covers a fashion topic of the day generally relating to a style showcased in the episode and Tom repeats history where an aspect of the time period is taken and examined in depth. This is one of my favorites segments along with the awards handed out at the end which include the Gibson Girl for best dressed and best evasion. Finally Maggie Smith is rated on her awesomeness that episode using the Maggie Smith scale 1 to 5. 1 for a week when she was simply in a scene still being better than everyone else and 5 being a "what is a weekend" episode. 


Fans be warned: Tom and Kelly are anti Bates; something I disagreed with them about in season 1, but I was on their bandwagon by season 2. "Shank Bates!" They are however, firmly team Maggie Smith, as all should be and Doctor Who fans to boot so in my head if we ever met we'd be the best of friends. Though not really, I don't know if I'm witty enough to hang with Tom and Kelly!

As any Downton Abby fan knows, seasons are short and hiatus's long so during the "off season" Up Yours found other things to recap and discuss including Titanic and Mary Poppins! The only episodes I had to skip were the Manor House recaps because I couldn't find Manor House any where to watch. To be honest, I probably didn't look very hard, but if it can't be streamed on Netflix I'm generally out of ideas.

I could go on and on about how much I love this podcast so I urge any Downton Abby fans to seek it out on iTunes or whatever pod caster app you choose. You can also follow them on Twitter @5maggiesmiths.

28 Days of Love #3

I have to admit, I love the Super Bowl. I love football as well, obviously, but I do love how it all culminates into one event. Even years when I have little to nothing invested in the game, it's still an event. A time to gather with friends, eat fun "game" food and drink some beer!

I love that it's one of the few things we have left as a group that well all watch. With so many channels and the internet and ways to view whatever you want it's very few things left that we all watch together.

We watched the game with friends and as we drove home I loved knowing the extra traffic were mostly people doing the same thing. I loved seeing the extras cars in the neighborhood and the extra lights on in house, uncommon for a Sunday night and knowing we'd all just watched the same game, been bewildered by the same blackout and anxiously awaited each commercial break. It was a fun game this year and I can't wait for next year!

28 Days of Love: Day 2

I love the Alamo Drafthouse! Anyone who spends any time of my Facebook or Twitter page knows that Isaac and I spend a lot of time (and money) at Alamo Drafthouse seeing movies. We both like watching movies and Alamo is the place to go in Austin. I can't think of a better way to watch a movie than with dinner, a few craft beers, many of them local or a glass of wine. If you need something sweet to end the evening I recommend the cheesecake or...the Guinness Milkshake. Just typing this reminds me I have not had a milkshake in a while and I may need to remedy that soon.

I have a confession to make though, I have lived in Austin all my life and I was well into my 20's before I visited an Alamo Drafthouse. I know, I hang my head in shame.

The thing I always notice about Alamo is just the overall atmosphere. I don't think I've ever had a bad experience there. Everyone is always so cool and "Austin" that it's always a fun place to be. It's also a nice opportunity to keep our money in local businesses and that's always a good thing.

I think my favorite thing about Alamo though is that my first visit was with Isaac, we'd only been "going out" a couple weeks when he IM'd me one afternoon at work (yes, we met at work and I'm in HR. We're now married and we don't work together anymore so get past it) to make Friday plans. He suggested a movie at Alamo and I had to fess up that I had never been. He was shocked and decided right then and there that's what we were doing. We saw the Bank Job, had the Porky's Pepperoni pizza and shared a pitcher of beer. That was that, we've hardly ever gone anywhere else and now I consider it "our place". What's not to love about that?

Another date night at our closest Alamo Drafthouse

28 Days of Love

January has been a long, rough month. We spent over 2 weeks with only one car while 3 different mechanics tried to figure out what was wrong with Isaac's car. It ended up being relatively easy and inexpensive to fix, but as anyone in a house with two adults with thier own schedules sharing a car can be difficult. Throw in Carolina and her schedule for a few of those days and it was frustrating. I missed a couple weeks of runs that led me feeling anxious and a little down. Isaac and I both took on new job responsibilities in January and learning something new is always challenging. I find my self most days  feeling like I'm in a dream where you show up to school naked. I keep waiting for people to realize I have no idea what I'm doing and sometimes feel like a fraud masquerading as  benefits specialist.

I can say, while knocking on every piece of wood in the house, we have at least avoided illness so far this year and for that I am extremely grateful.

So with January finally over, I wanted something fun to do on my blog and thought about Valentines Day and I decided to do something I love every day. I know Valentine's Day isn't a real holiday, but I love to celebrate anything and with the Oscars at the end of the month I have high hopes that February will be much better than January.I plan to keep it light, obvuiosly I love my husband, my parents and my friends, I want to find smaller things, products, places, little things that make me happy on a daily basis.

For day 1 I went simple: I love Friday. Who doesn't? Best day of the week. At approximately 5pm  I get to remove my badge and I'm done. But even before 5, Friday is best. On Fridays our HR group takes turns bringing breakfast so there's always something at look foreward to Friday mornings. Every other Friday is pay day and everyone seems to be in a better mood all day. Lots of wine glass emoticons go back and forth on Friday!

Friday evenings are either just Isaac and I which means DVR clean out night catching up on everything we've missed during the week or a night out at Alamo Drafthouse cathing a new movie we've been waiting for as well as a pint of beer and something fun to eat.

Or Friday evening include Carolina and there's dinner at home and usually an evening watching a family movie or a Doctor Who marathon. Evenings end with hot chocolate and everyone falling asleep in a clump on the couch.

Even on nights when Friday doesn't end up the way I thought I would or how I wanted it to, it's still a Friday and I'll always love that!

For more about my love of Friday see here!

My Top 12 of 2012

For some reason top 12 of 2012 sounded better than top 10 of 2012, but top 13 of 2013 doesn’t sound right so I may be setting myself up for a difficult decisions come next December.

Anyway, I was thinking about 2012, which was a big year for me and I love countdowns of any kind so I decided to create my own!

12.) Starting the year in Madrid! This was definitely a big travel year for me and it started out with a bang in Madrid Spain. We spent a lovely new years eve with Isaac’s aunt, Lourdes and her kids Malu and Pablo. I learned about eating the grapes as you count down to the New Year and watched fireworks going off around the city from the comforts of Lourdes’s living room! The next day we had a very nice relaxed lunch at Isaac’s mom’s house and enjoyed our last few hours in Spain.

11.) The Olympics! I love the Olympics, it’s a true love that started back when I was very young and has continued. Every year they are held Isaac has to give up control of the TV and DVR while I try desperately to watch as many televised moments as possible while still holding down a job, going to the gym and generally keeping myself alive. This year was special in that I got to fulfill a long standing dream of hosting an Opening Ceremonies watch party with a themed meal of fish in chips! I’m already planning the menu for my Sochi 2014 opening ceremonies party. I’m thinking fondue and something warm and alcoholic!

10.) The Euro Cup. I was once an avowed Soccer hater. I could not understand the appeal, but then I married a Spaniard and then I got it! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t sit around watching matches all day, but I’ve come to appreciate the big world events. This year was the Euro cup where the reigning champions, Spain, were looking to keep that title. Per usual Isaac and I had a great time following the tournament even though with the time difference catching some of the weekday games was a difficult at best. It was worth it though and Spain went to win the tournament and keep the title! Now we’re just waiting for the 2014 World Cup!

9.) Downtown holiday tree lighting. Just earlier last month we had the chance to go downtown and enjoy the tree lighting and holiday “stroll” up Congress Avenue. A completely free event with lots of activities for the kiddos. We had a great time enjoying the city and it was of the few holiday things we got to do this year!

8.) Being Bath Crashed! This can also count as biggest surprise of the year. I was totally caught off guard by the opportunity, drug my feet a little bit but in the end had a great time. We also have a great new bathroom and you can watch the transformation sometime next year on the DIY channel!

7.) Bridal shower. A fun day I got to share with friends and family. Let’s be honest getting presents is always fun and it was fun to share the day with Carolina who managed to win one of the games, kept good track of who gave what and enjoyed being the only kid and getting that spotlight!

6.) The evening in Rome we saw the Trevi Fountain. Rome was not really a highlight for us. We saw everything but felt there was something in Rome that just didn't click with us. However, there was one night that stood out. The second evening there we walked over to the Trevi Fountain and then found a great little restaurant in what seemed like an alley!

5.) Dinner on the Champs Elysee. I’ll admit, Paris and I never had the love affair others seem to have with the city. However, you can’t deny its beauty at night or the overwhelming feeling of sitting a restaurant on the Champs Elysee looking at the Arc De Triomphe with you new husband. That is one of many amazing honeymoon memories, but it is most defenitly one of my favorites. Oh and the food and wine were pretty good as well!

4.) Pub hopping and high tea in London. Our first day in London (well everyday in London) was amazing, but the best part was our evening spent pub hopping with Isaac’s friend Tim from University and his wife Laura. We hit 4 different pubs all with interesting histories and I had like the best meat pies ever!Later we had high tea with our fabulous friend Eleanor at the Lanesburough Hotel. I include these together simply because it wasn't just what we were doing but the people we were with that made everything even more special!

3.) Shopping with Carolina. I haven’t been able to do much shopping this year, something I hope to rectify later in 2013, but I did have one memorable trip when I took Carolina to get a dress for Easter. I’ve been buying Carolina clothes for several years now, but this time was special in that it was the first time Carolina came along and we enjoyed the trip! She’s old enough now to like clothes shopping and be able to appreciate a day out! We looked at several places before she decided on one and even stopped at the mall food court to share a pretzel and coke. A couple weeks later she mentioned how much fun she’d had and I can’t wait until I get to shop again and we can have another day out!

2.) My wedding day. Obviously! Well not the whole wedding day, parts were stressful, but the ceremony itself and reception were so much fun and so special. I felt like our ceremony, though short, was perfect for us and who we are. And I loved getting to see everyone who was able to come and visit with them afterwards.

1.) Our amazing honeymoon trip overall.  As we landed in London very early on September 12th I looked over a city I dreamed about for so many years and thought about all the sacrifices we'd made to save enough money for our trip. We'd started planning the trip nearly a year earlier and so many times it had seemed like it would never arrive. My eyes filled with tears and I turned to Isaac and whispered simply "we did it, we're here." He smiled and promised me we could do anything and I’ll carry that sentiment with me to 2013!

One of my first moments in London, another amazing 2012 moment!

One of my favorite pics of one of my best 2012 days!