Nerd-i-versary

Now that it's over, I can blog a bit about our anniversary. We had a really memorable day.

It started with breakfast - crepes for both of us, peanut butter-chocolate for Chris and raspberry jam for me. I was trying to use an incognito Seinfeld reference to hint at Chris' anniversary gift - cigars! I got him one cigar for every month of our second year of marriage. He doesn't really smoke them but will share them with friends, etc. He thought that was a very original idea for a paper gift.

We then went to Penny's dog school graduation ceremony - yahoo! Leo's classes start next month and I think he's going to enjoy it so much more than she did.

After that, we did some cleaning, laundry, etc. Chris went out 'to do errands' (aka find a gift for me) and I watched Teen Mom with the dogs. He came home with a beautiful Phalenopsis orchid that really brightens up our dining room.

Then, we went out! Drinks with my parents and dinner at the place where we got married. It was great to be back and nice to see it set up for a wedding - someone that shares our anniversary! No, we didn't crash it, but Chris wanted to.

July 16, 2010

July 16, 2011

Chris had a dry-aged lump of meat that was incredibly delicious. I had a pork porterhouse with a rhubarb reduction that I could have bathed in. We wrapped up with one of the cutest desserts I've ever seen and rolled off to our next adventure.

Tom and Ashley graciously drove us (as we had really enjoyed ourselves at dinner) to the movies, and the four of us caught Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows p2. Wow. It was phenomenal, satisfying the most ardent book reader and action movie lover alike. The biggest deal here is that NO ONE FELL ASLEEP. If I can stay away for a whole movie, you know it's got to be good.

We then puttered home, walked the dogs, hit the hay. Who knows that today will bring but I'm so glad to have Chris by my side for all of it. 

Happy Anniversary

A whole year of wedded bliss. Sigh. It goes by so fast!

Seeing as your first anniversary gift is supposed to be made of paper, I bought Chris a bunch of cigars. He is 'working on' his gift. My guess is that it will be a card...

Either way, he's still my favorite!

Vamos a la playa!

Seriously! The beach! In January!

Yesterday was a beautiful day around these parts - 50 degrees and sunny. We figured that the best way to beat our New Year's Day blues was to head up to Chris' parents house in Gloucester and take the dogs to the dog beach!

We refer to Good Harbor beach as 'the dog beach' because a) it seems like everyone in town brings their dogs there, b) it's sheltered from the road and has a huge stretch of beach, and c) we can kayak there in the summer and sneak the dog onto a secret part of the beach during the 'no dogs allowed' months. Yesterday was no disappointment. Penny had a great time and even went into the water with her buddy Champ! It was a great way to start the new year and I still can't believe I saw my dog jump in the water...this is the dog who in September of 2009 would hide under the bed when I slammed a cabinet shut by accident. She's getting so brave! (Which is a great thing when she tries things like swimming...when she runs out the front door into the street, I wish she was a bit more fearful.)

Anyhoo, some shots of our day below. Happy New Year!

Chris' parents dog, Champ, swimming for rocks. He's incredible. 

Penny finds him tiresome. 

And after one excursion, decides to watch his antics from the shore. 

Hey! Guys! I found this rock!

Imagine Odysseus wearing sunglasses...

Odysseus and Penelope

Odysseus, Penelope and...Anticlea? (Penelope's servant?)

We've Been Busy...

This is probably the longest I've gone without blogging in the last year. Last July, I had 11 posts. This July, I had zero. Oops. But I can tell you that we've been busy, and I can prove it photographically as well...

We've been landscaping! We're hard at work at the backyard project which is almost done. We also spent some time moving our neighbor's un-needed dirt into some flower beds around the house. This was a LOT of wheelbarrow's worth of dirt, a truck full of supplies, and a good day's hard labor, but it looks great and improves drainage! Hurray!

We've been grilling! Tom and Ashley got us a grill and we've been firing it up when the weather allows. It works really well and we look forward to lots of experimentation...

We've been playing with Penny! When she returned from her two weeks at Camp Chenelle, she was so happy to see us that we just haven't been able to leave her alone. She is such a love and we can't believe it's been less than a year that we've had her around.

We've been traveling! We spent 8 days in Mexico and it was wonderful, even for the rainy season. We sat on the beach, sat by the pool, and did some adventuring as well - we visited Chichen-Itza, which is one of the seven wonders of the world, and Tulum, another Mayan temple site. We also zip lined through the jungle and swam in underground caves. It was an amazing journey together!

And oh yeah...we got married. :)

It's strange to think that just a year ago, we were just buying this house, stressing out about all the issues going on, not even thinking about a dog or a wedding or our brand-new shiny life together...and it's been the best year I've ever had. We are so thankful for our friends and family who make all this hard work worthwhile and look forward to keeping everyone updated on our latest and greatest projects!

2009 In Review

2009 was a banner year for us. Not just a great year, but a big year. Thinking back on it, I cried a lot this year, but not much of it from sadness. I shed a lot of tears of frustration and anger at things I could not control or understand (Jon+Kate getting divorced, mainly) but there were also many periods of crying from happiness and sheer amazement at our dumb luck. We started out last year in a cold, cold apartment, sharing a single closet, huddling around the oven for warmth. We built many great memories in that apartment, though...

Xmas 08

My first garden!

Manny was so tiny then!

Tom looks just like Mario.

Wouldn't be a birthday without Fudgie the Whale...

Another reason this will be a year to remember is the purchase of our new home. That may seem obvious, but we have learned so much from this old house that it seems that we are completely different people having lived here. We solve more problems together, and alone ("Chris! Fix it!"), and we have learned to embrace our life for what we have as opposed to what we want. It took us a long time to save the cash and find the bravery to take on this project, and we are so thankful every day that we did. It has been the journey of a lifetime in six short months.

Day 2 of cleaning...Chris on the porch.

The Regal Bathroom

Original bathroom...ugh.

How she looked when we bought her!

Still my favorite picture of us with the house.

Of course, the other thing that the past year brought was Penelope. We named her that because in the Greek epic The Odyssey, the character Penelope is steadfast, strong and true, waiting 20 years for her husband to come home from war. Our Penny has lived through some pretty bad conditions and fought through, waiting for us to come along and be her forever home. In the past year, she has had at least one litter of puppies, been abandoned by her owners, fostered by some very loving foster parents, spayed, and had extensive dental work done. She has thrown off almost all of the coat she had when she came to us and re-grown a luxuriously fluffy, ruddy coat. She has gone from a dog who was so cold she needed a Snuggie to keep from shivering to a dog who is so warm she is borderline unbearable to keep on your lap. We feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to share our home with her, and she shows her unconditional appreciation for us every day. Even when I spill tea on her by accident...sorry Penny...

Coming home from the Humane Society.

We were told by the shelter that she did not do well with men. She and Chris bonded almost instantly and are now nearly inseparable. Since September, she has become comfortable with (aka stopped barking at) Chris' brother Rob and both of our dads. For the most part.

She was Santa for Halloween.

First snow. Had no idea what do to!

My youngest sister, Anneka, has really hit it off with Penny. The two of them are great friends and enjoy running around wildly and squeaking things. Penny sleeps well on those nights!

In the future, there's a lot coming at us. We will soon find out the results of Chris' CFA exam and that will help us make a lot of decisions about our future. My job is wonderful and I'm so happy to be with my fantastic students and colleagues every day. This is really is OUR future, now that we'll be married in July. As lucky as I feel for Penny, I should be feeling more lucky to have Chris - he is the innovator and the rock on this crazy life we're on now, coming up with incredible ways to improve our home in ways I never thought possible, and then making them actually happen. He is a phenomenal man and I will continue to trust and to follow his lead, as I know he'll follow mine.

Gloucester
Hampton
Bruins game!
Quality time with Manny

Celtics!

We have a lot of plans for 2010, even with our impending wedding taking up most of our time. We're planning on having the stairs fixed (hallelujah) and the hallway painted, the driveway expanded, the old shed torn down and a new shed installed, a wrap-around deck built and a possible laundry/mudroom extention that will give us more storage space. We're envisioning a summer filled with bar-b-ques on our deck and late nights roasting marshmallows by the fire pit. We have a pretty good track record of getting things done somehow, and I have faith that we'll manage. Maybe not with everything, but with what's important. Like the deck.

However, one of our longstanding wishes was for a small table in our kitchen. Nothing huge, just somewhere to sit and have tea in the morning while the dog eats. Our Christmas gift to the house was a table, at long last, and why spend the $109 to have it delivered and installed when you can do it yourself? Oh yeah. Because it's a major pain...

And Penny just wanted to play with the box...

Hey! The chairs come assembled! How hard can this be?

Penny watching...and judging...

Putting on the legs was the worst. Every leg had 3 bolts that had to be individually tightened with a tiny Allen wrench. It took us a really long time.

But here we are, our breakfast nook! Complete with the set of bone china my mom brought back from Ireland for me...perfect!

We have a lot of thanks to give out. Thanks to our parents, of course, who not only helped with labor and projects around here but who also taught us the excellent money management skills that allowed us to make this purchase. We are thankful every day that we were given such great foundations to teach to our children (or boat, whichever we decide to have). Our friends and siblings have been a fantastic resource not only for paint labor (thanks again!) but for bouncing ideas off of and helping us with tiny napkin drawings in bars. Our co-workers have suffered through months, no, years, of "Well, our offer fell through, but we're looking at this..." and are all so supportive of our current efforts. The contractors and other tradesmen we've met have given us the ability and the confidence to keep going, knowing that we have people behind us who know what they're doing. This neighborhood has accepted us as their own and continue to bring in our trash barrels when they blow in the street. Many thanks to the federal government, who will be cutting us a check for $8000 in a few short weeks for nothing but buying this place we call home. We have been shown a huge amount of kindness in the last year and can only hope to pay back half of it in the years coming up. Lastly, thanks to all of you who follow the blog and helped us get above 2000 hits! Oprah, here we come!

Happy New Year from our family to yours!