From the backyard

Everything is melting (thank goodness!)

Winter

Sunday morning - too cold and windy to take pictures outside

2012!

Happy New Year!

My resolutions:
1) Exercise 3 times a week
2) Clean up 15 mins a day
3) Walk a dog once a week

What I'm looking forward to:
Fun home improvements (new curtains, hang pictures, etc.)
Getting more settled in our house and new jobs
Knocking out more classes toward my degree
Having a fence for our backyard (as soon as the ground thaws!)
Second season of Downton Abbey on PBS (less than a week!)

What I'd like to learn in 2012:
How to cook eggs
Good slow cooker recipes
Mad piano-playing skills

Firsts from 2011:
Buying our first house
Getting laid off (ugh!)
Learning programming (Visual Basic)
My own laptop (no more hand-me-down desktop for me!)
My own piano
Went to my first auction
Going to New Jersey and New York City

Favorite things in 2011:
Top Gear on Netflix (also American Pickers and Bones)
Yoga and Zumba classes at the Community Center
Visiting Bren in NJ and going to NYC
Second-hand shopping in Brookings
The Hairpin
Squirrel Nut Zippers Pandora Station (especially when cleaning/cooking)
David Wax Museum
John's homebrewed cider
Girls' trip to the Black Hills (which I never blogged(?), but here's a pic...)

Catching up

Here's everything I missed updating in 2011 ;)

After three job changes (one for me, two for John), I work for Rserving now as marketing coordinator, and John is a sous chef at the Brownstone in Brookings.

I got through another semester of the Information Systems Master's program at DSU even though the dogs liked to make things difficult...



We had a great trip to Ohio for Thanksgiving, visiting family, visiting friends, taking the dogs with us, and buying a snowblower (which meant the 18 hr drive home involved a dog riding on our laps - no space anywhere else!)


(Amanda, me and Krista at Tony's)

With the snowblower, we're ready for the winter weather...but this is all the snow we've gotten (and it was melted by the end of that day)



Even without the usual snow, we enjoyed decorating and getting ready for Christmas



Cooper liked to fluff the Christmas tree skirt and only chewed on the corner of one present



The Christmas tree



John made hand-lettered tags with one of his fountain pens.

We celebrated Christmas at my parents' house with lots of presents, food, and dogs causing trouble (but not lots of pictures taken)

Pumpkins!

My mom, dad, Erin, and I carved pumpkins yesterday night (and ate pizza, listened to Halloween music on Pandora, and drank Pumpkin Bog - good times!) We used all the pumpkins to decorate my parents' front porch.

Erin's were the VERY cutest, but I think they all ended up looking pretty good.




Dad's pumpkin



Erin's pumpkins



My pumpkin (front) with Mom's pumpkin and Erin's



Whole pumpkin family

Food Show!

We spent last night and today in Sioux Falls - one of John's main food distributors was having a food show, got him a nice hotel room for the night (he totally wins, it was WAY nicer than anything I've stayed in for work!), free reception last night, and LOTS of free samples of food this morning (nice!).

Afterward, we went downtown to shop and walk around. Some of the pictures I took...



Me reflected in a soccer ball



Another sculpture



Sweet bike!

Catching up

Pics from the last couple weeks...



My new recipe for September - homemade spaghetti sauce and green beans from the garden



One of the sunflowers that John planted for me <3



Veggies from the garden (and the backyard)



A veggie close-up

It's frosted a couple times since I took these pictures - I covered the garden the first two nights, but since then, it's been on its own (survival of the hardiest?)

And a great surprise - one of our overgrown flowerbeds has mums in it (one of my favorite flowers and the main decoration at out wedding)!!

31

I turned 31 on Friday (yay!!)

We actually celebrated with family last Monday because of work schedules (I'm in Huron for the SD State Fair) and had an awesome time (grilled kabobs, risotto, cake, birthday punch, home-brewed beer).

On Friday, I was overwhelmed by texts and Facebook greetings, enjoyed some time at the beer and wine pavilion, and had Mexican for dinner (yum!)

I've been thinking about making some birthday resolutions/goals. With all the unrest and uncertainty at work, 30 ended up being kind of a stressful year (although lots of great things happened, like John's new job and buying our house). I just think that 31 should be WAY better.

So here's my plan for the year:

Exercise - 3 aerobic workouts and 2 strength workouts a week (zumba and yoga at the community center start on Tuesday - can't wait!)

Reading - one book (or more) a month

Cooking/Eating - one new recipe (or more) a month (this is especially important now that I cook for myself when John's working) and a fruit or veggie with every meal

(These are actually pretty similar to my goals for 2007 - pretty much my most effective resolutions ever - so I figured it was time for a revisit ;) )