Year 2 - Day 352 - December 9

Have you seen the Home Depot ads that show the awesome Christmas ornament centerpiece using a chandelier and clear thread?
http://howto.homedepot.com/videos/watch/1241858187001/Build-A-Christmas-Centerpiece-Ornament-Tree-Chandelier.html
I'm here to tell you that it's not as easy as it looks!

Year 2 - Day 350 - December 7

This year's "new to the tree" Christmas ornaments!

We have 2 from our trip to California, which is less than I usually get on a trip. I decided to do 1 from the coastal part of our trip and 1 from the wilderness portion of the vacation. We got a giant key at Alcatraz and a regular ornament at Yosemite. The top one is from our trip to see Book of Mormon on Broadway. We got 2 as gifts this year, one from each set of parents. My parents got us flip flops in Hawaii and his parents got us a moose tangled up in lights from Glacier National Park.

(With thanks to Shutterfly for the photo Christmas Card layout) ;)

Day 346 - December 12

For today's picture - a collage. :)  I cheated!  This is our 2010 class of Christmas Ornaments.  We didn't have a tree in 2009, so these include the ornaments we've gotten since that time. 

From the top left - Snowman Mickey from our trip to Orlando in spring 2009, Boston's Freedom Trail to commemorate the miles and miles of urban hiking in Boston this fall, The space needle was a gift from my parents. 

2nd Row- Crab and sand inside a glass ball made at crafting club, blue and white hand blown ornament that I made with my very own breath during Christmas vacation in 2008, the "Our New Home" ornament Mike got me for my birthday this year

3rd row - Hershey Kiss from Chocolate World/Hershey Spa for Sarah's 30th birthday trip, Christmas tree from the White House was a gift, Santa with secret service reindeer from the Spy Museum earlier this year

4th row - Mickey Ears from Disneyland summer of 2010, gingerbread people from my carpool mate for our first married Christmas

Bottom - bird from Mike's crib mobile when he was little (Doesn't it look like the twitter bird?!?) and a Billy Elliot boxing glove from the spring of 2009.

Not pictured: an elephant from the San Diego zoo summer of 2010, a glass "Our first Christmas" ornament we got as a gift,  and a Hawaiian doll from our Hawaii trip in 2009.  I forgot to take a picture of the SD & glass ones and I can't find the Hawaii one ANYWHERE.

Day 191 - July 10

Today, I turned 31.  It has been a LONG 365 days since I last had a birthday.  Between the housing situation, my health scare, my husband's injuries that kept him from running which is his favorite thing to do, and a general feeling of loneliness for a long stretch, I would not put this past year on my "I'll relive THAT one!" list.  I am anxious for this coming year to be better! 

For my birthday present, we're taking the VIP Warner Brothers Studio Tour and going to Disneyland for a day.  (WHEE!!!)  However, my husband wanted something that he could wrap.  He was in Hallmark last night and realized the Christmas Ornament Unveiling Party was in the morning.  (Seriously? On July 10?) So he went back today and picked me up a "New Home" ornament.  It was pretty much the best thing that happened in the last 12 months, so it is fitting. :)

To round out my day, we headed to the Melting Pot for dinner.  I always enjoy it, but the men in my life have tended to roll their eyes in the restaurant's general direction.  (Father, Brother, now Husband) :)  But he said he was on board so off we went!  They do have a fun, different summer menu with a lot of "island flair."  He had these crazy lettuce wraps instead of a salad and we had a Caribbean flavor broth for cooking instead of the regular stuff.  For dessert, we picked Smores because we hadn't had that before.  YUMMY.  I picked up a library movie called "Post Grad" with the girl who played Rory in Gilmore Girls and the boy who is Matt in FNL.  It was not that good, but it probably wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen.  It made me laugh in parts.  Carol Burnett was the grandma and Jane Lynch was the mom, so that made it worth it.  It was probably a fun movie to make. :)

Day 52 - February 21

 

Yesterday, we finally got around to visiting the International Spy Museum in D.C.  We have wanted to go for a long time, and so we met up with Mike's friends that live down there.  At first, I was super impressed.  The first few rooms are ultra-interactive.  You pick a "cover" and have to memorize some facts about it.  Then after a couple exhibits, there are computer terminals that test your memory and give you a "job" to do.  Disappointingly, after that you don't come to another computer terminal until the end.  Also, I understand that they can't give away any current day stuff and that we have to rely on TV and our imagination to think about modern technology, but the information definitely skewed towards long ago.  

My picture is of the Christmas ornament I got in the gift shop.  D.C. now has a "green bag" tax.  They were happy to wrap this ornament in several pieces of tissue paper, but if I wanted a bag it was 5 cents.  (I just popped it in my purse.)  I understand the tax - I'm sure more people are willing to go without the bag if it means paying extra as opposed to getting a 5 cent discount.  Even though it's a grand difference of a dime - the psychological difference is much more. (I'd assume.)  However - to use that much tssue paper seemed counter productive! :)