Making Seasons Bright

Christmas came and went like a flash. We had a terrific holiday season. This was the first year we put a tree up in our house and decorated the outside. Everything came together so well. We got some wonderful gifts and spent time with both of our families which is always so nice.

Some highlights were my mom wrapping up old junk for all of us kids that she found in the basement. My brother was lucky enough to score his old varsity letterman jacket. Nice. I got my old tap dance recital costumes, which must've shrunk like five sizes over the years. Not that I had any intention of putting them on, but the things look like they'd fit a Cabbage Patch doll (hmmm, am I giving you ideas for next year, mom? If so, I'd rather have my Barbies back first), even though I wore the things in grade school. My little sister got her old, giant rabbit pillow back. Ahh, good times. The big ticket item this year was the Husband's mother sending us on an Alaskan cruise this summer. We need to get on the ball to make reservations. Wow and WOW. That is going to be an amazing trip! Stay tuned for updates on that one. And onto the photos...

Our first year doing exterior decorations. We were happy with how they turned out. I promise, those aren't ghosts sitting outside of our front door. Just pretty white trees.

See? I told you they weren't ghosts...

Here's a shot of our Christmas tree, with Nico posing underneath.

My little blue-eyed buddy. Underneath the tree is his little hide-out.

We hung our stockings up with care, in hopes that St. Nick would soon be there. We must've been good this year, because we got some sweet gifts.

The kitties were all snug in their beds...

While visions of Fancy Feast danced in their heads.

Celebrating Christmas Eve with my side of the family.

Little Anders is destined to be an athlete!

Pickle Winners 2007! In my family, we have a Christmas tradition which entails finding the pickle ornament that is hidden (very well, mind you) on the tree. Its an old German tradition. The person who is first to find the pickle, gets a special treat. My mom makes it so that even the losers get a boobie prize though. My dad is quite sure that's not how it went in the old days.

Anders helps Grandma clean up. What a great, little helper. He should make a fine husband someday. Haha.

All of the excitement wore poor Cleo out.

We Were Merely Freshman

Ok, so maybe it was more like seniors. Seniors in high school when I first started listening to The Verve Pipe. That was right around the time that Villains was released. To call myself a true blue, die hard fan, wouldn't be accurate, however, I was pretty excited about the show on Saturday at the Intersection that the Husband was taking me to.

The energy was high, along with the attendance. I haven't seen the Intersection this full in quite a while. The band played a bunch of my favorites, so I was having the time of my life. I have to just say how amazing this band sounds live. They are awesome! I kept thinking there was one friend of mine who'd be having just as much fun as I was. She knows who she is. All I have to say is, "Whoa! Dig it!". I spent the night dancing around and singing along with almost all of the songs. The Husband was a good sport for standing next to me as I danced the night away.

So with all of the early college days nostalgia, the Husband and I were exchanging stories. His early recollections of The Verve Pipe are from his frat days. He and his old, college band got the pleasure of opening up for TVP at one of their parties. Being that the Husband was a musician hanging around the local scene for so many years, he knows a couple of guys in the band. So at the end of the night, I got the pleasure of going backstage and meeting the guys. Yep, I'm one of those people. Need I explain how cool I thought this was? You'd think it was my first time hanging around local celebrities, but I can't tell you how fun it was getting to watch a band live that I haven't seen or really even thought of since my freshman-sophomore year in college and then getting to hang out with them afterwards. So without further ado, here's my photo. Gotta love the cell phone quality, but you use whatcha got, right?

From left to right: Al McAvoy (sound engineer), Yours Truly, Brian Vander Ark (lead vocals), The Husband (hottie) and Donny Brown (drums).

Thanks guys, for being nice enough to take the time to do this photo. I had an AWESOME time. I can't wait until you do it again.

Snug like a bug in a rug

Late last week, I came into work to find a surprise waiting for me in my Inbox. The little things like this are always a treat, especially at 7:30 a.m. when I wasn't expecting it at all. Thanks to my awesome husband for keeping my spirits bright. I wished I could've been at home with all of them doing the same!

It's Official

Well, here it is. My first offical blog entry. I hope to use this space to keep all of you updated on the happenings with me, the husband, our pets, our house, and whatever else it is we do. Basically anything related to the 'ski household will be posted here for your viewing pleasure. So if you enjoy the blog and want to hear more about us, bookmark the page. If not, just don't tell me about it, and we can pretend like this never happened.