Top 10 of 2010

Happy New Year! I've loved reading everyone's 2010 recaps and have finally written one of my own. The past 12 months have been some of the most challenging-yet-happy that I can remember. Nurse A and I made some hard decisions both professionally and personally, discovered some new hobbies, experienced true loss together and experienced true happiness. Quite a roller coaster, I'd say. But without further ado, here are my top 10 moments from 2010 in no particular order (except the first one!)

Getting married, of course! Need I say more?

August 14, 2010

                                                            
Honeymoonin' in Savannah, Georgia - These were seriously some of the best days ever. Just my new husband, me, oysters, daiquiris and lots of ghosts. If you get a chance definitely go to Savannah and eat at the Planter's Tavern under the Old Pink House.

Sweaty Savannah night complete with smudged camera lens.

Introducing Sawyer

At the end of June we welcomed a slightly orange member into our little family: Sawyer! 

Sawyer, almost eight months old, Christmas 2010

Cooking up a storm 

My resignation from my Memphis job in October led to Nurse A and I eating in a lot. And guess what? We realized we're pretty good at cooking for the most part. We love the Williams-Sonoma Bride and Groom Cookbook, and can't wait to continue our cooking adventures in 2011. We have some big goals that I'll share on this blog later!

Adventures in breadmaking

Wedding festivities

Despite some stressful moments, I loved all of the excitement that surrounded our wedding. We had our first shower in the spring, followed by another in Gulf Shores with my family and a lingerie shower and NOLA bachelorette party in July. We also did a mini spa day the morning of the rehearsal, a bridal luncheon and of course our wonderful rehearsal dinner, all of which were great fun.

Showers, lingerie and NOLA, oh my!

Family vacation!

This year, for the first time since 2005, I was finally able to go on our family's annual beach vacation! In past years I've had to work or intern during the week-long trip. Even though there was oil on the beach we still had two lovely pools and a bay, so all was good. My sister Ash hosted a family shower for us, and in the middle of the week Nurse A and I road tripped to St. George Island, Florida for Nikki (the Fashionable Wife) and Charlie's beach wedding!

Luckily, there was no oil on this beach

Hit the ground running

We started running seriously at the end of 2010. Before the week-long fest of food and lounging in NC that ends Sunday morning, I was up to four miles, a is a huge accomplishment for me. (Andrew has run 6.2 before.) I can't wait to do a couple 10ks and start half-marathon training in the new year!

I know you've seen it before, but this is the only race picture I have of us because it's the only one I've ever done. Hopefully 2010 will bring new runs.

Simple fun

Moving back in together in May was a shining moment in our year. After the wedding we enjoyed a lot of simple things, like having some of our best friends stay with us in the extra room, planting a garden that deer later ate, walking Sawyer around our lovely neighborhood and picking pears from our tree!

Garden sprouts!

Endings and new beginnings

Andrew finished his master's degree this year, and I left my job after nearly a year and a half, which alternates between being challenging and rewarding. It was a much-needed move, however, and I'm hoping 2011 will be evidence of this.

Master A

The new year will definitely hold some big changes for us. I'm hoping for a job and maybe another puppy or two! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Happy 2011

The Dogs of Christmas

It's officially Christmastime! With less than a week left, I've packed up and headed home to the coast, hence the blogging hiatus. So far we've eaten some delicious food (think French toast, homemade chicken tortilla soup and curried chicken), braved the crowds for some last minute Christmas shopping (even though I'm just giving free Shutterfly cards this year because of my lack of funds) and had a beer or two with my cousins and aunt downtown. We've also had lots of sweets and a couple morning runs, one on which we saw a girl in a pink coat standing in the woods--quite creepy. Fun times though. Oh, and we also have five dogs packed into our house. Chaotic? Yes. Extremely entertaining? Hellz yes. (Except when Sawyer gets up at 7 a.m. and wakes all the other dogs.) I don't have my card reader with me right now, but here are a few photos I have on hand of our the four-legged members of our family. Please keep in mind that I am sharing a twin bed with three of them.

It's baby Sawyer's first time visiting his grandmother. So far he has enjoyed chicken broth and the sauteed ground beef on his food, courtesy of my madre.

Izzy, my brother's fiance's adorable Boston terrier. Sawyer and Izzy are bff.



My brothr's dog Rosco Bosco the gentle giant.



Joli, the Fun Police. If anyone has a toy, she takes it and rips it up. If anyone is playing, she jumps in and tries to start a fight. We just pick her up because she's a small-yet-rotund rat terrier. She was a birthday gift to me when I was 17, but I think it's safe to say she is my mom's dog now even though she always sleeps with me and we love each other.

Coco (on the left) with Joli. I don't have a picture of just Coco because she's so sweet and always behaving and I apparently just photograph bad dogs. Also, no one in our family is quite sure if she spells her name Coco or Cocoa. Because it's her choice, obviously. Coco is Joli's bff even though Joli is kind of mean to her.

So that's what I've been up to! It's nice to be home. Nurse A is still up in North Mississippi working, so we won't get to see him until Christmas Eve. Then we'll pack up the car and Sawyer, Andrew and I will head off to North Carolina to spend the week after Christmas with his family in Highlands, NC. Safe travels everyone, and happy holidays!

Surprise Travels

Everyone's posts about snow have gotten me revved up for the holidays even though it's a nice 57 degrees here in Mississippi. Besides an upcoming trip to celebrate Thanksgiving in the beautiful Alabama wilderness (well, not quite wilderness, but we're visiting my brother who lives/works in the woods at a camp) and then a quick trip home, the holidays bring another element of excitement.

Why, you ask? Because I married (dated?) into an awesome holiday tradition: instead of gifts, Nurse A's mom and dad take the fam on a Christmas trip!

The destination is secret for as long as possible, but now that everyone has to take off work and drive from different areas we usually find out ahead of time.

The first year, my sophomore year of college and the second year Andrew and I were dating, we went to New York. It was amazing, and it was my first trip to NYC. This one was a legitimate surprise--we didn't get to open our plane tickets until we got to the airport. We saw the Producers on Broadway, explored the city and ate lots of delicious food. I bought a poster at the MET that I have yet to frame.

The next year was another huge first for me. We occasionally get a thin layer of snow in Oxford, but this was a sight I had not yet seen firsthand:

Nurse A in front of our cabin in Winter Park, Colorado

Lots of snow! Lots and lots of snow! Snow so powdery we couldn't even make a snowman. We skied one day and I loved it, but I didn't want to push my luck on the slopes another day as I fear death by ski, so Nurse A and I took a horse and carriage ride which was more our speed. This trip was fun too, but my feet froze on our snowmobiling trip. Like for real froze. There was ice in my boots and everything and it was quite terrifying because we were on top of the mountain. I still enjoyed it though, especially when feeling came back to my feet.

The fateful snowmobiling trip.

Our third trip was to New Orleans, much closer to home for me and a lot less travel time. We stayed at the Hotel Monteleone, ate lots of oysters and took a class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. Andrew and I were in charge of making the barbecue shrimp (which oddly required no barbecue sauce) and tried to cut the amount of butter the recipe called for (like four sticks) in half. The instructor caught onto us and about an hour later we were feasting on gloriously life-shortening deliciousness.

Carousel bar in Hotel Monteleone. It spins, which is fun until you have one too many glasses of wine.

Look at all that butter!

Last year we went on a Caribbean Carnival cruise which was my very first. It was a lot of fun, though the first day I had to adjust to the sea. I tend to have a problem with riding on big boats (not small ones), but usually a few hours watching the waves helps. We cruised to Cozumel, where Andrew bought tequila with a worm in the bottom. The weather was gorgeous and it was hard to believe it was Christmastime.

Andrew being eaten by the vine at the Mayan ruins. Have you see/read (or in our case listened to on tape) The Ruins? I wouldn't recommend it, but it inspired our picture.

Pretty water.

The whole group.

A few weeks ago when Andrew's family came to tailgate, his mom revealed our Christmas 2010 destination! We're spending the week after Christmas in Highlands, NC. Andrew's parents love Highlands and we're looking forward to a relaxing week of reading, hiking and, of course, eating. Oh, and lots of wine drinking. And maybe some snow. Have you ever been to Highlands? Any recommendations on things to do?

Home for the Holidays

Home Sweet Home

 No, I don't hail from a boat and I have no idea who Barbara K. is, but this was the best photo I could find of my hometown! (Note to self: take pictures of things other than dogs and food.)


It's November and it's cold outside but it's warm and toasty in the house! I'm getting excited because this means a trip home for the holidays is in the near future. I only live five and a half hours away from home right now, but unfortunately I haven't been able to make it down for a substantial amount of time in a while. In fact, the last time I went home was a weekend in July for wedding festivities, including my  bachelorette party, so most of that time was spent in New Orleans, which is not a far drive from my town. This year I'll actually have time to go and stay for a week or so! Home, in case you were wondering, is on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where it only snows like every five years and crawfish, shrimp and crab boils are aplenty (oh how I miss crab boils!). Here are a few things I love about going home, in no particular order:

 Dog parties

Christmas 2010: Introducing Sawyer!

We have five dogs in our family, and it's always freakishly cute and chaotic when they all get together for the holidays. One time my sister brought her two cats, but that was a disaster. Which reminds me, this weekend Nurse A and I took Sawyer over to a friend's house and there were nine dogs! Can you imagine? They outnumbered the people by one and there was not one fight the whole evening.

Fresh (and cheap!) seafood

The hardest part of living in a landlocked town for me is the lack of fresh, affordable seafood! Please observe that in the lower left hand photo, my family and some randoms are gathered around a makeshift table in a garage peeling crawfish. We keep it classy like that. The lower lefthand photo is of bridesmaid Rachel eating at my absolute favorite sushi restaurant, Chef Scott's.

And last, but not least these lovely people, of course!

The Fam & Friends

What are your holiday plans? What do you look forward to most when you go home for the holidays?