Obligatory Christmas Post

Well, I've been avoiding you, haven't I?

I guess the fact that it was Christmas gives me an excuse, but I really shouldn't exercise it. After all, what's the point in having a blog if I don't use it to own up to my own shortcomings? It's not like anyone reads it yet, anyway. 

Oh yeah, that's the other thing - Darrell's the only other person who knows this blog exists. Mostly that's by design; I'm new to this whole blogging world and I don't want to start running around acting like a blogger when I've only completed three entries. Also, I'm self-conscious that, the grammarian that I am, I might have left a typo or two within these pages.

And that would be downright mortifying. 

So instead, I write here and eventually (I hope) get better until I can share this with a few others. Until then - back to Christmas...

Our first Christmas as a married couple was, quite frankly, a lot like the last two: a fairly calm and uneventful weekend filled with family & food. That is, of course, right up until the brother-in-law's dog decided to join in the gorge fest...by inhaling a 1-pound box of chocolates. 

Yes. I said chocolates.

Now, anyone who knows anything about dogs knows that's NOT how you want to spend your Christmas afternoon. After about 20 minutes of coaxing her to vomit, the chocolate was out and she was fine (she evidently just likes to scare for attention). 

Of course, it goes without saying that all of the humans ate too much. Between the honeymoon and the holidays, I think I officially have to bite the bullet and become one of those New Year's resolution people next week, trying my damnedest to get back into shape. Don't lie: you know you're looking forward to hearing all about the workout regimen in upcoming posts. 

But hey, it's not like there's a you, anyway.

Chicken Noodle Blah

All right, it's official - I need to get some damn patience. 

 These are the egg noodles I made today to go into my chicken noodle soup.

And this is my chicken noodle soup. 

Notice how there are noodles in there that don't quite match the size and shape of those above?

Yeah, that's because I didn't make them in time to let them dry. And when I tried to add them because I was getting hungry - you guessed it - they fell apart. So, I removed the few noodles I put in, threw in some Udon noodles, and voilà, mediocre chicken noodle soup. 

I know what you're thinking. "Hey, that looks like it's cooking in a Crock Pot, why didn't you start the noodles right away if that soup has been cooking all day?" You're right, that would have been plenty of time. But I got carried away doing other things and didn't start the stupid things until 4:00 pm. So, when I got impatient around 5:30 pm and thought they'd be dry enough to add, I threw them in. 

Fail.

Now, I know getting this flustered over soup is kind of ridiculous, but there's something so disheartening about screwing up something you know how to do well. You know when you're a little kid in the spelling bee and you get really excited because you know how to spell your word, and you can barely hold it in long enough for your teacher to finish, but when the letters come rushing out they're all mixed up? It sort of feels like that.

No? I'm the only one who remembers that feeling? Hmm, maybe I would have benefited from some more patience back then, too. Anyway...

Changing the subject Moving along to end on a more positive note, Darrell and I went to the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo last weekend. It was cold, packed and an absolute madhouse, but also kind of awesome.

(insert cheesy, gushy husband-wife caption here)

Neither of us had ever been, even though I grew up in the Tri-State, so it was a fun way to kick off the holiday season for the two of us. Don't judge me. I didn't ask anyone to take the picture for us, at least.

And besides, he pretended the soup was delicious, so he deserves a picture post.

Uh-Oh.

Staring at a blinking cursor on a blog is even more intimidating than the one I used to stare down on papers and articles in college.

I don't know about on your end, but the little line on my screen is taunting me, telling me I better write something funny/witty/smart/useful/interesting/thought provoking/original, but the damn thing doesn't offer any suggestions.

Sure, I could tell you what I do everyday, but that would only take about 6 words: wake up, eat, work, sleep, repeat. I could probably elaborate with the number of acronyms I used at work today or how many thank you notes I have left to write - I would guess somewhere between 20 and 25 different acronyms and possibly 180 thank you notes. I could fill you in on the evening hours where I make ill-planned and therefore expensive trips to Kroger, or where I watch my dog try to explain to me why he needs to go upstairs.

Or downstairs. Or outside. Or back inside.

But the truth is, I'm trying to make THIS my hobby - not blog about something I already do. Unfortunately for you, that means you probably won't be fascinated by anything you read here. Unfortunately for me, that means I have to come up with something every time I want to write. Trust me, I wish I had a hobby to write about...it would probably be a lot more interesting for everyone involved.

So in order to get my fingers moving, I had to type about getting my fingers moving. See how that works? Here's hoping that between this post and next, I hit the lottery or something else equally exciting (and financially stimulating). Until then...

Damn you cursor.

And so it begins.

I think I may officially be the last person who is interested in blogging to actually begin doing so.

It's been a busy year (or two, or three) and I just haven't found myself with the time. In the past three years, I have:

• Met my boyfriend
  
• Graduated from College
• Moved in with my parents
• Quickly relocated to an apartment
  
• Landed my first big girl job
  
• Moved into my second apartment
• Got engaged to boyfriend fiancé
• Got a promotion
  
• Planned a wedding (seeing a trend here?)
• Purchased a home with fiancé
• Got a promotion
• Began traveling for work
  
• Got married to fiancé husband
  

Phew. Yes - I realize that's life, but for me - that's a heck of a lot of life to happen all at once. So I have gone from planning my graduation, to planning my job hunt, to planning my career path, to planning a wedding. And for the first time in my life, there is nothing left to plan...leaving me with actual, real-life time to do other things.

I've been thinking about my non-planning for a while and was probably the brightest light at the end of the wedding-planning tunnel. I was never the play-dress-up-and-pretend-it's-your-wedding type of little girl, so spending hours poring over flowers and colors and other miscellaneous details wasn't what I would call thrilling. In fact, I think we selected the first vendor we met in every category (flowers, cake, DJ, photographer, venue). Lucky for me, everything turned out great and I was extremely pleased with everyone we picked. Lucky for husband - he didn't have to hear me debating the pros and cons of off-white versus eggshell invitations.

So now, because I have the time and because I desperately need to, I'm writing. I'm not implying that I'll be writing anything of substance - just that I'm finally beginning to put ideas to paper web, meaning at the very least I have to put my thoughts into complete sentences.

I guess you could say that by starting a blog, I'm starting another plan.

What can I say, I can't help myself.