This week I have a decent(ish) excuse at least. Work sucked. I just had a really bad week. Which I won’t get into here because 1) bitching about your job in the internet gets you fired (see: dooce) and 2) you might die of boredom.

In addition to my really bad no good terrible week at work, I also had a bit of a traumatic experience last night. It involved cleaning out our fridge. I seriously debated including these photos, but since my mom doesn’t read my blog I guess I’ll go ahead and do it (she would scold me both for the situation, and also for showing the world, or um, like the 40 people subscribed to my blog, what a bad housekeeper I am).

The problem is… we suck at throwing things out. Which means every few months we find ourselves with a ridiculous pile of half-used jars of sauce and whatnot. And every few months my parents come to visit (like um, this saturday), and I realize my mom will scold me for my fridge being gross and then I decide to clean it. Promise not to judge me… but this is the pile of stuff that got thrown out:

And here is what was left in my fridge when I was done:

Yes. The sum total of the items in our fridge does amount to: water, Baileys, coke, sour cream, chip dip, jam, blueberries, chives, bacon, eggs, yogurt, assorted cheese, celery and lettuce. I am a bad wife in addition to a bad housekeeper. Moving on.

The problem is, I’m dumb. I know that my mom always dumps everything out down the disposal and rinses jars before throwing them away, but that seemed like kind of a lot of work and like it might make my kitchen smell. And since I knew the trash was going out last night anyways, I figured I’d just toss everything in as-is.

Dumb.

I hadn’t made it to the garage door before milk started leaking out the bottom of the trash bag. By the time I got it to the trash bin in our garage (dragging it, of course, because it was 4,000 pounds), I made it within about 3 feet and the bottom split wide open. Spilling all that lovely nastiness PLUS shattering a glass jar of caesar dressing. FML.

And in case you didn’t know this about me, I’m kind of a germaphobe. I won’t touch raw meat or even a trash can (B does all our trash-handling). I wash my hands every time I enter my house. So the idea of picking up all this gross slimly stuff from the floor (bc several things had opened) made me sick… and yet B would not be home for HOURS and I didn’t want everything leaking all over the garage. So I sucked it up, picked up everything as best as I could, then washed my hands five times, took the longest hot shower ever, and informed B I was never cleaning the refrigerator again.

Which brings me to why he’s awesome. Apparently I didn’t clean up the caesar dressing mess well enough bc this morning when he left for work, he just about got knocked over by the smell. But rather than getting annoyed at me (which I probably would’ve done) he got out a bucket and soap and mop and totally cleaned up the mess I’d left behind. In his work clothes. Without complaining.

And when he knew I had a really bad day at work today, he brought me home a strawberry milkshake (my fav). Oh, and he didn’t get home until 8:45… because he was volunteering as a blackjack dealer for a nursing home vegas night.

Seriously.

I’m not much for gushy but some days I’m so grateful I chose well. And because I have (and will continue to) share the goofy things he sometimes does– it is only fair I share the awesome too.

On our last full day on Kauai, we drove to the West Shore to see Waimea Canyon, “the Grand Canyon of Hawaii.” We had planned for this to be a full day trip because we knew that the drive to the Canyon could take a while. There is basically one main road that circles almost the entire island of Kauai, except for a short bit connecting the north and west shores. Which means to get from our hotel (on the north) to the canyon (west) we had to go all the way around the east and south parts of the island first. Normally we hate driving, but there are really worse ways to spend a morning than lazily driving through the amazing landscape of Kauai.

Once you get to the base of the canyon, there is a long, windy, and poorly paved road that will take you about an hour up to the crest (is that the right word?) of the canyon. Words cannot describe.

The best part was that because we had a small car, we could continue all the way up to the top look-out. (Note: If you go to Kauai– rent a SMALL car. The roads are really narrow and you can’t go on a lot of them if you are on a tour bus or in a bigger car).

So incredibly beautiful. We made our way back down through the canyon and began our drive back around the island. First, we stopped for some famous Hawaiian Shave Ice. I’d not heard of it before we got there, but it is everyyyywhere. It is kind of like a snow cone, except a hundred times better. The ice is super fine, and there are endless combinations of flavors. They also usually start each cup with a scoop of either vanilla or macadamia ice cream, and top the ice with flavored cream. B got something tropical (I think it was orange and strawberry on top of macadamia ice cream), mine was blueberry and raspberry on top of vanilla. So ridiculously good.

We then headed to Po’ipu on the South Shore. We went to Spouting Horn Beach Park and Po’ipu Beach Park.

The beaches on the South Shore were completely different than those on the North Shore. Way more crowded (probably because the water is a lot less choppy!) and commercialized. Lots of beach shops and places to walk around, whereas the resorts on the North Shore were much more isolated and self-contained. Both pretty awesome, but in very different ways.

On the way back to the hotel, we got to drive through the amazing Tree Tunnel. One of the most incredible things about Kauai is the variety of beauty. It isn’t just beaches, just mountains, just forests, it’s everything beautiful all in one place.

On our last morning, we woke up, checked out, and headed to Kalihiwai Beach. We’d actually found it the day we went horseback riding when we missed our turn and had to find somewhere to turn around. The really cool thing about this beach was that it was completely isolated both days we were there. There aren’t even any signs, we only knew its name because we looked it up on the map– and there was not a single soul there. It just seemed like the perfect place to say goodbye to Kauai’s beaches, all alone.

When we were done at the beach, we went to explore the East Shore (completing our goal of seeing all four sides of the island!). The East Shore is all about the waterfalls. ‘Opaeka’a Falls and Wailua Falls

After the falls, we still had a little time to kill before we had to return the car and get to the airport. We headed to a beach close to the airport, Kalapaki Beach, and got to watch a bunch of people…. paddle boarding? We never did figure out exactly what this was called.

And thus ended our amazing Hawaiian honeymoon. It was definitely unforgettable. Beautiful. Exciting. A little scary at times even… but better than I ever imagined.

I seriously apologize for the photo. Maybe my new years resolution should be to take more photos with my real camera and less with my iPhone. The original recipe is the creation of Honey and you can find it here. She also does really great step-by-step photos so head over there if you have any questions! I didn’t realize how much we would like this, so I didn’t think to take pictures as I made it. Oops!

I made a few changes to her recipe right off (less onion, less cheese, more cilantro), just because I knew our tastes. After our first-run with this (doubtlessly new in-the-rotation) meal I have a few more things I know I’ll change for next time. For example, B loved this (ate 4 pieces!) but thought there was still a bit too much onion and thought it was too “bean”-y. I decided that I’ll probably cut more onion, leave the black beans whole to make it seem less “bean”y, add more tomato (just because we like it), and I’ll add corn because everything good is better with corn, right?!

So without further ado, my slightly-tweaked version of Honey’s Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna:

Ingredients

Multigrain tortillas- 6
Refried Beans with Green Chilies – 1 can
Black beans – 1 can
Taco seasoning – 2 tbspn
Onion – 1/2 diced
Tomatoes- 4
Corn – 1 cup
Jalapeño – 1 (seeded and diced)
Enchilada Sauce – 1 can (19 oz can)
Mexican Blend Cheese – 1-2 bags (I think Honey used about 2, I used 1 to make it healthier)
Fresh Cilantro – 1/2 bunch

Directions

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees

1. Finely chop 1/2 onion and 1 jalapeño pepper (seed it first!). Dice 4 tomatoes. Throw together in a bowl, and mix with 2 tbpsn taco seasoning.

2. Rinse black beans and add to tomato mixture. Add corn to tomato mixture. Cut 6 tortillas in half and set aside.

3. Spray a 9×13 pan. Pour just enough enchilada sauce in bottom of pan to lightly coat it. Layer 4 tortilla halves on bottom of pan.

4. Add 1/3 can of refried beans and spread on top of tortilla, then add 1/3 of the veggie mix, then drizzle enchilada sauce over the top. Top with 1/3 bag of cheese (or more, to your preference).

5. Repeat step 4 twice (so that you have 3 total layers).

6. After third layer, pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the top.

7. Put in oven for 25 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly.

8. Chop cilantro, and sprinkle on top when it comes out of the oven. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

And that is it! It is SO good! The only tip I’d add is that if you don’t enjoy a little crunch in your onion, sauté them first. Because this is only in the oven 25 minutes, the onions get warm but not cooked through. We really liked that about it because it actually made it feel like there was pico mixed in, but if I were ever to make this for a group I would probably sauté them first because I know some people are iffy on crunchy onions.

Also– I think this is a great recipe to really get creative with. I’d never made a mexican lasagna before so it was totally new to me, but the possibilities seem endless. I could see maybe sautéing some peppers to throw in there, or really any veggie you enjoy. Plus you could try it with a different mexican sauce and completely change the whole dish. Yum!

I am unhappy with our vet. But I can’t decide if I’m unhappy ENOUGH to switch.

The thing is… I think she is a good vet. When we meet with her she is patient and kind. She definitely seems knowledgeable and caring. But she SUCKS about calling.

****And of course I JUST this second as I was typing that sentence got a call from her.****

But the fact that she has now called (yay!) does not eliminate the fact that she sucks about it. As I mentioned before, we had a really big scare with Milo when we got home from Christmas. He was in the hospital for 2 nights and he’s still being closely monitored and is on lots of meds with weekly blood work. And through all of this, there has been exactly one time when the doc called when she said she would!

The usual cycle goes something like this:

Her: I’ll call you this afternoon with the results of Milo’s blood work

Hours pass and as it reaches 6 or 7pm I finally give in and call the office for an update, I’m handed to a tech who tells me the vet will call “soon” and then an hour later I get a call. Finally.

Repeat x 10

The thing is, SHE keeps telling me when she will call. And then she keeps not calling when she says she will. Which makes me feel like she has simply forgotten about me/Milo and only calls after I call her office to check in. So far I think we have only 1 time that she called me without my having to call first to check in because she missed her self-imposed deadline. And it pisses me off. I shouldn’t have to feel like I’m trying to track her down all the time. If she’s going to be too busy to call in the afternoon, just SAY that I’ll call “today or tomorrow.” But giving me a guideline like that sets up an expectation which, when not met, leaves me bitterly blog-post-writing.

I just can’t decide if her clear lack of ability to make a freaking phone call when she says she will is reason enough to find a new vet. On one hand, I do really like her when we’re in an appointment and she saved my cat’s life (super bonus points). On the other hand, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to be pleasant to her when she does (finally) call because I’m so annoyed that it took as long as it did.

Thoughts?

p.s. my next blog post will be the finale to my honeymoon recap and will be far less annoying than my whining in this post, promise!

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Went on a cruise (honeymoon)!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I think my resolution was to get our family finances in order since we combined everything at the start of 2011. If so, mostly a success, although it is a work in progress.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My sister (2/11), and two of my close friends (Alex and Julie).

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My great aunt (who was like a grandmother to me).

5. What countries did you visit?
Thanks to our honeymoon, we visited Italy, Greece, Monaco and Croatia.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
I saw my family a lot in 2011 (due to weddings and babies), but I’d love to see them even more this year. We are doing a family vacation beach week, so hopefully that will help.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
2/11 – Nephew was born!
2/26 – MOH in bff’s awesome wedding!
5/13 – Wedding
Memorial Day Weekend – left for honeymoon (best two weeks of my life).
8/1 – Had four closings in as many days. No bueno.
12/24 – Husband made first trip to my hometown.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Escaping my blackberry for two straight weeks! In all seriousness, I think planning our wedding and closing those four deals in four days.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Managing work stress.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
In January, I slipped on the wet marble floor of my office building’s lobby and had to go to the ER. In December, I ran into the wall full speed swimming and had to go to the ER. I’m accident prone!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our honeymoon. It was way more than we had originally planned to spend, but it was the most awesome two weeks of my life, and it was SO NICE to be out of touch with my blackberry, iphone, computer, email, etc. for two full weeks!

12. Where did most of your money go?
Where didn’t it go? Wedding, honeymoon, mortgage refi were the biggies.

13. What did you get really excited about?
Wedding and honeymoon (I sound like a broken record) and getting to see my long-distance BFF 5 times (twice in Atlanta, twice in Columbus and once in Cleveland)!

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Keep Me Comin’ (my fantasy fooball team name) and You’re the Best Thing (from our wedding photo slideshow http://www.aleamoore.com/shellymark/).

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
– happier or sadder? Undoubtedly happier.
– thinner or fatter? Exactly the same.
– richer or poorer? Touch question. Probably a little poorer due to wedding, honeymoon and mortgage refi. But we are DINKs now, so replenishing is going pretty quickly.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Seen my family.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Stress about work.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
At my parents’ house in Cleveland!

19. What was your favorite TV program?
Breaking Bad (close runners up: College Gameday, Big Bang Theory, Criminal Minds, SVU)

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
I hate to admit it, but all the Emily Griffin books. If I had to pick one, I’d pick Heart of the Matter or Love the One You’re With.

21. What was your favorite music from this year?

Linkin’ Park, KISS and RHCP

22. What were your favorite films of the year?
X-men First Class and The Help.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
27 – Don’t remember what I did at all, since I’ve never been a big birthday celebrator. We always go to Vegas to celebrate our birthdays (which are a day apart), but this year we took the trip a month early.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More even workflow.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Classic conservative with a splash of southern and a splash of trendy.

26. What kept you sane?
Mark, BFF (daily chats as well as immeasurable help with my wedding planning) and MIL’s help with wedding plans. Also the fact that no one outside of me and my husband had an opinion on what we should do about our wedding plans:).

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
Don’t take anything personally. Nothing others do is because of you, but rather a projection of their own reality.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t think I made any last year, I was in a bit of pre-wedding madness around the holidays I think. I already talked about my resolutions for next year, which are basically to eat more veggies, work out more, and post here three times per week.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, *knock on wood*

5. What countries did you visit?
None! My passport expired before I got married and I wanted to wait until after I changed my name to renew it. But then I didn’t. I should get on that. (But we did go to Hawaii, Vegas, and Atlanta x 2)

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Some idea of what I want to be when I grow up.


7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Feb 26- got married!
March 11- tsunami hit our honeymoon
May 13- my bestie got married on Friday the 13th (how cool is that)
August 26- celebrated 6 months with B in Vegas

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

The amount of time it took me to think of something here probably means I should add “achieving something” to my new years resolution list…

I’ll say keeping our house pretty clean and being less lazy than usual about doing “the little stuff” like keeping things picked up, laundry, and cleaning closets, etc.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Falling off of/staying off of the healthy eating/exercise wagon

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Got the worst flu ever in May, but otherwise I’ve been lucky.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our wedding! For all the worry about the cost of it, it was really completely worth it.

12. Where did most of your money go?
Wedding and honeymoon. Runner up was house stuff and student loans.

13. What did you get really excited about?
Hawaii! Also having a lot of “chill” time with B.

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Anything Adele. Also anything from our wedding playlist.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Happier
– thinner or fatter? Fatter (regrettably)
– richer or poorer? Richer (marginally and fleetingly if B goes back to school for his MBA!)

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

work out. consider alternative careers.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?

sleep in.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
At my parents’ house.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
Oh man, B and I watched some great tv this year. True Blood, Dexter, Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy… so good.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
The Hunger Games series and the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series.

21. What was your favorite music from this year?

Our wedding playlists.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?
Hmm… we don’t really go to the movies all that much. I really enjoyed Paranormal Activity 3 and Scream 4. Also Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 27. It was a week day and I didn’t feel like going out so we just ordered in Jimmy Johns and watched Sons of Anarchy on blu ray. The next weekend we went to see Paranormal Activity 3 and went to my fav local restaurant of late (Molly Woos).

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I don’t know… my year was pretty satisfying as it was.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Yoga pants-tastic? I don’t know. I work from home. I wear real pants like twice/week and makeup like once/week. I have no fashion concept.

26. What kept you sane?
B. And gchat. And my pets. It takes a lot to keep me sane.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

Sometimes things DO live up to the hype.

On our third day in Kauai, we went horseback riding. I was SO excited for this excursion because horseback riding was the first date B had ever planned for me when we were dating, and it was something we’d ran out of time before doing in Mexico. Although booking it was not my favorite part! Did you know that they ask your weight when booking a horseback riding trip? I mean, I guess it makes sense and all, but still. Who wants to go around telling strangers (or your brand new husband!) your weight on your honeymoon? Luckily the concierge was fantastic and she sent my dear husband away to get me some water before asking me for little bit of information. Love that woman!

The other couple who were supposed to show up for our tour didn’t show up, which meant that B and I got the tour guide to ourselves! The tour included a 2 hour ride through a plantation to a waterfall, where we got to eat lunch and swim, and then the trip back. We got rained on (the rain blows in and out fast in Kauai!) but it was still so much fun and completely beautiful.

After heading back to the hotel for some quick showers, we then headed out to the Kilauea Lighthouse and bird sanctuary. I know I keep saying this but it continues to be true… simply beautiful.

By the time we left it was raining again so we decided to head to the St. Regis hotel (which was adjacent to our hotel) for a drink and to sit on their covered patio.

We capped off the night with dinner at one of the nicer restaurants at our hotel, and then rented a movie (Despicable Me!) to watch in bed. What we didn’t know is that at some point during our dinner an earthquake was happening off the coast of Japan. We never watched the news and the hotel didn’t make any announcements, so we went to bed completely unaware.

At 3 a.m. the next morning, we woke up to my cell phone ringing. A lot. I almost ignored it but when I went to turn it on silent I saw it was my mom, and knowing that my mom would not call me on my honeymoon except in case of emergency I decided to answer. The next 5 minutes were probably the scariest of my life.

When I answered my mom was clearly upset and in tears. The conversation went something like this:

Mom: Where are you?!?! Just tell me you’re safe!
Me: We’re in our hotel room what are you talking about?
Mom: OH MY GOD. WHY ARE YOU NOT EVACUATED?
Me: Evacuated? Mom we’re fine what the hell are you talking about?
Mom: oh my god oh my god honey there was an earthquake. THERE IS A TSUNAMI COMING FOR YOU.
Me: Um… its not even raining.
Mom: A TSUNAMI NOT A HURRICANE IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE RAINING <– Um, it was 3am, I was not in my right mind.
Me: Oh… um, I think you’re wrong though? No one told us and it seems… fine?
Mom: I have been watching the news for hours! A earthquake hit Japan and the tsunami is coming for you! They are tracking it! It is supposed to be there in 15 minutes and the news said that everyone in Kauai is evacuated! You have to evacuate!!!!!!!

At which point I was pretty sure B and I were going to die. On our honeymoon. In one of those tragic stories you hear on Oprah months later. I told my mom to hold on and I called to the front desk, trying not to sound panicked.

Me: HI UM SHOULD WE BE EVACUATED NOW BECAUSE MY MOM JUST CALLED ME AND SAID THERE IS A TSUNAMI COMING FOR US?
Front Desk Man: Um, ma’am… you’re on a cliff. Our hotel is 200 feet above sea level on a cliff, remember? Tsunamis are not 200 feet high. We are where people are evacuating to, we’re fine. You’re safe.

Which, I guess I knew that we were on a cliff, but I had no idea how a tsunami worked or that they weren’t 200 feet high. So, I relayed this info to my mom, assured her that we were fine and that I’d text her in an hour after the tsunami was in full force to assure her that I was fine again, and sent her off to work. (To be fair, can you imagine how scared you’d be waking up for work in the morning, only to see on the news that there is a tsunami coming towards the island your daughter is honeymooning on?)

Meanwhile my heart is beating at about 200 beats per minute and I engaged B in (I’m sure) the most obnoxious conversation ever about whether or not we should turn on the news. Because on one hand, it would reassure me that we were fine. But on the other hand, what if the front desk man was lying to us about being safe and he KNEW that the tsunami was going to wipe us out and we were just doomed so there was no point in even telling us to evacuate?

It took about 3 minutes of that before B took the remote and turned on the damn tv. And? It was fine. We sat up watching the Kauai news for the rest of the night and not a single person was injured in Hawaii (thank God) during the tsunami. By the time it reached the islands, the swell was only about a 9 foot change in sea level. While that was significant enough to damage lots of boats, some homes, and a few roadways, everyone had gotten to where they needed to be in plenty of time.

That day, Friday, we were supposed to go Kayaking but those plans got canceled because there was a ban on any going into the water for the day. We were exhausted anyways, so we had a lazy morning at the hotel. That afternoon after checking with the front desk, we decided to go explore the damage. All the beaches were still closed with a ban on all swimming, but the roads were safe on the North Shore where we were, and we wanted to see how the beaches we’d already visited had changed. Honestly, there was a bit more debris on the beach, and the sea level was a bit higher, but there was not too much noticeably different. Still, we can say that we went to the beach the day the tsunami hit Kauai.

One of us obeyed that sign above, one of us did not. I’ll just let you guess who was who!

We ended the day with pizza at a local shop (which was incredible!) and the best ice cream I’ve ever eaten. It was actually from this random hole in the wall called Kilauea Video that we read about in the guide book. Apparently it is the only place on Kauai that sells the famous Tropical Dreams ice cream, which is local to Hawaii and uses all fresh, in season, ingredients grown on the farm of the owner of the company! We also met the most interesting man who owned the store. He was from Texas but he and his wife had decided to leave their corporate jobs to buy a video store in Kauai and just surf every day– how cool is that. He’d even been out surfing in the tsunami swells (nuts!). He had asked how we’d weathered the tsunami and we told him about our frightening awakening. He assured me that if a tsunami wave of over 200 feet hit Kauai it would be, literally, the end of the world and we might as well just grab a board and go out big on a wave haha.

And that brought to an end the day of the tsunami!

Stay tuned for Part 3…

Don’t let the costumes fool you. Check out the look in Cali’s eyes.

But I’ll start from the beginning. Milo got sick last week, very sick. I don’t really want to get into too much of the scary drama of it but cliffs notes are that when we took him to the vet last Wednesday we almost lost him. He was, as the vet said, “a very very very sick cat.” Thankfully after being hospitalized for two days at the vet, we were able to pick him up last Friday. He was still sick and a bit weak, but he was improving and the vet felt confident that he’d be okay if we brought him home. Except for one thing.

This guy.

We were instructed to keep Milo in a low-stress environment, which meant no arch-nemesis Stew.

It also meant that we wanted easy access to him so that we wouldn’t have to go hunting to give him his pills (6 per day, if you’re wondering!). We contemplated our options and decided to set up cat-central in our guest bedroom. The room is comfortable but pretty bare (bed, 2 end tables, dresser– no place to hide). We took some carpet-protecting precautions (plastic sheeting!) and set up a litter box and food and water off to one side. We put both cats in there because we thought Milo would want company and Cali clearly missed her brother.

For the past almost-week we’ve just alternated the pets. We’d have Stew out for a few hours, then we’d put him away in our bedroom and bring out the kitties for cuddles for a few hours. The whole time I was wracked with guilt about leaving them locked upstairs in the bedroom alone.

Apparently? I needn’t be worried.

Yesterday the vet called with Milo’s blood test results and his numbers are reading almost to the low end of normal, which means that he was off of Stew-restriction. I was so happy to throw open the door yesterday and re-integrate everyone!

Except the cats didn’t want to be re-integrated. They have claimed the guest bedroom as their own.

Even with the door open, they kept disappearing up there to lay on the bed. Which I guess is nice, that they were happy up there… but I want my guest bedroom back! I want to wash all the bedding and vacuum the floor and get it guest-ready like it always is.

But the cats? Have figured out how to open the door. Yes, really.

There is no keeping them out. They have claimed the bedroom as their own, and there is basically nothing I can do about it.

If I disappear again off my blog, one of two things has happened:

1) I got lazy again and stopped posting. Or, quite possibly…

2) The evil geniuses have B and I trussed in our bedroom closet and they’ve taken over the house. Stew better watch out, I don’t think the new regime will be as easily manipulated by the cuteness of his short stubby legs as we are.

Anyways, 2011 was awesome. It rocked my socks off, basically. A brief year in review:

January: Bachelorette party with all my favorite girls.

February: B and I got married!

March: We went on our amazing Kauai honeymoon (I promise to finish up posts on that SOON).

April: Finally start to hit our stride as normal married people who aren’t super busy planning a wedding.

May: B and I flew to Atlanta for my best friend and maid of honor’s wedding, we had such a great time!

June: Family reunion with my dad’s side of the family– got to see lots of people I haven’t seen in a decade or more.

July: Trip #2 to Atlanta to visit and go to a Motley Crue concert (both B and my MOH’s husband are total Crue nuts)

August: B and I took an impromptu trip to Vegas and had a great week away. We also went to a Tigers game up in Detroit and B experienced his first ever luxury box.

September: I got lots of photography practice (second shot a wedding and did a newborn shoot– so fun)

October: My birthday! Also our first annual month of horror movies in honor of Halloween, which might be one of my favorite new traditions.

November: We had a great Thanksgiving with my family.

December: Christmas! of course. But also, B and I both had off a full week between Christmas and New Years and being able to just spend that much time off together was fantastic.

I can honestly say that 2011 was my best year to date!! 2012 has some serious work to do to come close to the fun we had this past year, but I’m looking forward to seeing what is in store for us.

We don’t have nearly as many plans this year as we did last year. We have a short trip to NYC in May to see B’s family, and a beach vacation with my family in June. At some point we hope to do our yearly (at least) trip to Atlanta, but other than that– no plans! Not that I mind, of course. After being on a total of 12 planes last year, I think I might be grateful for a break from all the travel.

As for resolutions? Well… I didn’t make any. Although if I was forced to think ahead a bit to what I plan to work on this year… I guess I’d have to stick with the classics: get healthy and take better care of our budget. I don’t really think general goals work that well though, so to be specific I’ll say:

- Work on eating whole foods. More things that look like food. Less things that come out of bags and boxes.
- Work on eating more veggies.
- Find some type of exercise I don’t totally hate, and figure out a workout schedule that feels sustainable.
- Make less impulse purchases for the house, just because we can afford something doesn’t mean we should buy it.
- Actually look at our spending at least once per month.
- Explore alternative options for our savings. Maybe a bank savings account is the best idea right now, but we should at least consider alternatives.

And… what the hell. Let’s throw one more resolution in there:

- Post on my blog at least three times per week. Every week. Yes really– I’m going to make it happen this year!

But anyways, it is Christmas decor time! I love decorating for Christmas. We actually did it this year the weekend after Thanksgiving, although I’ve bought a few things to add to the decor since then. Really, I don’t have THAT much decor because I’m kind of cheap and I never want to spend money on it… plus we don’t really have people over that often so I feel a little silly going all out for just B and I (and let’s face it, it’s really just me because he doesn’t care).

But, I at least have enough stuff to make our great room look cheery and for the first time I did a little bit of decorating in the man cave. Nothing big, just santa hats on the guitars and a few rock star nutcrackers.

The great room though? Love it. I wish all of my house could look as happy as this room does. Want to see?

Festive, right? I bought us a white Christmas tree last year because I thought it was funny but the joke was kind of on me because once I got it all done up, I loved it! The only thing, really, is that it is way too small for the space. The room is about 18 feet high there, so we should probably get a bigger tree. I think I might look at the after-Christmas sales this year at one of the bigger trees. Except… I’m not really sure how you decorate a tree that is like 15 feet high? Or even put it together? lol. I guess I’ll have to look into that. But for now? Love.

And I especially love our mantel. I bought B and I new stockings this year and I think they’re so cute. I also put up smaller stockings for the pets. I meant to personalize them… but then I didn’t. Maybe next year!

Also, I wanted to point out a trick that I learned this year. If you only have two stocking holders like we do, but you have more than two stockings, just run any standard curtain rod on the stocking holders and string your stockings on that! See how we have 5 stockings hanging? And really, I think the curtain rod looks cute! It was perfect that it matched the silver stocking holders, which was a total fluke because that curtain rod had just been hanging out in our basement since we moved in here.

And of course I couldn’t resist doing a bit of decorating… of the pets! Don’t worry… lots of treats and cuddles were given during and after the filming of this series of photos.

(I call this one her senior yearbook pose)

I tried to get some solo shots of Milo but he is perpetual motion cat and they all came out like this.

I feel like this one perfectly captures the difference in personality between Cali and Milo.

Cheesy siblings pose!

“If you put one more costume on my I swear to God I will shred your couch.” That’s when we moved on to Stew…

Christmas Pjs!

Complete with butt flap, of course. Stew was not into having his picture taken that day.

But, he was much more compliant last night. No cute PJs, but he looks awfully cute anyways doesn’t he?

So, that’s what I’ve been up to! Everyone else as excited about Christmas decor as I am? Anyone try to dress up their pets, or is that just me?