month-by-month memories

I just saw this short and sweet list on Courtney's blog and decided to do one myself.  So here goes my list of 2010 highlights:

In January, I enjoyed an awesome roommate-free weekend that involved walking down the street to pick up a delicious Four Seasons pizza and watched lots of shows that are not boy-approved.

In February, I had a birthday and Will totally caught me off-guard by getting me a Wii and Wii Fit.  And we saw Mary Poppins on Broadway on Valentine's Day!

In March, I joined my new gym.

In April, I surprised my parents and showed up on their doorstep at 11:30 on a random Wednesday night.  Best. Surprise. Ever.

In May, we saw Promises Promises on Broadway.

In June, Natalie visited! Will and I went to Chicago (and fell in love with the place) for the very first time.  We also saw an Eagles concert!

Natalie and I at Rockefellar Plaza!

L to R: Eagles concert at Soldier Field; Standing in a glass box 103 stories high outside of Sears Tower!; View from the Sears Tower observation deck

In July, I had all 4 day weeks: I spent 2 weekends in a row with my parents (one in CT and one in Pennsylvania) and Will and I flew to California (my first time there!) for a fun-filled wedding weekend.

My mom (clearly) rocking out at a George Clinton concert

Flying into LAX!

In August, Kelcey came to visit!

We were at the bar til closing time... which, um, led me to sleeping in Gumby position outside Grand Central.  Still too soon to share that picture.



In September, Will and I spent Labor Day weekend at his parent's lakehouse with both of our families - and it was wonderful.  We also celebrated our 3 year, went on a dinner cruise, and we went to a Train concert!

In October, I went to the Bobby Cox tribute which was held during the second-to-last Braves game of the regular season.  And my parents were there too!  Also, Chris and JP stopped by CT for a short visit!

L to R: Lots of lots of former Braves players; It's not just Braves fans that are impressed by Bobby; Bobby's speech!

In November, Will's parents came for a visit! And Courtney came to visit too!  Then Will and I ate a ton of awesome food with his family at his grandma's beach house over Thanksgiving.  Bonus: it was 78 degrees. 

In December, we went to the Christmas Spectacular, I met Ginger, spent a wonderful week at home in North Carolina, and started getting excited for 2011.

a dog named ginger

For those of you that don't know, I had a dog named Sandie for almost 15 years.  When I was in 2nd grade, I spent the night at a friend's house.  Since my friend's aunt worked at the humane society, we of course went by there - something that my dad still can't get over.  "Who takes 8 year olds to see all those dogs?! Of course they're going to fall in love with one!"  And I totally did fall in love with this little chub-a-lub of a puppy.

Rather than break my poor 8 year old heart, I found her waiting for me in our laundry room when I came home from gymnastics practice three nights later.  She lived a long and happy life and had to be put down just 2 days before her 15th birthday this past January.

We miss her dearly.  However, right after Thanksgiving, a new dog moved into our house.  Let me introduce you to Ginger.

She is part border collie, part golden receiver, full sweatheart and is 4 and a half years old.  She's just a love who constantly wants you to pet her.  As far as we know, we are her 3rd family, and there's really no telling how many she had beyond that.  In the first month that my family had her, neither my mom or dad ever saw her play with a toy or play at all really - no matter how many times my dad tried to get her to chase him.  However, all 3 of us witnessed her charging at both a ball and a snowman she got for Christmas (and as soon as she knew that we saw her, she quickly dropped said toy and came over wanting to be pet), so I think Ginger is finally starting to feel like this is her home.

Ginger is most definitely my dad's dog.  She loves my mom too (especially since my mom gives her the treats), but Ginger hardly leaves my dad's side.  Since he took time off around Christmas, he's been taking her to dog part at least once, and often twice, a day.  He takes her on tons of car rides - whether he's going to my Mema's, to a work site, or even just to the store for a quick minute, she rides along.  And she loves cuddling up beside him to get her belly rubbed.

She also sleeps on her back (and I had never seen a full-grown dog do this), always tries to get her paw or chin on you someway or another, and occasionally decides she doesn't like the backseat of the car and brings her 70 lb self up to the passenger seat - even if there is a passenger (aka me) sitting there.

I hated saying goodbye to this sweet girl, but I'm so glad my parents found another dog that fits right into our household.  Just look at that face.

twas a merry merry christmas

And I'm back.  I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!  I had a great Christmas and hope you did as well.  There's nothing quite like getting to hang out at home with your parents and their new dog Ginger (!!!) and getting to see friends that you no longer get to see everyday.  It's even better when you're me and being in North Carolina makes you a million times happier than being in Connecticut does.  A week in NC definitely made me feel more like me than I have in quite some time.  Plus, 2011 has some promising plans...

Anyways, time for some Christmas pictures!  More specifically, pictures of the gifts that I loved - both the ones I gave and the ones I received.  I would put a family picture first because that was the best gift of all (awwww), but it wasn't until we were standing outside the security line at the airport on Thursday that we realized we hadn't taken one single picture of the three (four with Ginger) of us.  Oops.

To my mom and dad: XM radio because these two really like their music.  A lot.  And because now my dad can listen to Braves games and UNC games when they aren't on TV.  Plus the screen is big enough that it's parent's-eyes friendly.  Perfect!

To my mom: hey look, a family picture!  I had this picture turned into a 16x20 photo canvas (via canvaspop with a coupon from Living Social).  The canvas quality is awesome.  Oh, and there was an adorable picture of me and mom when I was little, but since she attacked it with designer scissors it wasn't usable.  Good thing the picture above survived.  PS check out my Dad's mullet.  Hahaha.

To my dad: some warm cozy Rockport moccasin slippers (found at Marshalls!) because he had old school, high top, green and black plaid flannel slippers that are older than me.  I figure after 23+ years, it was more than acceptable to introduce a new pair of slippers to the rotation.

To me from mom and dad: a mouse sander! My tool box just gets cooler and cooler every year.  That yellow thing in the back?  A perfect beginning sewing machine.  Not pictured?  A hand-me-down drill from my dad.  So many awesome toys.

To me from Will: an awesome adjustable easel that folds up into a nice little carrying case!  And it even has a drawer that can hold paints and brushes while I'm painting.  I didn't even know easels could have drawers! Oh, and it came with one of those paint pallets that you can hold while painting, so I'm totally going to Bob Ross it up. (Will had never heard of Bob Ross, so when I told him that I had to follow it up and tell him about painting "happy trees" in a super soft and soothing voice).

To Will: I was unbelievably excited for Will to open this Fathead up because a) I was pretty positive he was going to flip out and b) I didn't take it out of the box when it arrived for fear that I would never be able to get it back in the box.  It's even better than I imagined and Will loves loves loves it.  Yes, it is 8 feet long and yes, it came with bonus Fatheads (on Will's end).  Oh PS, say hi to our roommate Tom!

Early birthday present from mom and dad: My birthday is in early February, but they gave this to me early because they started to get nervous that I was going to go out and buy this guy myself after I didn't get it for Christmas. I can't wait to go to my next Braves game!

Again, I hope you had a great holiday and had time to relax, hang out with friends and family, and play with your new goodies too!

hey hey hey beret

Do you remember when I took some pictures of some yarn and said one day it would be a beret?  Although I figured Heather would just hold on to said beret until I got home for Christmas, I got an early surprise when she put it in the mail (and really, with the temperatures I have to look forward to, I'm very glad she felt compelled to do this)!

Heather and Paul are doing a literary themed Christmas (Paul is an English professor!), and this wrapping and bow was just adorable.  I took this picture with my phone in my car in the parking garage at work which should explain the darkness and weirdness about it, but I was just too excited to wait for my camera.

And there she is!  Looking all cute.  PS: how in the world do you photograph a beret? I clearly had no idea.  Anyways, I love her way more than any other winter wear I own.

And there I am, in full morning-Allison-awkwardness, wearing my new beauty.  I love it I love it I love it. (Oh, and the color is more accurate in the first picture - you can thank lighting + flash for the odd change of color).

PS: I had a bit of adventure picking her up.  I forgot to tell Heather that I moved recently so she sent it Fed Ex to my old address.  I showed up the day it was suppose to arrive and didn't see a note on the door or a package on the porch, so instead of bursting into tears like I fully expected to do if this happened, I took a shot and knocked on the door.  Turns out, the sweetest little family has moved in already and in all my rambling and trying to explain why I was randomly knocking on her door and asking if she had a package for me, little momma of the house interrupted and said, "Allison?!  It arrived yesterday!"  What a sweetheart.  And Heather too.  So many sweethearts.

southern holiday

I missed out on the annual “What I’m thankful for” post because of a) non-working internet at the apartment last week and b) spending Wed – Sun in South Carolina/Georgia and not taking my computer along for the ride (which I did on purpose).  But to sum it up real quick, I’m incredibly thankful for my parents and family, Will, and my friends.  There are of course other things, but they aren’t nearly as important as the people previously mentioned.

Having been to Will’s mom’s-side-of-the-family Thanksgiving before, I had an idea of how good the food would be.  But this year they outdid themselves - not just on Thanksgiving, but all week long.  Plus being in the south (yay!!) I got some good ol’ fast food that the silly north doesn’t have available.  They have no idea what they’re missing. 

Here’s a rundown of the incredible edible food that made up the past five days:

-  McDonald’s breakfast: okay, this is in CT too, but those bacon egg and cheese biscuits are just so good.

- Zaxby’s: chicken fingers, texas toast, crinkle fries, and yummy dip.  There’s a good chance that if Will ever had tp pick a last meal, this would be it.

- Fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, fried cod, grilled cod, French fries, and broccoli: Wednesday night dinner.  All so darn good.  The best food of the night though: grilled chicken wings.  By far, the best wings I’ve ever tasted, and seeing as how one of Will’s major food groups is wings, I’ve tasted quite a few.  All food cooked by Uncle Rich. However, following the McDonald’s and Zaxby’s, I’ll admit the fried food overload almost did me in.

- Thanksgiving dinner: deep fried turkey, oven roasted turkey, broccoli, cheese, and slivered almonds, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, squash casserole, and bread: and that’s only what was on my plate – I left out the other stuffing, corn, sweet potato casserole, ham, and collards.  Smorgasbord is the only word that seems to describe it all.

- Chocolate cake with Kahlua and crème de cacao, pumpkin pie, and chocolate pie: enough said.

- Fresh-from-the-sea boiled oysters: I sat outside with the uncles to eat them and even shucked them myself.  I’m pretty sure I gained some cool points for doing this.

- Bojangles: mainly because I dream about that cajun chicken filet biscuit with cheese all day long.  Unfortunately it wasn’t the best Bojangles I’ve ever been to, but it will tide me over until December 23.

If only I could have had a doggie bag on the plane.  And if only I had realized before Saturday that although I was positive I had forgotten my camera, it was sitting there in my carry-on bag.

Of course there was more than food that made up the week: there were lots of rambunctious kiddies, a 2.2 pound toy Chihuahua puppy, 78 degree weather, a thrilling Auburn – Alabama game that resulted in Will’s mom doing the best victory dance ever, lots of corn hole and football – both on TV and in the backyard, and an all around great time. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well!

PS: think the 4.5 miles Will and I ran/walked on Thursday morning did any good considering all this?  Me neither.

before & after

So I told you that at some point I hoped to put a before and after photo of me on here once I get a little more in shape and all.  Well, let's just say the recent 5-day adventure of moving that included Outback, Wendy's, Domino's, Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, McDonalds again, and Wendy's again have pushed that little after photo just a bit farther away.  That and my recent obsessively-eating-bagels phase.  But anyways, I do have a rather exciting and incredible before and after that is going to blow anything I could do out of the water!

Meet Harold.  Aka Dad.

Surprise!  This photo wasn't taken on graduation day.  It was actually taken a few weeks after graduation because we didn't want to deal with the grounds on the actual blue-gown day.  Anyways, let's say this was taken in late May 2009.  There's Daddio.

Check him out now:

Yes that's right.  He's fitting into shirts that were made in 1992 and 1993!  How crazy exciting is that?  Also, let's take special note of the beautiful shirt I whipped up back when I was 5 years old.  In case "My Special Daddy" didn't let you know that he was in fact said Daddy, the word "Dad" and 3 arrows pointing to his face should do it for you.

Dad, you're doing awesome.  Go Dad go!

a walk of love

My Mema has Alzheimer's.  I found out when I was home for fall break my freshman year of college.  In the 4 years that followed, Mema showed some signs that the disease was progressing, but it also seemed like typical old people stuff.  You know, simple things like forgetting what year of school I was in or what I was majoring in.

However, this last year has definitely been a turn for the worse.  It's painfully clear that she has this disease and that it's doing bad things to her mind. 

Which brings me to this weekend, when my beautiful cousins Marley and Madison, their mom Denise, and Mema herself will be participating in an Alzheimer's walk in Raleigh, NC.  Marley found out about it a week or so ago and they've quickly put together a team, aptly named Mema's Girls.  If only I could be there.

Madison, Marley, me, and Mema (and my cousin Paul!) on my graduation day

Tonight I made my donation to their team and to fight to learn more about this disease.  If you would like to donate to Mema's girls, please click here!  And whether you are able to donate or not, thanks for reading.

did you know i've always secretly loved berets?

These pretty balls of blue yarn don't look like much, but my wonderful crafty cousin (in-law) Heather is going to turn them into a pretty starry beret.  I'm so glad her knitting skills have progressed past the simple scarf, much unlike mine have.  Things like this actually make me slightly excited about the lower temperatures!

a small piece of heaven on earth

You know those places that you love to visit because when you're there you have not a care in the world?  That's me when I'm at Will's lake house.  It's most definitely in the top 10 of my favorite places to be.  I think it's a combination of the lake, the not very good cell service, and the basic simplicity of life that makes it so perefect.  Plus when I'm there I'm almost always surrounded by people I love - which makes any place even better.

Luckily, Will and I got to spend our Labor Day weekend down there.  Not only that, but both of our families came too!  I had seen my parents the weekend before in Pennsylvania for my aunt's funeral, so this was a much happier and much needed weekend for all of us.  Highlights of the trip included all sorts of delicious yet healthy food, from incredible peaches to homemade veggie-filled turkey burgers, my dad being my mirror - and brutally honest - every time I tried on sunglasses at the outlets, finally getting my shins to tan so I didn't have terribly awkward two-toned legs, and Trooper the puppy - because puppies are always a highlight in my life.  My favorite though were the early morning walks my dad and I went on Sunday and Monday (my mom also joined us on Sunday).  We did a quick 1.3 mile loop around the hill-filled neighborhood in the perfect brisk-walking temperature of 58 or so degrees.  Really, it doesn't get much better than that.

Family!  PS: if you know my dad, check out how good he looks.  All that eating healthy is definitely paying off!

Trooper in a life vest and on a raft!  Basically living the good life.

one, two, three?

I would say I believe in karma. But only when the situation seems appropriate. Like when that car flies past you and cuts across four lanes of traffic and drives like crazy, only to get pulled over by a cop three minutes later. Or when I laugh at a person for falling and then immediately trip on a brick. I totally deserved it. However, I'm in a staunch believer in karma because there's always that one person who has just had too much bad luck and heartbreak for one lifetime.
When it comes to the rule of 3s, I'm the same way. I never believe 3 good things will happen, but I always believe 3 bad things will happen. Why does it always seem to work out that? I mean one would think it would go both ways. Maybe we're just more likely to notice the bad than the good? That's pretty sad to think about. Either way, I am definitely one of those that think of the rule of 3s when bad things start happening.

Example 1: two of my roommates had minor car wrecks (fender benders basically) in the same week. I immediately freaked out and vowed to be extra careful so that I wouldn't be the third roomate to suffer the fate.

Example 2: one day I was in my parking garage at work coming back from lunch, thinking of my to-do list for the afternoon (no really, I was) when I took a turn too tight and hit a guardrail. I almost cried right then and there when I saw the yellow paint on poor little Hallie. I had gone over 2 years with not a ding on her and I was not prepared for this sadness. Anyways, the next day, Will was pulling into our driveway and tapped Kyle's car on the bumper. Will didn't notice it - I definitely did. Kyle definitely did - even though it was a baby of a speck. The rule of 3s had struck us! My car, Will's car, and Kyle's car! (Will tells me that I kinda cheated on the Will/Kyle combo, but I was willing to stretch it to get that 3rd one out of the way).

Side note: all of us are fine drivers. I swear.

On a more serious note, I'm desperately hoping the rule of 3s decides to stop at 2. On Tuesday, my aunt died and on Wednesday my grandpa had a heart attack - both on my mom's side of the family. Seriously world? On Thursday, a car did not check their blind spot and tried to take me and poor Hallie down. We won thanks to my serious checking-rearview-mirror-while-swerving-and-honking skills, but I definitley do not want to be #3 on this very sad list. Two is more than enough.