Maine is Cold

We had a holiday fun filled weekend. We picked out and cut down a tree, saw Santa on a lobster boat, and did a little shopping. It was a really good time, but it was cold. Turns out it's pretty chilly in Maine in December.

the view is just as good in the winter as it was on our honeymoon

 our tree is so little the hubs could haul her off with one hand

Santa arrives in Maine style...on a lobster boat

back in Boston, all dressed up!

One of the nicest things about this weekend was being right back where we had our honeymoon. It is such a relaxing place, and we have such wonderful memories from the summer that it just made the weekend that much better. It's nice knowing that we'll be able to visit the spots where we got married and where we honeymooned as frequently as we'd like. I didn't realize how much of a bonus that is :)

December to Remember

This month I will try my best to remember to blog. A lot of fun stuff goes on during the holidays, and hopefully I'll have something exciting to mention here.

I am excited that it is officially December. I do not feel badly listening to Christmas music in December or hanging up our lights (which we did Monday, oh well!) I'm so excited to get a tree and dive head first into the holiday season. I love Christmas...and not just because of the presents. The parties, the decorations, the family, and the lights! How can you not love it?

This December will be a little different, as the hubs is going to New Mexico solo. We both went last year for Christmas, so this year we're spending the real day with my family. But he couldn't NOT see his family some time near Christmas, so he'll be gone for a week. I couldn't go this time because I am fresh out of vacation days thanks to the multiple trips we took in 2010, and New Mexico is a little far to go for a weekend. He hasn't gone to NM without me in a few years, but I think he'll survive :) Me? I'll be just fine. Although many of my dinners may come from the microwave, I am looking forward to complete reign over the remote control. And I'll be making my own mini-vacation to Washington DC to visit my non-Welsh friend from Wales. I'm pretty psyched.

Until then I'll be surviving work days to make it home to Christmas fun...like making snow flakes!

Thankful

I have a lot to be thankful for in life. One thing I can be thankful for is no one caring if I blog on a regular basis or not :)

With Thanksgiving just a few days away it seems as though I, like so many other people, should give thanks for the wonderful things in my life. There are far too many things to list them all here...like water, air, health, an apartment to live in etc....so I'll just give you one super important one... 


My family. Cliche, I know, but I am. I love them. They are so wonderful and supportive and some of my closest friends. Life would be hard without them. Husband included in this, of course :)


I'm so ready to eat turkey...And only work two days this week.

Brrrrr It's Cold in Here

It's really darn cold in my apartment. After two years of living here, I'm still not sure when the heat turns on...or what it's set to...or how darn cold it has to get in here before it comes on, but it's apparently not cold enough yet! I just hope it doesn't get worse as the weather does...

It's all fine and good to look for an apartment with heat included in the rent, but it's definitely worth it to pay if you get to control the heat. Right now I would turn it on to take the edge off...so that maybe my fingers wouldn't feel like they were going to fall off. I had a great dinner out with a friend tonight, but we stood in the cold and chatted for too long afterward, and now I can't seem to warm up! I liked it a lot better when it was 70 degrees during the day and 50 at night...instead of this 50 during the day and 30 at night!

I know that people deal with this all winter long. I know that there are people who don't have heat ever, not just fussy heat like mine. I know that the cost of oil is high and some people won't be able to buy it. I am so fortunately to not be one of those people. I am lucky, and I know that, but I just felt like complaining. Sorry.

Appalled

I'm not one to get too heated about anything going on in the media, but this is ridiculous. A few weeks ago, Marie Claire (the big magazine) posted an article about healthy living blogs. Apparently, they don't think these blog are healthy. They think that women showing how they have personally chosen to live their life is not portraying reality. We are not all marathon runners, so we can read these blogs? Some of us require a higher calorie intake on a daily basis, so we can enjoy some healthy recipes? I can see if I were to try to mimic these women's diets and exercise habits exactly that it would not be healthy for me, but I can't image that TOO many people actually do that. So why is MC slamming a great resource for people who are looking to make their lives better health wise?

Now that might not seem THAT bad, but Marie Claire also found it ok to publish an article about plus-size actors being gross to watch. The article was referencing the new show "Mike and Molly," which I have not seen, but apparently the author of this article couldn't stand to watch two morbidly obese people with "rolls and rolls of fat" making out. SERIOUSLY? First off, that's so rude. Maybe it's not the best show ever, and maybe it's not the typical hot people pouring themselves onto each other in unrealistic sex scenes, but there is NO NEED to describe it with such disgust. Get over yourself and watch something else. Second of all, do you stand for anything good Marie Claire? Healthy living blogs are no good. Overweight people on TV are no good. Don't be healthy, don't have a sex life if you're big.

It's such crap that a reputable magazine would be willing to run either one of these stories. I completely understand that the life style of these bloggers would not be healthy for everyone...nor is being overweight...but why on earth would you make these things out to be SO negative? How about running an article with some good advice instead of just trashing other people?

Moral of the story, don't buy Marie Claire.

*both these articles can be found online. I didn't bother putting up the links because I don't really want to give Marie Claire the benefit of any more web traffic.

Falling Off the Wagon

I have never been that good at blogging. I got through times when I'm really on top of it and keep people updated all the time, and other times (like recently) where I fall right off the back of the wagon. Oops. Time to try to catch up with the hay ride and jump back on...

It's fall here in Massachusetts, and it's gorgeous. I didn't really notice it until I left the city last weekend to visit my grandparents. It's obviously fall in the city too, but we do not have the amazing leaf colors they have out in the suburbs. I couldn't believe that the colors were changing that brightly without me having noticed at all. The tree outside my apartment is still a shade of greenish-yellow. There are oranges and reds out there! It was beautiful. (Yes, I'm from New England, but I'm a closet leaf peeper. Don't hate).

Today will be a wonderfully fall day of laundry and possibly pumpkin carving with my Gramma. I also need to work on my Halloween costume...I have no idea what I'm going to be....

New Month and Vacation

All of a sudden, it's October! I feel like it came out of no where, and now it's already almost two weeks in.  It's amazing how fast this year is going. At least this month has been good so far.

Last week we were in New Mexico. We went for this:

We had an awesome week and did a lot in the Southwest that we'd never done before, even though we lived there for four years. It was really fun to be a tourist.

We went to Four Corners...

We went to Santa Fe on the train, and even had the most amazing frozen yogurt place in Nob Hill. The most exciting part of the trip for me was hiking up these bad boys:

The top is 10,378 feet up. We started the hike around 6,000 feet and made our way up. It was an intense hike, but it was amazing. The views along were worth it, let alone the amazing feeling of having made it to the top. Just last year I probably wouldn't have made it more than two miles in, and two years ago I would have never even tired. But I did it. It took a while, and I wanted to go back down more than once. But it was so worth it, and I'm so happy we made the decision to do it.

Now we're home, with a some what less spectacular view, and back to the grind. I'm happy to be home and feeling the crisp fall air here in the city. I love being on vacation, and I absolutely love New Mexico, but there's nothing like home and my own bed.