11 Great Things About 2011

I love the end of the year. I love all of the year-in-reviews on tv and in People magazine. I love the "Top 100 songs of the decade" countdowns on the radio. I love new calendars. (Aren't new calendars great? I spend a lot of time reviewing my planner and calendar options, trying to find just the perfect calendar. I know some of you know what I'm talking about!) I love making resolutions and shopping for work out clothes. Notice I said I love shopping for work out clothes, not working out. But before I make my resolutions for 2012, here's are 11 fabulous things about 2011:

1) I got married! On October 8th, I truly had the wedding of my dreams. We had so much fun. Even though I have type-A tendencies, I am proud to say that I kept my bridezilla-ness to a minimum. I loved, loved, loved the planning process. If I could be a wedding planner professionally, I would.

2) Honeymoon in New Orleans! Tom & I wanted to go someplace we hadn't been before, and New Orleans fit the bill. We visited the WWII Museum (amazing), took a walking tour of The Garden District (loved the cemetaries) and we drank hurricanes. Oh yeah, we also ate. A lot. We ate some of the best food I've ever had in my life. Gumbo. Beignets. Muffattas. Fresh oysters. Yum.

3) My sister got married! On November 5th, Amanda and Marc were married in Cincinnati. Gorgeous ceremony. My sister is ridiculously beautiful, so you can imagine what a beautiful bride she made.

4) I have a new brother and sister! In September, my mom & dad added Frankie & Lola to their family. Clearly my mom didn't think she had enough to do with 2 fall weddings! Curt & Cheryl have been dog-less since Lucy died last year, and they were really missing some canine companionship. Boston terrier puppies might be just about the cutest puppies in existence. But man are they rambunctious!

5) I had 2 of the best wedding showers ever! In August, my mom's friends hosted a joint shower for me and Amanda. It was so nice and so generous of them to do this for us and we loved every minute of it. Later in the month, my sis and a long-time family friend (ok - my old babysitter, but she's really kind of like a big sister) threw a shower for me. The colors were yellow and grey and it was wonderful! Friends came from West Virginia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and North Carolina. It was so nice and I felt so loved.

6) My BFF visited! This gets it's own notation because Lori NEVER gets to go anywhere without her kids. She flew in for my shower in August and we had all kinds of crazy girl time. We stayed up late watching Sister Wives and drinking wine coolers. Fabulous.

7) I went to North Carolina! Vacations were limited this year because I was saving up my time for the wedding and wedding-related events. But I did get the opportunity to travel to the Tar heel State twice. Tom & I went in January so he could meet the Potter family. (Talk about baptism by fire! But Tom did great - was a little overwhelmed at first, though.) My mom and I went down in July so she could work on the flower girl dresses.

8) I said bye-bye to retail! I quit Toys R Us in November and haven't looked back. I haven't been able to really, truly relax during Christmas for 20 years. This holiday season was amazing. I baked cookies. I actually enjoyed shopping and decorating the house. I got lots of reading done and relaxed a lot. It has been amazing.

9) I love my book club! I really have connected to my book club friends. They're awesome and I love that our book club keeps growing. Being in a book club gives you the chance to read books that you normally wouldn't read, and we read some great books in 2011.

10) I made some great friends! Thanks to my new husband, I met some wonderful people. Some are Tom's co-workers and some are people that Tom grew up with. (Tom, by the way, has a ton of friends that he's had since he was a kid. How many of us can say that?) And every single person that I've met has just been so wonderfully nice and accepting of me. I'm truly grateful for that. I also had the chance to (finally!) meet some of my sister's closest friends. You know, those people that you feel like you already know because they've been a part of your sister's (or whoever) life for practically forever.

11) I got married! Okay - there are bunch of other things that I could list as #11. My parents are both healthy and happy, despite throwing weddings for 2 daughters. Within 30 days of each other. Mollie continues to be the smartest kitty in the world. Despite some crazy health stuff this year, everyone in my family is healthy. I made paella for the first time. We started a bunch of new family traditions (pancakes on Fat Tuesday, anyone?). But the very, very best thing about 2011 is I happened to find Tom and somehow convince him to marry me. And, gosh darn it, it took me long enough! To quote my cousin Cara Lee when she met Tom, "Well, it's about darn time"! Despite being a "bride of a certain age" (coined by MOB Cheryl), I felt like a total princess on October 8th. And that, my friends, is why I'm listing this twice.

Christmas 2011

You may notice that a very important member of my family is missing from the picture. Mollie - aka Mo - was cowering under a chair upstairs and refused to come down for the family picture. Flat out refused. Boy was he ticked at me for letting all those doggies into the house. Wynne (he's the big dog) is afraid of Mollie. Mollie is afraid of Wynne. Frankie and Lola are .... well .... these puppies aren't afraid of anything. It all started during dinner. Amanda put Wynne in a bedroom upstairs to keep away from the cheese course. Wynne just didn't understand why he was being singled out (the puppies got to go free!), and whined the entire time. When he was released from the bedroom, he happened to walk past Mollie, and barked out him. It wasn't Mollie's fault, he was just the unlucky animal that happened to be closest. Mollie hissed. Wynne barked again. Mollie hissed and meowed and lunged. It sounded MUCH worse then it actually was. But it was enough to make Mo pout all night under the chair. Surprisingly, he tolerates the puppies, which surprises me. IMHO, Frankie & Lola are SO MUCH more annoying than Wynne. (Sorry Cheryl, it's true.) But they are cute, which helps.

Considering all this, we are lucky that we were able to round up 3 of the 4 animals for our annual Christmas picture. I don't know how we're going to do this if and when kiddos are added to mix!

Christmas Recap

This was, without a doubt, the best holiday season yet. For starters, I was able to actually enjoy my family a little during Christmas since I'm no longer working retail. For Christmas Eve, we went to church service in London, at the First United Methodist Church (where we were married). I wish I had thought to take a picture. What a gorgeous church. With all of the evergreens and candles, it was just breathtaking. My mom and dad came with us, which was awesome. I don't think I've ever gone to a Christmas Eve service. For the past 20 years I've been working on Christmas Eve, and before that we always went out of town (grandma's house), so we just didn't do church on Christmas Eve. A baby girl was baptized during the service and it was all just so touching and beautiful. I also learned something about my husband that I didn't know -- he's a loud hymn signer in church.

I hosted Christmas Day. Woo Hoo! First time hostess! My sister and her husband came up from Cincinnati with their dog (and my nephew), Wynne. My parents brought their puppies (Frankie & Lola). I got to use my china and new silverware. We ate a turducken. It was mass chaos with all of the animals. And I loved every minute of it.

On Monday we celebrated with Tom's mom and spent some time at my parents' house. Finally, today is Tom's birthday. All he wanted was for me to cook dinner. Bless his heart, he loves my cooking. I told him he could have any cake he wanted, and he selected a chocolate fudge cake with Toffee Cream icing. It tasted just as good as it looked.

Our house is back in order now. I think I've swept up all of the hair that my sister's dog so kindly left me. Our tree is still up, of course. (Isn't it bad luck to take it down before New Year's Day??) I think we're staying in on New Year's Eve, but that hasn't been finalized yet. I'm hoping we stay home - I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet evening.

Quelf!

Do yourself a favor and get this game. It is sooo much fun. My sister bought it for her hubby for Christmas, and we played it on Monday. I don't think I've laughed that hard in ages. You might have a tough time finding it. It seems to be out of stock at every Target I've been to lately, and it's $44 on Amazon.com. I'm holding out for a while. But I definitely want it. Here's the "official" description from Amazon:

Quelf is the game that gives random a new name! Use your creativity and imagination to answer crazy questions and perform ridiculous stunts. There’s only one rule – OBEY THE CARD! If a player obeys their card they get to move ahead! You’ll laugh until you cry with this outrageous, unpredictable, and fun filled party game. Be the first person to cross the finish line and you win! Enjoy a non-stop hilarious adventure with Quelf!

Cookies

Today was the first day that I have baked cookies during the holiday season for at least 10 years! I have been known to bust out a batch of cookies or cranberry bread at Christmas, but that's usually it. Working retail just sucks all of the energy and Christmas spirit out of you. So today, my mom came over and we baked all day long. We baked at my house because I have a brand new (bright red!) Kitchen Aid mixer that I wanted to use. (One of the best gifts I've ever received! That thing rocks!)

My mom is kinda good at baking. And by kinda good, what I really mean is she is amazingly talented. Born and raised on a farm, she was in FHA, 4H and also taught Home Ec in her early teaching days. So it's best to just do as she says in the kitchen. A couple of things you must know if you're baking with Cheryl:
1) Read the entire recipe first. If you don't, you will mess up somewhere and she will tell you, "That's why you read the recipe first".
2) Cream the butter and sugar together first.
3) If you're making cut out cookies, it's best to just let her roll out the dough herself. She likes that part.

Now Cheryl's going to read this and think that I'm making fun of her, but I swear that I'm not. We actually had a really good time and had a routine down pat. We made 5 different cookies today. Big Batch Kris Kringle Cookies, Peanut Blossoms, Snoballs, Peppermint Snoballs and Gingerbread Boys, Girls & Gnomes. It's mid afternoon and the kitchen is cleaned and the cookies are cooling. Between these and the cookies from last week's book club cookie exchange, I am all set! I may even have enough energy to make some cut out cookies later this week.... Maybe.

Black Friday Reminders

As I type this, several of my good friends are preparing themselves for a long night of work. In fact, a few of them have to be at work as early as 6pm to open their stores at 9pm. Ridiculous. Can you imagine handling hordes of Black Friday shoppers with a turkey hangover?? Me? I am thankful to not be working on Black Friday for the first time in 20 years. One of my friends, who is a store manager, posted this earlier today. I think it's a good reminder for all of you who may be shopping tonight or tomorrow.

I just want to set the ground rules for you shoppers:

1. If it says "Limited", that means the number of items we have. If you thought there would be more than 20-30 of them, you are wrong. Don't be #400 in line and wonder why the hot item is gone!

2. If the line is long outside, it is going to be long inside for the registers as well. Use your head! If you don't want to wait for 30 minutes i...n a checkout line, come in later!

3. Those people in front of you working, they have a family too! Remember, if we had more stuff, we'd love to get it for you, but Santa's Workshop isn't in the back...so when we are out of something, get over it!

4. Do us a favor, don't tell us "This is nuts!", "I hate this!", etc. You are a part of what is nuts and what you hate. Just be jolly and focus on keeping yourself and others safe!

5. Most important, how about just a little class and respect. A lot of hard work goes into making your 20 minute trip value added for you. Instead of yelling or complaining, how about a "Thank You" and "Great Job"!

Black Friday

This week I learned that Target is opening up at midnight on Black Friday. Seriously, Target? Do you HAVE to open at midnight? Welllll, technically it's listed in the news as 12:01 am on Friday. If that's Target's way of trying to make themselves look better by not "technically" opening on Thanksgiving night, it's not working. Then Wal-Mart announced 10pm. And, I just heard a couple of days ago that Toys R Us is opening at 9pm. Are you freakin' kidding me? I am so, so happy to be spending holiday season 2011 not working in retail. It is the first time in 20 years that I won't be missing one single family party or Christmas event. I get that companies are trying to make as much money as they can this holiday season in an uncertain economy. Makes sense. But I don't know that the people who make these decisions understand the impact it has on the morale of the employees that work in these fine establishments. The days going into Black Friday are rough. Let me break it down for you. First of all, Store Managers typically work a "late" shift on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Usually we do this to make sure that everything is wired for BF. This means that we could leave anywhere between 10pm Wednesday night and 6am on Thanksgiving Day. In 20 years of retail, I have had Thanksgiving dinner with my family maybe twice. Maybe. You're usually so exhausted that you just opt out of dinner - I can't imagine being the one to have to do the cooking. If you work for a company who opens at....let's say 9pm on Thanksgiving night....you have to be at the store by 7pm at the latest. The only good thing about Black Friday is that the day FLIES by. 14 hours later, you're back home and dead on your feet. Yes, I know that working retail was a choice. And there are a lot of good things about working retail, but the holidays are rough enough. Why 9pm on Thanksgiving night?? It's ridiculous. Which is why I'm boycotting Black Friday. I am okay with boycotting Toys R Us and Wal-Mart altogether this holiday season. Honestly, I don't really shop there anyways. But it would be too tough for me to boycott Target. I love me some Target. But I definitely won't be there Black Friday.