First family picture (she's so small!)

There’s nothing else that stands out like that, and the rest of the year is kind of a blur, but going back over my archives I was reminded of some other things that happened this year:

>I started a book blog, which I have sorely neglected, but I’m glad I have it and I plan to revive it in the coming year.

>My best friend Becca, her husband Micah, and their children came to visit.

>We took a trip to South Carolina to visit my aunt & uncle.

>Our dog Oliver went to live with  my parents and our dog Eddie dealt with some severe anxiety issues.

>The church that  I have attended since high school and that David grew up in closed down due to some really sad circumstances, and we are still dealing with the after effects.

>My brother David got married to Maggie (yay!)

>David’s grandparents moved to town from Pennsylvania.

>A lovely Christmas happened:

Before Christmas Eve service with Gigi

With Aunt Maggie on Christmas morning

Christmas nap with Uncle Barry

Christmas dress

Santa baby (Christmas evening)

It was a good year.

***

I usually love the start of a new year. I always make resolutions because that kind of thing works for me. This year I’m not doing that, only because I’m still so far behind and exhausted from life in general that I’m not prepared. There are some things mulling around in my head that I want to do (revive the book blog, mini scrapbook each season, blog makeover, overhaul our budget, more time with David, cook several times a week, exercise, etc.) but I need to step back and get some perspective first.

My 101 goals in 1001 days is also coming to a close this month, and there are some items that I could complete without too much effort beforehand, but I don’t think I will. I just need to rest right now and get my bearings. Sometimes it’s so nice just to cut yourself a break.

More soon, I hope!

David always said he’d be a lifelong bachelor. He claimed he was too selfish to get married. My husband told him over and over that all he needed was the right girl, and he’d change his mind. He was right. Basically, my brother is a walking cliche.

He and Maggie got engaged earlier this spring, and their wedding was a couple weekends ago. They wanted something small, laid-back, without all of the traditional rituals. I think they pulled it off wonderfully.

Now for some pictures! Once again, my aunt took all of these. I was too distracted. Thanks, Marchar!

This is the little outfit Meredith wore to the rehearsal:

They had a bunch of props out for the photobooth, and since my brother is a South Carolina grad, this was one of them.

Later at the rehearsal dinner Maggie’s sister’s daughter Stella (now David’s niece too) was fascinated by Meredith. She’s 2 1/2 years old. She wanted to hold Meredith, so I set them up but kept my hand there for safety. Stella took my hand and pushed it away and said, “Take your hand off.” She wanted to do it all by herself!

The newly-married couple! Maggie looked amazing.

My youngest brother Barry gave such an amazing Best Man speech. I wanted him to keep going! It was personal, funny, touching, and emotional. Seriously, some girl needs to snatch him up. When I got married he wrote me a 3-page letter full of memories. He brought Meredith a birthday gift in the hospital and makes special trips to see her. He’s sensitive, hilarious, and extremely smart. Any takers??

And of course, here’s Meredith in her wedding outfit. Their colors were black and red, so it was perfect.

Getting tired.

After a week of being sick and a weekend full of family and festivities, we were relieved to get back to our regular routine last week and enjoy a low-key weekend at home.

I grew up around sports. I played them, my brothers played them, and my dad and my brothers watched them. I always knew that when I got married it would be to a man who likes watching sports, not because I do (I enjoy watching a game occasionally, but not as a routine), but because that’s what I was used to from the men in my life.

All that to say: the men in my family are serious about sports. They border on obsessed. My aunt is the same way with football, but my mom and I just enjoy it as part of our family culture.

Nowadays, we have certain rituals. Every year we create a pool for the college football bowl games and we make our picks. The winner gets this gorgeous, custom-made trophy:

Then we pick the NCAA basketball tournament, and whoever had the trophy last has to mail it to the new champion. Being the winner also gets you permission to gloat and serious bragging rights.

Well, friends, my time has come.

Yeah, I totally won! My brother said something along the lines of it being “shameful” that since I only watched a handful of games the entire season, but he’s just jealous. I don’t want to think about the number of hours he spent all football season researching his picks, only to lose shamefully to a girl. And anyway, I don’t think I watched ANY games. Impressive, don’t you think? :)

Cleo wanted to come along, but I had to tell her no.

The Prius was a champ, and we packed her full. Probably overpacked, but we were like first-time parents worrying about every possible little thing. You can never have too many towels or batteries! we said to each other. Turns out that yes, you can. But it didn’t matter.

We chose a shady little spot just a few steps away from the bathrooms and the lake. Prime.

We set up camp and then got busy relaxing.

We played games and cards.

We went on a guided nature hike.

We saw a crazy flying thing.

We cooked yummy food, like my classic hobo meal. Tip: when you’re going to be cooking your meal which is wrapped in foil on the coals of a fire, make sure you a) choose a sturdy brand of foil, and b) double wrap it.

And there were s’mores, of course. I don’t even like graham crackers or marshmallows particularly, but there’s something about a s’more that is irresistible, wouldn’t you agree?

We read, we talked, we swam (at least I did), and of course enjoyed the company. David’s brother Scott, his wife Vanessa, and even my nephew Lucas came along.

He was a little trooper.

My brother David and his girlfriend Maggie came too. Maggie can go ahead and be my personal chef as far as I’m concerned. The food she made for us was practically gourmet.

We survived the heat by staying mostly in the shade, and we made it through the night thanks to some fans we brought along. I don’t think any of us would choose to go camping again in the Texas summer, but it was worth it.

Just watch, one day we’ll either buy an RV and travel the country, or go hard core and hike the Appalachian Trail. Either way, it all started here.

I got a nice surprise on Friday when I was supposed to work until 7 p.m. and they let me off at 3. I was able to beat the traffic and convinced David to go on a mini-date. We went to Potbelly Subs & Sandwiches for dinner and then went back home to pick up the dogs. This part took a lot more convincing, because handling all three dogs at once is no easy task. But I recently bought these adorable tags for them, and now we could legitimately take Oliver to the dog park.

Cute, right?

It was Oliver’s first time there, so we were nervous. He’s still not neutered (I know, I know) so he has a tendency to act fairly alpha. He comes up to my waist and weighs around 100 pounds, but there was a dog much bigger than him there and Oliver had that dog’s tail between its legs just by sniffing. Overall he was very good, but he made other dogs nervous and we felt like we had to hover around him the entire time. I don’t think we’ll be going back until we get him fixed.

On Saturday I was up bright & early to visit the local farmer’s market that I’ve been meaning to go to for ages. My sister-in-law and friend were supposed to come too, but neither of them could make it due to their respective babies so I was on my own. I found it easily and my first impression was that it’s small, but very cute.

Our little farmer's market

I walked around without buying anything once to see what was there, and I was happy to see that there was a big variety of food and other local, organic products. I had my eye on some tomatoes and peaches, but then I realized I had forgotten to bring a bag to carry them in. I ended up only buying some honey because I was too self-conscious. (Side note: has anyone ever tried honey in their coffee instead of sugar?)

I must have really been in a food-buying mood though, because I ended up stopping at a larger organic store which was farther away. I was in the area since I had to get some blood drawn at a specific lab. The book I’m reading is completely changing my perspective on the foods I buy. David doesn’t know what he’s in for. :)

For the rest of the day I had originally intended to drag David with me to the Art Car Parade, but when he told me he’d help me paint instead I couldn’t pass that up. My parents and father-in-law came too, and we were able to get the second coat on the front two rooms, paint the ceiling, and start on the trim. The trim and touch-ups are all we have left there, but it’s such a tedious chore. I can’t wait to finish and actually start decorating!

The dining room so far

Sunday morning found us at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Los Cucos, for breakfast with my family. I’d never had breakfast at a Mexican place, but I have to say the eggs were the best I’ve ever tasted. I was really excited to give my mom her gift, because it was so unique. You may not know this, but my mom was a hippie in her day, and I think the gene is genetic. For Mother’s Day I signed us (along with my mother-in-law) up for a class teaching us how to make soft cheese and other dairy products at home. I can’t wait!

Church was a fluster of activity because my brother and I were leading the music and we were not quite prepared. It ended up going smoothly, but only because we grew up doing music together and know exactly what the other will do. On the way home from church David and I stopped by a local bookstore for an amazing sale. Here are all the books we got, all for $5.95!

Three of these are mine. Can you guess which ones? :)

By the time we got home I had developed quite a toothache that extended into my sinuses and down my neck. I took a Vicodin, read a few pages, and fell into a nap that lasted until my mother-in-law called me to ask me a question. It’s a good thing she did, because we were supposed to meet David’s family for dinner and I would have slept right through it. Dinner was delicious and the company was lovely, and to top the weekend off I took my mother-in-law to the play Harvey at the Alley Theatre, which we both loved.

Only eleven more days until my next weekend off!

After I got let off work early on Friday I unknowingly headed straight into a traffic catastrophe that put my commute home at 2 1/2 hours. I admit that my good mood faded somewhere around an hour into the drive when I had only made it a few miles. But the ease of driving my new car and a good audiobook made it bearable. I arrived awhile later, only slightly frazzled, at my in-laws’ house to meet my husband for dinner, and we enjoyed a meal that I realized was an exact replica of the one I ate immediately before I got sick a week ago. The fact that I did not, in fact, get sick again I took to be a sign of better things to come.

After sleeping in on Saturday morning, I indulged in something I should be ashamed of, but am not:  Farmville on Facebook. Yes, I play it; I enjoy it because it is a mindless and soothing distraction. And did you know that there are more Farmville players than Twitterers? So I promise not to be annoying about my Farmville habits if you promise to just block it already and not make fun of me. Anyway, on Saturday morning I had some time and I made a lot of changes to my farm and now it’s pretty and yeah I can’t believe I’m actually still talking about this but that’s what happens when I’m in a good mood! I ramble!

During this time my three dogs, who were quietly sunbathing in the backyard, suddenly went into an uproar. A stray dog had approached the gate, and they were beside themselves. They got so riled up that Cleo and Oliver transferred their fury onto each other and launched into a full-fledged battle, while Eddie stood by and barked. I know a person is not supposed to get in the middle of a dog fight, but my other option was to let them kill each other or at least injure one another to the point of very high vet bills. I hate to brag, but at this point I’m kind of an expert at breaking up dog fights. Unfortunately in my weakened condition I managed to stick my leg in the wrong place and ended up with a rather painful bite to the calf muscle. Don’t worry though! Not only am I okay, but we just kept the dogs apart overnight and they made up the next day.

Next on the agenda was a couple of extremely satisfying errands such as picking up my Nintendo gear from the FedEx office (more on that later this week) and getting a new EZ tag for my car. The EZ tag lets you breeze through the tollways in Houston, and although I’m not in the habit of using the tollway unless I must, you can understand that I was dying for one on Friday night when I was stuck on the feeder road because I didn’t have any cash for tolls. The best part was that it didn’t cost me anything because I still had money left on my truck’s old EZ tag.

Afterwards I met my sister-in-law for the much-anticipated pedicure, and I believe this sentiment sums up my feelings perfectly:

Then David and I made good on a Christmas present we gave to his parents and took them to eat at Friday’s (the bruschetta chicken pasta was excellent) and saw “Shutter Island” which was an extremly well-done movie.

After a lovely church service on Sunday morning a friend of mine told me she’s pregnant and I didn’t even cry! I allowed myself to feel miserable for just a little while, but then I channeled it and went on a surprising cleaning/productive spree that I hadn’t planned. In fact, I had purposefully devoted this weekend to NOT cleaning in order to simply relax, but it turns out that my idea of relaxing is doing laundry, sweeping and vacuuming the floors, shopping for groceries, washing my truck to get it ready to sell, and wiping down every possible surface in my home. I have to say that I don’t regret it, because a clean home is better than almost anything.

David and I finished off the day by spending a couple hours doing our taxes, and let me just say that Turbo Tax is worth every penny. We are getting a rather large tax return, which is not only a blessing but a relief because going into it I had no idea what to expect. But it turns out that if you get yourself a mortgage, pay a ton of money in student loan interest, and give a lot to charity you get a bunch of deductions. When you look at it that way it’s not near as much fun, so I’ll just continue to think of this as free money.

Why can’t it always be the weekend?

***

If you know Kathleen at all, you’d know she’s pretty hard to live up to.

She is one of the most beautiful, patient, intelligent women on the planet (just like her mom! Hi mom!). This, inherently, presents a problem for me: When people know my sister and then subsequently meet me, they seem to project her qualities on to me. “Nice to meet you David!” they would say. “What book are you reading?” That’s when I casually look aside, order a beer and say, “ESPN.com.”

My sister is starting a whole series of guest blog posts and fairly recently she asked if I would like to write one. I immediately said yes, but wanted to make sure I had heard her right. After all, we’re not a whole lot alike; what would I have to say of interest?

Before an indoor soccer game

“I’m not in any book clubs, you know.” “Yes, I don’t mind.” “I can’t really cook anything but pasta.” “Then don’t write about that.” “I can barely take care of myself and my puppy.” “What?” “You’re a nurse. It’s what you do.” “So?” “So I was just pointing out our differences in a theoretical conversation with you, trying to impress upon your readers that we’re different and finding some common ground to write about would be tough.” “Oh, gotcha. Carry on then.”

Anyway, if you ever start dating someone or meet a good friend’s spouse, you always want to press them on the hilarious, behind-the-scenes things they wouldn’t ever tell you. So here’s a little about me and my sister Kapachino, behind-the-scenes, with the one common ground I’m sure we all have: A love for Kathleen.

• For some odd reason, we got stuck in the same chemistry class in high school. And because our teacher alphabetized seating, we sat next to each other at a two-person table. And let me tell you: If you ever want to compare yourself to someone, sitting next to them in a chemistry class will provide you any number of benchmarks.
• She made an ‘A’ in the class. I made a ‘B+’. And that’s probably the best representation of us I can think of.
• My sister always had an incredible voice (and she still does!). It allowed us to get closer than we ever probably would have been because we could play music together (and still do).
• Re-designing this blog for her made me realize just how picky she can actually be sometimes.
• Growing up, when it was early in the morning or if she would talk back, my Dad called her “Snippy Kins.”


Mother's Day a few years ago

• Kathleen eats cereal like a champ. Every morning before going to high school she would always, always have a bowl.
• Speaking of going to high school, we both rode with our friend (and at the time, probably one of her best friends) Erika before we could drive ourselves. Erika dictated what music we would listen to (with good reason; she was driving us to school), and occasionally she would put on rap. I think this is where I developed my love for the genre and Kathleen began to develop her distaste for it.
• A distaste I’m positive still exists today.
• When we were younger, my sister and I were always on a team against my brother. We were an athletic bunch so we liked to play games all the time, but it was so unfair: my sister and I (only 14 months apart) against our baby brother Barry (effectively two years younger). It was outstanding.
• About that same era, we used to get our brother to do stuff for us by challenging him. Let’s say we wanted a glass of water or a coke. We’d say to him: “I bet you can’t get it to us fast!” And he’d sprint off to get it and we’d “time” him. We’d always try to get him to “beat his last time.” This was also outstanding.
  

  David, Kathleen, and Barry

• I’ll end with one of the greatest life lessons I’ve ever learned, taught to me by my sister. One day we were both up at church and I wanted to tell her something. She wasn’t around me at the time, so I scoured the church for her and eventually found her tucked away in a back room where, if you wanted to talk to her, you really had to look. She was crying, curled up on a couch. I had never seen my sister cry; she was always very strong and in control. I came in the room, sat down, and asked her what was wrong. She started to tell me, and I would interject every once in a while trying to ease her feelings. She would start talking again and then I would comment again and she’d have to start talking again and eventually she just turned to me, stared me down and said: “Shut up! I don’t always need you to fix things. Sometimes, women just have to talk. And all you have to do is listen.”

My sister and I at her wedding

Any good day off starts with sleeping in, which I did. Then, after some lazing around, David and I decided to cash in on a Cracker Barrel gift card he got for his birthday. Although we’ve been trying to eat healthier this year, we give ourselves one meal a week where we eat what we want. This was DEFINITELY the meal. My love for breakfast food is deep and true, only surpassed by my love for dark chocolate, Blue Bell ice cream, and my Tempur Pedic mattress. And living beings, of course. Anyway, David and I basically ordered one of everything.

Not pictured: the hash brown casserole, French toast, and sausage that we also shared.

We somehow rolled ourselves out to our car when we finished and drove over to Lowe’s. My plan was just to price some blinds for our breakfast room and living room, but David convinced me to just buy them now. I had anxiety about spending the money, but since we’ve been living without privacy for a year now I figured it was worth it.

On the way home we stopped to see our nephew Lucas, where I got to experience this adorableness:

Their cat just crawled on to my back and made herself comfortable while I was playing with Lucas. That never happens to me with cats! I was so excited!

Back at home we set to work installing our new blinds, with the help of our talented and gracious fathers. Conversations with my dad can always be interesting. He is blunt and honest in an endearing sort of way, which makes me nervous at times.

Dad: One thing I’m looking forward to when I get older is being able to tell everyone exactly what I think.

Me: But Dad, you kind of already do that.

Dad: I’m not even close.

Me: (eyes widen in terror)

Amidst such riveting conversation we got the blinds installed and I cannot even believe what a difference they make. The rooms actually look finished now. I keep looking at them. Here is what the breakfast area looked like when we bought the house:

And here it is now, pretty much finished:

And here are the new blinds in the living room:

I’m in love. We had to get them specially cut, and Lowe’s did it perfectly right there while we waited. Eventually I’m thinking some different curtains would be nice for the living room, along with some sort of curtains for the breakfast room, but I am happy with this for now.

After the satisfying completion of that task, I set about making bruschetta to bring to a baby shower tomorrow. I’ve never made it before, and used this recipe. I had to double it, and the mixture  turned out looking like this before chilling in the refrigerator overnight:

Can anyone tell me, does this look right? Because I’m not so sure.

I am now ensconced on the couch with my two dogs, watching Ewan McGregor attempt to do a very poor Italian accent in Angels & Demons. Saturdays like these don’t happen very often for us, so I enjoy them to the fullest when they do. It’s been a great day.

Anyway, this song is called “White Horse” and it’s by my favorite band, Over the Rhine. I don’t do it nearly as well as they do, but I sure enjoy singing it. The guitar is kind of soft, but we’re not exactly operating with top quality recording equipment here. If you like what you hear, please tell me so! If you don’t like it, please don’t tell me–I am a delicate flower.

Merry Christmas week!

White Horse Cover from Kathleen Forbes on Vimeo.

I shouldn’t have left the LOLcats off my list yesterday. I am extremely thankful for them. :)

Right now I’m long since out of my jeans and into my comfy PJ’s. I’m dozing off in a lounge chair by the fire. What a holiday is Thanksgiving! Entirely devoted to gratitude, family, and FOOD. Just wonderful. Happy day from my family and me!