What I've been up to...

I have found that if I get a little behind on this blog its hard to know where to pick it back up. Do I start with the move to New Hampshire or possibly my nine day trip to Cinci, but that includes pieces of the Bengal run to the play offs, or I could start in the new year where my life has been busy with family, new friends and lots of big plans for the future (including a trip to Jamaica). Do you understand why I have had trouble starting again after a long hiatus? So in the spirit of my new motto on life, and my sister and my's New Years resolution, I'm not going to waste a moment of 2010 and I'm going to start with right now. So right now I this is what is going on in my life. I am glad to say that life is good, really good. I am as happy as I can remember being in recent history, satisfied in work, life and my pursuit of a dream that is undefined and everchanging, which makes the pursuit that much more fun. Very recently I spent the weekend up at Maidstone lake to help celebrate my cousin Karen's 60th birthday. I was like a kid at christmas while getting ready for the weekend, for two reasons, 1) I love a good surprise party, and I was on the inside track of this one, helping Maria to plan and prepare for what turned out to be a fantastic night. 2) I hadn't been up to the lake in the winter time since I was maybe 4 years old. I had a great time, getting the opportunity to cross two things of my list of things to do in life. Billy let me take his snowmobile across the lake and even with a helmet flying across the middle of a wide open space was cold, yet exhilerating. Let's just be glad I can't actually afford to own one or I would probably end up getting a little bit addicted to that particular activity. I also got the opportunity to go ice fishing, or I guess more accurately I got to watch some ice fishing. A goal of mine since watching Grumpy Old Men at a young age. Let's just say I was inappropriately dressed in jeans while everyone else was in snowpants, so it's probably a good thing that I had to cut my time outdoors short to get food together for the party. I do intend, however, to do it again with a fishing license so I can participate and get the full experience, because being outside in the fresh, crisp air and hanging out with family was a lot of fun.
Camp in winter, our little setup

Uncle Kev drilling one of 17 holes for traps

Aunt Natalie and I, super warm and cozy out in the middle of the lake

Happy Birthday Karen!!

soooo lame

I am currently the lamest blogger on the block. Before the holidays I moved from Vermont to New Hampshire, then quickly left to spend 9 days in Cincinnati for the holidays, then spent my first week back settling in and getting my apartment ready for a party this past weekend...and yes I am using all of these as excuses for why I have been remiss on my blogging. Aaaaannndd since my immune system is losing a war being fought on all fronts (sick kids at both houses, plus sick relatives visiting mine) I am going to keep this short, but promise to spend a lot of time catching up on my recent activities very soon. :) P.S. today is my blog's 1st birthday!

Silent Fury

I took a short break from the craziness that my life has become in the past couple weeks (packing, cleaning, etc.) to go see my cousin Alex's band Silent Fury. Their three man band has been traveling around and touring quite a bit, but I had never managed to see them. So I was super excited, but unsure of what to expect. I was VERY pleasently surprised to find out that they are a really good band that plays music I really enjoy. They moved from original songs to covers and back again seamlessly. I found myself rocking just as much to the original songs I had never heard before as I did to the covers, which happened to be some of my favorite songs. They were also quite the show men and the people there loved them, filling the dance floor. Let me tell you, there is nothing quite like seeing your young cousin autographing his CD for a fan, but I was super proud of him and really can't wait to see them again. I didn't get any great pictures but I included a couple of them just to give you an idea.

Holiday Spirit (or lack of)

I adore the holidays, I love the decorations, the family time, the weather (I really do), giving the perfect gift, really just about every part of it. After my first Thanksgiving away from home went so well, I was ready to march right into the Christmas holiday. Unfortunately some things were working against me. Accepting a new job, while exciting, also means that I am not adding lights, a tree, and garlands with bows to create a beautiful and merry feeling. I am, instead, emptying my place a little at a time making it less and less of a home. It also means that I have not been roaming around to various family members as much due to the amount of work I have to do here, so I can't even partake in their brand of holiday joy. On top of all that scrooge-like activity we either set the record or came close for the latest snow fall ever in Vermont. Instead of a winter landscape of snow, and the crisp and clear air of winter, we had rain and muck. In the past week I have had a significant shift though, for two reasons. 1) My advent calender and 2) snow. Most years growing up we had an advent calender and as adults we have not let go of the tradition. When I was home in November I was thrilled when my dad presented each of us kids with an advent calender that he had gotten us. So every morning I get up and find the appropriate date and uncover a new picture, building the excitement for impending holiday one cartoon picture at a time. Then, just as I was already starting to get excited, our first big snowfall. We got about 6-8 inches over the day wednesday creating a beautiful winter landscape, finally! So even though my home is less home like, and I continue to postpone christmas shopping, I am in the holiday spirit and enjoying every moment as it comes. The view from the bend in my road after the snowfall on Wednesday

My advent calender, yay!

News

While I will always be thankful for the experience and the fact that it got me where I am now I must admit, I am not a huge fan of my job. I have, in fact, spent the last several months looking seriously into other options with little to no luck. So I am quite happy to report that I have accepted a new job. I am going back to my roots and working with the children. I am going to be working as a nanny again. I hooked up with a girl who is running an agency where I will be working full time, but splitting it for a couple different families on a regular basis and will have the ability to add extra time in helping other families in the area from time to time. I am very excited about it, and after spending a day working with one of the families that will be my regulars I feel that I have made the very best decision for myself. Oh and one other thing, it means I am moving again. This time I am moving even closer to the coast, and will actually be working right on the coast. My living arrangements are still up in the air, but let's face it, I spend half my life up in the air. It's a little scary but like I said, I am just really excited and happy to be going back to something I know I love to do. Anyway just wanted to let you all know what's going on with me.

Birthday memories

In honor of my mom's birthday, and Thanksgiving, today I am going to tell you one of my favorite moments ever from my mom's birthdays over the years (also included is mom doing shots of jager straight from the bottle on her 40th and Drew catching on fire at her 50th). When we were younger my dad often was the man in charge on school holidays since he usually had the same days off. Well this particular year mom's birthday fell on the day before Thanksgiving and we were home with dad all day while mom worked. We spent a good portion of the day working very hard on a SURPRISE chocolate cake for mom's big day. We also spent quite a bit of time trying to explain to 3 year old Megan why we it was fun to make a surprise cake and that she absoloutely couldn't tell mom under any circumstances. She asked some questions but seemed to get it. That night as we were finishing dinner dad said something along the lines of dinner being over and Megan, with chocolate on her brain and an incredulous look said "what about the cake?" Immediately angry that she had spilled the beans about the cake I quite firmly reprimanded that we were not supposed to tell mom about the cake. Megan looking sweet as a button looked at me and smiled and said "what cake?" To this day every time I think about it I laugh out loud. She always was a smart one :)

Weekends

Last weekend, through a series of random events, I ended up having an impromptu weekend in Cincinnati. While there I had what can only be described as an awesome weekend. I made friends on the plane ride down and barely noticed that I left my phone in Vermont by accident. I had great times with family and friends both in partying and relaxing environments, plus my first Bengals game of the season which was a total WHO DEY win over the Ravens. When you have weekends like that its sometimes hard to return to the new life that you have set up hundreds of miles away. So when some of my new friends/coworkers wanted to hang out this weekend I jumped at the chance. I love my coworkers, they keep me sane in a job that is constantly trying to drive me crazy. It seems that some of our job requirements are a slightly off sense of humor and either a dysfunctional or non-existant filter between our brains and mouths. Saturday I met with one of my friends in Stowe where we tried out one of the less ritzy places called The Shed, and even then we went to the pub side and not the dining room side. It was great, homey and warm on a rainy and cold night. We had good food and good conversation and I got to try a new place out, which I rarely get to do. Sunday two of my coworkers came over to my apartment, which is also a rare occurence since i don't live all that close to either one of them. I got to be a hostess which is one of my most favorite and most missed things to be. Part way through the night I realized that somehow I had slipped into adulthood along the way. Sadly this epiphany came with chocolate, when I actually paused while serving coffee with dessert because it seemed like such a grown up thing to do. Although, now that I think about it, if behaving like an adult makes me giggle I guess I'm not quite there, haha. Anyway, whether partying till 6 AM in Cinci or serving coffee with the brownies in Vermont I am a happy girl to be able to go back to my hometown and have such a rockstar weekend then to follow it with a nice, relaxing, comedy filled weekend with friends in the place I am making a new kind of home.