I love Christmas. Let’s be honest–I wait for it ALL year. By October I’m so excited that I count down the days until I allow myself to listen to Christmasy music. If I had my way (and the space to store everything) my house would be decked out from top to bottom in all things Christmas for the entire month of December. My family has all kinds of traditions that, for the most part, I love. I love that my Dad reads the Christmas story to us every Christmas Eve. I love that we sing carols. I love that we eat until we all have to lie down and pass…

A few weeks ago I introduced you to my lovely Book Club ladies. I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome it is to have girl friends again… we have our monthly get togethers, but we often do movies or dinners in small groups in between. And at our last meeting, we decided to take on another challenge with our monthly reading: The Biggest Loser. I am a long-time fan of the show. I know it’s not perfect and I know it’s just TV, but I find it so motivating… and heaven knows I need a little motivation right now. October marked the heaviest I have ever been and…

Even though last week was incredibly difficult, through all the tears one thing became blatantly clear: I have an amazing family. Losing our Gumpo so unexpectedly was very hard, but we all pulled together and supported each other through the week. And it wasn’t all sad. There were moments last week where I laughed harder than I have in a long time. Many stories were told, memories shared, and there was Princess Pea. My little niece is growing older and getting bigger, and in the process her personality is developing and she is absolutely hilarious. She is also pretty clear about what she likes and doesn’t like. And right now,…

Last Monday I got one of those phone calls that you hope never to get. It’s taken me a week to be able to write about it, and I’m still not sure that I have the right words. But I find myself wanting to talk about it… needing to talk about it. When my phone rang just before 3pm, my fridge was full of food ready for me to make our lovely Thanksgiving dinner. I was sitting at my desk, doing nothing in particular when Peeah’s ringer began to play. I thought it was a bit odd that she was calling me right then, but I assumed it was to…

A little over a year ago I wrote this post about girl friends. While it was just me venting my sadness over my lack thereof, the response I received was overwhelming and I realized that I was not the only woman out there who felt that way. Still, I didn’t really do anything about it. I met a few people over the course of the next few months, but I am terrible at trying to organize outings. I have never felt comfortable as a “host”, and I always feel like it’s my fault if people don’t have a fabulous time at something I’ve suggested. *sigh* Anyway, by November of last…