Happy New Year's Eve

I hope everyone has a wonderful night. Be safe, but have fun!

Shoveling

Dale and I went out twice tonight to shovel. Each time we had about 3 inches of snow. We could have waited until tomorrow to use the snow blower, but we figured it was good exercise. I personally love shoveling snow at night. It is so calm and peaceful outside. I just love it. Growing up my parents always would go outside at night and shovel. My sister and I often volunteered to help, but they rarely took us up on our offer. I think they enjoyed the quiet and probably liked getting away from my sister and I a bit too. Tonight however is a bit colder than I would like as we hit the single digits. Burrrrrrr!

My 11 Resolutions for 2011

It is that time of year when we look back at what we accomplished and think about what we would like to do different the next year. Overall, I am proud that I was able to lose 50 pounds last year, so obviously my #1 goal will be to continue on my healthier path in 2011. I believe that putting your resolutions or goals out there for the world to see, helps you stay focused on them...so you do not give up as easily. 

Here are my resolutions for next year:

1. I will commit to reaching my target weight of 195 pounds (that will be a loss of about 25 pounds) by June 30, 2011. To reach this goal, I will commit  to walking at least five times a week, drinking at least 8 glasses of water each day, eating healthy, balanced meals in smaller portions and not eating after 7:00 PM.
2. I will commit to telling Dale that I love him every day in 2011. He is the light in my life and I need to make sure he knows how important he is to me each and every day.
3. I will commit to focusing on the positive and not letting negative energy into my life throughout 2011. 
4. I will commit to listening more and talking less throughout 2011. I have a tendency to cut others off when I think I know what they are going to say. This is rude and I need to not do this.
5. I will commit to paying more attention to my tone throughout 2011. I have a tendency to say stuff and not pay attention to how I am saying it. Sometimes the tone is heard more than the message. This tends to impact Dale the most, since he is with me the most.
6. I will commit to focusing on the big picture at work and the success metrics needed to manage a successful team. I commit to not get caught up in the weeds and commit to not fall back on what is comfortable.
7. I will commit to spending more time in the backyard and basement during 2011. I know this sounds odd, but Dale and I have a tendency to not use these two spaces as much as we should. 
8. I will commit to reading more off-line during 2011. The internet has reduced my off-line reading and I need to stay focused on reading books, especially those that will come from my local library.
9. I will commit to taking more pictures throughout 2011. I enjoy photography and have not made this a priority the past few years.
10. I will commit to being better to the environment and continue to explore activities that will reduce my use and abuse of nature throughout 2011. 
11. I commit to continue to reuse, reduce and recycle un-needed items in the house, including those in my closet and desk drawers by February 28, 2011.  I commit to reduce the stuff in our house by reusing (regifting - is that tacky?), recycling (donate to Goodwill) or throwing away (only if something is 100% garbage and cannot be reused or recycled).

New Friends

When it comes to friends, I know Dale and I are very blessed. We have amazing friends. At times, we think the word amazing is not a strong enough word to describe our friends. As we looked back at 2010, most of our happiest times involve our friends. This year, we were also very fortunate to make some amazing new friends. We wanted to take a minute to single out and recognize three of these new friends and say thank you for their friendship and love, as it has and continues to mean a great deal to us both. These three individuals are Sean Breen, Julie Beals-Marroquin and Julie Neinhuis Zeller.

Oddly, I became friends with all three of these individuals virtually on Facebook before Dale and I met them each in person. In each case, this person was a friend of a friend and we started our friendship by interacting on Facebook commenting on our mutual friend’s status updates. Eventually, we just “friended” each other. Best of all, Dale and I were able to meet all three, in person, this summer. Even through they all live over 1,000 miles away, these three individuals show incredible amounts of kindness to Dale and I either via email, Facebook, phone or simple cards in the mail. All three have grown to become people we adore and quite honestly love.

The Two Julies

We met Julie Beals-Marroquin (aka Beals) and Julie Neinhuis Zeller (aka Nein) through one of our best friends (and favorite people on this earth) Scott David Ashley. We have known Scott for over 10 years and simply put - he is great people. This summer, we were invited to Scott’s 40th birthday party, which he held in Saugatuck, Michigan, even though he lives in New Jersey. Not only was it great to help Scott celebrate this milestone in his life, it was also a great opportunity to meet a lot of Scott’s college friends from Michigan, including Beals and Nein. I will be honest, we fell in love immediately. How can you not? They are two of the warmest, friendliest, welcoming women you will ever meet, not to mention funny as all hell. We had an absolute blast getting to know them better while we were in Michigan. Their Facebook updates and comments continue to make me smile day after day and both have been incredibly supportive of my weight loss. Somehow these two ladies are physic because on my darkest days, when I think I cannot live without a cookie, in my mailbox appears a card telling me to hang in there and they are proud of me. I do not know how they know I need the extra support, but they always do. How can you not love that?  These women are incredible and give so much love to everyone in their lives, including Dale and I. I am so proud to call them both our friends. We adore you both! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sean Breen

I claim I know Sean Breen through my friend, Tom Robinson, but that is actually not entirely true. Technically, Sean and I went to high school together at good old Lansingburgh High School in scenic Troy, NY. I graduated with the cool people in 1990 and Sean graduated a year ahead of me in 1991 (oops) 1989 with all the un-cool kids. We never once spoke in high school or even made eye contact. What can I say, he was not cool (just kidding). We just never really crossed paths, although I did know of him. He took my ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Wheland Wettergren (yes, I played it straight back then) to the prom. Yes, I know what you are thinking and yes, she did have a thing for gay guys, but can you blame her – we are both fabulous.  Anyhow, enough about Jenn…let’s get back to Sean. I did connect with Sean last year on Facebook through my friend, Tom Robinson, who I know from the mid-1990’s when I lived in Albany, NY. Tom and I were good friends. I noticed comments on several of Tom’s Facebook updates from a Sean Breen. Not being the most common name, I asked Tom if Sean was from Troy, NY (yes, I am a Facebook stalker) and he was indeed the Sean, who I went to high school. Eventually, Sean and I became friends on Facebook and unfortunately for the rest of the world, since we share a similar dark sense of humor, we became friends. When Dale and I went back to Troy, NY this summer for my 20th high school reunion, Sean kindly invited us to stay at his and his husband, Jeffrey’s house in Guilderland (although I think it is really Schenectady), NY. Sean and Jeffrey were incredible hosts, so much in fact, we found ourselves skipping other planned events so we could spend more time with them. Yes, once again…we fell in love. How could you not? They are charming, funny, kind, gay and let me go naked in their pool. These are qualities I love a man. But seriously, I have to say what I love most about Sean is his honestly. He is who is he,  never afraid of saying how he feels. I love when a person has enough strength to just be them self. Best of all, he has a loyalty and admiration for the friends in his life that is unparalleled. He would do anything for a friend and he has been there when we have needed a smile or a kind word many times. Although my blog, is not listed on his blog as one of his “favorite blogs”, I still adore him. Dale keeps asking when Sean and Jeffrey are going to come visit us or when we get to go to New York to see them again, which shows just how special Sean and his husband, Jeffrey truly are to us. Again, our thanks for being you! We love you (and Jeffrey too).

To you all, our sincere thanks for your gift of friendship this year, as it truly is a gift and something we cherish. We love you all and are so thankful to have you in our lives. Happy New Year to you all.

Is saying thank you a chore?

The other day someone commented on Facebook how they cannot believe I always jump right on the "chore" of sending thank you notes. What is funny is that I rarely ever see this as a chore. I personally like sending thank you notes. I like showing appreciation.

To me, when someone does something nice for Dale or I, it makes us feel good to let them know we recognize and appreciate their kindness. Yes, it can be a little time consuming, but I think it is time well spent. Really, let's be honest...what does it take...three minutes to write a thank you card? Also, I am not saying everything requires a thank you card. I do think a phone call, email or thank you in person are more than adequate. I personally usually do a thank you card, but that is just me. I know I like getting them, so I assume others do too.

If it is a chore, then my belief is you should not accept a gift or help from someone, if you are not willing to say thanks. Just my two cents.

What a Christmas!

Another amazing Christmas is in the books. It was a glorious holiday and a reminder on how blessed of a life Dale and I lead.

Christmas morning was full of love and joy as Dale and I exchanged gifts. Dale surprised me with an iPad and he loved his oil painting of our dog, Millie. It is nice to be able to surprise each other after all these years.

At 1:00 PM, we headed over to our friends and neighbors, Nicole and Toby Krout for Christmas dinner. The Krout's are wonderful and have included us in their family Christmas dinner for the past 4 years. It has become one of our holiday traditions. They have 20 or so family members over to their house to celebrate the holiday, so it is always a lot of fun with a great mix of generations from Nicole's grandparents down to Toby and Nicole's kids. It is nice to see four generations of family all in one house. Once again, Nicole outdid herself and served a delicious dinner. There were three different versions of tenderloins and of course, I had to try all three. Add in vegetables, bread, smashed potatoes and far too many desserts and I was in a very happy food coma by 4:00 PM. Nicole is one of the best cooks I have had the pleasure to know. She makes food more than just food, but truly an art form. My thanks to the Krout's for including Dale and I in their Christmas family. We are blessed to have you in our lives and love you all.

At 6:30 PM, we headed over to our friend's Sandy and Steve Stubbendick for dessert and games. Even though we had dessert at the Krout's, we took part in some more cookies and pie. How can you pass on key lime pie, right? We had a blast at the Stubbendick's, joining their daughters and a few of their friends for some board games - Loaded Questions and Pictionary Man. There were a ton of laughs and I even finished off the holiday with a mojito that Steve made for me. It was a great evening and before we knew it, the clock said 11:30 PM. Thank you to Sandy and Steve for having us over. We had so much fun and could not think of a better way to end the holiday.

What a Christmas! I not only have the best partner in the world, but also incredible friends, who are so kind to include us in their families at Christmas.

Our friends spoil us

Over the past few weeks, our friends have given us some wonderful treats and gifts. Most of the presents we held for this morning as we love to open them on Christmas Day. Our friends are incredible and such a blessing in our lives.

Our thanks to Tammy for the wonderful gourmet lollipops. Yum!

Our friend Barb treated Zoe to a special princess dog bone.

And Barb treated us to a beautiful smelling candle. We love it. Thanks for always making us feel special.

Matt and Michelle gave us an incredible silver mistletoe. The picture does no justice to it’s beauty and Zoe’s eye is not helping. It is gorgeous. Thank you.

Thanks Jeanne for the yummy treat.

Score. Relish. Dale is so excited to try this relish. I made his wait until Christmas. It is a great gift from the Krouts. Thanks.

Our friend Brenda has this beautiful metal scultpure made of Millie. It was so thoughtful and it a wonderful reminder of our little girl. Thank you!

We are blessed to have such amazing friends. And for those not featured here who gave us gifts, cookies and candies….thank you all. You made our lives such much better. Merry Christmas.

Christmas with me

I love, love, love Christmas. It is such a wonderful time and Dale makes it even that more wonderful. He captured the fun this morning as I opened gifts with some pictures.

Here I am opening my stocking. Zoe likes to help.

 I am not sure what this face is for, but Dale liked it.

I got slippers. They smell great. Yeah, you’d smell new slippers if you had them too.

New thick, wool socks for when I walk in the cold. You can tell I was surprised.

And new long johns for walking in the cold. I sense a theme.

What did I get, what did I get?

Lots of iTunes gift cards because I love me the music downloads.

A beautiful new sweater.

New hat and mittens to keep me warm this winter.

I get excited opening gifts.

Another beautiful sweater. Love it.

Underwear! Underwear! I take a smaller size now, so that is very exciting.

Rip!

T-Shirts! Yes!!!

I got tired of sitting on the floor, so onto the couch.

A vest. I love vests. I wanted a good winter vest and Dale got me a great one.

Thanks Dale for spoiling me for Christmas and most of all, thank you for all your love. It was a great morning.

An iPad. Freaking sweet!

For my big gift Dale surprised, actually shocked me with an iPad. I have been asking for one for a year and Dale always told me I did not need one and it was not practical. He actually did such a great job of telling me this, I too started to think there was no value in getting one.

I unwrapped the box and it was a USPS box.

I found another wrapped box inside.

 It was a smaller USPS box inside.

With another wrapped box inside.

Yippeeeee! An iPad.

Yeah me!

And another gift with it.

A beautiful iPad cover and a kick ass iPad. I an so excited.

Dale’s extra special gift

For Christmas, I had a oil painting created of our dog Millie, who passed in October. She was very special to Dale and I figured he would love a special memorial to her. It was painted by Diane Feissel in Philadelphia, PA. She did an amazing job. I captured Dale opening the painting on video. He loved it.

Christmas for Dale

For me my best present is seeing Dale’s smiling face on Christmas morning when he opens his presents. It is the best part of Christmas for me and makes me so happy. Here he is opening his gifts:

We start with stockings.

Dale got a mini etch-a-sketch. 

A gummy life savers story book.

An orange. Not sure what this tradition means, but Dale loves it.

Socks. This is all Dale actually asked for this year.

A cookbook from Rocco DiSpirito. He is cute and a great cook.

The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo. An inspiring message or story for 365 days.

Epic Mickey game for Wii.

An ornament with a picture of Millie.

An ornament with a picture of Tom and Dale.

Season 1 of Glee. Yes, Dale is a gLeek.

A new sweater from Banana Republic, which he loved.

New pottery by Jonathan Adler.

A digital picture frame loaded with 150 pictures of Dale and I, plus the dogs. 

This photo made Dale weepy.

I turned Dale’s blog on his cancer treatment into a book.

He loved it.

And was a little weepy.

Dale got our old laptop in a box???

It directed him to  http://twentyfourdates.blogspot.com/, which is a site I created and detailed the 24 dates I would take Dale in 2011, including a hot air balloon ride.

I think Dale enjoyed all his gifts and seemed very happy with everything. I love spoiling him on Christmas.