it's the little things...

This is my last (and 127th) post of the year. Less than last year. I've read 17 books and am in the middle of two more. Slightly more than last year. Created the Life List and marked 6 things off it with progress on 3 more. Obviously more than last year. Traveled 123 days for work (including sites that are blessedly in town). Slightly less than last year. Here's how the rest of the year went down (per my Christmas card insert): January —Started my training to volunteer at a local non-profit that helps children who have lost parents or siblings (and their parents). I’ve been doing this twice a month all year. February —Turned 31 with fancy birthday dinner. First Valentine’s Day with the then Boyfriend (who was sick). March —Went to Vegas with The Boyfriend (for my job and a little leisure). We saw our first Cirque show. Also, The Brother got married (without me having a nervous breakdown). April —Was in my second wedding of the year. Went to Opening Day of the Astros. May —M...

It appears that I just fled to the great white north without saying goodbye. Without letting you know when I'd be back. Without wishing you a merry Christmas. Sorry about that. So, I'm back. The Fiance and I left for DC on the 19th. We had a really good time visiting some of the memorials and museums and government buildings. It was very cold and we spent a lot of time outdoors. But that gave me a chance to wear cute winter clothes. We also visited one of my favorite people from high school which was really great (and long overdue). I wish they lived closer. Obligatory pics... Doesn't it just look cold in most of those? One nifty thing was seeing some of the preparation for the inauguration--temporary fencing, bleachers being built. Also? Love, love, love the National Cathedral. Looks so European. And while we were there we got to hear the choir practicing. When they sang "O Holy Night" I had a few tears. It's such a beautiful song and they had great vo...

I flew to Dallas this morning because I was supposed to be at one of my sites today and one tomorrow. When I got here at 8:00, I found out that my site wasn't opening until 11:00 but the winter weather warning had just been extended to 4:00. The weather (and traffic) was so bad here today that we just went ahead and postponed today's visit and I ended up working at the hotel. They're talking about frozen fog on the news. I've never even heard of such a thing. Yea for room service. Yea for not having to get out on icy roads in freezing temperatures. I've also had a chance to try to figure out our Washington DC itinerary. I'm always so last-minute with planning... If you've been, what would you suggest seeing and what wasn't worth your time?

I'm still trying to not be sick. I know people say it is just an old wives tale that the weather can make you ill, but I give you this: December 9th: high 78, low 46 10th: 46/32 with snow 11th: 56/33 12th: 62/32 13th: 71/38 (I don't believe this low but that's what the internet said.) 14th: 74/63 Balmy when we went to bed last night. When I woke up this morning at The Fiance's it was suddenly about 15 degrees cooler. When I drove home it was still balmy. Now? 50 degrees. I know I'm going to be whining about the cold when we're up north starting Friday but at least it will be predictable. Freezing. Tomorrow? Freezing. The next day? Freezing. Freezing, freezing, freezing. And snow. Where God intended it to be--above the Mason-Dixon.

But allegedly tonight The Fiance is starting a delightful fire. Literally, people; get your mind out of the gutter. It's rainy today and just above freezing. Yesterday? In the 70s. If I hadn't gotten sick before... So, quick question for the day. For those of you who have planned a wedding in the past (or I guess this could apply to any big topic like childrearing, etc.), how did you handle people who had lots of advice? People with opinions different from your own? People who say "should?" If you haven't guessed, this has come up multiple times already, and we haven't even gotten started with real planning yet. Have I mentioned it's freakin' cold outside? I'm a wussy Texan (but perhaps that's why I live in Texas).

Remember on Seinfeld ? How George's fiance, Susan, died because of licking all those wedding invitation envelopes? Let's hope my incessant Christmas card envelope licking doesn't end the same way. They'll go in the mail tomorrow, people. Woohoo ! Also, lots of shopping last Friday so hopefully I'll be ready for the holidays. And of course I have a head cold. I think I'm feeling better. Hard to tell with the medication hangover... In obligatory engagement news, I had to bail on lunch with the future MIL today because I literally had no voice. And? It took my ring finger a week to get used to the engagement ring. It now notices when it's gone. My pointer finger, however, is still feeling a little sad. It used to sport the left hand ring (for years) but now that seems to bling -y. One ring per hand. Poor, sad pointer finger. (I said I was sick. That's as good of a post as I can muster today...)

I've been officially off the market for about 3 days now. It's overwhelmingly weird. Don't get me wrong, I really couldn't be happier. Very exciting. Best year ever. But it's weird to think of what this means. And to have and be a fiance. To think about changing my name and combining households. To be able to live with the person I love. All of it. I've been wearing my mother's ring for about 2 days now. Also weird. It's beautiful and I think it looks good on my skinny little finger. I've put it on briefly in the past just to imagine what it would be like (even well before I met The Fiance) but now it fits me. It's always been Mom's ring, though, and I wonder how long it will take for me to call it mine. When people ask to see it and compliment me on it, I just respond that it was my mother's. I'm not sure why I'm compelled to say that. And I have no idea why--maybe because my mom wore this ring all day everyday--bu...

We woke up yesterday with the titles of Boyfriend/Girlfriend for the last time. It was a slow, easy start to the final day of a good long weekend. We piddled around, he setting up a wifi connection in my office and me working on Christmas cards that remain unfinished. Did some laundry. We were planning on doing a little Christmas shopping since our preparation has been condensed by a week because of our pre-holiday travel. Set out to start our errands... He had mentioned that he wanted to go to the rum distillery (first one in Texas) that's about 10 miles from here. That was our second stop. Neither one of us had been there. It was supposed to be the site of our first date but the distillery was still too new for tours back then so we had settled on lunch (and endless chatting) instead. On the way there, I reached into the glove compartment to get my GPS and there was a towel in there. Since I hadn't put it there, I asked him what it was and if I needed to be concerned about hi...