Maybe there can be world peace . . .

So maybe there can be world peace. Maybe we can all get along after all. Maybe the world just is a bit better off then we think it is.

Case in point: all cats, touching and no one is getting hissed at, bitten, sceatched or otherwise irritated, picked on or maimed.

As most know, we have three cats. If you ask Cody that's three more then we need. But he really does love them - I even hear him say so. But they don't so much get along all the time. They don't fight per se but they certainly aren't all "buddies." It sort of goes like this:

First there is Wiggles - if I didn't list her first she would probably try to kill me in my sleep. She is a little brat and co-dependent and a snot. But Cody loves her like crazy. She follows him around insanely pathetic like. When he sits down, within four seconds (we've counted a number of time) she is in his lap. And then she climbs up on his shoulders and wraps herself around his neck and won't move. He absolutely cannot resist her "cuteness." I find it irritating. She is like that girl in high school who pretends to be really sweet and cute and everyone loves her but she is really a conniving backstabbing bitch.

Next there is Bumpis. She is the funny cute one that everyone loves. No one can help but think Bumpis is just cute, fuzzy and funny - though she's dumber then a box of rocks. She gets along fine with Wiggles because Bumpis "follows" her - like following the popular girl around to be "cool" but the only reason the popular one keeps you around is because you're funny and look cute and are stupid as a box of rocks. She gets along with Pickles - but only when Wiggles isn't watching. When Wiggles is around then Bumpis is too "cool" to hang out with Pickles. Cody says Bumpis is his "favorite" because she is funny and cute and stupid - just what a guy is looking for. :)

Finally there is Mr. Pickles. Pickles is more like the awkward geek/nerd who is trying to find herself in the world - sort of goth/alternative and very unsure of herself. She really just wants to be loved but it's difficult because when you try to be sweet to her and pet her she is very hesitant and wants to be petted in her very specific way - you can't just start scratching all willy nilly - you have to sort of baby Pickles so she can accept love. Wiggles, the strong "leader" picks on her like crazy. Not mean, but just irritates Pickles. If Pickles has the good, sunny window spot, Wiggles will jump up and kick her off and Pickles will sulk off to find another decent spot - until Wiggles decides she wants that one and kicks Pickles off again. She gets along fine with Bumpis and is more then happy to have someone to play with but as soon as Wiggles comes around Bumpis is suddenly too good for her so she goes and plays chess by herself somewhere in a corner.

The nightly ritual is this: Bumpis sleeps at the foot of the bed on the fleece Gator blanket where she doesn't move unless you physically kick her off the bed. As soon as I lay down under the covers Mr. Pickles runs up, I lift the covers and she sleeps under my side of the covers. She doesn't want to be in the open or to be petted, just to sleep near someone. Wiggles is the more domineering - she sleeps right on top of Cody. If he's on his back, she sleeps right smack on his stomach. If he's on his side, she sleeps right on top of his hip.

Needless to say, to make a long story short, they love each other in their own special ways but they don't "cuddle" often together. Very rarely do you get them all three together like a little family. Tonight was one of those days - So, maybe there can be world peace one of these days. . . either that or Cody keeps it entirely too cold in our house so they huddle together for shear warmth. :)

This picture was just funny. I was studying for the Bar and the only way I can study is to write everything I need to know on notecards - needless to say I have hundreds of them. So I decided to see if I could cover Bumpis in them. Maybe she can learn some Wills, Estates and Trusts by osmosis. Too bad you can't bring a cat with you in the exam - at least it would be more enjoyable that way. But considering you can't bring a watch or even a coat, I doubt they will allow a cat. :)

Countdown.

I know we´re all supposed to live every day to its fullest and enjoy the beauties and bounties of every day and not preface every day with ¨tomorrow I will . . ." or ¨I can wait for next week/ month/ year and then I will be happy/ fulfilled/ relaxed/ etc." I do try to do that most days - enjoy the day for today and not live in what is coming or what has passed. I might add, however, that this is a constant, daily struggle for me. I tend to look in the past quite a bit and dwell on what I should have done, should have said, or should have refrained from. Other times I focus so much on the future that I fail to enjoy today - sometimes I can´t wait for the weekend for a party, an event, a nap - sometimes I can´t wait until next month for a vacation, a project to end or a nap. So I really try to get over that tendency to let today fly by in the anticipation of tomorrow (which, as we all know, is not ever guaranteed) or fail to enjoy today while I´m busy focusing on yesterday.
But not right now. My life right now is a countdown and I´m not apologizing for it. I could care less about these days and are just hoping they fly by quickly. I am waiting, not so patiently, for, first, the 27th of February at 5 p.m.. I take the Illinois Bar Exam on the 26th and 27th up in Chicago and can not wait for it to be over. This is my first bar exam where I really, honestly, feel like I have a decent chance of not passing. Florida I could not have failed - I put in tons of time and even took the course youŕe supposed to take to pass the bar. Missouri I only had to take one day of the two-day exam and given my second day score from Florida (which I could transfer), I pretty much just needed to show up to pass that one. But now since my second day score has expired I have to take both days again. I seriously cannot remember this stuff like I thought I would. There are some subjects (commercial paper and secured transactions) that I have simply given up trying to learn because no matter how much time I spend I still will not get those and will waste time studying for subjects that I can get better at - my only hope is those subjects are not on the exam. So right now I have a zillion hours of studying to do (this has literally been my life lately) and only 9 days to do it in. Yikes. So, yeah, I could care less about these next 9 days - just get them over with - get me to the Bar and get this over with. If I don´t pass itś not the end of the world - only $1200 and three days wasted in the arctic tundra that is Chicago this time of year.
Second, I´m just waiting for February to be over. And damned if it wasn´t one day longer this year. At my job (and most legal jobs) we don´t work a certain number of hours a week - we don´t punch a time clock - we work for billable hours. So I have to bill a certain number of hours a month - or else. I can sit at work for 10 hours and if I only bill 2 hours then I still have to sit there until I get enough for the month. Other times you can get 2 hours in 30 minutes. It all depends. Well, usually it´s relatively doable if you put your mind to it. This month, however, I was out sick for three days and while I tried to do as much work as I could from home, it certainly wasn´t enough to get me to my hours. Add that to the three days I´ll be gone for the Bar and there is no way to recover. My hours are shot for the month. It´s embarrassing and I´m sure I´ll catch slack for it, but it´s just something that happens sometimes. So I just want the month to be over, I can get this crummy billable month over with and recover in March.
And, finally third, I just want March to be here. The beginning of Daylight Savings Time (one of my favorite days of the year), longer days, the official beginning of spring (though I swear we do not get actual spring weather here until May), St. Patrick´s Day (one of the more fun holidays), Easter (another fave - mostly because of Cadbury Creme Eggs), and just a general sigh of relief that the end of winter is coming.
So, sorry if I´m not living for the day right now - I´m just ready to get these few over with.

My ducks.

Great news! My ducks are finally all getting in a row! You see, for a while now my ducks have been wandering around aimlessly and lost. There was one duck in the middle of the interstate trying to get across. Another was at the lake but it was frozen solid so he was confused. Another was in vacation in Florida while yet another was stuck in a snow storm in Wisconsin. One duck just slept all day and in his waking hours watched daytime tv - Oprah, Dr. Phil, Judge Judy and the sort. Another doesn't sleep at all. I think another one of the ducks was eaten by the cats. You get the point. I couldn't figure out where my life was going, what I wanted, or even where I was presently. There were so many questions and a lot of general confusion. I felt like I thought things would settle down and fall into place once the wedding was over and while they did for a little bit, there were still a lot of other questions out there - I had only solved one of them. And lately (well, a bit more then just "lately") they've just been nutty.
But yesterday all my ducks lines up in order and I am SO happy - and light - and happy. Unfortunately I can't quite say why yet - it can't be public for a while (in case you're in a guessing mood, no, I am not pregnant or even trying to get pregnant - trying to avoid that for the time being). It's one of those things that have to be kept under public wraps (at least on the blog since it's really "public") for legal reasons for the time being. Anyway, but I finally feel like my life is lining up the way I want it to. I'm finally figuring out what I want - and actually getting it! I finally feel like I'm getting all my ducks in order. The last 24 hours have literally been life changing - in a really great way. Not only have new things come up but I've learned a ton about myself in the process.
Anyway, happy happy happy ducks are in a row!

Sad.

Anyone who has ever had a long distance relationship can relate to this. Or someone who doesn't live close to family. When you're visiting the other person (like when I would fly up to visit Cody before I moved here and when we visit Tally) there is always this crazy sadness the night before you leave. For instance if my plane left at noon on Monday, then on Sunday is when you go around the house, make sure you have all your stuff, pick up the house after your weekend/week of fun and together time, pack everything up and get ready for leaving. It's always a really quiet, sad process. You never know quite what to say because if you start talking about leaving then you might just start to cry. You just get ready and dread the next day. When we're leaving Tally to come back home it's the same thing - the night before we leave we always try to pack and get everything in order - that is always the worst part of the trip. If I even try to talk to someone or ask where something is or say that we had a good time then I start to cry. For me, I just have to get to the business of packing and try to make it to the next morning.
That's how I feel right now. We've been staying in our spare room (since it has a TV) while we've been sick so it was something different then normal. Today I've been cleaning up as much as I can. Picked up the spare room and returned it to its normal state - moved us back upstairs (because that's where the alarm clocks are). And it's sad to see our little vacation end - even though we didn't really "enjoy" it because we were insanely sick, it was nice to at least suffer together. Tomorrow is back to the "real world" just like when you leave visiting someone to go back home to your "real world." I know it sounds weird, but we've literally been quarantined in our house the last few days because we didn't wnat to get anyone sick and so we've really gotten to just get used to just hanging out together all day. It will be sad to go back to the "real world" tomorrow.

Fun Stuff.

Not really. This past week and a half has sort of flown by in a weird blur. A blur of snow, Mardi Gras, friends and then sickness. Terrible, terrible sickness. But I'll get to that part.
Backing up just a bit, last Thursday (not a few days ago Thursday but the one before that) a good friend came in town for the weekend from New Jersey to visit friends and partake in the Mardi Gras festivities. I picked her up from the airport around 4:30 while it was snowing - not blizarding, but a good steady snow. And it kept snowing. And snowing. We went to dinner in Kirkwood (see previous post regarding sadness in this cute community) and it seriously took us 40 minutes to get home with the snow. We saw four snow plows - but none of them actually had the plow down. Go figure. So when there is snow in St. Louis (more then a "dusting") there is sleding. And since I still have this crazy fascination with snow, I dragged my friend (who grew up with the white stuff) to the local large hill for some sledding action with fellow Florida transplants. A blast. A fun blast, but a blast nonetheless - at least it's a great workout.
Friday was to be a normal everyday sort of day, but there was SNOW! Lots of it! I seriously got out a ruler and walked around the yard measuring the snow and we got between 8 and 12 inches. While that is nothing for Wisconsin, that is a lot for us. A friend called as we were getting better for work and told us they saw that Boeing was closed. Our first response was "Bull S***! Boeing NEVER closes!" We searched the internet and TV and couldn't find any indication they were indeed closed - for the last ditch effort we called the hotline - and sure enough they were closed!!! Since when it snows I usually get a ride to work with Cody and my car wasn't going anywhere with all that snow, I decided to work from home (many of us, knowing we were going to get snow, brought work home just in case). It was such a cool day getting to hang out with Cody (my friend had plans with other friends).
Friday night we went with some other friends over to the "East Side" (East St. Louis - east of the River) to a bar to watch Bon Jovi and Guns and Roses tribute bands. While it sounds dorky - it was AWESOME!! We had such a good time hanging out with friends, listening to old music and just hanging out.
Saturday was, of course, Mardi Gras. We got up way too early (after being out way too late) and dragged our happy butts down to the parade. The parade was lots of fun - good floats and all - then we met up with friends afterwards for general drinking/party fun.
Sunday my friend and I, along with some fellow girls, had a fun "girls night" of bonding and Cheesecake Factory. :)
And Sunday is when it all started. The general body aches. The fever that I couldn't get to break. The cough. The dead tired grossness. It was so bad I couldn't sleep more then 30 minutes out of every few hours because my skin hurt so bad with the fever and the cough and sore throat were bad enough to make me cry. But, like a trooper, I went to work on Monday because they do not like people to call in sick - they automatically think you're lying I think. Too bad I didn't get anything done because I was just trying to survive. Lifting my head hurt. Standing took all my energy. Monday night was more of the same. I didn't even want to sleep in the same bed as Cody because he just couldn't sleep with me coughing and tossing and turning. Fever would just not go away. Tuesday more of the same. Tried to work, basically just sat there trying not to die. Unfortunately Cody came home from school early with the same thing - fever, body aches, insane sore throat and cough. I hurt so bad I called my mom crying, trying to find something to make my skin stop hurting. That night neither of us slept more then 3 hours because of the discomfort. So first thing Wednesday morning, we were at Urgent Care the minute they opened. One Q-tip up our nose (each - two Q-tips total, not one Q-tip for the both of us) and it came back bright and clear "influenza." Apparently what we all call the "flu" is just a bad cold. Real "influenza" is like the black death - or mono - whatever you want to call it. It's bad - very very very bad. So he gave us some lovely anti-flu meds, told us not to go near anyone for five days and sleep. I thought to myself, "Are you kidding, Buddy? We've been TRYING to sleep - it hurts too much!" But we took his medicine and his advice, went to Wal-greens for the meds and 12 bottles of juice and were on our way home. The next few days are a big blur. Mostly just sleep and taking medicine. We literally were sleeping 15-20 hours per day. If you've ever had mono then you know how this feels. We've both had mono and this brought back horrible flashbacks. It seriously took all my energy to walk up the stairs and then back down - and then I would sleep for two hours. It was insane. We had to miss all the fun we had planned for the weekend because for five days you're insanely contagious and I would have died if we gave this to one of our friends (I wouldn't even wish this on enemies). So we have been camped out - just the two of us in our sick bay of a house for days now. We've actually been up for 8 hours already today so that's a good sign. It's bad to work tomorrow - we'll have to see how that goes. The biggest problem now is just the energy - there is none. We tried to take a short walk and I was so exhausted I thought I was going to throw up. So much for working out this week. Anyway, that's our biggest news.
Should have gotten a flu shot. Many moons ago, in law school, I did my civic duty and got my flu shot. Then they stuck a band-aid on my arm and I swear to you it left a discoloured band-aid mark on my skin for 6 months - so for half the year it looked like I had a band-aid on my skin from where the skin was "bleached." I have no idea why that happened, but I've associated it with the flu shot ever since. So I haven't been gettting them. Plus I figured I had the flu before and it was just a big cold - WRONG - I swear I've never had the flu like this. Next year I will be dragging myself and Cody (kicking and screaming if need be) to the doctor for a flu shot - never again.

St. Louis in the news again.

We always get in the news for great stuff, huh? A year or so ago we were the center of a baby snatching drama - some crazy lady went to a house in the boonies, cut the mom's throat and took the baby. Mom was fine, baby was found but it was all over CNN for days. Then we were the center of the drama when those two kids were found. A kid was kidnapped (again from the boonies), another kid spotted the truck that was seen near the snatching, police found the truck, and when they went inside to get the boy recently kidnapped they found another boy that had been missing/kidnapped for four years. Crazy.
Now some nut-job goes and shoots up a City Council meeting. What is this world coming to? First, while it sounds cliche' the neighborhood this happened in really is a nice, quiet suburb in the county. Second, not to be paranoid, but I deal with people like this guy - who go nuts over their stupid, very small, legal cases - every day. I've had cases that might net the people a few thousand dollars but they go nuts over them - getting so involved, thinking they were "wronged," etc. and they start filing all sorts of crazy paperwork and threatening to report me to the Bar, the Department of Justice, etc. Crazy.
Really, what is this world coming to?

Wal-Mart

So everyone knows that I hate Wal-Mart. And I don't hate it because I'm snobby or "too good" for it or because of the mostly negative societal impact is has on America and all that jazz - I hate it because I used to love it - I loved the cheap plastic crap - I loved just shopping there - back when it was seemingly enjoyable (that was also when I was younger, had more time and patience). Now the service sucks, the products mostly suck and the whole experience just sucks. So I avoid it. But tonight we needed a few odds and ends (plus I wanted to prove to Cody that our Wal-Mart, that is NOT a Super Wal-Mart, now sells beer - a 24 pack of "The Beast" for less then $10 - he marveled for about 10 mintues at the beer/wine aisle - I kid you not we walked up and down it three times just so he could take it all in - simple pleasures, folks, simple pleasures) so we went up to the Maplewood Wal-Mart (which a friend kindly refers to as the "Maple-hood" Wal-Mart - funny thing is it is surrounded by some of the the richest neighborhoods in the county). So we went to Wal-Mart right after I worked out and sweated for quite a while, but I didn't want to take a shower because I figured (1) I never see anyone I know there and (2) everyone else there smells so I wouldn't stand out. So I smelled, had no makeup and looked totally ratty and we saw not one, not two, but FOUR of our friends there. It was like a social gathering at the Wal-Mart on a Wednesday night! So now I feel dumb for looking like a totally ratty lazy person at Wal-Mart. Anyway, that was a good story at the beginning, but upon writing it down, it turned out not that funny, with no real point - sorry to waste your time. :) It was just a funny moment to see everyone in a Wal-Mart I NEVER see anyone in.

Tag!

I was "tagged!" Since I didn't know what exactly this entailed either, I'll tell you.

The Rules: Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. My friend and super fantastic, smart, witty and poignant friend, Melissa tagged me.
Then: Share 5 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
or Share the 5 top places on your “want to see or want to see again” list.
or Share 5 things you never pictured being in your future when your were 25 years old.

I think I'm going to do a mixture of the above (althought it's technically not in the rules):

Random/Weird Facts:

1. When I was younger (like before middle school) I was dead set convinced that I would be the first woman president. I seriously thought of issues I would address, problems I would fix, etc. But alas, damn that Hillary might beat me to it. :)

2. I'm totally OCD about some really stupid stuff - like a friend told me a story about one of her friends, when she was a kid, accidently turned on the dryer with the family cat in it - needless to say it didn't end well - so I double check the dryer every time I put a load in to make sure there's not a cat in there. That's really stupid but I just don't want to ever open the dryer and find a dead cat - that would just be really really really creepy.

3. All three cats sleep in bed with us - every single night (during the summer they will sometimes stay downstairs if it's too hot upstairs) - two of them normally under the covers. We cannot for the life of us break them of this habit.

4. I can remember lots from when I was a pretty tiny kid. Like when I burned the palms of my hand on the KFC (known back then as still "Kentucky Fried Chicken") burners when I was less then 2 years old. And our house in Ocala which we only lived in until I was two. And tons and tons of stuff from ages 5 up. Speaking of memory, I can't remember names to save my life but can remember the clothes I had on at Cody's birthday last year - or where he left his jacket two days ago - or all sorts of random things - but never names or where I left my car keys.

5. Fish make me calm. Cody always tries to get rid of our fish tanks (yes, plural - we have several) because they are a lot of work, but watching them swim around really makes me chill out.

Top Places on the "want to see or want to see again" list:

1. Want to see again - Rome - because I think Cody would totally love it and I would love to share that with him.

2. Want to see - Greece - the pictures just look cool.

3. Want to see - more of the US. For years I have been obsessed about visiting other countries - rightfully so though since it is so fun and such a neat experience - but with the dollar insanely weak and little to no vacation time and being all grown up now, I think I want to make an effort to see more of the US. Old Faithful anyone?

Things I never pictured being in my future when I was 25 years old:

1. St. Louis - never in a million years would I have thought I would live in St. Louis, Missouri - or any part of Missouri for that matter - or any part of the Midwest. But I'm glad I do because it's given me an outlook and exposure to things I never would have had.

2. Gray hair. I found one. Don't go freaking out - it was just one. But I always thought that I would somehow avoid that part of the aging process - wishful thinking I suppose.

3. Going back a few years before 25, I never pictured law school or law in my future. Some kids want to be lawyers from the time they enter college (these people should be shot -just kidding) - not me - I graduated undergrad and had not a clue what I wanted to do and law just seemed the easy thing to do. I know, I'm a moron.

4. Again going back to a few years before 25, I never thought in a hundred million years Cody and I would end up back together. When we broke up it wasn't like we kept in great touch and still hung out - no- we were actually really over - we both dated other people and had "moved on." Even though the thought of him was always in the back of my mind and I always thought of what it would like to date him again, I thought that realistically the chances of us both being single at the same time ever again was slim to none. Guess we proved that wrong. Some things just happen for a reason.

5. My blog. I didn't even know what a blog was when I was 25. And now I'm strangely attached to mine - and other people's. I think it's a cool way to talk things out to yourself/everyone else, and a great way to keep in touch with other people - people that you may have lost touch with otherwise.

I’m also supposed to tag other people, so how about Jon, Lauren and Mesa?

Apathetic.

That pretty much explains this year so far. I'm just apathetic about just about everything. I've really been trying to work out consistently even though my knee is still bum (I used to work out five days a week for at least an hour but then with my knee bummed I'm lucky to get in five days of 45 minutes on the bike) but with the knee STILL being a pain, I've been pretty apathetic about that - though Cody has been a really great motivator here. Even though I can only increase my running mere minutes at a time, I'm up from 20 minutes of walking with two 1-minute segments to 35 minutes walking with three 3-minute segements - wow - a whole 9 minutes of running. I should be impressed, but I'm not. I was back at the doctor yesterday and the concensus is "we don't know what the #$#$% is going on."
I'm pretty apathetic about work. I go. I work. I bill hours. I leave and go home. Nothing much more interesting then that. Nothing really motivating there except trying not to get fired (you never know any more around there).
I'm apathetic about the weather. It's cold. Then it gets colder. Then it warms up to 50 and I think it's a heat wave. But then it's cold again. I'm over being sick of the cold. I'm just apathetic towards it now. At least I get to use all those warm, fluffy jackets I spent all that money on.
I'm apathetic about decisions. We just have so darn many of them to make in life and I'm just done debating them and thinking about them all the time. Do we stay in STL forever and ever? If not, when do we leave? Where do we go? You would think these would be fun and exciting decisions -but then you wouldn't be having to make them. I think they're fun decisions for other people to be debating and I love to hear what/where/when they're debating - but it's not fun when it's us making the choices. The answer is "I just don't know." I don't even know how it is we will come about to make this decision - if and when it ever even gets made.
I'm apathetic about the whole kid question. At first I liked to think about it and try to "figure it out" and get an idea of what our "plan" was. But then after banging our heads against the perverbial wall, we are still no closer to making any decisions that in any way resemble a move towards a decision in that regard. Honestly, we would both be perfectly fine without kids for the rest of our lives - while I know that shocks the conscious of many folks, we've talked about it and if we never have kids, then that's okay. But assuming we will one day want to walk that path, we have no idea how to "plan" for it since we really don't have that "itch" yet to even think about changing our lives in that way. I feel like we're obviously getting old and while I see no need to have kids now, the time is winding by quicker and quicker, and we need to at least have a goal or a loose plan - but we don't. And I don't know if and when we ever will. My goal used to be by 30, now I think it's 35. If you can even call that a goal.
In other, not so apathetic news, life is actually really really good. We're having a good time. We enjoy our quiet time and our party/loud time. We enjoy our together time and our increasing alone time (with Cody back in school). We enjoy our busy time and our near extinct down time (but we make our lives that way because we like it that way in some sick sense). I think that's why I'm so apathetic about so many extranious things - work, the cold, decisions, kids, etc. - because things are just fine the way they are right now.

Been a while.

Wow. I keep thinking to myself, "I need to update the blog" and then something gets in the way - so if you'd asked me a few minutes ago how long it's been since I last wrote, I'd have said about a week. Man does time fly without you even realizing it sometimes.
So a quick update first. Cody and I, along with our illustrious St. Louis Gateway Gator Club president, Chris all went to Gainesville a few weekends ago (MLK weekend) for the annual Gator Leaders Weekend. Basically all the Gator Clubs from around the country gather in G'ville for the weekend and pow wow about the Alumni Association, getting more young alumni participation/involvement, getting more money, volunteering, etc. It was actually way cooler then it sounds on paper. We learned a lot and are quite motivated to implement some of our newfound ideas into our club here. It was a fun weekend too - we went out on the town Thursday and Friday nights to some of our old favorite hang outs. It was neat to see what a different experience each of us had at UF. I forgot how skinny and young all the girls are there - kind of depressing. So we had a great time visiting the old stomping grounds - though we learned we can't drink like we used to be able to. :) Then on Sunday, once the meetings and stuff were over, Cody's family (including his sister and the kids) drove down to visit and go to lunch with us. It was really cool to see them and hang out - we even took them to the stadium and got to run around on the grass. Our "must do" list in G'ville? Go to The Swamp (the bar and the stadium), get subs at Publix (we did this twice), eat at Sonny's (dinner on Saturday), go to Crispers (my goal - not their's - lunch on Sunday) and stay at the Reitz Union (our hotel was there). Then it was back to cold cold cold STL.
Yesterday was Cody's birthday (yea!) so last weekend was "birthday weekend." We had a great time visiting with friends over the weekend - it really makes you appreciate all the friends and support you have in a town that a few years ago you knew no one. Yesterday, his actual birthday, we played it low key. We tried to eat at his favorite Thai place but it was closed on Monday so we did Greek instead. Then we ate Jell-O No Bake Cheesecake - Cody is an alien and doesn't really like sweets or cake so his mom would always make this for his birthday because it's really the only cake he likes - and now that we're here, far away from family, I make it for him. So that was yummy. What a cook I am, huh? The toughest thing I made for his birthday was a no bake cheesecake. :)
That's really about it - more about the feelings on the month to come.

Year in Review.

Wow - it's already the 9th and I haven't done a year in review. So - 2007. It was an interesting year if nothing else. It holds a lot of different things to me - not just necessarily events but a lot of personal growth and intangibles. So -

January - Either the beginning or the beginning of the end of wedding hell. I love Cody and I loved our wedding and I love being married but I did not like wedding planning. I don't think that's a secret to anyone. I don't do good organizing. I hate making decisions. And while in small groups I'm okay with being loud and the center of attention (at times) and socializing, I am NOT good in large groups. I get nervous and stupid and feel like an idiot. I don't dress up and I'm not a princess so the whole gettin' fancy thing got me messed up. I was so out of my element it was driving me insane. I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders and I was just getting crushed. The one person I can credit with keeping me sane througout the process was Cody's mom. Cody tried but he just didn't "get" it - he could help with tangibles - get a DJ, call this person - but he didn't "get" what I was going through. Cody's mom had been through it all with his sister (who is almost as nutty as me about certain things) so she knew just what to say and just how to help out and just how to keep me from going off the deep end. She also could provide an unbiased viewpoint on dealing with issues when I was not in an objective mindset. So January was the beginning or the beginning of the end. I got my dress this month - or what should have been my dress. The Gators won the National Championship. Cody turned 28 on the 28th - his "magic" birthday - we had a great party for him. It was cold.

February - More cold. More wedding hell. But my girlfriends threw a great bachelorette party and I really felt loved. It snowed - a lot. It snowed during Mardi Gras. We saw They Might Be Giants at Mardi Gras - performing outside - but they, as well as us, were freezing so the show was stopped. Cody's aunt in Wisconsin threw me a bridal shower and the biggest surprise was Cody's mom flying up for it. We were tickled pink. It snowed - a ton -there and it was cool watching Cody's mom and his aunt sled in two feet of snow - that's an image you don't forget easily.

March - Our friends, Craig and Emily, got married and had a great wedding. My awesome friend Marissa got a job in New Jersey and moved away. I ran the St. Patrick's Day 5 mile race completely hung over the day after her going away party - I will never forget 5 miles of raspberry vodka and tonic bouncing around in my tummy - but I finished in record time - my incentive was to get the race over with and get back to sleep. There was more dress drama in March - escalating dress drama. I had my first batch of daffodils bloom so that was cool - I was proud of that small accomplishment. Gators in the Final Four.

April - D-Day was upon us. First, April 2, Gators won another Championship. We were in Tally the week before the wedding and I was doing everything I could not to go crazy insane. My dress was taken to the seamstress on Monday, my first fitting was Thursday and I picked it up Friday, less then 24 hours before the wedding. Sigh. I held it together pretty good, with great help from friends and family, until Friday night when I now infamously demanded to go back to St. Louis and go to the courthouse. I also think I told everyone that said anything to me to "f" off. Good thing none of them held it against me or I would have no friends or family now. My fabulous friends capped the night before the wedding off by glueing the beads I had planned to painstakingly sew onto my veil in one big thick blob of glue - it is one of my most treasured wedding mementos. The wedding happened and no one died. Least of all me. I woke up that day happy as a lark and ready to get the show on the road. I didn't care what went wrong at that point and all the stress and worrying of months past suddenly went out the window. All that thought and planning I suddenly didn't give a damn about. I put a lot of time worrying about the order people would walk in, what I would say in my speech, what we would do here and there - on the day I just didn't care. Everyone could have walked down the aisle singing YMCA for all I cared. I was going to have a blast come hell or high water. And we did. I think I finally passed out carrying my two foot tall bottle of wine around 4 am and I think Cody finally left the party at 6 am. About 8 am I woke up screaming at him to help me pull the bobby pins out of my hair because they were puncturing my scalp. I was sad to leave family in Tally but glad that this portion of my life was OVER and I could finally move on. The next weekend I ran a half marathon - my fastest time yet. A week later we went on our honeymoon - a much needed, much deserved rest and recuperation from the wedding and life.

May - We had a great post-wedding party in St. Louis for all our friends here who couldn't make the wedding. I loved it. We have way too many people that we don't get to see enough (another resolution for 2008). We bought our first real "big people" furniture - a dining room table, buffet and china cabinet. Even though we got it off Craig's list (that place is awesome - and we're cheap/thrifty so we love it) it was a really cool moment for us. International Gator Day was fun - we helped a children's home and I had an insane allergy attack. We traveled up to Wisconsin for Matt and Jessica's wedding (unfortunately missing another Matt and Jessica's wedding in Florida on the same day - freaky, huh?) and had a great time visiting with everyone. We got to meet Cody's cousins' twins who were just adorable. We did a lot of outdoors things to enjoy the warm while we had it - outside concerts, bike riding, etc.

June - My mom came to visit and we had a good time playing in our yard and landscaping. We took her to some new St. Louis landmarks, including City Museum, my favorite place in the city. Some more outdoor fun - float trips, camping, etc.

July - Saw Lifehouse and some other random bands at Live on the Levee. More random concerts outside - Botanical Gardens, History Museum, etc. Some pool parties. The fish had babies (important things, right?).

August - More camping. More float tripping. Jammin' at the Zoo - free wine "tasting" = too much wine. More exporing St. Louis - Chain of Rocks Bridge, etc.

September - Football season. Enough said. More outdoor stuff to get in as much as we can before we freeze over - Castlewood State Park, Laumier Sculpture Park, baseball games, etc. Went to Memphis to see the Gators play in Oxford, Mississippi. Had a great time chilling with the twins - lots of "Big Ass Beers." Eckerts Farm to pick apples and play with kids. My friend got fired from work which sort of turned my immediate world upside down - I was quite disolusioned with a lot and really felt the harsh realities of life and the notion of fairness. My mom's favorite saying when we were young was "life's not fair" but I always held a belief that it somehow was - but it's really not.

October - Cody's parents visit. Fun as always - I finally dragged them to the Zoo (another favorite of mine) and the Science Center. Halloween - I was a pumpkin, again. Cody was green - he's still not sure what he was trying to be. Ram's game - they lost. Shocking, I know.

November - Leaves turning. Wineries with friends - awesome, awesome day. Our first Thanksgiving in St. Louis. I only cried once about missing family -that was pretty good. Other then that we had a great time getting to hang out with friends and each other and catch up on life. Got our greatest Christmas tree yet - and custard from Ted Drewes in 20 degree weather.

December - Christmas, Christmas and more Christmas. Much more manageable this year. Really felt in control of the holiday season and not totally insane as normal. Enjoyed the holidays, did what I could and said "poo" to the rest. Made some really neat stockings for Cody and I in my quest to form some traditions and really start defining us as an official "family." Went to Tally - went by way too quick. Great to see everyone but felt like we were hardly there and then we were leaving. That's life living far away. Learning to accept that a little more each year. Doing much better with the passage of time.

Well, that's it. Too much information on 2007. It keeps a record for me if nothing else. All in all it was a good year. Some emotionally trying and turmultous times but a great learning and growing year.

Six Days. That's it.

We made it six days. That's it. I can't figure out if that's pathetic or a really good job. The jury is still out.
Cody and I made a pact on New Years to cut down on our drinking (while I love New Year's resolutions, Cody loathes them so that's why it was a "pact" not a resolution). It's not that we drink a ton - just often - and then often one drink turns into more. More then once we've said in the morning "damn I wish I hadn't had so many last night." So our goal was to cut down on that. While I thought "cut down" meant drink less, "cut down" to Cody means cut out. So while we had a few glasses of wine/beer on New Years Day (mostly to kill the hangover from New Year's Eve), after that we had no alcohol whatsoever for the next six days. I thought we could make it to seven but a friend's birthday party was last night and our resolve was not very strong.
It was much harder then I thought it would be. Yeah, yeah, just laugh - you try it for a whole week. Everyone thinks they can do it and laughs when I complain about it being hard but they haven't even tried. We just get in a habit - not necessarily a bad thing -of coming home and having a drink. I sincerely believe there is nothing wrong with coming home and having a glass of wine/bottle of beer - if it usually stays at A bottle or glass (not seven). The problem comes in when I have my drink before working out because then that kills my resolve to work out - running on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike is a bit interesting after a glass or two of wine. Or when one turns into an entire bottle and we sit up all night joking and talking and playing with the cats, only to wake up at 7 am the next morning (three hours later) feeling like a truck ran us over. On the weekends that's not such a bit deal but when we have to work it sort of sucks.
So tonight we were back on our proverbial wagon. The good thing is we've both lost about five pounds each since returning from Florida. I can't say the reduction in alcohol is to be credited solely as we are eating a lot better and moving a lot more now that we're back in our normal routine.

The SEC Rocks.

Yeah, the game isn't even over yet but LSU just recovered yet another turn-over by the always over-rated Ohio State. It just goes to show what a great conference the SEC is. Two years in a row an SEC team will have beaten the "highly touted" Ohio State. Number One defense in the country my left foot. Phooey. We love our Runner-Up U!

Yeah I'm mushy.

Yeah I'm mushy - but we had a warm day for once and I'm just tickled pink. :)

In case I don't say it enough.

In case I don't say it enough, my husband is, hands down, the greatest man on this planet (at least for me). Seriously. He's hilarious - he has me cracking up all day, every day. He's just funny. The way he tells stories, the quotes he comes up with, the way he plays with the cats, it keeps me laughing all the time. I could spend pages and pages reciting the hilarious things he does and says. You can never be too serious for too long because he just lightens any mood.
He's not a romantic guy (but I'm not that type of girl so it works just fine), but he's the most thoughtful person you'll ever see. Over Christmas he sits and talks to my grandma for hours - he loves her stories and actually listens to her. Everything he does, he does with our future and us in mind. When he makes a hilarious homemade humidifier he thinks to at least use a baking sheet I don't like. :) He supports me in my quests to eat better, work out more or any other thing I set my mind too - he reminds me nicely that I asked him to help me and I appreciate that. He gets excited about health food because I get excited about health food. He even calls from the grocery store to find out where the hummus is in the store.
He pretends to hate the cats, but then refuses to move them over when they are totally stealing a large portion of his side of the bed. Even if he's running late, he'll take a minute to pet Mr. Pickles because Mr. Pickles needs all the petting she can get because she's one totally messed up cat (the other two pick on her). He can actually call the cats and have them come to him. He can call a CAT - what the heck - cats do not get called - not by me at least - but he can call the cats. They absolutely love him. Wiggles (aka Co-Dependent Kitty) can't be out of the room with him for more then a few minutes without going nuts - she licks her belly raw when he's not around (even the vet confirmed this).
Even after all the years we've spent together, we can still spend an entire weekend together and not drive each other crazy and just be happy to be together - even with nothing flashy going on, we enjoy just "being." We've mastered communication with each other. With our years behind us we've learned that we don't need to fight to work things out. We did enough of that the first time we dated. :) Not to say we don't disagree or argue at times, but we honestly don't fight anymore - we just figure out the problem and deal. We are most perfectly comfortable with each other - we can sit quietly in a room together and be okay with that, we can run crazy hectic errands and love doing it, we can be at parties and not see each other the whole night, we can be in separate rooms, separate buildings or separate cities and be okay with that too. We enjoy our time alone together, our time with friends and we understand the need for time apart as well.
The guy just rocks. This is what I wanted for marriage and I think I got it. Not to say we didn't take a long time to get here. We did. We went through our trials and tribulations. We paid our dues. We waited to get married until we knew 100% that we were ready and on the right track. We were even engaged for 18 months to give ourselves time to get used to that. But now that we're here, now that all of that is behind us and we're sitting solid here, it sure is nice. He is truly my partner in all aspects of my life. No number of years with him will ever be enough.

My little genius.

Cody's my little genius. The kid just thinks up the craziest of things. I really do think that one day he's going to come up with this great idea, patent it and we're going to be rich and retire at 40 (it was 30 but he'll be 29 this month so I don't see that happening). Anyway, he's just nuts. This weekend he decided we needed a humidifier - because it's winter and my hands look like I'm 98 years old, my nose looks like it was roughed up with sandpaper and my throat sounds like a frog. So instead of doing the normal people thing of going to the store and buying one - he made one. Not kidding. He took a baking sheet (he said he picked one that he thought I didn't like), filled it with water, put it on top of four cups so it was off the floor and put the space heater blowing on it. That was magically supposed to make the water evaporate into the air better. Okay, go figure. Anyway, in light of this, yesterday I made him go to Bed, Bath and Beyond (guys everywhere are hurting for him) and we got a real humidifier - which actually works - quite well. So hopefully we will survive this winter afterall.

Seven degrees to Wofford.

So as anyone who pays attention to college sports knows, the Gators lost their bowl game. If that weren't bad enough it was to Michigan - who lost to Appalachian State - who lost to Wofford - who I didn't even know had a football team. Well that got us all pretty down so Cody was talking to his friend and they figured out that every team in the NCAA has lost to Wofford within 7 "degrees." Pretty funny, huh? The only one that didn't fit was Hawaii and then they lost to Georgia (in the Sugar Bowl) who lost to Tennessee who lost to the Gators who lost to Michigan who lost to App. State who lost to Wofford. For the Mizzou fans out there - Mizzou lost to Oklahoma State who lost to Colorado who lost to FSU who lost to UF who lost to Mich. who lost to App. State who lost to WOFFORD! Anyway, I thought that capped off one of the craziest football seasons ever pretty well - you know it's crazy if at one point USF was ranked #2. :) Go LSU for National Champion! (Mostly I just hope Ohio State, aka Runner-Up U, loses)

Fabulous.

During the winter I'm mostly, "Blah blah. Winter sucks. Blah blah. I hate snow/ice/sleet/hail/freezing rain/etc." But not today - today was absolutely wonderfully fabulous. We got into the 60s and it could not have been a more perfect day. First we got to sleep in. Then when we realized it was warmer outside then inside we opened all the windows to get the house aired out and warmed up. I got to play in the yard a bit - cut back all the bushes/trees that I always intend to do in the spring, but they are too bushy by then - now it's nice and easy because there are no leaves. Also pulled up all of the dead plants from the vegatable garden so I can turn them into the soil for mulch. Cody worked on the motorcycle so then we got to take a ride and get Ted Drewes (custard). It was an absolutely wonderful day for a motorcycle ride - I could not have asked for a better day. After the great motorcycle ride he "winterized" the bike so nothing will break or go bad while it freezes and it's not being ridden. Then we hung around the house, got some things on the "to do" list done, made a great soup for dinner and have just been enjoying having each other around with no work or school (he doesn't go back to school until next week!).
I wish all winter days were like this - it was so so so nice.

Holiday Update.

So many things to catch up on so I guess I'd just better start before I get even more behind. :) First, I'm not sure if I already blogged about this (I guess I could check but that would take a good bit of effort, of which I don't have a lot of right now), but last month Cody and I celebrated our sort-of 11th anniversary (we haven't dated the entire 11 years though - there are a few years in there where we did our own thing). We started dating 11 years ago - wow. I've known Cody for over 1/3 of my life! Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool. It's neat to sit around and talk about things we did and tell stories of stuff we did back then - the greatest thing is laughing about all the dumb stuff we did - and boy is there a lot of dumb stuff to laugh about. :)
Second, in case I haven't mentioned this as well, I went to see the musical Wicked last month. It was too great to even describe - phenomenal. Even if you hate musicals and think the premise is stupid (it's the pre-quel to The Wizard of Oz - sort of) you should go see it - it really suprised me. So now I'm obsessed with the soundtrack and carry it with me whereever I go - car, work, home, car, work.
Third, Christmas was here - and gone again. It was one of the greatest Christmases and Christmas seasons yet. First, I was so much less stressed this year. Last year I was insanely stressed and had a really hard time enjoying the time leading up to the holiday- only a few weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, two trips to Florida (driving) in less then a month, a looming wedding with SO much left to do, a zillion holiday parties (of which I said no to zero of them), an ice storm culmunating in 6 days of no power in the freezing cold, and a frillion things to do. This year we skipped Thanksgiving in Florida and stayed here, relaxing and regrouping. We had snow but no ice storm. There was an extra week between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The wedding was over (thank GOD!) so we didn't have that. And just in general I took it easier. We said no to several Christmas parties and only said yes to those things we really wanted or needed to do. So all in all the pre-Christmas was a lot easier. Even the Christmas in Florida was less stressful. We were going to leave on Friday but I worked really late to get everything done before we left so we didn't leave until Saturday - not at 4am like we usually try to do when we leave on the weekend, but a nice, comfortable noon. :) So we didn't get into Tally until 1am, but we were at least relaxed about it. The days before Christmas I spend shopping with my mom and Cody hung out with his parents, sister, her husband and their two kids. We also simplified our life by both staying at Cody's parents house instead of me at my moms and him with his parents - not only was that a pain but I always felt like when we left we hardly got to see each other while we were there (I used to joke and tell him in the car ride back "Wow - fancy seeing you here - I didn't know you were in Florida too."). And while the purpose of the trip is to see family, it is our vacation too and I'd like to see Cody on our days off as well since those tend to be few and far between. So that was much easier on both of us. Christmas Eve we spent the day with my mom and grandma, wrapping presents and hanging out and then went to Cody's family for the annual celebration. First we celebrate Larry's birthday (Cody's sister's husband) who had the fortune/misfortune of being born on Christmas Eve. While I think that would be incredibly annoying he enjoys it so that's nice. We do his birthday and dinner first and then have CHRISTMAS! It was fabulous. Our niece and nephew are old enough now to really "get" the whole Christmas, presents and Santa thing so that was need to watch them enjoy everything. They got a ton of toys - which is not only great for them, but great for Cody and I since we've called "dibs" on all their old toys to give our kids, if and when we have them. We plan to seriously never buy our kids toys - just use our niece and nephew's old toys - the little tykes will never know the difference. Then we'll use the money we saved to (1) hire a nanny, (2) ship the kids to Florida to spend the week/month(s) with their grandparents and (3) travel, both with and without the munchkins. It was really cool watching them rip open the presents and play with everything.
Then on Christmas we watched the kids open their "Santa" gifts - more toys! It's hillarious the way they dig the whole Santa thing. Cody swears he won't tell our kids about Santa because it's "lying" to your kids and that's just wrong. :) We'll see about that. Then we went over to my mom's and just hung out there all day. We typically do Christmas there in the morning but since my brother and his girlfriend were at her family's in Pensacola we wanted to wait for them. So we hung out with them and then went to my aunt's house for a rousing dose of family fun. A great dinner and then fun with presents. My uncle's family was there too so that was fun. Then it was back to mom's/grandma's to do those presents (when brother and girlfriend got back). More family fun! We had a great time and got some really cool stuff.
On Wednesday we went out to Sopchoppy to see my dad, the boat, and the new Wii. The five of us adults literally played Wii for hours - golf, baseball, boxing, pool, tennis, ping pong - it was the funniest thing you've ever seen. I was cracking up watching everyone play - boxing was the best - man do you look stupid playing that game - but it's super fun. :) We went on a boat ride up the Sopchoppy River, though it was a little chilly for the Florida folks. It was great to see water again (we have no water here to speak of) and see green stuff. While a lot of the trees were bare, there was still a lot more green then there is here (STL is a million shades of gray right now). Then when our step-mom got home we had a great dinner and more presents! We had a fantastic time hanging out with them - usually we only see them for a few hours sandwiched in between other Thanksgiving and Christmases we have to be at so it was neat to spend a whole day with them.
Thursday and Friday we hung out with my mom/grandma during the day and then Cody's family at night. Then we left to come home on Saturday. It was great to see everyone and catch up, and as usual the time just flew by before we knew it. It was great to see the kids and how much they've grown - our 2 year old nephew who was barely talking at the wedding is now a total chatterbox - he can hold full conversations with you - quite the little talker. All in all it was a great trip!
Okay, now my hands hurt from typing so I'll catch up on the rest later. :)

Five.

That's how "warm" it was this morning when I got up. Five degrees above zero! With a wind chill of -10. Yes, ten degrees BELOW freezing. When I got in my car, not only did it threaten to not start (it eventually did) but my one liter water bottle was frozen compeltely solid.
When is spring again?