Lock Up The Kids

You may want to be seated for this one.

It's finally happened.

Mark has ventured out on his own. Yes he is leaving the comfort of this blog for the unknown, uncensored, often to offend, world of blogging on his own.

It's up, it's running, it's Mark.

Check it out here.

Sounds of the Season

So I guess it's time for the obligatory post-Christmas post.

Why does it seem like Christmas was 6 months ago already? There is so much lead up time and then it is over just like that! We were able to drag it out a little with Christmas in Idaho, a mini-Christmas in Fargo and then Christmas here in Minnesota.

This year we decided our Christmas would have a theme; the winning theme was Sharing. We thought it would be best to extend this theme to Mark's entire family, not just with the three of us. So we began on Christmas...with a niece and nephew. By that evening Mark and a few others had taken part. I was the lucky recipient the day after Christmas. We were all more than happy to share with others, but those on the receiving end were not too happy about the sharing. Isn't Christmas all about sharing and giving?? I guess when you're passing around some form of the flu, people would prefer that you kept it to yourself.

Mark asked me a good question after this hit me...he asked if I was more upset that I had become sick or that I had put an end to my 18 year streak without throwing up (not even while pregnant did I vomit. Yay me!). I was obviously more bothered that I had to reset the streak. So I am now happy to say it's been almost 2 weeks since the last incident!!

Other than our bonding over flu bugs, Christmas was a lovely time. Idaho was continually dumped with snow while we were there, we lost a day to travel (thanks a lot low visibility at Idaho Falls airport and thanks Alamo for ridiculously high one way car rental prices), but we enjoyed hanging out with family and friends. We weren't able to get down to Utah to visit with everyone we wanted to due to the pesky snow, winds and difficult driving conditions that plague Idaho in the winter months, hopefully we can get out to visit this summer!

We were even able to visit with some of my family when we returned home; We jumped back in the car for a 3.5 hour drive to Fargo for New Years. I have to say, Fargo might be the rocking-est town to be in on New Years Eve. Spectacular. Ok, not really. Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve is lame no matter where you watch it, even if it is in a hotel room in North Dakota. But when you have a very over tired, stuffy nosed 6 month old, what else can you do?

I guess all that is left to do it to look forward to next Christmas and hope and pray that you're spared by the gift of sharing!

Here are a couple of Christmas pics. Out of all of T's gifts, the tissue paper was her favourite by far!

Cruisin' the Caribbean!

So we just got back from Florida and the Caribbean, and we had a great time. Always nice to escape the below freezing temperatures for a few days of fun in the sun. We were able to spend some time with some of Mark's family in Florida - Mark going to the NASCAR races with the boys and me seeing the Rockettes!! Yes Christmas wasn't ruined this year -the Rockettes touring show was in Fort Lauderdale this year...phew!! I know everyone was worried about how I would make it through this holiday season without my annual dose of Rockettes. No need for worry, it all worked out!
No huge adventures to tell from this trip - we ate, sunned, ate a bit more, slept, sunned, and ate again. A pretty relaxing trip. I think next time we try the cruise route we will opt for a Northern European or Mediterranean destination though. Nassau is VERY touristy and not super pretty to look at (not the parts we saw anyway - the Atlantis resort is very nice though!). There has to be something positive about that place though because so many celebs and such have homes there, or nearby. Oprah has her house and one for her guests, Anna Nicole was there, a few world royal dignitaries and some sports folk too. I suppose they aren't hanging out at the port locales with all of the tourists though.
Now we are back in the Minneapolis 'burbs and right back into the swing of life - work. How nice it would be to not work and travel anywhere you wanted, whenever you wanted!!
Oh well, it is the Christmas season, so time to get those decorations up, the gifts bought, the cards mailed and the Nanaimo bars made. It may be below zero with the windchill, but a cup of eggnog and a slice of nanaimo bar can take the nip right out of the air!!
Just remember folks, only 27 more days until Christmas...have you started shopping yet?? :o)

Maiden Blog

Hello Bloggers and Blog readers!
We decided to join the blogging community, and bore everyone with the painful dullness that is our lives! Just kidding! Well, only sort of... today we actually have some fun and exciting news. We are moving out of New York City! It is very exciting, and we are looking forward to what will come next. This weekend Mark is leaving for Minneapolis and starts his new job on the 30th. I am staying in NY until May 21st or so and will be working until then. We've been in NYC for 3 years now, which is about how long we intended to stay, so it has worked out well... just very quickly. We have lots to do, but it will be fun to buy a car and find a new apartment (and eventually a house of our own!!). Minneapolis is a nice city, very liveable and friendly, and it really has so much to offer. We look forward to exploring it and the area around it; Mark will finally be able to put his fishing stuff back to use. The city has so many parks and outdoor things that there will be plenty to keep us busy this summer. I know everyone can't believe we would be excited to go somewhere so cold in the winter, but how much fun will Christmas be with snow? I don't mind the cold, and even with it, Minneapolis is a city of skywalks, so you never have to go outside while you are downtown! It will be an exciting time for us... bring on the cold! :o) And the Mall of Americ of course, it's no West Edmonton Mall, but we will take what we can get!