Weekend Roundup- New Year's Edition

Well, shortly after I posted my 2009 Goodbye where I mentioned looking forward to loving on Stephanie & Rodney's soon-to-arrive twins I got a text saying they were arriving early- as in, about an hour, ha. I grabbed a ride from my bro who happened to have the day off and be heading my way, and made it to the hospital just a little after they were born. Things happened so quickly though that I was the first person there, aside from Rodney's mom who was sitting with their 4 year old Rylee. Stephanie's mom and youngest brother arrived just a few minutes after me and we were all there early enough to see the twins rolled back to be cleaned and examined and Stephanie rolled back to her room a little bit after them. I spent the next 6 hours at the hospital visiting with all the family and friends coming and going, trying to be helpful every now and then, taking pics, and of course loving on the twins. Logan was born first, weighing in at 7 lbs., followed by Hadley at 6.2 lbs. Josh came to see the newborns when he was done at Rock School, and then we said goodbye and made our way towards home. Josh had already eaten, so I grabbed some bad fast food on the way. We got into our jammies, played a few rounds of chinese checkers, uno, gin, and yahtzee while we watched Monty Python episodes. We shared some champagne and a kiss at midnight, listened to a surprising amount of firecrackers and the like going off in our neighborhood, and tucked in to bed. So, that was our exciting new year's eve, ha. And the rest of the weekend consisted mostly of mucho chores, one more visit to the twins with Holly before we went to see A Single Man (movie good, Colin Firth great), a night of wigged out dreams partially influenced by said movie, grocery shopping, and a lot of Muppet Show watching. That about sums it up. Here are some pics I took on the trusty iPhone the first day at the hospital.



Rylee and Rodney with new sister/daughter Hadley



Rylee and Rodney with new brother/son Logan

2010 Resolutions: In with the new

Last year, although I don't think I mentioned it, I decided that photography would be my big focus. I didn't spend all of my time on it, but I had so many areas that I wanted to delve into that I decided I would benefit from picking one to focus on for the year. I'm doing the same thing this year, so along with my resolutions there will be the one big interest that I put more attention on.

Big 2010 Project: Learn French- I've wanted to do this for some time now, and I decided that this year will be the year I focus on it. I've been collecting free resources and ideas to try and help me get on with it.

.Read 20 books- I have exceeded my reading goals the past two years, so upping the ante again
.Exercise at least twice a week- Justin and I plan to go back to dance classes on Tuesday nights, so I just have to find time for one more workout during the week. I've had problems with this goal, so setting the bar low with hopes I might finally meet it.
.Improve my eating habits- We've come a long way since our days of living off fast food, but I'm still easily tempted, especially when busy, to grab something out
.Be a better listener- I have a hard time concentrating on people in conversation sometimes, and it really bothers me, so gonna work on it.
.Learn to drive- I have panic attacks about driving, but I want to try and work through that this year.
.Get a full physical/gyno/bloodwork- I'll be turning 30 in 2011, and I'd like to get a full picture of my physical health before then, so I can move into my next decade as healthy as possible.
.Learn some tactics for handling stress- I'm a stress eater, have panic attacks, and let little things get the best of me and it affect not just my quality of life, but Josh's. Going to try to figure out some good ways that work for me to handle these things.
.Start a vegetable garden in back yard and container herb garden in side yard- Going to start small, but have already started researching square foot gardening, and can always tap my father-in-law for some expertise.
.Learn how to develop my own black & white film- Really interested in learning this skill, especially since I've been shooting more with my Holga.
.Have clothes hemmed- I have lots of pants, skirts, and even shirts that need adjustments made.
.Finish family photos for the hallway- I have a big selection of fantastic old family photos that I need to get hung. Need to find frames and decide on an arrangement.
.Get my Beatles tattoo- Really want my Beatles mark on me this year.
.Be more like Diane Keaton, Jane Birkin, Linda McCartney, Katharine Hepburn, and Audrey Hepburn- I find these ladies inspiring, for the lives they lead, the choices the make, the personal integrity they seem to ooze, and of course their style.
.Rent a cabin- Have been desperately yearning for a quiet retreat, so I think this year calls for it.
.Finish organizing my office- I've got the house running pretty smoothly, but my office is still in a shambles. Want to get it whipped into shape this year.
.Cross 2 things of my Life List- Several of my goals above were items on my Life List, so I scaled down the number of things to cross off this year aside from those ones I'll already be working on.

Well, that's it. Anybody got any resolutions for the new year?

Au Revoir 2009

It's really hard for me to believe that in twelve hours this year will be over. 2010! This time last year I was figuring that 2009 couldn't possibly be as great as 2008 was, but it definitely proved me wrong. 2008 will remain #1, maybe because it was the first truly awesome year I've had, but 2009 absolutely didn't disappoint. Here are some highlights of this tip top twenty-oh-nine.

We bought, painted, and moved into our first house!















We found a new local restaurant we like, Chadra's.
I took several photo classes at a local camera store.
We switched to buying organic, mostly local, meats.
We vacationed in Washington DC and attended Steve & Meri's wedding.















We threw a house warming party and were so happy to have so many friends come to see the place and party with us!
We hosted a baby shower for our best friends Stephanie & Rodney and their twins, who will be here so very soon!
We spent time in California with our good pal Diggy.















In just the last 6 months I've seen Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney, The Smothers Brothers, The Swell Season and WOODY ALLEN in concert.
An online travel agency picked up one of my travel photos.
We made new friends, and spent a lot of time surrounded by old and new friends this year.
I took an online photography class.
I roasted my first chicken!
My baby sister graduated from high school- salutatorian!
We celebrated our 11th year together and our 3rd wedding anniversary.
I had a Fort Worth Camera and a photopl.us Photo of the Day
We had our first Christmas in the new house.

Who knows what 2010 has in store for us? We're hoping for a camping & trout fishing trip in the near future with Josh's dad. I'm hoping we'll be able to get down to see my sister's new house. I can't wait to love on Steph's coming twins, and Rob & LeAnn's little Violet (also due very soon). And I definitely can't wait for all the fun and new experiences Josh and I will get to share together. 2010, be on alert- you've got big shoes to fill! I'll be back tomorrow with my 2009 resolution accomplishments and what I hope to work on for 2010. Happy New Year everyone!!!