The Infamous Long-Awaited Update Post
I meant to post shortly after returning home from visiting family for Christmas. And then I meant to post about New Year's resolutions, last year's and how I did (or, more accurately, didn't) and this year's and how I will. But life has a way of continuing on faster than one intends, and now it's February and I'm finally going to write about Christmas and New Year's and what I've been up to recently.
As usual, Rob and I went up to Massachusetts for Christmas. On Saturday, December 18th, we got into the car, drove the 440 miles or so to my mom's house in Newburyport... and then attended her annual Christmas party that evening. Needless to say, this won't be happening again. I was way too tired and in too much pain to be a good party-goer: instead of "mingling", I sat down in a room in a comfortable chair and only got up once or twice during the whole party. I'm not really one for large parties anyways, but usually my mom's Christmas party is a lot more enjoyable. I knew during the party that I was kind of being rude by not mingling, but there wasn't anything I could really do about it.
The next day, Rob and I attended skogkatt's Christmas party for an hour or so, which was awesome! And as a bonus, gjules and my friend Erica were also in attendance. And I finally got to meet SJC blogmass member Erika, which was also a pleasure. Oh, and tiboribi made the most INCREDIBLE marshmellows... and this is saying something coming from me, because I usually am not much of a marshmellow fan. Then we headed over to visit daviticus and blaueteufelin and their absolutely adorable daughter Abby.
Monday, we lounged around my mom's and visited with her and Marcie, my sister. In the evening, Erica came to visit, which was a great chance to catch up. Tuesday we continued our annual tradition of treating my Grandma to lunch at her favorite Indian restaurant, which was eminently enjoyable. Wednesday, Pa treated Marcie, Mia, me, and Rob to dinner at Karoun's. The food, as usual, was awesome, but the best part of the evening for me came after dinner, when Mia insisted on dancing, even though no one else was out on the dance floor. I was happy to oblige, though!
Thursday was another day of rest. Marcie and I got to spend some time together, which was nice.
Friday, Christmas Eve, was busy, as usual. We went to Grandmère's early so that Rob could offer her help in getting ready for the night's events. As always, the biggest joy for me was getting to spend time with Mia and watching her open her presents. I did, however, receive an awesome gift this year from Pa: a netbook I'd had on my wishlist for a while. Rob and I were planning on purchasing me a netbook to use for my freelance web design work, since most people assume that a website designer owns some sort of portable computer and I needed to have the option to meet potential clients in a public place. So, that was awesome, and I've been using it a lot... even though my website work has slowed down recently (more on that later).
Saturday, Christmas Day, was also busy, but in a good way. The presents Rob and I gave seemed to be liked, and the duplicate presents I got for Bob and Rob were much appreciated by both (Simon Pegg has an autobiography). My big present from my mom-a tabletop prayer/Mani wheel-was shipped early, and Marcie had insisted on giving me her big gift-a green coin belt for belly dancing-early too (which made belly dancing possible while I was up there; I'm used to dancing in front of a reflective surface and didn't have one available, so the coins were the only feedback I had on how my movements were interacting with the music). But as the morning progressed, we began hearing from Rob's family about the blizzard that was coming and how the snow had already started. We made the difficult decision to leave after Christmas lunch instead of leaving the next morning as planned. That ended up being the right decision: though we only got 3" or so at our house, there was a lot more snow that fell along the route that would have made the travel VERY tedious and dangerous on Sunday.
We came home to 5 cats who were VERY happy to see us, especially Cinnamon, who apparently found one of our pet-sitters terrifying...
A few days after we returned home, Rob and I both came down with a cold... which quickly became a sinus infection and possibly bronchitis for me. We spent New Year's at home resting. It took me a good two weeks to get over this bug, and the recovery would have taken longer if I hadn't been doing saline nasal rinses four times a day. It took another week or so for my stamina to return; a tendency towards breathlessness lingered even though I otherwise felt normal.
As for New Year's resolutions for 2010, I really didn't do so well. I am still picking my skin; I haven't learned any Arabic or Armenian; I've made minimal progress learning MySQL or Wordpress; and I made minimal progress on my fantasy/sci-fi novel "Unnatural Wizardry". I did make a concerted effort to formally meditate more regularly, averaging 3-5 times a week, and also did a pretty good job of belly dancing when I could, especially towards the end of the year.
As for this year's resolutions, I'm only making 2: stop picking my skin and get my weight to 145 lbs. or lower.
Website work has been really slow the past several months, which has given me a lot more free-time than usual. I've started watching British football (i.e., soccer) on XBOX Live's ESPN service and have two favorite teams: West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool. I've also been attending a meditation group in Easton that meets twice a month, though I've had to limit myself to only attending one session per month because it's just too hard on my body to do that drive more regularly. Recently I've been making a serious effort to meditate for 30 minutes EVERY day and am hoping to do one extended meditation session of 45 minutes or more each week. I've also been belly dancing as much as I can and have discovered that dancing to Mariam Matossian is awesome. I'm hoping to video myself dancing sometime next week. And I'm still visiting Chesapeake Cats and Dogs twice a week to love the kitties, as you all probably know from the pictures I've recently posted.
Speaking of cats, Kosette was suspected of having the beginnings of hyperthyroidism recently, but her blood-work came back borderline normal. So, that's good news. Cinnamon and Zathras will be going to the vet for their annual shots and check-up next week.
Oh, and one of my new local friends, Sharon, has been unexpectedly awesome in helping me out. It's somewhat surprising how close we've become in the relatively short time we've been friends, but it's also wonderful. And another local friend, Ruthanne, has been more regular in visiting me outside of just book club, which is a welcome development in our friendship. Both of these women, by the way, are more than twice my age... but we've connected and have a real friendship, and I'm really grateful to be involved in both of their lives. It's a real pleasure having close friendships with people that are literally in the same zip-code.
In other news, I'm giving a presentation on Israel/Palestine and peace efforts for my Quaker Meeting's First Day (Sunday) School middle and high school kids next Sunday. I'm a little anxious about being able to give the topic the depth it deserves within a 30 minute period and am hoping that practicing some discernment during this Sunday's Meeting for Worship will grant me some clarity. There's a lot that should be said and not a lot of time during which to say it. My current plan is to start with a disclaimer about how difficult it is to find unbiased information about this conflict; basic geography (how small the country is considering how many Palestinians and Jews there are in the world); then move on to a very brief, basic history, focusing primarily on how different the perspectives of Israelis and Palestines are (such as creation of homeland vs. loss of homeland/Al Nakba); then read a brief selection from Jean Zaru's "Occupied with Nonviolence" book and talk about Ramallah Friends Meeting and the school they run; then shift to AFSC's Palestinian Youth project (with a video if time permits); then speak about Jewish Voice for Peace and the Jewish shiministim (again with a video if time permits); then finishing with the video of the "Jewish-Arab peace song" (if time permits).
In other other news, Rob's getting a promotion later this month and has been working extra hard for it... too hard, in my opinion, but I think he knows his limits. And that's the reason I've finally gotten around to writing this, because he's coming home later than expected and I had some extra time to kill.
Well, I hope this was worth the long wait... ;)
As usual, Rob and I went up to Massachusetts for Christmas. On Saturday, December 18th, we got into the car, drove the 440 miles or so to my mom's house in Newburyport... and then attended her annual Christmas party that evening. Needless to say, this won't be happening again. I was way too tired and in too much pain to be a good party-goer: instead of "mingling", I sat down in a room in a comfortable chair and only got up once or twice during the whole party. I'm not really one for large parties anyways, but usually my mom's Christmas party is a lot more enjoyable. I knew during the party that I was kind of being rude by not mingling, but there wasn't anything I could really do about it.
The next day, Rob and I attended skogkatt's Christmas party for an hour or so, which was awesome! And as a bonus, gjules and my friend Erica were also in attendance. And I finally got to meet SJC blogmass member Erika, which was also a pleasure. Oh, and tiboribi made the most INCREDIBLE marshmellows... and this is saying something coming from me, because I usually am not much of a marshmellow fan. Then we headed over to visit daviticus and blaueteufelin and their absolutely adorable daughter Abby.
Monday, we lounged around my mom's and visited with her and Marcie, my sister. In the evening, Erica came to visit, which was a great chance to catch up. Tuesday we continued our annual tradition of treating my Grandma to lunch at her favorite Indian restaurant, which was eminently enjoyable. Wednesday, Pa treated Marcie, Mia, me, and Rob to dinner at Karoun's. The food, as usual, was awesome, but the best part of the evening for me came after dinner, when Mia insisted on dancing, even though no one else was out on the dance floor. I was happy to oblige, though!
Thursday was another day of rest. Marcie and I got to spend some time together, which was nice.
Friday, Christmas Eve, was busy, as usual. We went to Grandmère's early so that Rob could offer her help in getting ready for the night's events. As always, the biggest joy for me was getting to spend time with Mia and watching her open her presents. I did, however, receive an awesome gift this year from Pa: a netbook I'd had on my wishlist for a while. Rob and I were planning on purchasing me a netbook to use for my freelance web design work, since most people assume that a website designer owns some sort of portable computer and I needed to have the option to meet potential clients in a public place. So, that was awesome, and I've been using it a lot... even though my website work has slowed down recently (more on that later).
Saturday, Christmas Day, was also busy, but in a good way. The presents Rob and I gave seemed to be liked, and the duplicate presents I got for Bob and Rob were much appreciated by both (Simon Pegg has an autobiography). My big present from my mom-a tabletop prayer/Mani wheel-was shipped early, and Marcie had insisted on giving me her big gift-a green coin belt for belly dancing-early too (which made belly dancing possible while I was up there; I'm used to dancing in front of a reflective surface and didn't have one available, so the coins were the only feedback I had on how my movements were interacting with the music). But as the morning progressed, we began hearing from Rob's family about the blizzard that was coming and how the snow had already started. We made the difficult decision to leave after Christmas lunch instead of leaving the next morning as planned. That ended up being the right decision: though we only got 3" or so at our house, there was a lot more snow that fell along the route that would have made the travel VERY tedious and dangerous on Sunday.
We came home to 5 cats who were VERY happy to see us, especially Cinnamon, who apparently found one of our pet-sitters terrifying...
A few days after we returned home, Rob and I both came down with a cold... which quickly became a sinus infection and possibly bronchitis for me. We spent New Year's at home resting. It took me a good two weeks to get over this bug, and the recovery would have taken longer if I hadn't been doing saline nasal rinses four times a day. It took another week or so for my stamina to return; a tendency towards breathlessness lingered even though I otherwise felt normal.
As for New Year's resolutions for 2010, I really didn't do so well. I am still picking my skin; I haven't learned any Arabic or Armenian; I've made minimal progress learning MySQL or Wordpress; and I made minimal progress on my fantasy/sci-fi novel "Unnatural Wizardry". I did make a concerted effort to formally meditate more regularly, averaging 3-5 times a week, and also did a pretty good job of belly dancing when I could, especially towards the end of the year.
As for this year's resolutions, I'm only making 2: stop picking my skin and get my weight to 145 lbs. or lower.
Website work has been really slow the past several months, which has given me a lot more free-time than usual. I've started watching British football (i.e., soccer) on XBOX Live's ESPN service and have two favorite teams: West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool. I've also been attending a meditation group in Easton that meets twice a month, though I've had to limit myself to only attending one session per month because it's just too hard on my body to do that drive more regularly. Recently I've been making a serious effort to meditate for 30 minutes EVERY day and am hoping to do one extended meditation session of 45 minutes or more each week. I've also been belly dancing as much as I can and have discovered that dancing to Mariam Matossian is awesome. I'm hoping to video myself dancing sometime next week. And I'm still visiting Chesapeake Cats and Dogs twice a week to love the kitties, as you all probably know from the pictures I've recently posted.
Speaking of cats, Kosette was suspected of having the beginnings of hyperthyroidism recently, but her blood-work came back borderline normal. So, that's good news. Cinnamon and Zathras will be going to the vet for their annual shots and check-up next week.
Oh, and one of my new local friends, Sharon, has been unexpectedly awesome in helping me out. It's somewhat surprising how close we've become in the relatively short time we've been friends, but it's also wonderful. And another local friend, Ruthanne, has been more regular in visiting me outside of just book club, which is a welcome development in our friendship. Both of these women, by the way, are more than twice my age... but we've connected and have a real friendship, and I'm really grateful to be involved in both of their lives. It's a real pleasure having close friendships with people that are literally in the same zip-code.
In other news, I'm giving a presentation on Israel/Palestine and peace efforts for my Quaker Meeting's First Day (Sunday) School middle and high school kids next Sunday. I'm a little anxious about being able to give the topic the depth it deserves within a 30 minute period and am hoping that practicing some discernment during this Sunday's Meeting for Worship will grant me some clarity. There's a lot that should be said and not a lot of time during which to say it. My current plan is to start with a disclaimer about how difficult it is to find unbiased information about this conflict; basic geography (how small the country is considering how many Palestinians and Jews there are in the world); then move on to a very brief, basic history, focusing primarily on how different the perspectives of Israelis and Palestines are (such as creation of homeland vs. loss of homeland/Al Nakba); then read a brief selection from Jean Zaru's "Occupied with Nonviolence" book and talk about Ramallah Friends Meeting and the school they run; then shift to AFSC's Palestinian Youth project (with a video if time permits); then speak about Jewish Voice for Peace and the Jewish shiministim (again with a video if time permits); then finishing with the video of the "Jewish-Arab peace song" (if time permits).
In other other news, Rob's getting a promotion later this month and has been working extra hard for it... too hard, in my opinion, but I think he knows his limits. And that's the reason I've finally gotten around to writing this, because he's coming home later than expected and I had some extra time to kill.
Well, I hope this was worth the long wait... ;)