A Whole Lot of Me At Once Since I Have Been Blowing It

So far I stink at this. Dec. 5. Yes, Dec. 5 was the last time I found the time to update my poor silly blog. Pathetic! I'm no quitter, and I want to keep my loyal readers happy (thank you "Lauren from Denver" for the reminder...haha. The timing is perfect for me to whip myself into shape--a new year (twenty ten is the cool way to say it). I just keep wondering what happened to the past month and a half!

Here's how I remember it.

Lots and lots of work, the butt-kicking, late-nights kind. Took an Excel class and got all excited about my new budget management skills. Who knew you could link your monthly budgets to get a summary at the end of the year? The 2010 Earl Family Budget is totally awesome by the way--as awesome as a budget spreadsheet can get. (Wow, what kind of boring a** blogger mentions their budget?). My teacher was super stereotypical Mormon (9 kids, unfortunate choice in shoes for his jeans pairing, frequent mentions of "the church" and all) and made me slightly uncomfortable with talks of how he funds his kids' mission trips, but he had the skills to pay the bills for sure. Thinking about saving a significant chunk of my take-home pay for my retirement in 40+ years kind of makes me want barf. But I know it's important, so I'll do it. Charlie and I are excited about better managing our funds and curious about how our first joint tax return will turn out. Comeeee onnnn lots of money so we can go to Europe in May!

I DID NOT work out! As a result, I feel I am turning into more of a butterball every day. A petite butterball, but still. Don't worry, I joined a yoga class and am going to handle this minor hurdle.

Got my season pass to Snowbird just in time for a vist from Sara and Ted Chestnut and the Kolbenschlag gang! Their annual Utah trip is always a treat for us. Made me even more homesick than I have been lately. I am loving my new snowboard, which is good news since it wasn't cheap. We're still waiting on more snow to meet all of our spoiled powder needs. This is a very, very mild year so far. Kinda scary.

We did all of our Christmas shopping in a few days including several 11pm evenings at Target. Had to so we could be sure our gifts would get shipped across the country in time--side effect of living so far away. I think neither of us felt completely settled about all our gift choices. Don't worry fam, we put our hearts into those gifts. We just didn't like being rushed and on a tight budget. I forced myself to spend several evenings in front of the computer immersed in hundreds of photos and layout options to finally complete our Christmas/thank you gifts to our families--wedding photo books. This was a daunting task for a perfectionist personality, but we are happy with the end result. Thank you blurb.com!

Somewhere in all of this we bought a Christmas tree, and decorated it several days later after we grumbled that neither of us enjoyed putting on lights and "boring ornaments". I was determined to have some outdoor lights this year-to add to the festive atmosphere. My sweet and sarcastic husband put them up for me in 4 degree weather. I think he felt bad for making fun of my college dorm room rope light purchase. I like them so much I may keep 'em going through January.

Christmas. I love Christmas, and Charlie does too which makes us an unstoppable goofy, but fun duo during this time of year! We do it all--the Christmas music all month long, the official "family trip" to pick out a tree, the movie watching rituals. Our first official Christmas was no exception. We spent Christmas Eve at Snowbird Resort, had a steak dinner and brought our own Veuve champagne (I splured!), roasted in the hot tub, and then fell asleep watching A Christmas Story. We came back home Christmas morning to be with our pup, and our tree, being the traditional Christmas-loving fools we are. We feasted on blueberry pancakes, quiche, mimosas, Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee, and then we opened lots of presents from our generous families!

Then all of a sudden came January! Every evening after work I swear has been dedicated to "keeping up with life" type stuff, more work, or an appointment or social engagement of sorts (very nice! but very tiring!)We are excited because this is the month for visitors. Stephi-Jo is visiting right now, my sis comes next week, and then as soon as she leaves a friend of my brother's is shackin' up with us for a few days.

Charlie is turning the big 2-9 next Friday. Yikes! We are getting old! The worst part is we aren't quite ready to accept the whole aging thing. We just keep saying: "How did we get this old?" Old is a relative term I know. Anyway, I am very excited for his birthday and the festivities I am planning around it--can hardly wait.

XOXO Readers! I will do my best to never leave you again for so long. JLSE signing out.