A week at Nana's house

Murphy spent the week with my parents while we were traveling around, and they brought him to Pittsburgh on the 30th, the same day that we returned.  It wasn't until the afternoon on January 2nd that he finally showed any signs of life.   Prior to that, he was literally just a lump on the couch. 



We were actually worried that he might be sick or that something else might be wrong with him after two full days of total laziness, but all seems to be fine now.  I guess I should look on the bright side - last time he spent a week at Nana's house (well, actually it was two weeks that time), he hated us when he had to come back home because life was so good for him there.   That time it took almost a solid week for us to feel like we had our old dog back.

One final quick note regarding Murphy and Nana's house.  In the winter, DH and I make doggy booties with sandwich baggies and rubber bands, because Murphy's paws freeze in the snow.  My mom decided to buy him actually doggy booties that she found at PetCo.  Unfortunately, whoever designed these booties clearly never owned a dog - they were NOT designed to be anything even remotely similar to a dog's foot.  We still made him try them on, but they only resulted in these ridiculous and sort of sad pictures.


Do those things look like they're going to fit a dog's foot?

No.  No, they do not.

Note to self: Go into the doggy booty business - there is clearly a market.

Happy New Year!

So much for those "posts via phone" that I alluded to in my last post!  Oh well!

The holidays flew by in a flash and I can't believe that it's already time to head back to work tomorrow (and that I don't have another holiday day off until Memorial day.)  We traveled just over 800 miles - an incredible improvement over last years 1200+ - and were able to relax and spend some quality time at each destination, which was nice. 


Today I "took down Christmas" and when I threw the garland on my living floor, it caught the bright sunlight shining in through our picture window.  I took about a dozen pictures of it, all similar to the one above, and even though it's a little abstract since you can't really tell what it is, I love them.

I'm going to recap a few details of our trip, but nothing extensive.  At this point, it seems so far in the past that it almost doesn't seem worth it, but I have a few great pictures that I'd like to showcase, at the very least.

So, if you missed me (ha!), know that I am officially back now!  And although I'm a day late, Happy New Year!!!

Santa's Favorite Elf


With a face this cute, how could he NOT be the favorite? 
The holidays are right around the corner, and we're getting ready for our annual holiday travel circuit.  Posting will be light for the next two weeks although I'm going to try to continue posting some post-worthy photos or updates via my phone, made all the easier thanks to Swype!

Just in case I don't get a chance to say this later in the week, have a great Christmas, New Years, and holiday season!

2nd Wedding of the Month

Last night was the second wedding that we had in the month of December.  I can't get over that we've been to 3 December weddings in the last year, and not one before that.  So if 2010 (and December of 2009) was the year of the December wedding, it seems like 2011 is going to be the year of the Sunday wedding. We already have two Sunday weddings for next year (one definite, one likely) and we've never been to a Sunday wedding before, ever!  Crazy, right?  (We were also at a Friday wedding this year, also a first.)

I think the off-season and off-day weddings are definitely a sign of the economy.  People want to be able to have the wedding of their dreams without going totally broke, and most places over serious discounts for any non-Saturday events.  The cons are that the weather could possibly be horrible in December and you may lost some guests on Fridays or Sundays because of work schedules, particularly when there is any sort of traveling involved.  We pondered an off-day wedding ourselves for a millisecond but ultimately decided that we wanted to stay with a traditional summer Saturday so that we wouldn't run the risk of any of our guests not coming due to travel concerns, especially since nearly everyone was coming from out of town.

But anyway, back to the topic at hand!



Saturday night we went to a wedding, out near the Pittsburgh airport.  It was a co-worker of DH's so I didn't really know the couple that well (at all, really.)  I knew two of the other couples that I met on other occasions, but no one else, so I wasn't really sure what kind of time I was going to have.

I wore the black and white lace dress that purchased in the fall of 2009, as a second dress option for DH's brother's wedding last December. At the last minute I decided to have the first dress I purchased altered and ended up wearing that.  I had buyer's remorse because it was too late to return this dress, and it definitely wasn't cheap.  But since then I've worn it twice and am now glad that I kept it - it's perfect for these fall and winter events and I really do love how it looks.



DH wasn't feeling great, so he was the DD. That always helps me to be more social at these somewhat awkward sort of events.  It also helped that the food was delicious (Fillet Mignon and chicken with mashed potatoes) and they seriously had the biggest cookie table I have ever seen in my life.  And to top it all off, they had a great DJ who did an amazing job of mixing the songs together so that there was never a moment of downtime and played stuff that kept people dancing the entire time.  So even though I didn't know anyone going into it, I ended up dancing more than I do at some weddings where I know everyone there!


I feel like they spared no expense for this wedding, from the food to the venue to the vendors.  Everything was so nice.  I'm sure that it cost them (or their parents) a small fortune, but I think that the guests really did have an amazing time because of it all, and the bride and groom were definitely thrilled with the way that everything turned out. 

 
So, I'm definitely glad that we went to this wedding - it was a great way to spend a Saturday night.  Congratulations to the happy bride and groom!

He is a gift

This post should be a rant about how the shipping industry needs to improve their packaging materials, or even better, have more box size options so that a small order doesn't have to be shipped in an inappropriately ginormous box that thus requires tons of packing materials.

But why rant about that?  I did that at home, to myself and I'm over it now. 

I received a package from an Amazon.com order last week and could not believe how much brown crumpled up paper they used to stuff the empty space in the box.  I started pulling it out and quickly realized that it was all one big piece of paper off of a huge roll.  I handed the end to DH and started pulling, and seriously, I could not believe how much paper was in there.

"I feel like we should do something with it," I said casually.

"Let's make me a mummy," DH said.  Then proceeded to post these pictures to his Facebook page, with the album caption "I Am A Gift." 


So he stood up and spun in a circle while I wrapped the paper around him. We had more than enough to go around his body dozens of times.  Then he stood next to the tree and I stuck a bow on him.  How ridiculous, right?






Murph wasn't sure what to think


I think my sister said it best when she said, "It scares me to think that that's what you two do with your spare time." 


It's true. 

He Truly is the Best Man

The first weekend in December we attended a wedding in the eastern part of the state.  DH was the best man as the groom was a good friend from high school. 

The Country Inn - I slept fine, but DH thought the beds were horrible

We stayed in a hotel that was within walking distance of the banquet hall where the ceremony and reception would be taking place, although we were surprised to learn that other than the maid of honor, we were pretty much the only ones staying in the hotel for the weekend.  So much for hanging out in the hotel! Oh well, I enjoy staying in hotels and even though I hate spending the money on a basic room to sleep in, it was a cost that we couldn't avoid, so I might as well make the most of it, right?



The ceremony was short but very sweet - actually very similar to our own wedding ceremony.  The bride and groom recited personally written vows and there were definitely some tears.  Immediately following the ceremony everyone headed directly into the reception, since it was just off of the lobby of the banquet hall.  There was a lot of downtime for me, since DH had to go and get pictures with the wedding party and I didn't really know a soul there.  But I befriended the wife of one of the other groomsmen, so it was nice to have someone to talk to during that hour long wait for them to return from getting pictures.  


DH gave the man speech, and as always with his speeches, totally rocked it.  His speech was funny but still meaningful and other than one slip up where he forgot to make a point he was driving towards (and I'm not even sure that anyone noticed) the speech was a hit.  Later, in the hotel room some of the bridesmaids came up to our room to have a drink and weren't surprised to learn that he was a public speaking teacher, based on his excellent delivery of the best man speech.


 Dancing followed and thankfully I had been loosened up by a few drinks or else I probably would have steered clear of the dance floor.  It was a small-ish reception and there weren't very many people dancing.  I enjoy dancing at weddings but not when over three-quarters of the room is sitting down and watching. But fortunately I was able to ignore any self-conscious feelings and ended up getting some cute and fun pictures on the dance floor.

The happy bride and groom - I blame my slow shutter speed on her half-closed eyes, but it's still a good picture!

DH with the groom!

With one of the other groomsmen

Us with another groomsman

I decided to wear the dress that I bought last year for DH's brother's wedding, which I wasn't sure that I would ever wear again since it was dressier than something that I would generally wear to a wedding.  But I figured that since DH would be in a tux it would be more than appropriate for me to be dressed up more than normal as well, and I'm thrilled that I got a second wear out of this not-so-cheap outfit. 


For every wedding that we go to, I try to get at least one good picture of us together (since I'm always taking the pictures, I rarely am actually in them.)  You would think that this goal of one good picture would seem doable, but you'd be surprised at how often I fail.  Success on this account though - I love the picture above and we both look great!
This was my second December wedding (we went to one last December as well) and although I personally would be afraid of having a December wedding myself (the weather this time of year is just too unpredictable) I have come to appreciate the December weddings far more than I thought I would.  Weddings - especially when you have to travel to get to them - can be exhausting and having a half-dozen weddings crammed into three months each summer often led to a feeling of burn out near the end of the summer and spreading them out through the year has really helped me to prevent that burned out feeling.  Believe it or not, we have yet another wedding next weekend.  Fortunately that one is closer to home so no hotel stay will be required. 

Anyway, congratulations to the bride and groom!

FeedBurner

Does anyone out there use FeedBurner for their blogs? 

I signed up awhile ago and never really did much with it, but I feel like I didn't configure something correctly.  The stats and subscribers seem way lower than I think is true and I feel like my blog feeds didn't transfer over properly. 

Any suggestions for what I can do?  The "help" features didn't really help me at all since it seems like I did everything right.

And what is the purpose of FeedBurner?  What makes it better than just posting through Blogger and using a stats tracker for numbers?  I am failing to see the benefit but I know that a lot of people think it's a good thing, so I feel like I must just be missing something.

Help! Please!