2012 Holiday Greetings!

We're looking back at a very pleasant, low-key 2012!

In January...

• Jim went to San Francisco to work at the MacWorld conference.  All his tech-gadget itches were scratched.
• Nicole opened a new learning center for Engineering students at OSU.  It continues to be a big focus of her work.

In February...

• Mom & Fred came to visit.  Since our birthdays are three weeks apart, we shared a party.

Celebrating a combined 98 years! 

In March...

• Jim and OSU Glee hosted their first "Sing Off" concert.  They collaborated with OSU's a ccappella groups to rock our socks.

OSU Glee

In April...

• We got to hear Chanticleer in Portland

In May...

• Nicole got to go to Anchorage on a work trip and snuck in a quick visit with the Taylors.
• We were "drafted" to the Methodist Marmots softball team. Nobody can tell us where the team name came from, but we won a few games and had a lot of fun!

We did some landscaping...and discovered a convenient way to transport trees.

In June...

• We got a visit from Erin & Aiden

Uncle Jim & Eloise snuck in a little beach time

Mom & I met up with Brenda in Seattle

In July...

• Jim chaperoned the youth group mission trip to Juneau.  They built a community garden and celebrated the 4th of July Alaska-style.

In August...

We spent a week in Montana.  Sunsets at Mom & Fred's are the best!

Nicole's grad school pals had a super fun Corvallis reunion.

In September...

• Our sister-in-law Treena visited for Labor Day weekend.  We shopped till we dropped!

We got the dog dirty. 

In October...

Nicole traveled to Nashville for a conference and saw the Grand Ole Opry

In November...

Jim & Nicole reunited with old friends for a Willamette Choir Reunion

Jim served as Music Director and Band Leader for a production of RENT.
(See the back of his head under the platform?)

In December...

• We spent a few days in Phoenix enjoying 80-degree weather with Erin & Aiden.
• Jim hung enough Christmas lights to ensure that our house can be seen from space.

As always, we are reminded of the many blessings of this life, and are so grateful for the family and friends we share it with!  We wish you the happiest of holidays and a joy-filled new year!

Jim, Nicole & Sugar

2011 Holiday Greetings!

Time for a look back at 2011...We vowed it would be Year of Nothing, but we sure crammed a lot in!

January brought actual snow!

Bigger than the news of snow was the start of Jim's new job as Director of Oregon State University's Glee Choir.  Between 75 and 100 students have enrolled every quarter and they are a big hit around campus.

OSU Glee

Jimbo hit the big 3-0 in April.  His best friend Lucas turned 30 a few days later so we rolled the whole thing into one big birthday shindig (complete with matching novelty t-shirts) at the Kennedy School in Portland. 

Soon after we celebrated another friendship - my 20th anniversary with my bestie Brenda Lee.  We'd been promising ourselves to celebrate milestones (10 years... 15 years...) but never managed to pull it off.  So we went big for our 20th and flew off to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. 

Jim and Thatcher came along to..."supervise"...and we had a fantastic time!

April included one more special celebration - showering our girl, Erin, and anticipating the arrival of her sweet baby Aiden.  

My pals from grad school got together in Las Vegas in May.   We had a fantastic reunion, including a Cirque du Soleil show and a special baby shower brunch to celebrate Nikki's little guy, Oscar.

In June, I joined a group of OSU colleagues to run our Hawaii orientation program in Honolulu.  Thanks to an unused companion fare, Jim was able to tag along.  Of course he was put right to work and learned a lot about academic advising and online registration!

July found us in Charleston, South Carolina, helping our dear friend Amanda move.  A few days later we'd gotten her settled in Columbus, Ohio.  We got to see a few new states and try out the Piggly Wiggly.

I dig the Pig!

We traveled back to Montana in August and had a nice relaxing vacation.  We spent time with my Mom and Fred in Missoula, and took a camping trip with my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Dean. 

Four days with no internet, no cell phones, and nothing more pressing to attend to than getting the boat in the water?  Hello Vacation!  I finally got good at towing/backing/parking a trailer.  I think I'll add that to my resume...

We squeezed in a day trip to introduce Jim to Glacier National Park.

Just as we returned from Montana, I had my last day at OSU's College of Pharmacy.  It was hard to say goodbye after 8 years, but opportunity knocked for me and I took a new job as Assistant Director of Undergraduate Programs for OSU's College of Engineering.  About a month later, Jim was offered a position as Choir Director for the First United Methodist Church in Corvallis.  Glee and the church keep Jim happy and busy, and we both feel so fortunate to have found such fulfilling work this year. 

Knowing that we are happily settling into long-term jobs in Corvallis, we decided to take the plunge and buy our first home.  We looked at 10 houses and fell in love with number 11!

We moved in to our new digs in October, and have been enjoying "fancy" amenities like the dishwasher, a garage, and a real yard for Sugar.  It's a big step up from our 850 square foot rental!

Thanksgiving found us at my brother's house in Spokane, Washington.  It was a  nice low-key weekend with my family and included a benefit dog-walk for the Humane Society. 

And now it's time for Christmas.  It will be our first in our home, and Jim's family will come to celebrate with us.  As we count our blessings - family, friends, good health, meaningful work, and the world's greatest dog - we wish you all the best.  May all your days be filled with joy! 

Happy Holidays from Jim, Nicole, and Sugar

A Good July Day

It seems like forever ago now, but we spent a pretty great July Saturday with our pals Dante & Jenn.  They introduced us to the deliciousness that is breakfast at Gathering Together Farm in Philomath.  We knew the farm from our Farmer's Market, but had never visited.  It's a must for a leisurely locally grown breakfast. 

Stuffed to the brim, we headed out to the coast to let Sugar and her BFF Tynan run.

We headed back to Corvallis to catch Bobby McFerrin and the Yellowjackets at DaVinci Days.  Pretty big stuff for our little town!

A perfect summer day spent with great friends.  Yay!

Apparently I Have a Lot To Say

My job involves a lot of email.  It always seems to be just on the verge of getting the best of me...my inbox feels like that last five pounds you can't shed no matter how much you exercise.  But I take comfort in the fact that this seems to be a universal truth among my colleagues.  Sometimes I feel like our position descriptions should read: Go to meetings.  Write email.  Repeat.

Today I had a complete meltdown when Outlook started sending me nasty-grams about my mailbox being over its size limit.  Not only does it flash these insulting little warnings in the corner of the screen every minute or so, but it stops letting me send messages!  And when you can't send email you can't get a darn thing done.  So I was rendered useless at 3:30 on a Wednesday afternoon.

But there were only 40 messages in my inbox.  No drafts.  And I emptied my deleted items.  So what gives?  Sent mail.  The only possible explanation - everything's piling up in my sent mail.  And I am certainly not deleting that!  You know what happens when you delete your sent mail?  You can no longer CYA.  Know what that is?  Cover Your A**.  And Lord knows that working with college students in a public educational institution requires all kinds of...coverage. 

"This is why I have auto-archiving!" I wailed.   I was a good kid and I did the right thing and I auto-archived like it was goin outta style but I'm getting the nasty-grams anyway and I can't do a darn thing and I've been rendered useless at 3:30 on a Wednesday afternoon!

Dagnabit.

So I call in the cavalry:  The Tech Guy.  But The Tech Guy didn't respond to my skype (cause that's how you get The Tech Guy, ya know.  That, or set up a World of Warcraft character resembling you and e-wander into his neck of the magical forest to challenge him to a duel).  So I went old-school and left The Tech Guy a voicemail.

After 30 minutes and a whole lot of gnashing-of-my-teeth, The Tech Guy arrives to find me sanitizing the office.  Seriously - that's all I could do while rendered useless by that blasted sent mail.  Three clicks later he surmises that my auto-archiving stopped.  On November 20, 2009. 

Well NO WONDER!  That alone could have brought on the rapture. 

So the Tech Guy rips open his shirt to reveal the super-hero insignia emblazoned on his chest and fixes it.  He archives everything from November 20, 2009 to December 31, 2010.  Roughly a year's worth of messages.

And then he showed me just how many messages there were.  And I died a little inside.  And then I felt the early-onset carpel tunnel which will surely be the end of me.

...
...
...
9490

Nine thousand, four hundred and ninety.

Just shy of ten-blessed-THOUSAND emails.

Lawsie mercy.

And I was out of the office for at least five weeks last year!  


Though you may have started to doubt it, there was actually a point in my telling you this.  If you are a loyal reader it means you are probably also my friend and, as such, send me emails from time to time.  And you probably know that I am rotten about responding.  My replies are day-late, dollar-short if they even come at all.  I have guilt about this.  It's not the kind of gal I want to be, but it just happens.  And now I know why!  By the time you send nine thousand, four hundred and ninety emails for work there's just not a whole lotta steam left to whip open the gmail when you get home.  So from now on it's probably best to sent me a text.

Or Skype me.

Or set up a World of Warcraft character resembling you and e-wander into my neck of the magical
forest and plunk down on a toadstool.

Wait.  Is World of Warcraft a card game?  I'm pouring a glass of wine.

YON Update: Takin' Care of Busines

Things are getting done around here!  That may be the hidden benefit of our prolonged rainy season.  Lord knows there’s not much else good to be said about the winter that wouldn’t quit.  We’re sufficiently soggy.  

Progress on the Year of Nothing list:

3.  20th Anniversary Celebration. 2011 marks the 20th year that Brenda Lee and I have been BFFs. We told ourselves we'd celebrate on our 10th anniversary, and then we didn't. Our 15th came and went before we knew it, so now we need to go big for our 20th!

And “go big” we did!  With husbands in tow, we spent the first week of April in sunny Puerta Vallarta. I highly recommend sunny vacations with your bestie.  We played tennis, took up our share of space in the pool, enjoyed the local tequila, and attempted to eat our weight in avocado. 

 

5.  Organize & consolidate our finances. Between the two of us, we had a ridiculous snarl of accounts, cards, banks, investments, etc. It's time to bring order to the chaos.

Due primarily to my darling husband’s affinity for number-crunching, number 5 can be crossed off the list!  Pre-consolidation we had eight or nine checking and savings accounts spread over four different institutions.  Now we’re down to our online bank and the local credit union, and accounts that can be tallied on just one hand.  The best part of the whole process?  Getting to kick Chase Bank (and their constant solicitations, pushiness, and ridiculous fees) to the curb.  We don’t miss them a bit!

13.  Welcome Jimbo to adulthood. The Dish Fairy hits the big 3-0 this year, and continues to insist that birthdays are no big deal. I just can't tolerate that kind of attitude and will be mandating birthday hoopla.

Hoopla Accomplished!  Like me and my Brenda Lee, Jim and his bestie Lucas were born 10 days apart.   I guess guys don’t say “bestie” do they?  “Brotha from anotha mutha”?  Can I even say that?  Certainly not without sounding ridiculous.

 Anywho, these two are truly cut from the same cloth so it seemed only appropriate to celebrate their collective 60^th birthday (complete with His & His novelty shirts) together.

16.  Take dance class. While Jim was away at school we often talked about what we'd do when we lived in the same zip code and this one came up over and over.

Checkity-check-check!  We took a 10-week Social Dance class this winter, and even convinced our friends Dante & Jenn to join the fun.  This is where we confirmed that Jim is the better dancer, and (while I can hold my own) I can’t foxtrot my way out of a paper bag. 

 To sum up:  We danced our way into Jimbo's adulthood with tidy accounts and frequent flier miles to spare.  I love the power of a good list!

YON Amendements

No sooner than I clicked “Publish” on the Year of Nothing list did omissions come to light.  Isn’t that always the way those things go? Because I like to keep things complete (and because, let’s face it, anything I don’t write down gets forgotten all together), are my YON amendments:

20.  Go to the Farmer’s Market.  An absolute necessity, right?  The Farmer’s Market is one of the things I love best about Corvallis – they really do it right.  We might live here for the rest of the year or the rest of our lives, but I’d hate to miss out on the market either way.   And then there’s the deliciousness to consider…nom nom!

21.   Welcome Baby Benaim.  In keeping with the current trend among the ladies in my life, my darling Schmerin has a bun in the oven.  And what a cute oven it is!  She’s one of those gals who carries her pregnancy like she’s smuggling a basketball under her t-shirt. 

22.  Welcome Baby Lovely. That trend I was referring to?  It’s no joke.  Nikki-6 is sporting her own baby bump, due within a week of Miss Erin.  I wonder if this will slow down her running, canoeing, biking, hiking, or DIY home improvements?  Probably not!

So I'm updating the full YON list and charging ahead to enjoy each little item to the fullest!  

Year of Nothing?

At the close of 2010: Year of Awesome, we determined that the new year should be 2011: Year of Nothing. Now that we've tried YON on for size I can safely say that I'm not cut out to do nothing. So it's really morphing into Year of Want To (as opposed to Have T0). Would anyone be surprised if I told you I made a list of all the Want To's?

In no particular order, I give you things I want to do (and a few things that just really need to get done):

1. Picnic. We received three different picnic kits as wedding gifts and they're all different. Clearly it's a sign that we should be dining al fresco. A lot!
2. Family Camping Trip. Nearly a year ago we promised my aunt and uncle that we'd help them break in their camper and boat. Sounds like tough duty, huh?
   
3. 20th Anniversary Celebration. 2011 marks the 20th year that Brenda Lee and I have been BFFs. We told ourselves we'd celebrate on our 10th anniversary, and then we didn't. Our 15th came and went before we knew it, so now we need to go big for our 20th!
4. Close probate on Dad's estate. It's not fun, but I really want it finished.
5. Organize & consolidate our finances. Between the two of us, we had a ridiculous snarl of accounts, cards, banks, investments, etc. It's time to bring order to the chaos.
   
6. Remember how to read. Though I haven't regressed as far as illiteracy, my post-graduate school moratorium on reading has gone on too long. I downloaded the BBC Book List and will be reading my way through it. I'm not reading everything, though. The Hobbit is just creepy, and I'm the one person I know who doesn't like the Chronicles of Narnia. This is not a forced march so I'm skipping the weird stuff. My progress on the list will be a post for another time.
7. Spend time with my girls. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: friends don't get better than my girls. I don't want to turn in to one of those married ladies who doesn't spend time with the gals.
   
8. Get Dad out of the closet. We need to spread Dad's ashes this summer. I'm sure the office closet was not his first pick of final resting places. Everybody will be happier when we "out" him.
   
9. Golf. At least once with the Davidson fam.
10. Learn about home-buying. I have a LONG way to go in that particular realm. If I don't start educating myself now, our first home will be a retirement home!
11. Paint my nails a dark color and leave it for a week. I already confessed my inability to get past pale pink on my digits so this will be an interesting experiment. Just for funs.
    
12. Craft. Thanks to Year of Awesome, I'm more than a year behind on scrapbook and photo projects. Must make & do!
    
13. Welcome Jimbo to adulthood. The Dish Fairy hits the big 3-0 this year, and continues to insist that birthdays are no big deal. I just can't tolerate that kind of attitude and will be mandating birthday hoopla.
14. Play tennis. OSU's new courts are nearly finished and I'm about to forget which hand swings the racket.
    
15. Spend less time at the Vet. We're seven months into Sugar's epic food allergy investigation, and have had a few other mishaps along the way. I think we're finally making progress, and am hoping it won't be long before our disposable income goes to something besides hypoallergenic kibble and steroid injections.
    
16. Take dance class. While Jim was away at school we often talked about what we'd do when we lived in the same zip code and this one came up over and over.
17. Do something with the wedding photos. They are beautiful and precious and intimidating. I don't even know where to start with the framing and albuming and scrapbooking but I don't want them to gather dust in the closet with the golf clubs.
18. Figure out how to cook steak. As a recovering vegetarian, I'm really good with chicken and flummoxed by beef, pork, and a fair amount of fish.
19. Go to the coast. Even if it's just for a day of kite-flying. 
20. Go to the Farmer’s Market.  An absolute necessity, right?  The Farmer’s Market is one of the things I love best about Corvallis – they really do it right.  We might live here for the rest of the year or the rest of our lives, but I’d hate to miss out on the market either way.   And then there’s the deliciousness to consider…nom nom! 
21. Welcome Baby Benaim.  In keeping with the current trend among the ladies in my life, my darling Schmerin has a bun in the oven.  And what a cute oven it is!  She’s one of those gals who carries her pregnancy like she’s smuggling a basketball under her t-shirt.  
22. Welcome Baby Lovely. That trend I was referring to?  It’s no joke.  Nikki-6 is sporting her own baby bump, due within a week of Miss Erin.  I wonder if this will slow down her running, canoeing, biking, hiking, or DIY home improvements?  Probably not!  

This list has been formulating for awhile, so I already have some progress to report. I'm relying on ya'll to keep me accountable!

This message was typed by fingers bedecked in Quarter of a Cent-Cherry.

Things I Cannot Do

Beth and I have a lot of schtick. One of our best not-too-slapsticky bits:

N: "Know your role."
B: "Play to your strengths."

This exchange usually follows decisions about who's going to do what (or who should have the good sense to step aside to let the experts whip up the cocktails). Years into "knowing my role" and "playing to my strengths" I think I can also clearly sum up all the things I should never be called upon to do.

* sit through an episode of "Scrubs"

* foxtrot

* apply false lashes

* touch a picture of a snake

* tolerate a messy office

* roll my tongue

* drink Dr. Pepper

* remember a damn thing

* win a video game

* throw a ball without bringing shame on myself and my family

* paint my nails anything other than clear or pale pink

* calculus

* back a trailer

* pull an all-nighter

* confidently order in French

* remember the proper use of a colon vs. a semi-colon without referencing "Rules for Writers"

* label the countries on a map of Africa

I humbly submit these to our loyal readers in the event that we're ever faced with a Foxtrot-related emergency. However, should you need something color-coordinated and cross-referenced by zip code in time for the Happy Hour, do feel free to give me a jingle.

Monday Musings

Lacking anything content-rich for the blog, I give you Monday Musings. Do with them what you will =)

* I like Michelle Obama - especially her JCrew cardigans.

* I've become one of those people who's ridiculous about their pet. I guess there's no going back so I'm just going to start owning up to it.

* I can't foxtrot worth a darn. Honestly, we just spent two weeks of our dance class on foxtrot, and it's already left my brain. I sure hope I'm never in a life-or-death dance off.

* You can have my blueberries 'cause I don't like them. You can have my blackberries, too.

* I'm ready for the OPB fund-drive to wrap up. I bet I'm not alone. I wish I had lots of money to give them so we could all get on with it.

* If I had lots of money, would my first stop be a public radio donation? I bet I'd buy a few JCrew cardigans first. Now I feel shallow.

* I just answered "What is Voice Over Internet Protocol, Alex" to Jeopardy and made my husband proud. I got a fist-bump.

* We rent. I'm itching to own a home the way that most women my age are itching to have a baby. I walk by new construction and coo things like "don't you just love the way they smell when they're brand new?"

* All my blog-worthy ideas come to me when I'm at work or falling asleep. You would think I'm a much better blogger if you were just rattling around in my head all the time. It's funny in here, I'm tellin ya.

* Did you ever notice that, right after you learn a new word, you hear it/see it frequently? The word "nascent" and I have been playing this game for about three weeks. I think my new subscription to TIME magazine is partially to blame.

* I like TIME magazine.

* I like Lady Gaga.

* I don't know how to reconcile the last two statements.

* I tried to make these for my valentine last night. Martha sure makes it look easier than it is. I think I'll just buy my ice-cream sandwiches from here on out.

2010: Year of Awesome

Late in 2009 we looked ahead to the excitement of 2010 and dubbed it the "Year of Awesome." It definitely turned out that way, but more in keeping with the larger-than-life definition. I'm jumping on the retrospective bandwagon to take a look back at my biggest year yet.

Rang in 2010 with my Bestie. This is the only photo we managed to take.

January
Dog-sat "The Ladies" for my brother & sister-in-law (thus confirming that my life was dog-ready).

February
Spent a very snowy Valentine's Day in Minnesota (I like the juxtaposition of toting the tool-bag and guitar...)Said goodbye to my Dad.

March
Put Dad's estate into probate on my 32nd birthday.
BFF 4 in Minnesota with my grad school pals (including a suprise baby shower for Jill, and a surprise bachelorette party for me!)

One of my favorite little people turned 1.

April
Super-duper extra-fun bridal shower thrown by my best gals.

May
Jaunt to Minnesota for Jim's final concert.

Made my final trip to Minnesota for the express and joyful purpose of bringing Jimbo home.

June
Jimbo & I drive the U-Haul halfway across the country. Felt super grateful that he hadn't gone to school on the east coast.

Purchase our graduation/wedding/surviving-two-years-apart presents to each other. Meep meep!

I zip off to "work" in Hawaii while Jim & Tim drive to Montana to bring home our newest family member, Sugar.

July
Celebrated the 4th of July at the Thompson Compound for the umpteenth year in a row. Confirmed Sugar's fear of fireworks.

Enjoyed a Couple's Shower hosted by dear family & friends. (Yay for a blender that actually crushes ice!)

August
Take a "just us" day three days prior to the wedding to introduce Sugar to the coast. She puts on her party face.

Rehearsal Dinner & Treena's Birthday

Best Day Ever!
Honeymoon!

Sugar's first birthday (complete with Pupcakes ala Mimi!)

September
State Fair with another of my favorite little people (who shares my passion for soft-serve).
October
Saying goodbye to my Grandpa Vic.

Choir tour to Boston
Rad Halloween costumes

November
Said goodbye to Jim's Aunt Judy.

Super-relaxing Thanksgiving at the Coast with the Davidson's. So relaxing, in fact, that we couldn't be bothered to photograph it.

December
Celebrated a white Christmas with the Kent-Luety family in Montana.

With all that behind us I look forward to 2011, dubbed "Year of Nothing" cause we don't need a darn thing to happen. Regular everyday life suits us just fine.

Wishing you a very happy Year of Whatever-You-Want-It-To-Be!