{goodbye 2008...}

i cannot believe that the end of 2008 is here already. it seems like the year was just starting not that long ago. i guess it is true what they say about time flying when you get older. this year has been an interesting ride. lots of new adventures and lots of getting back to normal. both of which feel great!

so first things first...a list of firsts for me this year...(in no particular order)

...the first time i ate lunch by myself, i know it seems trivial, but i have never eaten out alone, it was only mcd's, but still

...my first trip to arizona - loved every second of it; gorgeous scenery, an enormous connection to sean, warm!


...my first hike - next time i should know that starting with the grand canyon may have been a little ambitious for a newbie like me, but i survived and even enjoyed it (and i didn't have to have my foot amputated :) )


...i bought my first new car! it's a nissan pathfinder and i bought it all by myself and it's my very first brand new car, and i <3 it!

...my first trip to cedar point, which coincides with my first camping trip in a camper and my first camping trip with shawn's family; super great time!



...my first thanksgiving at the house without sean...i decided this year that i wanted to have thanksgiving back here at the house and so the whole fam-damily was here, the carabines, the partos, and the grimes' came for dessert...it was awesome


...my first stab at geocaching (with shawn of course) and i love it soooo much! it is so much fun! i look forward to doing it more in the future

...my first time to go to the cramer reunion, my mom's family's annual reunion in wva; this is not technically the first time i have attended the reunion, but it is the first time i remember. it was a lot of fun, and it was good to have my good buddy shawn with me.


...my first trip to boston. not all it was cracked up to be, but it was a week away from home and that is always fun.


...also my first trip to salem, loved salem! such a fun place.


..my first visit to historic coney island, lots of surprises here, both good and bad, shawn and leah and i went for a long weekend, we had a great time. it was my first time to a sideshow and my first time seeing a burlseque show, it was so much fun! coney island itself left a little to be desired though...



...i completed my first year of teaching! woo hoo! it was a great year, i loved my students from my first full year, now i look at them as big first graders and they look so old!


...my first HonFest; every year Baltimore has a big festival in Hampden, to honor the baltimore hon, most fun was convincing courtney to get some "hon hair"!


...my first drink out of a fishbowl!! well it was not technically a fishbowl, but it was a giant flaming volcano bowl of alcohol, this is one i was waiting for! :)


...my first visit to assateague island, shawn and i jaunted over there during one of our weekends in ocean city and it was so neat! the wild horses were so cool and it was a gorgeous day to be out there


...my first time trying some new craft endeavors outside the paper crafting arena. as you may remember, the last few months i was working on an online class with an artist that i love and i have been trying my hand at a few new things, shawn's mom even bought me a sewing machine for christmas!


...my first christmas morning at home with a new family. the grimes' all spent the night on christmas eve and amber made us all breakfast on christmas morning and we sat in front of the beautiful tree and fireplace and opened our gifts, it was so nice. it was the first time there were more than two people in this house on christmas morn :)

...my first year without sean, there has been goodness and sadness and lots of in between, but i am glad to say that i have made it through and was happy to celebrate his life (as i do quite frequently) with family and friends in east hampton in april for the unveiling of his memorial bench...such a special time and place



well as much as i was looking to expand this list into the "normal" things that happened this year, my "firsts" list is pretty all-encompassing and, boy, i did a lot of things this year, a lot of new things! i am so excited for this next year and all of the new fabulous adventures it will bring. last year was all about survival and making it through, it feels so good to come out on top of that heap and be so excited about life again. that got a little preachy i guess, but every word of it is true. so on to bright and sunny days...

{holiday daily: day 10}

well, today was quite a special day! bert and leah and shawn and i were supposed to go to new york city this weekend for some christmas fun, but money is crunched and we really couldn't find a good deal on hotels so we decided we would stay home and do some fun things locally. amber is staying with us this weekend and so she tagged along with us, which was fun.

we decided last night that it would be really fun to go to amazing glaze and paint some pottery! this is something that i LOVE to do and i know that bert and leah are also big fans. shawn and amber have never been before, so that was exciting. we all had a great time. here we are all working hard...












after we were finished at amazing glaze, it was snowing! i mean, like really snowing! at first i thought it was just some flurries, but it really lasted for a while. there was no accumulation, but it was cold enough that it stayed on the grass for a while. after our painting, we headed to friday's for dinner.





the original plan included driving around after dark to look at christmas lights, but when we found out it was snowing, and we were full from eating, we decided we would go home and watch a holiday movie and sit in front of the fire :) so we came home and played some wii mini golf and watched superbad. i know, i know, it's not a holiday movie, but it was a unanimous vote :)

after superbad, bert headed home, shawn headed off to bed, and it was just us girls. leah was going to leave, but amber and i convinced her to stay and watch p.s. i love you. this was a movie that i have wanted to see for some time, but hesitated, because i wasn't sure if i could handle watching it or not. the story is that a woman's husband dies and then she receives letters from him for about a year afterward guiding her to new things in her life. well, after the emotional upheaval i experienced after watching catch and release after sean passed away, i was not sure i was in for another. but man, oh man, this movie was great! it was a total chick flick so to any of the boys reading this: you probably won't like it. but the three of us loved it!

after the movie, we were all (well at least leah and i) looking for a little reminder of our dear dear sean, so i pulled out the stack of videos i have that i thought he might be on. things like our wedding reception and a new years eve in deep creek. it was fun to watch them and fill amber in on what was going on, but we didn't see a lot of sean. it was fun to reminisce and it was a nice way to end the day.

well today was a busy, but awesome, day.

{holiday daily: day 9}

today was another great day. work was, well, work. then this evening, i had a few girlfriends over for our first crafting night. this is something i decided i wanted to do on our munny night. we had so much fun that evening working alongside each other and inspiring one another and bouncing ideas around, that i thought it would be a great idea to have one of these kinds of nights every month, or as often as possible. so i invited the girls over to bring along any of the goody projects they are currently working on and we would have drinks and spend time together crafting. our first night was a lot of fun! amber, leah, jackie, and mitra all brought over some projects and we spent a few hours in front of the fire creating away while shawn kept the drinks flowing!

i was able to start and finish the button tree i have been wanting to make (i will have to add pictures later) and it turned out so cute! but it took a lot longer than i thought it would! i was also able to finish one of my christmas gifts for someone special! i love the idea of having a mostly handmade christmas, i just hope that everyone that is getting handmade goody for christmas enjoys it!

{holiday daily: day 8}

well today was a nice day. i decided to take a mental health day from work and spend the day tidying the house and crafting. for my class with elsie, she was hosting an online video chat all day. well there were some technical difficulties with that, but it was fun to join in and catch a peek here and there. it was very inspiring. this whole class has been very inspiring, i am going to be very very sad when it is over in a few weeks. it has definitely been something new and exciting for me.

anyway, most of what i worked on was christmas gifts, so, sorry, no pictures! i don't want any peeking!

this evening shawn had nicholas' christmas photo shoot. that was a lot of fun, and a bit of a challenge. getting and keeping a two year old interested in sitting still and smiling is really hard! but i think we did a pretty good job and nick's pictures turned out pretty good. here is a little sample of the goodness...

{holiday daily: day 7}

tonight was our usual wednesday night dinner in dundalk. shawn had dinner at his grandmothers and mom and i went to squires for dinner. after dinner, we all watched the tree lighting in rockefeller center on tv. it was nice to watch something christmasy on tv and since i won't be able to see the tree in person this year, this is as good as it gets :) another normal evening, nothing spectacular.

{holiday daily: day 6}

today was another work day and i was determined to come home and get my holiday garland finished, which i did!

here are the pictures of the finished product...










and here are pictures of my inspiration for this project. the initial idea came from a project prompt for my craft class with elsie. this is what her's looks like, so cute!


and from that i found this...and instantly fell in love.

so after a few days of hand-sewing and collecting supplies, my adorable holiday garland is complete! i love it hanging on my wall and am excited to try and make some more garlands for the house.

{holiday daily: day 5}

today was back to work, the dreaded time from now until the last day of school before holiday vacation. yay! nothing too special today. shawn and i met at the house after work and i worked a little on my holiday garland (which i will post pictures of when i am finished) and then we met bert and leah at red robin for dinner. always a lot of fun.