Baby on Board

Joseph and I are very happy to share that we are expecting a little baby Higley in the spring. Just a few months into our marriage we are headed for our biggest and most important adventure yet: parenthood. To say that it's been a busy year is putting it quite mildly, and there's no slowing down in sight.

I first took a pregnancy test on July 12, after an icky-feeling day at work. I really didn't expect it to come back positive because it was 8pm, but I didn't want to wait til morning. Much to my surprise, a faint line showed up pretty quickly. Ummm, ok, that's interesting. Joseph was working, so I didn't say anything and went to bed. The next morning, which happened to be Friday, July 13, (I've written about Joseph's love of Friday the 13th and how he often experiences very good luck on those days, so it was very fitting) was Joseph's 37th birthday. I got up early, took 2 more tests, and then did the only thing I could think of... wrapped the tests up in a box. We both had to work that day so we had celebrated his birthday already and didn't plan on presents that day. I woke him up and told him I had one more present for him to open.

His reaction surprised me a little bit, as he wasn't surprised at all. He just smiled a big smile, and said "This is the best birthday present ever, I'll never forget this day." And then he told me he'd thought about it the week before and knew that I was going to be pregnant very soon. Since before our wedding people had been asking impatiently when we were going to have kids, so I guess I am the only one who was surprised that 10 weeks into marriage and without actually "trying", I'd turned up pregnant.

I have not felt well. At all. So it's been a couple rough, hot, tired months. I didn't imagine my first summer back in Texas to be like this, where I have stayed inside every single day, only bearing the heat to run to and from the car. Poor Cooper didn't expect it either, but despite being stuck inside and getting very little exercise, he's still as sweet and good as ever. Oh, and he's very excited to be a big brother. I'm just starting to feel much better and rather than totally opposed to most foods, as I was for a while, I'm gradually becoming hungry for everything. It's still miserably hot outside but I'm patiently waiting for cooler temperatures so Coop and I can get out for long walks. For now I'm staying inside, doing some yoga and reading, reading, reading.

Our families could not be happier or more supportive. Baby will have cousins close in age on both sides (extra close on the Marsh side, Mike and his wife are expecting a baby girl in February). We are lucky to have experienced mamas in both of our sisters and my mom who is an expert in all things pregnancy and baby. We are surrounded by love and support, despite being far away from everyone here in Texas.

Last week we had our first prenatal appointment with the midwives we'll be seeing. We'd had the appointment scheduled for several weeks and I was very anxious, as I knew we would get to hear the heartbeat for the first time on this visit. As I got ready that morning, I put on Dad's watch as I do every morning, but I also grabbed the bracelet my sister gave me for Christmas last year. It's a silver slip on cuff with the quote "I carry your heart with me" etched on it. On the inside are dad's initials "DHM". I had always kept it where I could see it in the bathroom, but had never actually worn it out of the house before. It seemed appropriate to wear Dad's heart with me to go hear baby's heart. If you knew my dad or have read much of what Kate and I have written since he died, you know that he loved and found great comfort, symbolism and beauty in rainbows. Since he got sick, we have seen rainbows at some of the most incredible moments and situations. So imagine my shock and overflowing emotion when, on our way to Austin to listen to our baby's heartbeat for the first time, on a completely rainless, sunny day in August, we looked up and saw this.

Baby Higley is due in March and we will be surprised and ultra eager to meet our son or daughter.

Marsh & Higley get Married!

What a whirlwind few weeks it has been. Really, the last few months have been a crazy ride. And honestly, the last several years too. Anyway, we made it safely to our new home in the Texas Hillcountry. We have been here for ten days, so we are pretty much unpacked and mostly caught up on sleep. It was a rough couple of days after we left Ohio. It was a lot of miles with a huge dog in a hot truck. We drove straight through from Columbus, Ohio just three days after our wonderful, family wedding in the rain. Joseph is back to work now and this home is starting to feel like a sweet home. This life here is starting to feel like the real life we waited years to make.

The week before the wedding I had been in Alabama hanging out with my sister and her family, meeting new baby Max Daniel. Who ever in a right mind schedules herself to be out the town for a week the week before her wedding? It was a nice distraction, just cake baking, sprinkler playing and so much baby snuggling that I didn't think too much getting married and moving the following week. On Wednesday, April 11, I flew from Montgomery, back to Columbus. A few hours after I arrived, Joseph arrived in from Austin. And then, it was all systems GO! The next days his family started to arrive from east and west. Thursday evening, the boys (3 Higleys, 1 Marsh) went out for a Bachelor Steak Dinner and the ladies had a quiet evening out. Friday, the rest of our siblings arrived in town, we had a Going Away/Pre-Wedding Party at my Mom's house. It was lovely, lots of good food and yummy drinks, great conversations, introductions all around, laughter, congratulations and goodbyes. It was much better than a rehearsal dinner and the perfect way to start our Wedding Weekend!

Then we woke up Saturday and it was WEDDING DAY! Joseph and I spent a few quiet hours together at home and then went our separate ways to get ready. Oh. My. Goodness. The excitement! The weather forecast had changed daily for the 2 weeks leading up to this day. I had pretty much accepted that I could do nothing about it, therefore wouldn't waste energy worrying or stressing about what happened in the sky on April 14. That turned out to be a blessing, because there was nothing we could have done to prevent the 12 solid hours of POURING RAIN. As much as Joseph and I (and Robin, bless her heart) wanted it to be a warm, sunny spring day to fully enjoy the beautiful yard in all of it's Marsh Landscape glory, the soaking wet, grey, chilly day was not a disappointment at all. It was somehow more romantic. We huddled close under a tent on the deck, with 16 of our very dearest looking on, a mom and a dad looking down through the clouds and my brother leading the way, and we exchanged simple, heartfelt vows. I am completely biased, but it was truly the sweetest, most intimate wedding ceremony I could imagine. We laughed, we cried, we promised. Then we toasted!


After the ceremony we went to a nearby restaurant for a delicious family style Italian feast in their wine room. We ate, drank, laughed, took pictures and enjoyed being all together. My dear Erin made our cake for us, and although the top layer didn't make it home for us to save, it was the best, most beautiful wedding cake ever... Made by my best friend, who happens to be the best cake baker I know. After the reception we went back to Robin's house to keep the celebration going. As the night wound down, Joseph and I looked around in awe at our families together and the rings on our fingers. We were finally married!

Enjoy a few photos from our wedding day.

24 Days to Go

Here's an update. We decided not to wait until June to get married. Instead our wedding will be on April 14, 2012 in Columbus. Yeah, that's just 24 days from now!

It's all coming together beautifully. I am planning the wedding here and finishing up at work by training my replacements. We have kept it simple and low key so the planning is easy and we're able to make it super personal and meaningful. My brother has been ordained and he will be performing the ceremony and the estimated guest count is 20. The wedding will be in my father's backyard and I am hope/pray/wish/begging for the weather to be as amazing as it has been this past week. Spring sprung hard in the middle of March this year and I'd like to believe that will work to our wedding-day-weather advantage. Fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, back in Horseshoe Bay Joseph has been setting things up for us so that all I have to do is show up with Coop and all my stuff. And he's doing the hard part of that too, flying one way a few days before and then "getting my wife and bringing her home" in a Penske truck, towing my stationwagon (which I will own as of May 1!) It's gone remarkably smoothly, he got a good job offer he wanted to take, changing our plans from living in Austin to staying in HSB. It's too far to commute to live in Austin and work in the bay so I have just accepted that starting our life over just where we left it is a good thing and I'll be happy and make the best of it. I have never been happier in my life than those years with Joseph is Horseshoe Bay so it seems fitting to start our married life by the lake out in the country. Joseph kept the PO Box I have had since '05 and my banking is still done with a local bank there. So really, it's like going home. Joseph has secured us a lovely home that he assures me will meet my criteria. I have yet to see photos of the inside but I trust his taste and I have no choice, so it's working. He will be moving in as soon as the people living there now move out, yeah, it's crazy, that's how country real estate works. No. One. Is. In. A. Hurry. Except me. I'll be there in 28 days expecting to have a place to live. (Calm down, Amy, I can hear Joseph saying.)

I am going to stay with my sister and her family the week before my wedding. Yeah, that sounds crazy too, but I guess that's just my style. I'll be there over Easter, which will be fun, and I plan to enjoy every minute of sweet baby cuddles I can get with my new nephew Max. I will fly home from Alabama on April 11, the same day Joseph flies in from Austin. We'll have a busy week... and then 10 days later we'll be newlywed Texans.

After all the pain and suffering and lost time and regrets and wishes we have experienced in this story of ours... we wouldn't change one thing. It has all happened for reasons we couldn't have known and brought us here to this point in time. We are in the absolute right place doing the right thing with the right people for the right reasons and we are both utterly thrilled to be living this dream come true together. Life is spectacular. We look forward to a long, full, happy marriage. We will eat well, enjoy simple things, see the world, have as many beautiful babies as we can and raise them to be kind people, love each other, love our families and work hard to be happy, healthy and comfortable.

I will fix up this little blog of ours and document the rest of our story here. We are Joseph and Amy. And this is our story.

Sweet Boy

It is a sad day in Horseshoe Bay. Joseph had to say goodbye to his faithful companion, the furry black boy he adored. Here are some good pictures of the "sweet boy", back in his healthy, younger days. I hope he's sleeping soundly on a dog bed in the clouds tonight...

REST IN PEACE, Marshall. You will be missed.
2002-2012

It Was Never Over

Where do I begin? We are back.

Back where we belong. Back together.

What a story this has become! The last time I posted it was with a very heavy heart that I signed off at the end of the marshigley blog. It had been my method of documenting and celebrating our lovely life together in Texas... the food & wine, the trips, the outdoor activity, the dogs, our happiness.

After four years we came to a point where we needed to no longer be together. The love and respect never changed, ugly words rarely said, there were just two different courses we needed to take. I didn't focus much on what would come in the future and charged full steam ahead being Just Amy. It was a busy year after that. I moved to North Carolina, reconnected with a dear friend, lived in a mountain lake house in the woods for a spectacular summer, spent the holidays in Hawaii and then came home to Columbus after ten years away. Sadly, my time in Columbus was some of the hardest of my life and losing Dad shook me so, so deeply. But from great loss sometimes comes great wisdom, and I believe that's what lead me back to where I ultimately belong.

"It was never over", according to Joseph. He promised to wait for me. And that is exactly what he did. In the ultimate demonstration of undying, unconditional love, Joseph kept our life mostly in tact in Horseshoe Bay. We never lost touch and after nineteen months of patiently waiting and never wavering from his stance that we were meant to be together and that I would realize it and come back... It became glaringly obvious to me.

As of the late hours of Christmas Eve 2011 Joseph and I are engaged to be married. We have decided on Saturday, June 16, 2012.

We will finally be The Higleys.

The End

It's the end of an era, folks.
Our journey together has reached its destination, we're here. And now we must go.



Goodbye and Peace

The Last Time

Hello, if any even reads this. It has been quite a while since I have actively posted anything here and had pretty much accepted that I'd given up. I felt compelled to write tonight.

Hopefully not for the last time, like the title may lead you to believe, tonight I am thinking about doing things for the last time in this house. Last night we cooked a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in our colorful open kitchen in this spacious, quiet house. The dogs laid with their paws and noses on the line of the carpet and watched (and Coop waited for a drop of something, anything). It's a darling sight we've seen hundreds of times while we cooked. Most of our kitchen is packed up, and from the dishwasher into boxes the dishes went today. Just due to timing really, Thanksgiving was our final meal in this kitchen. For the lovers of food, it's a perfect finale in a house we have loved.

***Thanksgiving Dinner Menu*** (will add later, with pictures)

Tonight I shopped at the one small town grocery store in Marble Falls, for the last time.
Sunday I will drive that peaceful curvy 22 miles of country highway at sunrise for the last time. My commute will now be less than four miles, from the other direction.

The list of lasts we'll do here this weekend goes on. And the list of firsts we're facing is infinite. Our new place is a loft-style above a garage apartment, separate from a family residence on a wooded piece of land near Lake Travis. It's a little more than half the size of the house we're in now, which will be an adjustment, but definitely a good one. It's just been finished this month and we're looking forward to all of it's state of the art fanciness. I get to have a desk and laptop in THE PANTRY with a window!!!!!! and our washer and dryer fits inside the walk-in closet. We're downsizing quite a bit, leaving behind anything not worth taking, which for us is mostly everything. : ) Not entirely, but it feels that way. We are donating more than half of each of our wardrobes. Our dining room table, it's a piece of trash, literally now. And most noticeably, Joseph's 70" Monster Screen tv was hauled off into the darkness Monday night.

We'll replace the tv, the table and eventually the clothes. But we will never replace the years we spent in Horseshoe Bay. It's unlike any other place in the world and I can't imagine a more idyllic location to spend your twenties. We each spent ours here. It's the lake-side retirement community where Joseph and I separately, then together, grew up. Now we start our life... as grown ups, in Briarcliff.

Goodbye, Texas - Hello, Florida!

Will we ever be glad to fly the ^*%$ out of here on Wednesday morning!!!!! Yes, yes we will! We've been planning this trip for so many months and I felt like it would never get here. But it's here, finally!

Thank Goodness, because I don't think either one of us could work another week without going insane! You know when you just NEED a vacation? I have worked 17 of the last 19 days, which just about pushed me to the edge. Today was the last day of service at the club and tomorrow I have to work a few hours to close the place down for ten days. Feels like the last day of school for the summer! Seems like a rip off, ten days.

We got the first flight out of San Antonio on Wednesday morning. That means we will actually be leaving our house at 2:30am to get to the airport! I have a million things to get done on Tuesday, so I'm writing this post early.

I'm doing laundry, packing and cooking dinner with a bunch of random stuff, to try to clean out fridge. Joseph is working at Lorraine's on a Sunday, which he's only had to do one other time. A church band is playing and holding service there, at a bar...? He'll be home soon for a yummy dinner. (Citrus-soy grilled tri-tip, spring rolls, sticky fried rice and broccoli&carrots) There is a list of chores to get done that seems to be growing faster than I can check things off. Ugh. Nothing can get me down this week, though. We worked really hard to get here, I'm damn sure going to enjoy it!

The weather forecast hadn't been looking too nice, which had me a little concerned. I was trying my hardest not to bum out while imagining us irritated, stuck inside avoiding constant thunderstorms and hurricanes. But it seems to be looking up! Each day has a low chance of rain and a high of 90 degrees. That works for us! Lets go!!!

I'll post pictures throughout the trip on facebook from my phone. I'll write all about it when we get back. YAY!

PS... Get better soon, Dad. I love you.

We're BACK! (for real this time)

I am happy to be blogging from our shiny new laptop! Finally, it's been a really long time.

I don't even know where to begin, it's been months. In March we had a great time hanging out with my cousin Erin, who spent her spring break from college with us here. Sadly for her, it was actually warmer in Boston than it was in Austin so she didn't go back with much of a tan. It was awesome to see her and we enjoyed lots of good laughs, talks and great food. What else is there?

The cold rainy day that Erin left to go back to Boston, I went to work to find only 4 golfers on property and very little staff. Sad? NOPE, not when the golfers were the Wilson family, as in LUKE Wilson. Yes, Luke Wilson and his hot caveman-looking brother are my favorite members to see. (Not really, I like some of the other guys much more, but the old nice men don't give me goosebumps and make me nervous like Luke and Andrew) One of the many perks of AGC, so far.


In April I went to Columbus to meet my brother's baby, Austin. Man, is he CUTE! I fell in love with him instantly and didn't ever put him down, unless someone took him from me. My sister, Kate was also in Columbus that weekend with Ellie. She's pretty freaking cute too, seriously! I was in baby heaven and loved every second. I'm still a little sketchy on this computer so I don't know how to get pictures from my camera on here yet, but I'll play around tonight and figure it out. I have some great pictures of the two sweeties. It was awesome to see the rest of my family as well, but the babies were definitely my highlight. I had lunch with Rappa, made fish tacos with dad, ate at "my chinese boyfriend"'s new restaurant and got offered a job with mom, walked from mom's house to dad's house with my brother and sister, each pushing a stroller, which was completely bizarre and darling. We enjoyed lots of good food and I caught up with a few friends. It was a great visit.

In May we have been busy. The weather has been really warm, but with lots of thunderstorms, so things are as green as can be. It's beautiful. Our garden is putting out tomatoes now and all of our flowers are huge and bushy. Our orange tree has one orange on it, it's small and green, but it's our very first orange from our Easter orange tree. :) We've been kayaking a few times, had several lakeside cookouts, taken the dogs swimming a few times and are already enjoying our long Texas summer. Joseph has been disc golfing like a maniac and won his first tournament a few weeks ago. He's playing in another one next weekend, which he's psyched about. The Lucky Man is headed to Las Vegas with his brothers and my brother next week for a gross, male bonding/drinking/gambling weekend. I'm sure they will all have a TERRIFIC time. I just hope they all make it home in one piece, with money left in the bank.

I'm happy to be back and the blogs will keep on coming, if I have any readers left?

garden

My friend Shawn had this quote on his Facebook page and I really like it. I think it is an terrific way to sum up a happy, hopeful spirit. "Your life is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds. If your life isn't awesome, you've been watering the weeds."

This is something that I would like to say to a few people, if the opportunity ever presented itself. I think it is a nice way to tell someone that it is a choice to be unhappy and hurt the people around you, and it is a choice to be happy and bring joy to those around you.

And I just like it, a colorful way to visualize an optimistic, healthy and productive view on life. I try to have that everyday. Most of the time I do.

Joseph is good. I am good. Work is good for both of us. Joseph is already bleached and tan from days of disc golf. Looking forward to a busy summer and lots of visits with family. Our computer will be back this week and the posts will be often again. So much to catch up on!

Hey Sprint, Kiss Off!

A joyous day it is to finally be rid of that despicable company! We have been eagerly awaiting the end of our sentence (service contract) which seemed to last forever.

I won't go into why we so vehemently hate Sprint, but it has to do with seriously shitty customer service, mysterious and re appearing bill charges and a dropped call percentage of about one in four! Right, Mom? Think about that, every four to five calls cutting out, everywhere but mostly at home, for four years! You would have smashed a few phones or windshields too!

We haven't decided quite what we're going to do with our old p
hones, but it will be ceremonious and destructive! We are almost as happy to be rid of Sprint as we were are Bush.

Cheers to BlackBerries and Verizon and Sprint can suck it!

Hanging the Flag

Our back fence flag post is usually reserved for OSU and USC flags on gameday. The American flag came with the pole when I bought it and has remained folded in the closet ever since. I've never been a flag hanger, or whatever. But after my mani-pedi (which was delightful, by the way. Even "Crystal", my spa lady is pregnant, due May 1. Man, I can't escape pregnancy anywhere)I found myself plopped on the couch watching the Inaguration. All of the sudden it occured to me that today would be an excellent day to hang up our American Flag.




Welcome President Obama, welcome.

And we're back!

Technical difficulties behind us, at least temporarily. Glad to be able to post about our awesome weekend! I got majorly lucky with my schedule at work... Sunday, Monday & Tuesday off!

Sunday we chose to celebrate our "anniversary" (year three down, onto year four) with a special date downtown. Dad & Robin sent us a gift card to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for Christmas, so that's where we went. Thanks, again, it was excellent! We headed to Austin in the afternoon. First we stopped at Joseph's favorite brewhouse, Live Oak Hefeweisen with a lemon for me, Gulden Draak and Duvel for him, a cheese platter (that didn't even try to compete with one I'd serve at our house) and the sickest (that's a very good thing) hot pretzel covered with melted swiss cheese and sliced bratwurst. After a few hours on a leather couch at the Flying Saucer and a disappointing Philly/AZ game we headed to dinner.


It was awesome. We shared a bottle of Paul Hobbs Russian River Chardonnay while we enjoyed a Crab-tini and Ruth's Chopped Salad. With our steaks, petite Filet for me and Cowboy Ribeye for him, we had another bottle from the Russian River, Belle Gloss Pinot Noir. We toasted twice, naturally, once to a good three years and once to actually taking the trip we've been planning to wine country, to finally see the Russian River Valley with our own eyes and tour the vineyards we love most. The service was impeccable, which makes a major difference to us. For dessert we had a molten chocolate cake. Mmm. I slept the whole way home, thanks to Joseph for always getting us home safely.

Today we are going to try to get some housework done and finish up rearranging our living room. Tonight I'm making pork Orloff (basically stroganoff) for dinner, a request from JHig. He even asked me to include the mushrooms, if I cut them really small. No problem, I'm so impressed with his expanding palate. When I met him he wouldn't even allow a mushroom in the kitchen and he hated onions. He's come a really long way! After dinner we've got lots of new dvr'd tv to watch!! What a peaceful day. Our life is pretty sweet, I love it.

Except for two things... first, you see that pretty scarf I'm wearing. I got it for Christmas and was super excited to wear it for the first time. I got a few compliments on it too. Anyone who wants it can have it, it gave me an itchy rash all over my chest and chin. You've got to be kidding me!
Second, as Kate mentioned, our oven is broken. The stovetop still works but the heating element inside the oven is shot. This sucks very much because the oven in our kitchen is not a standard oven and the kitchen was built around it. Yes, in order to replace the oven there has to be construction done to the counter and cabinets. With our landlords in Colorado, things like this tend to take a w h i l e.

Tomorrow I'm getting a mani/pedi and then meeting my friend Susan for lunch, a little bangs trim and some OBAMA celebration! That should make me feel better.

too tired to blog

Jumping head first into a new job with very long and very early hours has taken it out of me. I'm beat, from head to toe, exhausted. I have seen Joseph for only a matter of minutes since Christmas night when I went to bed. I won't see him for any considerable amount of time until tomorrow night, when I get home from work. That's going to be the biggest adjustment for us, making our lives mesh together when we're on completely opposite work schedules. We'll figure it out and make it work, I guess. He has told me how proud he is several times and has assured me that he'll help me keep it all together, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm really happy with my new job and looking forward to getting comfortable and familiar with the club and my position. I feel really well suited for the job and confident that, once I have a better understanding of how the place runs, I will be very successful there.

I'm slightly overwhelmed in knowing that I will have only 7 days off in January, as I have had the past 67 days off. My priorities are suddenly very different and my free time almost completely non-existent. I can deal with the early mornings, I almost prefer it once my body adjusts, but a sunrise on the way to work and a sunset on the way home seems really emotionally draining to me. It's going to be a change for Joseph too, he is used to having his laundry done, a homemade meal every night and a not-stressed-out me waiting for him at home. Now he's facing an empty house all day and a sleeping me at night when he gets home. He will also have to pick up the slack for a lot of what I simply won't have the time to do anymore. I am anticipating some growing pains for us, as a couple and a household in the next few weeks. We've always been on the same schedule, and actually worked together for quite a while, so this is definitely a brand new challenge. The job is worth it, a step in the right direction for us, so we'll manage somehow.

That's all for now. I have to go do yoga. I couldn't even try to wrap my mind around running when I got home, even though Cooper is begging, in dog-speak, for some much needed exercise (chasing his tail in circles, something he has not done in 6 years, which I know is his way of coping with an abundance of energy). Although I'm totally tired, my body feels too blubbery to not do anything and I know I'll feel better tomorrow if I do even just 25 minutes. So, off I go to my pink yoga mat. Sorry Cooper, you're going to have to wait until Tuesday for a run.

Suddenly So Excited

It's lucky for me that I have extra time on my hands these days because I have created a big project for myself. I'm suddenly VERY excited about the upcoming holidays. I have decided to become a Christmas Candy-maker this year, and my loved ones will reap the rewards. I have been reading cook books and recipes for days trying to come up with a perfect combination of candies and confections to share this winter. Mmm mmm mmm. So far I've practiced up on white chocolate peppermint bark and dark chocolate truffles. I got some darling little "Made with Love by Amy" labels for packaging. I really love Christmas. The process of stocking up on all the ingredients (sugar and chocolate basically), setting up my kitchen to produce large quantities of good quality candy, actually making it all, storing, packaging, decorating, it is all so much fun to me. Maybe I will become a professional candy maker...

I did the very first bit of my Christmas shopping this week, which also piqued my excitement. I have gifts for a few people and ideas for a few more. I think we'll do a bit more shopping this weekend in Austin, although the shopping I do this year will not even compare to what I did last year, so ya know. I'm on a mission, to have all my gifts bought and wrapped, as well as the candy made and packaged, to be mailed by December 1, since I am leaving town that week. I can do it, that's plenty of time.

Sadly, we will not be getting a Christmas tree this year. Since I will be gone for most of December and we won't be at home for the holiday, there is no point. It's only sad for me because I absolutely LOVE decorating our house for Christmas. Joseph is glad to be without the hassle and money spent on "all this Christmas shit". Our tree last year was so sweet and we had such a really lovely awesome Christmas here together. I was looking forward to enjoying the peaceful and quiet Powderhorn Christmas like last year... but plans change, and being with family will be great too. We will still be putting the lights and wreaths up on the back fence, of course, it is way too wonderful to skip.

Thanksgiving will be just the two of us and we'll celebrate on Sunday. Joseph will have to be at Lorraine's on Thanksgiving for a show (that's actually one of the busiest nights of the year) so we'll have a small meal that day and a real all-out holiday the following Sunday.

Getting ready for the holidays means that another year has come and gone. The years seem to disappear faster each year and I hear that it only gets faster. I feel like I didn't achieve enough this year, but I don't think I'll be satisfied with the passing of a year until there are three of us at the end of it. I made a similar comment to Joseph recently, to which he replied: "we traveled, camped at some beautiful lakes, saw both of our families, cooked and ate and drank like royalty, bought a car, lived and loved and were happy, you got into shape and I can count on my fingers how many times all year that we used an alarm clock... what more could you want from twelve months?" I love his happy & content outlook, it's priceless and I'm lucky to spend every day with someone so pleasant, but I am driven by things I cannot control to want more. We're on our way and our life will happen the way it's meant to happen, so I strive to achieve Joseph's level of satisfaction and gratitude in our every day life.