all shiny and new!

The Garage picture I promised! Isn’t it gorgeous! Amazing, how getting that one house issue out of the way changed my whole perception of our house and the neighborhood… I feel like I got an extreme make-over!

Actually, there have been a lot of changes around here lately… I went from 6 days a week at work back down to 4 and already feel a renewed sense of calm and anti-craziness settling on me. I keep taking deep breaths and realizing that my stress level is not as high as I expect it to be…

Christmas and New Years were wonderful this year! We did not make it back to New England again (boohoo), but we had a wonderful time making the most of what we did have! We went up to MI to visit the Dyer clan again, and had a wonderful time monging and unwrapping. Ashley went to the climbing gym with us for the first time and showed the big kids how it's done. It was a most wonderful trip. Leeloo discovered how to open presents! On New Year's we went out to see the movie MILK, you know, a date... at the theatre. Great movie, a must see.

We had to replace the transmission in Annie, our 2003 Corolla. The repair had to wait because of the costs of the garage. Grr. And after doing that, the battery died. Not that we are complaining about that, it did last 80,000 miles and was original to the car. So, while we waited for it to be installed, we drove a couple of the other cars that were on the lot around… and found this nice little 2001 corolla with only 60,000 miles on it….

And Curt’s car needed a lot of wear and tear replacement parts (tires, struts, brakes…)…

So we traded it in and got a new-to-us car! A new car! She is so pretty! We’ve named her Carina. She is pretty basic- no cruise control, we have to roll our windows and manually lock the doors. But she is in excellent shape and will be a more practical car than the rapidly aging Saturn. It has been raining like none other here, so the picture is a little dank, despite our spirits!

For Christmas this year, Curt and I got tickets to Wicked in Louisville. We headed out there today and it was awesome! We haven’t been to a show since we moved to Kentucky… we really needed this date. When we got back we reconnected with our friend Erin, who’s been traveling a lot lately like me. We had sushi. SUSHI. YUMMY SUSHI….

I think I am in heaven now. Pardon me while I ooze.

i'm baaaaaaack!

so, i tried to blog... honest... but blogger wouldn't let me in. now it will. whatever. so be it.

so, anyway, what's happened?

both of my parents came to visit (at different times) and we had a blast... several trips to the red, hit the chocolate museum, miguel's pizza, the horse park, got lost ALL over lexington... bbq, lots of hugs, all sorts of important stuff like that. so much more to do here when it's warm out!

CURT SURVIVED INTERN YEAR! his last month was the worst because he was on blue trauma surgery. so he would work a 30hr+ shift once every 3 days. he had no sleep scedule. and every time he was home and awake (rare), he would see helicopters headed to the hospital and cringe because he knew he'd be taking care of whoever was in the copter soon. ahh, the drama of a level one trauma center. now he sees them and comments on how he is NOT at the hospital. he is going through the post-traumatic sleep-deprived stress syndrome that i went through in vet school. it is nice to see him emerge on the other side. i missed him.

that said, we had a lovely weekend together! we were supposed to go camping, but it was too rainy (measure of this is if we are willing to have leeloo sleeping in the bag wth us after the mud and rain of the day. answer this time: HECK, NO!) so, we stayed home and bummed around, hit the 4th of july in town (we haven't been out in public for a while)- it seems so much less organized than in small town north andover... went out for italian... YES! gluten-free italian! HEEHEEHEEHAW*snort* giggle giggle.... wasn't bad. wasn't great either, but the idea of pasta in a restaurant was too much and i had to. celiacs is friggin' well known now.

went climbing on saturday (the old fall-back). went with our good buddy jay to climb some of the classic routes at the red. we only climb them about once a year because they are pumpy and difficult, and i used to have no problem with them but now they make me sore... i used to be in such good shape.

then, oooohhh, then! curt and i went on a DATE! a real, bonified, dressed up, go out and do something date! we went to see the local bellydancers at their annual show. some of it was actually bellydancing! my schedule hasn't let me check out the belly scene here, but the only classes they offer are in tribal... so i have been a little dubious. for good reason. but i am not really willing yet to drive to cincinn for a troupe, so i suppose i should engage more here. and, like i said, some of it was actually bellydancing! and some of it i wasn't nearly drugged or drunk enough to understand.

so, all in all, it has been good here. there have been some stressful and sad things, the "tragic death" at work, work in general, losing the air conditioning in the company car i drive... that sort of thing... but everything is on the up and up. little dirty birds have finally given me some timeframe for work... and then my gas bill will go waaaaaaaay waaaaaaaay waaaaaaay down. like, a couple extra hundred a month! i'm looking forward to setting up a social network here, which should happen once i work within a half-hour of where i live and have time in the evenings:) more on that when it actually happens...

mwah!