I haven't posted in a while and I thought I would feel guilty about it. I don't. It doesn't look like many have missed me, but I'm in this more for me than anyone else. So we're all good. For any of you out there in the interwebz - we took a vacation this year! {yay!} We hit up the redwoods, Napa, and the Bay Area for some much needed rest and relaxation.

Here are a couple of shots from our trip - taken with my loverly new camera (I don't remember what it is, but it's just shy of a dslr and I loves it!)

Avenue of the Giants

Oregon at Sunset

Redwoods

I hope you enjoyed a sampling of the Redwoods - If you've never been I cannot recommend it enough.

I realized I haven't posted around here in a while and while I'm not too worried about it, I thought I might stick my head in and say hi.

HI!

Sometimes, things are just better said with music. The video posted below has nothing to do with anything other than that I love the artist, the song, the video, and the message. Sara Evans has come back with an amazing song and probably a fantastic album (I haven't heard it all yet). Some of you may tell me that the song has been out for a while, and it has. However, I hadn't heard it until it popped up on my Pandora station yesterday.




I love it. That is all.

Stay tuned for my take... and a rash of my favorite previews etc. from the upcoming HBO series Game of Thrones. If you cannot wait for my fangirl squeeeeeing, you can always pop over to WIC (linked on the right) to see what's going on for yourself.

Valentines day is, by no means, a well celebrated holiday in our house hold. Largely we both think of it as a Hallmark holiday, but one that has some amazing deals on food (champagne, steaks, seafood, chocolates etc). We took advantage on Saturday (read: NOT the big V Day) and picked up a couple of nice steaks along with some manila clams.

We cooked up the steaks using a recipe that we pulled off of a main dish challenge viewed on Worst Cooks In America (Anne's Rib Eyes with Mushroom Sauce) and we steamed the clams in a white wine/garlic reduction. It was bliss. I was in heaven. I love good deals on food.

I'm getting hungry just thinking about what we had on Saturday night.

I may have to go grab my lunch a couple hours early.

Drool.

At any rate, you may be wondering what we did last night. We didn't ignore it all together. We usually spend the evening in. Together. Watching a movie, or whatever else strikes our fancy. Last night? We had sandwiches and watched Smokey and the Bandit II. We washed it down with some $4 champagne.


What can I say? We keep it classy around here in Jonesville.

This is my guy. Isn't he handsome? He has earned many, many kudos recently and deserves to be told how fabulous he is as often as possible. He has maintained (mostly) a positive attitude through this whole business with unemployment, but there are more reasons as well.

1. He's quitting. Smoking that is. He's only broken down and had one twice since he quit. He's gone cold-turkey. I am beyond proud of him. 
2. He cooks for me. If you haven't had his food, you're missing out. Though we may be on simple fare now, due to our budget, but he pulls off this fare flawlessly. Because I'm the only one working right now I'm usually not allowed to cook. 
3. He cleans for me too. Same deal, he cleans like a mad person and generally doesn't allow me to clean because I'm the one working. 
4. In the face of some pretty serious adversity he has done his best to support me, and I him, to hold each other up and to just generally do good. 

I love this man more than I can even begin to explain. He makes me laugh every single day and he's my best friend. 

Also today? He got the job. I'm going to go home and celebrate with him this afternoon, because he is more than deserving of this opportunity.

Mike and I in Napa - 2007

When nothing seems to be going right in life and it feels like the entire universe is out to get me I try to remember the good things that I am surrounded with . My friends and family etc. Mike is in yet another interview process with yet another company. Hopefully this one will go better than the last.

Mia and I Napa - 2007

Hopefully, 2011 is going to turn around in a big hurry. I know we're ready for it. Mike's unemployment benefit has not yet been extended due to some massive mix-up with the temp agency he was working with just before Christmas. He was told his contract ended on a specific date and that he wouldn't be working beyond that date unless otherwise notified. He wasn't notified. It means we're not getting paid. Ouch. Nuff said.

Heather and I - December 2009

In other news, Heather's birthday is today. Isn't she gorgeous? I love her and I hope her day is fabulous. I will note at this juncture that she has to work today, which is a bum deal. But I'm hoping that she grabs a drink or a bite to eat or something.

Heather and Jarrod - December 2009

Hopefully her man will do something verrrrry nice for her today too, knowing that she's working. Aren't they cute together? I heart them both very much.

Happy birthday baby sister!

Because it's Thursday and I don't really have a whole lot to share with you.

Because I harbor a secret love in my soul for flash mobs. The good ones.

Because this is my favorite one of all time....






Enjoy!

The post I was going to write this morning is a far different one than the one I did write this morning...

Each person has his or her breaking point. Mike and I each reached ours this weekend. Mike's first day at his new job was to have been on Friday. It was supposed to be a half day of training preparing him for his full on-the-job training to begin today. Rather than going directly to the office, however, he was asked to meet the owners for coffee. Upon hearing that, bless him, Mike immediately changed and chose to approach the event as sort of a third interview. Seeing as I wasn't present for the eventful coffee meeting, I'm not sure precisely what happened. What I do know? Is that the company he was to begin working for is clearly lacking some simple ethics and morals. Mike was initially told that they were hiring for 3 total positions. One as an inspection technician and two as pest control technicians. At the coffee "event" he was told that the owners had, not knowing that the HIRING MANAGER was.. y'know... hiring people, had interviewed someone and wanted to hire him. Mike was advised he had an advantage in the coming discussion because he had his license already. They said they would let him know shortly what their decision was.


CRACK

The break came just a few short hours later. I wasn't there for it, so again, I still am not sure what happened. What I do know? Is that the husband I came home to was not one I'd ever encountered before. It's a hard thing, to be without work for so long; and to have one essentially ripped out from beneath his nose was the final straw. By the time I got home, he was quiet and looked haggard. I nearly reached my own breaking point right there, knowing that he blames himself for the loss of the original job, the loss of this one, and his inability to find work.

My own break didn't come until later in the weekend. And really? I should have seen it coming. All of the financial stress from the last six months had been lifted... and had come crashing back down all at once. All of the old questions have crowded back in: Where will we live in April, how are we going to afford to live anywhere else, how are we going to fix the car... It goes on. You get the point. After a couple of hours I was feeling less brittle and, while I'm exhausted this morning, I think we're both beginning to feel a bit more human.

To end this very depressing post on a lighter note... HBO has a new teaser trailer out for Game of Thrones. C'mon April 17!

The Game Begins

I'm a pretty darned eclectic music lover. And yet, occasionally, an artist sneaks by me. Pandora can only do so much for me. :)

While perusing The Young and the Relentless this morning, I noticed that a music video was posted. One I'd never seen before, by an artist I'd never heard of before. I think I was made an instant fan of Ian Axel. This Wednesday, we are not going anywhere near a wordless one. There are lots of words to be heard in this video. It is a fabulous song and a really cute video. Enjoy!

ACK!

The wedding reception table

I completely forgot to post our Anniversary blog! EEK! Meh - Looks like no one has noticed, so none of you will mind it going up a few days late. December 19th, Mike and I celebrated our first year of marriage... it is also just shy of marking just shy of 7 years together. I know, it's crazy but true.



Our first year of marriage was, by no means, easy. It was fraught with difficulty, stress, more stress... and some stress. But we made it through it, stronger and closer. I won't go into details... since it's all on the site for your reading pleasure... or at least most of it is. (hint, hint)

Rob & Mari dancing

The guys (Rob G, Justin V, Mike)

In the coming year we have yet more to help each other through. And, while I cannot say I look forward to all of it, I will say that I look forward to the growth that it provides us as a couple and as individuals. We'll be moving in April, living alone (hopefully) for the first time in longer than I can count. He still doesn't have a permanent job, but I will say that things are looking up on the employment front. We hope to continue our adventures with some of our very closest friends, and hopefully tackle some gorgeous hikes this summer. Through all of it, I look forward to keeping you all in the loop. Coming up next week there will be a year in review post... or perhaps I should call it a coming in 2011. I don't know. We'll figure it out.

The girls (Katie V, Me, Jen G)

Regardless, we're all here for one another.




Christmas is just three short days away. Wait... is that right? Three? EEEP! Our stockings are hanging, the tree is up and decorated. I've baked more Christmas treats than I can count... or eat, the cards are sent and most of my shopping is done. So I guess I've got that going for me.

Much love and happy holidays from our family to yours!

Well, I've finally gotten around to uploading some of the shots I took between Halloween and Thanksgiving. I'm not done polishing them all up just yet, but here is a peek at a few of the ones that I have spit-shined.

The roomies did a fabulous job decorating for Halloween:

Here's the bruddah-in-law all fancied up for the party: 

The party was tons o' fun. There was a murder mystery, fun drinks and fun people... so all in all a good time was had. 

For Thanksgiving, there was a little bit of a bake-off held. Mike and Dan each vs Dad in a battle of French Bread and Egg Twist bread. I contributed two pies as well, while Joe contributed two of his own to the mix. 

Holiday cooking is shifting up into high gear at my place this week/weekend. There is hot buttered rum, Butter Toffee, Merry Minty Meringues and much else to be made in the coming days. Gifts to give at work this week and general insanity to be had. I'm hoping to update everyone on the chaos by the end of the weekend. 

Happy Playing folks!

It's time I said it:

I'm a Gleek. There. I said it.

Being a fan of Glee seems to be somewhat controversial lately. I'm not really sure why, unless it's simply all of the haters in the world and those who've never been a part of a choir or vocal ensemble. I have the happy fortune to have been in both. A full concert choir, a vocal jazz ensemble, a church choir... I've been around the proverbial choral block. I loved every minute of it. And while none of the groups I was lucky enough to sing with were reviled like the kids on Glee, we were always unique. Unique in that the groups always had a certain sense of family closeness and togetherness that not a lot of other groups have. I attribute it to the fact that without some seriously close partnership your songs would sound like crap. One person isn't in sync and you can certainly tell. Choral groups played a massive role in shaping who I am today. Glee had their Christmas special this last Tuesday and I got to spend a happy hour remembering all of the Holiday concerts I've been in. Also? I totally found my Christmas spirit. It is no longer missing. One of my favorite pieces of the evening was the final song they treated us to. Welcome, Christmas. You'll remember it from every rendition of  "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" that is out there. The harmonies, the spirit behind the song brought tears to my eyes. For those of you who didn't catch the episode, or don't even watch Glee, feast your ears on the lovely choral piece below.




They also did "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year" from the classic Rudolph movie. Which I'm also going to treat you to below. Just a couple of blasts from childhood Christmas specials!





I'll leave you with that folks. Merry Christmas and Happy Weekend!

Christmastime is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year. The twinkling lights, beautiful paper, and giving gifts. It's the season for snow, hot apple cider, and crackling fires. I adore the functions and the hustle and bustle of the season.

This Christmas, as mentioned in a previous post, I'm having a tough time really getting into the mood of the season. Or rather, my mood for the season. To help me rediscover my misplaced holiday cheer, however, my wonderful and loving husband is doing everything he can to keep some of our little traditions alive.

Tree:

My tree is a nearly sacred thing for me during the holidays. With the twinkling lights and precious little memories hanging on it... the darned thing just screams of love and joy. Normally, we don't get the tree up until a couple weeks before Christmas.. We like our real trees. This year, however, we'll be getting the beast (we have very tall ceilings) a little early... next weekend early! Stay tuned for some photos of this years beauty.

Even if it is the one thing we can manage this year... it will go a long way towards making it feel like my favorite time of year.

11/23/10 - Baby it's cold outside in Seattle

11/24/10 - Still freezing my butt off....

I know its a little early for this post. Thanksgiving hasn't even arrived yet... but I'm going with the feeling anyhow. 

I'm having a heck of a time getting into the holiday spirit this year. I feel like I'm just going through the motions of winding up for the season. I feel badly for it too. The Christmas season is my favorite. I start thinking about it the moment we clear the hurdle of Halloween and, if I didn't have a penchant for live trees, I try to start decorating the day after Thanksgiving. I love finding the perfect gift for someone and hope that it is unexpected and lovely for them to receive it. Best of all, Mike and I will be celebrating our 1st year of marriage just before Christmas this year. 

I'd  originally had visions of a lovely day spent Christmas shopping and baking together before ending it with a celebratory meal at one of our favorite restaurants, but with Mike out of work we won't be able to do that. Realizing that our budget constraints have reached their ugly little fingers into my favorite time of the year was a blow. A crushing one at that. 

And to be honest? It's kinda put a hitch in my giddy-up. I'm sure we'll manage for the anniversary, we're still sending cards out ... I'm ordering them tomorrow, in fact. We'll still have evenings in front of the fire with a Christmas movie on... it just doesn't seem to have the same sparkle for me that it normally does. 

Hopefully the snow will cheer me up this year (I've got my fingers crossed for the anniversary since it didn't snow on the wedding)... Snow always brightens my day. We may even have some this weekend. 

Happy mid-week to you all. 

I had an entire post ready to wax poetic about Cook's Illustrated magazine this morning. Specifically their "best of" edition which Mike's mom gave to us.

I had to toss it.

It's not that we're not still really enjoying the recipes we have discovered in there. . . Simply that I cannot wax poetic for 200+ words about an edition that I "haven't found a bad recipe in" when we found one.

The herb crusted pork loin turned out to be a salt brick and completely inedible for us. I will write about that lovely experience when I'm done training next week. Until then my description will have to do justice.

We're still catching up around here at becoming Jones. Just when I thought I was going to have a bit more time to update y'all around here... things get crazy again. It is really the way of life.

Mike had his test on Saturday, along with 1999 other people in line for one of 20 positions in this apprenticeship.  We both knew that this meant essentially re-learning algebra for the test and he tackled it with some serious tenacity. So, Saturday, he got up early to ensure that his brain was fully functioning before showing up at this test.
He arrived to discover that Kane Hall at UW is HUGE. As is typical of him, he found some other guys hanging around to take the test and struck up a conversation.

That is how he discovered that two thousand people are testing through for 20 positions. OUCH. And, while he feels good about the work he did on the test, he doesn't think he'll get the position. Logic would dictate that people already in the union and with previous experience in the field will likely be hired first. But the game isn't up yet... in a few weeks we'll discover if he tested high enough to move on to the next hiring stage If he does he'll have a physical test to take.


Our Halloween was relatively uneventful. The roomies had a party on Saturday night. We handed out candy last night... until I got fed up with the 16 year olds coming around with no costumes. Once I got fed up we turned the lights off and decided to keep our candy.

How was your weekend?

I distanced myself quite a bit from all of the social media outlets: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, ... pretty much everything... after my dear friend suffered the loss of her little angel. I felt like I needed to refocus, regroup and just generally get my bearings. It was hard. Really hard. I had a really tough time coping with it for a while and then I discovered something.   I am that person. The lady that shows up with a veritable truckload of food for two people.

It helped to be able to help them. I'm at their disposal whenever they need me.

But, while dealing with tragedy, the world spins on. It's pretty much the way of things. And with the world spinning on... I have some general updates to bring everyone up to date!

Family Shout-Outs
We've had two birthdays this month - both were celebrated this past weekend. Both are such fabulous people that, really, they deserve shout outs of their own. I'm combining them because I neglected to post them on their respective birthdays.




Mom: My mom's birthday fell in the middle of last week. My mom is my hero. It's pretty much all I can say... and yet it doesn't even begin to do her justice. The woman has a strength and resilience that I can only hope to attain a shadow of in my lifetime... and yet she is possessed of  limitless warmth, compassion, wit... I could go on, but I'll stop here. I guess, to sum up, she is one of the most fabulous people I know. She taught me so much about baking, one of my favorite hobbies, and I really think that everyone should meet her. Happy Birthday (belated on the blog, not in person) Mom! I love you!




Dad: Hubs' Dad's birthday is four days after my mom's. It makes for an interesting week in Mid-October. He is a fabulously funny and caring guy. He has done nothing but make me feel like a part of the family since I met him... during an admittedly trying time in his life. He never fails to make me laugh, regardless of the mood I'm in. Happy Birthday! We love you too!








News
In other news... Hubs finally got an interview! HOORAY! Interestingly enough the company he interviewed with conducted the interview over the phone. Regardless of how he interviewed... it is done! He made it through round 2ish of the hiring process! This week he is brushing up on some math he hasn't had cause to use since high school, so that he can take a competency test on the 29th. Everyone? Keep your fingers crossed! I've got absolute faith that he'll be fine, but every little thing helps, doesn't it?

That's all I've got for today - I should be more regular around here again.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

It should come as no surprise to those of you who know him well, that hubs is really just a big kid at heart. I, very occasionally, have to remind him to pick up his socks, or that the house is not a playground - and that rough-housing with the dogs is really best done outside. As you can imagine things like this, while endearing at times, can also be very frustrating. (I was not impressed the day I came home and he had to explain why one of our wedding champagne flutes had bitten the dust) At other times, however, he gets excited over the simplest of things that just hit at my heart... and truthfully makes him completely adorable.

Over the weekend Beauty and the Beast came in the mail. I hadn't told him that it was coming.. I mean seriously why should he care about a Disney animated movie? He hemmed and hawed about getting the mail Saturday night, complaining about the rain (I admit it was a little on the side of torrential downpour), but eventually he went and got it anyway. When he dropped my main unceremoniously on my lap, he asked what the package was. I shrugged and told him it was a movie and saw to the rest of the mail.

Hubs: What movie didja get?

Me: It's whatever the feature of the month is..

Hubs: Hannah Montana?

Me: Don't be snide...

Hubs: Open it!

Me: I'm getting to it..

Hubs: Open it now!

Me: Alright, Alright... I think it's a vault movie  (He perked up at this one)

Hubs: OOOOOh... which one?!?!

Me: Umm... (as I'm opening the movie) I think it's Beauty and the Beast. (I couldn't remember... it seems like they have you make a decision on your movie a month before it even ships... so I always seem to be a month off. As a result? I couldn't remember if we were getting that movie next month or if it was here now.)

Hubs: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST? I LOVE THAT MOVIE

I hope the caps gets across his excitement at the prospect of this movie being in the container... I pulled the movie out and held it up to show him that it was, indeed, Beauty and the Beast. He grabbed the darned thing, snapped a picture and sent it to his parents squeeeing the whole time over the newest addition to our movie collection. We were watching it an hour later.

It is his favorite Disney Movie.

God I love him, he cracks me up.

It was a rough weekend around Jonesville.

We attended baby Ewan's funeral on Saturday which, while a really beautiful service, was very hard on both of us. We both adore Kirsten and James and hope that we can lend them some strength as they travel this very difficult road. To read more about this family you can check here. If you would like to help them in some small way, you can visit the in memoriam page. It made it hard to focus the rest of the weekend and Hubs and I have felt out of sorts since then. The only reason we can come up with is that it was a very, VERY emotional day and we're still recovering.

Up this week? A couple of birthdays that will get their own family shout outs and a big meal train. A group of us at work are pulling together a meal for Kirsten and James on Friday, then I'm pulling another one together for her on Saturday. All in all between the birthdays, the meals, work, and life in general I think I'm going to need a vacation day or two just to sleep.

See you around the blogosphere this week!

Heaven gained some angels this week - One hit very close to my heart
See more at www.team-ewan.com

See more WW HERE