2009 Review

Oh what a great year! I can't believe how much stuff we packed in & how different our life is this December than it was last December. I'm a big fan of summaries & I love to reminisce, thus the blog! So, here's my 2009 year in review. I started some on-going blog projects this year, including a blog update, a Houston Wine bar list, a look back at my 20's birthdays and each year of my 20s and a Life Travel log.

January

We worked on lots of projects around the house at the beginning of the year (like organizing the attic) & several were on our 101 List, including cleaning out the garage so we could park in it, installing a sprinkler system and finishing our home entertainment system.

I ran and finished the Houston Marathon in mid-January.
We went to DC for Obama's inauguration, and saw many other sites as well.

February

For our 2nd anniversary, we went to Cozumel and went on my first ever SCUBA dive.

March

We went to the Rodeo Houston Parade downtown and then saw Rascal Flatts at the Rodeo. I ran the Disney Princess half-marathon with a friend, then toured all the parks at Walt Disney World. The last weekend of the month found us camping with our friends Lake Conroe.

April

The first weekend of April and the second weekend we headed to Austin to visit the LBJ Library and saw the state capitol. I had an amazing 29th birthday and we kept on partying in San Antonio for Fiesta with our friends.

I started my list of Blogging Vizslas to keep track of all my other favorite dogs on the blog circuit.

May

Getting a little stir-crazy, I did some more painting around the house and redecorated the guest bedroom before we had everybody over for mother's day & kept working on the garden.

For our big trip of the year, we started in Dubai, where we enjoyed a city tour and an awesome dune dinner. Our first stop in Africa was the beautiful Cape Town, then on a safari , and Johannesburg. We ended our vacation with a few days on Mauritius.

June

After recovering from our Africa trip, we spent most of the month recovering. Stephanie came for a visit & we went to visit several wineries in New Braunfels.

July

A few busy weekend in July had us at the Phantom of the Opera concert, Aerosmith,
25th Anniversary for my company

August

August started out with a little road trip to Dallas to see Rangers Stadium and a great baseball game.
I had a seminar in Chicago, so we made it into a long weekend exploring the windy city by boat & heading to a White Sox game.
I flew to Louisville & explored the water front as I waited patiently to pick up our new puppy- Ms. Mia! Mia had a very busy first few weeks- including meeting Zoe, her first swim,

We hung out at the pool with our friends, but couldn't spend the night because we had a brand new puppy at home. It took them a few weeks after their introduction to really settle in, but Mia & Zoe played and swam like best buds.

September



For Labor Day, we had a pool party with friends & the pups were the main attraction with their diving skills. We started working around the house- including new landscaping in the backyard and redecorated our front sitting room.

I watched Haley play volleyball and we celebrated her birthday with a party, games & cake.

October

After waiting for 6 years, I finally made it to Austin City Limits Festival in Austin, even if it was a bit more rainy & muddy than I'd hoped for.. We followed that shortly with some amazing seats at an incredible U2 concert. We took Mia to the dog park for her first social outing and a quickie introduction to the agility equipment.

H's college roommate came to Houston for a visit and we went to a very cool & patriotic Texans game. We took some wonderful family portraits before Mia got full grown.

We enjoyed taking our favorite boys again for Halloween.

November

We marked our 1,001 days of marriage by reviewing our 101 List to reminisce about all the fun we've had & things we're still planning to do.

We went camping again with friends at Buescher State Park & ventured over to Bastrop State Park. H cut off all his hair and I couldn't get enough of it.

Another wonderful Thanksgiving with the moms & family and dinner with my grandparents.

December

December was a busy month, and we started off with a lobster cooking class. H went to St. Louis to watch the Texans play. We hosted our first Christmas Eve at our house, had a lovely holidays with the dogs, my siblings and my parents. We rung in the New Year by checking out a Rockets game with my brother & sister.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Having a great weekending hanging out with friends & family- celebrating birthdays, engagements & babies!