2016 year in review

I didn't blog once in 2016. Maybe after you read about all the things that happened in 2016, you'll understand a little more. I have loved having this blog to look back on, to remember things, or to look up information I posted about and I'm sad I've lost a whole year of that, but when you barely have time to sleep, something's gotta give, and for me it was the blog.

For my memory's sake here's a 12 picture review of the crazy, awful, and wonderful year we've had.

1. I started paralegal school at Georgetown University

The main reason why this blog died this year was because of school. I enrolled in Georgetown's paralegal studies program and was working full time and going to school full time for an entire year. It ate up all of my free time, but I learned a lot and made some friends, and came out with my paralegal certificate in the end. Which then led to a surprise promotion at work. You're looking at the legal department's newest and only paralegal.

2. Hal started a new job

Hal very suddenly received an amazing job offer at a really cool biotech he just couldn't turn down. He said Bye Felicia to EY and working a billion hours and hello to growth, new opportunities and a company that is actually working to cure diseases and save lives.

3. We bought a house

After searching for a house for almost a year, we found our perfect little first house. It's exactly what we were waiting for, in the exact neighborhood we wanted to live in, and for the price we were looking for. Seriously, the planets could not have aligned more perfectly. We wanted something that was a good price and wasn't already remodeled, so we could make it exactly how we wanted. We bought a house and left for Asia the next day.

4. We spent 3 weeks in Asia

In January while we were snowed in a friend notified us there was a mistake fair to Asia. $450 roundtrip tickets and a break in-between semesters led to perfect timing to spend 3 weeks backpacking across Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia. It was such an adventurous trip and we even came back with a huge dinner table from Cambodia. We had clothes made in Vietnam and ate all the pho, toured breathtaking ancient temples in Myanmar, got scuba certified in Thailand and went back to our village in Cambodia, saw our friends, family and students.

5. We gutted our first floor

We bought our house, left for Asia the next day and while we were gone, this is what our house looked like. The house was supposed to be almost done by the time we moved in, but we ran into some problems with permitting and plumbing, and it took a month and a half longer to finish than planned. Meanwhile everything we owned had to be in the three rooms upstairs, we had to live without a kitchen for two months and without running water for days at a time.

6. We remodeled it into a home we love

I literally just walked downstairs and took this photo since people had been asking for more photos of our house. While it was such a pain to live through the remodel, to say we're in love with how it turned out would be an understatement. We just ran with the ideas in our head, didn't listen to anyone else and are so happy with how it turned out. Now we get to slowly remodel the upstairs ourselves.

7. We expanded our animal farm

Little miss Maeby joined our family in July. We pulled the trigger right as our remodel was ending and rescued this snuggle bug. She was a breeder dog who was turned out and on death's door when the rescue found her. She loves people almost as much as she loves blankets and will snuggle all day long.

8. No more antibiotics

I took this picture the very first morning I didn't have to take antibiotics with my breakfast in almost 2 years. I still take quite a few supplements and tinctures, but my doctor has slowly been weaning me off of them, while ensuring my body will stay strong and healthy on its own. While my journey with Lyme isn't over, nor will it ever be, I'm finally on the up and up.

9. We went to Canada

Neither Hal or I had been to Canada before, so Hal planned a surprise anniversary trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto. Niagara Falls was breathtaking. And we stayed in Kensington Market area of Toronto, a wonderful hipster neighborhood which we loved. We also found Toronto was plentiful with mangosteen, our favorite fruit, which is hard to find in America.

10. Hal turned the big 3-0

Hal turned 30 the day after I finished school, and I was so glad we got to celebrate together. I threw him a surprise birthday party. We were so honored so many friends from all different parts of our life came together to celebrate Hal with us.

11. We ran a Spartan Sprint

Spartan Sprints are a 5 mile 25 obstacle race. I viewed this race as a sign of conquering Lyme Disease. For the first time in almost 3 years I had the energy to work out, so I set the goal to run the race with Hal's family. We had so much fun. We did it all together, helping each other and encouraging each other along the way. I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait until we do it again.

12. We survived

Hal and I enjoyed staying home for Christmas last year so much, we decided to do it again. We hosted Christmas Eve for some friends, then headed down to Williamsburg and spent some time in Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown. It was so nice to have some time to do nothing but hang out and reconnect after such a busy, stressful year.  When 2015 ended, it was such a hard year and I remember writing the year in review just feeling like the hard times weren't over. While this list focuses on the wonderful things that happened to us in 2016, it was a hard year on so many fronts for both of us. We made it through remodels, awful elections, sicknesses and school and have finally made it to the other side of 2016. Thankfully it feels like 2017 is also going to be on the up and up. 

Making Biscuits

Let's be honest here. If you don't love cat videos, we can't be friends.

I saw this hilarious collection of vines on buzzfeed about cat's "making biscuits". You know, "kneading dough" "making pizza" and other such terms for the kneading that cats do with their paws.

So I thought I'd share my funny cat kneading video.

Tuk Tuk kneads a lot. She's obsessed with one purple blanket in particular, but sometimes if you have a good pet going on, she doesn't even need a blanket to get her knead on.

Also, here's this photo, just to make your day better. Tuk should probably have her own meme with some of the faces she makes in the photos I send to Hal everyday.

Stay tuned for a big cat announcement!

Meet Tuk Tuk

Remember when I asked for some help in naming our not so new kitty? Well, we finally settled on a name.

Introducing....Tuk Tuk

What is a tuk tuk?

This is a tuk tuk. A motorcycle that pulls a cart that you ride around in. It was our main mode of transportation when we were in the city.

Now meet this tuk tuk:

And now you're wondering why I have so many pictures of the cat and myself, you can read about why here.

She's a funny kitty. She's very vocal when she wants something. She will let you pet her head for hours. She love to play inside the laundry basket.

She has to be played with every single night before bed or she'll wake me up every single night with too much energy. She runs inside the laundry basket when she knows it's time to play. She had a litter of kittens before the shelter found them and took them all in. And I may or may not call her Stink as much as I call her Tuk Tuk. Sorry to those of you who hated that name choice.

3 Long Weeks!

Can you believe it? We've made it over three weeks! Three loooooooong weeks.

I have 18 days until I get to see Hal next. Some days I think 18 days is so short, that we totally got this. Other days it feels those 18 days are the end of. the. world.

Remember how I'm sending Hal a picture every single day of me and kitty while we are a part? I'm kind of loving this challenge. Kitty has been a good sport and has cooperated for endless photos when all of them end up blurred because she won't stop moving.

We finally figured that seeing each other once a month is doable for our bank account and our sadness. We've booked my flight home for Valentines and his flight out here in March. The next flight we book will mean I'm coming home, he's graduating, we've moving permanently to DC, and we'll be back together after 4 long months apart!

I'm kind of nervous that seeing him for 3 short days is going to make it even hard to be away from him again. Have any of you found that to be true when you were apart form your significant other for a long period of time?

Help Us Name our Kitty

Back in October Hal and I got a new kitty. I can't believe I haven't really posted about her yet. She's such a fun kitty.

We both missed having a cat around after we lost our kitty back in September, so when I got a permanent job out here we decided to get a kitty to help me feel not so lonely while Hal is back in Utah for 4 months.

So we started looking. We went to a lot of pet stores and shelters, just not really knowing if we should get a cat, but wanting one and not finding one that we just loved loved. We ended up at an adoption day at WARL in DC, and fell in love with this little lady.

I'm not gonna lie, from far away she's kind of ugly looking. She's a torbie: a tabbie, tortoiseshell mix and has a split face, where half of her nose is dark and half is light. Her skin around each eye is a different color, and the skin of her lips is split as well. She was immediately playful and curious, but loved of a good petting; so we decided to adopt her.

She's 1 1/2 and was found on the street with her kittens. All of her kittens were adopted from the shelter before her and she was all alone. Our first few nights with her were rough, I'm not going to lie. We were used to our 13 year old cuddle bug and this new kitty was much more talkative and up at night. We wondered what we had done to ourselves.

But slowly we fell in love with her funny personality, and learned she has to be played with before bed time if she's going to sleep most of the night. We had to learn to adjust to a new kitty.

But we still haven't found the perfect name for her. At first we named her Mai Mai, which means mother in Khmer, since she had been found with her kittens. But the name didn't stick and I ended up calling her stink all of the time. We've been playing with the idea of naming her tuk tuk, which is the name of a cart pulled by a motorcycle which is very prominent in SE Asia; and it lends itself to lots of silly nick names, which is important to me.

 Over the last few months we've successfully fattened up, and taught our kitty how to cuddle, but we still are looking for the perfect name. As a reward for helping us find the perfect cat name, I'll share the most precious cat picture you've ever seen.

We Made A Deal, Guess Who Won

Last time I made a deal with Hal, Hal/God won, this time, it was my turn.

After our cat passed away back in september both Hal and I noticed there was a part of our lives that was missing. Our apartment was a less happy place to come home to. We were both surprised at what a difference we noticed.

We wanted to get another cat right away, but we didn't want to have to trek it on a 3 day cross country drive, so we waited. Then we started toying with the idea of me staying in DC so we started thinking about it again.

So we made a deal (and this is where you're going to know who won) IF I got a job in DC, a permanent job that meant  I wasn't going back to Utah, we could get a cat.

Well someone got a job this week.

Not to say it's stopped us from looking at kitties for about a month now.

I would have taken this guy home if he wasn't already in the process of adoption

We've found it really hard to pick a cat. The first cat we looked at, when we were returning all of the unused cat stuff we had bought was black with blue eyes, and from that moment, I think both of us saw ourselves with a black kitty with blue eyes. 

We've gone to pet stores and shelters and it's so hard to see so many kitties up for adoption that we just can't decide. The funny thing is, if someone just gave us a kitten, we would happily take it and love it no questions, but choosing for ourselves is proving rather difficult.

So we're still looking and hoping to find that magical kitty that make our heart sing. Until then, enjoy this.

With A Heavy Heart

With a heavy heart we had to say goodbye to our kitty this weekend.

While Hal was in Utah over labor day, his mom called me to break the news that our kitty wasn't doing well. She paid for Hal to fly back to Maryland with Ebony. We were SO excited to have her here. We had no idea how serious her condition was. We were just so excited to have her. The day after she arrived I remember Hal saying how much cheerier our room was with her here.

We all knew there was something wrong, we just didn't really know how bad it was. We took her to the vet with a bad prognosis.  She would just lay all day and stare at nothing. She wasn't even sleeping, she was just staring. She wasn't herself anymore.

I don't really want to pour out all of the details here. If family is interested in what happened, please e-mail me.

Her liver was filling her body with toxins, she wasn't really eating or drinking anymore. We just knew it was time. She wasn't herself anymore. She didn't seem in pain, but she wasn't happy.

I kept wanting to feel like I had made the wrong decision, so that I could keep her for a little bit longer. But things were going downhill so quickly, and I didn't want her to be in pain as her body shut down.

So the morning we made the decision we snuggled up with her in her favorite blanket and she purred as we snuggled.

I had taken care of her from the moment we got her. She was supposed to be the family Christmas present, but she was always really meant for me. I've owned her for half of my life. We've never been married without her.

She wasn't the perfect kitty. She hated kids and scratched or bit many a child who cornered her. But she was perfect for us, and she had so much personality.

She would always always come lay on you when you were sad. She would always sleep on the couch with whomever was out there when we had a late night fight. Hal taught her how to "talk" where she would meow at us, and we would meow back, and it would just go back and forth. She made the cutest little noise whenever she jumped up on anything.

I've posted about some of her funny antics on here before, if you feel like reminiscing with me, you can read about some of them here, here, here, or here.

She was very very well loved.

So I won't choose to remember her as the skinny skinny kitty who stared, but the adorable cuddly kitty we loved.

Funny Friday

I thought about not doing a funny post today considering everything that is going on in Boston, but then I remembered when we had that mass shooting at Trolley Square, the mall where I worked, and I thought, no today we need laughs. But we still send our hearts to those effected by the Boston Bombings.

Who doesn't love good cat picture to make them laugh?

Let me paint a picture for you.

Your tummy is hurting when you get home from work and you walk in the door and your husband is making the most fantastic meal. Like homemade tomato almond pesto yummy. So you go lie down in your comfy comfy bed with your kindle to relax and hope your tummy ache passes. Then your nice kitty climbs up on the bed, and you think, oh she wants to come cuddle with me since I don't feel well.

But then your view of your kindle gets blocked, and all of the sudden this is your view.

She's really a big fat jerk covered in fur with a cute little meow to make you forget that she's really just a big fat jerk.

Because she also does it when you're trying to watch some netflix in bed.

In other news, The Giant Mechanical Man on Netflix is worth a watch, it seems like people are always trying to find a movie worth watching on Netflix.

Weekend Update

I know I'm late posting about our weekend. But I was at a birth for 12 hours on Sunday so there was no way I was coherent enough on Monday morning to write a post.

Our friends are house sitting for some family up in Park City, and invited us up to stay the night.

AND PLAY WITH 3 WEEK OLD PUPPIES!

My phone died right after this or else you would be inundated with puppy pictures. Hal didn't understand my need for puppy pictures and denied me access to his phone. But come on, tiny 3 week old golden doodles? SO CUTE! On Saturday I held one until it fell asleep in my arms, slowly drooping it's head backwards. As soon as I set her down in the pen she peed. Dodged a bullet!

Have you ever played the Settlers sea farer's version? I don't think I can ever go back to regular Settlers anymore.

And then we went for a midnight hot tub run, on a beautiful clear night surrounded by snow.

My second client went into birth on a Sunday so I didn't even have to take off work.

I'd call that a weekend success story.

And since google are jerks and getting rid of google reader:

Funny Friday

This is another funny friday brought to you by our cat.

Our chubby kitty really likes to be involved in whatever you're doing. If you're lying down watching TV, she's on your lap, if you're reading a book, she lying on you between you and the book, if you're doing homework on the floor, she's lying on your books.

She's always been this way. It was so hard to work on projects because you'd be trying to make this post look like you have some skillz, and then your cat would be lying on half of it, leaving behind crinckles and hair.

Hal does his homework on the floor a lot. So kitty is all over his homework.

Also, she's taking a liking to licking Hal's head lately. I don't know what's more gross, that she wants to lick Hal's head, or that Hal just lets her lick it?

The other night she went to town. It was digusting. She licked IN HIS EAR.

That is my nightmare. Nothing should go in the ear other than maybe a q-tip. These two are gross, and a little bit funny because it's not happening to me, but mostly gross.

Funny Friday.

First of all. Happy March. March? Isn't it still December or something?

The other night I was awoken by snoring. Neither Hal or I snore, so when someone does, it makes it hard for me to sleep. And thus, noises in the night wake me up.

I woke up and realized it was the cat who was snoring. She's been snoring a lot lately. Then I realized she wasn't lying on me (she's a snuggler and is always lying on one of us). I then realized the snoring was coming from my right so I turn my head over and this is the sight I beheld.

My lazy fat cat, snoring away, half under the covers, half out of them with her head snuggled on my pillow.

What cat likes to sleep under blankets? Besides mine of course, she's always trying to get under any sort of blanket you have covering you.

I'm pretty sure she thinks she's our baby. She's always begging for milk, always wants to snuggle, and sleeps over half the day away. Silly cat.

Funny Fridays

The past two weekends we were dog sitting for my in laws who were on a cruise.

They have the cutest puppy! He's a golden doodle and he's so much fun to play with. Last Friday I went to pick him up from the kennel. They had just bathed him and blown him dry.

He was basically a giant fluff ball when I picked him up.
And here's when it gets good....the fluff on the top of his head was just calling to me, or to my hair holders really...

hahahha, that last picture just makes me laugh every single time I look at it. He kept it in for about an hour and then rolled around on his back until he got it out.

Pretty sure we're the best dog sitters ever.