One Life Stand

Well hubby and I have been back home for a few days.  All the Christmas festivities were wonderful.  Everyone loved their gifts and we all had a good time.  I’m sure hubby thinks my family is crazier than ever but hey, you can’t choose your family so you just have to love them anyway.    Unfortunately, GeckoBro had to work and couldn’t come home.  The poor baby had to work every day last week including Christmas day.

Otherwise, all is well.  Hubby and I have just been vegging out and haven’t done much of anything except enjoy each other.  We ran a few errands and he had lunch with one of his friends yesterday but that’s about it.  We’ve been staying up late every night and sleeping in every morning.  We need to get it together before we head back to work on Wednesday.

We took our skis to be waxed and sharpened.  I picked up another pair of thermals but Santa didn’t bring the new apres-ski boots I wanted.  I don’t need another pair so I’m debating on whether or not to get them.  Less than two weeks before we head out to our first ski trip of the year.  I know it will be a lot of fun but COLD.  You’d think that I’d get used to the cold after all this time but I never do.  I’m prepared though - good thermals, heated boots, mitten-gloves that hold handwarmers.  I got frostnip one year in Whistler and that was quite painful.  Never again.

Well, I’m off to join hubby in the man-cave and watch some football.  Happy New Year! 

I’m in my hometown spending time with the family.  I’m sure hubby is overwhelmed by the critical mass of craziness that is my family but he’s taking it all in stride.  Yesterday was brunch with half of my dad’s fam and dinner with the other half.  There was lots of food and LOTS of people at both events.  Today is Christmas dinner with my mom’s side of the fam.

Happy holidays to everyone.  Wherever you are, I hope you’re surrounded by food and love. 

In the past two days, two different people have noticed that I’ve been letting my hair grow and asked if I was growing it for Locks of Love.  Um, yeah.  I mean, I’ve thought about it BRIEFLY but 10 inches is a lot of hair!  Not to mention, I’m one of those people who sometimes cries after a drastic haircut.  I know it’s for a good cause but I don’t think so.  Have any of you donated hair?

Now that the new year is about to start, I like to begin thinking/planning our trips for the year.  This year was a good year for travel.  I think we took eight trips and five of those were new places.  We’ll probably scale back for the upcoming year though because I want to get back to decorating.

Of course, we have two ski trips planned which should be nice.  One place is new and the other is an old favorite.  Hubby wants to go camping which I’m not a fan of but hey, he humors some of my activities too.  There’s a new Cirque du Soleil touring show but I’m not sure if it’s coming to Atlanta or not.  Therefore, I’m considering flying somewhere to see it.  It will be in Chicago this summer, which is the location of my family reunion, but that’s hubby’s birthday weekend and I kind of wanted to throw him a birthday party.  The last trip currently on the list is a week in Acapulco with another couple that we’re friends with.  We’re waiting to hear back if they can definitely go.  If not, we’ll probably still go.  I love the beach and I’ve been wanting to practice my Spanish.  What do you guys have planned for next year?

That’s the high for today.  It seems that no one told Mother Nature that it’s December, meaning it’s winter.  I’m not complaining though.  The nice weather has allowed me to cross some things off my to do list.  After six hours of running around on Saturday, we finally got a rug for the family room.  All the stores were packed.  I guess everyone else wanted to take advantage of the weather too.  Hubby picked out gifts for his mom for her birthday and for Christmas.  I picked out my Christmas gift from him and got another wedding band as well.  My engagement ring and wedding band are soldered together and there are times/places when I’m not comfortable wearing them.  Now I have a simple band with stones that I can wear at those times.

Yesterday, we decided to stain the deck.  It should have been done a long time ago but better late than never.  However, we’re only about 75% done though.  We’ll probably leave work a little early to make the most of the remaining daylight and get it finished.  If there’s any stain leftover, I guess I’ll do the stairs in the garage as well.  Home improvement is a never ending quest.  At the rate we’re going, I’m hoping we’ll be done by the end of 2010.  LOL.

In other news, I’ve decided to finally get off my butt and enroll in some classes I’ve been wanting to take for years.  Of course that means I need to get some “school supplies”.  Hubby doesn’t understand why I have to get new pens and new notebooks when we already have plenty at home.  Nevertheless, I need to go to Target and soon.

They say there’s a first time for everything.  So Saturday night, I went to the club.  I’m not a club person.  I probably haven’t been to a club in two years or so.  Not only did I go to the club but a hole-in-the-wall club in a less than stellar part of town…with my dad!  That’s right, me and GeckoDad at the club.

My older brother (GeckoBigBro - GBB) recently decided he wants to DJ.  He told us he had a gig at a new club that had opened a few weeks ago.  I wasn’t really feeling going, much less to that part of town.  I’m scaredy-cat, you know.  I had made up in my mind that I would only go if GeckoBro (my younger brother) came back with my car in time (he’d gone to a basketball game with some friends).  So when he didn’t show up, I was just going to put on my PJs.  But then GeckoDad said he’d go with me!  At 10 o’clock at night!  This is the same man who used to get on me for trying to leave the house after 9pm.  Nevermind that HE probably hasn’t been to a club in 30 years.  He has never been that "cool dad".  He’s the dude who’s at the church almost everyday and takes the kids from the church camp to the skating rink.

We got in the car and headed to the shady part of town.  He was driving and I was navigating but we were having a hard time finding the place.  Finally, he spotted GBB’s car in a nearly empty parking lot.  We did a u-turn and I saw my car (which GeckoBro was driving).  We parked and walked in.  The music was bumping but the place was empty.  Seriously empty…as in there were eight people inside - our family (five people), the bartender and two folks sitting at the bar.

We made the best of it though.  There was a pool table so we played a few games then hung out in the "DJ booth" with GBB.  He seemed really happy that we all came out to support him so it was worth it.