Yes, it's true.  I am back to the blogland!  The past week I've been busy hosting Joel's family, so today's Friday Five will be mostly comprised of time spent with the in-laws.

1.  Well...I did it!  I officially graduated with my master's degree.  I have been hooded and everything.  I am so thankful to be down with that journey, and can hopefully actually use this degree someday, vice my B.S., which was fun and rewarding to get, but has been basically worthless so far.

2.  We basically took the in-laws on an "our favorite food tour" of St. Louis.  Pretty sure I gained a pound or two.  Wasn't I trying to lose weight this spring???

Bogart's BBQ (3rd rated in the country!)

Budweiser Brewery

Fitz's

Mango Peruvian Cuisine

3.  We also started a birthday cake tour!  St. Louis recently celebrated their 250th birthday, so they placed 250 "cakes" around town to celebrate.  Here are a few examples.  Can you guess where they are from?

4.  We went to our first Cardinals game of the year.  For some reason, Joel and I have only seen them play the Cubs together.  Funny coincidence, huh?  This time they won though, and despite the crappy, cold weather...we had some great seats!

5.  Non family related...tonight is the Rascal Flatts concert, and since it's an outdoor theater, we may have to take a blanket.  It's supposed to be in the forties tonight.  What's up with that, May?  Get your act together, stat!

It's Freaking Friday

You know, I know it's winter.  I truly do.  But, I am so tired of the cold, and the ice, and the snow.  I mean...come on.  Really?

But, it's Friday.  Another week has come and gone.  I'm starting to have a little relief with my headaches, and it's been magical, quite frankly.  I've still felt pretty sluggish because of the exercise restrictions, but man... I could really use a day without pain.  Oh, and Air Force?  A warmer climate after Korea would be great with me.  Pleaseandthankyou.

Anywho, my sister is in town!  I went and "kidnapped" her from my parents house, and boy am I glad that she's here visiting.  I love my sister to the moon and back.  I tend to hibernate when the winter is this bad, but she never really gets to venture out due to my mother's lack of activity, so she likes to paint the town when she's here.  And I love it.  We tried a new Mexican place last night, and who knows what's up for this weekend.  Can't wait to see what she has in mind for us.

P.S. Also, because I am so tired of seeing beautiful old dogs dumped, here is a personal PSA.
 

Happy (belated) Christmas!

So, I've been a bad blogger lately.  I've been off of work since Friday, and have just enjoyed that time off with the hubster and our pets.  Low stress, lots of relaxation, and I may have enjoyed it so much that I will refuse to travel for Christmas ever again.  We'll see if I get so lucky.

My family heritage is German, and so growing up we always opened presents up on Christmas Eve.  And yes, we even had the Weinachtsgerkin (Christmas pickle) on our tree.  I carried both of these traditions over for me and Joel, but first things first: our Christmas (Eve) dinner.

The spread.

Our scrumptious ham.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I believe I did a pretty darn good job.  The ham was the best I had ever made, and was slightly reminiscent of a certain "Honey Baked" ham company or other.  I was pretty proud of myself, but I might have overdone it.  I think we will have leftovers for the rest of the week.

After dinner we opened our first gift.  We always got new jammies growing up, and Joel and I will continue that tradition as well.  We wanted to get comfy before we tore into the rest of the gifts, so we immediately put on our new jammy jams.  Joel was happy to sport his new look for you all.

Joel, with a photobomb courtesy of Pugsley.

Joel did great with the gifts this year.  I went to Indiana University, so he got me one of those collegiate letter things with pictures around the University spelling out Indiana.  He also got me a pair of topaz solitaire earrings, and a few new pairs of shoes.  And of course regular stocking stuffers and such.  I really felt blessed.  I think Joel liked his gifts.  I have to remember to take a picture of one of the toys my in-laws sent.  Joel went to Oregon State, and we got an OS baby toy.  Hints, much?  Not really sure what that was all about, but never fear.  There are no babies in our near future.

Our cat, Jaeger, getting in on the Christmas fun.  He just might love the boxes more than his Christmas gifts.

After all that was done, we settled in for the night with a fire going and some good movies playing.  It was probably one of the most relaxing Christmases ever.  I decided that I deserved a break from the normal holiday stresses, and am so glad I did.  Even though I missed family, the travel foes both ways, you know?

Anywho...Christmas morning we got dressed in our Sunday best and headed to Mass.  We haven't been going as frequently as we normally do, and I realized how much I missed it once I was there.  It's like the gym.  You hate getting up to go, but it feels so rewarding afterwards.  Joel's family has a tradition of bagels on Christmas  morning, so after Mass we did our bagel breakfast.  Then, more relaxing.  Have I mentioned how awesome this holiday was?

I am glad I took some "me" time on this break, but I have a lot of ambitions for the new year.  I am looking forward to digging in and really working on improving on many aspects of my life that I simply forgot about once Joel returned from his deployment.  Now that life feels "normal" again, it's time to stop with the excuses and start on the hard work.  Nothing great in this life comes easy, right?

Family Woes

My family is...difficult to say the least.  I love them, don't get me wrong.  I really do.  But, I was ecstatic to find out that they were coming out for the week.  That is until they left early.  Let me back up and explain.

My mom and I have had a strained relationship for years.  Over the years, she has become quite mean spirited.  Pretty much since I turned 18, she has criticized every aspect of my life.  My step-dad says it is her offering advice, but she is down right rude in what she says.  When I graduated from college, instead of saying congrats, she says if I would have made different choices I would have graduated sooner.  Maybe, but I wouldn't trade in my European adventure in the world.  When I got married and told her how happy I was, she said something along the lines of "let's see how long that lasts."  When I told her we were renting, she said that we were throwing money away, when I picked my Master's program she said I wouldn't be any good at my new job...the list goes on and on.  This is probably why I moved 4,000 miles away from her at a very young age.  It makes me very sad, as I see a lot of my friends and how close they are to heir parents, but that just isn't me.  But, now that we moved a state away, I wanted to make an effort.

Now brings us to this weekend.  My mom complained about everything!  She didn't like that snack food we ate, she criticized the kind of coffee maker that I have, we went out to eat and she was awful to the poor waitress because they were out of the steak she wanted, she said the color I picked for my dining room was, and I quote, atrocious, she said I was a horrible doggy mother because I didn't feed my dog table food, and once again the list goes on and on.  It hurt, but I just countered with things like "this is my life" and "this is the way I do things."  I wasn't rude, I don't think, but after a while I became very matter of fact.  Saturday night, she mentioned me coming home for Christmas.  We had already talked about her coming to my house.  I have never hosted Christmas before, but looked forward to getting both mine and Joel's families together for the first time since the wedding.  She said I had to come home, because she wasn't coming here.  Apparently, after flying home from Germany for seven consecutive years without even one reciprocated visit wasn't enough.  That did it.  I became distant after that.

My parents were supposed to leave on Thursday.  All of a sudden, without word, my parents packed up and left, because my mother said I didn't make her feel welcome.  My sister was upset, because she just didn't understand, and my poor dad didn't know what to do.  I was shocked, told my mom that the whole family was more than welcome any time, and then she stormed off and sat out in the car until my dad loaded it up.  I was in shock.  What just happened?  Could I have begged her to stay?  Of course.  Should I have, after everything that went on?  I don't think so.  Joel has always been pretty honest with me, so of course I asked him what he thought.  He said that you could tell I was more distant, but that he thinks mom just did it for attention, as she is known to do.  He said that I was still kind and welcoming, but that I didn't just take the criticism like she wanted.  I don't know.  I love my mom, but she has stressed me out for years.  I guess I just need to reflect on this and figure out what to do next.