A year in the life

And in no particular order...my favorite photos of 2010!!!!

(Disclaimer - these are my faves, to date. Christmas is still 12 days away!!)

The two loves of my life...hanging out, going to see if the lake has alligators. What happens if it does have alligators? I don't know, maybe they'll catch one. We can keep it in the back yard.

So says the little one.

I think this was Easter Sunday - THIS is MY BOY!!

Again, who else could have such a goofy youngin??

Just a bunch of circus clowns! A couple of them even get paid for the gig!!


Mother's Day at the Tallahassee Museum. One of our favorite places!!

Mother's Day Tea at Preschool. Don't you just love my TEXAS-SIZED coffee filter bonnet?

I do.

Possibly my single-most favorite photo from the year. I just love the way his little boy-ness is captured, riding on dad's shoulders, headed to a baseball game. Love.

I think that I would consider this my crowning achievement for 2010.

Real-life, grown-up achievements of maintaining steady employment, a mostly-steady marriage, and raising a precocious 4 year-old notwithstanding.

Just look at him!!! Ain't he a cutie??

So big! When they say time flies, they are grossly underestimating the actual speed at which time passes. It's more like so-fast-that-the-next-time-you-blink-your-eyes-you'll-be-holding-a-grandbaby fast.

This is my vision collage for my weight loss/healthy living/get in those damn size 10 jeans already efforts. I love it, and it's very motivating to look at. As soon as I have it tatooed to my forehead in an effort to not forget to look at it, I'll be smokin hot!!

I just have to find the support group for quitting butter.

THE Girls. Amen. (missing one important member!)


Brothers from different mothers.

Chase and his bestie, Caden, from one of my besties, Cindy.

Yes, we share a name, an anniversary year and 6 months overlap in gestation.
We lurves each other.
And they lurves Krispy Kremes.
Who doesn't?

The Fab 4!!! My weight loss/healthy living/step-away-from-the-butter gurus! I would have given up on the 10's a LONG time ago if not for these beauties! (See the Cindy puppet in the background? They found a way to include me on their D.C. adventures :)

The sad part about the Fab 4 is that I am FABULOUSLY far away from all of them!!
No matter - we have a bond.

Seminoles Spring Game 2010

And so begins the love affair with the Florida State Seminoles.
We bleed the Garnet and the Gold!

See? I told you.

This is me and the Mr., celebrating the occasion of our 6th year of marriage. At a tailgate. We went to the game too. And out afterwards for fried food and beer.

Life is good my friends, life is very, very good.

Yes. That's yours truly on the Slip N' Slide.
Yes. Yours truly was harmed during the making of this film.

Okay, maybe THIS is my crowning (cake-related, not life-wise) of 2010. I honestly had never even SEEN a redfish before I agreed to make a redfish groom's cake! Awesomesauce.

I can honestly say, this is one of the most fun years I have ever had. I hope it's not the best one, cause it was good and all, but as my high school teachers always loved to write in my report cards; there's always room for improvement!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus and any other reason you have for being with friends and loved ones and celebrating your life - this time of the year or any!

I hope that your 2011 brings bigger, brighter more fantastic things!

Love, Cindy

My poor, little neglected blog

I started this blog on a whim, a frenzied whim, that was preceded by many days and weeks of thought, and reading of others' blogs and lots of thinking "that looks fun" and "what a nice creative outlet" and "maybe one day I'll be like Pioneer Woman". And then, like with many things in life, I lost focus, lost track and lost interest.

Unfortunately, despite my many good qualities, one of the bad qualities that really sticks out to me is the fact that I don't really invest myself in many things. My family? YES. My friends? Totally. My job? Eh. I like it and it's a good place to be and I'm beyond thankful for it, but it's not my life's work or anything. Hobbies? Projects? New ideas??? I'm all full-steam ahead and then poof! What blog? I started a blog? Oh, yeah. I did. Oops.

My husband says that I have ADD, and while I've never been diagnosed, I can see where he gets the impression. I'm a master at multi-tasking, but only for a minute, and then there's something else shinier and prettier that catches my attention and I'm off to the races again.

Sigh.

I want to be focused and successful. I want to have this blog read by lots of people and entertain the masses and all that jazz. I want to do a million fabulous things, all before I'm 40. Cause when you're 40, you're too old to start anything new.

Haha. Just kidding! It doesn't happen until you're 50 :)

Now that I've alienated every woman over the age of 40 (not that any of them are reading my blog), let's continue, shall we?

I guess I wanted to get this off my chest and down in black and white, because I haven't been feeling that I had anything "important" to write about. What's wrong with that statement is that my life, the tiny details, the funny thing that monkey says on the way home, is blog-worthy. It's MY blog. No one is critiquing (at least not yet - Thanks, Anne!) what I'm writing, or the "importance" of it all, and it's likely that no one ever will - blogs are tiny glimpses into people, their thoughts, recipes, disasters, triumphs and heartbreaks.

If it was meaningful or funny or poignant or just plain goofy, it's worth writing about, and it's worth reading about. Some days I read blogs about cooking and get inspired. Not that Susie Q's macaroni and cheese is earth-shattering, but I saw it, read the recipe and wanted to get up off the couch and make it. Susie probably lives is Saskatchewan and will never have any idea who I am or that I made her mac and cheese, but hey, that's what comments are for!

Time next time, dear reader(s)!

Trying to keep the ADD under control,

Promise to blog again before 2011,

C