It's that time again...

For the New Years Eve Picture Retrospective!

2010 Version

Soundtrack: Cee Lo Green, "Forget You" and Willow, "Whip My Hair"

(Cee Lo in reference to 2010, not the people pictured below)

(in no particular order...)

Jill Marie got married!

Jeremy and I got to do a lot of awesome cooking

We got to see Ana-- we miss her so much!

A trip to Tybee let me show off my great home state!

A trip to the High to see the Last Emperor's army, including a huge replica of a bronze horse!

Violet's First Birthday

Jackson Miles Bertram Gamble-- the baby who shouldn't have made it. He's so big and happy now, you'd never know how close Becky came to losing him!

I got to reconnect with one of my old AOII advisers and help install a new chapter!

We got our first place together!

Laura got married!

I FINALLY got to visit HQ!

And learned more about my favorite founder, Stella George Stern Perry

 Jeremy, Josh, Sarah and I at Grandma Allen's on Christmas Night

 Jeremy teaches the kids about Orchids at Fernbank

 Alexandros and Stephen help us celebrate our first anniversary at Palate (where we had our rehearsal dinner)

I cooked my first Thanksgiving turkey with cornbread stuffing from scratch and it was PERFECT!

 We had a great (and less expensive!) Halloween carnival with the kids at work

 We got to go to the zoo which I hadn't done in sooo long-- this is the front of our Summer Camp brochure this year!

 We spent 4th of July with Vivi and Jules

 We got to go to the Hollywood Cafe from my second favorite Memphis song ever (first being "Graceland" by Paul Simon, can't beat Paul Simon!) "Walkin' in Memphis" by Marc Cohn

 We got to see Josh and Sarah a few times this year! We're so thankful for that, we'd love to see them more often!

 We got to meet Tu and the other animals at Grandma and Grandpa Traylor's

 We had a great staff party at Twain's before Christmas

 I got to use my wedding china! (hot toddy, you saved me during cold season!)

 I got to explore AOII with my sisters at Leadership Institute

 Got to reconnect with old friends and re-live the "good old days"

 Got to go to the Botanical Gardens several times and see the beautiful glass pieces they had on display

Got to meet more of my amazing AOII sisters!

Dinner

 Marc carves the turkey

 Turkey, shrimp, and smoked Boston butt!

 Chili and Oyster Stew

Sweet Potato Bake, Cheese Soup and Green Bean Casserole

Nala

Nala is Josh and Sarah's cat... she's normally a little strange, but when you give her some catnip all bets are off!

 Stalking the fire...

 Stalking Josh AND the fire

Grooming Jan with surprising furiousness!

All in all she's not too bad, though-- fairly quiet and likes to play, plus she doesn't shed like a monster! 

Turkey Fryer!

The idea was to put it by the garage door and that way if it caught on fire, they could kick it out in to the snow on the driveway. Josh then parked his car in the driveway... good thing it ended up juuust about perfect!

White Christmas

It was a white Christmas for us! Here's the view from Josh and Sarah's front door that morning...

Clark Menfolk

Matt, Marc, Josh, Jeremy, and Ryan after Christmas Dinner

Home Again, Home Again

For those of you out in space, we've made it home safely and without any incident. There was an annoying hour-long backup at Chattanooga thanks to folks who weren't following the basic rules of traffic, but we did get to stop in Nashville and see my friend Jeff!

That's all for now, I'm going to be going through pictures from the week and the drive home and will start posting tomorrow.

Swiggett!

Swiggett is my AOII Grand Big Sis-- she now lives in Bloomington and so I get to see her once a year since she's half an hour away from Josh and Sarah! Last year I only got to see her for a little bit at a Starbucks in Bloomington, but this year we got to sit and have dinner and her husband Thomas was able to come along! Unfortunately, Jeremy was tied up (almost literally) helping Josh re-wire the house. Here's me and Swiggett-- I love her so much!

Christmas (a Pensive Post)

Everyone else is doing pensive posts about what Christmas means to them and I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon-- just because I'm not a Christian doesn't mean this time of year doesn't have meaning.

I remember Christmas growing up; we never had tons of money and only got one "big" present and a few little ones, often things that were related to our big present. The ones I remember the most were a 101 Dalmations tent (mostly meant for indoor camping) and a bicycle which I learned to ride in the park across the street from my house. I remember helping my little brother put together his Lego and KNEX sets and playing Operation with him when he was a toddler; he got so spooked by the noise!

I grew up going to church services, both of my parents had grown up in churches, but we weren't a "religious" household. For us, Christmas meant being together and being happy and taking time to reflect on the joy and gift of having family and friends to spend our time with. As we grew older and grew closer with those in our neighborhood, we grew to understand that family isn't just the people you're tied to by blood-- family is anyone that means a lot to you. Anyone whose presence enriches you and whose absence saddens you. Many of those people were at my wedding even though blood family chose church commitments over our big day.

I've been accused directly and indirectly by people of detracting from the "reason for the season" by having our wedding so close to Christmas. If I'd had my way, we would have had our wedding in the spring, outside, possibly in my old neighborhood. But, as I've explained to many, a wedding is about family and being together-- much like Christmas.

Thinking back on those Christmases growing up and the past few that I've had, and our wedding, I've come to realize even moreso that the people we call friends are our real family. Very few of our family either made a point of being there or even made a point of making an excuse. Indeed, the people whose schedules we most sought to accommodate all skipped out.

The last paragraph especially is something I struggle with on a daily basis. Our wedding anniversary was forgotten by all but a handful of people because folks were too busy preparing for Christmas. We'll never get anniversary presents, and we'll never get a card saying, "Congrats on another year of marriage." Perhaps I'm the only one who still sends cards like that, and yes it is selfish of me to think those things, but I devote quite a bit of time thinking ahead to what I can do to remember those I love.

That being said, Christmas is also a time of forgiveness; a time for all of us, myself included, to put aside these petty concerns and simply be happy for what we have and the blessings we have received whether by Fate or Faith. If I'm correct, that's the whole point of Jesus in Christianity-- He came as a symbol of forgiveness and love. and so His followers are to live each day by his example of loving freely and unconditionally.

I promise this is the end, and so my point is this:

Whether you're Christian, Agnostic, Atheist, or any other religion, the last month of the year is for all of us a reflection on the past and a way to look forward to the New Year-- a place where we make the decision of how to act towards others, including those who have hurt us or wronged us. As an individual not celebrating the birth of Christ, I still make an effort to clear my mind and sit silently, to consider how I can be a better, more positive person for myself, my friends, my family, and those I have yet to meet. To remind myself that I do not need to grow expectations of reciprocation on anything throughout the year.

I hope you have all had (or will have) a peaceful Winter Solstice (Yule, Saturnalia, etc), Christmas, Pancha Ganapati, Chanukah, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa and anything else I may have missed. Pictures to come from our Christmas trip, and I'm working on my New Years resolutions to post up next week-- I'm awaiting 2011 with baited breath!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

His birthday is the 23rd, but it's already the 23rd in Thailand! Happy Birthday, daddy!

Welcome Iris Elizabeth!

Welcome to Iris Elizabeth Salcedo!

7lb 11oz, 20.5''

Monday December 14, 9:49AM

Here's the pretty baby

And with her big sisters Sidney and Eliana (two of my afterschool babies)

Their mom and dad are definitely my favorite after school parents, and Nicki has gotten me hooked on cheesy romance novels involving vampires. I'm so excited their amazing family just added one more monster!

Tradition

Alexandros (9 years), Jenn (10 years), Laura (26 years),

Zach (3 years), Me (13 years), Jeremy (2 years)

My friend Laura's (of Dia de la Muerta wedding fame) godparents have a Christmas Open House each year. I met them when I was in middle school when they lived in a small apartment and started going with Laura and our friend at the time Clare. I remember holing up in the little closet of a guest bedroom and reading books and playing board games with them. When they moved to Lilburn, we helped them move and set up their new home, which is where Kathleen lives today. It's where I met Alexandros, one of my closest friends, 9 years ago. It's where I learned how to crochet, and where I spent a lot of time. George passed away just over a year ago; he had a congenital heart defect and got an infection that did him in. I hadn't seen him in many years when he passed, and when I heard through FB that he had I went to the visitation. I'd seen Laura once or twice; we had a falling out in HS over something stupid and decided that since we couldn't remember what it was it wasn't worth ruining a friendship over. I saw Kathleen for the first time in years, and met Laura's now husband for the first time. I started going back to the Christmas party last year and couldn't be happier. It's been great to re-connect with old friends and have a good time before the holidays.

Our life in pictures-- what else?

Things have been busy lately, so here are a few shots from our recent escapades!

Chris and Daniel hit the pool tables at our staff party

Ben, Willow, and Jimmy chill out upstairs

Chris throws some darts-- action shot!

Hunter, Jimmy, Willow, and Stephen

Jon, Octavia, and Jillian upstairs

AOII Dinner Club with Selena, Darice, me, and Ashley

Vivi plays with Uncle Jeremy and the rain maker

What do you mean I can't throw my food on the floor?!

Lots of time with the kids, and a party for my staff-- they work so hard all year, they deserve a little fun!