a year in review

and what a year it has been.  2010 started off with a bang as we celebrated sully's first birthday and the birth of my nephew, brooks - all in the same weekend!  february brought the first "real" snow charleston has seen in 10 years which worked to sabotage the night of a much anticipated valentine's date with my husband. with february also came the decision to build a house and the start of a grueling construction process.  the next few months were filled with sully's first steps, planning and more planning for mine and john's summer wedding, design decisions for the house, mom's long awaited retirement, the visit of two special friends and their little boy in april, 3 bridal showers, the return of a friend who had been living in france for 8 years, a revelation that my love for photography should be invested in, resulting in the purchase of a bad-mama-jama camera (thanks john!), and a hiatus from blogging for about 3 months (sorry, sorry).  then summer arrived and on june 5th, the stress of all that wedding planning proved its worth as john and i made this thing official and said "i do" at a charming old barn in the pasture land of fort mill, south carolina with 180 of our closest friends and family.  it was bliss.  i'm embarassed to say, though, that i only just visited the social security office today to legally become mrs. courtney ackerman greider.  oops!  less than one month after our nuptuals, construction on the house was done-zo and we closed.  falling in line on the very last day that we could qualify for the $8,000 tax credit - that john just mailed out this morning.  i know.... what is wrong with us?  at the crack of dawn on july 17th, movers showed up at the little apartment that was sully's first home and hauled all of our belongings out to summerville in the sweet neighborhood where everyone waves and sunny days seem just a little bit sunnier.  trying to fill a house over double the size of what we had before was no easy (or cheap) task.  in fact, it was pretty exhausting, but in the past few months we have turned that empty dream house into a home.  there might be worse things to complain about than having too much space.  ;)  july breezed into august which breezed into september where i celebrated my 29th birthday.  i find myself sometimes pushing against the days that lead me into the year that i turn thirty.  i like 29.  just old enough to be considered mature, but not too old to still act young.  you know?  september also brought the fantastic news that my bf, carissa, was pregnant.  which, of course, gave me the baby itch.  but we won't tell john.  shhhhhh!  and in october, the birth of another nephew jackson (to john's sister) made that itch even stronger.  and no, i won't be ending this post by saying that i'm pregnant. in the future, yes.  or hopefully.  but for now, just hopefully.  later that same month gamecock fans across the state went berzerk as we watched our team beat the number 1 team in the country, alabama.  a victorious season for a team that's long overdue.  coming off of that victory, was yet another victory - i found a new daycare for sully.  it was one of the best decisions i have made, to date and he couldn't be more content.  but with the sweet, comes the sour.  days before thanksgiving my sister was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.  as i type she is at her second chemo treatment with her newly bald head.  the big "c" may have brought on its share of undesirables but they are no match for her humorous and heroic attitude.  holidays in our family have been filled with just as much laughter and joy as all those past.  and maybe a few extra bald heads in show of support.  the christmas season came and went with a new collection of absurd and hilarious stories to add to the pot.  and today i prepare as three boys - my two stepsons and 18 year old brother-in-law - will be coming to visit and celebrate the new year this weekend.  i call it "the landing of the hurricanes."  but there could be no better way to end a year full of such change and new beginnings than to celebrate with the ones i love.  i pray for peace for the families of those who have passed on in 2010 and send light and love to the lives that came in 2010 and are soon to come in 2011.  i send warm wishes to those who don't have the luxury of being with their families this season.  and raise a glass of bubbly to 2011 and all that it shall bring.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

christmas snow

how lucky that we got to see snowflakes fall on christmas day at my paren't house in lancaster and then woke up to this on the morning after christmas...

you win some, you lose some

I scrounged up this picture of Tucker, circa 2005, in a dusty old album on my work computer. . . wearing a sweater my mom gave me for Christmas one year because she thought it had ME "written all over it".  Yikes! 

Sorry Mom (and Tucker).

i made a decision to cut sodas out of my life a few days ago.  and even though it has only been hours since initiation, i am already feeling better.  cleaner.  not as if the influx of posts recently would give it away or anything....

goodbye morning canned coke classic, hello shiny day.

that's all.

tinsel time

i'll admit i was a little sad for the 3 s's (summer time, sweat, sandy beaches) when I came across this picture earlier today...

maybe it's the bad-mama-jama glasses.  not really sure.

but thankfully my spirits were restored when I spotted this, circa christmas '09...

jingle on, jingle bells!

resolve

He sits there in the corner. Watching me as I rush by, getting kids fed and dressed and taxiing them to their various daily destinations. He never complains, only patiently waits for my attention. Sometimes days, or even a week go by, without me bothering to do stop, even for a minute, to make room in my life for him. Because he knows that I will come back and when I do, with the utmost attention and fondness. So he waits, quietly, peacefully.   I pulled this bit from an article in Elephant Journal.  It inspired 2 shiny, new resolutions....

1. Sadly this article reminded me of my dog, though the author was addressing her yoga mat.  My sweet 7 year old Boxer gets the love, attention, and basic necessities required from any competent dog owner.  But I won't pretend that he gets the same amount of activity that he did in days when it was just the two of us.  So I resolve to take him for a walk - a real, all the way around the neighborhood, exhausted and panting on the floor afterwards, walk no matter what the weather - atleast once a week.
2. My yoga mat hasn't been waiting patiently for a few days or even a few weeks.  More like months.  Months that seem like decades in a body that feels worn and flabby.  So I also resolve to attend one yoga (or pilates) class each week.  As a little thank you to my body for time well served and a bonus to my mind for working so hard. 

Because you can't go wrong with dogs and yoga.  Right?  Right!

thank you, my most special friend, for sending me this little gem of a song.