Christmas and NYE

Christmas time in Illinois! It started with the celebration of Lizzie's birthday on Christmas Eve. Mom made a delicious dinner and some delectable desserts. We started a new tradition of shots of rumchata! YUM. And towards the end of all that Anna skyped us! So we actually got to spend some time with her on Christmas Eve. :) Then we opened presents (and everyone got what they wanted, of course)! And by that time, since I had worked that morning, I was exhausted and hoping I wouldn't be so tired the next day. So Max and I packed up all of our new toys and headed home with Storm.

Skyping with Anna! 

Christmas day started with us going over to the O'Neill's casa and having a wonderful breakfast that Janine made. Great way to start the day plus lots of mimosas! 

After breakfast we opened presents in the living room. Max and I got some really big ticket items like a new TV! Amazing! Once again we had to pack all of our new toys in the car and bring it home so there would be less to carry, plus we borrowed Janine's car cause our little dinky ones wouldn't have fit all the stuff we would have needed it to. After all that and some sobering up work getting the TV in the house, we were off to my grandparent's house for lunch and more presents and more mimosas!

One of the girls got some colorful chalk that you can rub on your hair to make it pretty. We got a little carried away.. haha And below was me trying to do a panoramic view of the family but it was hard to do cause when people moved around they got distorted. But you get the picture. 

~Marybeth~

Sweater: Gift (Banana Republic

Skirt: Forever 21

Tights: American Eagle

Shoes: Ross

Jacket: Rue 21

Belt: Forever 21

Necklace: Forever 21

Then the rest of the week carried on as usual. We couldn't decide what to do for New Years Eve and I feared it would be a total dud. But in the end it was great! Max and I went to get massages for our anniversary. Two hour long massages and it's never enough! This year I got to spend NYE with Kaley, who I haven't spent a new years with since high school! Her, Dana, and Kelsey came over and we played pool and took shots and we decided to go to St. Charles to bar hop down there since it's a really fun spot in down town St. Charles and really cute too. Very busy but that added to the excitement. Max and his friends and family went to the Dutch in Elgin that was the place of Anna's going away party last year. I spent my midnight count down driving back to Elgin with Kelsey (I was okay to drive, don't worry) so that I could give Max our first kiss of the new year. We stayed a little bit so I could show her shuffle board, to which we lost gracefully... ;D Then Max and his friend Kyle decided to come back to St. Charles with us and so we met up with Kaley and Dana again and had a few more drinks before the bar closed. Then we came back to our house for some pizza and water before everyone went on their merry ways. 

~Marybeth~

Dress: F21

Necklace: Fashion Bug

Tights: F21

Shoes: Plato's closet

Random guy photo bombing. :(

Idk why she's so funny

New Year's day Max and I celebrated our four year anniversary. We got breakfast with his family in the morning and then we just hung around the house for a while. We took Storm and Maggie for a walk and got ready to go out to see the Hobbit! I had to cut Max's head out of the picture a little bit because the camera turned slightly when we took it so we were pretty sideways. Sorry, love! 

We had a great year and this year should be even better! Max should be finished with school by the end of summer and hopefully then we can start a new life in a new home that we can call ours. The future for my career is still a mystery to me but I'm really happy with grooming right now. Working full time is exhausting for me because it's a first but I don't even realize it while I'm working because it's so much fun. I've started to get a few requests too. That makes me nervous because I build it up in my own head to try to do it exactly like last time but sometimes you just can't! haha Also working full time really got in the way of enjoying Christmas time. The week before Christmas was so crazy busy, with people getting their dogs ready for the holidays, that I couldn't stop and look around and feel the Christmas spirit. Plus it's the  first year I've lived away from home. No smells of Christmas cookies being made or the hectic wrapping of presents, no presents spilling out from underneath the tree. It just didn't feel the same this year, plus I was missing Anna. I've come to realize that the Christmas spirit might not come back to me until we have kids of our own. We will get overjoyed and excited in their joy and excitement and we'll want to go all out in every way. This year there was no need to and it kind of made me sad. We're in that transitional period that it makes me want to grow up faster so I can start to act like a kid again, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, Anna comes home soon! I'm counting down the days and trying to figure out stuff to do for every day but all I really want to do is hang out in her bedroom with her and Pinot like we always used to do. Looking at crazy stuff on the internet and listening to music. I'm really excited for her to see the house though and she's going to stay here for a bit the weekend before my birthday. So happy she'll be around for my birthday too. Ah. I can't wait. Well, that's all I've got for now! 

<3<3<3<3,
Marybeth

A Tail of Two Cats

Ahh, puns...

What a tender moment captured between my Boots and me. He can be a real sweetheart. Almost obnoxiously so, when he crawls up by my face when I'm trying to sleep and nuzzles and licks my chin. Or when he climbs on my lap when it's clearly occupied by a laptop. He can be funny, when he jumps and tries to shimmy up the door frame towards the light switch I just touched. Or when he runs circles around me while I drag a mouse on a string around me on the bed. He also puts up with me when I pick him up like a baby, either under the armpits or cradled on his back, or when I scoop him up and spin around dancing with his legs flying out from the inertia.

But sometimes he can be a real pain in the ass. He bites me everyday. Not in an aggressive way, in a playful way, but it's really obnoxious. I had his front paws declawed soon after I got him. I had him neutered too, since he was still fairly young, not yet a year. I think maybe that's why he bites, to compensate for the lack of claws, but I had hoped his crazy antics would settle down after he was fixed. I haven't noticed any real change. I've had cats for forever, and I've never had one as naughty as this one. I've also never owned a male cat either, though. Maybe that has something to do with his energy and destructive personality. I also hoped age would settle him down. He just turned a year this month (so says me, since when I got him in June, and his past owners told me he was 6 months old), and he's still pretty much the same. Maybe he needs some more time, and some healthy discipline (I've tried so much. I'm on squirting him with a water bottle now, a couple weeks in..). I'm still hopeful. I mean, he loves me, he just doesn't RESPECT ME. Ugh, he's like a teenager... I assume...

-Anna- 

dress: H&M

sweater: Old Navy

shirt: The Gap

tights: 8 Seconds (here in Korea)

necklace: American Eagle

bow: hair (cool, right?)

here comes the attack....

Ahhhhh!!!

Boots! Why you attack me!?!

A well, we'll keep pluggin' along...

So, I'll be coming home for three weeks at the end of January until mid February and I couldn't me more excited! There are so many foods I want to eat and places I want to go see and foods I want to eat.. oh, yes, and my family of course, I can't wait to see them... so they can go with me to all the restaurants I want to visit... 

Also, my girl, Pinot. Pinot is my cat. She's my baby and I'm her mama. Almost two years ago, Bette found this little darlin' and took her home (as she is known to do). For the full story, read here. So, once I graduated, I got to take my girl back home with me! We lived a glorious 7 months together, until I decided to move to Korea, and not take her with me. I figured it was too much of an ordeal getting her over here, and I knew she was happy and welcome at home with my parents where she could roam around outside (she definitely needs that, and she would definitely not be able to get that here). But I am so excited to be reunited with her again very soon! I hope she still remembers me and loves me and missed me as much as I her. 

 

I'm comin' home, baby!

BYE!

Anna