2010 in review

Shawn and I had a wonderful, albeit busy, 2010. Here is a recap of some of the memorable events from 2010.

We started off 2010 with our good friends Andrea and Evan in Las Vegas. It was a bit of a crazy scene, but we all had a great time. Unfortunately our schedules made it so that we weren't able to spend New Years together this year (first time in three years!), but we plan to get back on track next year.

Early in the spring of 2010 I found out I was invited to UNC to interview for a Park Fellowship position and to be a doctoral student here. I traveled to Chapel Hill, alone, and had a great and stressful time interviewing. Shortly after the interview they offered me a spot, so Shawn and I had some decisions to make. We decided that I should go for it, and I submitted my acceptance letter and prepared to move across the country.

In March, Cassie and I traveled to Norman, Oklahoma to present some of our research at a conference. While there, I got to meet some of Cassie's family (they were wonderful) and enjoy Norman (both the town and the Cassie).

April included a trip with my parents to North Carolina to go house hunting. The trip was successful (in huge part to our wonderful realtor) and Shawn and I are enjoying our first house. 

In May, Shawn and I both graduated from WSU. I spent a total of 6 years in Pullman (Shawn was there for 5) so graduating and preparing to leave was a bit strange.

After graduation, it was time for the big move. We packed up our apartment (we had lived there for 5 years!) and headed across the country. Jeff and my Dad helped with the move. We had the Subaru and a big Penske moving truck that was towing Shawn's car. Somehow we all made it safely across the country (and we got to see some sights on the way, like Mt. Rushmore!).

After the move in June, my Dad and Jeff headed out and Shawn and I tried to settle into our new house. We only were there for a short time though because then it was off to my cousin's wedding in beautiful Santa Barbara. Shawn and I flew into Oakland and then drove down the Coast with my parents, stopping along the way to play tourists. We had a great time at the wedding and enjoyed seeing the sites and spending time with my family.

Then it was time to head back to Washington for our wedding. Before that though, Shawn and I needed some distractions. We hung out with friends Andrea and Evan in Seattle.

Then we went to Forks with Arianna and Tim, and traveled to Cape Flattery.

After that, we were well rested and ready for our wedding. We had a wonderful wedding at Alderbrook Resort in Union and enjoyed spending time with family and friends.

Then we had our first international experience. For our honeymoon, we took a cruise to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo. We had a  blast, and cruises are great!

It was then back to North Carolina to settle in. Shawn got a job at a software company that he is really happy at. I started school. And we managed to fit in some fun along the way.

We visited our good friend Cassie in Washington, D.C. and got to take in some of the sights. (See previous blog posts).

Then we had guests!  My mom came to visit. Arianna and Tim came to visit. Cassie came to visit. (See previous posts).

We hosted Thanksgiving in our new house for ourselves and good friends Hollie and Cassie. (See previous blog post).

And then we had Christmas here in Durham. (Also in previous posts).

Overall, we had a wonderful 2010 and are excited to see what 2011 holds. Wishing everyone a wonderful 2011!

Curtain making--it's not as fun as it sounds

So yesterday, since I am on break, I decided to be productive. I know--shocking. I started out the day by making Shawn and me a quiche for breakfast. It wasn't as good as the quiche I made for Christmas, but maybe it takes practice.

After that, it was time for a workout. I did a cardio video. While doing that, Bella was getting all excited, so afterward I took her for a walk around the neighborhood. I was hoping it would tire her out for the day, but that didn't quite happen.

Then it was time to tackle a project I meant to start in the fall. When Shawn and I got all the furniture for our bedroom and the wall painted, there were only two things left I wanted to do--add art and add curtains.

Today it was time to tackle the curtains.

I hadn't been able to find any curtains back in August that I liked. I wanted some sort of a patten that used the colors from the wall but was not striped (since the wall was striped). By September, I was tired of looking.

We decided to visit a fabric store to see if they had something I liked so I could make my own. I made some curtains before when we lived in Pullman (not great) but thought that having the practice might make this easier. Luckily the store had a fabric in a pattern I liked, so we bought enough to make two curtains.

Surprisingly, it is not December, and there are still no curtains hanging from the curtain rod in our bedroom. (Okay, this is not really surprising as I bought the fabric during fall semester and I am a doctoral student. However, I do have weekends. Curtain making just never seemed to be a priority.) So yesterday, it was time to take the initiative and make it happen.

The curtains took awhile, and they certainly aren't perfect, but I can finally say they are done.

I finally learned by the very last seam how to make them look wonderful.

In total it took three hours of my time. Next time, I will probably keep looking and just buy something suitable. After the work had been done, I thought back to opportunity cost. Let's see, three hours of my time could have been used for a variety of other things. Additionally, assume my time is worth 10 bucks an hours, it cost me 30 bucks to make the curtains. That is not counting the materials. I can certainly buy curtains for about that. However, I did get them in a pattern I like, and at the length I want, so in the end, it all worked out. Check another thing off the to-do list.

Cookie decorating

One of the things Shawn and I have done for the past few years in preparation for Christmas is to have people over to decorate Christmas cookies. As we have moved and people have graduated, the people who have come to decorate have changed, but I love the tradition itself. It is a fun activity that allows for a bit of creativity and gives us a chance to hang out with some great people.

This year, my office-mate Laura and her girlfriend Alex came over to decorate cookies with us a few weeks before the actual holiday. First, we went out to dinner at Red Robin (gotta love those towering onion rings!) and then it was time to decorate.

As I mentioned, this is something Shawn and I have done for awhile. One of the first cookie decorating parties was back in our apartment in Pullman with good friends Arianna and Tim.

 Here's a few pics from back then.

Then for the last two years we had our friends Hollie and Cassie decorate with us.

The only downside to cookie decorating? The large number of cookies left in the house after we are done. It's dangerous!

Christmas in North Carolina

Shawn and I spent Christmas in North Carolina, and although that means we didn't have many family and friends to spend it with, we still had a wonderful holiday. Here is a brief overview of our first Christmas, married, and in North Carolina.

Shawn was fortunate enough to have Christmas Eve day off from work. He actually got to work from home on the Thursday evening leading up to it, which was really nice. On Christmas Eve day we luckily had finished all our shopping, except for shopping for food and other necessities. We headed to SuperTarget to get some staples, and to try and figure out what to eat for Christmas dinner. We decided we would do something simple and chose chicken alfredo as the dish we would make. After we headed out of Target (which was quite busy) we headed home to hang out for a bit.

Our next stop was church. We went to a 7 p.m. Christmas Eve service that was nice but a little long, and also very packed. We left there around 8:30 and called in some Chinese food. When I was younger, my family would order Chinese food for Christmas Eve dinner. This was especially fun when we were visiting my grandparents in California for Christmas because there was an amazing Chinese restaurant there.

Shawn had found a Chinese place he liked in Raleigh, and they had a Durham location, so we put our order in and picked it up. We headed home to eat Chinese in our pjs. After the Chinese (which was good, but not quite my favorite) we built a gingerbread house while watching Elf.  I guess we didn't really BUILD the gingerbread house, it was really a decorating kit we had purchased. While decorating, I realized I am not a fan of decorating gingerbread houses, so that is one new tradition we will probably scrap. I just don't see the point. You can't really eat it. And in our house, you can't really leave it out. Jack would try to lick all the icing off and eat the candies, so we created it and then hid it in the microwave--kind of pointless.

After the gingerbread house, it was time for 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. As per Fitts family tradition, my dad read us the book. You may be wondering how this is possible since we were in North Carolina and my family was back in Washington.

My parents sent our gifts to us, and one gift's tag said to open Christmas Eve. It was one of those wonderful Hallmark books that lets someone record the story. I think I listened to the book three times all the way through and played the first and last pages an additional few times. In the beginning of the book, my dad recorded a message to get us ready for the reading, and at the end my family all wished us a Merry Christmas in unison (I only cried the first two times I heard that one). That book is one of my favorite Christmas presents ever.

Then it was off to bed to dream of sugar plum fairies and wait for Santa.

I woke early, like I always do on Christmas, but I had agreed with Shawn the night before that we wouldn't get up until 8:30. I waited...then it was time to head downstairs. Our stockings were out on the couch, and Bella was anxious to check hers out.

We went through and opened our stocking presents. Santa had a few helpers this year. My parents sent over stocking stuffers that were all wrapped, so I got up before Shawn and loaded them up, and we had fun opening some traditional stocking stuffers (candy, such as the Sour Patch Kids I get every year) and some unexpected ones (a great Under Armour headband for running).

After that we moved on to the presents, and just as every year, Santa, my parents, my brother, and Shawn all provided wonderful gifts. (Above is a picture of Shawn opening a gift from my parents that included items to help him detail his car).

Bella also enjoyed all of her gifts, and she only got a few things. Both Bella and Jack each got some treats and toys.

After all the gifts had been opened, I made a turkey bacon and cheese quiche while Shawn and I talked about what to do that day. I don't know what we decided on, but I think it must have been nothing, because that is what we did Christmas day, and it was wonderful.

We spent some time talking to family and enjoying our new gifts, or working on them (Shawn got me a Nook, one of those Barnes and Noble eReaders, so we spent some time trying to get the internet hooked up and books on there).


We watched our new movies (Jeff got Shawn Inception on Blue Ray and me Eclipse). Then, in the evening, still in our pjs, we made Christmas dinner. We had chicken alfredo, garlic bread and salad. It was wonderful.

Overall, I really enjoyed Christmas in North Carolina, but I am excited to hopefully spend next Christmas with some more family as well.

Snow day!

Durham got snow, again. It started on Christmas evening and must have continued throughout the night because we woke up to about 4 inches of snow outside. We decided to get dressed in our snow gear and go enjoy it. Here are some pictures from our excursion. Bella loved running through it and eating it, but Shawn and I decided to build a snow family.

Shawn was really good at showing me how to get enough snow together to create a base, middle and top for each snow person. After we created the snow people we added a snow puppy (next to the snowman in the Cougar hat) and a snow cat (next to the snowwoman).  The last picture is of Shawn standing next to his snow self petting his snow dog. Yes, we are strange. :-)

Merry Christmas!

Somehow we managed to get a pic of us and the pets all looking toward the camera. This was actually taken about a week before Christmas, but I am not sure we can ever get such a picture again, so I decided to use this one. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Getting ready for Christmas

This post is about a week late--so my apologies. Finals hit, and I just couldn't get it from draft form to publish. I will have a few over the coming days though to make up for lost time. :-)

Shawn and I will be spending our Christmas in North Carolina, so we wanted to get a start on decorating. I like to decorate early so that I can enjoy the decorations for awhile. This habit started when we lived in Pullman because as soon as the semester would end we would head back to the west side, leaving behind our decorated tree and our window lights. Since we aren't leaving this year though, we waited a little longer (first week of December) to get our Christmas decorations up.

We started the process on Saturday when we planned to get a Christmas tree. We first went and got some ornaments and lights, but as the snow started to pile up, we decided getting a tree would wait until Sunday.

Getting a tree in NC is a very different experience from some of our tree trips in Washington. I have gone with my family to choose a tree to be cut at a farm, and we have even gone to farms where you cut your own. That isn't the case here. If we wanted to cut our own tree we would have had to go about 4 hours out toward the mountains. We chose to go to a lot where the money we spent went to charity (of course this meant the tree was significantly overpriced) but the people were helpful with getting it on the car and into the stand (even if it was a little crooked).

We got the tree home Sunday afternoon, but we still had grocery shopping to do, so it wasn't until Sunday evening we brought it inside to start decorating. We didn't get very far, though. We had bought two strings of white lights for the tree. When we bought the lights, we didn't realize how big a tree we would be getting, but since the tree is about 7 feet, the two strands are far from enough to cover it.

It wasn't until the next weekend we were able to go look for lights. Two different Targets and a Lowe's trip later, we finally found white light at Michaels. We spent the evening decorating the tree and enjoying it. It has a mix of new ornaments (teal and silver) with some older ones (like Jack's cat ornament--we need to get one for Bella).

 
More posts to come about our decorating and experiences with Christmas here in NC.

It's snowing in Durham!

Today Shawn and I were going to get a Christmas tree. He told me this morning that we should go early because it was supposed to rain today. He was wrong. Of course we didn't get out early enough, and it was afternoon before we got ready to leave. It wasn't raining though. It was snowing!

At first it was just a sprinkling--wouldn't even count as snow in Ocean Shores, and we know that even a little snow counts there. It kept coming though, and by the time we were leaving Target with ornaments in hand, the real snow had begun. We decided to skip picking out the tree today, and instead headed to Petco. We really just needed some standard pet care supplies, but I felt it was time for Bella to get a coat.

I chose a red and white snowflake fleece. (The crazy part--she is a large! It's a tiny bit too big for her, but not by much. I can't believe how big she has gotten.) We headed home, put the Christmas decor down, and suited up for a bit of play time. I got to pull out my wonderful North Face boots and my snowboarding jacket, and we got Bella all dressed up.

Shawn and I thought for sure she would not like the snow. She hates going outside in the evening because it's cold. But the excitement of the snow beat out the dread of the cold. She had a great time running around, eating snow and just playing. After that it was time to head inside, have some cider and now do homework. Jack enjoyed the snow from the window. Although he would have loved to go out, he is strictly an indoor cat. Overall, it was a wonderful Saturday, and a great first snow day in Durham.

Becoming friends, or at least less like enemies

Bella and Jack have started to get along better. They chase each other and can be in the same room. In addition, Jack has taken to coming downstairs again. Overall, this is great news. But for our black furniture that showcases cat hair really well, this isn't such great news.

Recently, Bella and Jack have even begun hanging out. I found that if I open the back door, Jack goes and sits by the screen. Once Jack is over there, Bella slowly walks over and sits and watches as well.

They really aren't watching anything in particular, but for some reason they find it enjoyable, and I find it makes for cute pictures. Enjoy!

 

Our First Thanksgiving

Shawn and I spent Thanksgiving in Durham. It was our first Thanksgiving away from my family, which means it was also our first experience with hosting and cooking. Although I was nervous there would be some sort of kitchen fiasco, my fears were misplaced.

The day started off early for me, but not because I was cooking. I spent from 6 until 7 a.m. finishing up a media law paper and sending it off to my professor. I wanted to have my vacation media-law free, and finishing my paper allowed me to do that.

After finishing the paper, it was time to start getting some things ready. Shawn and I had picked up our good friend Hollie from the airport the night before, so before Hollie got up, I wanted to get a few things accomplished. I went ahead and made the brine for the turkey. The brine was actually really easy to do. It just involved dissolving salt and brown sugar into a soup pot of water and then submerging the turkey after the water had cooled. I had heard that this made for a really moist turkey, and we were not disappointed. Shawn of course had to handle the turkey, because anyone who knows me knows my dislike of handling raw meat.

While the turkey sat in the brine in the fridge, I made some appetizers. Cassie showed up a bit later, and she, Hollie, Shawn and I ate appetizers and played some board games. For appetizers we had deviled eggs, prawns and cocktail sauce, spinach dip in a bread bowl and a veggie platter. One appetizer per person may have been a bit excessive, but I enjoyed making and eating them, so it worked out.

After that it was time to get the turkey going. Shawn buttered the turkey as directed and put it into the oven. He felt just the turkey with butter wasn't festive enough, so Betsy (a.k.a. the turkey) got a headdress made of butter and carrots.

As we worked away in the kitchen, Bella played with Cassie and Hollie until it was time for her to rest. Thanksgiving for her was pretty much like any other day.

After the turkey was in the oven for awhile, it was time to make the sides. With the help of Hollie and Cassie I did the stuffing, green beans and gravy. Cassie made some excellent and very creamy mashed potatoes and Hollie made some delicious roasted sweet potatoes. We also had three types of cranberry sauce including our family friend Christa's amazing chipotle cranberry sauce that she sent all the way from Washington. I did forget to make the rolls however.

Overall, I would call Thanksgiving a success. After dinner we had pecan pie that I had made from Shawn's grandmother's amazing recipe. We also had some strawberry shortcake. We then just spent the evening hanging out and having a good time. Aside from many things I am thankful for such as my family's health and happiness, this Thanksgiving, I am also definitely thankful for good friends! 

A day in the garden

One of the great things about North Carolina: 65 degree days in mid-November.

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful day last Saturday and took Bella out to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Of course we forgot that football could be happening, and it was a game day. After sitting in traffic and watching all the tailgaters drinking beer at 10 a.m. we made it to the garden.

Bella had a great time exploring the area, and she had a few people approach her because she is adorable. Shawn and I tried to check out some different trails from the last time we came with Arianna and Tim, but there is still a lot more to see. Below are some pictures for our trip out.

(Here is what they are of: Bella walking me through the garden; this great bridge in the garden that always has so many people by it is hard to get a great picture; Bella walking much nicer for Shawn (after he made me hand over the leash when she tried to case a little girl and scared her); Shawn and Bella in the trees; and Bella, just so you can see how much bigger she has gotten).

We then went by PetSmart on the way home, and they were having Adoption Day. Although there were  a lot of cute puppies, we already have one of our own, so Bella just enjoyed playing with the other pups and got some treats to boot. She also got a nice new pet bed that she is currently snuggled up in.

Falling behind as the semester moves forward

Time keeps flying by, and yet no blog posts appear. I actually have a few drafted, but what always trips me up is finding the time to add pictures. See, I can draft these anywhere, but the only place I have the pictures is Shawn's computer--or in this case, in the camera.

The semester is getting busy, but that always happens as it gets closer to the end. I have papers due, readings to finish and presentations to prepare, but I will make a point to get some pictures added and some previously drafted blog posts up.

As a general update, Shawn is enjoying his job. It's hard to believe he is going on week 4 here shortly. He really likes the people he works with, his commute isn't too bad, and he finds the job itself interesting.

Bella keeps growing. Last time we took her to the vet she was 15 lbs, so she has finally outgrown Jack (and she doubled in size from her last visit). The vet thinks she will be around 30 lbs when she is fully grown.

Jack is still living upstairs mostly, but he has taken to chasing Bella around the bedrooms and seems to be getting along with her a bit better.

As for me, I read and write and go to class, then repeat. Hopefully I will get some more interesting blog posts up soon.

Happy Halloween! (Also a week late!)

Had a nice Halloween here in Durham. Shawn and I were hoping for trick or treaters and we weren't disappointed. We went through our first two bags of candy with the first three groups of kids. Shawn had to run to the store so we were stocked for the next round. Of course less kids came after that and we ended up with a collection of left over Starbursts and Hershey Kisses (the Peanut Butter Cups were gone pretty quickly!)

Although it was Halloween, it wasn't much different from every other Sunday. I spent the day working on a media law exam while Shawn helped John, our neighbor, work on his car. Then it was time for puppy class, dinner, and a ringing doorbell with a variety of vampires, princesses and animals behind it.

Of course our little animal was prepared for the holiday. Bella had her pumpkin shirt on before the kids came by, and a number of them asked to pet her. She was very well behaved. Jack, of course, did not wear a costume. One Halloween in a t-shirt a few years ago was enough for him, so we avoided putting him through that again.

Above are the jack-o-lanterns we did at the pumpkin carving our neighbors had. Shawn did Mario (on the left if you couldn't tell) and mine is a dragon).

Anyway, hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

The Clayton Fear Farm--Frighteningly Fun!

Although this post is more than a week late, I still felt it was worth adding to the blog.

After our first haunted house with Arianna and Tim, Shawn and I wanted to try to find a haunted house that was really worthwhile. Now, something you should know about me upfront if you don't already--I am not really a big "scary" fan. I don't watch scary movies, and I don't particularly enjoy being frightened. That being said, I do think haunted houses can be fun, and I went to the Haunted Palouse every year we were in Pullman and absolutely loved it.

I decided to turn to google for some help finding a haunted house. Of course that is where I found out about the last one too. While browsing, I came across the Clayton Fear Farm. A farmer took his 150 acre farm and now only uses 40 acres for farming. The rest is used during October as a haunted farmground. It has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and they call this type of business AgriEntertainment. (If you are avid Office fan, you might be thinking of Dwight and his beet farm here--that was AgriTourism, a separate but similar branch of the Agri-Industry).

Right when you get to the farm you can tell they have gone all out. They had a really long line for tickets that stretched past the "fear farm" hurse.

Shawn and I went with my office mate, Laura, and her girlfriend, who really enjoys haunted houses. Laura happens to not be a huge fan either. However, we all had a great time. They had so many different activities. We went through a haunted school house, a slaughter house (gross--and not my favorite), a haunted dark walk, a corn maze and a haunted hay ride--just to name a few.

Here is a picture of Shawn from the corn maze. Although this wasn't haunted, it was still a really great corn maze. It was 3 miles long! We didn't take the 3 mile route and opted to go to the right, which took more like 20 minutes according to the woman who provided some guidance.

Fall break--Day 4--Adventures in Durham

There wasn't as much time in Day 4 simply because Arianna and Tim headed out at 2:30 p.m. Since they had missed their flight coming here, they felt it was important to get there plenty early (even though we assured them an hour was sufficient). Since we had to take them to the airport around 12:30 and everyone here likes to sleep in, we only had a small window of time in which to explore.

We decided to check out that other university: Duke. (I know, I am supposed to be completely against them, but after viewing their campus, I don't think I can be!).

The campus itself is beautiful and looks almost like it is taken from the pages of a fairytale with quaint buildings that look like they come straight from Snow White to historic, traditional houses with pillars and brick used as academic offices that offer a lot of charm. One major feature of the Duke campus is the Chapel. We knew this going in and were fortunate enough to find it. We didn't go inside, but that is something Shawn and I will do in the future.

We then decided to check out the Sarah P. Duke gardens. I thought I had heard something about them, but I did not remember anyone mentioning that it was completely amazing! We decided to park and take a short walk though, and in our short (30 minute walk) we didn't even cover half of the garden. It is absolutely beautiful and had a number of places to take great pictures. I also couldn't get over what a great wedding venue it would be. Below are a few pictures from the trip.

(Some of these pics may even make it up as art! The scenery was just beautiful!)

After the garden, it was time to head to the airport. Shawn and I dropped Arianna and Tim off with plenty of time to catch their return flight, and we then went to do the mundane tasks that need to get completed (even over fall break). After the shopping and such we did however get a nice treat. We got to go and carve pumpkins with our neighbors and their friends. Our realtor, being the amazing person she is, had given us a carving pumpkin, so Shawn created a Mario pumpkin from that. I created a dragon in mine.

Then it was time to head home, grab some dinner, and head to puppy class. Bella was very excited to be back with her friends and performed quite well even though her training had been delayed a bit by her surgery.

Sunday was certainly a busy day for us, but it was also a great one!