CC loves her Uncle Nate

She'll be 5 in June. Time flies!Compare to just a year and a half ago:

1 year ago today...

Hurricane Ike after landfall (from www.statesman.com)

Compared to the damage in Galveston, the damage in our neighborhood was mild.
Our photos

Back to Maine

I know I can't stop talking about Maine. But recent news from Acadia National Park was eye-opening for me. 7 people were swept up by a giant ocean wave, 1 young girl died.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/weather/08/25/maine.wave.death/index.html

And of course a blurb and photos from M.S.
http://www.themarthablog.com/2009/08/a-tradgedy-near-my-home-in-maine.html

Almost exactly a year ago, Nate and I were in almost the exact location where this happened. Here we are, smiling happily at Thunder Hole.
Thunder Hole is a popular tourist attraction at the park.
My condolences to those involved in the tragedy... especially to the family of the 7 year old who perished in a completely unexpected event.

The Wall O' Cards

Not too shabby after all!

And thus begins my 29th year

I just turned 28 on Monday and I can definitely feel the difference between 27 and 28. Now that I'm 28, I have more of a sweet tooth, I gravitate towards works by Elton John and Billy Joel*, and I have a deep sense of contentment due to my personal in-house musician**. See evidence below:

In the morning before work, Nate took me out to our favorite breakfast nook: The Buffalo Grille. Later in the evening we had some dessert: Nate baked me a delectable devil's food cake from scratch with some homemade icing.Following dessert, I enjoyed an impromptu solo violin performance by the one and only N.J. Ahern. I then opened a handful of presents and called the day Swell.
*Among other lovely items I was presented with two tickets to an Elton John/BillyJoel concert in March

** Nate, please don't kill me for posting these

Ceiling Fiasco

New Year's Resolution #1: Finish fix-ups in the bathroom

As I mentioned previously, we had a bit of a fiasco in our bathroom a few weeks ago. Ever since then, we've cleared out our bathroom and moved our bathroom essentials into the guest bathroom, which we are sharing with Cheyenne until our bathroom fix-ups are complete.

It was a Saturday afternoon when we discovered a small drip coming from our bathroom ceiling. We were about to head out for a long run, so we put a large bowl down under it and figured we'd check it when we got back. Upon our return, the drips had not stopped, and Nate went upstairs to knock on our neighbor's door to find out if they had any known leaks up there. Since no one was home we left a note and asked her to call when she got home.

Later that night our neighbor called to let us know that there were no leaks on her end, so we called the condo's security guard on duty to see if there were any maintenance guys on duty that evening. Although they were supposed to send someone over, no one ever came, so we resolved to just wait until first thing Monday morning when the main maintenance guy was in. After all, the leak was small and there wasn't much we could do anyway.

Sunday evening we went downtown to a musical performance of White Christmas. We returned home around 10pm to find additional leaks above the tub, a couple feet away from the original leak. The new leaks were rusty in color, and the ceiling around it was bulging downward.This was not looking promising for waiting until the morning. So, Nate called the maintenance line once more and someone arrived at our door around 11:30pm. The guy came in and knocked a hole in the ceiling to relieve the pressure, which released a large amount of water into the tub. He identified the source of the leak and then left with the intention of sending a plumber in an hour or so to fix the leak. A few minutes after he left, as Nate and I were staring up at the small hole in the ceiling, the small hole became large, as the whole ceiling caved right before our eyes.

As it turns out, since the leak was now dripping straight into the tub and was no longer able to cause anymore damage, the plumber wouldn't be sent until normal business hours the next day.

Eventually, the plumbers came and replaced the pipe that was causing the leak. And thankfully, we were able to get the drywall people in a couple of times before we left for Christmas break.

Now all that remains is touching up the paint bordering the ceiling, and replacing a soap dish that fell off the wall when the ceiling crashed.

I can count several blessings in the midst of this:

1. The leak was above the bathtub, and not above our bed (or our heads when the ceiling fell!)

2. We don't have to pay for any of the repairs since the homeowners association will

3. This whole process has been moving along much faster than I thought it would

Christmastide

I'm going to attempt to make this bloog a little more personal, so I'll probably be posting more pictures and general happenings from here on out. So get ready- if you know me, you know how much I love taking photographs.

We went to San Antonio this season where my brother (David) and sister-in-law (Melanie) now live, along with 3 year old Cecelia (aka C.C.), 21 month old Leyla, and the newest addition, Maggi, born in November. Although we were sad to miss all the fun and festivities in Colorado, we were at least able to meet up with Abe and Rebekah (Nate's brother and his wife) a couple of times since they were also visiting family in San Antonio for the holidays.

So enjoy, and Happy New Year y'all!

On our way out to San Antonio, we stopped to have breakfast with my cousin and her husband (and daughter) who were in town for a few days in Katy. It had been at least 5 years since I'd seen her, so it was a fun little reunion. While in San Antonio, we baked and decorated cookies:

We napped underneath the Christmas tree:

We even painted ceramic frogs/pots, planted seeds, and then yelled "GROW! GROW!" at the frog every morning:

We feasted:
We hiked:
And of course, we cooed:
And thank goodness we were able to see Abe and Bekah!

Catching Up...

Since my last poost, we have

1. Journeyed to Maine and back

• beautiful scenery
• adventurous hiking
• delicious seafood
• wild blueberries
• Martha Stewart sighting
  

2. Survived Hurricane Ike

• the most horrendous winds I have ever seen/heard
• power outages
• flooding
• trees down everywhere
• "PODs" = "Points of Distribution" becoming a key word
• new meaning to waiting in a "long line" for gas (Nate waited in line for almost 2 hours one morning)
• grocery stores with empty produce sections, scarcity of bread, milk, and other frozen or refrigerated items (I was really craving bananas and milk for several days and could find it no where)
  

Thankfully we only had a brief power outage and no damage to our property. Please pray for the many others who are still without power and who are facing substantial damage.