New Years 2014

This year is speeding along at an unprecedented pace!

After ringing in the new year with games, and laughter, and hors d'oeuvre's and bubbly with our good buds, Ryan and I finalized some goals for the year.

And then we secured them in a little wooden box purchased as Michaels to be used as our new and only new years tradition, a time capsule.

We threw a couple pictures of the festivities in there, our fortunes from the cookies that accompanied the Chinese food, and a sheet with all our goals written out so we can congratulate ourselves on how well we did next year. 

It's a lovely tradition - if I do say so myself - and I'm sorry I didn't think of starting it years ago.

This year we have a couple different areas of focus, but my main one is to wear my seat belt.
It's true. I've just always been really terrible at it.
Spending 18 months in Romania where seat belts are practically nonexistent didn't help things at all.
So this is the year I turn things around.
It seems like a good idea seeing as how this is also the year we become parents.
Gotta' set a good example and all that.
Yup, it's going to be a pretty fantastic year for the Reigles, I can feel it in my bones! 

Year of the Snake

Yesterday was Chinese New Year. 

And today is the first day of the year of the snake. 

We used this as a delightful excuse to have friends over and eat loads of delicious food.

The orange blossom drink was insane!

The fried rice was perfection. 

The beef of beef and broccoli was the most tender I have ever had.

And the pot stickers could have been a meal all on their own, they were seriously that good.

The coconut sticky rice with mangoes was pretty insane too.
Let me tell you, our friends can cook!

And now we only have about 21 cups of leftover jasmine rice in our fridge. 

(Ryan may have over shot it a little bit on the rice)

The kidlets turned this kraft paper table into a real Picasso-esque work of art by the end of dinner.

And then I think Kung Fu Panda held their attention for at least another ten minutes after that. 

 I need to make a more diligent effort at getting pictures with adult humans in them during our get togethers.

It always just sort of happens that once we get together we get much too busy talking, and laughing, and eating to actually care. 

Also, just go ahead and pretend you didn't notice how un-ironed my tablecloth is.

2013

This is my mantra this year. 

I will repeat these words slowly and deliberately anytime I am faced with my deep ingrown tendency to want everything to be perfect. 

This, I have come to realize, is my greatest enemy in accomplishment. 

Goals, projects, organization, there are examples everywhere I look -- around our house and on our computer -- of things that have yet to be perfected, and so instead are simply left undone. 

With that in mind, our goal this year is to be gadget free after 6:00pm.

Nothing electronic after six, or all day every Sunday. 

(with the exception of phone calls)

With this new acceptance of less than perfect results, and hopefully extra time in the evenings, 

2013 is shaping up to be the year of getting things done! 

That is the goal anyways.
Wish us luck!

And what of 2012?

Well, we have big dreams, high hopes, lots of goals, and even a few resolutions.

We are standing on the cusp of big and exciting things, and it both thrills and terrifies me.

But it's definitely our year, I can feel it in my bones!

We have resolved, starting (but not ending with) this year, to do the following:

grey strips are things we are doing as a couple, colors are individual goals marked with r-ryan & l-leah

Our first date night of the new year we spent in a corner booth at rumbi's talking for hours about our visions of and for the future.

 It still thrills and surprises me that I am planning an entire future, an entire life with this man of mine. Nights like this make me feel like we are dating again.

We wrote down the things we felt were most important and doable for this year.

I've since printed this little list out & we each have a couple to use as bookmarks.

You know, as a gentle reminder.

2011 - the highlights

2012 has been a pretty big year for us. 

A pretty big and pretty great year.

So, a monthly play-by-play in pictures and bullet points has been made.

So as to remember.

January 

• rang in the New Year in Canada
• packers played the super bowl (this is apparently a very big deal)

February  

• my brother Peter became a husband, and provided us with a brand new sister. Yeah Peter!
• we hit a deer driving home from Canada and sadly lost our corolla in that accident, she can never be replaced :(
• we replace our old car with a brand-new-to-us hyundai elantra, we call her elli. Corolla, what corolla?
• valentines day meets Lady & the Tramp, we celebrate over a shared plate of spaghetti

March 

• we celebrated our marriage turning five!
• anniversary staycation = snowshoeing & hot springs in the mountains
• five years just deserves to be mentioned thrice, it sounds crazy coming out of my mouth keyboard
• commemorated St. Patty's by trying our hand at corned beef, cabbage & soda bread. A new tradition is born! 

April 

• visited South Carolina, Myrtle Beach to be exact. Bliss!
• celebrated easter with a traditional Romanian dish, sarmale & mamaliga
• built patio furniture out of old, and more importantly free, pallets

May 

• hosted an outdoor brunch/favorite things party
• our dear friends moved very far away

June 

• my cousin Bethany was wed
• provided the perfect excuse for my sister and niece to make their very first - short but oh so sweet - visit to our home in Logan 

July  

• Ryan's sister Rose changed her last name and we helped her celebrate with a wedding!
• we celebrate July fourth and our first-date-aversary with fireworks & pizza in the park
• camping trip(s) to porcupine reservoir with our fabulously outdoorsy and not so outdoorsy (but in a really great way) friends

August  

• a much anticipated and most delightful birthday girls trip to Mexico with mom and sisters
• August 22 I turned the big 3-0
• hosted numerous bonfires & outdoor movie nights to celebrate
• refinished our coffee table

September  

• Ryan went to Nevada where the boys spent a week four-wheeling through the desert
• he survived, with only a few scrapes and bruises, rolling his four-wheeler

October 

• apple and pumpkin picking over conference weekend with littlest sister
• Ryan joined me in the thirties on the 6th
• piniata & italian in the park to celebrate his arrival
• made a visit to see my dying grandma in Canada
• hosted a pie party

November 

• my grandma passed away 
• I defended my graduate thesis to the committee
• we drove the 10 hours to Canada immediately after
• made it just in time for my grandmas funeral where I gave my first funeral tribute -- so emotional!

December  

• I graduated with my masters degree in record time, phew!
• participated in the Main Street gingerbread house parade
• spent Christmas in Canada
• rang out 2011 in Wisconsin

Wisconsin New Year

I love the week between Christmas & New Years. 

Just when all the holidays feel like they should be nearing an end, second holiday pops up!

And flying to location #2 gave a mega power-boost to our excitement for the holidays. 

Yep, this year we lucked out and got to be in Wisconsin for the ringing-in-of-the-new-year festivities.

We have never vacationed so long!! (2 1/2 weeks)

Nor have we ever visited both families and both hometowns back to back.

We are so spoiled, it was heaven.

The usual suspects in Wisconsin included the early mornings working on the farm, an entire day devoted to wii competitions, the traditional Friday night fish-fry, games galore (the usuals: scum, spoons, polish poker, and some new favorites: qwirkle, rack-o, telestrations, and hand & foot), and the best grilled steak dinner known to man. 

We rounded out the season with the addition of a knitting lesson at grandmas, witnessing -- for my first time ever -- the birth of a calf on new years eve, and embarking on a gorgeous winter hike through the Kettle Moraine state forest and up the parnell tower.

The aftermath of a very happy New Year indeed!

Hela, heba helloa!

here she comes, just around the corner.

a shiny new year full of possibility!

a new beginning. a fresh start.

could anything be more wonderful?

clean. white. blank. clear of mistakes but full of unlimited potential.

like a clean slate or a fresh page on an unused notebook.

and that first stroke of a blue fine tipped pen doesn't ruin it but makes it better.

a list waiting to be checked.

duties waiting to be performed.

i love the new.

so much so that all my christmas gifts are still in their packages.

retaining that new-never-been-used feeling.

i know there is something to be said for old & used things too

{comfort, memories, nostalgia}

but right now i am just so excited about the new.

i'll reminisce about the old tomorrow.

today it's all about 2010!

and for the first time i truly have not even a clue as to what she will hold.

not for us as a couple, and certainly not for me as an individual.

so i am celebrating the hope of something great.

and the promise of something different.

and the potential for big change.

'cause i love change like i love new.

and i am happy to welcome her {2010} tonight from the comforts of our living room.

hello new & exciting year of 2010.

and a fond goodbye to 2009.