Fourteen

You know I love an even number. Although I'll take 21. Never in my wildest dreams did I dare hope for a shut out, but I won't be complaining. Zero is also an even number. Right?

Saw this Saturday night. I bet Honey Badger was wishing for one Monday night.

 Namath worked out his nerves by helping me get ready. Or sitting in the bathroom giving me dirty looks. Selfless, that one.

 Of course, you need a little touch of Tuscaloosa.

 Feeling pretty good going into halftime. Has LSU even made it to the 50 yet?

 The Grizz got to come down and enjoy some social time. That's a jersey, not capri's. Once a shirt goes over his dome, there's no saving the neckline. Puzzling...

 The best Monday we've had in quite some time.

What a great night for the Tide! How did ESPN so eloquently put it? What the wind destroys the tide helps restore? Deep thoughts from cable...

All that to say, what a year to bring home the crystal trophy to Tuscaloosa. We are elated!

I Think I Have Bedsores

I've been at my job for close to seven years. I also recently filled a prescription for some Retin-A. Related? You tell me. All that to say, most people at my work have been here for about 73 years and have as much vacation time.  But somehow, this year I got to join them in the week long holiday vacation tradition. I'm practically ready for retirement.

I ate a lot of peanuts - circus and regular. Did some running with friends. Lunched and shopped. Watched the entire first season of Homeland - in a day. You should Netflix it or watch it On Demand immediately. What else are you doing this cold, grey month? After tonight, anyways...

Before my vacation, we celebrated Christmas with the family. MS serenaded me with Straight No Chaser the whole way there.

 We also celebrated our tradition of Chinese food and Christmas Vacation. I usually make a frozen chinese meal (I know, I know), but this year I made homemade, with a recipe from, where else? Pinterest. Beef and Brocolli.

 

 We also got to see Black Jacket Symphony perform U2's Joshua Tree. Probably one of my favorite albums ever. I think I sang just about every word. Which I'm sure was charming, not annoying.

 While everyone else ate their greens and black eyed peas, we had the tandoori mixed grill and non from the Indian restaurant down the street. What does this say about the Searson's 2012? Your guess is as good as mine.

 I also abandoned my comfort zone for some REALLY red lipstick. I think it was called "Certainly Red." It certainly was.

 And that about catches us up.

2011 Check Up

Last December we began the tradition of having a 'goal lunch' - eating some good food and talking about what we wanted to accomplish in the coming year. I blogged about it here. Lots of fun stuff planned for 2012, but before I get ahead of myself (who are we kidding, I havent blogged in 10 days), let's send out 2011.

Physical

1. Sub 2 hour half marathon - Mercedes - 1:58:40 for me, 1:56:40 for MS - his PR:)

2. Run Statue to Statue 15k- main goal is to survive the mountainous climbs - 1:25:42 for both

3. Run two 10ks - Ran  Village to Village. and the Power Run. Also ended up running a full.

Spiritual - We've been visiting a church for a while now and we both feel this is where we want to be and want to further our involvement.

1. Find a Sunday School and become involved

2. Join the church. We are looking forward to this process and having a church home.

3. Continue devotional time together. We started this a few weeks ago and its something I really look forward to. Having a specific time to talk about our relationship and praying together can be a little awkward at first but I believe the benefits to this time together will be priceless. After finding this on a favorite blog this morning, I was even more inspired to spend this time investing in Matt. -Added this to 2012. We didn't do great in this area, and I'm a little dissapointed we let it fall by the wayside, as it's one of the more important ones.

Financial - This was the easiest category for me. If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know I'm nerdy about the budget. It is refreshing this year to have a partner in budget goals. 2010 mainly went towards paying off the car and a wedding, so this year we're playing a bit of catch up in some other areas and trying to find some balance and enjoy life. Sorry Dave, I just can't get on the rice and beans plan.

1. Triple emergency fund savings.

2. Begin saving for a house downpayment - I got seriously burned in the housing market crash and I will never, ever again buy without a good e-fund and a down payment. One of my bigger regrets. Although, it is what fueled me to be more responsible with money. See, always an upside if you look for it....

3. Pay cash for travel. This is one of the things I'm most excited about this year. I'm really looking forward to doing some traveling with MS. We are already enjoying throwing around ideas for potential destinations. Accomplished this with Greece (here, here and here) and our anniversary trip to San Francisco(here, here and here.) We also took a late winter trip to the mountains with the Grizz.

2011 was pretty good for an odd numbered year. No pressure 2012.

Its Christmas Eve...

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Jazz, Cows and Date Night

We waited patiently Friday night for MS to return from way up North.

 But in the midst of Oprah's Lifeclass (don't judge me - it's really good!), some of us couldn't keep our eyes open. A thirst for knowledge is not one of Namath's best traits.

 Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder - not to mention makes me appreciate how much MS does around the house. Folding clothes, taking out the trash and making my own breakfast every day....jeez. Maybe Kate Middleton could sympathize.

All that to say, we were glad to have MS home for some family time. Saturday, we headed down to the park for jazz music and the tree lighting. We LOVE this park being so close. It's won quite a few awards lately. As well as my own personal award, "Places I can run by myself before work and not feel like I'll end up in a quarry." It's pretty distinguished.

 MS tried to share the finer things in life with the beast - some live music.

 He enjoyed it!

 He did not enjoy the Chick-Fil-A cow. Those jingle bell shoes sent him over the edge. The cow was none too impressed either. I think he gave Namath the hand. Are we still doing that? Does this mean Namath  prefers chicken or beef? All questions I don't have the answer to.

 Saturday night we headed out on a date night. Excuse my cheese, but I love date night. I know it's super easy for us to get out now, since we can put our only responsibility in a crate, so we try to take as many opportunites as we can to get dressed up and enjoy a new restaurant. Which you won't know the name of, since the light was too bright.

 We even brought a bottle of wine from our anniversary trip.

The baked feta and manicotti did not dissapoint. Neither did the company. Glad for everyone to be back in time for some of our favorite Christmas traditions.

Friday Favorites

I mentioned Sunday night was the Christmas cantata at church. We went last year and it was amazing - so it was so fun to see MS singing this year. He runs, he sings, he folds clothes - move over JT - he's a triple threat.

Hands down, this song was one of our favorites last year, so I was so glad when it was a part of the  program this year. Members of the symphony accompanied the choir and it all came together so well. Little Drummer Boy is not anywhere on my list of favorite Christmas songs, but this version....WOW. Definitely in the top five. Hope it serves to remind you of the meaning of the season and how a powerful and holy God humbled himself for each of us - though we deserved nothing but His wrath.

Merry Christmas!

Oh, Yes We Did

 We took the four legged to see Santa and his red cheeks.*

He found Namath's favorite cheeks...That's the spot Santa!

*We normally don't force Namath to participate in traditions clearly intended for humans, but it was right down the street and for a good cause, and seemed like a great idea over a pitcher of Bloody Mary's. There will be no Easter Bunny pictures. It also eased the case of dog guilt I've been suffering from lately.