Bullets with Butterfly Wings

Wow… “long time, no blog” seems a bit cliché, but well… I’ve been busy.  I’m not sure what all I’ve been doing, but here are a few highlights. 

Over the last few weeks, I

• had happy hour with my work peeps.  And then celebrated a friend’s 30th birthday… with house guests!
• became an aunt.  Ryan and Jo don’t want her pictures plastered all over the Internet, but I can say with certainty that she’s absolutely the most perfect baby girl ever.   Yes, I’m biased.
• had my car in the shop waaaayyy more than I would’ve liked.  I’m not 100% sure it’s fixed yet.
• celebrated Christmas with my dad’s side of the family, which included meeting my great niece for the first time.
• made my first successful batch of “murdah bars”– chocolate chip/peanut butter/cookie perfection
• helped a friend celebrate her 29th birthday (for the 3rd time) with a surprise party
• celebrated the holidays with my book group
• attempted to re-create a pear/bacon/goat cheese recipe, without said recipe.  Limited success.
• attended my official company Christmas party… and unofficial bar crawl
• ran a few times… but not as much as I should have.  I missed this weekend’s long run.   Next weekend isn’t looking good, either.
• got hit on at the gym for the first time.  He actually used the “you come here often?” line. 
• took a whirlwind trip to Chicago, which involved me riding in the backseat underneath an area rug
• made an unsuccessful batch of Ramen noodles.  Yes, I messed up Ramen!

So, now you’re all caught up.  Christmas week is upon us and I still have presents to buy and wrap and a houseful of stuff to put away.  I have a couple year-end posts planned and then I’m going to re-think my blog a bit.  

A big THANK YOU and Merry Christmas for those of you who have kept up with me over the last year… It’s always nice to know there’s an audience out there reading my random ramblings.