Since I didn’t blog for two months, there are a few things I want to write about here lest I forget them forever. Isn’t that one of the greatest things about blogging? If you ever wonder what you were thinking or feeling a year ago, there’s a place where you can look it up!

Tripawd Life…

Leia is doing great. Thank you to everyone who still checks in on her. She has a hard time with walks, since she has only two speeds now (bunny hop and full-speed-ahead), but loves them (and her short runs with Michael!). She tires more easily, but continues to boss Pancho around, herd everything in sight, and chase squirrels in the backyard. She has to be on a diet — dogs put 60% of their body weight on their front legs and now she has only one of those — so she’s lost a couple of pounds and is even tinier and cuter. We feel beyond blessed to have her in our lives and love seeing the look on people’s faces when they see her walking down the street without a care in the world. It’s all smiles and “she is so amazing!” Yep, we know.

Thanksgiving…

It was our first Thanksgiving with just the two of us. It was nice. I mean, I missed my family, but we were in the thick of finals and didn’t have time to make the trip. It was nice to take a break and eat dinner together and see a movie. We went to Cracker Barrel, where Michael played the real Hunger Games. Then we snuck tiny bottles of wine into the movie theater.

I felt extremely blessed to have a family to miss, a husband to spend the day with, and money to have a meal and extras. Thankfulness hit me hard this holiday season, as I took a step back and realized how much we have — even as poor grad students. It’s a thought that’s stayed with me through the New Year, and I am grateful for that. There are so many who go without, which makes complaining on social media about an incorrect Starbucks order a little ridiculous.

While studying for finals…

I became delirious. I crammed my brain full of counseling facts and turned Pancho into both a 1950s nurse and a Hot Chocolate Unicorn. Good times.

After surviving finals…

We were able to celebrate our 5th anniversary (which took place a month before) with a trip to New Orleans. Neither of us had been, and it was quite an experience. Every city has its own personality, its own pulse, and NOLA is no exception. We slept in, ate (a TON), had many laughs, walked for miles around the city, listened to all different kinds of music, and had a blast celebrating the end of the semester + our anniversary. We can’t wait to go back!

My anniversary gift was a lavender amethyst (looks pink in some lights and purple in others) ring. I can’t stop staring at it. Such a beautiful and special reminder of our five years together.

Christmas…

Needs its own post. Too many photos.

After Christmas…

I stayed with my parents for nearly a week and was the only child in the house. It was so much fun! As the oldest of four kids, I don’t really remember the days of being the only child, but let me tell you, I could get used to it (sorry, brother and sisters). My mom did my laundry, my dad made me breakfast, we watched movies (we forced my dad to watch Mamma Mia — which is also deserving of its own blog post), and went to IKEA. I was also able to squeeze in some extra time with my siblings, which was great. I’m enjoying the way our family dynamic is growing and changing, and how the relationships between each of us are evolving as we get older. (No photos of this time, though. I was a bad blogger.)

New Years…

NYE, my dad and I made stew together over the phone. Michael and I stayed in and watched Parenthood on Netflix (which we became obsessed with over the break). In the days following, Michael ended a 12-day (!!) stint of work, we went shopping (we were both in desperate need of new clothes — all of our clothes had graduated from “poor grad student” to “hobo”), I cleaned out my closet and got rid of FIVE bags and one box of old clothes (but not The Cardboard Box — it’s still there!), and finished checking off my Christmas Break to-do list.

Right before we went back to school, Michael and I trekked to Galveston to spend the weekend with dear friends Chelsea and Molly and their husbands and kiddos. We ate Molly’s delicious breakfast sandwiches (click for the most Pin-worthy breakfast sandwich of your life), sipped Two Buck Chuck, painted our nails while the guys watched football, visited the train museum, and generally relaxed and enjoyed the heck out of our time together.

Back to school…

We started back on the 14th, and had our first week of classes this past week. It’s going to be a doozy of a semester, but we had a wonderful break and are ready to tackle it head-on. This is my third semester of grad school, and I’m looking forward to what it holds, as previous semesters have stretched and challenged me in new ways. I know it’s going to be a lot of work, but I have a plan of attack. I made a 4-week meal plan, bought a new planner, started running again, and have been making lists like crazy. 2013, let’s do this thing.