Playing it By Ear: A New Year and Decade Begins

Happy New Year!!

I can't believe it's been a decade since the whole Y2K scare and partying like it was 1999. I was thinking back over the decade and remembering some of my favorite memories and thought I would include my top ten. I'm hoping to eventually make a book out of this blog to keep for Leila, so if you want to skip this part feel free, I just thought it might be fun for Leila to read one day.

10. Huskies win the Rose Bowl, January 2001! Marcus Tuiososopo had a great game over Drew Brees of Purdue. And that was the last time Tui had a better game than Brees...actually it was probably the last good game for Tui, period.

9. Tuesday Crew. After starting my job at Houston's in Santa Monica the summer of 2002 (and meeting Matt :)), a group of us that always worked Tuesday lunch together began going out for drinks after work every Tuesday. There was always the same core group of us and others would often join in for the fun. I had some of my best memories from living in LA on those Tuesdays.

8. Moving to LA with Nicole, 2001. I'd had enough of my office job at KOMO and needed some sunshine, so I headed down to LA via road trip with my dad, moved in with Nicole and Lindsay in Santa Monica, and spent the first few months jobless but living it up at the beach and bars of LA!

7. Hermosa Pub Crawl, March 2004. Matt and I planned a pub crawl for both our groups of friends. We spent the day touring all the bars in Hermosa Beach with our best friends and had soooo much fun!

8. Hawaii, May and September 2001. Nicole, Shannon, and I ended up going to Waikiki, Hawaii twice in one year because we found such great deals. We spent our trip "surfing," eating at Duke's, relaxing on catamarans, and laying by the pool listening to local bands. Two amazingly perfect vacations.

7. Cubs' Playoff Run, October 2003. My first season as a Cubs fan turned out to be their best season in a very long time, as they made a run for the World Series. I didn't even live in Chicago yet, but watched every pitch of every playoff game with Matt and his Chicago friends in LA. It was some of the most exciting sports viewing I've ever participated in, but of course you know the end result..which really wasn't so fun, but nevertheless very memorable.

6. Bachelorette Party Weekend, August 2006. My best friends and I spent a perfect long weekend together, beginning with a night out in Santa Monica visiting some of my old favorite places, then up to Santa Barbara for a day of wine tasting and debauchery, and ending with a relaxing day watching 90210 reruns and eating at Souplantation. I couldn't imagine a better weekend with a better group of girls.

5. Summer, 2005. I can't pick just one favorite memory from this summer, but as a whole I just loved this summer. I met a great group of girls after moving to Chicago, and we all lived close to each other so we met up a lot for dinners outside, went to concerts, and just enjoyed all that Chicago has to offer during the summer.

4. Team Vacation, 2005-2009. I can't pick just one of these trips as my favorite, but we started the tradition of heading out to Arizona every March for a reunion in the desert with our friends from the west coast, while staying at "Spa Feske" with my mom and Chuck as our hosts. We always have the same itinerary that includes a Cubs' game, March Madness at Fox Sports Grill, and much needed pool time to soak up the sun before heading back to finish out the cold Chicago winters.

3 1/2. European Vacation, Summer 2004. Matt and I went on the best adventure/vacation of our lives and toured Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal over 2 1/2 months. Amazing doesn't really capture the great memories from this trip. Each place holds special memories for me and the time spent with Matt was priceless.

3. Matt's Proposal, October 2005. Matt planned an elaborate and sneaky trip out to LA to surprise me with a marriage proposal. Long story short, he showed up during a dinner with my best friends at Houston's where we met and worked together, wearing his old uniform, with a homemade cake (my favorite, cherry chip), and dropped to one knee with a ring in hand! It was probably the most shocked I've ever been, followed by pure joy and happiness. We ended the night at our old favorite bar and stayed at a hotel in Manhattan beach right next door to our favorite breakfast place so we could go the next morning. The weekend didn't end there, as we continued the celebration in Arizona with my mom, Chuck, Nicole, and Shannon, and the Huskies.

2. Marrying Matt, September 2006. The three days of festivities surrounding and including our wedding were three of the best days of my life, not just the decade. The whole weekend was so much fun, and it was so amazing being with all our family and friends to celebrate. Then, on top of the great weekend, I got to marry my best friend!! (Oh and our honeymoon to Maui following the wedding definitely gets a honorable mention on this top ten list...)

1. Becoming a Mom!!!, 2009. Okay, how predictable was this?! But, yes, my favorite memory of the decade has to be these past few months starting with Leila's arrival. It has been the most memorable, fulfilling, wonderful time of my life so far and I can't wait for this new year and all the firsts that our headed our way. Cheers to 2010 and a fabulous past decade!!

And now, on to Leila and our new year so far.

We started 2010 off with a bang, well actually very loud screaming/crying. Matt's extended family always gets together for a New Year's Day party and it was to be the first time many of these family members would be meeting our dear Leila, so we were excited to show her off. However, Leila had other plans. I had to work late that day, so Matt went to the party solo and spent the first hour there sweating and in a panic because poor Leila was not interested in meeting new people or being in new surroundings and decided to scream uncontrollably. I showed up about an hour into it and thank goodness provided some kind of comfort I guess, so she calmed down enough to let us enjoy some of the yummy food and walk around so some of the family could meet the newest edition. She tolerated it, but after another hour we decided that was enough "partying" for us.

Come to find out through some Internet research (the most reliable kind, of course), Leila may suffer from what is called "stranger anxiety or shyness." Apparently, strangers make her nervous, which I can't really blame her since most strangers approach her quickly and with huge goofy smiles on their faces and are saying something to her in a weird voice. Anyway, I guess it's just another wacky situation in the world of parenting that we'll have to work through.

Here are a few pictures from the past week:

After our day downtown for lunch and shopping...