Happy New Year!

May 2012 be less stressful, worrisome, tedious and awful than 2011 for all you an yours!

Matt and I left Juneau a couple days before the rest so he could get back to work, and I could go through the motions of job hunting.  Needless to say, I'll be working at that for a while. Does anyone know anyone else I should be meeting with or talking to in the area?  I could use all the help I can get.

We had the pleasure of ringing in the new year with my gracious mother-in-law, who not only hosted us, but Shaoshu too.  The dogs took such a shine to him that she's declared him "one of the herd" and invited him back for the dog birthday party in February (there will be meatloaf).  As for the weekend, we finally made it to the Birdsview Brewery to sample their beers, and upgrade one of our PA growlers for the local version.  This we took home to get settled in with, making and eating food for most of the rest of the weekend.  Then we got to share our Third and final Christmas celebration, exchanging presents and eating.  We brought Betty wooly socks, and she gave us a beautiful watercolor print, books on gardening, fun candies and cool kitchen gadgets.  Did I mention she stuffed us with food all weekend, too?  But we aren't completely ungrateful-We did help with the posters for the Concrete Recycled Art Contest, using old wrapping paper to add color and flair.  And Matt fixed some stuff, as he always dos.  And then we took home the extra food- Betty wouldn't want all that burdening her. 

But back to the narrative, we rang in the new year with semi-legit roman candles from the res, and a bottle of bubbly.  Since we slept so late the next day, Matt barely got in a bike ride while we made "brunch" (which is still a very legitimate description for eggs you eat at 2 in the afternoon), and then we all wanted down to the river to fly Shaoshu's radio controlled helicopter.  Well, actually, Shaoshu was the only one who flew it- the control on it are insanely complicated.  But the weather was spectacular, and clear view of the mountains along the river is a perfect welcome to the new year.  This somehow prompted our band of brave souls to toddle off to Bellingham for some adventure, which brings us up to today.  Great lunch, book browsing in Fairhaven, a quick campus tour and a long stop for ice cream- another perfect day.  All of this fun an adventure is wearing on Matt a bit- he hardly comes through the door before I am pestering him to do something more fun.  Clearly, I need something to occupy my time more efficiently so I don't grate on his nerves too much.  I'm starting to look for more volunteer opportunities out here as well.