2007 in Review

Jennifer posted a year in review on her blog. I liked that idea. Mine probably won't look as pretty as hers but I'll try my hand at making one too. A lot HAS changed this year!

January

In January I had attempted to cancel my match.com membership. I was frustrated and tired of the whole thing. I wasn't meeting anybody who I really connected with. But apparently, I didn't hit the confirm button when I tried to cancel so I got charged for another six months.

I figured I might as well get some use out of the damn membership. So I sent a bunch of emails out. One to some guy named Eric. And so we began emailing back and forth...


February



Eric and I had our first date at an Ethiopian restaurant called Makeda in New Brunswick. We also had a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth date...


March



My mom had a special birthday this month. My siblings and I planned a birthday luncheon for her. Eric met my family for the first time this day.


April

I missed Eric while he was in Scotland but then it was my spring break! We spent a lot of time together that week.

We had our first New York outing together. We had our first fight at Zabar's.

May

May was a special month. On Mother's Day, we got engaged! Yay! Norton (and Pumpkin too) was very happy to hear the news. He adores his new daddy-to-be!

Speaking of daddies-to-be, at the end of the month, my brother, Ryan and sister-in-law Lauren announce that they are expecting a little one in the beginning of 2008!

June


June was a good month. Our friends gave birth to Caiden who underwent very successful heart surgery. He's a champ!!! He's now a healthy, happy baby!

July


We went to Miami for Eric's AAJA conference but we enjoyed some downtime as well.

August


We moved. Really, must I say more? What a crazy month fixing up the townhouse so it could sell and fixing up our new home.

September


Eric and I enjoyed a weekend in the San Francisco area before I had to return to work. I also got to attend my first football game!

October



We hosted a party for my birthday at our new house!!! The Bell Family (the nickname my college friends and I gave ourselves) even attended!

November

Eric and I went away for a long weekend to Burlington, Vermont. We had a great time exploring! Here I am in Middlebury trying to stay warm!

December


We celebrated our engagement with some of our close friends and family.


2008 will be an even better year! I wish all of my readers a healthy and happy year!

Welcome to Morocco!

Saturday night, Eric and I, along with Jennifer and her fiance, Matt visited Morocco. Well...sort of! We had dinner at an authentic Moroccan restaurant called Marakesh. It's really a funky place! We all enjoyed the Sultan's Feast! It was an exquisite feast of soup, salad, appetizers, entrees, dessert and yummy mint tea. And, we were treated to some live music and belly dancing!





It was such fun. It was the first time the four of us all got together. Jenn and I were very happy that our fiances got along so well. Apparently they both have a love of telling jokes with Scottish accents.

Sadly enough, they did say no to forming a scooter club.

My Green Dining Room

Here's a pic of before we took the tape off the walls and put the room back together. It really does look beautiful. It's calming and so serene. My new favorite room in the house!!!

Happy Holidays!

I hope everybody enjoyed their Chrismahanukkakwanzaa! No matter what you celebrate, I hope you are enjoying this time of year and are not getting lost in the craziness of it all.

Eric and I enjoyed yet another holiday together. Monday night, my family went out to dinner to Carmine's in New York. It's tradition. We go every Christmas Eve. My immediate family plus my aunt, uncle and cousins. With spouses and boyfriends/girlfriends, we had 14 this year at our table. Next year, we'll have two more (since my sister-in-law and cousin are giving birth this winter)! Sadly, Eric had to miss it because he was still at work. But after dinner, I met Eric and his family for the rest of Christmas Eve. We had a very nice time and didn't get in until late.

Christmas morning, we went to my folks' house for present-opening and breakfast. I brought over a french toast casserole. It was the first one I ever made and boy, was it a hit!

Then back to Morristown for the rest of the day to be with Eric's family.

After picking up Norton from my parents' house at the end of the night, we came back home. We had a great time with both of our families, but it was nice to be home at the end of the night.

This morning I slept til 10. Which is LATE for me!!! After some straightening up, I decided to paint the dining room. I did all the prep work, the trim and the whole first coat. It is a Martha Stewart green called "Wild Artichoke." Tomorrow morning, I'll buy a second can and do a second coat. Wow, what a job. By the time I was finished, I suffered numerous aches and pains including stomach pains from not eating all day.

But I'm glad I accomplished something!

I'm a genius!

You'll never guess what I'm so excited about?

I've really been wanting a Dyson. I guess it began when I noticed that bright purple vacuum at Target one day. So bright and colorful and cool-looking. Ooh...and the purple model is for animals specifically! And you, my readers, know about my pets!

So Eric has a five year old Hoover Windtunnel that we've been using. He bought it because it was rated highly at the time. Maybe so but its not a vacuum that's designed for the amount of pet hair that we have! So a couple months ago I had to get a new belt for the Hoover. Its an ok vacuum but I've been secretly hoping it would break again so I could justify purchasing my Dyson.

The Hoover hasn't been working right lately...so guess who's getting a Dyson???

After doing much research on Epinions and other sites, I decided on the DC15. Not only is a powerful vacuum but it's really cool too! Nicknamed The Ball, it steers with the turn of a wrist. Also, its bagless AND beltless!

I ordered it online for an awesome discount plus no shipping, no tax!

Looks can be deceiving...

We were "blessed" with a couple storms over a period of a couple days. Thursday, we got four inches of snow. Saturday night into Sunday, we got another couple of inches of snow. No big deal, right? Sunday afternoon we got a bit of rain.

We decided to brave the hour ride to my parents' house for Ashley's 20th birthday. Eric was a little worried about the rain freezing over but it wasn't bad enough to keep us home.

Here's a picture of our house before everything became coated with ice. Looks pretty, right? But a few hours later, that pretty snow became treacherous!



Now that pretty scene is downright dangerous. I am praying for the warmer temperatures this week to melt that damn ice. Even poor Nort can't seem to get on good footing.

Read Eric's blog to see what happened when he decided to chase after our garbage pails...important lesson I learned--never put out garbage when 50 mile winds are anticipated and 6 inches of snow and ice lay on the ground!

Happy Friday

My dear Eric is putting me to shame. Eight blog posts in a week! Wow! I wish I had the time and the energy and the motivation to post as often as I did this summer. Things have been so hectic. Work. The holidays. The new house. The crazy dog.

Eric and I, along with Norton and Pumpkin, live in the Northwestern part of NJ. We live in the mountains. You actually have to drive up this huge hill to get to our house. It's usually about eight degrees cooler where we live than other sections of NJ. It was great this summer. It was usually a bit cooler here and less humid too!

However, now that winter is upon us, we really get the brunt of it up here! We've already had about 4 occasions of snowfall. The first I posted about--the Monday before Thanksgiving. We had four inches of snow yesterday and are expecting a Nor'Easter this weekend! Four to six more inches of snow! Now, I know thats not a tremendous amount of snow...but considering its only December. I do like snow but I like it more when I don't have to drive in it or shovel!!!

If we get snowed in this weekend, we'll miss my sister's birthday celebration. Sorry, Ash. Happy 20th birthday!

But on a more positive note, maybe we'll get a start on holiday cards and wrapping...and relaxing by the fire...maybe even a home cooked meal!

End of Weekend...

Another busy weekend. Saturday morning, we all woke up bright and early in the Munkee household. Norton and I headed to my folks' for the weekend and Eric flew off to Green Bay soon after for a Raiders game.

It was a busy Saturday--my sister-in-law's baby shower in the afternoon and then a visit with my friend Susan in the evening.

Sunday, my Nana and I went to a special Chanukah concert at the temple. We went to see Craig Taubman and his band perform. It was a such a joy to see this guy live after listening to his cd for a couple years now. Not only is his music really joyous and upbeat but he's a funny and energetic stage presence too.

Happy Chanukah!

Happy Chanukah to all my fellow Jews out there! Hope you're enjoying your latkes and lighting your candles.

Eric and I decided to exchange presents for all eight nights of Chanukah. This is something I haven't done since I was a kid! It sure is fun getting presents eight nights in a row!

For the first night, I gave Eric a set of cufflinks and studs from the New Orleans Cufflink Shop. He gave me two beautiful necklaces from Danforth Pewter in Vermont. I got this dragonfly necklace and this butterfly necklace. I don't think I've ever owned any pewter jewelry before and I'll tell you--both necklaces are stunning!