Resolute

2010 has to have been one of the busiest years of my life. And while keeping resolutions has never been one of my strengths, it’s something that I like to do because at some point, I do actually make some progress.  This year the progress was good in some areas, but unfortunately I regressed in some areas. I have been thinking about what I want to focus on in the next year, but in the meantime, here is the recap of my resolutions for 2010:

#1: Paying off our debt: a
I have to say that the only way I could  be happier about this resolution is if somehow we managed to not have a house payment. However, all things considered, knowing we don’t have anything else out there hanging over our heads makes a huge difference in my peace of mind. And we have been very very lucky in that we are both gainfully employed and have never been in danger of losing our jobs. The way things are going these days, we are very grateful, believe me.

#2: Hiking all the Rhode Island Greenways:   a-
Next time I make a resolution like this I will look more closely at the map! We did a lot of hiking this year and made it through The Blackstone River Bikeway, the Ten Mile River Bikeway and parts of the East Bay Bike Path. We also did some walking and running trails around Newport. However, there are a lot more to go! So this one is going to be a continuing resolution, because we really enjoyed getting to know Rhode Island this year.

#3: Going to bed by 10:30 at night:   r
EPIC FAIL!!!!!!!
Now, I knew there would be nights where this wasn’t going to happen. Like anytime we were in Spain or someone from Spain visited us, for example. I don’t know how they do it. However, the rest of the year was not great, either. Not only did I fail to get to bed on time this year, but I ended up staying up later than I had in previous years.  The bottom line is we just plain bit off more than we could chew and we paid the price in tiredness. I haven’t decided whether or not I will make this a resolution for 2011. Maybe. Maybe not. Since it is now 10:34pm, I think I will sleep on it!

Newport News

This week our good friend Scott came to visit us. Scott lives in Newport News, VA, and so we HAD to take a trip to Newport so that he could say he had been to Newport in two different states.
First we went to the Brick Alley Pub for lunch, which is one of our favorite places in Newport. If you ever go there, be sure to visit the bathrooms. It’s an experience! As always, there is a lot of laughter and a lot of walking around fun places when Scott comes to visit.
 
Then we went for the obligatory run on the beach, and you can see that Luna found a friend but even that wasn’t enough to keep her from her wild dash!

Finally, too tired to run!

Sometimes that fur does come in handy!

We love Scott and can’t wait till our next visit.

And To All A Good Night

This Christmas season has been wonderful, but very busy! Most of my time was spent here:

All in all the Pops and the chorus did this concert thirty-seven times over three weeks, of which I did ten. You might think it would get old, but seriously, for me it never did. I did start to feel a bit vocally tired during week three, but I still felt very festive and excited for every concert. While I am glad I don't have to keep up the pace anymore, I will miss the sparkling, joyful Christmas music of the orchestra until next year. And I have to admire Keith Lockhart, who pulls off almost every single one of the 37 performances with the same routines and same jokes and same visits from Santa and still likes his job (although he does give us a good crusty look now and then when we miss an entrance).

Now I am ready for a few day's break before school starts again. May the rest of 2010 be joyful!

Kickoff

Obviously the sports terminology is infiltrating my brain. However, there is no better word for the carol-singing activity that we did this weekend at the Prudential Center. The idea was to break the Guiness World Record for amount of carolers. It didn't happen and I am not even sure it COULD have happened in the space that was available. But all that aside it was completely fun and a great way to kick off the concert season. Wednesday is the beginning of the Pops Holiday Concert series and therefore my next three weeks are going to be crazy.
But they are going to be fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5-0

So Barcelona played Real Madrid yet again in the never-ending rivalry that has JC locked in it's grip. I have to say I never heard of or cared about these teams before I married him, but now I am intensely interested in how things play out whenever these two teams play, because the result affects Juan Carlos' mood for days. There was a huge amount of hype on all the Spanish networks, so there was no way this game was not going to be big.
Juan Carlos is a Barcelona fan. Now, he is not a fan like myself. For example, if in college BYU lost a game and the University of Utah, their arch-rivals, won and went to a bowl game or a championship, I would root for Utah, of course, because they were the next closest thing to home. Real Madrid is the arch rival of Barcelona and JC hates them. Hates them with a capital H. It doesn't matter who is playing them, he wants them to be beaten. Even if they make it to the end of the Champions League and the other team is Italian or German or whatever, he will root for another country rather than root for Real Madrid. And the feeling for Real Madrid fans is mutual, they hate Barcelona with a passion and like nothing better than to see them go down.
I do not understand this, but over the years I have come to accept that Juan Carlos just needs Real Madrid to lose. I have even become a Real Madrid hater myself, but most of this has to do with the fact that I dislike some of their players, and that they just can't seem to help acting like jerks.
Real Madrid came into this game undefeated this season, and Barcelona had lost one. This was going to be the year that Real Madrid took Barcelona down.

It didn't happen that way. I have watched a lot of Barcelona games, but this one was completely beautiful, from start to finish. Barcelona won this one 5-0 and sent a very clear message to Real Madrid--they were not giving up that top spot in the standings.

Juan Carlos is the happiest I have ever seen him, apart from when Spain won the World Cup. We watched replays for a week afterwards. But I feel like I have done my wifely duty, because I have watched this Barcelona/Real Madrid game five times. Yes, five times, one for each goal. And while it's not what I would choose  to watch, I have gained an appreciation for the skill and athleticism of soccer players. Seriously. Beautiful. I really love most of the Barcelona players and they played amazingly well.



http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/photos?slug=834097fabfb06700d7ababaab4bbe07d-getty-fbl-esp-liga-fc_barcelona-real_madrid-clasico&search=barcelona

 If you feel like watching first class soccer, they have been replaying it for two days on the Spanish affiliate on ESPN, or you can watch the highlights here.

Whether or not you like soccer or you are just a supportive spouse, this was one for the record books, and pretty much means I will have a happy Juan Carlos for some time.