(All of these pictures are from my Project 365, which I actually stuck with and completed!)
JANUARY (Copper, my dad's dog)
I rang in the new year in true Kaycee fashion: sound asleep in bed. I fully believe that I'm half 23-year old, half-90 year old and when it comes to sleep (and choice of pudding -- butterscotch, BTW), the 90 year old half of me always wins. I was unbelievably lucky and got Nikon D90 (digital) and Nikon F100 (film) cameras for Christmas and I spent pretty much all of January with my nose in my Nikon For Dummies manual. Not kidding. I do live in Michigan, so it's not like I had much else to do anyway! To put it eloquently, the sky shat snow on us pretty much every day. We celebrated my dad's birthday by trying out the new steakhouse in town. Other than having to wait for almost two hours, it was fantastic food and atmosphere. We gifted him a tackle box full of ice fishing goodies, all picked out by the nice kid at Bass Pro Shop because I had no clue what a jig was.
FEBRUARY (Ron and Sadie, one of my dogs)
February was the month I decided I needed to be active and get fit. This did not last through February. My inner struggle between Lazy Kaycee and Active Kaycee was not much of a struggle... Lazy Kaycee sat on Active Kaycee and that was the end of it. At work, I was put in charge of designing and configuring the informational binders of my boss' FOCA conference. That was pretty much the stepping stone of giving everything that needed to be designed or planned for the office to me. Valentine's Day, Andy gave me a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses and they opened up the biggest I have ever seen cut flowers open. I also got a zoom lens for the D90 and started to practice manual focus on it. The $200.00 Home Depot rebates we got from cashing our Chase Rewards points came towards the end of the month and we decided it was a sign that we were supposed to be productive.
MARCH (A tree on Sanford Lake)
In March, I really started to fall in love with all the little quirky bits of nature. Clouds, blooming flowers, tree buds, bugs. You name it, I was snapping pictures of it. I don't know, something in me was just blown away at all of the different parts of life. It was lovely. My mom's birthday was on the 8th and the family all went out to eat. We gave her another Phantom of the Opera music box from the San Francisco Music Box Company to add to her collection. March 8th was also the day I found I got a promotion! Starting the following week, I would be an accountant -- crunching numbers, adding surcharges and prorating accounts in the wonderful world of child support. (Y'know, it's really not so bad until clients call to yell at you because you advised them of their discrepancies!) We also celebrated Grandma Alvie's 80th birthday! She is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. Since we got the $200.00 Home Depot rebates the month before, we (and by we I mean Andy) got handy and put new closet doors in our bedroom. We also tiled over the hideous 1970's formica countertop on the built-in bookcase in our living room. Gorgeous!
APRIL (My practice notebook)
I started actually working my new position in April. I wanted to be the absolute best Financial Analyst in the world (LOL, I'm lame) and so I used to think up weird scenarios when I was at home and figure out what I'd have to do to solve them. It sounds weird but I absolutely believe it really helped me quickly understand what I was doing! Andy and I spent a long weekend in Traverse City to watch his step-brother get married. It was a little chilly but it's so beautiful up there that it really didn't matter! My darling husband also left the sunroof of my Vue open during the one night of April it thunderstormed. Who has two thumbs and had to sit on a pile of towels for a week? THIS GIRL!
MAY (The poor little tree in our yard)
May was a month with a lot of ups and a few downs. While everything was blooming in our backyard, we noticed that the small tree in the middle was not. It was totally dead. While we were cutting it down, we quickly learned that it had been struck by lightning! Andy's sister and her boyfriend got a puppy, Jax, and we went to their house a lot with our dog, Frank (a goldendoodle), so they could have puppy play dates. Jax did a lot of playing. Frank did a lot of cowering in fear even though he was four times the size of Jax. In mid-May, we were devastated when Andy's uncle Hank suddenly passed away. Though he was sick, he seemed to really be recovering. It was unexpected and incredibly saddening. We spent a lot of time with Andy's family. We also started getting things together for our trip at the end of June. When we got married, we decided that we would spend every anniversary in Chicago. The last day of May, my brother turned 21. We all went out to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch him enjoy his first (legal) beer.
JUNE (Chicago, as seen from a water taxi)
In the beginning of June, we set off for Hale to spend the day in the middle of the outdoors with my dad. My dad is the short-haired version of Ted Nugent. If he could live outside, he would. We ate chili and sat around the campfire and had a mini panic attack when my dad called out for help from the woods he had gone into for firewood. We ran all the way back there to find that he just wanted people to carry it all back to camp for him. GAH. Andy got a new car after having his Focus for about three years. Anyone who knows my husband would attest to the fact that three years is a long time for him to have a car. One afternoon as I was leaving work, I saw black smoking billowing across the sky. Since I am pretty much the clone of my mother, I am just as nosy as she is. I drove around until I found the source - an old bridge that a bunch of teens carelessly caught on fire. I took pictures, of course. In the middle of June, Andy's sister got engaged! Her boyfriend totally surprised her by reserving the private room of the Italian restaurant in Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort. He took her up there for a little "weekend getaway" and proposed. When they went to dinner that night, she thought it would be just the two of them. She walked in to the room to find all of her family and Ryan's family. It was so sweet! We spent the last week of June roaming around Chicago. It is, by far, my absolute favorite place on the Earth. We went to the museums, we shopped the Magnificent Mile, we rode the ferris wheel at the pier... Water taxis, though, are the best part of the trip. I love just riding through the city and taking it all in. The 27th was our one year wedding anniversary and the day could not have been better.
JULY (Looking up at a tree)
Bay City is pretty well known in Michigan as the best place to see the fireworks. While they *are* great, they're not worth the hassle of spending hours trying to get from one side of the bridge to the other. Andy's uncle and aunt live on Wixom Lake and every year, they put on their own firework show. We all sit on the deck or go out on the pontoon to watch Andy's uncle and cousins hilariously try to light fireworks. By the time we get back into town, the out of towners have all left and it's a quick drive through the city. The next day, we went to my step-sister's 4th of July party to eat good food and watch the younger kids play on the 33 foot slip'n'slide. We also went to a few Great Lakes Loons' games and I piled my ball park hotdogs as high as I could with sauerkraut. (I could eat it by the spoonful. Gross, I know.) This was the first year since they started that they haven't done absolutely terrible! The office's file clerk brought in the puppies that her dog had, three scruffy little Chihuahua mixes that I strongly considered bringing home in my purse. No one would have known. I was also reacquainted with my childhood love, the Coke Slurpee.
AUGUST (A little friend on a flower)
Nick, my brother, turned 11 right in the beginning of August. We had a get together for cake and ice cream and we gave him lots of his favorite thing -- Star Wars stuff. My younger step-sister rides horses and I got to photograph her, her horse and all of the ribbons they had won in a riding competition. She took first in everything she did! Andy and I saw George Thorogood in concert and he was AMAZING. He has a dirty mind and mouth, but he can play the guitar very well. We celebrated Grandpa Alvie's birthday in August too. His cake had blue frosting piped along the edges and since I don't eat/drink anything blue (told you I'm quirky), I did NOT have any. Still grosses me out to think about it! At work, we learned we were getting a new interface for our system and that a few of our "go-to" screens would become obsolete. Cue our horror and panic as we printed off every report we could think of to try to finish before October. That began my campaign of finishing over 350 pages of reports as well as going through every single account sheet of every single file in the file room to make sure they were updated to atleast 2003.
SEPTEMBER (A sleeping Cole, my cat)
September was Andy's month. We celebrated his birthday AND he got a new job! I have a running list that I started when we first began dating of anything he's ever mentioned that he wanted. I am set for anything that requires a gift. This year, though, I decided to let him pick what he wanted. He got an XBox 360 and I've yet to see him again. Just kidding. Andy's sister also asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding and I met up with her, her mom and her grandma at a bridal shop to watch her try on dresses. In the end, she went with the first one she tried on and the one that all of us loved the most. She even had total strangers who were there with their daughters telling her they were happy she picked that one because it was their favorite too, LOL. Andy and I sucked it up and purchased new tires for the Vue. They're no longer balding like a 60 year old man anymore and I no longer feel like I'm going to die when I drive in the snow.
OCTOBER (Traverse City, MI)
The very first day of October, Andy and I went up to Traverse City. Chateau Chantal has a harvest day the first Saturday of October each year and since we love Traverse City, it's the perfect excuse to get up there! Especially since October's trees are full of gorgeous, colorful leaves. October was the month that I really discovered my love of film. I was already taking my dSLR everywhere but I started carrying my SLR as well. My right shoulder really got a work out! I decided that I wanted to try a 100% manual focus camera and I stumbled upon a Mamiya 645 PRO. I'm a lover of vintage things and when I read the story of the man that was selling it and how he has carried it up mountains and across seas, I had to have it. I also turned 23 in October, so happy birthday to me, eh?! My mom also got a new car this year -- a Cadillac CTS, black with black leather interior. It's a beaut.
NOVEMBER (A little bird on my front porch)
November was a pretty quiet month. Red Wings hockey was back and we love to watch as much as we can! My life was made one afternoon in November when I was walking back into my house and a squirrel came running right up to me. Most Michiganders hate squirrels but they are my absolute favorite animal. It let me take pictures and chattered with me. I was in heaven. My mom sent me a picture message from her phone of my brother's snake (a 9-foot python) swimming in her bathtub. Yes, she is crazy. I don't play many games, but I do love Mystery Case Files for the computer. They release a new game every November and this year's was great. I may or may not have spent the entire release day playing it from start to finish. I'll give you a hint: I did. Instead of our normal 6 Thanksgivings, we only had three to go to this year. Two for Andy's family and my mom's. My dad was up hunting (See what I mean about his likeness to the Nug'? Hunting or Thanksgiving with the family? Hmm. HUNTING.) Andy's dad's side had their Thanksgiving at his uncle's lake house and it was beautiful. A little foggy, but still beautiful. In keeping with tradition, the Lions lost their Thanksgiving day game.
DECEMBER (The Christmas tree I gave my mom)
If there's one thing I really don't like, it's snow. I live in Michigan. It snows from the end of November sometimes until May. However, I feel like it's just not Christmas if there's not any snow, so I'm okay with it in December. I feel like I start running the first of December and don't stop until it's January. We have so many Christmas celebrations, it's unreal. Both sets of Andy's grandparents, Andy's mom, Andy's dad, my mom, my dad and then our own. We're either out buying presents or with our families! The last few years my mom hasn't been putting up a tree. Her tree is one that you put together branch by branch and then you string lights. And then you decorate. I thought it'd be fun to surprise her with a new tree, so while she was at work, we snuck over and put it up. I also picked out all new ornaments for her. The rat ornament, though, is one that I made to commemorate two of her little rat babies that passed away this year -- Benny and Tooie. (You'll quickly discover I get my insane love of animals from her!) We did the majority of our Christmas shopping online this year through Amazon and it was such a time saver! Andy's sister is a New Year's Eve baby and we'll be taking her out to eat at the place of her choice.
There it is... A little snippit of all of the random things that make up a year of my life. As I sit here in my yoga pants eating Reese's peanut butter cups, here's wishing you a happy New Year and an amazing 2011. :)
