Well, so much for keeping up to date on our blog. I wanted to share a little about our 2010 before getting into the new year. Our main desktop computer crashed in mid-2010 and after getting knocked up, time was a vortex and as such I slacked off!! So here goes the update.
January - We rang in the New Year in South Haven, MI with 10 of our friends and enjoyed the fun of being snowed in with over two feet of lake effect snow. Some Wii, boardgames, fondue, homemade pizza, ice luge and so much more added to our fun. Also in January I visited Cleveland and had fun playing and seeing the sites with my family. See my post from January 26th, 2010 for details. Work wise, I picked up some freelance photography gigs @ Northwestern University supporting the Biotechnology folks at Kellogg School of Business. My photos now adorn their website.
February - My dad had successful heart valve replacement surgery early in the month. Late in the month I celebrated the soon-to-be arrival of Baby Isla Nobles in St. Louis. Which was topped off with a little sorority sister slumber party. Link to photo album: https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/RachelSBabyShower#
March – I made a trip to Georgia to visit her mom and also spent a portion of the trip in Savannah taking photos and enjoying the quaint southern city with Stephanie Marchant. We tooled around Tybee Island and had perfect spring weather which was a nice break from the Chicago winter. Link to photo album: https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/SavannahMarch2010#. As you can see from an earlier blog post, we helped our beautiful niece Mia celebrate her 2nd birthday. We also hosted our circle of friends for a little Potluck at our place. Late in the month, I dragged Doug to a Michael Bublé concert which ended up being a lovely date night. I was able to hear "Home" live and the best part was, Michael had a second stage setup for just a few songs that was basically right in front of where we were sitting. We had an excellent view and that one song made my entire evening.
April – As we celebrated 7 years of knowing each other, we enjoyed the opening weekend at Cascade Drive In with Clash of the Titans and Hot Tub Time Machine – CLASSIC! I also started a new job at Allstate working on the Social Networking Team. The role is focused on supporting our agent social media efforts with tools and education to help them. The team I work with is awesome and just as excited about the social space as I am. I feel very lucky to have an opportunity to try something new and with people that make coming to work fun.
May – My cousin Dominic came to town from Cleveland for a Rugby tournament in Saint Charles. I was able to witness my first match. It was definitely manly and testosterone filled. I enjoyed snapping some photos of the fun - https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/GreenHorde#
Over Mother's Day weekend, I was in Atlanta attending to mom and having some visits with friends. It was that weekend, that I found out we were expecting our first child!
June – Doug and I enjoyed a trip out east. We started in Bethlehem Pennsylvania (right across the river from NJ. We built in a few days to enjoy some sights. Our first day in town we actually did a little road tripping around to see if we could visit some glider fields for Doug. It was an excursion in and of itself. After visiting two different fields (with no one around) we came upon an airport that had a bunch of classic aircraft and a variety of gliders. Unfortunately, no flying could be done that day, but those pilot types sure like to chat. I soaked up some rays (it was a beautiful day!) while the boys talked shop. After road tripping around we ended up at Merrill Creek Reservoir where we walked around the wooded areas and along the lake taking in the sites (and taking pictures). We attended the wedding of my coworker and friend, Tana Oropeza and her fella Chris Blazure. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding and great fun to spend time with my Jersey friends. To cap off our trip we ventured into NYC where we stayed in Tribeca and enjoyed the sites with our favorite tour guides, Jaime and Kevin Latzman. We walked halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge, visited Washington Square Park, Rockefeller Center and strolled through Central Park. Oooh, I forget to mention we also saw the actual Ghostbusters fire house!
In late June, we visited Lake of the Ozarks with a group of my sorority sisters. It was great fun playing in the sun and enjoying the company of our good friends. We also had an opportunity to spend some time with Dad.
July – We told the world about our baby on the way! I also celebrated my 33rd birthday. Our annual Matteo Memorial Golf Outing benefiting the Northern Ohio Hemophilia Foundation was the last Monday in July. Through the tremendous support of family, friends and long time golfers, we were able to raise $40,000 which helped us reach our goal of $500,000 in the 20 year history of the outing. Ron, Tim and Uncle Carmen could be felt with us that day as we celebrated the event's success over the years and the reason why this cause is so important to us.
Doug started training to fly aerobatics with Gauntlet Warbirds.
August – More birthday fun. Doug's birthday was celebrated with the Bodeans concert at Ravinia, an outdoor concert venue where you picnic on the lawn while enjoying the music. The LaSalleFlyers) was also enjoying the concert so we were able to visit with a lot of folks. We capped off the evening with strawberry shortcake and a few candles for the birthday boy. https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/DougSBirthdayRavinia#.
We missed Grace Ann's birthday party in July, so Doug and I took her and Morgan out for an afternoon of geocaching and a picnic to celebrate her 7th birthday which was July 2nd. What is geocaching?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching
Here are our pictures - https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/GraceAnnSBelatedBDay#
September –I made another trip to Atlanta to visit mom and to have her help me put the baby registry together. It was a short and sweet trip and I was glad she was able to be a part of the planning for baby's arrival. Our friends Jaime & Kevin were in Chicago for the Dave Matthews concert at Wrigley so I took a day off to have some fun in the city with them. We met up at Chicago Art Institute where we spent most of our time with the impressionists. We did go scope out the new Modern wing, which was awesome. We then strolled to lunch at the Berghoff Octoberfest event where we feasted on brats, (root) beer, and apple strudel. After lunch we made our way to Millennium Park where we enjoyed the sun and relaxed before heading toward the lake. After scoping out the water, we took a cab to Roof at the Wit where we enjoyed the swanky rooftop bar. It was a full day, and so much fun to hang with my friends!
Doug's flying schedule really started to pick up again. He is working at both Windy City Flyers teaching folks how to fly. He also gives aerobatic demonstration rides at Gauntlet Warbirds.
September 22nd, we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. It feels like just yesterday that we endured the tornado and committed ourselves to each other. Truly, time flies when you are having fun.
October – As we continued to prepare for baby's arrival, we enjoyed a day at the pumpkin patch with the LaSalles! I personally find the cider donuts alone to be worth the drive! https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/HoneyHillOrchard#
We also started our childbirth class which was entertaining. Doug was in his usual form discussing the woes of "childbirth talk" with the other men. "Why must we hear about how many centimeters someone is dilated??" He also asked if we were going to have to see a childbirth video with each class. I think all but one session featured at least one video! Good times.
On October 30th Morgan came to our house for a special viewing of the first two Harry Potter films. We made a deal when she finished the books we would watch the movies! We had fun with our boiling cauldron and spider cakes - you must see the pictures to believe it! https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/MorganSHarryPotterMovieNight#
November – We started the month with a road trip to Cleveland where we enjoyed the first snowfall of the year, and the Matteo family baby shower. Dad and Kathy had also traveled to Cleveland and we had a great time hanging at Uncle Gary & Aunt Betty's and enjoying some amazing family fun. https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/MatteoShower1162010#
Thanksgiving was celebrated in Chicago, which it had been a few years for us. The annual Toilet Bowl game was in the morning and the men played a great game. Later in the day, we went to Aunt Liz's for the Tarmichael family dinner. Doug had concocted the idea of a Tarmichael Trivia game which we had worked on developing the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. After introducing the family to it, I think it was a success! Here's hoping we can keep growing the list of questions. https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/Thanksgiving2010#
A few days later we celebrated the baptism of cousins Alice & Jax. Alice is the adopted daughter of Doug's Aunt Mary Pat and Uncle Larry. Jaxson is Doug's first cousin, John Patrick and Caroline Tarmichael's son. It was another wonderful family event filled with good food and great fun. https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/JaxsonAliceSBaptism#
December – Baby time is near! We continued to be showered with so much love. The first weekend of December was the Tarmichael Shower where we played an awesome trivia game and feasted on yummy sandwiches and cake. https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/TarmichaelShower#
Our friends Greg & Tiffani also hosted a co-ed shower with our friends and the amounts of food Tiffani cooked (nothing ordered) was ah-mazing. We had a blast visiting with friends and preparing with all the goodies for our soon to arrive kiddo. https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/ShowerTheDurckelS#
In the middle of the month, my mom arrived from Georgia. My dear husband actually drove halfway to meet her in Kentucky and get her here for the fun.
Our niece Morgan turned 9 on December 26th, but we helped her celebrate with a "magical" party on the 19th! https://picasaweb.google.com/martini7577/MorganS9thBirthday#
We enjoyed a lovely Christmas Eve dinner at our house. I made some bitchin' chicken parmesan, if I do say so myself. Christmas day, we celebrated at Gwen and Steve's and enjoyed a full day of family fun.
A very full and exciting 2010 came to a close and we will pick up on 2011 in the next entry!!
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