Looking backward...but only to move forward TWO

[sage]

Hey all, I'm back! (And clearly unmotivated to do work!). Thanks for the well wishes Nik, Slowly, Minnie!

It's been a wonderful week+ of holiday celebration! Had a really nice xmas eve with my dad, his family, sis and her family and h. Xmas day we went to brunch at my mom's and then to a late dinner at h's parents. Both went really well, I think. It was extra nice to be able to spend some time with h's family -- they definitely get the short end of the stick when it comes to holiday gatherings!

The day after xmas we took the train to NYC -- taking the train (in lieu of driving) was a brilliant idea! it made everything so stress free and simple! Our hotel was well situated (close enough to "stuff" but not on a bustling road!) and nice. We wandered around a bit that night and went for vietnamese food then went back to the hotel and snoozed!

Monday we went to MOMA which reopened in Nov, 2004. It was beautiful but jam packed with people. Lcukily we had bought tix in advance but it was still kind of a pain to be in such a crowd. Anyway, we saw lots of beautiful works. That night we went out for BBQ and I shocked h by ordering ribs (I tend to not be a meat eater). Call it a 180!

Tues. we went on a walking jaunt to try to find a jewelry store I had heard about. We found it (after walking for a long time!) and the jewelry was beautiful but way too $$$. H was great about the wild goose chase I had dragged him on! That night we went out to a fancy dinner at a steakhouse. Again, I shocked h by ordering a steak! The meal was lovely.

Weds. we went to see "Twelve Angry Men" on Broadway and then walked through central park up to Columbia. We found a neat place to eat.

We left Thursday AM -- again, taking the relaxing train!

All in all it was a great vacation -- we got lots of walking, talking, relaxing, reading and sleeping in!

NYE we went to a party at a friend's house -- it was a lot of fun and we shocked ourselves by staying until after 3am! Going to bed at 4am was a jolt to the system!

the rest of the weekend we caught up on stuff around the house, watched some football, relaxed, etc.

It's hard to be back at work today!

Things with h continue to go very well. On our first night in NY we actually talked about the 5LLs...he had mentioned not being much of a "gift guy" so I used the opportunity to mention the book (again) and chat a bit about it. I told him I considered him a QT kind of guy which he agreed with but also said that he LOVES doing AOS for me because he knows how much I appreciate it (kind of the AOS => WOA but also the man just really likes to make me happy, I think!). It was a neat conversation (considering that h usually dismisses stuff like this as "crap" )

Another interesting thing -- h started to get sick again (flu, cough, cold) after we got home (my cough and sore throat are back but he's definitely sicker). He got really bummed about it -- he told me that he knows sometimes I feel insecure about how I do when he's sick ("walking the fine line between giving space and mothering") but that he thinks I do a really great job. I told him how much I appreciated hearing that! THEN...he also told me that he would EVEN be willing to consider some alternative methods if it might help him avoid getting sick..even acupuncture if it would work! WOW. I was amazed! So, I put some of Andrew Weil's books on reserve at the library (whole system approach to health -- diet, exercise, meditation, etc). We also reaffirmed our commitment to healthy eating and exercise this year! (Started last night with a totally healthy dinner and then up at 5am for the gym this AM!).

Looking forward to taking my cues from the rest of you here and listing those 25 accomplishments and some goals for 2005!

Sage