The reasons for this are the three weddings of our very good friends in May and June next year. I will be staying in Pittsburgh for most of June and once or twice before that. Eric will be coming with me for a couple of weeks. My brother Brenden is coming home next month (I hope!), and I don't know if I will visit home or not to see him, but I am keeping the possibility open. I know he will need some peace and will need to get back in the swing of things. I will also want to be back on the west coast between weddings, as a couple of our good friends out here are having babies! They are saying there's something in the water. Good thing we have a Brita filter.
This November was a busy month. We updated our lease so we will be staying at our current apartment for another year at least. I finally cut down the tomato plant and planted some baby's tears and alyssum in our little yard for a low maintenance ground cover. This was supposed to help with keeping the carpet clean when it rained. However, the rainy season has started and I've had to steam my white carpet four times in two weeks due to a troublesome little chihuahua. I think I must have the cleanest carpet in the entire complex (and the sorest back).
I had two big projects this month. The first was an effort to write and collect holiday cards for our soldiers overseas and our veterans at home. It was really made possible by my meetup girls who were amazing contributors. They put forth a huge effort and made some creative and very sweet cards for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thank you all so much! I appreciate your contributions more than I can ever tell you! More on that initiative to follow, but here are some pictures of our cards:
My second big project this month was participating in NaNoWriMo. The goal was to write a novel in November or at least 50,000 words. I did this along with a million other writers, plus a team of software engineers and published writers to encourage us along the way. I managed to write 26,261 words by November 30th. I am disappointed that I didn't make it, since I can't say that I actually did it. I don't want to make excuses, but when one expects to write a novel in a month one should not also cook for three Thanksgiving dinners, keep up a recipe blog, initiate a letters to the troops project, work, do laundry, and be a social butterfly. I also should have planned out the novel ahead of time since it required hours of research. But I am very proud of my 26,261 words. That's more fiction that I've ever written before. NaNoWriMo really pushed me to start that novel that's been in the back of my mind for a year now. I am determined to keep writing and to see it through to the end. Updates to follow soon, hopefully.
Right now I am in wedding planning mode and on the lookout for bridesmaid dresses. 2012 was the year of visitors, traveling, and accomplishing goals. 2013 is all about weddings and babies. Besides posting the pictures of 2012, Christmas is coming. I've got a whole list of things for Eric and some ideas for the family. We still need to get a tree and decorate. I also need to get out some Christmas cards. That is another big project!
