December Fun

December has been full of lots of fun for us! Although the best is yet to come, we are definitely going out with a bang in 2011.

On Saturday night in true Christmas spirit, we drove around aimlessly in search of over the top displays of Christmas cheer. Nate drove to the richest neighborhoods he could think of, and we both learned a valuable lesson.

It turns out wealthy people don't cover their well landscaped yards with tacky and ridiculous blow up Santas and animatronic reindeers.

So we then turned for home and found some holiday displays right in our neighborhood, inspired by the Griswolds. And, I also got to share the most horrible Christmas song ever: The Christmas Shoes.

Here are a few pictures from our adventures:

 If only I didn't delete the picture of Nate crying to the Christmas Shoes...

Hello?

Considering EVERYONE has a cell phone these days. It clearly has not helped anyone have any phone skills. Considering half of my job is talking to people on the phone it amazes me everyday the types of conversations I have, here is a sample of my favorites.

"Someone from there just called me....(silence)" That's great I'm going to need more information, like your name.

After saying a greeting, which include my name and business,"Who is this?, (business name repeated), that's weird I've never been there." Perhaps you have the wrong number. Or similar, "Are you my vet?" Do you call your doctors office and ask, "Do I go there when I'm sick?"

I answered the phone, and hear "Hi, I have a dog...(silence)" Thanks for sharing, do you need help with that dog or are you just letting us know.

This on is perhaps my favorite, I answered the phone, " Are you driving a white van? And where are you parked?" I asked her to repeat that, and got "What color van are you driving?" I told her she called an animal hospital, and she said, "I guess I have the wrong number." I guess so.


Oh the telephone...some days I wish our clients would just text us.

BORING...

So I haven't posted anything for awhile because I keep waiting for something exciting to post about...

Life has been boring around here. We haven;t done much, because we are gearing up for the Holidays. Nate's family is coming for Thanksgiving, and we are going to CA for Christmas, so we have a lot to look forward to!

Since the last post, winter has arrived! Life adjustments since the season change:

Macy is ANNOYING! She is soo desperate for heat we can;t get away from her. During the summer you couldn't get her to sit with you if you were wearing pants made of bacon, but now as uncomfortable as we try to make her she won't leave!!

We are also fairly confident that she knows how to turn on the electric blanket. We have never seen her do it, but every time she is laying on it, its somehow on.

I am officially addicted to my remote start on my car. It automatically turns on my heated seat, so I use every time I go anywhere.

Our neighbors don't believe in raking their leaves, they prefer to "let them blow away." Away seems to be in our yard.

Last year we had a backyard of dirt, which meant that when it snowed we had a backyard of mud, but this year we have grass, so snow is no longer dreaded.


Perhaps soon something exciting and fun will happen, so I have something to write about.

Let there be light!

Oh it is so nice to be back in the real world. After the first taste of winter in Denver, we have been in the dark, literally! This snow storm brought us particularly wet snow, or as I call it "Sierra Cement." My home town of Mammoth gets this type of snow all year round, but apparently the trees in CO were not up to the challenge.

Thanks to the snow we were off the grid for 3 days. Starting early Wednesday morning, to early evening Friday, we had no heat, light, and any sort of technology. Luckily, Thursday we both barely made it to work. We were told to expect power over night, and awoke to nothing, no alarm clocks, no lights and dead cellphones.

Although we were very irritated by this inconvenience, the true victims were of course the dogs. When the house temp dipped into the forties they both clung to powerless electric blanket in hopes that it would save them. I knew we were in for it, when Tucker, the furriest of all, was shivering. We did manage to huddle together, all four of us, under the blankets.

Now that the power has returned, I can once again enjoy how pretty snow is. By enjoy, I mean from behind a window, while under my heated blanket, in my well heated house, drinking hot chocolate just heated up in my electric microwave!

Its good to be back!

Fort Tucker

In our house, we have a Tucker fort. Under a large ottoman in our living room is Tucker's alone space. He runs under there whenever he gets a good treat or has something he desperately wants to keep from Macy.

Nate has become very uncomfortable with this. For some reason, he thinks that Tucker is too young to have his own room.  I probably should explain another of Nate's thoughts at this time. For quite a while Nate has decided that Tucker is secretly trying to kill us, or more specifically him. Tucker wasn't always a fan of Nate and is very much a mama's boy. Nate is constantly pointing out to Tucker that we are needed to keep him alive. I constantly remind Nate that Macy has to be higher on the hit list than him, and that when he knocks off her than he can worry.

So last night Nate had enough and led a raid of Fort Tucker, and here is a list of what we found:

Macy's two favorite toys (her Frisbee and gator-we know the reason for this)

One copy of Colorado Canine (a book of the best hiking trails in CO, perhaps he was planning a vacation for he and I after he got Nate out of the picture, or perhaps a place to hide a body)

A nicely folded dust rag (at least we know he was keeping it clean)

His two favorite toys(baby sheep, and what was left of valentine dog)

A small pillow (for napping of course)

One of our home phones(for long distance phone calls to his girlfriend Tipsy in CA)

And, all of the "good" dog bones

After Nate stopped touching his stuff, Tucker pulled all of these items, minus the dust rag and the book, back into his fort. Macy may have gotten the Frisbee back momentarily, but tonight I notice it has already been recaptured. Nate explained to Tucker that this was a privilege and he better not abuse it. For me this was absolutely hilarious to watch unfold, particularly how serious Nate was about it. But I do think he slept better knowing that Tucker was not assembling explosives under there.

Just an average night in the Phillips house! Oh man is Nate going to be an interesting parent...

Wordless Wednesday...

Please note the horrible living conditions these poor dogs are stuck with!

One Year Down

As of yesterday, Nate and I have been married for a whole year. I am stuck between feeling like we have been married far longer, and sometimes feeling shocked that I am married at all. Everyone tells you that the first year is the hardest, and I would have to disagree. Maybe it seemed easier because I expected it to be hard, but this year just seemed to breeze by. Nate and I discussed this at dinner last night, and both of us agreed that we in no way escaped this fate and it will probably hit us someday.

In true Megan fashion, we had to celebrate. Due to our lack of creativity, we decided to forgo any presents and just do dinner instead.

We decided to go to The Chart House, which is where went to celebrate being engaged, and the home of The Lava Cake!

So after, a tempura shrimp roll, lobster spring rolls, and jumbo crab cakes, the best part of celebrating anything: dessert!

  

I still can't believe that it was a year ago that we were here:

It is always nice to remember how lucky I am! I can't wait for all the years to come!