The Story of My Life: May 2016

Celebrating a very special mama-to-be

Sometimes magic happens at work.

You meet someone you feel like you've known for years. Someone you can't believe has been missing from your life up until your first conversation...the one in which you're basically finishing each other's sentences by the time you're finished.

That's how I've always felt about my friend Kali.

And now Kali's a mom! But before her baby said hello, we honored her with gathering her favorite ladies for stories, suggestions, lots of laughter, mimosas, and plenty of coffee cake (mom's choice!).

Photo backdrop for a book I still haven't finished for the mama.

Bevs, and Kal's Hot Tamales.

"Kali's favorites" raffle.

The spread.

Terrible photo proof of all the lovely ladies in attendance.

Blurry shot of the mom-to-be and her mom.

The sisters-in-law and ma-in-law.

New year, New York

Another work trip for the books, but many NYC firsts.

Everything was a "first" for me, though, because I'd never been to the Big Apple. You can bet I had my fingers crossed that the Rockettes were still kicking and the ice cream at Serendipity we'd be licking, but sadly, neither of those dreams were realized.

After flipping through the photos I took, I realized although many were for work purposes, the others just kind of sucked. I think I should take a class or something. Or if anyone wants to volunteer to help a sister out. Please.

Of course we checked out all the hottest NYC workouts.

Court and I braved the -2 degree temp and ran in Central Park. For the love of all my favorite movies set in NYC, I had to see this place!

Who wouldn't want a bench that looks like a giant ice cream sando?

September 11 memorial. Completely moving.

Here we are again at the arch. Overly bundled was not a thing.

And then the holidays happened

No matter how hard we try to make the holiday season last, it always just speeds on by, leaving us with fat bellies, yards of tangled Christmas lights, and a completely combustable tree.

I don't think I even took a photo at Thanksgiving, sadly. A couple days later I ran my one-and-only half-marathon of 2015 and then boarded a plane for Asia. I think that chunk of time away from the sights and sounds of the season in our home and our city put a tiny damper on my holiday spirit.

But it reignited the moment I got off the plane and walked back into our house. This was our first year of hosting Christmas dinner, something I've looked forward to my entire adult life (I am my mom's daughter, after all). We also hosted our niece Hazel for her first official sleepover, which was quite a highlight to our holidays.

Then we packed up the car, loaded the dog, and headed north to see the Lagreids in the winter wonderland of Spokane.