What's up

Life has been pretty "normal" around our house here lately. I use parentheses because I constantly have to remind the families I work with that there is no "normal." Just thought I'd share this life lesson in case you forgot. After our trips around the world starting in November, Kyle and I have tried our best to stay at home and appreciate life in Birmingham.

We have celebrated my birthday with a nice dinner at Chez Fon Fon. Dressing up for a nice dinner gave us the chance to pull out one of Kyle's Christmas gifts. My sister gave Kyle a gorillapod from L.L. Bean which is a flexible tripod that mounts a digital camera just about anywhere. Basically, we can take a picture of us without asking someone else to take it. 

                    Prom pose

                       27!!! Woop, woop!!!

One weekend Kyle went hunting so my sister came in town (to babysit me). We pretty much chilled. It was nice having my sister around. Whenever she's in town we always take a trip to the Summit to shop and hit some of her favorite spots in Birmingham to eat. Taziki's Friday specials were a must.

Trust me. That's a Styrofoam box full of deliciousness. It's a bed of lettuce with penne pasta, grilled chicken, roma tomatoes, fresh basil and feta crumbles covered in this amazing balsamic dressing. The killer is that they only sell it on the weekends. Used to just be Fridays...hence the name "Friday special." If we ever move from Birmingham I'll be sad to part from Tazikis (along with a few other of my favorite restaurants).

Other than shopping, eating and watching movies, my sister (little Martha) helped me make my first pound cake. We spent Saturday morning at Wal Mart getting the ingredients and Saturday afternoon making the cake. I'll have to admit, my sister is a pretty good instructor. I can be a tough one to teach in the kitchen. Long story short...the pound cake was a flop. The actual cake batter I made turned out fine. We unfortunately put the batter into a pan with an area where the batter could slowly ooze out and that it did...all over the bottom of my oven. Being the perfectionist that I am...I freaked. One, my cake didn't turn out and two, my oven now had to be cleaned. Looks like I'll have to try my hands at baking once again...by myself.

Other than that, we've just been living. Work has been really busy for me which is a good thing. I actually have some clients that want to do what I call "real therapy" instead of sitting on their couches complaining and barking orders at their miserable 12 year old. Plus, my spring semester of school has started with full speed. It's my last "real" school semester before I take comprehensive finals this summer and then (fingers, toes and everything else crossed) I will begin my 4 semester period of dissertation writing. Lots of hurdles to cross before then. I'm currently planning two baby showers and a bachelorette gathering that will lead into two babies and a wedding this spring and summer. Can't wait to post about all those events.

Also, our 1 year anniversary is coming up. Whoa, time really does fly by when you're too busy to even think when you are in love. Awww.