Happy Valentine's Day

Yeah, yeah, Hallmark holiday, consumerism, blah, blah... I do. Not. Care. Any opportunity to get my holiday on is alright by me. I feel a little silly decorating for non-Christmas holidays since it's just us, but what the hell? 
 

{Valentine's decorating from years past}

Side note: As soon as we add some mini Cusis to the family, I may have to be restrained. There will be holiday crafts galore! St. Patrick's Day, Flag Day, Dr. Seuss's Birthday... Apparently June 6th is National Yo-Yo Day... I mean, come on! The possibilities are endless! I may even let Tom tell them about Star Wars Day (That would be May 4th for you non-nerds, as in May the Fourth be with you... Groan. On second thought, maybe we'll skip that one.) Bottom line - as soon as we add a baby to the mix - it's gonna get real festive up in here. Babies like appreciate holidays, right?

Anyway - point is, a couple of weeks ago, I got out my clay, my heart cookie cutter, and my alphabet stamps and got to work... First I used the non-terrible conversation heart sayings. [There are a lot of terrible ones. "URA10?" Gross. "Tweet Me?" Just...no.] Then I went on to more personal ones - our wedding date, inside jokes, etc. Then I had the brilliant (according to me) idea to look for inspiration in a list of Prince song titles at which point this became a slightly more risque craft... 

The whole project took me a couple of weeks because as much as I love a good craft, I don't tend to think them all the way through, sooo many missteps. In the batch pictured above, I forgot to poke holes for the string to hang the things on. In another batch, the holes were too small and I broke a bunch of them trying to force the string through. Then there was the whole challenge of figuring out how best to paint them... So after several crafting sessions/Call the Midwife marathons (Watch it!), I ended up with forty-something pink and red hearts, which I strung on some red and white bakers twine.

 

Despite starting this project at the end of January, I only actually hung these babies up two days ago. I'm definitely going to have to work on my efficiency. We'll see how long Tom feels like celebrating...

In other news, the end of January brought some changes to Casa Cusimano... Tom is no longer at the Corporation That Shall Remain Nameless. While this has some obvious downsides, it also means that we get to enjoy a brief period of extra QT while he prepares for the next great thing. This is particularly lovely on Valentine's Day when I got to take advantage of having my man around for a cozy, indulgent breakfast. 

As I may have mentioned, I love a holiday...hence, heart(ish)-shaped pancakes.

In a rarely achieved moment of perfect timing, I am wrapping this post up as my multi-talented, super sweet husband is putting the finishing touches on lobster tail and baked oysters. I am a lucky girl...

{Had to share this angle so that everyone can have a glimpse of Herman, Tom's childhood bear, who wears Hawaiian-print short-alls and lives on his bedside table. Unrelated - is that crooked lampshade making anyone else's eye twitch?}

Cover 26.2 Miles on My Own Two Feet...Check!

{my favorite part of marathon weekend}

Well, I didn't make my goal of breaking five hours and the last five miles were miserable at best, but I completed the damn thing. We all did. And that is pretty awesome.

Here's how it went down.The alarm went off at a decidedly uncivilized hour, and we were trudging toward the starting corrals with 25,000 other crazy people by 4:30am.

Since we forgot to send in times from previous races, we were all assigned to the last corral, P.  Schmoozimano put his charm to work and managed to get himself and my parents moved up to a higher corral, but the rest of us were stuck trying not to think too much about the reality of what lay in front of us while fireworks exploded overhead as the runners in corrals A through O started their races.

Finally, we got close enough to see the starting line, and by then, I was just ready to get the show on the road. I'm very sad that I didn't get a picture of the giant Mickey Mouse who was firing the starting gun because he had the creepiest blinking eyelids...

And then we were off. Despite two pre-start bathroom breaks, I had to pee by mile three, but the port-o-potty lines along the course were out of control. I decided to wait a while, but others went with a different option.

{so unfair}

The course included a lot of Disney parking lots, some Disney-adjacent highways, and the Disney waste water treatment plant. The parts of the course that wound through the different parks were welcome breaks from the long dull stretches.

{the Magic Kingdom}

{running through Cinderella's castle}

{Animal Kingdom}

{also Animal Kingdom... I think}

{costuming exhibit}

{Hollywood Studios}

Then there was a long stretch of misery that I would prefer not to talk about... 

Then there was the finish line, which was a glorious thing! With the end, literally, in sight and a vague goal of "finishing strong" swirling in my marathon-addled brain, I managed to pick it up to a jog for the final stretch. It also helped that I realized that the sooner I crossed the finish line, the sooner I could sit down, a prospect that was highly appealing at the time.

Tom totally killed it in his first marathon outing, running with my dad the whole way and finishing in four hours and 16 minutes. My mom was not far behind, so they all had plenty of time to meet up with the Cusimanos and Erin in the stands to cheer the rest of us on as we reached the finish.

{looking more confident than I felt}

Crossing the finish line was pretty great. Plus, there was the Mickey medal. And the foil blanket thingy that makes you feel like an official runner. Also the sitting. The sitting was excellent.

{Screw you, Marathon Foto, with your $30 digital download and your intentionally misspelled name.}

I still kind of can't believe I finished the thing, and I know I wouldn't have even started if not for these guys. I'm so proud of them and so proud to one of them.

{four first timers and four old pros}

{I'm especially proud of and grateful for this guy who jumped into marathon training wholeheartedly just because I asked.}

{Huge thanks to Tom's parents, Mary and Charlie, for making the trip to Orlando and getting up at an ungodly hour to wait for hours to cheer us on for a few seconds.}

It's been over a week now, and I can once again sit down and stand up without gritting my teeth and the memory of those last few miles is starting to fade, so while I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to do another one, I'm not ruling it out either.

This is Happening...

{Where dreams come true and/or blow up in your face around mile 21}

There's no turning back now. Tomorrow, I will definitely be covering 26.2 miles of the Happiest Place on Earth on foot. There will be some running, some walking, and hopefully no crying. We have to be out the door by 3:45 tomorrow morning, and I need to turn my full attention to repeating positive affirmations until I fall asleep. More soon, assuming I survive.

{My sisters and I are going as three of the 101 Dalmatians - this was taken before my shirt was fully spotted.}

Let Me Sum Up

Hello, friends. It's been a while. Let me explain.... No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Buttercup is marry Humperdinck in a little less than half an hour. So all we have to do is get in, break up the wedding, steal the princess, make our escape... after I kill Count Rugen.

 
I've missed recording my life here, and so much has happened in the months since I last sat down to write here that it seems daunting to return. So, sum up I will.

A couple of disclaimers before I begin... First, apologies for the widely varying image quality. I didn't take out my camera as much as I would have liked this year, so many of these are from my phone. Secondly, this summary is heavily shaped by the things that I happened to take pictures of, so lots of wonderful things were left out. Lastly, this is long, and mostly just a photo dump, an effort to not lose these moments and memories, so...yeah, not interesting to most.

Ok, so, let's begin. What happened in 2013?

There was a whole bunch of running - I've been training for a marathon, but you can read about that here.

There was a lot of music. Like a lot.

{Huey Lewis and the News}

{John Fogarty}

{Zac Brown Band}

{Tony Bennett}

{Dave Matthews Band}

{This photo will represent all of the bands we saw that no one has ever heard of because it is a cool picture.}

{Michael Buble

{Tedeschi Trucks Band}

One of the most memorable shows was less a concert than a circus, so I couldn't pick just one picture. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes know how to throw a party...

{the view from the Ferris wheel}

 

 

After the rides, the contortionists, and the acrobats, Edward Sharpe and his Magnetic Zeroes took the to the stage ring.   

In a night full of highlights, one of the best was when the father/daughter duo who recorded a You Tube video of Edward Sharpe's song, Home, took the stage to sing it with the band. After the concert, officially ended, the band invited everyone out for a sing-a-long outside the big top. Pretty great.

And, of course, there were a number of epic Walcotts performances. I could not be prouder of my crazy-talented husband and how much he accomplished with music this year. With several placements on TV and one in an upcoming movie, Tom made some real money from music this year, and of course, it's his passion and he'd do it (and has done it) for free, but I'm so happy to see him receive some external validation for his creative efforts.

{opening for America at Humphrey's}

There was a fishing trip during which I caught three times as many fish as Tom. That would be...three fish.

There were trips to places near and far.

Julian - for Mother's Day and Buckley's insane 50-mile race.

San Francisco -  first, in June, for a baby shower...

 

And then again in October to meet my new favorite little guy (and hang out with his parents, who are alright too).

{I mean - I got to visit a pumpkin patch, watch the Red Sox in the playoffs, go on a brewery tour, AND cuddle a baby.}

Santa Barbara - for a concert (which went unphotographed) by Jason Isbell, one of my favorite musical discoveries of the year.
[Tangent part one: listen to Elphant if you feel like a good cry. It is crushing.
Tangent part two: my other favorite musical discovery of the year was Jamestown Revival. Buy the record, it is so, so good.]

New York - for a long overdue visit to Lauren. I'm so impressed by my little friend in the big city - she's a first class badass for reals.

 

Vermont - for Tom's grandfather's 90th birthday and some QT with my brother and Erin and the Cusimano clan.

{I also had the opportunity to try the illusive Heady Topper that is taking New England by storm.}

{Pop - 90 years old and going strong}

And then there was the big one - Peru for Meghan's graduation trip. It was an epic adventure that deserves a whole series of blog posts, but...that ship has sailed. I did, however, finally get it documented in a photo book. So there's that.

                                                                       {View full size}

There was an anniversary - five years! I had known that Tom had something planned for our July 26th anniversary, but he didn't clue me into until we were on the flight home from Peru on July 3rd... As we began our decent into Los Angeles, he told me that he'd perused my life list for inspiration, and with with a great deal of forethought and planning, made reservations for us. At French Laundry. On our actual anniversary. And because French Laundry is in Napa, that also meant a trip to wine country, which...I mean, it's a destination designed around drinking wine and eating locally grown, artistically prepared feasts. Best. Husband. Ever.

Thanks to my sisters, we were greeted by champagne on ice.

We got all dressed up and Tom ordered a car to take us to dinner. Hilariously, the car that showed up was a giant party bus. We rolled with it...

Dinner itself was an incredible, three-hour experience that I will never forget. Afterwards, we were escorted to the kitchen where the chef was planning the next day's menu over a couple of IPAs. He was kind enough to take a break to sign our menu.

On the way home, we found the party bus even more hilarious because a.) dinner was accompanied by a champagne toast and a bottle and half of wine, and b.) in the interim, the bus had played host to some sort of party that involved a giant S balloon, which was fortuitously left behind. Tom road it like a horse.

 
I made Tom a fancy card and gave him a GPS watch, so....yeah, he won the gift-giving. As usual.
I was, however, kinda pleased with how my card turned out. Each envelope had photos and a list of memories from each of our five years of marriage.

The day after our anniversary, we visited Frog's Leap, one of our favorites, and enjoyed a private tour and barrel tasting at Miner, a new-to-us vineyard. All-in-all, it was a perfect weekend.

Ok, I'm going to have to start to wrap this up soon because it is almost eight o'clock on New Year's Eve, and there is champagne to be consumed. A few more highlights...

There was a cooking class in which I learned to flambé.

There was another life list item checked off when I attended my first Dodger game and ate my first Dodger dog.

There were trips to all manner of beaches.

There was a birthday dinner at Koi.

There was Shackford family time, Cusimano family time, general Christmas cheer, and a wine-tasting party to close out the year.

And, of course, there was always Lucy.

And, with that, the "summary" is complete, but I am long-winded, and I have a couple of closing thoughts...

2013 was not my finest year. I am going to borrow a phrase from Oprah and make many of you gag, but well, Ms. O has a way with catch phrases... Basically, I didn't "live my best life" in 2013. This year, I often felt stuck and a little bit sad. I existed in a state of "meh" much of the time for no good reason. That's probably a large part of the reason that I didn't write here very much or take very many photos. I've spent the several hours compiling this post and looking through the photos that I did take, and I'm realizing, that 2013 was a lot better than I gave it credit for. In fact, 2013 was full of some pretty amazing moments, and I have a feeling that 2014 is going to be pretty great.