February Blues are over

I am well aware that my blogging since the first of the year has been less than acceptable. After the January from Hell, work picked up for me and my days are jammed full of projects, sorting information, making decisions on what books to add to our library, creating and modifying endless spreadsheets, and generally running from place to place.

Our evenings usually find us away from computers, since we both spend all day at work staring at a monitor. We watch movies, read, talk, or do various activities for exercise (I like to walk and jog, while Kyle plays intramural basketball and racquetball).

Weekends seem to have been busy, too, though maybe we're just relaxing and trying to catch up on sleep and sanity from our intense weeks.

My health has also been in question for about the entire month of February. Strange things to be sure, but I'm hoping that today's spell in the Library (I nearly fainted in the Reference section) is the last of this bothersome winter blues and illnesses. We've also been under an inordinate amount of job stress for about the last two weeks, and I know that it takes a toll on my body in (predictably) strange ways.

March begins tomorrow and with it, I am praying for some hope of spring, of new life and warm breezes and more sunshine.

Nothing big, nothing fancy. But altogether wonderful.

This weekend was great. In light of last year's Valentine's event, and our current financial status, I knew it would be a fairly low-key celebration. But I knew we'd have a blast, and it would be utterly relaxing.

Friday night we watched X Men 2. We're going through film and TV series again, and it's super fun. Saturday was a very slow and lovely day. We slept in, made brunch, watched X Men 3, and took a nap. At which point we had 15 minutes to get ready to "go out" for the evening. I managed, somehow, to not look like I'd just awakened from a nap and off we went. Olive Garden was our destination of choice and after an hour plus wait, we got our table. Our server, Seth, was awesome; super friendly and very real, none of this fake I-Want-A-Good-Tip stuff.

Example:
Kyle said, "Tonight must be really good for you..." [meaning for tips]
Seth said, "Yeah, it's not bad, but I'd much rather be sleeping right now."
We agreed with him, and could not fault his honesty.

The food was delicious: Chicken and Gnocchi in Veronese sauce for Kyle and Four-Cheese Mezzaluna with Sausage for me. I didn't think I liked sausage, but Kyle convinced me I did. Plus, I knew if I didn't like it, we'd switch dishes and it'd be fine. We ended up loving both, and thus going halvsies. A true marriage, right? Sharing everything?

Afterward, we headed to a tiny venue for the Griffin House concert. I'd been looking forward to it for nearly a month since Liz mentioned he'd be in town. Upon arriving, we discovered five of my Bible study friends and a few other friends from school. It was hilarious and awesome. Well-timed, since the week prior the Bible Study girls had begun to doubt if I'd really gotten married. None of them had met Kyle. Now I have proof he's real--and for those who weren't present at the concert, the ones there can attest to his existence.

Sunday brought a whole different kind of fun. We woke up early to drive home for a true Gottschalk party, with Leslie and Calli recently arrived from the West. Brian, Raendra, and Clayton were around as well as Emily and Evan. And although mom was not well enough to join us for church, lunch, or an afternoon of games, we did manage to have dinner and a game or two with her later. So much food. Wow. It was like Thanksgiving and Christmas all over again. Before getting home, we even squeezed in some time to be with Kyle's parents and discuss Lost. Which was awesome.

Thus, our first official Valentine's day was full of things we love: great food, music, friends, and family. Nothing could have been better!