Reflections on 2009

Happy Wednesday morning. Thanks so much to everyone for supporting my 2010 resolutions! It means a lot to me. I think 2010 is going to be an exciting, challenging and fun year. I hope you’ll keep reading and join me for everything.  

As promised, today’s post will be a quick look back at some events from 2009. I started Eat, Read, Run in October 2009, so there’s a lot of stuff that happened earlier in the year that didn’t make it into the blog.  I have to thank Meg for inspiring this “looking back” post. I really loved her Revisit 2009 post and it made me start thinking about my past year. It went a little something like this:

January

• We rang in the New Year with a party at our friend Chris’s house. It was such a blast and the night even led to a new romance among our friends! Here’s me, Steph and Kelly pre-midnight (so technically last year, I guess – whoops).

• I also went skiing with my Hubby for the first time in January. Unfortunately, we went to Jiminy Peak during a holiday weekend and it was packed with kids. It was a bit trying at times, but we sure had fun in the lodge! Becky, Dan, Chrissie, Bill and me.

February

• We put together a fun group bowling outing in upstate New York. Nothing says winter like musty-smelling bowling shoes and beer.

March

• Our wedding season began in March this past year with Kate Carr’s (now Lee) wedding in Utica, N.Y. Here’s a bunch of us girls with the bride.

• The wedding festivities continued later that month with Becky’s Bridal Shower at the Franklin Plaza (where Hubby and I got married) in Troy. And look at this, even pre-blogger days I was snapping pictures of my food! My fate was written.

April

• In April a bunch of girls got together for Becky’s bachelorette party in NYC!!

May

• And finally in May, Becky and Josh got married!! It was such a great wedding. And I LOVED the food, obviously (more food pictures – hint, hint of what’s to come).

June

• In June, the wedding theme continued with Chrissie’s Bachelorette Party in Oneonta, N.Y.

• Toward the end of the month, we also threw my Dad a Surprise Birthday party! This is some of my family digging into the clams. It was a feeding frenzy. I tried a clam for the first time – not bad, but I wasn’t in love like all the rest of them. Look at the crowd!

July

• We threw a Surprise Graduation Party for Jenny in early July. She was totally surprised – here are some of the girls at the party.

• Later that weekend, we drove up to Cape Vincent, N.Y. for my Godson Evan’s baptism. Here we are “on stage” – me, Schuyler (Godfather), Stan, Jr. , Kristen and Evan. He is the cutest and he was very good.

• We also ran the Boilermaker in July. We had a very nice BBQ at Hubby’s parent’s house after the race. It was great. And I got my PR in that race.  

• Finally, to round out July, we went island camping in Lake George and then stuck around for Log Bay Day! The first photo below is of my giant swollen ankle. I tripped and fell while camping and was nervous my marathon training would be over. Thankfully, it got better quickly (I rested for a while) and got back to training. For Log Bay Day, we essentially hang out all day in log bay in Lake George lounging in the sun…and err, some drinking may be involved. The second photo is our group shot.

August

• In August we got back to wedding stuff with Chrissie’s Bridal Shower! It was a very hot day in upstate, N.Y., but it was a great time.

September

• Chrissie and Dan’s Wedding reception followed soon after in September. Here’s a bunch of the girls with the bride!

October

• October was a happening month. First, Lauren and I ran the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon on October 11th and finished in 3 hours, 54 minutes and 57 seconds! This photo is from the very start of the race.

• Next up, Hubby and I celebrated our 1 Year Anniversary with a trip to a quaint B&B in Connecticut. It was a great weekend away!

• Toward the end of October, I finally started my blog! I kind of just jumped right in.
• And at the very end of October, Katie and I went to see John Irving at a Times Talk in New York. It was so much fun!!

November

And since you were around for these months, here’s just a quick recap of November and December.

• Watched a good friend run the NYC Marathon
• Went to a book reading for the book “Eating Animals,” after which I seriously considered not eating meat.
• Met up with a few local bloggers for a fun Blogger Dinner in the city.
• Got back into the wedding swing with Kelly’s Bridal Shower and then later that night a Twilight viewing.
• Celebrated Thanksgiving Callahan-style in Whitesboro, N.Y. and got to meet this new cutie-patootie! The baby (Kevin Barry, III) not Bill.

December

December was busy and fun as well.

• I visited California for work and enjoyed some amazing meals, but also worked a lot and was exhausted!
• Went to my work holiday party and drank a bit too much (ahh I hate remembering it).
• Had a fun, old-fashioned Callahan Christmas Celebration in Whitesboro.
• Went to my parent’s house for Christmas and a holiday party with friends!

And there’s the year in a short review! There are so many other great things and events that happened throughout the year, but I only had so much room and people only deal with rambling for so long. 🙂

What are some of your best 2009 memories! Any special plans for 2010?

In 2010, we already have three weddings lined up. So my 2010 recap may look much like this one! 😉

So now on to the normal stuff – Tuesday’s eats:

Breakfast yesterday was a honey wheat double fiber English muffin. I am loving this flavor. It was covered with peanut butter (a special kind) and banana. Side of light cranberry juice.

This was the special peanut butter. Not exactly healthy, but in moderation I think it’s okay.

Lunch was cucumber and carrots with balsamic vinegar and reduced fat triscuits with Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss flavor cheese.

Snacks for the afternoon were Yoplait strawberry yogurt with granola and a KIND Almond and Coconut bar.

I really enjoyed this bar and will definitely be buying this brand again.

I hit the gym after work and took the Urban Rebounding class again. It’s been a while and my body felt it. The first time I took this class, it seemed much easier. Could the holidays have caught up with me… um yeah.

Hubby decided to take over dinner duties last night and made baked Haddock with spices and I added a side salad to the mix.

Dessert was a little of this:

And lastly, an embarrassing note. I commented on my friend Becky’s blog yesterday about her cat attacking her Christmas tree and claimed that Murphy had never done such a thing. His worst offense was pulling a few ornaments down. Well, Hubby came home to this last night.

What a bad Mr. Murphy!! Do your pets get into the holiday decorations?

Hopefully all the decorations will be put away by the end of this weekend anyway. Have a lovely Wednesday everyone – it’s almost 2010!!

P.S. – Sorry for the massive post.