Alaska Photo book

Sarah and I made this photo book of this summer's Alaska vacation for one of her Christmas presents.  We love it!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Christmas Card 2010

We did it!  Here's a copy:

Snowy Sledding Christmas Card

Turn your photos into personalized Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Christmas cards

Recently, I’ve been convicted about the amount of time I spend thinking about the present and future—and how little I spend thinking about the past. That reflective time doesn’t come naturally to me, but I know that it’s healthy for me. Two tell-tale signs of this were the lack of blog posts and the puny amount of journal entries in my bedside journal. New Year’s resolution, anyone? Here's a start to help get myself back on the right foot.

With December comes the best season for the post office: Christmas cards. Sarah and I just received our first cards this week from family and friends with great delight. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t interested in a hand-written envelope with photos/letter/notes inside. My family always made a newsletter, but Sarah and I haven’t decided what our family tradition will be.

This year, I found a deal on Shutterfly that will provide us with 50 or so cards for free (this is the same company that we used to make our wedding album from their photo books...and--full disclosure--they are giving us the cards for mentioning it on our blog). We had just thought that maybe we were going to wait until we had kids to start Christmas card-ing, but this was too good to pass up (thanks Amanda Hilldore for the idea!). If you'd like to get one, fill out this form by December 18, and I'll make sure you're on our list!

Now we just need to pick out a photo. How to represent the whole year in one picture...?

Basketball championship

Our school basketball team won their first ever championship this week!  Some of my students were on the team.  Here's a video from the game:

Philly = snowy

Right now I'm enjoying my 5th snow day in February.  Philadelphia has shattered its all-time record for yearly snowfall...most of which has come this month.  In fact, we're listed as the number 4 city for snow this year!  What's even more amazing about it is that we've had over 70" when our average is 14".  As you might expect, this has led to delays and cancellations all over the city.  Some parts have been good (being forced to slow down, resting at home, reading books, enjoying my Wii, accomplishing tasks I'd normally procrastinate about), but others have been bad (kids bouncing off the wall at school, lonely/quiet days at home, and less purpose).  It's just so strange to expect work and then not have it.  Currently, the school district plans on shaving off two days of its spring break and tacking on an extra day before summer.  No word yet from Spruce Hill on our decision...here's hoping we keep our normal schedule and declare this wintery weather an "act of God" and grant everyone grace.  =)

Here are some pictures from two weeks ago's blizzard.  Sledding down the art museum?  Life goal accomplished!

Getting married?

Oh man!  If only Google had these out a few years ago when Sarah and I got hitched...

http://www.google.com/google-d-s/wedding/#utm_source=ogb&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=en-bnr-dswed

Food of the year, 2009

The calendar's turn from December to January brings about reflection of the past year, fond memories, painful regrets, hopeful aspirations, and of course, Eric's announcement for Food of the Year.

This is the 4th annual award. You can read about past posts, but allow me to summarize the previous four recipients:
2006 = pita and hummus
2007 = guacamole
2008 = homemade smoothies

Many people speculate and try to predict which edible delight will win. None will do so correctly. I say that because this year's winner is a dark horse. So dark, in fact, that you may have never tried these two items together. But this new combination of salty and sweat is so tempting that it unseated a previous year's winner for my favorite after school snack! (sorry 2006, but 2009 is tastin' fine!)

My Food of the Year, 2009 is........
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PRETZELS WITH PINEAPPLE COTTAGE CHEESE!

Hold on--I know what you're thinking: that sounds kinda gross. When Sarah first introduced me to pretzels and cottage cheese, I thought the same thing. Weird, right? And I've always disliked cottage cheese my whole life! Well, one week, Sarah bought the pineapple cottage cheese flavor. I tried it with pretzels, and I loved it. The salt dances with the sugar in the pretzels to form a delicious duo. What's even more wondrous is that it's a healthy snack: each serving has 2% of my daily fat with 24% of the daily protein. So crazy!

Here are a few pictures of how I like my Food of the Year. Make it your New Year's resolution to try one in 2010: