Holiday Blues

Last year, I wrote a ton of blog posts during the holiday season, and I just realized that I've barely written 1/5 of the number of posts this year during the holidays. My excuse is that I was unemployed last year and therefore had a good deal of time available for writing. This year, I'm all kinds of employed! And busy!

And for whatever reason, this year, I'm enjoying the holiday season a lot more than I have in the past. I'm not exactly sure why. Most years, I feel horribly depressed around Christmas. This year, I'm pretty much just looking forward to it. It's quite nice really.

I'm not sure if it's because we went to Chris's family's on Christmas last year (and are therefore going to my family's Christmas this year) or maybe because I've been working really hard and can't wait for a break... or maybe it has something to do with the fact that Chris and I are in a good place. I dunno, it mainly just seems to be the fact that I'm really excited to spend a little time with my family. It seems like I haven't gotten to spend as much time with them as usual lately.

Anyways, to those of you who are suffering from the Holiday Blues, I totally get it, and I hope you are able to find at least a moment or two of positivity over the weekend. Try to relax, breathe, drink a cocktail (or 6), and remember that your family means well. Enjoy the craziness, knowing it won't last forever.

Love the fact that your family is so huge and complicated that you have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off in order to see everyone at the holidays. And, if your family is small or nonexistent, love your solitude and your moments of peace. No matter what, try to find some small moment where you're content.

Happy Holidays!

It's Beginning to Look at Lot Like... Well, You Know

We finally got around to putting up the tree, which isn't seeming to lean as much this year as it did last year. So, I'm rescinding the name "Leaning Tower of Tree-sa" in favor of "The SymmeTree." For some reason, Chris decided that the colors of the ornaments on the tree had to be symmetrical. I just sorta threw stuff up there, but Chris was quite meticulous. Anyways, so we spent a good amount of time getting the tree set up and decorating it.

So, first, we got out the snacks:

Hers for her. His for Him.

Then we put on the tunes:

Then, we got out the SymmeTree and the ornaments:

Then, we started decorating. This is my favorite ornament:

This belonged to my mom's family.

This is Chris's favorite:



Because, well, he likes boats.

 These are Coltrane's favorites:

Da Buns!

Here's the SymmeTree looking lovely and symmetrical:

And then Coltrane got really interested in the tree and especially the tree skirt:

And then, Chris started playing with tin foil and scissors, and I was like "what are you doing?" and he was like "making an angel for the top of the tree." And I was, like, quite skeptical.

Turns out I was skeptical for a reason. Chris made a creepy tin angel (and most likely flunked Kindergarden Art... ok fine, I'm being mean):

Here's the whole she-bang (including a Christmas Bun in the corner).

Happy Holidays everyone!

Me Time

Whelp, I realize it's been awhile folks, and I'm sorry for that. It's been one of those weeks filled with extreme ups and extreme downs, and well, frankly, I'm exhausted.

Chris is out with the guys, so I have a rare moment to myself in the house.

You know what this calls for!

Girly Drink

Girly Movie

Girly Cookie(?)

OH YEAH BABY!

*Sigh (of relaxation)*.

And Coltrane's here too, helping clean up the clutter on the floor.

Ain't he cute?

I hope you all are having as relaxing an evening as I am!

2011 Holiday Newsletter

So, you know how people send out annual newsletters about their families to brag shamlessly keep interested parties in the loop on the year's happenings? Well, I didn't get my shit together in time decided not to do one to mail out to people this year, so, instead, I'm going to shove this one down your throat give you the information by blogging one.

2011 Chris-Ryan-Coltrane Holiday Newsletter

Dearest Random Person I Sort-of Know Friend or Family Member,

Ah, what a year it's been! 2011 has been full of laziness activity in the Chris-Ryan-Coltrane household, most of which has revolved around drinking things like playing music, sailing, kayaking, board games, and hanging out with our lazy wonderful friends.

The beginning of the year saw Ryan finally getting hired for a new job after quitting on a stupid whim leaving her old job due to wanting a new boss direction. She is now drunkenly happily coming up on her 1-year anniversary with Greenlight Biofuels, a renewable energy company.

For Chris, the beginning of the year mostly revolved around drinking heavily making and putting out the Rock River Gypsies (our band) debut album because the rest of the band is full of lazy incompetents and, well, someone had to do it. He spent a lot of time in a druken haze in the studio, and he made sure the CD Release Party in March went off without a train wreck hitch. Now here's the part where we will shamelessly self-promote ourselves, so Here is our website, where you can check out our shows and buy buy buy buy buy listen to our CD: http://www.rockrivergypsies.com/.

Coltrane had a wonderful first part of the year as well, and he basically just ate food and sat some and then shit some continues to enjoy running around the house. He is a very well-behaved Xbox-eating little bunny.

Spring and Summer saw a drunken trip to Florida, an inebriated trip to the Outer Banks, and lots of band gigs none of which we remember. Chris learned to fall down eat sand surf. We bought a piece of crap sailboat. Ryan got vertigo and convinced herself she had a brain tumor and developed a sun allergy and convinced herself she had lupus. Chris and Ryan made pasta from scratch while drinking heavily. The whole family (minus Coltrane) got kicked out of a restaurant for being drunk and unruly no good reason.

This Fall and (and now, almost) Winter have been mostly boring busy. Chris took the boat out multiple times and, irresponsibly, broke it. Coltrane developed a problem with a goopy eyeball and no one knows why and Ryan was convinced he was going to die. Chris continues to soberly teach guitar lessons to his students.

So that's a year's worth of news in the Chris Ryan Coltrane household. Happy Holidays everyone!

Giving Thanks

I went out with a friend of mine for a beer the other night, and she told me all about the boy she has a crush on. She's at that point where everything is new and exciting and unknown and possibly a bit confusing, and where her heart rate is probably faster than usual whenever the object of her affection is near.

Oh, how I love hearing the juicy details of these kinds of experiences! You know, the "well, then what did he say?" and "has he kissed you?" and "what's he look like?" stuff. Maybe it's because I have a serious lack of girl-time in my life, and my friend's stories make me feel super-girly and giggly. Or maybe it's because Chris and I have been together for over 6 years, and I find it fun to hear about the beginning part of a crush or a relationship, which I don't plan on experiencing again.

Either way, I very much enjoy listening to my friend talk about what her crush said and what does that mean and all that (and I'm just happy that she's happy!). And she often asks what I think about this or about that, perhaps because she wants an outside opinion, but also perhaps because I've been in a successful relationship for a while. Though I always assure her that success comes from a hell of a lot of work. 

And whenever I tell her what I think about something relationship-related, I find myself recounting my own experiences with Chris as examples (because that's all I really know). And when I do that, even when I'm talking about something that was or has been particularly difficult, I always leave the conversation feeling extraordinarily grateful for the fact that I have Chris in my life.

We have been through a lot together. Really, we have grown up together. We met when we were 18; whipper snappers we were! He is my best friend, and I don't envy what or who the people around me have compared to what and who I have.



Spring break of freshman year of college, 2005. See? Whipper snappers!

So, in the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I'd like to say that I'm thankful for Chris. I'm thankful for who he is, and I'm thankful for who I am because of him. I'm thankful for the things I've learned from him, and I'm thankful for the things we've learned together. I'm thankful that I get to see him and talk to him everyday. I'm thankful to have such a wonderful partner in crime.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! What are you thankful for?

What's Your Favorite Position?

Get your minds out of the gutter. This post is about bunnies!

Bunnies sit/lie in all sorts of different positions. It's quite amusing, really. With rabbits, the harder it would be to get up and run from a position, the more relaxed they are (makes sense!). Some of these have been given names by the "Bunny People," others have been given names by yours truly or by my family/friends. So, what's your favorite position?

Not sure what this is actually called... Chris dubbed it The Ballerina

This is called The Flop or The Dead Bunny Flop. This is one the "Bunny People" named. This is what happy, relaxed buns do!

The Flop II

Chris calls this one Loaf Bun, my sister calls it Blob Bunny.

This is Basic Bun.

When buns do this, it's called Presenting. It means they would like you to pet them.

Super Bun!

Super Bun II

This is called a Half Flop.

Sphinx Bun.

This is called Lamb Chop (This actually isn't the best picture of this, but I couldn't find a better one!). He puts his feet off to an angle.

This is sorta better, but not really.

Perhaps this post was an excuse to post pictures of Coltrane. Perhaps it was an excuse for me to click through the all of the (hundreds of) photos I have taken of Da Bun over the past few years. Anyways, most people don't really know how awesome and interesting and fun rabbits can be, and I consider it one of my life missions to spread the word.

A November Stroll

I have been wanting to go on a hike with my camera for over three months now, I think. Our summer weekends got eaten up by gigs, travel, bad weather, and then, when our sailboat was finally ready for the sea, with sailing. And maybe it was good we didn't go when it was hot and humid (Virginia can be unrelenting weather-wise in the summer). So, yesterday, Chris and I went on a 3.5 mile hike around a local reservoir (we had done this hike only once before, right when we moved to town), and the leaves were gorgeous, and the weather was perfect. So I snapped about a hundred pictures. Here are some of the better ones:

Sign at the trailhead.

The trail.

Pretty tree!

Fuschia leaf.

My sister, who is a much better photographer than me, told me that good photos feature interesting angles. I thought this fallen tree might fit that criteria...

Winter is coming...

And now, a series of pictures of Chris balancing on things...

Blanket of color.

The reservoir.

We came upon a series of trees that seemed to have lost their lives to beavers. What a way to go...

Staircase.

The trail takes you across the dam... here's the resevoir from the dam.

The sun was obviously in our faces... this is the same picture we took on this same hike like three years ago!

A picture Chris took of me... no making fun of the backwards baseball cap please! I wore it that way so I could snap pictures easily.

Oh no, which way?

The old dam house, which is now falling to pieces.

An abandoned farmhouse at the end of the trail.

I really liked this tree.

I hope you all had lovely weekends and got to enjoy the weather!