solar squirrel

This year with the new jobbie and all Todd and me decided to lay low and stay in Akron for Christmas.  It ended up being a great time well spent with family and a few friends.  I’m so happy that this year is almost over; 2009 was pretty crappy compared to 2008.  2009’s major lows were the loss of my job at Philips and my IT band injury.  Then there was the incredibly stressful few months at my ‘transition job’ which ended up making me realize what it’s like to have an awful boss (never had one till then!) but also allowing me to find a great new friendship.

2009 also had some really great things - like the fact that I finally landed an incredible job with incredible superiors doing work in renewable energy - what I’ve ALWAYS WANTED!  There is also the completion of my MBA in 2009 which is pretty exciting.  It’s neat to have a graduate degree, and with a concentration in sustainability I might add!

I really think that 2010 may be the best year yet.  I’m going to try to make it that way, at least.

Todd and I got a real tree this year.  We didn’t have a tree last year since we were in Oregon, so this year we made sure to get one early!

Harnessing Christmas tree to the Subaru

We got the tree Thanksgiving weekend.  It smelled SOOOOOOO good in the house!  We got out all of the Christmas decorations (mostly animal ornaments from World Market - we buy them once they go on sale for 75% off) and put up the lights.  I thought it looked pretty cozy.  Todd’s parents mailed us a ton of gifts and when we put them under the tree it looked like a present explosion!

Christmas tree with presents!

Christmas day we had a nice afternoon filled with TONS of delicious food at my mom’s house.  Todd bought me a gorgeous bracelet from Swarovski (SOOOOOO SOOOOOOO SPARKLY!!!) and my mom got me the gift of fitness - a PINK TRAINER!  Wooo hoooo!!!

Todd on the PINK trainer. :)

We’ve been building a lot of fires in the downstairs fireplace.  I love having the basement room finished.  It’s crazy that we never used that room before this summer when Todd re-did it.  It’s sooooo cozy with the aquarium lights.

View of fireplace from another angle

Our new freshwater aquarium

Another shot to show the wooden base and top

Todd made the top for the aquarium and he stained the entire thing.  I keep wondering if there is anything that he’s NOT good at doing…

I’ve been meaning to post pictures of the new room downstairs.  I took the fireplace photos, but still should get some good one’s of the entire room.  If you’ve been to the house at least you’ve seen it!  We’ve had a few get-together’s so at least people know it’s real.  (I’ve had some friends ask me if Todd is STILL working on the basement whenever he doesn’t show up to something with me…he literally worked EVERY weekend and evening for a few months this summer!)

Here’s to an awesome 2010 to EVERYONE!  HAPPY NEW YEAR KIDS - LET’S MAKE 2010 A YEAR TO REMEMBER!

I’m officially finished with my MBA.  As a result, the past two weeks I’ve been slowly ramping up my fitness - working out 4 days each week.  This week I’ll begin running again - probably starting with a single mile on the treadmill to get me started.  I’ve been swimming, doing spin class, hip exercises, Netflix fitness DVDs, and elliptical running the past 2 weeks.  These next few weeks I’ll slowly begin ramping up to build a (hopefully) solid aerobic running base again.

I’ve found that I can go to Bally’s during my lunch break.  It’s really great because it’s pretty empty at lunch and I can get in a decent aerobic workout and some foam roller time.  The locker room is pretty much empty and though I haven’t done it yet, I’m fairly certain the weight room is for the most part deserted as well.  I’ve decided in order to prevent injury I’m going to need to incorporate weight training.

I’ve also been using some streaming Netflix DVDs to assist in building back up.  They are really too easy, but there are some parts that use weights that get me straining.  I’ve been doing this 45 min one and then afterwords adding in my hip exercises to round out a nice workout.  I have to be VERY careful about my IT band.  Amazingly, even with physical therapy I am still dealing with pain.  It’s been almost 6 months now, but I’m confident that I’ll beat it with a dedicated workout plan (and the fact that I can actually spend more time training now that school is out).

FYI loyal solarsquirrel followers - the website will be undergoing some updates very soon.  Please bear with me in the mean time.

I also miss all of my running friends and I want to let all of you know that SOLAR SQUIRREL WILL BE BACK SO LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!  (I might even have to break out the Scooter song…)