I love Christmas letters. Like,
really, really love them. I love to read about what people have been up to over the past year. It's a little bit of insight into other people's lives, snapshots of what they found to be the highlights of their year. A little like Facebook, but more festive (and less information about what someone ate for breakfast). I even like reading Christmas letters from people I don't know. I've been known to pick up a Christmas letter out of the pile of Christmas cards at my mom's house, read the entire thing, and then look up and say "Who are these people?"
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| Incidentally, I also really love Christmas cards. |
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| Even though I took all my Christmas decorations down after New Years, the cards might still be hung up. I'm sure Chad loves this. |
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Last year I attempted to write a Christmas letter to send out, but I just couldn't find enough interesting things to say. Turns out it's way harder than I thought it would be. I mean, how do you come up with the perfect words to sum up an entire year of your life? And what if I say something that one person finds charming, but my 92-year-old great aunt maybe doesn't appreciate? Oh, the pressure. Needless to say, the attempt was a big fat FAIL, so I just sent out a picture of Maya in front of the Christmas tree. Super original, Molly.
Anyhow, I was thinking about how I fell off the blog wagon big-time in the latter half of 2012, and what better way to catch back up than taking a little trip down memory lane? And since no one wants to read a million paragraphs about what we did all year, I will let the pictures do most of the talking.
Travels
Cape Cod
In July, we took an amazing trip to Cape Cod for a family reunion with Chad's mom's side of the family. Usually when someone says "Oh, I went to a family reunion..." you might think Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... Not so! The Quiambao family knows how to throw a week-long party! Everyone left their homes in Indianapolis, Austin, Dallas, Orlando, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Wilmington and San Diego and met up in Chatham, Massachusetts for an unforgettable week of sun, sand, FOOD, drinks, fun, late nights, aunts, uncles, cousins, FOOD, day trips, boat trips... you name it, we did it!
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| Talk about scenery! Great house, wonderful beaches, tons of sunshine! Yes, those are my feet in the sand. Yes, I rinsed them off immediately after taking this picture. |
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| Maya's first trip to the beach was amazing. What's not to love? Sun, sandcastles, and ice cream! |
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| We got to catch up with cousins from all around the country. Good times! To the dust! |
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| Don't worry... plenty of time for laying around :) |
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| Ummm, did I mention the FOOD? |
Arizona
Right after Thanksgiving (8:00 AM the next day, in fact), Chad and I traveled to Tucson, Arizona to attend the wedding of one of our best friends. We got to trade in the late fall/early winter Indiana weather for some nice 80-degree Arizona sunshine. Several friends were able to make the trip, so it was sort of like a mini IU reunion (complete with a few surprise rounds of
This is Indiana playing at the reception). Amazing weekend, amazing friends, amazing weather.
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| Never would have thought of Tucson as a vacation destination. Turns out it is. |
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| Tell me this isn't one of the most beautiful places someone could get married... |
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| Could not ask for a better group of lifelong friends... |
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| Always interesting when you throw a photo booth into the mix at a reception... |
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| So neat for Chad to get to serve as the Best Man at the wedding of the Best Man from our wedding. Lookit! They're both beaming inside!! |
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Around Town
When we weren't traveling, we managed to find some fun throughout the year in Indy!
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| The Super Bowl came to town in February, and it was really fun to act like a tourist in the town where we've lived forever! |
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| Made it to a handful of Colts games, both at the end of the Peyton Manning era and the beginning of the Andrew Luck era. Different haircuts, different jerseys, same love for our Colts! |
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| In the middle of the summer, Chad's parents bought a boat, so this became the scenery of Summer 2012. Also turns out we have a lake-lover on our hands. Maya couldn't get enough of it! |
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| We were able to enjoy the Zoo, Children's Museum, and a few Indians games over the summer. Maya had a blast out on the lawn. This picture marks the birth of Maya's "Excited Face," which she displayed in about 500 pictures throughout the rest of the year. |
Maya's Firsts
Maya got to experience a handful of things for the first time this year:
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| First time at the airport (that she remembers anyway) |
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| Discovering the joys of airplanes - She was a GREAT flyer! |
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| First time splashing in the ocean! |
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| First time at the movies! |
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| First time trick-or-treating with her friends :) |
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| First time on Santa's lap! Apparently a personal visit is much preferred to a mall encounter... |
Maya Turns 3!
Can't believe this little ball of life, love and laughter has been in our lives for three years! This was the year of the Disney Princess. And the girl band.
Speaking of Kids...
September 25th was a super great day. Not only did the new Mumford album come out, but my bestie had a baby!! Rachel and Pete welcomed Eli Franklin Gilboy into the world, and he is just the sweetest little guy. I got the opportunity to visit over a weekend a few weeks after Eli's arrival, and those crazy parents even left me alone with the wee little guy for a few hours. Holy cow. Three-year-olds are so much bigger and so much less fragile than newborn babies. I am so excited for Rachel and Pete to have joined the "We're attempting to raise a whole human being without messing them up" Club.
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| Cutest pregnant lady. If only we could all be 6-feet tall and only gain weight in the belly... |
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| I'm not really much of a cat person, but this picture kinda changes my mind. Cuteness overload. |
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| I mean, are you kidding me? My uterus hurts. |
Running
Last January, I was chatting with my friend Jena over a glass or three of wine, and we were talking about goals for the new year. She mentioned that she would like to run "a couple marathons." (Side note: Jena was not a runner.) I said "a couple marathons?!" She said "Oh, you know, like a 5k." I hadn't run much since Maya was born, so we decided we would pick a race and train for it. A few weeks later I mentioned it to Chad, and he said he wouldn't mind running a half marathon. I asked Jena if she wanted to train to run 13.1 miles. At the time, Jena was a devout Zumba lady. She had been trying to get me to go to Zumba with her for months (I don't dance). So I told her if she would train to run the mini, then I would go to Zumba with her once. Kind of a lopsided agreement, if you ask me. But hey, she agreed. Little did we know it would lead to running eight races, not to mention a gazillion morning/afternoon/evening training runs, including a particularly memorable 4-mile run in the pitch black of night during a torrential rainstorm. In the past, running was always something I did sort of begrudgingly. I have always had a pretty serious love/hate relationship with running, like most fair-weather runners do. My process in the past looked a lot like this: Sign up for a race, train insufficiently, struggle through, take weeks to recover, feel an exorbitant amount of relief that I am done, then return to my lazy ways. This was the first time I felt some level of responsibility for someone else's success, and it was also the first time I really learned to love running outside. Our training runs became mini therapy sessions, and I started to really understand what "real runners" were talking about when they said that running was wonderful, good-for-the-soul stuff. So this time, we trained effectively, ran strong, recovered quickly, and kept running. Oh yeah... about that deal we made. I did go to Zumba, and boy am I uncoordinated.
Here's a little trip down memory lane for the races we ran this year. I use the term "race" loosely, since we weren't beating anyone out there. Fast, we aren't.
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| March 2012 - Durbin 10k |
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| May 2012 - Indianapolis Mini-Marathon |
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| May 2012 - Geist 5k |
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| June 2012 - Tap 'n Run 5k (Beer stations instead of water stops? OK, twist my arm. And yes, that is Chad dressed like Richard Simmons in the back) |
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| October 2012 - Back on my Feet Marathon Relay (probably the only way I will ever have any part in a full marathon...) |
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| October 2012 - Wine at the Line 5 mile race (Umm, wine at the end of the race? I guess I could be talked into that). Big shout out to my cousin Amanda, for finishing her first organized race. Get it, girl! See you at that 8k in April! |
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| November 2012 - Wishbone 5k (I had a stomach virus that day. Least enjoyable run of my life) |
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| December 2012 - Jingle Bell 10k |
Getting Crafty!
I think it's safe to say that I have not historically been known as a "crafty" person. Thank goodness for Pinterest, helping those poor craft-challenged folks such as myself! This year a few friends and I started getting together for Pinterest Craft Nights -- a good reason to wear sweat pants, catch up, have a glass of wine, and attempt to discover our crafty sides. A few highlights:
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| I discovered Emi-Jay hair ties this year. They are amazing. They are also expensive. My friend Pam bought a bunch of elastic online and we went to town one night. This is my kind of craft... Cut the elastic. Tie it. That's it. Three hair ties for $7 at Nordstrom? Oh, Emi-Jay. Not anymore! |
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| I saw this on Pinterest a bazillion times, and I figured it was a good way to use up the wine corks that have been overfilling a bowl in my kitchen. No real secret here. Drink a ton of wine in preparation. Save the corks. (Disclaimer: I "drank a ton of wine in preparation" over the course of several months.) Buy some wooden letters. Plug in a glue gun. Glue on some corks. Crafting for Dummies! |
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| I was feeling a little festive in December, so I decided to make a bunch of ornaments for my Christmas tree. I saw this blog post about how to do it, and I thought "even I can't mess this one up." Yes it is really that easy. Yes they really end up looking that good. The day after I made these, Maya came home with the very same thing she made at school. There you have it, folks. Easy enough for a three-year-old = Molly-appopriate craft. |
Food
I may not be great at crafting, but I have ALWAYS been good at eating. Just for kicks, here are some tasty things we ate this year...
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| The Wilson Sushi House. Rivals anything else you'll find in this city. OK, that is an exaggeration. However, we have become huge fans of making sushi at home. Not as hard as it looks! |
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| Holy Mexican Secret! You can't drive around Indianapolis without tripping over a million Mexican restaurants, and most of them are more or less the same. Or at least I thought so until I discovered the chicken soup at La Hacienda on Binford & Graham Rd. It is obscene how good this soup is. I have yet to introduce anyone to it who didn't love it. If you already know about it, then all I have to say to you is: WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THIS SOONER?? |
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| I know this doesn't look like much, but it's pretty much the best pasta dish in Indianapolis. If you haven't been over to Goodfellas (96th and Olio), get there and order the pasta alla vodka. Stat. Best vodka sauce I have ever tasted. |
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In June, Chad and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary. We go out to eat a lot, but for our anniversary we decided to stay in. We feasted on filet, bacon wrapped shrimp, Indiana sweet corn on the cob, and some tasty cab to wash it all down. This was the best home-prepared steak I have ever eaten in my life. I'm sure the pound and a half of bacon and bleu cheese on top didn't hurt.
Dogs
Yep, these guys are still alive and kickin'!
Well, there you have it friends. If you're still reading this, thank you for being such a good friend, and I hope you haven't gone blind. When I started writing this post, I figured I would slap a couple pictures on here, make a snarky comment or two, and move along with my day. But I got totally consumed with the memories of the past year, and I'm feeling completely overwhelmed with the wonderful family, friendships, experiences, stories, pictures, trips and memories that have filled up the past year. I can't even begin to count all the blessings in my life. I'm so grateful to God for purposefully placing each and every relationship and experience into my life this past year.
Giddy-up, 2013. You have big shoes to fill.
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