Lets hear it for love!

I had the most wonderful time on Valentine's Day, it was truly magic. I think that has to do with the fact that I am married to a gem of a man. Joe is sweet, sensitive and thoughtful and all of those qualities were magnified yesterday. I had to work at the Pharmacy during the day and when I got home at five Joe had bought me a rose and a glass candy heart dish that had chocolate hearts and $80 in it (notice below that he had folded the twenties into origami hearts!) and was cooking me dinner. He had also made a Valentine's music mix of love songs and had it playing in the background. I got to just relax sipping delicious Chianti while we talked and Joe cooked me dinner. He grilled rib eye steaks with mushroom onion and Parmesan cheese sauce and Spanish rice and for desert chocolate fudge cake and whipped strawberry frosting. After dinner we had a girl movie marathon and watched The Duchess and Mama Mia. And ended the night with snuggling and talking about us, where we are, and where we are headed. The whole evening was perfect my head is still in the clouds, I have pixy dust trailing behind me when I walk and my eyes are star struck. I never knew it was even possible to be this happy! I am one lucky girl :). Thanks Joe...I love you!

Let's hear it for sunshine...even if it's artificial!

So I got my light box yesterday and I all ready love it! It gives off a very peaceful light that I find myself wanting to be around all the time, I have been carrying it from room to room so I can do just that. The light makes me calm, and even though I have only had it for one day I think it is really going to help. And it came at a perfect time because it is so so so dark and rainy today:).

SAD

The sun doesn't come out in Pittsburgh all that often and it is getting me down. I think I am suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) so we bought a full spectrum light box from Indoor Sunshine that I think will do the trick! I am keeping my fingers crossed anyway.....wish me luck!

Some have all ready seen these.....

I know that some of you have all ready seen these pictures from previous emails but I wanted to put them on the blog for those of you that haven't.

During the fall of last year Joe and I went hiking in the Allegheny National Forest.

It was beautiful and relaxing.

It reminded me of an ancient enchanted forest....very neat.

Next we went hiking at Seven Springs which is a ski resort area kind of by where we live.

On the way home we found a farmers market just off the road-

and got some delicious fruits, vegetables and homemade cider right before they closed, it was a fun treat!

In October we went to the symphony - it was a wonderful performance and a fun night out.

We are so fancy:).

Ice storms ~

Last Tuesday we experienced our first ice storm. I have heard a lot about them since we moved here but we hadn't actually seen one. It just looks like a really heavy rain storm but when it stops everything is covered in a layer of ice. Don't be fooled by the picture, the ice covering after an ice storm is a solid sheet. Besides the fact that it's extremely dangerous it's totally amazing!

A Wonderful Christmas! ~

We are now home from three wonderful weeks in Utah were we spent Christmas and New Year's with our families. It was a whirlwind of laughing, playing and parties. Just a quick re-cap:

Making gingerbread houses at Mama Peck's.

Seeing

the lights

at Temple Square.

Making homemade tortillas for Christmas Eve dinner (thank you Mikey!).

I am taking the picture so Joe is holding my place, thanks babe!

Christmas Eve at Mama Sant's house.

Cutest couples ever!

Breakfast at Granger's on Christmas morning.

Christmas Day...

playing,

presents,

feasting,

toasting

and hanging out.

(Sigh)....what a wonderful day.

And finally the good bye breakfast on the morning we left (thanks Mama Sant, the quiche was amazing!).

Group photo (Joe is the chillest of us all!).

This trip was so fun and so special for me. It was wonderful to see all of you especially after being away for a while. The love you showed us was so overwhelming it was hard to take it all in. On our flight home Joe and I talked about how lucky we are to have such wonderful people in our families and how we were showered with gifts of love, time, money and genuine care during our visit (and all the time for that matter), "thank you" doesn't do it justice. My heart gets so full when I think of all of you, it aches to be closer but at the same time it is comforted knowing you are there and that you support me.

2008 was a wonderful year and I am looking forward to a wonderful 2009. I love you all - Marie

Health update

So it turns out I have strep throat - major bummer being sick. But I started antibiotics and I'm feeling so much better. Thank goodness for medicine when we need it! And even though Joe was so busy studying for finals he took time out to go to the pharmacy to pick up my pills and get me soup so I could rest at home - what a life saver:). As of right now Joe still has not gotten sick and we are both crossing our fingers he doesn't get it!