Through the years...

While I was home I spent some time gathering photos for Matt & Anne's slideshow - in doing so I stumbled across some gems from the past that made me laugh and smile. Behold - the hair, skin, fashion, and orthodontic stages of our past - I think Baby F will certainly have some good laughs at his or her parent's expense one day!

Pitt + AL + Houston

Pittsburgh
Several weeks ago Walker and I made the quick trip to Pittsburgh for a mini-med-school reunion. Somehow Fran, ML, and myself each had the same weekend off, and with Pitt being pretty much midway between Cincy and DC, we certainly took advantage! Fran generously played host to all of us in her trendy apartment which only added to the fun.

The face you may not recognize belongs with Fran, and he gained everyone's wholehearted approval pretty much instantly.

Long drive south.
Long being the key word here. My drive to Montgomery only furthered my dislike for long road trips and my subsequent love for flying. Conveniently, I did get to make several fun stops along the way in Nashville and Birmingham - including time with long-time best buds Christy and Jennifer, college roomies Krisha and Krisan, and another mini-med-school reunion with Meg and Stacey. My destination was Montgomery, and it brought quick but wonderful time with family to celebrate Matt & Anne. I'm so thankful I was able to attend their fabulous Engagement Dinner and spend some time with them before the upcoming nuptials in June.

Cannon is here!
And conveniently decided to make his appearance while I was out in Houston visiting the Elliott clan. As evidenced by the photos below, those two clearly have no problems producing attractive children, and Cannon fits right in with his beautiful sibs. It was an experience I will not soon forget, and many thanks to Reid and Claire for letting me be a part of things!

I'm now back in Cincy, reunited with my hard-working-ready-for-busy-season-to-be-over husband, and ready to enjoy my last few days of vacation before returning to reality. Thanks to all who made my visit to TN/AL/TX so wonderful!

Year in Review

Late February isn't too late to recap the highlights from 2011, right? My apologies for the blog absence, the past couple of months have been somewhat of a blur and have left little time for blogging (hang in there to the end for an explanation). Last year this was my favorite post to write because it gave time to reflect on all the fun of the prior year, so here goes...

January
Phoenix/Sedona/Grand Canyon with the Elliott's for the BCS National Championship game.

February
Mercedes Marathon with some of my favorite people.

March
Match Day! And (even more fun), Match Night!

April
Hands down - best vacation ever. Maybe I wanted to do this post just so I could relive it. We seriously have a hard time planning/dreaming of trips elsewhere because we really just want to go do this one over. Lake Tahoe. Napa Valley. Monterey/Carmel. Yosemite. San Francisco.

May
The epic med school prom.

 Graduation. Finally.

Southern Gents Beach Weekend.

June
Seagrove.

Sissy - remember how much fun we had this night?

Goodbyes. Lots of tears.

Starting over. Hello Cincy!

July
Settling in. Meeting friends. Starting work. Our first visitor!

August
More visitors!

September
Reunion with dear friends in DC.

Mom and dad come to visit.

Long weekend in Chicago.

October
Auburn v. Florida.

These two get engaged and come June I get a new sister!!

November
Somehow went largely undocumented. I guess I was working hard? We did spend a fabulous day in Columbus with the Griesheimer's at Thanksgiving - thankful Eric's family lives so close to us!

December
2 weeks of VACATION! NYC.

Home for Christmas.

And what does 2012 have in store?

That's right folks. Come August the Fain's will be +1 here in Cincy. You can blame this little peanut for my blogging absence. We spent 2 months bonding over things that he or she does (sleep, food) and doesn't (everything else) like. Thankfully (knock on wood), we seem to have turned the corner and are becoming much more pleasant cohabitants. More on Baby Fain to come!