catch up

alas, months have gone by and a new year has appeared and i have been silent on the blogosphere. (which i still think is 100% okay since i am the only one who reads my own blog)

the year (all twenty five days of it) has flown by so far. i am finding myself really exhausted with my job recently and that really seems to make the weeks drag on and the weekends quite elusive. somehow it still is moving by at lightning speed. let's see... what has happened since my last post?

luca vincent mitrani made his debut on august 31, 2012, effectively stealing my position as the youngest person in the family (i do my best not to hold that against him). he is, without a doubt, the most obnoxiously adorable baby that anyone has ever seen. ever. i am not just biased here. he has also effectively taken over my position as the most attractive member of my family.

watching luca grow from a blob on an ultrasound to a living, breathing, drooling, tiny little human has been nothing short of miraculous. looking back on the eight billion pictures i have taken of him is like flipping through a picture book. he is growing at a remarkable rate (i guess babies do that?) and is such a smarty-pants. (i will not let him take that title from me!) as of a week or two ago, he is rolling over and has mastered moving all objects within a reasonable distance directly into his mouth. i had a talk with him about flu season, but i don't really think it's sinking in. i love him more than i thought i could love someone that couldn't laugh at my jokes yet (he is now giggling at my face, though. sigh. i'll take it.)

another sweet baby has made his way into our hearts, as well. born at the end of october was the charming offspring of two of my favorite people, mr. elliott wayne slay. hannah and seth live in iowa, so i was just able to meet mr. sweetcheeks a few days after christmas, but my god he is so cute. i am getting a teensy bit nervous with all the cute babies around me. setting the bar a little high, you guys. they are supposed to look like they just popped out of a pillsbury biscuit can, right? we prayed for hannah and elliott throughout han's pregnancy and i was afraid i would be mid-pacific flight (see next paragraph) while he made his way into society, so getting a flood of pictures of healthy mama and baby was even more beautiful than i had expected. i was trying to let uncle loddrick hold him a lot when i first met him, but elliott and hannah will be returning back to me in a few short weeks and i am no longer interested in doing the right thing. i will hold him until hannah cries.

moving on. shortly after elliott was born, we jumped on a plane to dallas to los angeles to TOKYO and spent an amazing twelve days overseas in the cleanest, most technologically advanced country of all time. our dear friend, and jett's best man, cooper lives in japan and teaches english. so we decided, hey! let's go to japan and spend all our money! and that, that we did, my friends. we were able to spend a few days in tokyo (with cooper and a few of his japan-native friends) before spending three days in kyoto, a night in osaka, a day in nara, and a few evenings in cooper's town of residence, gifu. words cannot express what a delightful time we had. it was our first time to travel overseas (ever) and i don't think we could have chosen a better place to start. the culture is so rich in japan. the food is... delicious and mysterious. the people (for the most part) were so welcoming. and the public transit is the best ever. there is no way i can just sum this trip up in a paragraph, so i plan to create a post full of pictures and stories and bragging. expect that to come at a later date, audience (i.e. myself).

our final little trip for the year consisted of our hopping onto a plane and jetting off to seattle for approximately 36 hours. we purchased some cheap tickets to see one of our very favorites, sufjan stevens, perform a christmas-themed show in a tiny venue. the surfjohn stevens christmas sing-a-long seasonal affective disorder yuletide disaster pageant on ice (yes, that is the actual name of the tour) was exactly that: ridiculous and as quirky as we had hoped. we drank swanky beer and stood amongst smelly hipsters in their ugliest christmas sweaters and sang along to our favorite christmas carols (as well as some classic sufjan hits weaved into the extravaganza). we were able to see one of our dear friends lilli (thanks for the couch to crash!) and were able to wander about the pike place market the next morning. we saw them throw fresh salmons and smoke weed and craft handmade crap (which we, of course, now own). we got to stop by the first starbucks ever (zomg) and order a girly little drink. we got to freeze our butts off in the sad, cold fog that covers the bay. then we hopped on a plane and headed back to real life the very next morning. i wouldn't take back a single second of this adventure we call life. i mean that.

our first holiday season was a blazing success. we were able to spend a lot of time with both my family and jett's family and seeing as no one was injured or killed, it was really quite terrific. we got slammed with nearly a foot of snow on christmas day (that night) and somehow managed to maintain power and sanity the entire time. i fell into a lovely 13-day vacation from work and got some much needed rest and relaxation.

WELL, i am waiting for jett to come home so we can eat dinner and swoon over each other. hopefully i can get that japan blog post up before too long.

much love.