About this time last year, we were being silly at our good friend Meredith's house in Philly, ringing in the New Year and celebrating friends.
We spent the winter trying new recipes, including pho! It was... ok. On the plus side, we got to use up some of those ubiquitous soy sauce packets that everyone has drawers full of. When will the Chinese delivery people learn? We GOT soy sauce, homes.
I received my last big money paycheck from Legal Seafood and Tom spoiled me on Valentine's Day with flowers at work and a fancy french toast breakfast.
I brought some nature into the office by decorating my desk with lovely flora. Some have fared better than others.
I passed along my old jelly bracelets to the next generation of freaky kids (my friend Dana's daughter, Kylie, sure to be way cooler than any of us were) and had a make-shift high school reunion with the freaky hardcore kids I grew up with at the XIII PFP reunion show.
We ventured to NYC to see Hedwig (again!), this time starring it's creator, John Cameron Mitchell, and ate some delicious Italian tapas, courtesy of our great friends, Ric and Mirabai.
We took in the splendor of our local Farm park and discovered a new delicious Chinese restaurant.
Tom honed his mechanic skills and I won my newest prize possession, signed original artwork from Toejam and Earl! TJ & E is my all time favorite game (for Sega Genesis. If you have a Wii, you can download it and I HIGHLY suggest it. Two funky aliens crash their rocket into Earth on their way to their home plant, Funkotron. Hilarity ensues as they meet earthlings, get presents and eat lots of food).
They are currently in the works of making a NEW Toejam and Earl (a gift all by itself) and as a thank you to their Kickstarter contributors, the creator, Greg Johnson, and some of the artists did a trivia night where the winners of the trivia questions won original artwork. I BARELY won on one of the last questions after two hours of sitting at the ready, typing as fast as Mavis Beacon taught me. I learned one thing: nerds type FAST. Regardless, I managed to answer a somewhat tricky question first, screamed with joy and scared the bejeezus out of a sleeping Tom. BONUS, I got to e-mail Mr. Johnson himself and tell him how we were presented at our wedding to the original theme music of Toejam and Earl. He replied that that is the coolest thing he's ever heard, which was the coolest thing I'VE ever heard. It was a magical day.
We attended our first orienteering meet and didn't come in last! For those who don't know, orienteering is awesome. It's sort of like a scavenger hunt, except you just get a topographical map to wander through the woods and stop at checkpoints. Big in the boy scout world, but not so much in the millenial crowd. It should be. It's a fun way to get some outdoor time. You can check out local competitions through the Delaware Valley Orienteers Association website here: http://dvoa.org/. Come March when they start up again, if you're interested in coming along, let me know!
I entered the last year of my twenties and celebrated Mother's Day with my mom by burning all of the food we tried to make her.
We celebrated Tom's birthday at Dollar Dog night at the Phillies. It was actually a decent game! They did terribly (of course) but then turned it around for the very last of the game and won in the eleventh inning. We were sitting close enough to heckle the opposing team, which is the only reason I go anyway. And the dogs.
We also celebrated our one year anniversary with a trip to Gifford Pinchot state park, where we stayed in a cute little cabin on the lake, then spent a night at a nice Marriott in Lancaster where we were spoiled with free cheesecake! Tom gave me the best "paper" gift to commemorate the event, a hand painted water color of our house!
My nephew, Brodie, graduated high school! We were late to the ceremony (he was lucky, my graduation at North Penn took WAYYY longer, thanks to that years 13, count 'em, THIRTEEN valedictorians. I wasn't one), BUT we arrived just in time to hear his name called. Just like his ol' aunt Sheridan, we Earles had the pleasure of being one of the last names called.
I got to save a baby bird! This little guy was squawking his heart out in Quinn's backyard, so I made several phone calls before packing him in an old beer case to drive him to an animal rescue in Roxborough. What else do I have to do on a Saturday afternoon?
We tried to surprise our friend Mo with a 30th birthday party, but naturally she found out. And then tried to invite all the people we had already invited to her SURPRISE party. But no worries! I had one trick up my sleeve and her name is Samantha (expletive deleted) Jackson! Mo at least got one surprise for her birthday!
I destroyed another room in our house in order to paint it and provided my poor hands more blisters. I then got to don a semi-goth look circa 2000 to attend a bucket list concert: Marilyn Manson and Smashing Pumpkins! Both were good, not great, but the nostalgia was worthwhile. Unfortunately for both bands, the attendance was so low, that they were literally giving seat tickets away to people on the lawn. And most people didn't even want them. Oh well, we had a good time.
I swore off dairy to clear up my skin, which was working until the last few weeks when I said screw it (until after the New Year). To kick off the dairy free lifestyle, we went hog wild at Maggiano's with ALL THE DAIRY. Tom was not excited.
My mom retired from Super Fresh and we surprised her with a party with some of her favorite work friends, not work friends and family. She was SO surprised. It was hilarious. I think someone got it on video, but I don't know who. If you're reading and you have the video, let me know!
We adopted a yard cat (he / she still lives in the yard, I just feed him every morning), Kylie got a violin and Dana took some of her many bridesmaids to a funky, hipster wedding showcase which was actually really fun and delicious.
I pretended to be Super Woman, took silly selfies with a lion dog, DIDN'T go see the Pope (also didn't get to see the Dalai Lama, a real disappointment) and donned my usual Mask of Magnaminty face mask. Because I love my skin and I treat it well.
We took a lovely vacation to New Hampshire's White Mountains. We stopped for the night in Albany where we got some amazingly good dim sum (who knew?), then spent a cold, but beautiful few days nestled in the White Mountains. So much gorgeous-ness, it was mind blowing. Not pictured: the moose the welcomed us / scared the hell out of us on a windy mountain road leading to our campground. It was the only moose we saw, even though we spent 7 hours in the car one day driving around specifically looking for moose. Can't plan miracles, I guess.
After our foray into the forest, we headed to Dartmouth to visit with Mr. Michael Butler Brown. He provided a great tour of the beautiful old school, took us to quizzo at a happening Irish pub (we didn't come in last!) and provided us a comfortable place to sleep for the night. Tom and Mike happily snuggled next to each other in their respective sleeping bags while I took to the couch.
To round out our New England trip, we headed to an adorable apartment in Rockport, MA where we chilled out, slept in (in a real, comfortable bed) and ate all the seafood. We also went on a whale watching trip! It was... bumpy. The waters were rough, I was quite certain we were about to meet our doom on the choppy seas as salt water washed up every side of the little boat. Tom was teasing me for how terrified I looked as scenes from Titanic and Life of Pi ran through my mind... but then the tour guides came over the loud speaker to announce that the waters WERE too rough for our venture and we'd be turning back. We received a refund and got a twenty minute boat ride on the wannabe S. S. Minnow and escaped with our lives. We also spent an evening on a witch walk in Salem, which was corny, but informational and fun, especially being a few short weeks before Halloween.
We celebrated ACTUAL Halloween dressed as Alice in Wonderland and the White Rabbit. It was our first PEX Party (The Philadelphia Experiment) which was a pretty rockin' "rave" at the Roxy. We weren't the only Alice in Wonderland troupe there, but we were the best. Not pictured are our friends Quinn and Shelly, who came as the Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat.
We also had our 2nd annual Christmas party as well as some fun times in Philly around Christmas. For pictures, check out the last blog post!
Christmas itself was pleasant, with too much food, lots of family and friends, and never enough time. I Pinterest failed the hell out of some Christmas Tree Rice Krispie treats, but my spirits were lifted with a gift of a sloth tea mug from my friend and co-worker, Aura. Christmas Eve, as usual, was spent at my mom's. This year featured a rousing game of "Find The Pickle on the Christmas Tree" which took half a dozen adults, one PhD and lots of misdirection from my mother, the hider of the pickle. It was found, at last, by Tom.
Christmas day had more food (including a pork-filled breakfast a la Marcella), generous gifts and good times with more family and friends.
As I wrap up the end of another year with you, dear blog readers, you may have noticed I left out two very large events from this past year. This year we said goodbye to my beloved father, C. Benjamin Earle, and hello to the newest member of our family, our formerly-foster dog, Tigger.
I can't say much about my dad because, well, I'm still really sad about it. I take comfort in the amazing legacy he left behind, being known as one of the smartest, kindest and most well spoken men to anyone that ever had the pleasure of crossing paths with him. His memorial was full of friends and loved ones and, though tears were shed, it was not the depressing goodbye that I hate so much at funerals, as much as it truly was a celebration of his long and eventful life. After a battle with a progressive lung disease, he passed peacefully just after Jeopardy ended, surrounded by loved ones. The timing must have been his last little joke, because he certainly never wanted to miss Jeopardy. Here are the pictures of him through the years that we found stashed in an old box in his office.
I'm sure he would hate some of these pictures being displayed for the public, but as he frequently told me (especially throughout the planning of my wedding), weddings and funerals are not necessarily held for the guests of honor. My personal favorite is the one where he is wearing sunglasses and wrote on the back alerting the viewer that he was wearing Bausch + Lomb Flying Goggles, just in case they were so impressed with his style that they needed to rush out and get a pair themselves. He was also humble and considerate.
As I mentioned, his memorial was a pleasant, if sad, celebration of his very interesting life. Stories were shared by friends and family, he received military honors (while they played Taps, talk about freaking water works) and a few months later on his birthday, September 13, we scattered his ashes at his favorite pier in Stone Harbor, NJ. We spent many mornings fishing there each summer and the day we were there to pay our last respects, a girl (well, a woman, but who's counting?) caught what seemed to be her first fish while her family and, presumably, her father cheered her on. It was sad and appropriate. And for a FINAL, final joke, it was way too windy to actually scatter his ashes off the pier without seriously annoying the fishers there by being covered in the remains of my father. Instead we scattered them off the side of the pier in the parking lot. I liked fishing off that spot better anyway and it's all the same water.
Ok, dry your eyes and let's move on to the HAPPY part of the year. The joy born out of a failure, a foster failure that is: Tigger!
Pictured above is the first day this little bundle of fluff graced our presence. We had just done our orientation to foster dogs through Home At Last Dog Rescue. Since we were slated to take our vacation in just a week or so, I told them I'd be in touch to take on a foster when we returned. The next day, though, I received a call from Wendy, my foster mentor, asking if I might be able to do them a favor. Tigger was a well-behaved and adorable little Pomeranian, who wasn't faring well with the large dogs at his current foster's house. If she promised to help us with whatever we need would we possibly consider helping out this little, fluff ball?
Of course. I'm a pushover and I love fluffy little things. Enter: Tigger.
It was love at first belly rub. For the next three months, we took him to meet potential adopters, spoiled him with belly rubs and lots of walks and generally fell head over heels in love with him. We tried, we REALLY tried to find an appropriate home for him. We even drove all the way to Manhattan! But, we learned after those three months that he found his home as soon as he found us. And the joy he's brought us and our family through what could have been a really tough holiday season is payment enough to provide him the best life we can. And spoil him we shall. As I type, I am patiently waiting the delivery of his new water "pagoda" and designer food bowl. What? It's going to be sitting in my kitchen for the next several years, might as well get a stylish one.
Here's a round up of some of my favorite pictures of our new addition:
And there you have it. My 2015. This wasn't all I did this year, but it was some of the most memorable. Although arguably the saddest year to date, it has also had some moments that were the happiest. I won't get sappy here, but fill-in-the-blank on my appreciation of friends and family and my mom and my husband. And our new dog. I love you all and look forward to an exciting 2016. Although after the excitement of the past few years, I wouldn't mind a little boring, too.
Happy New Year everyone! What are your favorite memories of 2015? And what are you looking forward to in 2016? Time will tell, but let's make '16 a sweet one.
Sheridan's 2016 To-Do List
- Yoga, yoga, yoga! (the only thing that truly clears my mind)
- Dog training for Tigger (he listens, but only when he wants to. Let's fix that)
- Get a fence. Because, dog.
- Cleaning the house. For good. For real. I'm doing it. I swear!
- Painting the spare bedroom and hanging our new awesome artwork, courtesy of the lovely and talented, Shaina Craft. Check out her current artwork here: http://www.shainacraftart.com/
- Read ALL the books. I've got a big reading list. Maybe I'll post that next time!
- Study for GREs. I don't know if I'm ready to go back to school yet, but I know I should study while I still remember how.
- Actually start my Phamily Style eating club. Because I like to eat and I like to eat with friends.
- As always, blog more. I slack, I know. I'll be better this year. Maybe.
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