Goodbye old friend

Brandon and I said goodbye to our dear Alero this week, as we traded her in for a new, more Erie-appropriate vehicle. We both felt sad last night as we emptied the Alero out and drove her over to the dealership. Even though she struggled through the past few weeks (i.e. driver window completely falling into the door, cruise control is scotch-taped down, C/H gauge doesn't work, etc), she was there with us for a lot of good times. She was also the car (besides the "Pontia"-still miss that thing) who saw us through all the long distance. She was a good and loyal friend to us and will be missed.

Top 5 reasons we'll miss the Alero:
5. It drives like a racecar.
4. The cruise control was always on (because I scotch-taped it down)
3. Great gas mileage
2. Knew the road from Washpa to Brooklyn to Johnstown by heart.
1. She was ours.

Although it is a bitter goodbye, it is definitely a sweet hello to our new car!! B and I spent the better part of Saturday at the Jeep dealership looking at some different vehicles and decided on a Midnight blue Jeep Grand Cherokee. So far-we love it. We have actually been driving it since Saturday (they gave it to us on "drive-out"). I think the heated seats are reason enough to have it...seriously love those heated seats. The Jeep is sooo much more Erie-appropriate and B has been having a blast driving through/over whatever he damn well pleases.

The weather has been a little less crazy this past weekend/week-so we haven't been able to try out our new hemi (yes, it has a hemi!!) to its full potential yet. We have no concerns though with this Erie winter and we know we'll get a chance to give it a go soon.

Other reasons for a great weekend:
3. got back from a long week in CA with work.
2. Splash Lagoon on Saturday AND Sunday with Cera & Gregg!
1. STEELERS WON THE SUPERBOWL. 6-pack, baby.

Gooood weekend!

1. STEELERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!
2. B attempted to make wings yesterday all by himself. I was pretty impressed.
3. Had Sarah & Gregg over for the football game.
4. Yoga on Saturday
5. very productive Saturday (errands) and then out to dinner at Torero's.

The snow here has been ridiculous. It was absolutely FREEZING on Saturday. It only snowed a little bit-but the wind was out of control. When I went outside to go to church on Sunday, there was 3 ft. of snow (drift) outside of our door. Of course I was running late, so I had to make a leap for it, instead of shoveling it.

I am proud of our progress towards the New Year-New Us plan. We have both been trying harder to be the best us each day. We started waltz classes last week and it was awesome. We were both nervous before we got there but then had a blast the whole time. We were actually sweating by the end. haha, it was great.

We also have been hanging out with Erie friends recently. Thank goodness because I'm pretty sure we were becoming hermits-hah.

Lola is still bad and hilarious. We love her so much even though she's a complete terror. Brandon taught her to jump up into her little cubby while he holds it 2ft. off the ground. She has quite the talent. She still loves jumping into bags or boxes and she refuses to drink out of her bowl, she only drinks from the fish tank.

12 months of kindness

Brandon and I decided that we were going to try to go out of our way each month to do something for others. Sometimes in a small way (baking cookies), and sometimes in a big way, (the Beer Olympics!!)

Writing it down and making it public is a way to make sure that we hold ourselves to it this year. We are so thankful for all of the good we have in our lives and know that we take it for granted so often. Our hope is that these acts will be monthly reminders that we have lots to give and even more to be grateful for.

January: goods donation to the our local Humane Society (bones, bedding, food, toys, etc)
February: bake cookies for the local Fire Department
March: March Madness tournament poll (proceeds to Special Olympics)
April: plant trees (Earth day<3)
May: Valley Scholarship
June: goods donation to local Food Bank
July: Beer Olympics!!! (Proceeds to Ronald McDonald House in Hershey, PA)
August: Donorschoose.org
September: OperationShoebox.com
October: Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF
November: goods donation to local Food Bank
December: bake cookies for local nursing home

Above all, we are going to try to remember to BE KIND TO EACH OTHER, every day.
(even lulu).