In the past year, Christopher and I have been on 4 business trips collectively. Perhaps for some people that isn't a lot. For us, it is. Especially since 3 of those 4 have been made solo leaving the other person at home. What we've reinforced, that we certainly already knew, is that we don't like being apart.

Not only does being apart suck for all the lovey-dovey reasons you'd expect, but also for the mundane stuff that you don't. For example, I spent ALL WEEKEND cleaning. And with Christopher away that same weekend, I thought it was a perfect timing. Ok, well perhaps the all caps is a slight exaggeration, but I seriously cleaned. A war on dust was declared, and I was the victor. I even borrowed the world's best vacuum from a friend, because wars are not won on hopes alone. I called in backup (by having the maintenance guys replace the air filter at the A/C intake). And I sacrificed my knuckles for cleanliness. When I was finished, the place looked amazing, and I was exhausted. But then, I could only look around and say, "good job self, you're definitely going to breathe better now." But my victory was a little hollow without Christopher there to also marvel at the sparkling counter and dustless baseboards.

It's also very hard to be motivated to cook dinner for one. A couple of nights I did well by making a normal-sized dinner and separating portions out to eat as leftovers on subsequent days. But it's much more fun to make dinner for others.

On the other hand, the fact that being apart sucks is just another reason our marriage is awesome, right? There are probably couples out there who'd like time apart, and fortunately, that's not us.

In other news - the kickboxing groupon I bought is paying off. It was my first groupon purchase, and the fact that it has been successful makes me want to continue to rely on groupon and try out new places. I can't believe my month of kickboxing is almost over already. I have 5 more days to go to classes and burn about 500 calories each time. The women I have met there all seem cool. There are men too, but they don't seem to introduce themselves. For those of you in town, the first class is free. So, if you'd like to go in the next 5 days with me, give me a call. And, I'll be filling you in on the next groupon activity in due time, I'm sure.

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What a busy busy end to 2011. I went to Israel, again. After finally finishing up a couple posts about our trip earlier in the year, I was already on my way to the Holy Land for the second time. It really is amazing that I got to travel to such an amazing city twice in one year. So, in this post, I have a couple new photos for you - as well as updates about normal life and holidays.

I went to Israel for two weeks, rather than the three-week stay the first trip had been. I was able to sight-see and visit additional religious and historic sites where I'd not previously gone.

This time, I was very set on going to the Mount of Olives. The day was absolutely gorgeous. Cool enough that I wore a sweater, but not too cold to make walking around outside unpleasant. The Mount of Olives is amazing, and I'm very glad I went. In my head, I hadn't really come to any conclusion as to why this place was called the Mount of Olives. When I arrived there, it was obvious - duh - the olive trees!

The sky was clear, and it was gorgeous. Did I mention it was gorgeous? I was able to enter the Church of the Ascension as well as Mary's Tomb and the Grotto and Garden of Gethsemene. This is a photo of the front of the Church of the Ascension.

I don't know why, but this is my favorite photo of the whole trip. I think the tall columns just look really cool. And, I have some good pictures. But something about this one makes it my favorite.

And speaking of favorites, the food in Israel didn't disappoint. I went twice to a (tiny!) restaurant called P2. The pizza was made by hand after you ordered it with ingredients bought fresh daily (including fresh pizza sauce and dough) and stoked in a pizza oven. The crust was so paper thin - just barely strong enough to hold the toppings which included fresh mozzarella. Luckily, I stayed away from the falafel and convenience store snacks (think mixed nuts and candies) this time, so my waistline didn't expand as it did on the first trip. Phew!
There wasn't much time between that trip and Christmas. Christopher and I traveled to California to spend an early Christmas at my parents as well as attend a wedding of an old friend. The wedding was lovely and Christmas was great. The only negative aspect of the trip was Christopher got pretty sick. He was basically sick the whole trip, but he managed to enjoy himself anyway.

I had taken my vacation from work for the rest of the week after our return home. Of course, since I was finally home and able to rest, I got sick. I stayed pretty sick for 5 or 6 days, which included the time we spent with Christopher's family to celebrate Christmas. And I finally got well-enough just before the end of the year.

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun. We went to dinner, out to the symphony, to a bar to spend about an hour until midnight, and then finished the night hanging out with friends. That was much more active than our usual New Year's Eve activity of staying in and watching a movie.

Perhaps this post isn't as long as I expected it to be when I started. The end of the year definitely flew by, and this year doesn't seem to be slowing down any. And, if I haven't spoken to you in person recently - Happy New Year!

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