Massive update! Things are fantastic!

Tons of embarrassment over here for it being nearly two months since my last entry! I'm not going to even attempt to make excuses, but I will promise (again!) to try to do better. I know I am sad that I don't have a nice record of this past year.  Because it's been fabulous!

Winter, on the other hand, has not been fabulous.  I saw way too much of this:

Which made running quite difficult.  I still managed to (mostly) get my miles in, but they were slower and slippery-er than I would have liked.  Luckily I have some great running partners who help get me out even when it's cold and windy.  I'm running a 50K with some friends in about 6 weeks, and we have a marathon next week, so those races will test my winter running preparedness!

Here's a look at the path on which I walk home from work on occasion.  Proof that I was not the only one out there on this wintry day:

Almost home!

I love this time of night, when everything looks so magical:

Work is going really well.  It's still more hours than I would like, but nowhere near as bad as it could be.  I've made some fantastic friends, and will celebrate my one-year anniversary there in about two weeks.  I'm up on a high floor; here's a picture of my building enveloped in fog:

I would have taken a picture out of my office window, but all you would have seen was white.

The parrots are still doing well, though I have been remiss in photographing them!

I had a box on my dining room chair that I was planning to use to send a care package to a friend.  Max had other ideas, as she jumped in and started ripping up the box.  I did remove her as soon as I took this picture, as I do not want to encourage nesting behavior in her.  Perhaps she was trying to teach me a lesson about procrastination.

Max is as sweet as ever.  She still gets jealous of the caiques at times, but she loves to follow me around the house, like a dog, shouting "HELLO!" whenever we enter a new room.  It melts my heart every time.

The caiques are also thriving.  I hear frequently from Stella's new owners, and she continues to do very well there.  Rocky is also very much loved and hopefully in his forever home.  Of course I still feel guilty that I wasn't able to be that forever home for the two of them, but I know they are in better situations than they would have been had I tried to keep them.

On a personal level, it is tricky trying to balance social outings with making sure the parrots have enough time with me.  Since they go to bed rather early, I'll frequently head out after they are asleep.

I'm looking to buy a house!  After owning one for 12 years, adjusting to apartment life has been unpleasant, to say the least.  Especially with the parrots, as I'm always worried they'll be too loud and I'll get kicked out.  So far, over a year in, there have been no complaints.  Anyway, I have a very narrow geographic range where I want to buy, and there hasn't been a lot of inventory.  I'm hoping that more will come on the market as it warms up, and we can be in our new place in the next few months.

I almost put in an offer on one, until I discovered there were major structural problems with it.  I'm now trying to decide whether I like another house enough, despite its flaws (one bathroom, small kitchen, baseboard heating), to make an offer.  That one has a perfect location and tons of charm (built-ins, original wood in perfect condition, butler's pantry.)

On a totally unrelated note, I was at a running social last week and they had the cutest spring cupcakes:

As for the dating scene, I have decided to take some time away.  Too many guys wanted to be in an instant relationship (though I do have some funny stories that I will post here at some point) and it was really starting to stress me out.  We have been on two dates!  Stop asking me when we can go on a weekend away together!

After being emotionally and verbally abused for so long, being single and surrounding myself only with wonderful, loving friends has been such a relief.  I do date-like things with them (movies, museums, dinner, concerts, etc.) so it's a lot of fun.

Literally the week before Thomas confessed to having an affair with his mom clone/married coworker, I had ordered a bunch of yarn in colors that complemented his skin tone.  That yarn had just been sitting in a box, until I recently decided that I should make the hats...for me!  Here is the first one:

The time has just been flying by.  I've been in my apartment for over a year now.  I've been at my new job nearly a year.  It's almost spring again!  A year ago, if you told me I'd not only be happy, but happier than I had been in years, I wouldn't have believed you.  And yet, that's exactly what has happened.

Now, back to more regular stories and updates instead of trying to cram two months' worth of activity into one entry!