January 2010 Recap

Hey Everyone,

January has been a busy month in the Cummings household! Part of our New Year's resolution was to eat healthier and exercise more. So we've been working out some in the clubhouse of our neighborhood (which has a nice little gym) and when it's warm enough we've been taking the pups for a little jog down by the lake. We love living near the water - it's very calming and peaceful out there. It will be really pretty when all of the trees and shrubs come back to life after winter is over. Here are some pictures from one of our jogs:

Sterling's company also had their Christmas dinner at Churrascos - a South American restaurant in the West University area of Houston. Texla has their holiday party in January instead of December to help make the holidays less hectic for everyone. We had been to Churrascos before for some dinner dates and always enjoy some good steak. Lacy (the owner of the company) mandated that everyone sit at a different table than their spouse so I didn't get to sit next to or take pictures with Sterling :( but luckily, we had been out with some of Sterling's coworkers and their spouses several times before so it wasn't an awkward situation and I had a fun time talking with everyone.

With Brisa Field. Sterling sat at the table behind me with Jake and Mary.

We also went out to another South American restaurant called Chimichurri's to celebrate our 2 year anniversary on the 24th of this month. It's hard to believe how fast life can change in just two years and it all started with our first (semi-blind) date at D'Amico's in the Rice Village :)

My handsome husband who decided he wanted match my purple dress haha :)

At Chimichurri's

Other than our recent outings, we've been away from home/working a lot (boo). I technically only work a max of 8 hours per day (2 clients for 4 hours each) but I spend at least 4-5 additional hours commuting to and from clients and to and from home, which really stinks and is a huge waste of time but there's not much that can be done about that right now. And Sterling has been working really hard lately, putting in long, long hours at the office :( This past week he's been leaving the house by 5:30 am and not getting home until around 7:30 at the earliest. One night he didn't get home until close to 10 pm.

Since he started in August, they have doubled the volume of gas that they are buying and selling...which is great and means that they are earning more money but it also has increased everyone's workloads, and there's more pressure and time constraints for everyone to get the nominations and scheduling changes in on time and it also means a lot more time away from family :( It's also been pretty hectic lately because of the weather around the country (pipes and wells freezing, more demand for gas along a given pipeline to heat homes, etc.) so that has contributed as well. Needless to say, we are both ready for a vacation. I've been looking around at different resorts in various beachy areas. Just gotta find out when would be an ok time for Sterling to take off work and how many days in a row would actually be feasible. I miss him a lot but I'm very proud of him for working so hard for us.

Next weekend we will get a little bit of a break from work, at least for the weekend anyways. We will be flying up to Lubbock, Texas on Friday for Sterling's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary party. It will be the first time that I will be meeting a lot of the family on his dad's side of the family so I'm a little nervous and hope I don't do or say anything stupid (which I ALWAYS do, haha...oh well) but it will be good to meet and get to know the rest of my new family :) It will also be fun to see all of the new little babies on that side of the family :)

That's the latest! Hope everyone is doing well!!

-J&S

The Cummings Family Holiday Update!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's Eve! We spent ours up visiting family in Maypearl and Athens Texas. Sterling's immediate family (Tammy, John, Kristen, and J) lives up in Maypearl (near Dallas) and his grandmother Eva Jo and uncle Larry live in Athens. We had a great time seeing and catching up with everyone and we played a lot of games which is always fun :) We both like to play board and card games but often find it hard to do when you only have two players so it was great to get some good games going! I learned a bunch of new games - Settlers of Catan, Rummikub, and Poker. I did decently in them for just learning how to play them - I wooped Sterling in all of the hands that the two of us had to "face off" in poker :) I can always tell when he's bluffing :) He ended up winning the whole game though because he conned J into going "all in" and got all of his chips. He was pretty happy with his pile of poker chips :)

For Christmas, Santa Tammy brought us lots of great gifts. Santa brought me some Victoria's Secret, eyelash curlers, some Dr. Scholl's type things to put in high heels, makeup and a really nice scarf. Sterling got Seasons 1-4 of The Office, a cool flashlight, some comfy socks, and the t-shirt that came in the box of The Hangover DVD, which is pretty funny. I also got some pepper spray and a tazer to keep myself safe and we got a lot of cash to put towards date nights and/or an anniversary vacation :) Santa Donna came during Thanksgiving and brought Sterling a little webber grill and a few new work shirts, and I got a new purse, makeup, perfume, and a few things for the house. We are very lucky to have such great family on both sides who like to spoil us like they do!

Sterling got me two new pairs of nice shoes to match some of my dresses that I haven't worn due to lack of shoes (I know, I know....anyone who knows me I'm sure will find this hard to believe! But it's true - this dress in particular was hard to find shoes that match it!) He also made me/us a super-charged new budget, which of course I really liked and had been wanting to do for a few months now. Organization tools make me happy and satisfy my neurotic side, lol :) I bought him some new speakers that he has been wanting to go with his TV - I think he's pretty happy with his little man corner of the living room. We have it set up where we can wirelessly play our music too so we both have enjoyed that a lot :) He duped me a little bit on them though, haha. He was telling me about them and saying "yeah they've got two 8" sub-woofers"....in my mind I was thinking "oh...the speakers are only 8" tall? I can live with that!" Needless to say, I was a little surprised by the size of the box that showed up at our front door! I had quite the time lugging that thing inside...and the speakers are DEFINITELY not 8"!! But that's alright, they sound pretty good and Sterling likes them a lot. I'll just have to find some tall plants to hide them a little bit, haha :)

Here are some more pictures from Christmas with Sterling's family and extended family:

For New Year's Eve, we made dinner reservations on Open Table and went to Morton's Steak House in the Galleria area. We both got the steak and seafood NYE special, along with some salad, drinks, and desserts. It was very good and it was nice to get out on the town for a nice date :)

Happy New Year from The Cummings!!

We wish everyone all of God's blessings and lots of happiness in 2010!!

-J&S