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