Holiday Decor

I think one of the hardest things about moving is finding how all your old stuff fits into a new place. That being said, I have some really nice areas in my new home for some good holiday cheer.

My christmas tree directly in front of a large window on the 1st floor, so it can be enjoyed from the inside and outside.

A couple shelves right by the entrance are perfect for seasonal decorating.

There's a bit more christmas decorations scattered around the house, but those are definitely my most fun areas.

Top Ten Recap

It's that wonderful time of year with turkey, then peppermint, and shortly after that champagne. Since 2013 is rapidly approaching (given the world doesn't end on the 21st), I figured I'd reviewed my New Year's resolutions from January to see how I did this year. I know it's not quite the end of 2012, but it is December and the busy holiday season so if I haven't accomplished it yet, I'm probably not going to in the next few days.

1. Irish/Euro Trip 2012 - Done and done. I had an amazing week with my family traveling around southern Ireland followed by another awesome week with just my brother and sister in Paris, Berlin, and Prague. We even had an added bonus of getting to visit the Burke/Sandeman household.
2. Niezgoda Family Reunion - Another check off the list. Sadly, we were down 2 members of the group that initially thought they could make it, but I even managed to catch up with one of them a couple weeks later in NYC.
3. No Smoking - Okay, not an entire win. However, I did manage to only have about 1 pack (maybe 20 cigarettes) throughout the whole year which is a huge step in the right direction. Maybe I will renew this one for next year.
4. New Job - Huge win. I now have an awesome job working in the pediatrics department at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. It definitely continues to challenge me medically and came with an outstanding benefits package compared to my previous employment.  As an added bonus, I also really like everyone I work with now.
5. Wakeboarding - This is also definitely an accomplishment. It is also tons of fun. The only down side is I now don't know what I like to do more at the lake, wakeboard or waterski.
6. Baseball - Tradition continued.  The RedSox had a terrible season this year, however I did manage to get to a Yankees/Sox game and the Sox even won! 
7. Boston Reunion - Jane and Chris threw a beautiful wedding event. I was especially impressed that our people came from all over the country (and world) to celebrate. The 2-day hangover I had was a nice momento of the magnitude of fun we had.
8. More NYC Fun - Mission accomplished. I had a wonderful birthday weekend that included a 7-course tasting menu at a restaurant, plus I made it to restaurant week in both the winter and the summer.
9. Donate Blood - Epic fail. However, this was not due to my lack of effort. I tried to donate blood 3 times, but twice my count wasn't high enough to donate and once they cancelled my appointment. I did join the bone marrow registry though, so I think I'll take that as an even trade.
10. Blog - This post will be number 20 for the year. It's not quite the twice a month (24) that I was aiming for, but it is pretty close. Who knows, maybe I'll even add another to that number before the year is over.

A Karmic Thanksgiving

The last few years as the holiday season approaches, I try to spread the love. What I mean is, I try to take a moment to appreciate what I have and then find a way to share that happiness. I am truly blessed to have wonderfully supportive family and friends as well as a career I enjoy and good health that will hopefully allow me to continue enjoying life for a long time. If you really want more details about what an awesome life I have, you can check out last year's Be Thankful Challenge blogposts. That month of reflection was definitely a way to help me appreciate what I had during the holidays. I also adopted an angel last year through the Salvation Army. I had so much fun shopping for a little girl knowing (hoping) that her Christmas would be special with presents under her tree.

This year, in the last month my family (and family of friends) has experienced a trying time with illness. It's very frustrating to try to make sense of young, beautiful (and sometimes annoying) people suddenly falling ill with leukemia. Medicine, sick children in particular, is something that I deal with everyday, but when you're not the doctor it's a very different perspective. There's no time to process this diagnosis or label that has been given before the fight must begin. It's confusing. Most of all, there's a lot of questions (usually starting with why) that don't have answers. Being the support group is difficult as well, trying to find the right words to say. One of the first conclusive thoughts I could come to though was that if a bone marrow transplant was needed, I would offer to be matched. It was a pretty easy decision as my life would be forever different without this person. However my medical knowledge told me that without being directly related, the odds that I would be match were low. 

For a while now, I have taken a more karmic than religious approach to life. I try to base my actions and decision on the philosophy - put good into the world and you'll get good back. So I've decided the most I can do is apply this philosophy to this trying time.  This year to share my happiness around the holidays, I've joined the bone marrow registry. I realized that everyone needing a life-saving bone marrow transplant is somebody's person. Maybe if I help somebody else's person then if/when the time comes, somebody will do the same for my person. Truthfully, I'm totally scared by the idea of donating bone marrow (I don't really know why - it just seems daunting), but sometimes hope has to outweigh fear. So I sent out for my matching kit yesterday.

(PS - Please know that my immediately family is well and that for now "my person" is focused on processing and fighting this diagnosis, and is not quite ready to share it yet.)

Not New Jersey

So I am officially settled in to my new Maryland digs. While I'm awaiting the start of my new job, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect back. To promote some excitement about exploring Baltimore, here are some things I'm hoping are behind me in Jersey:

• NJ Drivers - I'm really hoping the commotion of blowing horns and sliding across 4 lanes of traffic are a thing of my past. It would be good for lowering my blood pressure.
• Flooding - 3 years, 3 floods, 1 boat evacuation, and 10 days without power... enough said. I have been continuously reassured that floods like don't happen here.
• Air Quality Alerts - With NYC so close, any day the temperature was over 90 degrees we got air quality alerts. Basically it meant, beware you are about to walk out into a cloud of smog. Lovely.
• Fist Pumping - Raising the roof is fine, but pumping a fist up and down in the air is not a dance move.
• Allergens - My allergens have been out of control in Jersey which has resulted in me being medicated about 9 months of the year.  Sadly, that may increase here in Baltimore where the weather appears to be even warmer.

I'm Not Homeless!

The Baltimore rental market is ridiculous. My wonderful hosts during my housing search, Ben and Anna, can vouch for this. I would say most nice rentals in a good area (whether through a realtor, Craigslists, etc) are on the market somewhere between 12 and 36 hours. It is seriously stressful. I did a lot of research in the week prior to going to Baltimore and set up appointments to see properties. However, my appointments for anything that was clean, spacious, and reasonably priced were cancelled before I even got there. Thankfully though, there were also new properties popping up almost every day.

In the end, I did find an amazing home rental that I truly think was meant just for me. It popped up on Craigslist just before I arrived in Baltimore and the owner was looking for the right renter as opposed to simply wanting to fill it. It is a 2 floor row house (with a basement) in a quieter area. It about 3/4 mile to the bustling night life area, but also has a little restaurant on the corner where the neighbors hang out. The woman I am renting from is a realtor herself who is very attentive to her property and the neighbors are almost all young professionals like myself. It is everything I was looking for (2 bedroom, storage space, good closet size, washer/dryer) and was the right price for me too. Plus, I lucked out and am getting a tons of awesome extras that I didn't need as well (granite counters, exposed brick, hardwood, a free cleaning lady). Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here you go...

The kitchen:

The living room area:

My bedroom:

The bathroom:

The extra (bed)room:

The most important thing is there is plenty of room for visitors, so start planning your trip!