EngelFish.Net

Last night we enjoyed grilling steaks and sitting by the fire in our backyard.  The dogs and cats joined us, and Taryn wrote her blogpost on the laptop.  The day had been incredibly windy, with trees falling all over town, but the air was almost dead still on our cove-like patio. 

We had a very nice weekend, that included having dinner at Humble Pie both Friday and Saturday night.  Friday, we joined Kurt & Elizabeth for a tour of a few local galleries and design shops before having dinner with them at HP.  Saturday we connected with more Flickristas at HP for dinner, then dessert at Krispy Kreme!  

Sunday we decided to celebrate our first anniversary at the same place we had bruch after getting married… 518.  The bizzare part came when I tried to park in our usual spot, and managed to brush the curb, dislodge the valve stem, and give the car a flat.  We called AAA and were on hold for about twenty minutes.  Then I asked Taryn to call them on the other cellphone.  I was still on hold, but they picked up her call in under 60 seconds.  I hung up, and 15 minutes later the guy showed up.  It took me longer to empty the back of the Escape to get to the spare, than it did for him to change the tire.  I was back at the dinner table before my food had a chance to cool off.  I was *very* happy with the AAA membership! 

Yes, you did read that correctly.  We have been married one year.   I have to admit that there was a time in my life that I thought of myself as a confirmed bachelor.  I am very very happy that I was wrong.  Our relationship, with all it’s ups and downs, has been the best thing that’s happened to me in a pretty happiness-filled life.  Thank you, Honey, for everything!

IMAGE: My Lovely Wife…

I’d like you to meet the two newest Engels!  Originally named Stuffing (the rottie) & Pecan Pie (the tan), as they were born on Thanksgiving, the renaming process is under way.  Taryn has settled on Xavier (t.p.f.k.a.* Stuffing) and I’m still mulling over names for Pecan Pie.  My current favorites being Jake & Alex.  We adopted these litter brothers from the Wake County SPCA yesterday.  I didn’t know until recently that pups born in one litter can have different fathers, but these two make that pretty obvious. In spite of our expectations, they slept soundly through their first night, crying only twice to be let out for a quick constitutional.  The cats seem to be adjusting well to them.  Oscar & Felix learned to pretty much ignore them within half an hour of being introduced, and Casey… well, he’s been in hiding for the past 24 hours.  It may take a while to convince him that these guys really are his little brothers.

*the puppy formerly known as

This will be just a quick post to catch up.  The company Christmas Party was Saturday night, and we all had a good time.  Dinner was at 518, and the meal was excellent as ususal.  After, there were drinks at Sullivans, and dancing at The Dirty.  Taryn and I bailed prior to the dancing, but since it was 1:00AM when we left, I doubt if we missed much.

There was much work done with house related stuff this weekend, with Mom’s garage being sorted out… or at least cleaned up a bit in advance of packing.  Taryn has also just about finished the unpacking and holiday decorating of our place.  I never thought I’d live in a place that was this “done up” for the holidays, but it certainly does look nice.  And we have our first Christmas Tree!  I’ll post a shot of it later this week.

I also got Mom back online again.  Her computer is setup, and now she can shop QVC to her heart’s content!   She has a new email and yahoo chat login, so if you want to converse with her, you’ll have to call her and ask for the info.

To top it all off, it’s in the 70′s here in Raleigh.  It’s way to nice to be in an office, and they’re calling for temps in the 50′s with rain for this weekend.

Christmas-wise, I’m way behind.  I haven’t done any shopping, and although we’re doing cards for just about everyone (buying a house makes us too poor) I do need to do some shopping for both my lovely wife and my soon-to-move-away mom.  Ugh.  I hate shopping.

Most of this past week and weekend were spent working.  Lots to do at the office, and we’re running out of time for this year.  I don’t mind working so much, especially when I’m making such good progress.  I have to admit, however, that I’m looking forward to taking some vacation time during the holidays.  I see some painting, yardwork, and home repairs in my future!

I got to spend some time last week hanging out with Cupcake & Solace.  I haven’t seen Solace since Taryn & I dropped Cupcake off at the trailhead a few years back.  He’s working for Jet Blue, and was in town for a couple of days.  We got together at the Rockford, and had dinner and a few drinks.  It was fun.

Taryn also went up into Mom’s attic and pulled down a bunch of Christmas decorations.  I imagine we’ll be putting them up this week.  Such fun!   She’s looking for a tree for us today, so we’ll probably decorate it this Friday night.  Have a fire in the fireplace and spend a few hours untangling lights.

A new addition to the website is the chat feature (via meebo.com).  I think it’s pretty freakin’ neat.  I hope you guys use it to drop me a quick hello when you visit this site.  If I’m logged in to meebo when you visit the site, you’ll be able to tell, so don’t be a stranger.