To start, I managed to not run my new business venture into the ground in its fledgling year under my control - a feat in and of itself. I'm proud of how I've been able to successfully grow the company, especially since entrepreneur had never been a role I imagined myself filling. And I love it! We're eager to see what changes, big and small, 2013 will bring to our little family olive oil business.
In March Rob and I took our very first significant trip alone together, which was both a blessing and a hardship being away from Olive for a whole week. However, Napa was like a dream, and seeing our friends, Bruce and Romeo and exploring their ranch, enjoying incredible food, and learning about olive oil at the Olive Center at UC Davis was really a perfect vacation.
I ran my fourth marathon in May (and am eagerly looking forward to my fifth in - yikes - just over four months, despite the fact that I haven't run since that leisurely 3-miler I did with my dad on Thanksgiving). Though it becomes easier each time I run 26.2 miles, it's still an accomplishment, not to mention a nice way to help raise money for charities. Stay tuned for more on that later.
I had what was, without a doubt, the best summer in all of my thirty-one years, spent with some of the finest folks in Pittsburgh. Wonderful foods were made and consumed, conversations had, and bonds forged that will last a lifetime. These are the people that Olive sees not just as my friends, but hers, as well, and are very much like family to all of us.
My sudden urge in July to take a family trip to Europe was one of the best ideas I've ever hatched, if I do say so myself. Such an excursion might have seemed too far-fetched for us at one time, but I figured we should take the opportunity to make more memories. The three of us still regularly go through the photographs we took and talk to Olive about what we did there just so it doesn't become too vague a memory as she gets older.
I welcomed my third niece, Opal, in late October. Though we haven't seen much of her since her first week (despite living 25 minutes from my sister, our schedules are rarely in sync enough to allow for many visits and our paths didn't cross in Maryland the day after Christmas as we'd hoped because of some pretty nasty weather), she is an absolute doll with the widest, most inquisitive-looking eyes I've ever seen. Olive loves her and is constantly asking to look at pictures of her youngest cousin.
And finally, I've started regularly producing artwork again. I've been looking around our house at the artwork, noting that most of it has been done since becoming a Pittsburgher. While it's overwhelming at times, it feels really good knowing that I have the ability to create things that affect other people in a positive way, and to still be using the gift I was given. Olive seems to enjoy watching me work, too, and gets inspired to paint, herself, which delights me much in the way my own artist mother must've loved watching her children create works on paper.
Basking in the early spring sunshine in Napa
Olive with two of her favorite people, Keith and Alex. Bagel making was in progress.
Giving a squeeze to Shackleton, our friends' house bunny
Exploring the creek in our friend's back yard. I wouldn't at all mind having a house with a creek one day.
Getting a visit from Alex at the Pittsburgh Public Market
On a walk around Alpine Lake while visiting Mimi and Pop Pop at their lake house in West Virginia
Our spur-of-the-moment Labor Day trip to Lake Erie
Making their way up to the Rock of Dunamase near Port Laoise, Ireland
Looking out over Dingle Bay off of Slea Head Drive on the Dingle Peninsula in western Ireland
My two loves, delighted to be at the Rock of Cashel, a pretty impressive Irish castle
Crawling through a rope tunnel at the Tiergarten Schönbrunn, the zoo in Vienna, Austria
Giving a kiss to Pink Cat, Olive's companion, near the foot of the Eiffel Tower
Olive was always wanting Marie, our hostess in Prague, to read her stories. I think she enjoyed her accent.
Opal! She arrived during the hype of Hurricane Sandy on October 29th at the Midwife Center. She is such a dear.
