I see that I sucked at blogging in 2009. It was a crazy busy year...moved away from Monterey and Terry to Lousyana, bought a house, settled in to a crazy busy job, confirmed on too many occasions that I hate road racing, tried to race elite cyclocross in a place with no cyclocross, and battled a few million mosquitoes and spiders. Maybe I didn't blog much because I spent much of the year bitter and/or frustrated with being away from Terry or struggling with cycling or just burnt out from my job, and I didn't want that funk on my blog. So, while I hate the idea of New Years resolutions, it is a time for a fresh start, so let's fire this bad boy back up and start sharing some photos and fun stuff. We have a plan to do the photo/day thing, so watch Flickr for that... One of the highlights of the year was a little addition to our family. I went to a cx race in Ft Worth in November and came home with a puppy! I'd been wanting a brittany spaniel for awhile, but Terry was vehemently against having a dog. He claimed allergies. I grew up always having at least one dog around the farm, and normally we had 2 or 3. My dad used to hunt pheasants and quail with his brittanies, and I love the breed's demeanor and spunk. I found a litter advertised in the Dallas paper, so after my ridiculously poor showing at the cx race, I headed out to find a puppy. I ended up with a preciously little girl I named Massey, after the Massey-Ferguson tractor that was on the farm where I bought her. It was nice to have another warm body in the house and something to keep me busy/entertained after work. But Terry was not happy. He was pretty upset that I got a dog. Yes, I was in the doghouse over this one. But she was so cute...

I went home to Iowa for Thanksgiving, raced my first UCI event at Jingle Cross Rock in Iowa City (yes, Meredith Miller lapped me), and Massey came along. Everyone loved her.  She was just so cute and traveled really well. But Terry was still grumpy about it. Despite being all the way in Monterey and not having met her, he was convinced that all dogs are the devil. Finally, Terry graduated and came home for the holidays. He met Massey and fell in love! Now every time we go out he has to check out the dog treats and toys aisle to see if there's something else he can get to spoil his little girl a little more. She follows him around the house. He totally pampers her. We are now a happy family of 3. And be warned...you may see lots of adorable doggy pics in 2010.