Tonight my husband was gracious to grant me my third night out alone in one week!  I got to have dinner & play mini-golf with my new (and southern & single) friend, Rachel.  Don’t worry, I warned her that I aspire to be like Emma in Jane Austen’s book & play matchmaker for every single friend I know.  It’ll happen one day.

Well, we played mini golf after a very fulfilling dinner at Bella Italia.  And, like the title says, I was the loser.  Rachel won by 3 “strokes” – is that the right term?  She beat me!  Probably because she got 2 holes in one & I got zilch.  Oh well, it was about the fun, not the competition (until I am the WINNER!).

We got to talking a little about humility & how she lets herself be photographed even though she’s totally un-photogenic.  So, I decided to emulate her good advice & start liking myself & how I look in photos.  And that starts with actually being IN a photo.  So, we set up the pose, set the self timer, looked out for stray golf balls, and jumped in front of the camera!  Here’s a second one with me looking more stupider…or more stupid.  It’s okay, it’s a start….

Thanks for the “date” Rachel!

Yes, I’m admitting it.  And maybe I should join Sore Losers Anonymous.  I am a sore L-O-S-E-R!  There, it’s said, it’s done, I’m cured!  I wish!  Although the reason I’m shooting this picture & not in it is because I was the first one out, I truly did enjoy our time with family and friends today.   Josh’s brother, Matt, & his beautiful bride, Emily, put on their long johns & snow clothes & walked to our house today to renovate the igloo, have dinner & play some games with us.  Unfortunately for me, we chose Monopoly.  Which, I think is mostly luck, but that’s just my opinion.  I mean come on, two times around the board & I wasn’t able to buy a single property!  Who has that bad of luck?!?!?  Okay, sore loserness is done…I’m over it….. *sigh*  So we enjoyed Matt & Emily’s company and were also treated with our neighbors Mary & Chris coming over AND bringing red velvet dinosaur cake!  We are so blessed!  For being in what seems like a perpetual blizzard, I feel very lucky to have all this family time with our little family, as well as with our friends & family who live so close by to make the snow seem a little less chilling.  Thanks guys!

I’m beat….g’night!

Yes, family & friends, it was only a matter of time before a Settlers blog post appeared.  In case you don’t know about Settlers of Catan, it’s a German board game that my family is obsessed about – or, that I am obsessed about winning.  Personally I think it’s like a cross between Monopoly & Risk.  Currently I am on a 3-month losing streak.  And, people, we don’t just play once in a while – we play at least once a week, sometimes more, and even more than one game in a sitting.  I am the official Settlers loser in my family, and I make sure to let them all know about it.  I stink!  I just don’t know why (they could all probably tell you), but I can’t seem to win.  Oh well, such is life.  And it’s just a game, right?

Today after Bert & Laura brought Emma back after her sleepover, we all had lunch at our house & played two games of Settlers.  Congratulations to Mom (Bonnie) & Bert on winning.  (You won’t be invited back, since you didn’t let me win).

In the photo above I’m the blue pieces.  As you can see at this point things didn’t look too terrible for me until Mom came full force with a massive road, cutting the entire land of Catan in half!  And Bert with his stinkin’ castles!  OMG!  How’s a person supposed to win with this kind of competition?  I even have Settlers of Catan on my iPhone so I can practice against highly-skilled computers but I just can’t seem to bring the winning into real life.  I’ll be sure to let you know when my streak ends.

Oh, and if you want to play with us, come on over.  We’re usually up for playing any day of the week, even into the wee hours of the night.  Sroka’s are always up for some competition!

Photos I’ve been looking at:  Melissa C.  She’s a person I randomly found though…you guessed it….Facebook!  I think I saw her comment on another 365 blog & clicked through to her blog & saw her photo of a crossword puzzle.  Immediately I thought of my dear grandmother who loves crosswords.  Melissa gave me such an encouraging comment the other day when I felt like giving up on this 365 thing.  Thanks for the push forward Melissa & I love looking at your work.  Keep it up!

*oh, and we’re such Settlers nerds that we bought Kids of Catan for our children.  Yup, we took it that far.