a very merry christmas

my first christmas with my husband was great. we joined the day after christmas shopping crowd to make some returns and purchase our dvd player and surround sound system for a great price. funny thing is we still don't have a tv to watch the movies on :) but it's coming in february along with nick's holiday bonus. i bought a few more clothes yesterday. now i should be set for student teaching. at least for the first month - a girl can never have enough clothes you know. i feel like i had more to write about, more stories to tell. but my mind is going blank. maybe i'll remember later.

back with my baby

after a relaxing on a much needed vacation, i'm back with my wonderful husband. he has a four day weekend for christmas and i'm enjoying my time with him after being away for a week. yesterday we did some last minute shopping for a few children - what a mess! there was hardly anythig left! but we managed to find some good things and decided we were very pleased with our decision to do all christmas shopping online. i was going crazy and getting very cranky with the crowds. we have plenty of christmas things to do today. right now the gingerbread dough is chilling in the fridge. i had no idea how hard it was to make!! you can't use the mixer after awhile and it's so sticky from the molasses. not to mention the smell of the molasses made me sick to my stomoach. but i did it for nick (who had to come to my rescue and finish). we're actually making gingerbread bears b/c we didn't look for cookie cutters until yesterday! ha! but i think we can cut off the ears and he'll look like a man :) we'll be going to the christmas eve service at our church tonight like i always did with my family, and then we will eat cheese fondue for dinner like his family. we're so glad to spend our first christmas together and share our family's traditions and make some of our own.

now THIS is vacation..almost

i finally made it to virginia! wow - what a trip! i was supposed to have a nice non-stop flight arriving in dc at 1:30 in the afteroon. after picking up luggage and driving about 45 min i would be with my folks. oh no - that was too easy! instead they cancelled my flight 4 hours before it was even supposed to take off. then b/c they put me on a connecting flight through detroit, i had all kinds of delays b/c of their snow storm. i ended up flying into a different airport in dc, but my luggage never came with me. it was still in detroit! by the time i headed to the other airport for my dad to pick me up and headed home in an ice storm i was hugging my mom at 11pm! whew! yesterday was bree's wedding and the airline called in the morning telling me my luggage would be delivered by 4pm. perfect. two hours before i had to get ready for the wedding. but that was too good to be true. instead i ran around town trying to put together an outfit at the last minute. shoes and everything! now i know why people wear clothes once and return them. my mom and i were discussing this option the entire time! lol my mom! but today i sat in bed watching tv (which is a treat since nick and i don't have one) and have been a bum. i'm working on christmas cards and i have to do two more papers. but finally - two days into my vacation it's peaceful and relaxing.

getting closer

i've been a mess lately because of all the crap i have to finish up at the end of the semester. my normal classes wouldn't be a big deal - as a matter of fact i hardly have anything due for them and no finals. instead i'm bogged down with my directed research class and a correspondence course. i decided to take my correspondence test when i return from break. i didn't want to study or do anything over christmas, but it has allowed me to have peace of mind. now i can actually focus on getting my essays done instead of sitting in front of the computer freaking out that it's all due by thursday morning. thursday. i'll really be home in two days! wow! i'll have some work to finish up, but i know i'll need time away from my mother ;) i'm looking forward to seeing folks from home. i joined facebook recently and have "found" high school classmates. it makes me realize i haven't been so great at staying in touch with many of my friends from va. hopefully i'm able to see some of you in the week i'm in good ol' funchester.

ave maria

we got new neighbors a few months ago. we still haven't seen them yet, but we know the guys there before all moved out. we can hear what goes on in their bathroom which is right next door to our living room and kitchen. (it grosses me out to think about it) really, what we hear most is the shower -glory! but they're loud. things are always falling or they're hitting the wall. and they shower at random times during the day. the other night i noticed one of them was singing in the shower. i could just hear the muffled sounds, nothing was clear. it was a "girly man voice" who didn't seem to be talented. i was rather amused. but last night was the best yet! the shower started up, the girly voice began to sing a tune, and sure enough i heard "ave maria!". i was cracking up and called nick into the living room to listen with me. hilarious! when the shower stopped another voice joined the girly man voice. he had a manly man voice and was pretty good! so then my neighbors did a little duet for us. the best part is that they left us a note that read, "please do not slam your door your neighbors will appreciate it." the other morning. i would like to clarify that our doors automatically shut if you don't guide them (kind of like hotel doors) so it's hard to not let them make noise, not to mention we are not the only ones in our cluster of apartments who let the door shut on its own. i'm tempted to leave them a note that reads, "please sing louder in the shower your neighbors will appreciate it." what do you think about that? :)

snow bunnies!

the following pictures are from our photo shoot for our christmas card. it was only 1 degree out when we took them! brrrr. 

CHEESE!

 

"i'm a model, you know what i mean...."

 

what the heck nick? ;)

 

well hello there!

 

picture perfect

 

Red Wing, MN

Red Wing makes shoes...so the town was full of shoes made into other objects. here -the flower pot.

we did some window shopping and looking at antiques in this old pottery factory remodeled and turned into an indoor mall. we had quite a few laughs at the antique shop. things we played with as kids were in there!

anybody home?

sorry i forgot to put these pictures on after we went to red wing. as i said before, we went just on a whim for some time away from real life.

music to my ears

i made my first performance with the xylophone today! our methods of music class is required to do a live performance during the semester. usually this is done while other students are in the lunch line or the class goes to the local nursing home. however, this year our teacher wanted us to do it during a chapel service. so we graced a small group chapel with our own rendition of "we three kings". the band was made up of a piano, recorders, guitars, buckets, jingle bells, a xylophone and two ladies who should be professional whistlers. it was so fun! the best part was that we were so nervous and one of our classmates gave an amazing introduction. she took the audience back to elementary school christmas plays. she reminded them that their parents, aunts and uncles told them they did a great job no matter what happened. (even if the fat kid fell off the bleachers at the end or it as all off key). then she asked that as the family of christ, they have the same compassion and love for us. it turned out fine. i was lucky to play a quiet instrument that didn't get a mic. just in case i messed up. but no one even heard me and my perfection! i guess i gave others a chance to excel at the recorder. i mean i rocked the recorder in fourth grade. i was the first to finish my book.