One more reason to look forward to summer...

Just one more little gift...

SATC2

I couldn't resist! Who's excited?!?!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

Merry merry happy wonderful Christmas to all!!!

I hope that everyone had a fabulous holiday with friends and family! I had a great day! I went over to my friend Carole's house- well actually, her neighbors' house and played Rockband and Wii all morning with the kids. Then I picked up my friend Kandyce and we went to the movies! I had no idea how many people go to the movies on Christmas!!!! It was SO busy and the showing of Sherlock Holmes that we had planned to see was sold out. I was really looking forward to seeing that, but oh well, I can always go another time. We saw Up In the Air instead which was really good. The theater was PACKED! I seriously had no idea what a popular Christmas activity this is! The guy who sold us our tickets said that New Year's day is actually way busier. Huh, never knew.

I got everything I could have asked for from the 'rents! Fabulous new boots, a Southwest gift certificate, a new scarf and mittens, an awesome reusable bag with a cute kitty on it, a little jewelry box, Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet, some chocolaty goodies, and some toys and a scratching lounge chair for the kitties!! Plus there was a really neat lollipop with a jeweled handle from Adam in the package too! Everything arrived on Christmas Eve- what great timing!

Also waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday was a package from Beth with some beautiful note cards, an incredibly rad little vase and a great pair of earrings. Speaking of earrings... Pete, Kerry, Chris, Kevin and Sammy sent me a gorgeous pair of glass blown earrings and a matching necklace! I am going to be looking good thanks to all of you!!

There were plenty of holiday goodies exchanged at work too! I got some gift cards, a candle, some hot cocoa and a blanket! Kristi gave me the first four books in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which I can't wait to start! First I'll have to finish the book I'm currently reading, In the Woods, borrowed from Kristi- what would I do without her?

With gifts it really is the thought that counts and by that I just mean that gifts let you know that someone is thinking of you. I am so lucky to have such AMAZING family and friends, and even though I couldn't be with all of them today I felt good knowing that they all loved the gifts I gave them and that they gave me such wonderful gifts!

Here's one last little gift for everyone before I say goodbye to this Christmas: I received some Itunes gift cards and the first thing I downloaded is a CD called Lungs by Florence and the Machine. I haven't listened to the entire thing yet but so far I LOVE it. I read about this CD when Entertainment Weekly named it one of the best of 2009. I'm really drawn to female singers who are doing something new and different, and this is like nothing I've heard before. Check her out!

Florence and the Machine... Dog Days Are Over

Merry Christmas!

What Christmas means to me, my love!

So if anyone besides Amy is wondering why I don't have a Christmas tree it's just because no one would see it since the only people here are my roommate, Kelly, and I and we're barely home. Well I guess that hasn't been the case for me lately seeing as I've been sick and was home way too much, but anyway... But I just didn't feel like getting one- I've had a lot to pay for lately (plane tickets, Sundance tickets, car insurance etc) so I've been watching my spending. It just didn't really seem worth it. But I don't want that to sound sad or depressing or anything! I am all Christmased out at work anyway, with the music and decorations and talk of gifts. It is true that nothing I do here will really feel like Christmas because to me Christmas is...

Watching Scrooged while eating delicious food with the family on Christmas Eve, getting up early in the morning to open presents with everyone before heading to Norwell to celebrate with the rest of the family, sitting by the fire with Katie like I always do, struggling to hear and be heard over all the commotion, laughing at the gag gifts that show up and the mug that gets passed back and forth each year, eating gingerbread people with our names on them and funny outfits like bikinis, taking a walk around the block after dinner and just generally catching up with family.

In a nutshell, that is and always has been Christmas for me. This year I have been invited to a couple of Christmas Eve get togethers and on Christmas day I'm going to the movies with a friend from work! I've never been to the movies on Christmas so it will be a new and fun experience! But it doesn't really matter what I do because it just feels like any other day, any other time of year, not really like Christmas at all. Don't feel bad for me though, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into when I moved out here. I knew I wouldn't be able to go home during this time of year and I took a chance!

Enough Christmas talk... I am better!!! Well I'm almost completely better, at least I can talk! I'm not really stuffed up anymore and just have a bit of a cough now and then but other than that I'm in the clear! I just have to keep taking care of myself so that I'm 100% healthy for California! So excited!!

Here's something random... I found a list of the most popular baby names of 2009 and I noticed something about the top 5 girls names. They all end in A.

1. Isabella
2. Sophia
3. Emma
4. Olivia
5. Ava

And the boys names, all but #5, end in N.

1. Aiden
2. Ethan
3. Jackson
4. Jayden
5. Jacob

I guess those were the trends in baby names this past year... girls names with an A at the end, and boys names with an N. I like all of the top 5 girl names a lot! I love names that end in A, oddly enough! I really like the name Ethan but other than that I'm not a huge fan of the top 5 boy names. I like the name Jake a lot, but not Jacob. I wonder if people named babies after characters from the Twilight series? Isabella? Jacob? No Edward though... What do you think of the list? Do you know any babies with one of these names?

No talking!

Blogging doesn't require talking and that's why it is the perfect activity for me at the moment! More on that later... Plus I've been meaning to blog all week, but I've just been working and sleeping (I should say trying to sleep seeing as I wake up in the middle of every night to a coughing fit and horribly runny nose) as I try to beat this awful cold!

Back to my opening statement... Yesterday I was finally starting to feel a little better but by the middle of the day I was definitely losing my voice and when I woke up this morning all I could do was whisper! I went to work but was promptly sent home because what am I really going to do if I can't talk? And talking is so exhausting today! Every time I open my mouth I put forth enough effort to yell and barely a peep comes out! I decided to go to the doctor, which is so unlike me, I never go to the doctor as I'm normally a healthy young lady! And while there isn't really anything wrong with me, the doctor's most important instruction... DON'T TALK! He said that my vocal chords are really swollen and red. He also gave me some Nasonex which I have to say with that stupid bumblebee's accent in my head every time I think about it, and told me to gargle warm salt water and take Sudafed twice a day. He did give me a prescription for antibiotics but he told me to wait 24 hours before filling that because he believes what I have is viral so that won't help. I really hope I can kick this thing soon!

I received some more Christmas presents in the mail! I opened them right away and there seems to be a split decision on whether or not that is the right thing to do. Some people think you should wait until Christmas day to open all presents that come in the mail. I would do that if I was at home and I could put everything under the tree to look pretty and then be opened with all the other gifts on December 25th when there's a big celebration. But I don't have a tree and I'm not really doing anything on Christmas and plus I'm IMPATIENT and all alone and sad that I'm not with my family so I will open the presents as they come!!!

I got some ski gloves to go with my ski pants from Grammy and Grampy! They fit great and I love them! They seem really warm and functional, they even have pockets! I also received a funky necklace from Steve and Colin which I built an outfit around just so that I could wear it the day after I got it! I also received a wreath! This was from Steve and Colin as well and it is beautiful! It smells great too! It's from LL Bean and it was made in Maine. I hung it on the wall right as you walk into the apartment and it looks so nice and festive!

That's all I've got for ya today. Hopefully I'll be recovered in the next couple of days because it's sure to be a busy week at work. And I don't want to be sick for my trip!! Have a wonderful weekend!

'Tis the season... for colds!!!

I am sick! Ugh, I hate being sick. I think it's just a really bad cold but I am so congested and my throat is a little sore (not nearly as bad as it was this weekend, felt like I was breathing fire!!!) and I have a cough. If it doesn't go away in a few days I'll have to run to the doctor and see if it's something more or just see if there's anything I can take to get rid of it faster.

Any suggestions on getting rid of a cold? What works for you? I leave for California in less than 2 weeks so I would love to be completely healthy by then!

The worst part of this is that I had to call the National Ability Center this morning and tell them that I can't help out with the 2 lessons I had signed up for tonight since I'm feeling so icky. I absolutely HATE calling out sick for things!!! I hate canceling last minute and leaving them scrounging for a replacement. Grrrr... it makes me so frustrated. I could probably count on 2 hands (if not 1 hand) the number of times I have called out or gone home sick from work. And that's all thanks to the way I was raised. Growing up in my house you basically had to be on your death bed before my mom let you miss school! Amy, Adam, Jared- am I right?! It was a pain in the ass back then but I am grateful for that lesson because I follow that same rule now for all of my commitments. If I thought going to the NAC lessons tonight was a possibility I would be there, but I'm coughing and sneezing and I don't want to get anyone else sick, especially not the little kids I would have been helping. I still feel so guilty about calling out, but I'm certain it was the right thing to do.

On a good note: I received a Christmas present in the mail yesterday! THANK YOU TO MY WONDERFUL GRAMMY AND GRAMPY!!! They sent me a great pair of ski pants from Land's End! I tried them on and the fit really well. I'm so excited about them!! It was so funny when I tried them on because Belami was afraid of me while I was wearing them! Every time I walked over to him he ran away all freaked out! Maybe it's the swishy noise they make when I walk, but it was hilarious!

Speaking of ski pants we have a ton of snow so Park City is in all it's glory! It's so beautiful with the snow around here and you can just feel a difference in the air like this mountain town is waking up after a long sleep! I'm glad I think it's pretty because snow is also a a pain- shoveling it and driving in it specifically. It really does make it feel a little more like Christmas and I can use all the Christmas feeling I can get since I'm so far from home!

Only a little more than a week until the big day... are you in the Christmas spirit???

Funk up your flair!

I love to accessorize.

I'm not sure when my love affair with all things glitzy, glammy and girly began, but I've been in a committed relationship for quite some time now and I'm content as can be! I like to experiment with my accessories. Belt as a headband? Been there. Belt as a necklace? Done that. Today I tried something new.

I took a pretty pink flower pin and attached it to a couple of necklaces. One of the necklaces is an old piece of costume jewelry that looks like a double string of crystals, and the other a simple strand of tiny silver beads and a strand of fake freshwater pearls. Neither of these are all that exciting on their own, but pin them together with a flower and it's like an entirely new necklace!

I did not invent this- I saw it in a J. Crew catalog and who knows if the designers made it up or stumbled upon it somewhere else- but I rocked it! And so can you! I think it would work with any type of pin, not just a flower, I'll have to try it out and let you know. Or YOU could try it out and let ME know! You'll want to do this with necklaces that are different lengths (layer them on, the more the merrier!) and just attach the pin on the side, not right in the middle of a necklace where a pendant would be, and... Voila! Don't you look pretty?!

Drive carefully! And not just because of the snow!

Last night my landlord pointed out that my right rear tire was looking pretty low. I moved my car into the garage last night and took in the damage. Not only was my right rear tire low, but also my left rear tire. And we are talking low! I can't believe that I hadn't noticed it before and of course now that I was aware of it I was really worried to drive on it.

Luckily there is an auto shop, Burt Brothers, quite close to work so one of my coworkers was nice enough to follow me over there on my break so that I could drop off my car and have a ride back to work. A couple hours later they called to tell me that my car was all set and that there had been a nail in each of my rear tires!

I can't think of where I could have driven over these nails, but oh well. I guess I'll just have to be more careful! The good part of all this is that it's free to have things removed from your tires!

So please watch where you're driving and try not to run over any nails!

The Center of Me.

It's your lucky day.

I am going to post a poem written by me. I never do this so that's why it's your lucky day. Not because the poem is particularly good, but because this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to read poetry that was born in my mind.

My very last semester at UNH I took a poetry class. I was really excited, but also nervous because I didn't know if I could write poetry and share it with people. The class was great, loved my teacher, loved my classmates. Some of the poems written by my fellow students were amazing! I saved my favorite pieces and pasted them into one of my journals because I always wanted to remember them.

Our final project was to put together our best work from the semester and write a blurb reflecting on our experience in the class. I saved my portfolio because not only is it the best poetry I wrote during my time in that class, it's also some of the best poems I've EVER written.

I'm feeling a bit down, ya know, just one of those days. But in a bigger picture sort of way I worry lately that in trying so hard to please others, I will eventually lose my true self. So read on and enjoy and never forget who you are no matter who that might be.

The Center of Me

At the center of me there is a collage,
a mess of colors and emotions.

At the center of me there is fresh snow,
so innocent, so pure
waiting for footprints and angels.

At the center of me there is a movie star,
craving attention,
adoring the spotlight,
demanding an audience.

At the center of me there is a poet.
a painter, a songwriter
searching for her muse.

At the center of me there are memories,
hopes, wishes, dreams and goals.
There are fears, nightmares, regrets.

At the center of me there is a book,
written each day that I go on.

I'm Baaaack.

I've decided to start a new blog because, well, why not? I've got nothing better to do. The layout isn't really going to be any different than my previous 2 attempts at blogging, I just hope to be more successful this time around.

Third time's a charm. As they say...

I don't know who they are, but hopefully they are right.

So here are the types of stories you can expect from this little lady:

Neve ate a Cheez-It tonight. Just gobbled it up. I was enjoying a handful of this delicious snack and she wouldn't leave me alone and kept sticking her little head right in the box. I offered it to her assuming she would just sniff it but instead she ate it!

What's the weirdest food your pet has ever eaten?