Christmas Day

We went to church with my mom at Oakhurst Baptist last night AND this morning! I love the choir there; some of their members even sing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra! This is the church where we got married, so I had to get pictures of us in front of the tree. Thanks to mom's friend Renee for playing photographer-- a friend is going to touch up the first one, so I'll re-post when she's done. 

Mom got us a SoniCare toothbrush for Christmas which is pretty exciting-- our dentist says it's the best thing that we could do for our teeth, and we found it on sale for $40 which is nearly half price! I don't know how we would have afforded it otherwise, so THANKS mom! She also gave me some lavender epsom salts, and a little dremel type tool for Jeremy-- he has a big bad one, but this will be good for if he wants to take it to work or on the road so he doesn't have to worry about losing/breaking it. 

I got Jeremy "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig and "Shop Class as Soulcraft" by Matthew Crawford, as well as "Cowboys and Aliens" and a couple of other things that I'm holding off on... he hasn't gotten anything for me, which I don't mind, but he's making himself feel bad about it so I don't want to give him the big surprise and make him feel really bad :\ I'll wait on that one until our first road trip, he'll be thrilled! 

Christmas with the Kids

We went and spent Christmas Eve Morning with the kids since Santa visited them early so they could go to Knoxville and see Michael's sister and her family. Grandma Patty sent more than enough presents, so we helped them figure out which presents went to which child (though Julian opened both of theirs from us and wondered why he got a pink fish!) and Jeremy played the good uncle and took all the packaging off from grandma's presents.

And we're off!

Regan got Violet a little kid laptop! 

"Open it! I play with it now!"

Auntie Margaret put tons of tape on, so I had to help V open them

Michael helps V open a particularly sticky package

Julian making a fish face and Violet liking the sparkles

She was very amused by the nose on the elephant ornament!

We finally got her to rip some of the wrapping paper!

It was a fun morning, and the kids got some really neat stuff. Julian got an Angler fish and when he pretended like it was going to bite Violet SHE bit the FISH! That girl is fearless! She got some more stuff for her play kitchen, and a little dollhouse that goes with a book series, several books, and of course ornaments from me and Jeremy. It will be interesting to see what gets donated and what they end up keeping! (every year, Grandma Patty gets them way too much stuff for their tiny house, so Michael will put some of it up in the attic for when they grow out of their current toys, and some of them go to the thrift stores for other kids to enjoy!) Who knows, maybe next year they'll have a little Clark baby to help open their presents!

Dinner

 Marc carves the turkey

 Turkey, shrimp, and smoked Boston butt!

 Chili and Oyster Stew

Sweet Potato Bake, Cheese Soup and Green Bean Casserole

Nala

Nala is Josh and Sarah's cat... she's normally a little strange, but when you give her some catnip all bets are off!

 Stalking the fire...

 Stalking Josh AND the fire

Grooming Jan with surprising furiousness!

All in all she's not too bad, though-- fairly quiet and likes to play, plus she doesn't shed like a monster! 

Turkey Fryer!

The idea was to put it by the garage door and that way if it caught on fire, they could kick it out in to the snow on the driveway. Josh then parked his car in the driveway... good thing it ended up juuust about perfect!

White Christmas

It was a white Christmas for us! Here's the view from Josh and Sarah's front door that morning...

Christmas (a Pensive Post)

Everyone else is doing pensive posts about what Christmas means to them and I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon-- just because I'm not a Christian doesn't mean this time of year doesn't have meaning.

I remember Christmas growing up; we never had tons of money and only got one "big" present and a few little ones, often things that were related to our big present. The ones I remember the most were a 101 Dalmations tent (mostly meant for indoor camping) and a bicycle which I learned to ride in the park across the street from my house. I remember helping my little brother put together his Lego and KNEX sets and playing Operation with him when he was a toddler; he got so spooked by the noise!

I grew up going to church services, both of my parents had grown up in churches, but we weren't a "religious" household. For us, Christmas meant being together and being happy and taking time to reflect on the joy and gift of having family and friends to spend our time with. As we grew older and grew closer with those in our neighborhood, we grew to understand that family isn't just the people you're tied to by blood-- family is anyone that means a lot to you. Anyone whose presence enriches you and whose absence saddens you. Many of those people were at my wedding even though blood family chose church commitments over our big day.

I've been accused directly and indirectly by people of detracting from the "reason for the season" by having our wedding so close to Christmas. If I'd had my way, we would have had our wedding in the spring, outside, possibly in my old neighborhood. But, as I've explained to many, a wedding is about family and being together-- much like Christmas.

Thinking back on those Christmases growing up and the past few that I've had, and our wedding, I've come to realize even moreso that the people we call friends are our real family. Very few of our family either made a point of being there or even made a point of making an excuse. Indeed, the people whose schedules we most sought to accommodate all skipped out.

The last paragraph especially is something I struggle with on a daily basis. Our wedding anniversary was forgotten by all but a handful of people because folks were too busy preparing for Christmas. We'll never get anniversary presents, and we'll never get a card saying, "Congrats on another year of marriage." Perhaps I'm the only one who still sends cards like that, and yes it is selfish of me to think those things, but I devote quite a bit of time thinking ahead to what I can do to remember those I love.

That being said, Christmas is also a time of forgiveness; a time for all of us, myself included, to put aside these petty concerns and simply be happy for what we have and the blessings we have received whether by Fate or Faith. If I'm correct, that's the whole point of Jesus in Christianity-- He came as a symbol of forgiveness and love. and so His followers are to live each day by his example of loving freely and unconditionally.

I promise this is the end, and so my point is this:

Whether you're Christian, Agnostic, Atheist, or any other religion, the last month of the year is for all of us a reflection on the past and a way to look forward to the New Year-- a place where we make the decision of how to act towards others, including those who have hurt us or wronged us. As an individual not celebrating the birth of Christ, I still make an effort to clear my mind and sit silently, to consider how I can be a better, more positive person for myself, my friends, my family, and those I have yet to meet. To remind myself that I do not need to grow expectations of reciprocation on anything throughout the year.

I hope you have all had (or will have) a peaceful Winter Solstice (Yule, Saturnalia, etc), Christmas, Pancha Ganapati, Chanukah, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa and anything else I may have missed. Pictures to come from our Christmas trip, and I'm working on my New Years resolutions to post up next week-- I'm awaiting 2011 with baited breath!

Insomnia Rules!

I've got to get my melatonin back from Michael-- I haven't slept in days! I'm trying to work from home, too, until it's above freezing each day. I get the feeling it's going to be a nasty winter! 11:15a and it's only 30 degrees. Sure it's 16 in Martinsville (which does not make me excited for Christmas...) but that doesn't mean 30 isn't uncomfortable for those of us with paper thin skin! Plus, if it's going to be this cold, I feel like it should at least do us a favor and spit out some snow!

The heat in the apartment has gotten a little bit better, by about 3 degrees. Still not great, but better and it keeps us warm enough at night when it's far below freezing.

Still stressed, and it's to the point now where I don't feel like doing anything at all. I still have a bunch of stuff to mail, including Christmas for the Eiler package that needs to leave Memphis this week! I've been so awful about getting to the PO, I just hate going in there this time of year! We got a couple of small things for Ana, and I'm sending her much belated birthday present over, and this year's Christmas card.

So, as you can see, still mostly boring stuff. Hoping to have some time over the next couple weeks to keep working on EB's wedding planner (since I've got more time than I thought lol) and get another few sets of cards up on my Etsy shop! (http://www.etsy.com/shop/HockeyPanda) Stop by and check them out, I do custom orders, too!

Ciao for now, I'm going to check out the Publix ad and then straighten my hair (in an effort to avoid more than a perfunctory shower in our freezing cold bathroom!) and set course for the PO!

I should be cooking...

But instead I'm uploading photos! Woohoo!

This first batch is from Christmas in Indiana which I just never got to get up! We went straight up there after the wedding to see the Clark side of the family.

First of the Year

Happy New Year everyone! My favorite holiday next to Halloween, where we can spend our time with loved ones and celebrate a fresh start. Check out the links, they're pictures of and by me in Florida; the ones of the manatees at Blue Springs came out great!

Christmas Eve- flew down to Jacksonville where Jeremy picked me up. We took the long way back down to Daytona, stopped at a beach and took a stroll, and drove through St. Augustine before we got home. Relaxed for a little bit with the History Channel and ordered some Papa Johns for dinner. I'd brought down stuff for mulled wine so we cooked some of that up and had a glass (which helped with Jeremy's coughing nast) and wished everyone in Indiana a Merry Christmas on the phone.

Christmas Day- got up earlyish, put up the pictures I had printed for Jeremy and turned on the tree I bought. I started on a pot roast with onions and potatoes, which turned out fantastically. We ate on that for dinner, and watched a movie but I can't remember which one-- we watched about five or six the whole time.

Up Through New Years Eve- We also caught up with the Eiler's Christmas slideshow-- Analia just keeps getting more and more adorable! If they didn't live in Singapore I would offer long-term babysitting for free, she's got such a great personality for such a little girl. Went to the Bulow Sugar Mill and wandered around, it was a really cool place-- once the biggest Sugar Mill in the area that shipped out to St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and Savannah. On the way back we wandered around part of the loop and stopped to take pictures of the pretty bird. We went to lunch with Jeremy's classmate Ron and his wife Cathy the next day, really nice people and very funny. Ron and Jeremy have the same sense of humor-- no wonder they get on so well! Walked around the little shopping complex in front of Wyotech and then went for a ride around the loop. The next day we rode down to Waleka with them and went out to the dock and watched the water for a few minutes. It was so much fun to be back on the bike again, and now that I'm not stressing my joints at work it doesn't hurt to ride for more than half an hour! Stopped at a great little country restaurant called MeMa's where we had corn nuggets (which were amazing!) and I got a shrimp basket for $7 with 1/3lb of fresh shrimp in it! Yum!

We laid low over the next couple days, made a couple grocery store runs, talked wedding stuff, and planned for the next week. We went down to Blue Springs State Park where the manatees were to see what we could see and... there were manatees galore!! We got to see a mama and calf, and several others hanging out throughout the naturally warm springs. We're definitely going to go back this summer when the manatees are gone so that we can swim and maybe find a place to get tubes and tube up to the St. John's river. We got home to find that the USPS had put a "Vacant House" card in the mailbox because I'd put a letter for one of the old residents in marked "No Such Resident, Return to Sender" so even though they've been delivering mail for months for the people who DID live there, they decided they were just going to stop.

New Year's Eve- we just kind of hung out for most of the day, watched some silly TV and played some Wii (though I also just watched Jeremy get angry with the Wii tennis-- way amusing), drank our champagne and watched a movie on Netflix. At midnight, we cheered, kissed, and said, "Well, I guess we're getting married this year, huh?" Went to bed not too much later after that so I could get up the next day and cook!

New Year's Day- Cooked up a good ol' meal of collard greens, black eyed peas, and corned beef. I forgot to get cornmeal, so we didn't have cornbread, but the greens and peas were the important part. We ate plenty, so we ought to have plenty of luck and prosperity this year; I'm not usually superstitious, but I take my New Years seriously! Besides, we could both use a bit of each! Watched another movie, I think the one about Genghis Khan, and discussed how silly the USPS is. Jeremy did get it straightened out, so no worries on the mail.

Jan. 2nd- We decided to go up to St. Augustine because everyone said it was super cute and charming, and I wanted to see all the historical stuff... BIG mistake. Unless you're ready to fork out $25/person just for parking and historical stuff, not including food or even water, don't even step foot in St. Augustine. Drive through, ooh and aah at the cute buildings, and then drive right on out. The parking was hard to find and expensive, all the historical stuff charged, we couldn't find a coherent map to figure out where we were so we just wandered around for a couple hours, and since the whole city seemed out to pick our pockets, we didn't feel like stopping for food. Plus, the few historical items seemed crowded out by the kitschy tourist stuff. Totally awful. We left in a half-bad mood and didn't really feel like doing anything else-- we skipped Ft. Matanzas and came straight back to Daytona where we had leftovers for dinner.

We didn't do too much exciting over the last few days, attempted Outback and was overwhelmed by the number of people and lack of space (they never seem to have enough tables!) so we got takeout, leaving Jeremy with even more leftovers to eat on for the next week and a half! I got to meet one of his roommates, Jeff, who seemed like a really cool, laid-back guy and his girlfriend Natalie who reminded me of someone I used to work with. It was a nice, quiet, relaxing time and that's exactly the kind of time we like :)

Now, I'm working hard to save for the wedding-- we know what we want, or rather I do, so I'm pretty intent on paying for it myself and not having to depend on outside help for it. My mom said she might help with the deposit for the venue, but since we get that money back (and she likes my plan) it won't be a big deal. I'm really excited about the prospects, and I'll keep everyone updated as I get ideas. It's going to be really creative, really nice, and very classic. Yes, it's possible!

Anyway, off to bed-- I'm already ruining the fairly decent sleep habits Jeremy got me in to this week. No cold water, but he's not big on letting me sleep in; which, to be fair, I asked him to enforce. We're also moving soon, which is exciting, so I'm up early to try and start packing up!

Gmail is on Crack

In a string of computer issues that have lasted me the better part of the last week, Gmail is being cranky and won't work my chat so I bit the bullet and downloaded the AIM program... blurg.

Last Thu, my computer got assaulted by spyware and malware, which prompted a full wipe and reinstall of everything on it. Then the video wouldn't work, turns out there was something wrong with the formatting and so we had to fully wipe and reinstall everything again. It's such a pain, you forget how much stuff (flash, acrobat, and other plugins) has to be re-installed every time you do it. I'm starting to think maybe Amy's Magneto curse has extended itself to me!

This week's looking much better than last in the sales-and-tips area, so I'll have enough money to get Christmas for Jeremy and Emily and (with any luck) pay my first installment on the next credit card to be paid off. I bought myself a flickr pro account for Christmas since I've been meaning to for years and re-discovered so many wonderful pictures! I really missed the ones from Austin-- they got deleted in the last great computer debacle and I only had them on Flickr. Made me miss Austin all over again. And, of course, my Dill! Hopefully she'll have some free time over her break and we can catch up; she's been so busy with her teaching gig I've hardly talked to her! Also, with any luck, the airlines will keep having great sales and I can go out there this summer and see her and maybe help her move in to her own place. Maybe scout around some Ducati dealerships and see if they'd be interested in hiring Jeremy. The guy at the place in Southaven said he'd be interested, but I don't think either of us want to go back to that city...

Aaaanyway, this week should be good. I'll finally get to meet Emily's friend Aileen, I get to tag along on their wedding dress shopping day and try to start figuring out my own, and I figure if Emily and Joanna like her this much, she's a shoo in for someone I'll get along with. She's got some really amazing designs (she's a fashion designer type, went to SCAD), and seems all around like a chill girl. I also get to continue convincing Jeremy he doesn't need to buy me a Christmas present; it's very sweet he wants to buy me pretty things but he really doesn't need to!

Last night I went up to El Tesoro and had a margarita and some snacks with Bo and the staff up there-- it was a lot of fun and the food is phenomenal-- if you haven't been and you're in the area, you've GOT to try it out. Really authentic, all the food is made from scratch. I haven't done a restaurant review in a while, so I'll put up more tomorrow.

I also have a new bed, which is really kinda nice. I can put pillows up all around it and have kind of a place to sit and be cozy and there's a real mattress so it's not like the old one that killed my back every night! Whew! I actually pretty much slept through the night last night, though I still have the problem of having too dark a room to wake up in. If it's dark, I just want to roll over and go back to sleep!

I think that's almost everything, really-- nothing as exciting as laser tag last week! I'm going to give in and have some Ramen since I'm walking to work tomorrow (that stuff sends your caloric/fat intake through the roof!) and I'm starving and then hit the hay. With any luck, I'll make at least $40 tomorrow and then the YMCA party on Wed won't bomb like the homeowner's one last week and perhaps I'll make a full $200 this week! Whoo!

Win

Tomorrow I order up the last of the Christmas presents going to Indiana, finish Jan's present, drop by Pier One, and pull out the wrapping paper.

I think this is the most organized and most cost effective Christmas ever :)

Hey, Farva, what's that restaurant you like with all the goofy stuff on the walls?

Well, a not-so-busy week has kept me from le blog; mostly sleeping while I fight yet another cycle of horrible sleep schedules thanks to Casey or the dog. Work was alright M-W, but Wednesday was d-e-d dead since the Avondale Charter School deal is off (Jill had an agreement with a charter schools in the area that for every dollar spent at the restaurant by members on Wednesdays in November, she would give a certain amount back) so I only made a few bucks. I also seem to end up staying later on Wednesdays than any other night, so mom's just going to give me the car to take in. Hopefully, I'll make enough over the next couple weeks to put tires on my car and start working on the exhaust-- we're supposed to have a party in this Wed spending a minimum of $300 and one next Wed spending a minimum of $1k!

I'd also like to say hello to my Aunt Linda who found me-- I saw Shallote, NC on my visitor's list and if it weren't for the trip Jeremy and I made, I wouldn't know where on earth that was! I've been meaning to e-mail her, so this afternoon I'll have to do that.

Saturday, I went with Emily, her dad, Sarah (Emily's younger sister; also at Agnes Scott) and two of Sarah's friends to play laser tag for Sarah's birthday and it was a BLAST. Their dad is a West Point grad, so we had a military commander and just whooped up on the little kids-- we took the tower and held them off two of the three games and on the other, went SWAT on them on a sweep and clear mission to take out as many as possible because of this jerk dad with them who made me pull out a can of verbal slap-to-the-face in front of the group of 25 eight year olds he brought for his son's birthday who had just watched him yell at the LaserQuest people because some of the packs weren't working. Like they could control that. I gave up our spots for us (they were going to have to figure out what to do with our activation keys anyway, so we would have only played for like half the time for which we had paid) and we got a free game, but we had to sit out two because they were so booked. No matter, we all chased the guy in to a corner and nailed him at least once each. Sarah's friends, Marly and Esther, were pretty cute and fun to hang out with, so all in all a good day. We also went to Ted's Montana Grill for dinner, which was super yummy-- I had the barbeque bison short ribs, which were amazing. I was so stuffed by the end of it I almost couldn't move!

Yesterday was officer transition workshop for Gamma Sigma, and even though it took allll afternoon (got there at 3, left at 730 and things were actually still wrapping up) it was a lot of fun and Becky and I amused ourselves greatly through the whole thing (since we were really just there in a "make sure they don't burn the place down" capacity). As usual, the girls were really sweet, and India and I are trading hookups on Foundation/Arthritis Foundation hookups which should be a lot of fun. There was also tons of good food, a requirement for any AOII event, including mini-croissants with chicken salad in them. Yum! I went overboard and had two sodas, so I'll have to try and stay away from them tonight. Hopefully I won't be tired when I get to work and it won't be a big deal to stick to water or soda water.

Not much else going on, really, I have to go drop some things at the dry cleaner's and deposit my paycheck this afternoon. I may put my paychecks (since they're generally pretty small-- server hourly is $2.13, which is up from the $2.10 it was when I worked at Birdi's) in my savings and use the rest to pay bills and do "fun things" (aka, put tires on the car lol) and see what happens with that. I have a good start with the $100 paycheck, and anything in my savings is better than the none I have after getting sick and not having a car wiped it all out.

Oh, I have gotten my Christmas list figured out, which is really exciting. Jeremy's parents are the hardest to shop for since his mom gets bored and goes out and buys movies or books and his dad... well, his dad just doesn't really need or want anything! I did, however, find a TV show they both like and figured out something creative for Jan (which means she hasn't gone out and gotten it without either of us realizing it) so I think we should be safe and not have to resort to gift-card-giving. I actually have several things I'd like to get for Jeremy, but the main one is something he's been wanting for a while-- prints of pictures he's taken over the years. I decided while looking through his pictures that between the two of us, we have enough awesome zoo and aquarium pictures that I'm gonna have to have at least one kid because I have the best room decorating idea ever. Rock on. Everyone else is, for the most part, getting some surprise mixture of candies from Greene's (the new hometown candy shoppe) and a something special for special people. I found the most adorable present for Fia, I can't wait to give it to her! I need to find the other small part of Josh and Sarah's present-- Target's a little short on their ornament supply this year, so maybe I'll just have to hit up the Super Target in Buckhead.

More when I think of it, or have something more interesting to say. Ciao!

Blurgh

Prayers said, fingers crossed, lucky rabbit's feet rubbed and all that jazz...

I had an interview last night (good lord have mercy, is it really nearly 3?! I need to be careful about this finishing a book in one day deal...) at a restaurant called Palate. It's really cute, kinda trendy-- very Decatur. The owner was really sweet, she liked my experience and my ability to take care of the place on my own. There were, I think, two other people to speak with and she'll e-mail us today. Do all of the above and anything else you can think of for me because I would love to work at this place. It's close by, I'd make at least $100 a week with the option to pick up shifts, and it would mean I could get the time off to see Jeremy at Christmas and New Year's which is all I want right now.

I miss Jeremy so much, and it hasn't been that long since I last saw him... the next eight months are going to be rough. Hopefully, though, with a job I can afford to go down there once a month after this and my Christmas/birthday present is to be a ticket down there. It will be nice, even though not as cold in Florida as Mississippi, to cuddle up and watch movies like we did last year. We've chided everyone for starting Christmas before Thanksgiving this year, and here I am talking about it! I blame Valerie for putting up adorable Christmas decorating photos of little Ana. For anyone who doesn't know who Ana is (who are you, where have you been, and do you really ever talk to me?), she's the best little (un)niece I could ever hope to have and just about the cutest little girl I've ever met (and yes, I've seen my share-- goooooo daycare workers!).

They put up her Christmas tree this weekend and she got to wander around with garland on her. I really miss working at the daycare sometimes-- kids can wear on your nerves, but the moment they make you smile it's all forgivable. Just remind me I still need to wait a few years before really wanting one of my own! At least to the point of being able to afford one... though maybe I'll have a girl and snag some hand me downs! ;)

I suppose I should go to bed now. I've ended my election commentary on my other blog, so tomorrow I'll go back to reviewing literature and movies like a good little elitist and included will be Philippa Gregory's novels The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool, both about the Tudor reign in to the rise of Queen Elizabeth I. I gotta tell you, those Tudors were frickin' nutters. Not just the flip flopping of religions, but Henry VIII bedded like half the Howard/Boleyn family, and after beheading the one Boleyn girl (Anne), he went off and relieved another of her caput (Catherine Howard)! I think the only reason Catherine Pharr survived the Queenship was because she happened to outlive him... And they say Americans are debauched...

Anyway, save it for the reviews. Hopefully in the next 12 hours I'll have a celebratory post up, but I'll try not to jinx myself...