Merry Christmas!

It seems like we had a strange Christmas season this year. It didn't feel very festive, even for me, up until last night. The snow and spending time with family and friends helped.

It was a nice Christmas for me and mine. I hope everyone else had an enjoyable holiday!

Last weekend, some of my family and their friends had a Hanukkah party. It was really nice to see everyone and eat delicious latkes! Mine never turn out that good... I can't figure out the secret!

But here are pictures of Raina at the party:

Here she is looking at my Auntie Francie

Raina smiling and laughing at Auntie Kema!

And on Christmas eve, we had a little family dinner at my mom's house. Again, here are some Raina-centered pictures because she tried baby food for the first time:

First taste!

Thinking the sweet potatoes might be alright! She liked them.

All tuckered out.

We got to spend time with Isaac's family, too, which is always nice. We had a brief get together with my brother, his (now!) fiance, and Raina and I had Christmas dinner with an old friend and her family.

I hope that I will get to see my sister this weekend and there is a great gathering of friends for our little Christmas! Still so much to do and enjoy! I am one lucky girl.

Excited for Life!

I am supposed to be working on my big graduation paper/project that is due tomorrow. In my defense, it is getting there. As I am finishing this, I am finally feeling excited about everything!

My paper will be finished and I will be very close to graduating with my Masters! I have loved my program and having the chance to further my education.

After I finish up, I get to move back home to be with Isaac and my rats! This is a little bitter-sweet because I will miss classes and my group. We have worked together all year and we spend an awful lot of time together. We're pretty tight. I know that I will miss them. I look forward to seeing where life takes them.

On May 26th, I am participating in the Boulder Boulder 10K with Isaac, Katja, and Jhenn. I am not much of a runner, but I am trying to prepare and I am pretty excited.

The very next day, Jhenn and I leave for Indiana where we will kidnap Amie and bring her home. Jhenn calls it "Operation Rescue Amie." Honestly, I don't care that I will be helping her move, I am just looking forward to the drive and hanging out with a couple friends!

Towards the end of June, my mom, (hopefully my sister), and I will be hosting a baby shower for my brother and his girlfriend! I am super excited! First of all, I get to be an aunt (again). Plus, I love my baby brother (I know, I know, he isn't a baby anymore...) and his girlfriend is a sweetheart. I am just happy to have another niece! Ahh! So much pink! I love it!

And the day after the baby shower, Isaac and I will be leaving on a lovely, nearly two-week-long vacation to Washington and Oregon filled with good quality time, fun, hiking, beautiful scenery, good coffee, good food, and family! It will be so much fun! And I feel that I deserve a nice vacation. I could be wrong.

And in the midst of all of this, I can start looking for a career in my field (not that I don't like working at Starbucks, I just think it is getting time to move on). I feel like the doors are finally starting to open in my field and I am looking forward to seeing what is out there!

So here I am, right now, loving life! It's a wonderfully uplifting feeling!

Busy Month

Hello everyone!

Sorry about the lack of posts! I just wanted to give a little update on my life.

It seems that half of my friends have birthdays in July, so I have been doing lots of birthday stuff.

I am also in a friend's wedding near the beginning of August, so there is a lot of wedding stuff going on! On this note, I got my bridesmaid dress which is pretty but doesn't fit (I know, they never fit). It's too big in the shoulder and the bust (story of my life), but too small in the hips and butt! I about panicked when I tried it on, but it was far too late to re-order and the women in the shop told me it would fit. All I can do now is loose some inches from my hips and butt! So I have been working out nearly everyday for that and my friends and I have started Insanity yet again. We need to be fit and sexy for NDK, anyway.

I have been working a little on my costumes, but not as much as I probably should be.

In important news, I am going back to school for my Masters. Sadly this means I have to move and leave Isaac and the rats at home for the year. I also don't have a place to live yet, which causes me some stress. I am excited to start the program, however. It is an intensive, year long program for a Professional Masters (which boils down to more credits per semester, finish in a year, and don't write a thesis). I have my classes all set up and I've ordered my textbooks, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

I just took on a new student to tutor in reading. While I passed the test that says I can tutor reading, I find it difficult to teach because I learned at such a young age, I can't remember how I was taught. It has been an interesting experience so far, but I enjoy it over all.

And we had some of Isaac's family in town during July so we spent lots of time with them. Then my friend, Amie, came into town so we all spent a ton of time just hanging out. Which led to me not sleeping much hence no blogging.

Is that about it for the moment? I think so. I will try to get some more posts out with a little less delay!

And we will end with some pictures of my adorable rats, since I haven't blogged about them very often. They make me very happy!

I like it when they are in rat piles.

Me and "the boys."

Little Remus (aka "Bright Eyes.")

Silly Romulus!

Enjoy! Thanks for reading!

Another Valentine's Day...

AKA: Singles' Awareness Day. That's what we always called it.

I sort of hate Valentines Day but I am torn because I always love excuses to show Isaac that I love him. Don't get me wrong, I show him on other days, too, not just on holidays.

Usually Isaac and I get each other funny/stupid Valentine's Day stuff. I usually get him some awful V-day boxers, but I failed on that this year. I got him a silly card (its a little racy too), so that's fun. And he usually gets me chocolate. Stereotypical, yes, but I LOVE chocolate.

Last night Isaac did ask me if I wanted to do something for V-day, which was sweet. I know he's not a huge fan of V-day but he was willing to do something anyway. I told him the truth-I like knowing that he loves me but that V-day is stupid. I prefer knowing that he loves me all the time, not just one day. And he told me he loves me everyday. Sweet right? I got a good guy.

Otherwise I hate all the commercialization and expectations. I don't see why it matters. I would much rather be with someone who shows me that he loves me on random days, not one who "shows" me on one specific day of the year. That makes it not at all special. iamevilcupcake (see her blog here: iamevilcupcake: Screw You Valentines Day) tweeted: "Ah Valentines's Day. The day when men get high praise for doing something they should really be doing the other 364 days a year." I agree with that completely.

So all you couples out enjoying your high-priced celebrations of "love," enjoy. I hope you get that more than once per year. I will actually be spending my evening tutoring a student and working out with my girl friends. And this weekend? My girl friends and I are going to have a 50s-style dress up fondue night! That's what we like to do for Valentine's day! Girls night! Yes! So excited. I will share more of that later.

Happy Valentine's Day (I guess?). And Isaac: I always love you. Everyday know that I love you.