Valentime

I know this may sound strange but I adore Valentine's Day.  It is my favorite holiday.  (Don't get me wrong Christmas is way up there but.)  I cannot get enough of the adorable stuffed animals, all the hearts, and the flowers. 

If it wasn't more cliche than I can physically handle I would have bought myself flowers, but that is one step too far for me.  

Next week maybe.  

Here's my philosophy: people in general, and myself specifically, don't share enough that they love the people around them.  We get wrapped up in our lives and take what we have for granted.  It's not that we don't realize the good people we have around us, more that we forget it's important to tell them that we appreciate and love them.  Valentine's Day gives us the opportunity to share that love, in any form fashion or device we choose :].

Did you know that Chaucer was the first to link Valentine's with romantic love?  For some reason this adds so much legitimacy to the holiday in my mind.  I can't explain but Chaucer just has to be bowed down to I think.  (Wikipedia is fascinating...)

My sister* had a mental hiccup yesterday and wrote Happy Valentimes Day on an unknown amount of cards that got sent home to unsuspecting mothers.  I find this story HIGHlarious and laugh out loud every time I think about it.  But I was considering the word she created and I believe it's actually pretty accurate.  I could explain my whole thought process but basically I love the "time" part.  We need to take more time to show our "Valen".  Valen doesn't actually mean anything (I checked) but it could well enough mean love and affection right?!  We'll go with that.  So share some of that valen and time and know I love you <3.

(Lest you think I'm too weird, while I love and adore the holiday I do not enjoy the actual day.  People get weird, there are many expectations,  and drama seems inevitable, whether it's the real kind or the kind that traps me in my head.  So in light of that I went to the gym today and ran instead of going anywhere else haha)

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent*

a FeW oF mY fAvOrItE tHiNgS

Christmas.

I love this time of year so much I can hardly stand it.  And I have a few traditions that I always do that help me enjoy it even more.  This year though I guess I have been too busy to really think about all those things.  I went to a Christmas Chorale concert tonight to hear my cousin sing and while I was listening to all the different songs I realized all the things I need to do before the 24th!  And I just thought I'd make a list.

First:  I need to find myself the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CD because it needs to be in my life.  I love listening to the violin's and the drums and the piano.  For me, it makes the holiday mood and lovin' feeling that much easier to feel.

Second:  I need to watch the Nutcracker.  When I was little we used to go watch the ballet every year.  It was possibly my favorite tradition of the Christmas season.  We stopped going because we got older, etc. but that part of my childhood is something I want to go back to.  I sent a text to my mom asking her (with no hope of positive affirmation) whether it is play at home.  Turns our the universe likes to taunt me and the last performance is the day before I get home.  I must admit I was sad.  But then my wonderful mom told me we could get it on Netflix and watch.  So excited!

Third:  White Christmas.  Honestly what would my holiday be like without the beautiful loveliness that is Bing Crosby's voice?  I can't wait to get home to New Mex, break out the VHS and settle in to watch.

Last:  The Polar Express.  This is a new tradition but it's been fairly consistent.  I'm not as invested in it as the others but I do love the music that it has.  And cartoons are always lovely!

I also can't wait to go shopping.  I know it's a rather tedious task but I love shopping for all the presents for my friends and family.  If only I could do it without all the annoying high schooler's that inhabit the mall.....  maybe I'll become an internet shopper...  : ).

Holidaze Time

I completely love the holidays.  For a few reasons.  One I have so much fun picking out presents for people and spending time with family and friends.  But a close second is that I adore this tasty treat:

Let's be honest.  I drink Starbucks year round.  But it is ultimately more fulfilling during the holidays because there's a ton more variety.  Peppermint signature hot chocolate just to name one.  But chai tea latte's and normal signature hot chocolate with cinnamon and cream always hit the spot.  I just can't get enough of this lovin'.  So fan.freaking.tastic.

My efforts into Photography

I don't know if I mentioned it before....but I really love to take pictures. Since my decision to procure a fantastically nice camera I have become even more into it. Until I got my camera I was priviledged to use my Papa Bear's nice camera. That's where most the pictures from Thanksgiving and Christmas came from. But then I got MY camera!! My most favorite gift/purchase this Christmas was my new Nikon DSLR. I'm pretty sure I could gush about it but I really shouldn't because I'm still learning all about it. So the pictures my not be so awesome yet. But they'll improve I promise. But in the mean time I just have to show off some of the ones I've taken.

My most favorite thing about Christmas decorations are the lights. Really in any form. I could drive around for hours just looking at lights. But the best lights are the ones that light up my Christmas tree. I love sitting with all the other lights in the house off and just the tree on and watch how the light goes off the ornaments. So this year I wanted to take some pictures of it.

I love pictures where one point is in focus and the other points are not so I'm especially fond of this pic. I also love the look of the pearls that my momma always puts on the tree.

The gold sparkly is so pretty in the lights.

And this one just looks like candy which I also adore : ).

As a treat for actually finishing my finals I bought myself my favorite flowers. Lilies. These ones were perfect because they happened to be pink and I couldn't resist taking a picture of them.

I thought this one was pretty. It captured the color well and I love the look of the wood behind it.

This is tag that I got on my Christmas present from Abbey and I thought we should take a picture to remember even more.

And with the end of these pictures so ends my year. I do know it's past New Years but I've just now caught up. And I will also stop talking about Christmas now. But I won't stop taking pictures : ).

Holiday Lovin!

I feel like perhaps I have complained a little bit too much about the people I miss. Hopefully I only feel this way because I have been complaining mostly to myself but if I have gone over my "venting time" please forgive me. But in light of the fact that I really have been missing family a lot I thought I would visually explain who the people are I've been missing, then maybe it'll be more understanding that I miss them : ).

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These adorable little teddy bears are my three mini schnauzers: Button, Peanut and Kodiak (from left to right). Aren't they unbelievably precious? They are the reason I have been close on multiple occasions to going to the animal shelter and getting a dog in the last four months. Or just taking one of them back with me :)

This is my pretty pretty peanut. You can tell her favorite activity is to lay and just soak up the sun.

Kodi is the most snuggly dog I have ever seen. If you're sitting he's sitting with you

 This is Button. She is the oldest and pretty much keeps to herself unless she really wants to see you. Then she'll come sit next to you and 'allow' you to pet her.

This is my niece-y Kyndal rockin my dad's pajama pants. She's a trip this one.

One of her favorite activities at Thanksgiving. Jumping on the 'trampoween'. Couldn't get enough of it.

Her Christmas present was her addiction when I saw her a couple weeks ago. She can literally walk faster than this thing but that didn't matter. She rode it to her heart's content and then was perfectly happy letting Aunt Heidi carry it the rest of the way to the park.

Haha I got a camera for Christmas and she wanted to look at it so I let her take a picture. Then she posed herself like this and said "Take a picture of me right here". Completely priceless.

My momma and K's little brother Dev. He is happiest when he's being help by just about anyone. And grandma is happy to do it.

Here's they're examining his Christmas present turtle.

He was way more interesting in grandpa's (my papa bear) beard though. He couldn't get enough, completely fascinated by it.

This was the moment before I let K look at my camera, you can see just how much she wanted my camera.

I just had to take a picture of them all playing together. Dev fell but was happy enough to stay there as long as K and grandpa kept getting the balls for him.

Here's Abbey my sis right as my dad gave her a really awesome present of her own.

Hahahaha the hat craziness of my parents. Get's me every time and I love it. They both however were not cold on that night.

We were concentrating really hard on Super Mario Bros.....and failing badly.

This was all four of us playing so my sister Megan and my dad were also concentrating hard as well. You couldn't quite get us here yelling but we were.

Ben, Abbey's husband was waiting his turn....hahah and didn't know his picture was being taken.

Aside from blood family there's the family I miss that I've adopted. Such as Cory (on the right). It took forever for us to get this picture though because there were a bunch of little kids that wanted to go first......weirdos.

And my beautiful Sarah. I miss her mucho in Arizona. We used to have such fun times so we had to meet up again and try on weird hats. Ignore me in this picture.

So there you have it. The family I love and miss. Not all of them of course but a great many of them and our fun times. I love the holidays because we all get to be together and just hang out, play games, shop, anything. LOVE it and can't wait until next year!

My second favorite gift this Christmas

Well really I shouldn't rank them, it might make some of the other gifts jealous....so I guess we'll just say one of my favorites : ).
This year I was given the new old school Super Mario Bros. game for my Wii.

I was really excited about this because honestly I completely adore this game. I never get tired of it. I'm not very good at it but really I never get tired of it. Mario has always held a special place in my heart. I used to play it when I was really small (like 5-6) and I learned some valuable life lessons:

 - Turtles should always be jumped on and then kicked or they come back to bite you (unless they're spikey turtles, then you just run).

 - Creatures throwing things out of clouds are of the devil. Straight up.

 - Being small does have its advantages but not very often.

 - Flying is extremely helpful but never being able to master it makes it a hazard of the most extreme kind.

 - If you don't get the right pattern in the castle of life you'll be going in circles forever.

 - Boomerangs are also hazards of the devil and should be avoided.

The new game is especially awesome because you can play with four people at once in the same screen. The chaos that results from this is FANtastic. Since you're all there you can also push each other around, pick some one up and throw them, and jump on others' heads. The yelling caused by all this is absolutely priceless and playing with my family was the ultimate highlight of my Christmas vacation. Hearing the words "STOP pushing me!" and "Get OFF my head!" come out of my father's, my sister's, and my brother's mouth was the best ever. Laughing ensued.

All in a Days Work

Here's the list of things I had to do today:
 - Call about satellite tv
 - Call the car dealership about my car
 - Clean
 - Study (uh perhaps the most important)
 - Activate my credit card

And here's what I did:
 - Cleaned
 - Activated my credit card

AND Decorated for Christmas!!

That's mostly what I did today and what truly made me happy. I love Christmas decorations and this is the first year that I get to decorate and I had no decorations! So yesterday I went out and bought some lights, glass icicles (my favorite), a wreath, and some other ornaments that I got from Bronner's a couple weeks ago.

So here's the fruit of my labors. It's not as impressive in pictures, but it's awesom eand it made me look forward to a couple weeks from now when I'm crazy from school and am going to go out and drive around and look at lights. Love them.

This is my wreath. It hangs on my door. I love the gold, especially the gold pointsettias.

These are the lights that I put up in the living room. They are Shannon's lights but I thought the arrangement was fun. Perhaps not the most functional thing, but fun.

These are the lights from my window. It's from the outside so you can't really see all my embellishments but I love it.

And these are my ornaments. The ones I have given my heart to. I love how they catch the light and how they will look when they're hanging next to little twinkly lights.

Christmas Joy!

It's Begun

Began? Beginning? I don't know that just doesn't look correct.....

Anyway, my English deficiency aside. Thanksgiving. More specifically stuffing. Or dressing. I'm still not completely sure (and yes I could google it daddy but ignorance is way more fun). Every year I ask my aunts (the cooking guru's of our family) what the difference is. I think it's only stuffing if it is actually cooked inside the bird, and dressing otherwise. I just always say stuffing. Mostly because I don't like to think about it coming from inside the bird, and I've just always known it as stuffing. Glorious, fragrant, bringer of all good, tasty delectable stuffing.

I'm pretty sure this is about the fourth blog I've written about my love of stuffing, but ya I just can't stop. I wasn't actually thinking about it that much this year because I was just concentrating on the going home part. But then I was listening to my ipod which has a cool/completely annoying feature where if you shake it, it shuffles through your entire library. So one day I'm rocking out to Lady Gaga and then it shuffles to...... BRIAN REGAN. What's the relation to stuffing you might ask? Well if it isn't entirely obvious I've failed as a story teller. Or it's just obscure.

I'll take pity though and maybe explain a little better. My amazing friend Kara loves Brian Regan as much as my sister and I do. She also happens to be a fan of stuffing. Last year during school we used to take breaks by having Stuffing/Brian Regan dates. They saved my sanity often.

So that long winded story about randomly hearing Brian Regan made me realize for the first time this year that Thanksgiving is coming!!! And very soon I will get to lovingly make and then devour stuffing. I can't wait.

Is anyone else as obsessed with a Thanksgiving food as I am? It is completely possible I'm just a weirdo ; ).

Hallowizzle

I think I am one of the few people who really truly LOVES Halloween. Most the time I don't do very much but that's just because if I started I would have to go all the way out and I don't have the means/time/energy to do that. But I do love it. I love thinking of costumes, seeing little children, candy, all of it. This year though I just focused on my costume, and I'm just going to show one picture because it really isn't that exciting. As I look back my costume was lame which makes me sad, but I was really excited about it anyway and I had a lot of fun. I went to one party and was really excited by the originality of other people's costumes. They were all so dang cute. I think I need to start thinking now about next year....

I was a rockstar btw. I was going to grab my guitar hero fake guitar but I forgot/thought I would be even more of a dork.

What was however interesting about the night was on the way home. I had my roommate Shannon in the car with me, we turned the corner onto our street and notice this guy in a long black trench coat seemingly waiting to cross the street. Then I notice that they guy is wearing a hockey mask like Jason (the horror film, there should be more information probably to describe him but I have none, he didn't have a chainsaw). So we turn the corner then he starts crossing the street and walking slowly down our street. Whoa. Okay here my mind starts going through horror film scenarios and I am internally freaking out because one I stop the car I have to put my boots back on! By the time we get out of the car the guy has made it almost to us and is still just walking slowly. We both non-chalantly walk to our door, making some kind of conversation about anything other than the horror film character following us. Then get to the door hurriedly get it open, get inside, and then proceed to check ALL our doors to make sure they are securely locked! Now guy was probably just doing this for effect, maybe he was even just walking.....creepy creepy night walking (at 12:30am!) but really. It was scary.

Balloons

Oh how I miss you.

Picture this: It's 5:30 in the morning and your alarm has just gone off. Normally this is not a good thing but today is different. You get up and drive to the mall to catch a bus which takes you all the way across Albuquerque to Balloon Fiesta Park. The city is just waking up and it's cold. And then you see hundreds of balloons spread out across the Park in various stages of set-up and taking off. For the next 4 hours you watch balloons get laid out, blown up, and then take off.

Alternative: It's about 7:00 at night and again it's cold. You again drive to the mall to take a bus to Balloon Fiesta Park. Tonight when you get there however the balloons only get blown up, they do not take off. And you get to wander through the balloons and watch while lit propane gets pumped into their insides lighting them somewhat like a glowing pumpkin.

They're massive and such fun shapes. Not just the normal balloon shape or the skinnier racing shape, but special shapes too, like the Shoe from the old woman who lived in a shoe, the haunted house, smokey the bear, the bees (a girl and boy)... And then you have the smells of the one-of-a-kind breakfast burritos that only New Mexico can truly make, and doughnuts and funnel cake, coffee, hot chocolate, basically everything good in life. These are all the things I miss right now. This is the first year I've missed it. Ah well, at least I have Kara to text me pictures of it :).

I have a problem.

Why do they sell Halloween candy 1) for cheaper than normal and 2) at the beginning of September and 3) at all?

Mini Snickers. Okay I don't like snickers. The full size ones, I can't eat an entire one, they make me sick and wish I'd never see another one. The mini snickers however are an entirely different story. I think it's because of more chocolate. But really, they are my curse. I can down them all day faster than should be allowed. They shouldn't sell these things in the regular store. They should only sell halloween candy at a special store that you have to seek out, not randomly run across on your normal shopping trip.

Christmas Memories

In the spirit of Chrstimas I was thinking about all of my favorite memories from those times and when I was little. So here are just a few. I share them because sharing memories is like sharing yourself and you can see what inspires people and what has really made an impression on them because those are the things they remember the most.
So first one of my favorite things is that every Christmas morning I am the one who gets to seperate all the presents and decide where people sit. I also love it that no one has realized that I give myself the best seat every year. Haha. But one year I came out really early and just started seperating the presents not even thinking about it and I had them all seperated when mom came out. She was a little upset because she hadn't taken a picture of the tree yet and I had to put every single present back, take a picture and then seperate them again. So after that I have taken a picture of the tree FIRST before seperating everything.
Another favorite memory is being little, before we moved so before I was seven and was really into Santa. Abbey and I used to wake up really! early and Megan too, and to pass the time before mom and dad got up we would sort of just sift through what was under the tree and guess what we had all gotten. Then we would all just kind of lay on the living room floor and talk about what we'd do with our presents and stuff like this. I just realized that by that point in time Abbey and Megan were already older than me and were totally playing along the santa thing for my benefit and that's so cool! I don't have anyone little that I could pretend for so I never thought about it but it must have been so fun to see me get so excited.
Okie, last one I'll share, one of my favorite traditions is every Christmas day after all our presents are open Lauren, my best friend, and I call eachother and discuss what we got and what we're excited about. It's not too monumental but it's so nice to talk to her even though she's never with me and be excited about what she got and have all kinds of fun talking.
So there's just a couple of my fun memories for Christmas. If you want you should leave your own!