March 17: Good morning Baltimore

I woke up singing Hairspray, good morning Baltimore on Monday morning!  I also woke up to snow! It had started the night before during NASPA's live outdoor music outing (which was fun, but would have been more fun had it not been so cold).  Anyway, I really like snow, particularly visiting snow (and then leaving it behind).  And it was great to see how quickly cities that are used to snow take care of the roads and sidewalks.  There was really only one treacherous place I had to walk and slide my way around.

I also had lunch with Jordan Hannah while at the conference.  It was fun to see him and catch up...and he was extra excited about the green beer.

February 13: Snowshoeing

...not really.  There isn't actually enough snow to snowshoe.  This morning, however, I convinced Tiffanie to go for a walk.  Since yesterday, we've probably had 2 inches of ice and another 1-2 inches of snow.  It looks beautiful, although slick.  The sun is warming up and the roads will get clearer, however, it may not happen in time to open for tomorrow.  Only time will tell.

February 12: Snow Day

Tiffanie and I spent part of the day watching movies and working on school and work stuff all while watching the snow fall.  Much of what fell today, however, was freezing ice.  This picture was taken early and as I prepare for bed, more has fallen.  Hopefully even more falls tonight and Tiffanie and I can play in it tomorrow!

February 11: Rescue Effort

Two weeks ago Atlanta shut down and UGA had a snow day. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take advantage of that snow day I was stuck in Austin.  However, this new storm has shut down Athens again.  I went into the office (as it didn't start accumulating until 11ish) to pick up some work, turn off my coffee pot, and rescue my flowers.

January 30: Traveling

Since there were so many of us flying back into Atlanta at the same time, we were trying to coordinate rides.  Kara's husband Clayton was flying back in from a business conference in Florida about the same time I was, so instead of him having to wait hours for Kara's plane, we rode back to Athens together.  When I got to my car, there was still a good amount of snow on it.  Unfortunately, I took this picture too late and Clayton had already scrapped off all the snow on the window.  Anyway, the roads were much better than anticipated.  However, I am really glad I flew in Thursday afternoon as it was the first time the temps had reached above freezing (so the ice was finally melting).  I am sad, however, that I missed the snow in Athens.  I hope it happens again this year.  I do love snow.  Do you wanna build a snowman?  I do.

 

Back in Athens there was still some snow on the ground :)

December 20: Wintery Mix Gone Rogue

When I arrived in PDX early Friday morning, I checked the forecast.  Portland was going to greet me with a wintery mix that morning.  Alas, it just rained :(  However, a highlight from the day (aside from seeing my family!) was driving my sister's new car!  Yep, her old one was giving her more trouble than it was worth and she got a steal of a deal on this new Nissan Rogue.  I love it (and may even consider the rogue when my little honda's transmission bites the dust).

Snowpocalypse

On Sunday night and into Monday (January 9th & 10th), we here in the south had a dumping of snow thrust upon us and some have called it the snowpocalypse or the weather or northern aggression. 


For those of you from the south, you may have heard this before.  For me, I've always referred to the war between the north and the south as...the civil war...shocking, I know. Here, many southerns refer to it as 'the war of northern aggression.'  No I'm not kidding.  Thus the weather of northern aggression.  Wow.  Anyway, I'm digressing.

Sunday night, the school announced its closure on Monday.  So on Monday, Mallory and I trekked out to Larry & Christy's for lunch.  It really was a bit of a trek, lots of snow, and a layer of ice upon the snow.  In the afternoon, we went sledding.  Tuesday, another snow day.  So I did some stuff around my house and in the afternoon, went out for another sledding day.  Wednesday, another snow day.  So I did some stuff around my house and... you get the point. :)

The school opened late on Thursday and late on Friday.  It was quite the week and although the snow days were wonderful, I was looking forward to getting back into a routine.

Here are some pictures.  We got approximately 6-8.2 inches of snow.  Clearly, Georgia is unprepared for that amount of snow.

 Monday after the trek to Larry & Christy's

The people (and kids) in H-105 made this huge, and lovely, snowman! :)

 The hill by the intramural field, awesome for sledding. Ps. a trash bag covered pillow is an amazing sled!

 My dead plants. However, I thought it was symbolic, the snow did make me happy!

Christmas 2010 (part III)

After leaving California, I was headed to Oregon to spend time with my mom and sister.  Now that I'm a student again, I had 3 weeks off and spent almost 2 of them in Oregon.  Here's the list, pictures, and recap of my time in Oregon.

Fringe.

My sister got me hooked on fringe this season.  So I caught up on seasons 1 & 2.  Yes friends, that's about 26 hours of TV watching.  Yikes, but soooo good. :)

Christmas Eve.

My sister's church held a Christmas Eve service at the Portland theatre downtown.  It was a wonderful celebration of the birth of Jesus, very authentic, very real worship.  I also enjoyed the hot drinks and cookies provided in the lobby.  :)

Christmas.

Christmas is no longer a wake up early, run downstairs event.  In part, we don't have stairs.  After a slow moving morning, we opened presents, had two lovely breakfasts, and hung out around the house.  One of my favorite gifts, that I accidentally left in Oregon but should be on it's way back to me is a necklace my sister got me.  There's a long back story which I will save you all from (this post is already going to be long).  But the necklace is this cute little heart and on the front it says, 'I love that we're sisters'.  Ahhhh.  Sweet.  Right.  On the back it says, "And I love that there is nothing you can do about it'.  Now that's more like my sister.  Ha. 

Reading.

I got a couple great books for Christmas.  I enjoy reading, but frankly with school I haven't done much fictional reading.  Well, I made up for that this break.  A friend in Athens recommended the 'hunger games'.  The book, which turns out to be a trilogy, is young adult fiction about...well, the premise makes the books sound awful, but that couldn't be further from the truth.  I read the first on Christmas day and had to run out and get the second and third...which of course I read in two subsequent days.  Best piece of fiction since Harry Potter.  Amazing. 

New Years Eve.

I  think New Years Eve is kind of a bust of a holiday.  Don't get me wrong, I stay up til midnight and 'celebrate', but I've never really understood why such celebration occurs over the flipping of a calendar page.  If you actually still use a paper calendar, it happens every midnight.  It is however an excuse to get people together.  My mom, sister, and her roommate spent the night playing games.  It was a relaxed and enjoyable time!  Oh...and I made a new settlers convert.  ;)

McMenamins.

The McMenamins are a family who take local historic or old buildings and convert them into hotels, movie theaters, breweries, and restaurants.  Not having ever experienced one, we went to see the movie Red.  The theater has all couches and tables, and you can order food, beer, or snacks while the movie plays.  It was a fun experience.  Next time, I'll make sure it's a movie I really want to see.  

Home videos.

One night my sister, being her sneaky self, brought out some old home videos.  Of course, she primarily brought out the old videos of me singing.  Oh yes, all my grade school performances were taped.  Watching these videos brought back wonderful memories and tons of laughter.  Here is one of my favorites of my sister in a Christmas musical from church.  

Snowshoeing.

I love hiking.  I love snow.  So why not love snowshoeing?!  Well, since I had never been, I couldn't have an informed opinion.  But now, I know I love it.  My sister and I went up to the foot of Mt. Hood on some 'trail'.  It was a beautiful trek with the view of Mt. Hood ahead of us.  The trail was about 3 miles long and many miles wide.  The snow covered trees were a sight!  I enjoyed the time with my sister AND the time in the snow!

 

 

We're excited about being in the snow!

 

 My 'trek' picture was actually taken on the way down, but the view this way was much better!

 

Yay for snow!

There were many more highlights from the trip including my sister discovering the brand of her favorite bed at Macy's (after practically climbing under the bed to find the name plate) and dessert at Papa Haydn's; the time was precious and I returned to Athens rested, rejuventated, and ready for the next semester!

End of Book.

Christmas 2009

I realize Christmas 09 has come and gone, but I have yet to post some pictures from the grand adventure.

My trip started on Sunday, December 20th with my flight into LAX. I was picked up by one of my good friend's husbands (he's my friend too, but I was her friend first :)). I stayed a few nights with them before heading up north with my friend Kristel. After a few pit stops, including lunch with my friend Kristin at In-N-Out (yep, I ate there 3 times) Kristel and I made it to Ripon, California. On the 23rd of December, I had a sisters/roommates get together...see if you can follow...

I was roommates with Kristel

Kristel is sisters with Melanie

Melanie was roommates with Sarah

Sarah is sisters with Jessica

Jessica was roommates with Christa

Christa is my sister.

Phew. Three sets of sisters who have all been roommates with another sister. AND, this happened at three different schools at three different times. Upon conversing a few months ago, my sister and Kristel and I were trying to figure out if there would ever be a time we met. Wedding, no. Funeral, no (and morbid). So we decided to get together for a sisters/roommates lunch. It was a BLAST! On top of that, my sister came up with a fun game, like the newly wed game to see if you knew your sister or your former roommate better. Again, a blast!

Christmas eve was spent with my sister and my dad.

Christmas day was spent with my mom, sister, and extended mom's side.

On the 26th, my mom, sister, and I flew up to Portland to celebrate our Christmas.

The rest of the week, I spent hanging out with my mom and sister...and just kind of relaxing. It was a great trip and for as much 'traveling' as I did (SoCal, NorCal, Oregon) it was very restful and extremely rejuvenating!

Here are some pictures from the Christmas 09 adventure!

First stop: Jenny & Erics. We went to Upland to see the lights. In my years of living in Southern California, I had never been. It was a neat time of visiting with Jenny, Eric, and her family (which was my second family when I lived in SoCal).

Jenny and I as we walked around the neighborhoods looking at lights.

Of course, after a long night of looking at Christmas lights, one gets a craving for 21 CHOICES! And for those of you who care, you can get ANY special flavor at ANY time (I got animal cracker)...yumm!

First set of sisters: Melanie and Kristel (my former roommate)
Here is Sarah and Jessica
And of course, my sister and me.
Ahhh, and all six of us together! I guess the only question is, which set of sisters look most alike?
Oh yep...now roommates: Christa and Jessica
Sarah and Melanie
Kristel and me
Now isn't that one of the craziest, most miraculous things?! And even more miraculous that each set of roommates are such good friends! Obviously good upbringings ;) and God's good grace that brought us each together!

Below is a picture on Christmas eve with my dad.
And Christmas day at my grandparents. We had a hoot looking through old photo albums. The current one was a lineage of my grandma's side way back to...sometime a long time ago.
My sister and me and the infamous bear that plays music and it's heart blinks along to the beat. That bear has lived at my grandparents house for longer than I can remember.
The four of us looking at photo albums of my grandma's growing up years; prior to and after meeting my grandpa.
The next picture is just wonderful! We got snow in Portland, AGAIN! I was in the shower when my mom interrupted letting me know it was snowing. I quickly jumped out of the shower as we all figured the snow wouldn't last. Ten hours, and about 4 inches later, the snow stopped falling.The coldest part was not making the snow angel, but rather posing for the picture. Cold, wet, butt.

I made snow cream...yep, ice cream with snow. :) It wasn't awful, but next time, I've got a better game plan. Maybe next Christmas? Here's to hoping for snow!

What wonderful memories! My Christmas was a blessed one with family and friends! Yay for 2010 and all the possibilities that it holds!