Christmas/New Year Limbo

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas because I know I did. My family celebrated on Christmas Eve and had a fantastic day. I love spending the whole day with family cooking, and watching Christmas movies, and just spending the day together. I absolutely love that. The picture is of our stocking stuffers. They are temporary tattoos of monsters! Amazing!

Now it's that weird time between Christmas and New Years where you're trying to recover from Christmas and yet trying to gear up for New Year's Eve. For my family it's extra busy because my sister's birthday is January 1st which means prepping and planning. Which reminds me to start planning the menu. And she happened to marry a man whose birthday is Dec. 30. It's a busy time of year.

(almost) 50 things to do in winter

✓ 1. Read A Christmas Carol before Christmas

✓ 2. Make a winter garland, to keep up all winter

✓ 3. Watch holiday movies for Christmas

4. Enjoy New Year's Eve

5. Eat Hoppin' John on New Year's Day for good luck

6. Watch the Winter Olympics! February 12, 2010

7. Warm up the apartment

8. Sort through family photos

9. Sort through genealogy

10. Take pictures of winter

11. Watch the movies nominated for awards

12. Take classes; Calculus, Physics, maybe French?

13. Have winter sleepovers

14. Work on my thesis journal

15. Read at least 5 books

16. Make soups

17. Make Shepherd's Pie

18. Make hearty dinners: brisket, baked ham, etc

19. Drink hot cocoa

20. Have afternoon drinks, Guinness

21. Have afternoon tea

22.Go see the Dead Sea Scrolls while they are in Milwaukee

23. See, in person, a Matthew Harris Jouett painting (he's a relative from way back when)

24. Travel, even if it's for school visits

✓ 25. Enjoy the first real snow

26. Stay in bed a little longer

27. Send grad applications in and put the worry to rest

28. Enjoy giving tours at the art museum

29. Go ice skating

30. Have movie nights to stay warm

31. Buy more hats

32. Scarves, hats, coats, boots, layers, & sweaters!

33. Take long hot baths

34. Clean up & get organized (again!)

35. Try not to gain pounds over winter

36. Stop worrying about the future

37. Explore my surroundings

38. Stop procrastinating

39. Enjoy having most of my family in the same city for the next few months, because that all will change soon.

40. Find 10 more things to add to the list.

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Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...

Last night I hosted a family Christmas party for my family and my sister's in-laws. Here's a few pictures of the party before hand.

84% success rate from fall

Wow it's been a busy month and with Dec 21 being tomorrow and the official start of winter I have to look at my checklist from fall and see how much I really did (uh-oh).

✓ 1. in the spirit of going back to school, I'm going to learn something

✓ 2. close my eyes and breathe in the fall air in the morning

✓ 3. always carry tissues- because it's that season

✓ 4. Sunday = baking day

5. go to the farmer's market before they are gone for the season

✓ 6. watch purple violets and wish I was Selma Blair

✓ 7. exercise everyday... in some way or another

✓ 8. continue to learn the guitar

9. buy a bike

10. attend many concerts

✓ 11. make an apple pie from scratch

✓ 12. also make pecan pie, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie & cherry pie... not the last two but I did make lots of pies

✓ 13. make soups!

✓ 14. have afternoon tea

✓ 15. look for an internship... but no luck

16. actually learn a new language

✓ 17. buy/wear/love tights, scarves, hats & boots

✓ 18. go to the movies

19. go bowling

20. fly a kite

✓ 21. make/drink cider, hot milled cider

✓ 22. watch scary movies on halloween

✓ 23. put candy corn on my teeth like a vampire

✓ 24. listen to more music- new & old

✓ 25. get addicted to a new television show

✓ 26. apply to grad schools

✓ 27. cure my fear of commitment... on anything... making progress

✓ 28. watch the sun rise and set on the same day

29. buy/chew clove gum

✓ 30. read while completely enveloped in blankets

✓ 31. go to the Little Farmer or Apple Holler... Awe's Orchard.

✓ 32. pick apples and/or pumpkins

✓ 33. eat more fresh foods

✓ 34. attend BK's wedding

✓ 35. take photographs of autumn- because for 4 years I never really experienced fall and last year I never truly appreciated it

✓ 36. go out and be a doer

✓ 37. enjoy the outdoors before winter comes

38. travel to Washington D.C. and experience that feeling of being "home"

✓ 39. bundle up and open the windows at night to experience a crisp fall morning in bed... did it once and will never do it again. It's too cold.

✓ 40. finish sorting family genealogy... made progress (so much to go through)

✓ 41. journal/sketch more

✓ 42. learn a new hobby... I've been more "crafty"

✓ 43. make more lists

✓ 44. purge things I don't need

✓ 45. loose weight... okay only a couple but still.

✓ 46. buy new office supplies

✓ 47. frame photos of mine

✓ 48. re-imagine my life and set life goals

✓ 49. get out of neutral... I'm moving forward finally.

✓ 50. let go and let flow

Alright... 42 out of 50 is AWESOME! Better than I expected although some of these are only half completed but at least I'm on my way. And now it's on to winter and of course Christmas is this week!

Christmas Time is Here...

It's coming up on the first weekend of December and I've already put up my Christmas tree! Due to my apartment building's rules I can't have a real tree so fake it is. And I do have to say it doesn't look like a horrible fake tree, it's pretty nice especially when decorated.

Now that that's done I can move on to other home decor and my baking list. For the past few years I've made holiday cookies and have given them to friends and this year I'm doing it again. Can't wait to start planning, even more excited to get started!