It's Almost Over

I love the holidays. I love the holidays. I love the holidays.

I have that playing on repeat in my mind from Thanksgiving until New Year's Day.

While I enjoy the family, friends, FOOD, and all that comes with the holidays...IT'S EXHAUSTING!

We had two Thanksgivings this year which was unusual for us. But since my mom is no longer with us we've become much closer to her family. So two feasts we had.

Beginning of December we had our annual Christmas party with all of my dad's family. We use a fire hall and have a big lunch/dinner and watch football and play bingo. The next weekend was getting the tree and decorating the house. We had one weekend of rest and then it was Christmas with my dad's immediate family. Four days later it was my first Christmas eve service followed by dinner at my aunts house. Christmas morning which lasted all day. And then on the 27th we left for the Oregon coast for a few days.

In between all of that was work and shopping for gifts. Oh and my brother's birthday. Two families converged on our house to watch a football game and eat a lot of food.

ahhhh...it's almost over.

What did you do for the holidays?

One More Thing

I've been house sitting for the past week. Tonight is my last night, thank goodness. It's so lonely and the cat is crazy. I miss my family at night with it being so close to Christmas. This year is especially hard for me because it's the first Christmas without my mom. But even with that sadness lingering I still can't help but be excited for Christmas morning.

And one more thing. Santa, please make it snow for Christmas.

{photo via-http://www.blisstree.com/files/150/2009/01/apple-blog.jpg}

Minutes to Midnight

It's nine minutes to midnight and here's a little recap of my day:

Woke up a little late and started the day with an episode of "Art & the City" on Ovation. Today was Paris. My favorite artist they profiled was Fabien Verschaere(he's the short man on the left). He's so adorable and funny. Not to mention very talented. You can see some of his work here: {http://www.artnet.com/artist/424874530/fabien-verschaere.html}

Did lots of reading online

Broke out my yoga mat and did a short fifteen minute session. My sister and I plan on going to some classes over our winter break. I already love doing yoga, but I hope she loves it just as much. It would be such a nice activity for us. During the summer we take walks at dusk to chat and get some fresh, evening air. We would see the regular people every night. I really miss it right now.

Finally my sister, dad and myself headed to meet with our therapist. Our mother died in April and we're all seeking some outside help. She is the most wonderful person. Afterwards we had dinner and went to look for a new tree topper. My mom always put up a really tiny angel that was passed on to her(I think that's the story). Anyway, it's always looked disproportionate on the tree. This year we hung it on the tree but will put a larger topper up. It's about finding new traditions but still honoring my mother.

I came home and cleaned my room to a soundtrack of:
the Roots, the "Once" soundtrack, Mason Jennings, and David Gray.

Today was a good day. The yoga relaxed me and the therapy helped to release some tears. I always feel so refreshed after crying.

Tomorrow I plan on doing some painting before work!

Good night, world!

A Long Weekend

It's finally Sunday night. I say finally, because I never thought it would ever get here.

I had class for most of Friday and as soon as I was done I picked up my sister and took her to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Cafe Yumm! Then we stopped at the store so I could pick up a few ingredients for the cookies I was going to bake that night. We got done there and headed home where I hopped in the shower and then started on the cookies. I had a Christmas party to go to that night and I was in a hurry. One of my best friends was coming over early to hang out beforehand. Once 7:30 arrived we headed to the party and had a great time socializing with girlfriends and eating too much. I wasn't in the mood to drink so I just had water, but one girl at the party proceeded to drink a bottle of wine(or two) to herself and things got interesting. And awkward. Someone volunteered to take her home and the party resumed to it's normality. I was home around 11:30 and ended up staying up until almost one doing Mad Libs with my sister.

Saturday was spent hanging the outdoor Christmas lights and then trying to warm up the rest of the day. It was long day of doing nothing.

And here I am today. My feet haven't warmed up all weekend.

Today was a family Christmas party out of town so that made for another long day. Although, I really enjoyed seeing all my family today.

So, nothing really exciting but I never thought I'd make it through this weekend. Phew. Just recapping is exhausting.

{pic via-ffffound.com}