Merry Christmas!

This was definitely one of the nicest Christmases I've had in a loooong time. I started off feeling very non-festive. I didn't really want to listen to the music or watch the traditional movies or do any of that stuff. And it pretty much lasted the whole 'season,' but in the end, it was still really wonderful.

I didn't stress about presents or anything. I made a bunch of homemade Christmas cards (most of which still haven't been sent out...whoops, not stressing about things can be counterproductive.) and cookies for co-workers and friends.


We drew names for each other in our family and only bought our person a gift. I would recommend this for anyone in a larger family who is on a budget. The lower stress (that is key here) and ability to spend more on one person and all was a lot more fun than trying to buy everyone something. The only problem with this system was that every time I went out I could never find stuff that my person (Matt) would like and always found tons of stuff that every other family member would have loved. But in the end I was able to find stuff for him and I even got it wrapped in time for the big day.
I got to meet up with Courteney to do some shopping on Tuesday. We bought Christmas earrings! Hers were Christmas lights that blinked. Mine had bells that jingled. They were totally gaudy and totally fun. And they were appropriate for Christmas. You gotta have some fun!

We spent a few hours on Christmas at Harper's Ferry. You know, my happy place. :)




I pointed the camera their way and Adam said, " on 3, we'll make funny faces! 1...2...3!" and he made this goofy face and Holly just smiled normally.
Dad asked me to take this picture of him and Solomon. This reminds me of the pictures of couples in front of some grand scenery hugging or kissing...only it's Dad and the dog. It made me laugh. So very dramatic these two.

And they can be thoughtful sometimes.She's just so cute. She wasn't ready for me to snap the picture and Adam distracted her and she started laughing. I like candid shots.

All in all, it was a lovely day. We came home and had Christmas dinner (indian curry, we balk at tradition!) and watched the end of The Christmas Story and a Dogs 101 marathon (they had an episode about Newfoundlands but it came on late so we watched all the episodes leading up to it while we were waiting.) and I fell asleep. I also watched a (slightly creepy) version of the Nutcracker and it made me sad because I miss dancing so much! And I miss being skinny so much! I'm not going to think about it. :) Maybe someday I'll get into some dance class again and it will be so much fun!

I made a new bag on Christmas Eve, but I didn't take any pictures of it. So I'll do that sometime and post about it! Until then, this will probably be my last post of the year because on Sunday I'm leaving for DC. I'm going to RADIATE! Wish me luck. Have a great New Years!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

School is out!

Yes, school is finally finished for the semester! I've been off for about a week but my schedule has still been really busy with work. We've had a couple of incidents this week where the weather forecast was calling for freezing rain and both times we got away without having any problems. So that was really good, but it did kind of wreak havoc on our work schedule. We went to work, but most of the patients didn't show up. I don't blame them. On Tuesday I was only at work for a little over an hour when it started sleeting and I decided to go home. The temperature stayed around 34 though so nothing actually froze. :) Besides working extra days I have been able to do some "Christmas-ey" stuff too. I went to a Christmas show at my friend's church and got to see a bunch of people I knew, but hadn't seen in a long time. I also went to the light show at the park (my camera battery was dead...I found out when I got to the park so I didn't get any pictures) which was really pretty. I might go back tomorrow if it's not too rainy to try and get some pictures of it although I have the worst time trying to take pictures at night. We'll see if I get some good ones though...if I go back at all. And besides all of that we (Campus Crusade for Christ) did a cookie giveaway at school which was fun too. And a lot of work! Last Friday we went to the homeschool coop Christmas party which is always fun too. I haven't seen some of these people for about a year and all the kids are so tall! I feel so short! Today I am meeting Courteney for lunch and to do some shopping (I know, 2 days before Christmas is not a good time to go shopping, but we were both working so much last week that we didn't have time). This is our tradition! It started 2 years ago when my sister got married (they just celebrated their anniversary...2 years goes by very quickly!) and I had been so busy finishing 6 classes, tutoring and helping with the wedding that I didn't do any Christmas shopping, and Court had been so busy with her first semester at school taking like 7 classes that she hadn't done very much shopping either, so we met up at the mall 2 weeks before Christmas and got all our shopping done. It was probably the most productive shopping trip I've ever gone on. We've been doing it every year since then. Well, we've done it once since then, but we plan to do it every year. We're not even Christmas shopping this time. We're all finished with that. We're just shopping because that's the tradition. That and I need to exchange a jacket I got last week. :) And I miss hanging out with her cause she's at school 32 weeks out of the year. :( It will be even more fun too because our sisters are coming. Her older sister, Becky, lives in Indiana and I haven't seen her in about a year so she and Jacqueline are coming too to catch up with each other.

So basically here's what's been going on around here lately:
school is out
I'm officially off of work for the next 2 weeks!
Christmas in in 2 days
I've made (and given away...I didn't keep them all for myself) ridiculous amounts of cookies to take to school and work and parties and other offices I've worked at and they are FINALLY gone!
I got 4 A's and 1 B in my classes this year
I finished the requirements for my 2 year degree...just waiting to see if the board will allow me to graduate since I missed the deadline for application...
I'm in the process of applying to WVU's dental hygiene program
I'm going to RADIATE this Sunday
I haven't done any sewing, but I did make some cards. :)

I better get off here now. I have to take a shower and be ready to go in about an hour and a half so I will try to post some pictures sometime soon. December really turned out to be a bad month for blogging! So was November! We are still on dial-up internet so I can't do too much on here unless I take the laptop up to Daily Grind or somewhere where a wireless internet connection is available. So if posting is kinda sparse, that is the reason why. I miss wireless.

I do have some plans for some projects I would like to make and I have some shower ideas for my sister's baby shower. Only 3 more months before I meet my niece! It's so exciting!

Dear blog,

I really miss blogging. After this semester is over (in about 3 days) I am planning to finally do some fun crafty stuff and write about all the things that have happened in the past few months. It may take awhile, but I'm determined to do it!

So I'll be back soon! Don't go away!

:)

Okay...

so that last post was a real downer. I was thinking of deleting it, but I was truly disappointed with the results of this election and that is how I was feeling (and still do feel but not so lividly anymore) and since this blog is mainly private, I am going to keep the post the way it is.

Let me just state very quickly and precisely why I did not vote for Obama and am concerned by his presidency while I am feeling calmer:

1. He is very pro-choice. He has mentioned before that if his daughters were to make a 'mistake,' he would not want them to be 'punished' (meaning that if one of his daughters were to become pregnant with an unwanted child, he would not want them to have to carry and deliver his own grandchild.

2. He is for making laws that would take away our freedoms. Like the Fairness Act and the Freedom of Choice act would force doctors who were pro-life to perform an abortion whether they wanted to or not. This doesn't matter to a lot of people, but it matters to me and many others that I know very much. I'm sure I mentioned this before, but if our citizens fully understand the consequences of laws like these and are for them anyway, then that to me is a slap in the face to our soldiers who fight and die to preserve our freedoms.

3. I know there are a lot of mixed feelings on this, but he is trying to redistribute the wealth in our country and that is a socialist ideal. And it does not take every situation into account and could potentially harm a lot of people if their employers are taxed very high and cannot afford to keep their employees, etc.

4. He has not given a statement on his views towards homeschooling although HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) has asked for his views more than once! As a homeschool graduate and someone who fully intends to homeschool my own children someday, this is very important to me. I will not be very pleased (big understatement) if Obama tries to take away the right to homeschool.

This post is subject to change (have things added or taken away) but for now, those are my biggest grievances against him. I do not want to overreact, especially since he hasn't even taken the office yet, but since this is my blog I am going to state how I feel for the record. Hopefully at the end of 4 years I can look back at this post (if I continue this blog) and say that my fears and concerns were silly and that Obama was a wonderful president. I understand that all presidents are human and will make mistakes, just like we all would if any of us were president, but the fact that his views are so extremely liberal and, in many ways, socialist is what causes me to be concerned about him.

That's my more explained version of why I am not exactly pleased with the results of this election. Hopefully it wasn't as hostile and despairing as my last one was and maybe a little more informative too.

Obummer

I am very sad about the way this election turned out. Obama and his socialist ideals and his views on abortion scare me. If it's a socialist leader that our country wants, then they deserve whatever they get. I think that a lot of his voters don't really know what it is that he stands for. I guess we will see what happens over the next 4 years. Who knows? Maybe he will be better than we think he will be.

All that being said, I don't want to behave the same way the liberals did these past 8 years, blaming every single thing that happened to our country on Bush, but at the same time, if I don't like the way Obama is running the country, I will definitely complain about it. Then again, if he does something that is really good, I will be very happy about it. Why am I feeling so hopeless though???

Next rant: I am completely and utterly disgusted with our media. What a totally biased group of people. It makes me not want to watch the news anymore because I can't stand the totally biased news anchors. I'm sorry, but I am totally disgusted with all of them. And I am really disgusted at the way the media and the liberals and REPUBLICANS!!! are treating Sarah Palin. People just don't have any morals or decency. In a way, I am glad that she didn't win because it would be an awful life for her for the next four years. I feel bad for her. She campaigned her heart out for McCain and I don't think he is giving her the respect and recognition she deserves.

I'm so disgusted with politics and with our country.

Oh well, this last campaign lasted 21 months. I figure that we can take a year off and start the next campaign 36 months in advance. Then the "fun" can start all over again.

Is there any such thing as a good politician?

One last thing....

Yay for 'Falling back!' I'm sure I wasn't the only one who enjoyed that extra hour of sleep!

20 for my 20th

I am 20 years old now. :) It doesn't feel any different from being 19, but it is nice to know I'm not a teenager anymore. I had a nice day. I ate too much (wonderful) food, made for my by my sister who is a very good cook! I got to work out (after eating all that wonderful food), I went to the library, Borders, and, best of all, my parents gave me a sewing machine! I can't wait to use it. Hopefully that will be enough motivation to start sewing again. I'll post a picture sometime.In addition to what I mentioned above, I also got lots of emails and phone calls from co-workers and friends (thanks Cheryl! You made my day even better!). I've been told that it is a lot of fun being in your 2os. I hope so! I am pretty excited to see what my 20s hold for me.

I made a list of 20 things to do before I turn 21 (I got this idea off a blog of course!). So without further ado:

1. Finish my associates degree.
2. Go to RADIATE!!!
3. Get into a dental hygiene program (finish prerequisites).
4. Get contact lenses.
5. Have my braces removed.
6. Find a church.
7. Read a really good book. Suggestions anyone???
8. Make at least 1 sale in my Etsy shop (I need to restock it).
9. Sew a dress.
10. Drive on the interstate.
11. Hold my niece or nephew.
12. Take lots of pictures for this blog.
13. Read my Bible more.
14. Vote for the first time (I already did this! Yay for early voting!).
15. Play my violin more.
16. Find a fun class to take (yoga or pottery? Both maybe? Neither maybe?? lol).
17. Love others more.
18. Notice and appreciate the little things.
19. Make time to focus on being healthy and creative.
20. Grow in my relationship with God.

I just love our library...

And it's many staircases. I am finding that I love architecture. Maybe I should do that instead of dental hygiene...or maybe not. :(


I had some other pictures that I took here. Pictures of things other than staircases. Unfortunately, my jumpdrive has been acting really wonky, so I couldn't find them to load them on here. Maybe I'll update this post in the future. :)

Happy Halloween~

The baristas at our local coffee shop. They're a fun group...as I'm sure you can see!

More Scenes from Autumn 2008~

Pumpkin carving

Would you believe me if I told you that Matt and Jacqueline never carved pumpkins up until this year? Even I have done it...once. At a friends house. We never did get into halloween or anything like that at our house.Carving pumpkins is fun though. Fun and messy!

From left to right, we have Groucho Marx (designed by Matt, Jacqueline and Holly), the happy and cute pumpkin (designed by me...I like happy stuff), and the traditional pumpkin (done by Matt and Jacqueline).
And all lit up. I have the worst time taking pictures in the dark.

Now wait till you see the picture I took of our lovely baristas while I was at the coffee shop today! Talk about scary! Just kidding. It looked like fun! They looked great. :)

Scenes from Autumn 2008

Most of the leaves have changed their colors already and a lot of the leaves have fallen. There are still some gorgeous shades of red, orange and yellow to be seen, but I think our peak season is over.


On Wednesday I saw snow flurries! It's only October! I am not ready for snow and really cold weather yet. Actually, there is never really a time where I am ready for snow and really cold weather. :) Just being honest here.

There are just some days

When I want to be here instead of at work or school, or even home occasionally. I want to be in some other place sitting quietly reading a book or knitting or writing something. Or just daydreaming or napping. Actually, it doesn't have to be in this picture, it could be any quiet and calm place. Sometimes, it's just nice to escape from the hustle and bustle of life and be quiet for a little while. I think it's good for us actually.

This is a picture that I took at Shaharazades...one of my favorite restaurants...and one of the things I like about it so much is that sometimes when I'm there, I feel like I'm in another place altogether. Maybe another country even. I love my home and my family, but it is always fun to feel like you're someplace new. Or at least I think so.

Phil Keaggy and Fernando Ortega concert

Those guys came to the Weinberg Center in Fredrick, Maryland a few weeks ago and we got to go see them. They were so good! I didn't really know anything about Fernando Ortega before this concert, but he is very talented. I have been listening to the few songs of his that I am able to get my hands on, and I am really enjoying them.This is the lobby area. You could buy drinks and candy down there. Adam bought 4 packs of skittles and ate them all during the concert.
I got a (lousy) picture of the stage before they turned the lights out and brought out Phil Keaggy (who did a fabulous, amazing, terrific, beautiful and outstanding job, if I do say so myself. I'm so excited that I got to see him in person! I've been listening to him since I was 6 or 7 years old!) who went first during the concert. I would have taken his picture, but Kim *the lady usher* said we weren't allowed to take any pictures during the concert. I wanted to sneak a couple of pictures without my flash, but decided to stick to the rules. I wonder if they would have kicked me out if I had tried to take a picture....hmm...

It was an excellent concert. The best one I've been to. Both Phil and Fernando were talented and connected with the audience really well. And they're funny too! I was teasing Dad saying that now I've finally been to a concert that wasn't a Petra concert. He said, "oh, is this the second concert you've been to?" No, Dad, but the other 3 were all Petra concerts. It's funny that he should have asked that because he was at all 3 with me. :)

Downtown Fredrick is cute. I love visiting downtowns of new places. We walked around a little bit before the concert and stopped at Starbucks. I'd like to go back sometime.

One long post...

Oh wow, where to begin? It's been a long time since I updated this lil' ole' blog of mine. Not having internet connection + being really busy = no blogging. :(

But today I am caught up on homework (for the present moment) and am sitting in a coffee shop with wireless internet and am going to catch up on what's been going on with me lately. I voted today. It was the last day for early voting and I went ahead and 'did my duty as an American' and cast my vote. That way I don't have to fool with it on Tuesday, which is going to be a very busy day! But I'll say more about that later. Back to voting. Voting is a personal decision, I am told, but I'll give you a hint as to who I voted for: they say he's a maverick. That's all I'm going to say. Ha ha. :)

I worked full-time last week while Pam was away at the Outer Banks. The week went alright. I agreed to work a Friday last week too so I was there pretty much every day. A lot of days I was getting there at 7:30 and not leaving till 6 pm. I also worked 3 days this week and am glad to have the rest of the weekend off. I had a little conflict come up at work on Wednesday. I didn't argue with anyone, but I felt like crying as I left. I'm feeling much better now. I'm hoping next week will be a better week.

We seem to have hit a little wall with Cru. Our Focus Groups haven't been any success (no one has come to either of them) and that is kind of disappointing to me. I had a good talk with Leisa yesterday and she told me not to be discouraged because no one has come. She said to just keep building relationships with the students there. And I have been. I've been making friends with more students and am kind of excited about it. :) I keep trying to tell myself that this is God's ministry and that He will do what he wants to do with it. It has been my prayer too as far as our Cru group goes. I think my biggest worry about it now is that within our group there exists some bad feelings towards members and I don't want to see that become a problem. I think we might try to call another meeting outside of our regular meetings to try and open communications again. I guess we will just see what is going to happen.

I got my mid-terms back. 4 A's and 1 C. I don't know if I mentioned that here or not, but I thought I'd go ahead and write it anyway. Classes are going a little better, but I'll admit that I feel really apathetic about doing my homework. Honestly, I just don't want to do it. But I do turn in all my assignments anyway and am going to keep doing it until I'm finished with school. I called WVU yesterday to ask what their requirements were for getting into their dental hygiene program and they're way different from what I thought they were. I have to change around my schedule for next semester now (which may be a good thing because I have 3 science courses next semester and I don't need them all). I'm going to go ahead and apply soon because they only take 20 students and they will be selecting them until March so I need to start figuring out what to take. I need one more foreign language credit and I'm going to see if they offer one in the summer or if I need to go to another school to take it. Wish me luck! I would really prefer not to wait another year before finishing everything up.

I've tried to do some sewing, but haven't had a lot of the inspiration or time or motivation to do anything. So I have nothing new to show. Bummer. LoL.

I'm turning 20 tomorrow. Every year around my birthday I get reflective and look back on what I've done in a years time. I usually get depressed. I feel like I've wasted a lot of time or didn't do a lot of the things I should have done. I'm trying not to slip into that. I've been blessed immensely with another year of life and I'm grateful for it. And it's been a good year. Crazy, wild, but good nonetheless. And I have learned a lot from it. So tomorrow I am going to just relax and enjoy my family. I was given a special gift this year. One I didn't expect to get, and I haven't really gotten it yet. I'll get it on Tuesday. See, one of the reasons I voted early is because I am going to the doctor with my sister for her ultrasound! She and Matt are going to hopefully find out the baby's sex this week and I get to go and see my little niece or nephew and I'm so excited about it. I can't wait to be an aunt. It is really giving me a lot to look forward to!

Well, that's enough for this post. I have a few more to write anyway so I'll stop here for now.

By the way, happy end of October!

What a day...what a week~

It has been a long week. That is the quickest way to sum it up. I have been getting quite a few headaches lately and I don't know if it's because I need an adjustment or if it's because I'm getting stressed out over school and stuff. I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed for a good part of the week because I've been so grumpy. I don't like feeling this way. I'm ready for a break. I'm glad it's the weekend!

We went to Winchester today so Adam could stop by a guitar store and so I could go to the library. I got a membership to the Winchester public library last week and I was glad I could go check out some books. I actually took out quite a few. I doubt I'll be able to read them all, but it's nice to know they're there when I do have some time to read. We stopped at Old Navy, Borders, Michael's and Circuit City on the way home. They're all in the same shopping complex so we everyone just went into the store they wanted to go to. I went to Michael's and got some ink and a calligraphy pen and some watercolors and a watercolor pad. I have an idea for a drawing that I want to try. I can't draw worth anything, but my art appreciation class is inspiring me to try new things so you may be seeing pictures of my attempts at sketching and painting up here sometime soon. I also stopped at Borders to see if Anna Maria Horner's new book: Seams to Me is out yet, but I couldn't find it. I really want to look in there. I really want to start making stuff to put into my Etsy shop. I miss crafting. Becca and I might try to get together to do some more sewing. We're thinking of trying to re-fashion some clothes. It should be fun!

Our Campus Crusade for Christ meeting had a rather large turnout this past week! Instead of the usual 3 of us, we had 7 people come to the meeting. At the end another guy came in for a few minutes. It was pretty cool. I think God is moving on our campus and it is really exciting. I wish I was more involved in talking to other students. I feel like Adam and Richard are having more conversations about religion and Jesus with students than I am, but I am building relationships with students and I have had some opportunities to talk about Jesus and Christianity with the people I've talked to. I seem to have so little time lately. I've been working a lot and with no internet connection at home I have been having to do all my homework at school so when I'm on campus I am really busy. I guess I'll just have to trust God to bring people my way and let me know when to strike up a conversation with them. I have been praying for the campus and for the students I'm meeting. I really want to be loving towards them.

All in all, this has been a challenging week. I worked 4 days this week, I feel like I haven't been seeing my family at all and I've been stressing out over one of my internet classes which I am afraid I am failing. I'm not so worried about failing it anymore, I think (hope...pray) that I will be okay in it. It's just been really rough so far! I've been feeling kind of low and am trying not to give into feelings of uselessness and despair and bitterness. I think that after trying to do all I can to put my best foot forward and be cheerful at work and school I'm not really doing the same for my family which really isn't fair to them. I'm trying to have a better attitude and I want to be thankful. It really comes down to the fact that I'm not very grateful for all the blessings I've been given. If I could fully comprehend the amazing blessings that I've been given then I don't think I could help but be overjoyed. I am trying to focus on those blessings and give praise to God. My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak. I'm not sure where that verse came from (if it is a verse...I'm pretty sure it's a verse...someone correct me if I'm wrong), but it certainly sums up my attitude this week. It's so wonderful to have a God who is loving and forgiving. I haven't done my "counting my blessings" posts in awhile, so I'm going to do one today.

I am thankful for:

• gorgeous fall weather
• changing leaves
• safety while on the road
• the work that is being done on our campus
• the relationships I've made at school
• Dr. Hartman, Pam, Aimee and Maria...I am truly blessed by my boss and co-workers.
• friends like Janice and Becca...friends are such a gift from God. They are such a blessing.
• My family
• Campus Crusade for Christ. Honestly, I would have probably dropped out of school again by now if it weren't for Cru.

We haven't had internet for the past few days so posting has been rather scarce. Hopefully we will have another connection soon and I will be able to be on here some more.

Until then, be blessed!

I went for a walk in downtown Winchester.

I have to say, I love my camera. It's not very fancy, it's not a Nikon or a Cannon, but it's mine and it's served me well. I love going places where there is a lot to photograph too. Winchester's walking mall is a fun place to go. We went there last Sunday afternoon and it was pretty dead, but when we passed it today on our way to the library it was a lot busier. However, we didn't stop and I didn't have my camera anyway. I wish I had brought it so I could take pictures of the library. Libraries don't sound particularly exciting, but I think our library is beautiful. When we first moved here it was being restored. It is a big old building and it's beautiful inside. I have to go back in 3 weeks to return my books so maybe I'll take some pictures then.An old church.

Autumn leaves!

There are lots of little restaurants and shops you can stop at.

I just love the old-timey feel of places like this. It makes me wonder what it would have been like to live in these towns when they were first founded. Does that make me really weird? :)

I just love autumn. It's definitely my favorite season!

Ridgefield Farms Fall Fest!

Pictures from our visit to Ridgefield Farm and Orchard. Cheryl came down (or up actually. :P) from Texas to visit us for the weekend and she, Holly and I went here for some autumn fun. :) It's a beautiful farm. Whoever owns it does a great job of taking care of it. They had a corn maze, hay ride, pumpkin patch, apple orchards, and a house of panic (which we didn't go to.). There were baby alpacas there also. Someone who owns an alpaca farm brought them to the farm for people to look at. They were adorable. There was also a store set up on the farm where you could buy pumpkins and apples and gourds and flowers and cider and other items. It was a beautiful day to go.






The one on the right was named Cleave and the other was named Sterling.