Just One More

I love Doris Day and this is one of my favorite Christmas songs. Makes me feel nostalgic and content. Enjoy!

Farewell

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We leave in approximately 36 hours so I won't be posting any more during 2008. Hope everyone has a fun, relaxing holiday season!

Photo via spud murphy

Finished

Finished The Last Queen last night. Of the historical novels I've read lately, this was one of the best, even if the writing had moments of pure crap. The story was engaging and didn't have a contrived ending. The story of Queen Juana of Spain is one I was not familiar with which made the novel even more fun to read.

Holidays Abbreviated

We're leaving on Wednesday so we're trying to fit in as much family and friend time as possible before Christmas. Last night was quality time with the Nephew (and his parents, but they're just the vehicle by which Nephew is transported for quality time with Auntie), today with Best Friend and In-Laws, tomorrow night with some folks from church. Getting together with Mom and Middle Sister when we return in January. The to do list is getting shorter and the suitcase is getting heavier--almost time to leave!

The photo is from Paddington, the neighborhood with Sister-In-Law lives.

Photo by aschmidt1978

Heard Around the House

Mister's Cousin: "What do you suppose differentiates a muffin from a cupcake?"
The Mister: "I'd give muffins the freedom to be more savory..."

Camera Fun

The Mister at play

Happy Birthday!

Father-in-Law's seventh birthday was on Pearl Harbor Day. (In a strange coincidence, the Mister's aunt, Mother-in-Law's sister, was born that day.) The family had the radio turned off for Father-in-Law's birthday party so the family didn't hear about the bombing until the next day. Several members of the Mister's family served in the war or have had a lifelong interest in the war. Father-in-Law taught Modern European History (specializing in WW2) at Metro State for 30+ years. His textbook is still in publication. A couple of his brothers served in the war. The Mister's cousin is an amateur historian and has three books published about the war in the Pacific(here, here and here). I have found, on more than one occasion, that my love for history has come in handy at family gatherings!

Happy birthday, Father-in-Law!

New Camera

Our old camera was starting to fade. It was my first birthday present from the Mister (I turned 30!) and it ended up being one of the best presents I have ever received. Although I still love that camera it was starting to be unreliable and I didn't trust it to hold up to the rigors of our trip. I'm planning on taking a lot of pictures! My little stash of teaching money went to a new camera, a Sony Cybershot. It's perfect--small, has all of the features that I wanted, and it takes lovely photos. Examples to come, just as soon as the memory card that I forgot to order the first time arrives!

Friday night

We got excited that our favorite yogurt is made just down the street from us and the lids are recyclable. Dear heaven, we are boring. What's worse, having the conversation or posting it to your blog?

...May be time to get a hobby.

2009

Have started to think about my New Year's resolutions. I don't really believe in them, but there are a couple of things I want to accomplish in 2009. The most important goal for my professional life is to get into the PhD program at the University of Colorado at Denver. There are several hoops I need to jump through (improve my score on the GRE, take a statistics class) before the April application deadline. It's doable, but I need to get serious in January.

I think I'm posting this to the internet now so that it's out there and I can't change my mind! I've been wanting to do this for a while, and if I'm going to advance in my career I can't put it off any longer. Time to do one last degree!

Reading

Still on a history kick...Franklin and Lucy is interesting (I'll probably finish tonight) but it's taking me a long time to finish. Haven't had very many blocks of time to read with the holiday and travel preparations.

Have been debating for weeks about what/how many books to take on our trip. We're flying from Denver to Las Vegas to Honolulu to Sydney (gah!) so I'll have plenty of time to read. One big fat book or several shorter books? What if the big fat book is boring and I'm stuck over the Pacific with nothing to do? What if I finish all of the shorter books that are in the cabin with me and I can't get to the books I packed in my checked luggage? These are REALLY stupid questions (good grief, how self-absorbed can one person be?), but at the root of all of this is my anxiety about being cooped up in a plane for all of those hours. I'm not exactly nervous about flying, but I don't deal well with boredom and being stuck in one place. I think I'm anxious about becoming anxious! I think I'll end up taking the big fat book and buying other books during the layovers as I need them. Could be expensive, but definitely worth it.