Thanksgiving was fun. Mom and I had a lovely night's sleep on the way to Virginia thanks to the fabulously cushy beds at the Hampton Inn right outside of Toledo, OH. I knew that if we drove through that state often enough, I would have to find something good about it! Thankfully, I wasn't completely wrong about Ohio. Their refusal to allow I-Pass, I-Zoom, EZ Pass or whatever your state calls it added more than an hour to our return trip...but I don't want to talk about that so moving on. Thanksgiving dinner was great, it was nice to have a whole big family holiday, so thanks, Michelle, we all appreciated your hospitality (and your kitchen with its double ovens!).
The short four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas were filled with work, clearing snow off of the driveway, and a couple of last minute gift ideas and shopping. Mom and I also managed to squeeze some baking in. We made: Sugar cookies, Chocolate Kringles, some kind of Cherry log, what Mom calls Mexican wedding cookies, coffee cookies, chocolate chip cookies, reindeer head cookies, some concoction with rice krispies, tiny marshmallows, nuts, & coconut all mixed up with melted white chocolate, brownies, and I'm sure I'm leaving something out. I also found time to make a batch of rice krispie treats and bake my last cake for class. Here's a pic that looks crooked but it's the only one I have right now so you'll all deal:
On Christmas Eve, Sydney made it home for about 48 hours. We were so happy that her flight made it because we were not having good weather here in Chicago and New York wasn't great that morning either! We had a white Christmas though, so at least we got something out of it. She got to get her hair cut (super important, you know!), got to see Samantha and Mike and exchange gifts, have a ham dinner, go hang out with Dad for a few hours, and she got back to NYC in time to go to work. All in all, I'd say she had a successful trip!
I had a quiet...no, calm...ok, I had a fun New Year's Eve with the Grandys and Karda clans. It was the first time I met all of Mike's family, so that was nice and I always love hanging out with Sam and her parents and brother. I baked (surprise, surprise!) some molten chocolate cupcakes and took a plate of cookies over and had a good time hanging out and talking to everyone. It was a good way to end 2008 and ring in 2009.
After New Year's Eve, I had four unrequested, non-vacation days off from work which was fabulous! On Thursday, Mom and I went to see Four Chirstmases, which was great. Then I went over to Dad's and got a little hand and foot practice in. Friday, I took my car to get my Christmas gift from Dad installed (remote starter, yay!) then went home and spent the day with Mom in the basement going through all of my boxes of stuff I've accumulated from living in various dorms and apartments and moving back and forth over the last five years. Not only did we move it all from the back room of the basement into the true storage room, but we managed to fill four trash bags, carry stuff up for garbage that didn't fit into trash bags, and amassed a whole bunch of stuff to donate! Go us! That spilled over into Saturday morning which made me sore, exhausted, and a little crabby on the way to lunch, but I got over it and mom and I had a great lunch at a place called Adobo Grill out in Yorktown (mmm, churos!) then we stopped into World Market and TJ Max before calling it a day and heading home to our dawgies.
On Sunday, I did laundry, had dinner with Dad, and sorted some clothes that I knew I was taking with me this weekend. What am I doing this weekend? I'm glad you asked! I'm going to Disney World!!! That's right, Dad is doing his crazy thing again and running a half and a full marathon down in Disney so his daughters and grandson decided to tag along and enjoy the attractions that he will be too tired and sore to enjoy until the last full day of the trip when he will be dragged out of the hotel to go ride a couple of rides with his grandson. I packed all of my clothes and the majority of my other stuff last night and haven't been able to sleep for the last two nights because I'm so excited. I overslept for work this morning because I couldn't sleep last night (thanks, Mom ;P)! We leave at the butt-crack of dawn tomorrow morning to fly to Dulles, then we get to fly with Michelle, Pete, and AJ from there to Orlando! I'm uber excited, despite the butt-crack comment. Yay for Florida!! I'll think of everyone stuck in the cold midwest and wish you were all there with us!
Happy 2009 everyone! Hope you all have a good one!
1 comment:
yaya Disney!!!
See, you had a LOT to update about! You should do it more often!!!
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