I LOVE Christmas Time!

The past few days have been amazing! We've had snow the past 2 out of 3 days and there's nothing like snow to put me in the Christmas mood. I've been baking up a storm and rocking out to christmas music. Poor Keith even got stuck listening to me singing at the top of my lungs in the show...and if you know how terribly I sing then you'll realize how bad that is! I was singing "holly jolly christmas" if anyone cares. Not to mention that Christmas Eve keeps creeping closer and closer. Xmas Eve is possibly my favorite holiday moment ever. My whole family gets together at my mom's house and I know this sounds cheesy, but it's magical. I always feel so full...of food yeah, but of love too. And we've always seemed to have youngsters around to help us feel that xmas eve excitement. Can't wait! This year will be a special christmas for Keith and I, too, as it is kind of our first christmas together. We've never lived close enough to sleep in our own bed on xmas, but we do this year. In the past I've slept at my parents house and he's slept at his parent's house and we've done xmas morning with our own families. This year will be our first xmas morning together. My mom's a bit sad about that, but we plan to head out of here pretty early to open presents with them anyways. But my cookies are beeping that they're done....Merry Christmas everyone!

silly gym observations

Gym people always make me laugh. I was in the locker room after my workout and there was a younger-ish girl (probably college age) getting ready to work out. Everything that she did she had to look in the mirror...and that includes putting on deodorant. I dont' know about you, but I can find my armpits without looking at myself. And then before she leaves, she douses herself in perfum (like legit perfume, not like body splash). Strange. It seems to me that if you're just going to get all sweaty and gross its not worth making yourself smell good. Kind of a waste of money.
In other news, all of my NH friends are in my thoughts as they're working through this latest ice storm. I was feeling kind of sad that CT winters are kind of uneventful on the shore, but I don't feel so bad after this. some of them have been without power since Thursday! At least everyone is safe, but if there's anything that I can do for any of you, please let me know. We have plenty of warm beds and we love visitors!
In wedding news, we officially have a church! The Congregational Church in North Haven! The minister is this sweet, goofy kind of guy and the church is a quintessential New England protestant church. It's kind of small, but it'll be so nice to see it full of familiar faces! Can't wait. And...I'm becoming an eBay bride. I ordered some jewelry off of ebay the other day for very cheap. They should come in this week and if they look nice I may have to go crazy with other stuff! And it cost me about a fraction of the price it would have cost me to get them at a store. Can't wait to see them...

Fate is Funny...

So I haven't written in a while because this time of year tends to be crazy and with wedding crap on top of everything I've barely had time to make dinner most nights. Since I made this blog to talk about wedding stuff I'll do that first. I feel like this is the twentieth time I've said this, but....I think we finally have a church. The date is open, but because we're not members we have to be approved by the deacons...shouldn't be a problem though.
Now for the whole fate is funny thing. For those of you who don't know, my sister Kiersten is my maid of honor. Another FYI...we've had to change the date of the wedding from June to July. Kiersten is in the process of wrapping up her master's program in OT, a pretty awesome accomplishment. Because this is such an intensive program, leading up to their graduation they have a ton of fun events that they do to relax. She found out the other day that her graduation is on the Sat. that the wedding was supposed to be on! If that isn't someone up there watching out for us then I don't know what is. I've always been a firm believer that everything works out for a reason. When I blew my knee out in high school and had to back off of my gymnastics season, I started to coach a bit...sucked then, but what do I do now?? I teach and coach. Fate? Now there's this. As an older sister I've always felt a bit guilty that I overshadowed Kiersten's accomplishments....not on purpose of course, but when you do them first it always seems like a bigger deal. I would have felt awful if my wedding had conflicted with Kiersten's big day. Now we can celebrate all of her wonderfulness and then look forward to a celebration next weekend, too. Wooh!
In other news, school is pretty awesome. I feel so at home in this place already it's crazy! And we just found out that one of my co-workers is pregnant! This makes me happy because it means I'll have a little one to play with, but when he/she is screaming or smelly I can simply hand them back to mom or dad :) Also, we just put up our tree at home! I love Xmas and part of the reason is for all of the decorating and music that go along with it (yeah, the family thing is fun too). I have also recently discovered that TransSiberian Orchestra turns me into a grading machine! I sat down with a stack of papers that was practically to the moon, turned on my Xmas tree lights, put on TSO....and transformed! I got through my correcting faster than I ever have before. It was great. I recommend trying it if you're stuck for motivation. Alright, I've killed enough time here. Hope that everyone has a merry xmas!