Let's Try This Again

    No, I have not forgotten. Yes, I am a horribly disorganized failure of a consistent blogger. I'm sorry. Please don't be mad. Please don't leave me. The end of last semester (from Halloween on) kicked my butt to Christmas and back and I had a meltdown. Blogging kind of disintegrated with most of my sanity. Forewarning - if my life becomes unbearably stressful, as it did then, blogging is the first thing to go, because it's something I do on the side. It will not get me out of school or get me a job or plan Corey's and my wedding.
    But I do still love doing it, so I will always come back. I won't go into the details of the butt-kicking, but here's an overview of what I didn't blog about.

In the beginning of November, I met Corey in Charleston for a few days. We moseyed around the city and met up with his uncle and aunt whom he'd never met. They were great and expecting a baby boy in the next week or two. Congrats on baby M!

At the Marine Corps Birthday Ball
The picture taken right after this was my velociraptor impression.

I finished up most of my finals then got sick (as I usually do) during the last week of finals, which was also the first week that Corey came home to visit. I spent the majority of my sickness on the couch with him at his dad and dad's fiancée's new house which is beautiful. We did however fit in our anniversary dinner on December 10 at a local Italian restaurant which happens to be right down the street from the place we want to have the wedding. Haven't booked it yet though, so don't get all excited.

After our anniversary dinner. Should've taken one before hand when we weren't exhausted yet.

For the next week we spent most of our time hanging out with friends and just spending time together. He had two weeks of leave all together; unfortunately, the reason it was so long was because it was a pre-deployment leave. He deployed five days after Christmas and didn't get to spend Christmas at home with his family and me. That was a big bummer.

Christmas was nice, though. My mom got us all up at the butt-crack of dawn because her mother was expecting us before lunchtime (because everyone in her family is a crazy morning person and wakes up at five am every day). We opened gifts and then my dad made his usual big southern breakfast for us (eggs, bacon, and home-made biscuits and gravy), and it was delicious. Then we went to my grandma and papa's (mom's parents) for Christmas dinner and my mom's siblings and their kids were there, which was cool.

Between Christmas and New Year's I did very little aside from work and mope around because Corey's gone. I did have dinner with my bffl Suzie (sushi) and go to the movies with her (Frozen, for the third time. But it felt like the first time in forever. Anyone? I'd see it three more times).

New Year's Eve I had a very last-minute party with a few of my closest friends from high school, Suzie, and my cousin Aaron, and his friend. I made Pinterest Not-Fried Fried Pickles (which were amazing), strawberry-champagne cupcakes with champagne frosting (which I did not ruin), and Amaretto Sours, which are super easy, taste like candy, and are liked by everyone ever. We played Cards Against Humanity, drank (responsibly, most everyone slept at my house except the one person who hardly drank at all), and had a really great time.

Suzie and I. Best friends for almost thirteen years now!

Now it's back to the work-and-school grind. Semester overview:

• I have classes Monday-Thursday and work Monday-Friday-Saturday.
• I'm not sure yet what days I will be posting, and it will probably be only once a week since I only have Sundays off for both homework and rest from the restaurant.
• I do have a fifteen credit-hour semester ahead of me, so bear with me while I work out the kinks.
• If I disappear without warning, chances are I'm buried under the inevitable rockslide of the workload I've taken on.

Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. Here's hoping I do better than I did last year!

The Year The World Ends*

Listening to Can't Stand It by Nevershoutnever
Eating a mint crinkle cookie from work. Mmmm :) (added: 11:28) And a chocolate chip cookie.
    Sorry for the complete lack of blogness. I have no excuse except for the fact that Corey came home over the break and I practically lived at his house. And by practically I mean literally. Best Christmas ever. No lie.
    So I've got a lot of fun news, none of which directly affects you in any way (unless I know you personally, but it's still unlikely) which I will reveal to you... ... ... NOW!!!

1. I'm moving out! Yay! Finally, right? Not sure if I've complained a whole lot here - probably not - but I am beyond ready to move out of my parents' house. I'll be twenty-one in February. It's time. 
2. For Christmas, I received a keyboard! Yay! See, my mom teaches piano, and I've played my whole life, so I was super bummed about the fact that I wouldn't be able to play the piano when I moved out. Enter beautiful Casio keyboard with weighted keys and a pedal that emulates that of a real piano - not those awkward little box pedals that slide all over the place. Mom gets me. :)
3. This may or may not come as a surprise, depending on how much any of you really looked into our friendship and how often he pops up in my posts** but Corey and I are now dating. I still kind of feel like Robin in the beginning of this episode (I relate everything in my life to How I Met Your Mother, unintentionally, of course), but I'm super happy. Bowl. What's better than dating your best friend, right? Bowl?

So I hope all of you have had a fabulous holiday and a great New Year! Let the merrymaking commence!

*I don't really believe the world's going to end. That's silly.
**See second sentence.

Oh, Tidings of Discomfort and Oy... Vey...

Bouncing along to To the Sky by Owl City (I really can't help it... It's just so catchy!)
Craving a simple salad. If I eat one more turkey I'm going to turn into one.

Caution: This blog is absurdly long because I have very much to say. Brace yourself.

    I hope everyone's Christmas was delightful. Mine was loverly, and quite cold. I live directly in the path of that huge snowstorm that ravaged its way across the southeast. For once, we actually had a white Christmas! Everyone was completely shocked. Unfortunately, we had to travel on Christmas day, up toward where the storm and snow was so much worse. I was surprised we even went - all the roads were an icy snowy mess and we don't have four-wheel-drive, since we really don't need it at home.

This was the road to my dad's mom's house on the 26th. Insanity!

    My father, however, grew up in the mountains, where it snows often, and he knew how to handle it. Mom, on the other hand, grew up at the beach, and flipped out as soon as the tires slid the tiniest bit. Driving - or paddling a raft, or moving any vehicle - with Mom when she's nervous or stressed is asking for a death threat. She turns into this vicious insane control-freak and grabs that handle above the door that she always holds when she has to ride while I drive. It's funny, really. My dad is really calm about most things that get people nervous - rafting down rough rapids, driving up an icy mountain, teaching me to drive, driving with me now. He only snaps when Mom freaks out and tries to tell him what to do. He knows what he's doing and doesn't need help, but Mom likes to help everyone (read: demands that things be done her way).
    I'm making my mother sound like some terribly controlling person, and she is controlling, but not in a bad way, I promise. Just don't get her nervous. Hey, it's the holidays; everyone's on edge, right?

Passing this truck on the curve of a mountain road where only one side had been scraped particularly freaked her out.

    Well, we went up to my mom's parents' house and the storm dropped about eight inches of snow on us. That's a crazy amount of snow for people who live where one inch throws people into a frenzy. So on a cold Christmas day when people stay inside with the family, what did we do? 
    Why, we bundled up in mismatched sweats and coats and boots and traipsed down the backyard, over the fence and into the hilly field behind the house and went sledding, of course. It was super fun going down, but the hike back up was so steep it almost wasn't worth it. Plus, my sister and I were either sick or recovering from being sick, so it was a little rough. Plus, when I rode down with dad, we were headed for a tree, and when he turned the sled away from it, I flipped out and landed on my face. Now, that was fun. It was also, coincidentally, my last ride down the hill.

View from my basement window. The field over the fence is where we went sledding.

    By the next day, the news and weather channel were telling us that if we "didn't have to go anywhere, stay inside and off the roads." So, naturally, we packed up the car and started driving up further into the mountains, where another six inches were being dumped. The main roads weren't bad, but as soon as we got into the tiny mountain town where my dad's mother lives, we discovered that the side roads we needed to drive on hadn't been scraped by the snowplow. We only slid a little. Mom only freaked out a little. And by a little I am making an enormous understatement. We're alive, and that's all that matters. Going up Granny's driveway was impossible, though. The snow was far too deep, and it is quite a steep driveway:

See that tiny white nub at the bottom of the hill in the far distance? That's where the road is.

 Instead, we tried to go up the back hill, which is about as steep...

That little space between the pines and Christmas trees is where we hide to hike to.

But for some reason we thought we could make it. Here is where we got stuck:

At the bottom...

By the next day, we'd gotten so much snow that our car was nearly buried. The snow drifts were waist deep and the wind was blowing up to fifty miles per hour. The governor declared a state of emergency, and the weather channel informed us of the obvious blizzard conditions.

HUGE snow drifts.

This is my sister. You can't really tell, but the drift to her left is actually waist deep. See where the shadows end to the left? That's not because that's how tall the tree is; it's because that's how tall the snow drift is.

    When we got home, we were greeted by yet more snow, which is unusual, because here it normally melts on the day it falls.
    Anyway, here's a little Christmas collage of four of my gifts (I would've done more, but Picnik.com would only let me put four photos in a collage at once...)

Didn't show up as clearly as I wanted... That's the complete collection of Hans Christian Anderson's Fairy Tales on the left, then a Livescribe Pulse Digital Pen, Jame's Patterson's Witch and Wizard, and a lapdesk. 

    Have a Merry Christmas, everyone, and a Happy New Year!
P.S. If you read this entire blog, shoot me a comment and I'll give you a virtual high-five!

Christmas Gifting

Zoning out to O Holy Night by *N Sync
So tired my eyes are crossing
    Laugh all you want, folks, but listen to those harmonies - you have to admit that even a cappella *N Sync had it down. I am a nineties kid, what do you expect? Boy bands were the bomb dot com to me. 
    You know where it gets really good? A Christian boy band (e.g. Plus One, heard of them?). I have one CD which I just recently found (along with my Hilary Duff and Backstreet Boys Millennium CD, score!) and I couldn't help but take a listen. You know what I really loved about the boy bands of the nineties and 2000s? They had this fantastic fetish with the Spanish-sounding guitar, which I love. Seriously - listen to the Millennium CD, and you've got Spanish Eyes, for one, then on Black and Blue there's The Call. Plus One didn't miss that boat either, cause just on that one CD, the Promise, they've got Here in my Heart, which has a light Spanish influence, and God Is In This Place, which is very Spanish sounding, enough to make my heart melt. Then, get this, they took What Child Is This on their Christmas CD, and gave that a Spanish spin! Combine that with the gorgeously meshed vocals of a boy band and I'm in heaven. They even did an arrangement of Silent Night a cappella in the same manner as *N Sync's O Holy Night.  
    Okay, enough about my guilty pleasure of terrible nineties music. On to more important things. Like my now-clean room. Let me just include a quick before and after shot, here: 

Before

    and...

After

    And in case you're wondering, yes, my bed did move. It's still unmade, but that's because I was cold and covered up and got up just to show how clean my room is... Aside from the purse and my work shoes on the floor... and the laundry in my chair... You know what? I can see the improvement. ha ha.  
    The cat on the bed is A.J. He's a nut, who thinks he's a dog, and may possibly be gay. He just really loves guys. But that's okay... I mean, I don't support his decision, but I love him anyway. ha ha. Whatever. He's really weird anyways. He actually likes water. Tries to get in the shower with me. Weirdo. 
    So. Christmas is coming, and I've found that there really isn't anything I want or need for Christmas. I've been asked by family and friends what I would like as a Christmas gift, and I just can't think of anything. When I was a kid, I used to be thinking about what I wanted as soon as I got past my birthday, which is in February. I would already be on to my Christmas list as soon as my birthday gifts lost their luster. As I've grown older, obviously I don't want the newest Barbie or anything, and while techie toys like cameras and such may be neat, I don't really need or want one. I have a laptop, iPhone, so I don't need an iPod, a camera that may be five or so years old, but it works, and any other things like that I find are quite expensive and I feel bad asking for them. 
    My Grandmother ended up buying Finale Songwriter 2011 for me, which I was saving up for myself, but that was the only thing I could think to tell her, and she was more than happy to get it for me, even a month early so I've already gotten the hang of the keystrokes. The only big thing I asked my parents for, but didn't actually expect to get is a digital pen - the livescribe smartpen. When working on my books, or even stuff for school, the only way I can be creative is to write it by hand first and then retype it when I'm finished, which as you can imagine takes a ridiculous amount of time. With a digital pen, I can write it all out and then transfer it digitally to the computer, thus saving an extraordinary amount of time. It cost a fair amount of money as well, and I didn't think I'd actually get it, but my mom asked me to help her order it online, so now I know that I am. 
    What's weird to me is I actually feel a bit bad for asking for things for Christmas. From anyone, I mean, even when they ask me what I'd like. I feel guilty for admitting that I want something, and selfish when I have to think about what I'd like. I know it's ridiculous, and I'm asking the same questions to many of my friends and family. It's like pre-holiday regret. What kind of sense does that make?
    On a more positive note, we may get snow on Christmas! White Christmas - crossed off bucket list.