Back to the daily grind

Well, the holidays are over and school starts up again on monday (blah! i really dread going back it was so nice to have the semester off for naps and movie watching and book reading). But, the holidays this year were spectacular and so much has been going on that I've hardly even had the chance to blog about it. But, you'll be glad to know that I took some pictures to share!

Do you remember the christmas post in which I had this great long list of christmas movies and activities? well, we probably got around to half of those things, maybe. We watched elf at my brother and sister-in-laws annual christmas party which is probably my favorite party of the year because everyone brings food and treats and its so great. especially the ice cream drink my brother makes, which is pretty much what it sounds like and it's the best.

I don't know if I told you but we re-watched all the harry potter movies so that we could go see the newest one, and we were able to finish in time to see it on christmas eve. it was good, a little sad and a lot of parallels to LOTR, but that's okay. can't wait to see the last one next summer! Then we continued our christmas eve tradition of Pizza from dominos (i know dominos isn't the greatest but it's a tradition) and we watched Love Actually (probably my favoritest christmas movie). Christmas morning came and Boyf. and I had a big breakfast a long with presents. 

it doesn't look like much but there was lots of bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, OJ and Hot C!

Even with our pretty strict present budget I think that we both got some great gifts for each other. At least I know I was so surprised and excited! Boyf got me a Cocoa latte machine and a giant family size container of hot c (YAY! I was so excited! I opened the Hot C first and knew what was in the other wrapped box!) Then he also got me some really nice new head phones. They are the Dre Beats (if any of you care) and they are fab. In my stocking boyf filled it with lots of snacks, fruit snacks and granola bars (i like to take them to work). I couldn't have been more excited. We made some delish Hot C right then and there. And now I get to tell you what I got boyf! I filled his stocking with the Firefly series on blu ray (one of his fav shows) and the newest John Legend cd (which is really good). Then I was able to find an FC Twin which plays the old Nintendo and Super Nintendo games. I also got him Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World to go along with it.

My little nephew Charlie got the greatest present ever! He loves it and I'm pretty sure we all enjoy it probably just as much as he does. My brother and Sister-in-law gave him a muscle padded Spider man costume. He's got a few lines from the movie memorized, as well as some super spidey moves. I was able to capture a few and am delighted to share

For New Years we had a great time out to dinner with some friends at Sea Salt. It's a great italian restaurant owned by the same people that opened the Paris Bistro. My shrimp pasta was so fabulous, boyf's anchovy and olive pizza wasn't great (a little too salty, but if you love salt then go for it). Then we attended a friends party complete with martinellis and midnight kiss!

This last week my brother and his family have come to visit. It's been so fun, especially to see their little one, Evelyn who is so adorable (seriously, her "pig" sound is the greatest thing).

Now it's back to school and working on my resolutions. I hadn't really thought about resolutions that much because I usually come up with these really lofty, grand resolutions that are probably unattainable. So this year I think that I'll just stick to a few that are things that are necessities, but for my resolution I'll just try and go the extra mile.
They include:
-saving up for school (my resolution here will be to save up for at least 4 classes)
-saving up for a laptop (this doesn't need any upgrade because $1100 is a lot of money)
-save up for dog (this will coincide with the next one because dogs are expensive and usually apartments that allow dogs are a little bit more)
-save up for own apartment
-save up for trip (I like to try and go on a trip every year, even if it's just a little one to cali. it's so nice to get away and plan for days of just fun with friends and the boyf.)
-get good grades (I'm getting much better at studying and school in general but I just need to keep it up)

So we'll see how it all goes down.

dying for...

...a dog. I think I've looked at the humane society's website 3 or 4 times today, really.  I miss having the company of a dog around, they are always so happy and loving, and the best are when they are snuggly. I really wish I could get one right now, and the apartment I'm in allows them, but when I have to move again in august who knows if i'll be able to find a place that allows dogs (that's also in my price range).

I keep telling myself that I can wait till I'm graduated, but that's going to be a few years yet and that seems like such a long time. Oh well, I guess that's just more incentive to get it over with, right?

I still have my dream of having a puppy and bunny being best friends, of course, but now I'm thinking I'll be lucky to have a doggie of my own in a few years.

p.s. don't tell my dad. he'll just tell me that if i want to be around a dog i can always move back home.

ZCMI christmas windows

Does anyone remember the old ZCMI christmas window displays that were made entirely of candy? I was thinking about christmas memories from my childhood and I think that may be one of my favorites. I adored going shopping with my Mom downtown and looking in those magical candy windows. We'd have so much fun and then we'd go down to the basement level that had all the candy and she'd buy me some cherry sour balls, or that candy mix that had boston baked beans (is that what they're called?). I really miss those windows! Throngs of people would be squished in front trying to get a glimpse of the candy wonderlands.

I was so sad when I got to work today and tried to google image pictures of the windows but with every word combination I came up with I couldn't find any pictures. So I'll just have to hold on the memories and hope that I don't forget them.

Christmas Time

Here is my small, 3 foot table top pre-lit, fake christmas tree (If you look really closely to the middle you can kind of see a brown thing with a red spot, that's the cute reindeer ornament my biggest sis gave me). And despite it's size and faux-ness I still love it. This is pre decorations of any kind, and my roomie has sweet-a lights from the 50s that look kind of like candles but they are diff. colors and they bubble; but you have to watch them so they don't over heat. I'm pretty sure christmas time is the best time of year. Snuggling with Hot C, Christmas trees, candy canes, christmas movies, presents (giving and getting of course, especially giving this year!) and all the people spending lots of money at the crew, and everyone's cheery attitude!

So far I haven't participated in many christmas activities, but I hope that will soon change. Since I don't have that awesome of a christmas tree this year I'm going to the parents house this thursday to help the decorate their real, big, awesome smelling tree! I'm pretty excited because we have some killer decorations from who knows when and even some that my mom made in the late 70s that are just classic. Don't worry I'll take pictures.
Then I plan to watch many a christmas movies, and this is a must since the boyf is very unfamilliar with pretty much any christmas themed anything (he does know some christmas time songs though).
Christmas movie list:
-Elf (possibly a few times?)
-It's a Wonderful Life (this is probably the only one that can be omitted if we run out of time. it's a classic but i have seen it too many times to count)
-Christmas Story
-Frosty the Snowman (my niece and nephew will help with this one)
-Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (claymation version. the kids will also help with this one)
-National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
-The Holiday (love Jack Black in this movie. I'm so positive that his character in this movie is just like he is in real life because he's so the best in this movie. Seriously, if I was not with boyf, and jack black wasn't married with kids, i could see a future there.)
-Love Actually (this is possibly the best christmas movie ever, I obv own it and am not opposed to several viewings throughout the year)
-About a Boy (I suppose you could say this is not a christmas movie, but his dad wrote a famous christmas song which is even played in the movie, and the movie has two christmases in it, both major moments in the main characters life. needless to say this is one of my most favoritest movies)
I suppose that's all for the list and if I add one more boyf might never want to celebrate christmas again.
As far as other christmas activities go, we have our family christmas party of course, which is always so fun. and probably other parties that will spring up a long the way. I would say ice skating, but i'm okay going without it this year. although it's entirely possible that i'll get dragged into it. I don't mind it, but it's kind of like sledding, so fun for a minute and then you're cold, and you get snow somewhere it doesn't belong (or in the case of ice skating, you fall down hard, someone runs into you, and your feet start to hurt). although, hot c and snuggling often accompany ice skating. so i guess it's give and take.

Mostly I'm super excited for boyf's christmas present this year. We have a $ limit, which was really hard for me at first. I tend to go overboard when giving to boyf (see last christmas and birthday. for real) so I had originally settled on something nice, but kind of boring (and I'm not going to say what it was just in case he reads this and is disappointed I picked something else). But then I had this brilliant idea and it truly is such a good idea! And I know he'll be super surprised. He thinks he knows one of his presents, and he might, but it's also a pretty good one so that's okay. But there is no way in a million years he'll guess his others, so Christmas morning is going to be so fun! Can't wait, and I tell him this a lot lately. Hopefully I'm not blowing it up too big, but I don't think I am. :)

Also, I finally took a pic of my fuzzy, extremely warm red blanket that is so big for my bed I have to fold it up all over it so that it's not touching the ground.

it's also getting everything red and fuzzy, but oh well. it was worth it!

Black Friday

So Thurs was Thanksgiving which is probably one of the greatest holidays of the year. I love the food, time with family, not having to work all that good stuff.

This year, right after leaving my parents house Jason and I hustled down to Target to wait in line for some crazy deals. I've never participated in the whole black friday insanity (except for working on black friday, being an employee) and it was definitely something I will never forget. I wish my phone hadn't died because I would have taken pictures of us all bundled up and freezing our toes off! It was so cold that night, and I definitely learned a lesson in preparedness; if we go again next year we will be bringing a tent, heater, extra hot chocolate as many blankets that we can fit in the tent and a lappy to watch a movie on.

Needless to say, since we arrived at 11 pm (store opened at 4 am) we were pretty close to the front of the line and we were able to get all that we came for! yay! This year Target had a 40" tv for under $300! crazy! I thought that people would be slightly civilized but the people behind us in line were ridiculous. They were pushing people's carts out of the way trying to get ahead (mind you the people behind us were only maybe 12 in line, maybe? like i said, we were pretty close to the front). Oh well.
So, we picked up two of the tvs, an awesome fuzzy, really fuzzy, soft blanket (king size for $20! I almost didn't get it, but I don't have a blanket that's larger than a twin size, and now when jason and I snuggle watching a movie we can both fit under the blanket!) I also picked up some computer speakers for 12! it was pretty sweet.

What was not so sweet? going to bed at 5:15 am, waking up 3 hours later for a 10 hour work day, and then staying up the next night (last night, friday) till 1:30ish, and waking up early for another long work day. So basically I'm exhausted and could fall asleep any minute, truly.

I'll be posting pics of the blankie later. I so love it!