christmas preparations

i love christmas.  always have.  i love decorating the house and i love baking cookies.  it's the one time of year when i feel like i can fly my martha stewart flag high and show my face in the craft store without feeling like i'm forty years too young to be thrilled about yarn.

i was sick last week.  so sick, in fact, that my christmas preparations were in real danger of never even happening.  there is so little time between thanksgiving and christmas.  those few weeks are critical if you want to pull off the perfect christmas.  and for some reason, this year i was determined that it would be close to, if not perfect.  probably a continuation of the whole buying the house and wanting it to be absolutely perfect the moment i moved in thing.

anyway, last saturday when i finally started feeling at least a little bit better, i felt so behind on everything that it was overwhelming and i almost just said screw it, i'll wait 'til next year to have a perfect christmas.  i even thought that i would forgo the cookie baking thing (if you know me, you would know that i live for christmas cookie baking.  this was a big deal).  i have no idea what it was that lit the spark in me, but one minute i was relaxing on the nap couch and the next minute i was yanking the christmas tree box out of the storage closet.  i even had andy help me bring it upstairs.

andy is somewhat of a reluctant christmas celebrator.  it's not that he doesn't like christmas, it's that he doesn't like the setting up of christmas trees and the sending of christmas cards and all the work that goes into christmas.  he basically complained the entire time we were setting up the tree...."why are we even bothering to do this when we're leaving [for my parents] in ten days?"..."why are you bothering to set up a tree when we have a kitten who messes with everything?"  i tried telling myself that it was just him being a boy and that all the christmas preparation is part of what makes it special, dammit.



after we set up our christmas tree with colored lights, i went to town on the mantel.  i was inspired by this mantel i saw at crate & barrel:

now that i've linked it i'm embarrassed to show a picture of my mantel because mine looks pretty pathetic compared to this.  but what the heck.  you only live once.





note: i did not leave the stockings up for long because god forbid i have anything dangling in the way of curious kittens in my house.

once i had finished my tree and my mantel, i added a wreath to our front door and voila! it was christmas.

later that evening, i was sitting downstairs on the nap couch with andy watching real housewives of BH and working on another craft project when we heard a loud crash and the scamper of little feet.  we ran up the stairs and i stuck my head around the corner, then immediately tried to draw back so that andy wouldn't be able to see into the living room.  despite my efforts at pushing him down the stairs, andy came up beside me and said "well, that was worth it".  someone had knocked over the tree onto the hardwood floors, which shattered the ornaments i had put on that side and also broke the stand of the tree.  so that was it for the short life of our 2010 christmas tree.  it was fun while it lasted.



decorating the house got me in the mood for baking cookies.  a post dedicated to cookie baking is coming soon.

december house update

we got a couple of big items in the past few weeks that have made our house look pretty much complete.

at the top of the list is our new couch.  don't be fooled by my seemingly nonchalant attitude here -- the couch was many years in the making, and it did not come easy.  no siree.  you see, this is the couch for the man cave, andy's sanctuary where he can hide from me and all my annoying little habits.  we went to countless furniture stores and sat on easily over 200 couches, and finally the big beast came home on december 3rd.

in order to arrange to have the new couch delivered, we had to get the old couch out of the basement.  this turned out to be fun and not at all annoying.  we simply brought the couch up the basement stairs, removed the feet of the couch, angled it every imaginable way while adding numerous scuff marks to the already worn basement walls, then had to go back down the stairs so we could take it out the basement (sliding door).  but that's not where it ended.  it was pitch black outside and it had been raining for days.  luckily no one slipped, but good lord it ended up being such a pain.  thankfully, the thing fit through the front door or i would've flipped my lid.

the new couch was delivered and is definitely worth the wait.  the minute the guys were done setting it up i had to take a nap on it.  10 out of 10, baby.

since the old couch was moved up to the living room, i got to do whatever i wanted with it.  i covered it with the slipcover we bought a few weeks ago so that it would coordinate with my new armchair, and i tossed a few ikea pillows on 'er for a little pizzaz.  i'm quite happy with the way it turned out.

now i think we are pretty much set for house stuff.  we still need some bedroom furniture for the two empty bedrooms upstairs, but it can wait.

thanksgiving re-cap

andy and i went down to southern virginia for thanksgiving.  the drive down was beautiful (although, it was a bit busy since we were one of the millions of cars on the road the wednesday before thanksgiving).  the crowded streets and massive buildings slowly gave way to farms and rolling hills, and soon we were approaching a bright orange and pink sunset that served as a beacon leading the way to a slower pace of life (and hardee's).

the view from the car

every trip to andy's home town seems to be marked not in hours or events, but in restaurants.  prior to our arrival, we always talk about the places we might go for dinner, lunch, breakfast, etc.  i think that must be the thing andy misses most about his home town -- the comforting smell of a hardees biscuit.

with that said, i will now do a run-down of the four-week trip.

wednesday night -- arrived in wytheville, met andy's family at cj's, a fine establishment specializing in pizza, calzones, and subs.  we ate with andy's mom, sister and brother-in-law.

thursday morning -- andy and i drove to wal-mart to get a sports bra for me and i changed in the back seat of his durango so we could get a little bit of exercise.  we jogged for about half an hour, then met his mom at hardee's, where andy proceeded to eat a biscuit, eggs, cheese, and who-knows-what in a bowl drowned in gravy.  i had some oj.

thursday afternoon -- i helped andy's mom prepare the corn casserole (corn cassy for those of you who know me well), green bean casserole, broccoli casserole and various other side dishes.  kyle drove down from his parents and andy's granny came over and had thanksgiving with all of us.

thursday evening -- leftovers and football.  yum.  for some reason andy went through his old clothes and found a pair of pheonix suns shorts (that go with the coordinating jersey) that he wore in middle school.  let's just say he may or may not have put them on and worn them all night to make us all feel awkward and uncomfortable.  we played grey's anatomy trivia, trivial pursuit and scrabble slam.

friday morning (black friday) -- andy's mom got up early to go to walmart to get a tv.  i slept in until 9 and then vegged on the couch with andy for another hour or so.

friday afternoon -- we met andy's sister and brother-in-law at red robin for burgers, then went to every virignia tech bookstore in blacksburg. andy's looking for some inspiration for his basement. we also went to target and pier 1, where i picked up a few christmas decorative items.

friday evening -- leftovers again (i think).

saturday morning -- the entire group went to hardees.  andy reminisced about his friend's dad who used to go to hardees every morning and sit and read the paper while smoking. ah, the good 'ol days.

saturday afternoon -- the big commonweath cup (i think that's what they call it).  virignia tech played university of virginia and creamed 'em.  andy was happy.  we also set up andy's mom's christmas tree and ordered from his favorite chinese place (peking) at half time.

saturday evening -- we left andy's parents' around 5:30 and got stuck in post-game traffic in blacksburg.  i slept for about an hour in the car and we listened to christmas music and taylor swift.  when we got home it was close to midnight, and we both crashed.

as always, it was so good to get out of the city and the hustle and bustle of every day life.

pre-thanksgiving feast preparations

since i will not be traveling home for thanksgiving this year (we are going to andy's parents in southern virginia), i thought i would take advantage of my parents being in town the weekend before thanksgiving and host a mini pre-thanksgiving feast.  it also happened to be two weeks before my birthday, which also coincided with my dad's big new promotion at work, so there happened to be a lot to celebrate.

i was supposed to come home from work on friday night and clean the house.  that didn't turn out so well.  

luckily, i started to panic somewhat on saturday morning and was able to jump right out of bed at 7 am.  i went shopping at safeway to get some groceries for the big meal.  of course before starting the actual shopping i had to grab a caramel light frap at starbucks.  love those things. 

the "big meal" was:

- roasted vegetable lasagna

- orecchiette with cauliflower

- caprese salad (my own "recipe")

- garlic bread

as i went down the pasta aisle to buy the orecchiette, casually browsing the spaghetti sauce, i came across this:

wow. who knew that paul sorvino made pasta sauce?  shocking.  also a little funny.

after returning from the store i unpacked the groceries and got to work.  i cleaned pretty much every room in the house and even tackled the front glass door with windex. 

andy was out of town for the weekend.  it happened to be the weekend of his annual vikings/packers game, and he kept me updated on his status pretty frequently throughout the day:

dave and kyle sharpen their deer hunting skills

andy discovers the perfect christmas present for percy

the guys enjoy a dangerous looking bloody mary (to me it looks like there's just too much stuff in there to actually have access to the drink, but maybe that's just me)

luckily for me, the family was running a bit late, so i was able to finish up my cleaning and actually get a head start on dinner.  by the time the fam got there, the house was smelling like garlic and roasted vegetables -- so good!  my niece walked in the kitchen and asked "what's that stinky smell?"  adorable.

my mom and sister helped me cook in the kitchen while my niece and nephew chased the cat around the house playing "hunt percy".  my dad and brother-in-law delegated themselves to the basement and watched football.  it was crazy and hectic and just perfect.

my niece, who is the sweetest little thing, but also loves percy somethin' fierce (a la elmyra duff from 'tiny toons') had to be reminded a few times that we don't pick up percy.  at one point my brother-in-law found her bending down and walking while holding percy's front paws.  he said "remember, we do not pick up or carry the kitty" and she replied back to him "i'm not carrying him, i'm holding his hands".

we had a little cake for my dad and me.  i got to blow out a candle.  my nephew licked the ice cream container's lid to make sure no ice cream went to waste.  he also gave me a christmas cactus and some skittles.

i can't wait to have many many more meals like this in my home.  it was so worth the wait.

procrastination

i was supposed to come home from work tonight to clean and get ready to host my first big family meal tomorrow.  instead, i found myself sitting in my white chair, listening to the fire crackle, enjoying a glass of wine and a decent book and warmed by a purring kitty snuggled up to my legs. 

i know tomorrow i'll wish i did more to get ready.  i'll be busy all morning and will most likely have a few things remaining on my to-do list, but i think in 10 years what i'll remember more is not that the windows are smudged and the floors are unswept, but that my sweet kitty once loved to lie on his back and have his cashmere-soft belly rubbed while he snored away in dreamland.  i'll also remember to always double check to make sure the flue is open before starting the fire -- (woopsies).

liveable

some house updates.

i shared a couple of pictures of the new place on flickr last week, and wanted to go into a little more detail on here to document my progress, or lack thereof.

first off, i'm happy to report that the house is now 95% unpacked.  actually, i can say that everything but the office is unpacked.  the office is now just a junk room, but i really really do plan to clean it up and put it to good use.

before i start tackling the office unpacking/de-cluttering project, i'm still focused on decorating/furnishing the other parts of the house so that they are presentable.  i'm not even going for magazine presentable.  i'm going for "my mom" presentable.  i'm not going to get into it now, but i think my mom did some irreparable damage when she raised me in such a clean house.  i can honestly say that i never saw the kitchen sink with dirty dishes.  it is this type of upbringing that made me into the neurotic cleaner that i am today.  i look at everything in the house through my "mom's eye" and it never lives up to her standards.  there are still scuff marks on the walls from the previous owners' movers.  there are still a couple of stickers on the windows in the kitchen (i seriously need to clean the windows - is it gross that i haven't cleaned them yet?).  in reality, my mom is a) not the type of person to judge others for their (un)cleanliness and b) definitely never judgmental of her kids.  but i still strive to one day have a house as clean as my mom's.

back to house updates.

dining room is almost there.  i got a new dining room table about three weeks ago.  it's the basque java 65" table from crate & barrel.  i'm very happy with it.  i think i've mentioned before that it's my first real piece of furniture, and i'm pretty proud of that.  the only thing really left to do in the dining room (for now) is to hang a mirror that i got for the room a few weeks ago.

the living room is now sporting a new chair & ottoman (ikea - Ektorp series) and coffee table (also ikea - hemnes).  in a few weeks i will add the ektorp sofa to this room and it will look more complete.  i didn't take a picture, but the fireplace in this room has a very "dated" cover/shield thingie and i'm tempted to possibly paint the brick white.  that is something that will happen very much down the road, but just thought i'd throw the idea out there.  also for this room i need another side table (most likely the matching hemnes side table), media console thing (again, most likely will be from the hemnes collection), a tv, wall art, and some lamps.  i haven't had the chance to spend too much time in this room.  i've been a little busy and don't take the time to relax too much, but i know when the day comes for me to relax, this room will be perfect for it.  on sunday morning i sat in here with percy and drank my coffee while making my awesome nephew a copy of the new taylor swift album.  when i was done i stored my laptop in the ottoman along with a USB cord and my journal.  i love my new little treasure chest. 

more to come!

weekend re-cap

this weekend was pretty busy, but also lots of fun.

laura n. came down from syracuse on friday evening, which also happened to be her birthday.  we went out to dinner at a delish mexican place in clarendon and sat and talked for a while.  after dinner, we quickly ran into the container store and crate & barrel to drool over stuff that neither one of us could afford.  we dreamed of what it would be like to be able to furnish one's entire house in crate & barrel furniture.

saturday morning i was embarassed to have absolutely nothing in my pantry/fridge/house to eat.  we ended up doing instant oatmeal and black coffee.  although, i do have to admit that instant oatmeal (maple & brown sugar, obv.) is one of my favorite breakfasts ever.  we had some coffee and sat at the kitchen table that is currently functioning as my only living room furniture, then realized that we were running late for the day's activities and hurried to get showered and ready.

we met laura's brother nathan at famous dave's for some lunch.  famous dave's is a chain bbq place, about 30 minutes south of here, and it's probably my favorite bar-b-que.

we had a delicious meal (i had the pulled pork, grilled corn, mac & cheese and french fries), then headed to ikea for some serious shopping.  i am still so torn as to where i want to buy real furniture (and if i actually want to buy "real" furniture), so i decided to pick up a few storage solutions & simple accessories instead of going all out and furnishing the entire house.  it turned out to be quite the successful ikea run.  i got:

-a wooden shelf for the laundry room, which is going to hold tools, various laundry items (detergent, etc.) and cat paraphernalia (food, treats, ear drops, etc.)
-three or four glass jars for kitchen storage
-three green/dark green/clear jars for bathroom (soap, etc.) storage
-a couple more spice jars for the spice rack that i can't seem to fit into my new kitchen decor
-two new bed pillows
-a big mirror for my dining room
-probably a handful of other items that seem to be slipping my mind at the moment

after our successful idea run, laura, nate and i enjoyed some ice cream at coldstone (i got the strawberry blonde) then headed back home to my place.  we watched the new sherlock holmes movie (at least new to me) and by the time we were done it was dark and we were exhausted.  nate went home and laura and i stayed up talking for a while until i could hardly keep my eyes open.  my god, shopping can be exhausting.

on sunday morning i slept in until 8.  big deal.  i decided to seize the day and go to the new safeway for some food before laura got up.  a few friends had told me that the new safeway was "awesome" and "rivaled wegmans".  my review of the new safeway: "meh".  it had a pretty good organic/heath food section and did have a nice new feel to it, but i found the produce selection and overall selection to be somewhat lacking.  i'm just sayin'.

i made blueberry muffins and turkey bacon for breakfast.  laura, andy and i sat at the dining room table (our first official meal there!).  it was awesome.  percy is going to have to learn some new table manners.  apparently if you let him up on all surfaces in an apartment he thinks he's allowed on all surfaces in the house.  who knew.

after our hearty breakfast, andy watched some football while laura and i ran to home depot to get some floor protector pad things for the bottom of the new chairs & table, and to see whether we could find a pumpkin (please note the date we were looking: 10/31...not the greatest idea).  at home depot we picked up a bunch of stuff that wasn't really on my list, but stuff that felt like a homeowner should own.  namely, needle nose pliers and mums for the front porch.  we weren't able to find a pumpkin at home depot, but andy told us about this church down the street that still had some for sale.  we made it just in time and snatched the last halfway decent pumpkin.

laura and i sat on the front stoop and carved the pumpkin, then planted the mums in some planters i bought at home depot.  we had diet coke and talked the whole time.  it was really nice.

laura left shortly after that and then it was time for me to get to work on cleaning and unpacking.  i worked pretty hard the entire afternoon and can now proudly say that we are well on our way to being entirely unpacked.  we have maybe three or four more boxes to go. 

sunday evening andy and i were expecting quite a few trick-or-treaters, and the previous home owners told us they would stop by to pick up their mail which we had been collecting over the past week.  turns out the four bags of candy i bought were pretty unncessary - we had maybe 20 trick-or-treaters in total (my favorite was a little transformer boy who said something to his parents about the "velita" in my jack-o-lantern.

the previous home owners never stopped by -- we got an e-mail from the lady later that night that said her kids were still pretty upset that they can't go into "their house" any more.  cute.  hopefully one day my kids will love this home too.

one thing that kind of made my day was that andy was able to hook up the tv to the internet so we caught up on grey's anatomy -- we were behind a record 4 episodes.  

monday morning i woke up feeling more tired than i have felt in a long time.  it was rough getting out of bed.  it was rough saying goodbye to andy in the morning.  i did the stealthy "block him from his toothbrush" move so he couldn't leave, then pouted and whined when he tried to leave (all in a very cute, endearing way, obviously).  he was able to sneak out the door by promising we could watch more grey's after work.  i always fall for his mind tricks.

hello, house

we moved into our new digs last friday/saturday and we are still getting used to it.

i would show photos of the house in all of it's glory, but unfortunately i'm lacking in the furniture department.  and the internet department (i'm writing from work).  about 60% of my house sits empty and echo-y and what little furniture we do have is embarrassingly QUOTE "junky" (this from andy, who did not spend one dime on the furniture we already have). we finally got a piece of real furniture (my very first!) yesterday (a dining room table) and it is making me very happy just to think about all the future meals i will be serving/enjoying there.  i will take pictures and post them on here soon...i just have to buy some sort of wall art to put behind the table and the room will be complete. 

it's weird going from a one bedroom apartment to a three-story house.  there is no longer a three-step commute to the kitchen for a glass of water before bed; instead, you have to walk down a whole flight of stairs and all the way back up again.  you better be certain that you need that glass of water before making that big of a commitment.  also, the keeping the kitchen clean thing is hard to do when the kitchen is no longer the size of a shoe box.  so far i am keeping up with it for the most part, but it is going to take some getting used to.

and the sleep thing.  i think i'm going to blame this mostly on percy, who wakes up at about 4 am and just wants to let you know he's there.  he'll sit at my feet and mew (not to be confused with meow) for a few minutes until i say something to him like "percy, please stop" and then he will be quiet for an hour or so, at which point the whole routine starts and repeats on an hourly basis until i get out of bed.  in the old place we just never let him into the room with us and he very rarely woke us up.  i guess we're still giving him some time to adjust to the new place before we shut him out for the night.  i'm hopeful that one day i will have another uninterrupted night of sleep.

we've had two successful trash pick-ups and we're getting the hang of all the frickin' light switches.  something tells me that everything is going to be just fine.

goodbye, apartment

after three years living in our apartment in arlington, it looks like andy and i are finally about to make the plunge into the mythical world they call "home ownership".  that's right, if all goes well, we will be homeowners in about two days.

i have been busy around the old apartment, packing away our junk acquired over the past three years, and i can't help but feel some nostalgia as i move on to bigger and better things.  really, the apartment served us well.  it was our first dwelling, the first place we could call home, the first place we could make a home together.  it was the place where we brought home our first pet (well, i brought home our first pet against A's wishes).  i took a video of the apartment and went from room to room, showing the places where it was obvious that we had outgrown it.  i tried to remember all the crappy stuff about this place so that when i look back in 20 years and think "those were the days" i can bring myself back to reality with the always-out-of-commission elevators, the half-size washer/dryer, the smelly garbage disposal, the functional-but-a-pain-in-the-you-know-what-to-clean stove, the forever broken hot water faucet in the bathroom sink, and so on.

let's share some favorite memories of the avalon:

the civic reached an important milestone.

i got engaged.

the old tv died, and then came back to life. and then died again.

three fantasy football drafts and countless football games.

i brought home a kitten. andy was not pleased.

andy bonded with said kitten.

i'll do another post about the things that i won't miss about the avalon, but for now, since i'm still technically living in the apartment for another few days, i'm going to try to not go crazy with how much i hate living in the place.

vacation

i've been dreaming of pool-side umbrella drinks and jodi piccoult novels for months now, pretty much since the may 2009 cruise sunburn wore off.

get your bowl on

i'll admit it - my reaction when seeing the words "department outing" on the meeting invitation was to let out a little sigh.  no, little whimper is more like it.  it's not like i don't like the people i work with - i think they're great.  i just haven't fully developed into one of those people who can just make small talk and be the life of the party yet.  i'm working on it.  i hesitated as i pushed the "accept" button.  i don't think you're actually given a choice there - if you don't go to the department outing you are considered to be a social deviant and you will probably not have your job a year from now.  but i guess i was considering the pros and cons of the situation.

pros:
you do not have to work for the afternoon
free lunch
you get to leave work early

cons:
you have to talk to people you barely know for 3-4 hours

obviously there are more pros than cons in the lists above.  however, the weight afforded to the cons makes the two categories almost equal.  let's just say that i have a crippling fear of slight aversion to talking to people i barely know.  i'm pretty much an idiot and i say the wrong thing all the time.
but in the end i decided that it would be worth it to keep my job and get out of work three hours early.
we went to this place that was (for lack of a better description) embarrassing to stand in.  the alley had been recently remodeled to be some sort of upscale "club" or something.  there were a lot of swankiness attempts, but it just felt wrong.  just because you have new carpet and a full service bar doesn't mean you're not a bowling alley.  and what's with the manager wearing an eighties suit (complete with mock turtleneck)?  the atmosphere of the alley only compounded the awkwardness i was already feeling just being around all those people.  i had a mantra going in my head "you only have to do this for three hours...then you get an afternoon all to yourself...three hours...you can do this".
i managed to make some small talk with a few members of my team (randomly assigned) and even ventured over to the lane beside me, where a girl from my row of cubicles was bowling.  i talked about basketball (everyone watches the ncaa tournament, right?) and the weather.  i was no social butterfly, but i endured it.

and then, even though we got to leave early, i was still stuck in traffic on the way home.

our thing

a few weeks months (because it takes me forever to finish a blog post, apparently) ago,  i needed to get my car inspected (since it was embarrassingly illegally overdue), and since there were still two feet of snow on the ground (remember the great blizzard of '09?  and then '10?) we decided to make it our "trip of the day", if you will.  we dropped the civic off at the car place and headed over to one of the fine arlington county libraries.  he serached out a few detective novels (he has read all of the pattersons, grishams, and theotherguywhoican'trememberrightnows) and i gathered some photography books.  i managed to score a chair next to the window and sat turning the pages and drooling over talented photos until andy was ready to leave.  it felt so good to get out, and it sort of felt like i was participating in the elusive thing they call "the community".
in the weeks since, we've loosely made it our habit. i'll be the first to admit that he is more likely to go than me (shocking because i'm more the bookworm type - or so i thought) and sometimes i find it hard to muster up the strength to walk all that way if the weather is not 72 degrees and sunny.  we've also added breakfast/coffee to the mix, and occasionally a stop at cvs. 
i've always wanted a routine.  i didn't want to force it upon anyone, because i'm not sure at what age people start adopting routines (i've always been all too eager to grow up).  i always just hoped that one day i would be one of those happy people who does things like go to the library and get coffee on weekend mornings.
and while sometimes i let my laziness get the best of me, on the mornings that i do drag myself out of bed and put clothes on before 10 a.m, i'm glad that i'm finally at least a little closer to having a normal life.

he's a little bit country

when we moved in together about 2 years ago, the first thing that was painfully obvious was that we both (well, mostly me) had accumulated a lot of crap over our short lives. my boxes were mostly full of books, cds, a handful of dvds, kitchen gadgets, photo albums, and lots and lots of clothes. his boxes were full of country cds, hundreds of dvds (he's mostly an action guy, with a soft spot for the occasional chick flick), football t-shirts, video games, and more football t-shirts. i'll be the first to admit it: we didn't have much going for us.

the "theme" of my apartment is what i like to call "shabby". not to be confused with "shabby chic". excluding the kitchen table and bedroom set, everything is made out of particle board. moreover, most of the said particle board is being held together by copious amounts of carpenter's glue. i like to think that i was striving for something pottery barn-esque, but my attempts at being the apartment decorator type have proven futile...so i stocked up on neutrals and beiges, threw in the occasional red pillow and called it a day.

then andy began adding his own decorating style to the apartment, such as the bed pillow on the couch, because it's much more comfortable than the red pillows (don't worry, i hide the pillow when people are over), and the bright purple football helmet that is proudly displayed on an end table. little bursts of maroon, orange, and purple suddenly popped up all over the place.
while i can't say that i've always dreamed of having a football helmet on display in my house, i can say that it's now part of the room.  i could even say that it's growing on me tolerable.
we turned in our lease renewal last night.  i have mixed feelings about it, i guess.  i really thought we'd be out of the apartment by this time, but neither one of us is dying to put a down payment on a house/condo in dc...what with the atrocious house prices and all.  so it looks like we'll be sticking around for at least a little while longer.  i'm going to try to keep these years ingrained in my memory.  Hopefully we'll look back on our time spent in little 308 as "just the beginning".

home for the holidays

cousins!, originally uploaded by lizzybee122.

there's nothing like home for the holidays. for me, "home" is my parent's house in ontario. i've never "lived there" per se, but i have spent a couple of christmases there. it's funny because i think of all the places my parents have lived, their current city is the one i am most comfortable with. i always felt like we were outsiders when we lived in GA and NY, like those places were other peoples' "homes" and i was just there temporarily. when we'd go to canada during the holidays it always felt like my mom was going home, so in a way i thought it was the whole family going home. it feels good to have a place to finally call "home" and mean it.