I cannot believe it's already the end of the month. Forgive me for having so few posts lately, life is crazy when you work 40 hrs a week for free ;) I'll save the aquarium and Seattle adventures for an upcoming post, but here are my favorite things for the month of January:
- I'm in love with the end of January because it means 2+ weeks of hearts and sweets and love and pink. I am a sucker for holidays and the feelings they give me. Valentine's Day makes me feel so smiley and cheerful! Last year, I made a paper heart chain, complete with red glitter, that stretched around my entire living room. Yea....probably about 40 feet worth of glittery hearts.
- Ever since grad school I've not been much of a fan of reading. Never read so many books in my life. But my Kindle Christmas gift and rides on the Light Rail every morning have prompted me to start up this whole "reading for fun" thing. From what I've heard, the Hunger Games Triology started out as a series directed towards teenagers, then a much larger audience caught on. It's basically about a futuristic North America where annually they choose a boy and a girl from each of the 12 districts to go to the Hunger Games, and fight to the death, till there is only one winner. I'm on the second book and they are so fun to read. I often hate myself in the mornings because I can't put it down at night.
- Another Christmas gift that I'm loving. My mother just knows me so well :) This FlipFold makes my dressers so pretty and organized. An organized home is a happy home!
- Sugar. Oh my goodness. I'm not proud of this being my favorite this month. I don't know what it is! Andrew says I have a problem. Cookies, cake, donuts, chocolate, frosting....I can't get enough. Not such a good thing to have as a favorite! I usually tell people I don't have a sweet tooth, I have a salty tooth, because I crave salt much more often than sugar. NOT THIS MONTH! Eating frosting by the spoonful must not be apart of my life next month, or Feburary's favorites list will be topped by Weight Watchers meetings!
I'll catch up soon with more posts I pinky swear!
So here I am, back in the land of Subarus, seagulls, and evergreens. Being in Kansas for a few weeks was absolutely wonderful! I ventured back and forth between Topeka and Winfield a few times; north and south, up and down, doin' the holiday shuffle. My favorite memories of the trip involved simply being with my family whom I hadn't seen in a long time. KJ and I decorated the tree, we all ate a ton of food, laughed for hours, had lazy days, and coddled me and my screwed up sinuses (I am NOT good at being sick. It just makes me so mad! I have better things to do than feel crappy.)
I spent a lot of time with Andrew's nieces and nephews. All 4 of them. Under the age of 4, God bless em. Here is the newest addition, sweet little Natalie, in her lamb coat!
I feel like it takes a special kind of person to appreciate scenery like Kansas'. The Flint Hills is one of my favorite drives ever. You can see for miles, and the blue sky sits right on top of the hills. No buildings, no trees. Nothing to separate the best friends of land and sky :) Much different than the Washington scenery, that's for sure.
Much of my time home was spent watching Andrew fly his.....wait....fix. his new remote control airplane. We watched it slam into a telephone pole, get snapped nearly in half, fly into a tree a block away, and it's still alive!! The thing did start to grow on me after I got a lesson from the pilot himself. We'll see how long those feelings last. In the meantime, I'm getting my shotgun warmed up for sporting clay lessons, so I hope we don't try to "practice" our respective interests at the same time ;)
We took a horse and buggy ride with two GIANT Clydesdales in Winfield. Just a short, chilly ride around their famed "Isle of Lights" display.
Got to have coffee with one of the best friends ever from my college days. It was so great to see Ashley and get caught up in person. Since moving, first to Oklahoma, and now to Washington, I have found that true friends are hard to come by. Distance makes things inconvenient to many people, which is a shame when you think you are close friends with somebody. Luckily, I have a select few girl friends who have been supportive, and not let mileage get in the way. They know who they are and I couldn't be more grateful for them!
And finally, New Years! We have a great tradition of going somewhere new each year with a couple, Eric and Kelli. This year, we traveled alllll the way to Wichita for a nice dinner, and dancing! If only we had gotten a good picture....funny Andrew. Real funny.
That's all I've got for now. I hope your holidays were all you wished for! Can't wait till next time when I can fill you all in on some aquarium happenings. Until then....
Cheers,
KLM
