Day 323

tonight tojy invited a few of us over to celebrate tracy's birthday. tojy wins husband of the year award for the DQ blizzard cake he got her, yum!! it was a great night of friends, DQ and trivial pursuit :)

Day 322

no pic today

Day 321

my nephew is one year old today!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW JAMES :)

here are a few of my favorite pics of him from thanksgiving week

here he is so excited 'cause he knows he is going to climb on that table and make it all the way across!

auntie morgan had some fun with his hair :)

this is my favorite picture of all. i love the lighting and his little hand trying to hold the glass

Day 320

and the decorating continues :)

Day 319

there's my fake tree. i strung the lights all by myself for the very first time, wow, i must be growing up!

Day 318

cicely and i caught up today. she was so sweet and bought me lunch and then came with me to wal-mart so i could buy my fake tree... yeah, a fake tree this year, just too much to try to manage a real one (lazy? yeppers!)

Day 317

traveled all day today and forgot to take a pic :(

Day 316

my last day in costa rica :( it has been a wonderful trip, very relaxing and a great time with my family. my sisters, my nephew and i drove our golf cart up a steep road so we could see the sunset. i have to admit, i am really not a very good golf cart driver, but me made it!

later we went to dinner and celebrated my birthday since we won't be able to on the actual day. it was a very nice evening, with lots of laughter :)

Day 315

today is thanksgiving!!! being in costa rica isn't going to stop us from celebrating - with a turkey no less! my mom rocks, she was determined to get a turkey while here and our fabulous concierge was able to make it happen. we had to improvise with a few things, but my mom is seriously the best cook in the world and can work with anything. so here it is, the table is set and the meal is served :)

i wasn't sure how i would feel about celebrating this holiday away from home in such a warm, tropical, so-not-the-east-coast place, but it really is such a blessing. i am so blessed for my family, and thankful that we can come to places like this as well. thanksgiving is thanksgiving wherever you want it to be, the US or costa rica.

we even got to watch the macy's thanksgiving day parade like we always do at home :)

Day 314

mom, dad and grandpa and i went on a "hike" through a transitional rain forest today and got to eat an authentic costa rican meal. it was very pretty and the food was wonderful! not quite as extravagant a tour as we expected, but still pretty nice. we saw a snake and i about jumped off my horse, i HATE snakes!

Day 313

well, morgan and i attempted surfing today. it was soooo much fun!!! she was able to get up once, whereas i got up halfway, but didn't quite make it all the way up. our guide's name was henry and he was so nice and patient with us. we got a few jelly fish stings, but they were so little that it hurt less than a bee sting. i have to say, i think its pretty cool that i can say i got stung by a jellyfish - is that weird??

(witch's rock where they took us surfing, supposedly one of the best places in the world)

(surfers bobbing in the water - the little black specs. we had paddle on our boards from the boat to the waves)

and, the hair is curly again!

how cute is that little guy?!?!?!

Day 312

today we took it easy and just enjoyed being on vacation. when it came time to get ready for dinner, i didn't try to fight mother nature and the hair the good Lord "blessed" me with... so here we are, curly and lovin' it :)

Day 311

have you ever had a day of traveling that when it is all over you're like, seriously, how did i make it through that without losing my head!?!?! well, today was definitely one of those days. here's a list of things, neither good nor bad necessarily, but...

1. up at 2:30 am to make 2 hour international check-in for 6 am flight

2. security guy laughs at my passport picture, rightfully so i must say

3. go to starbucks and they don't have pumpkin spice to make my pumpkin spice latte :(

4. board plane and adorable family sits near by

5. plane begins to fill-up and rain-man/schizophrenic sits next to me

6. adorable family's baby starts to scream and doesn't stop for the next 1.5 hours

7. schizophrenic is double, triple and quadrupole checking his carry-on, the reading material in the seat back, and definitely not enjoying the screaming baby

8. baby still screaming and VERY loudly - poor mom, i feel really bad for her but proceed to put my head phones on

9. sleeping, rather trying to sleep with headphones on as loud baby cries louder

10. schizophrenic starts telling me VERY loudly he has to go to bathroom so i need to get up. problem, i can't hear him with my head phones on

11. finally hear him, he goes to the restroom

12. baby stops crying

13. baby's older toddler brother throws the biggest tantrum i have ever heard in my life because the pilot has come on the loudspeaker and told everyone they need to be seated for landing - apparently this kid thinks he knows more than the pilot and doesn't need to sit...

14. land in dallas and exit the plane

15. schizophrenic guy runs past me through the exit ramp and i never see him again

16. take the tram to concourse D

17. plane gets delayed

18. gate gets changed and must take a tram to get to it

19. plane is delayed longer

20. two hours after scheduled time, get on plane

21. find out the first plane had a leaky fuel valve or something, thank God we weren't on that plane and now have a safe plane

22. delayed again, while on the plane. some guy checked himself, but not his luggage onto a different flight. so they had to take ALL the luggage of our plane to get to his bag and then put it all back on

23. flight attendant joyfully announces she will put the movie on to help pass the time

24. the movie is high school musical II - seriously!?!?!?

25. two women are sitting next to me and are talking, very loud in a foreign language i don't understand

26. my body wants to sleep and so i try

27. neighbor doesn't like to share the arm rest

28. periodically interrupted sleep for drinks, food, bathroom breaks

29. another baby starts to cry

30. the baby stops and doesn't cry long :)

31. AC is on super high, i am freezing

32. neighbor wakes me up to go to the bathroom (i have got to get the window seat on the way back)

33. we prepare to land and succeed

34. gather my luggage and find driver

35. make it to our home for the week in costa rica

it was soooo worth it :) thank you Lord for the grace that sustains!

(view from our house for the week)

Day 310

today i cleaned my condo so i could come back from vacation to a clean house. i washed the sheets, made the bed, cleaned the bathrooms and even cleaned the oven! then it was time to pack :) not sure what i packed, but hoping i covered all the bases... guess we'll see when i get there!

(picture isn't coming through)

Day 309

today we had a birthday lunch as a department at devon seafood grill. it was so good!

(me, heidy, karen, zack)

Day 308

forgot to take a pic today :(

Day 307

i flew solo to vertical endeavors to climb tonight 'cause pia wasn't feelin' so hot. these are the cookies i'll give her at prayer meeting tomorrow night :) cookies make everyone feel better - haha!

Day 306

tonight i met with ashleigh and emily for our small group/book club. isn't ash the cutest :)

Day 305

i had to park on the top of the parking garage this morning when i got to work today so i thought i would get up close and personal with the clock tower. yeah, picture totally didn't turn out as cool as i had hoped...

Day 304

i completed my latest scrapblog tonight :)

Day 303

tonight a few of girls got together and surprised pia with a belated b-day cake. it was a weekend full of celebrations :)

earlier in the day i attended a baby shower for my friend jasmine. little josiah was born a few weeks ago. it was one of the most well done showers i have ever been too. fun yet efficient :)

(mandy and kate)

(the new mom)

(me playing with josh, kate's little boy. he is one of the happiest babies i have ever seen!)

Day 302

tonight we celebrated april's b-day. it was a great time for all, and instead of singing happy birthday, we sang row, row, row your boat in rounds. weird? yes. funny? totally!!! who knew lessons from elementary school music class would pay off in our late 20s!

(april, amy, tracy)

(tracy and emily)

Day 301

a picture of heaven - or the concoction that will get me through the morning...

Day 300

this is what i did tonight... my first scrapblog! oh the possibilities...

Day 299

i went to basil leaf cafe tonight with my friend kathleen. the food is great and the atmosphere is wonderful. i love this little restaurant- i really should go more often.

Day 298

tonight i went to tracy's house and we met for the first time to discuss the workbook/study we are doing together. i totally spaced on taking a picture of her, so the workbook will have to do :)

Day 297

yum! pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. the best and worst part of fall and winter is all the baking i love to do :)

Day 296

today i finally had the second set of doors installed. so now i have two sets of steel security doors - woohoo! i live in a fortress - haha!

tonight was dinner at tracy's with the sorority sisters. it was such a good time and so nice to see amy, visiting from michigan :)

Day 295

tomorrow i am making breakfast for a very special friend. so, after i prepared everything for the morning, a marmalade baked french toast dish and fresh fruit salad, i set the table with my grandmother's china. i've only used it once before, but i love it!

it's a really funny thing, hosting. when tracy and i first lived together, she would always suggest we host dinner parties and such. and i always said no, i'm not the hospitable type. but then i guess as you get older things begin to change, but i also think that as my faith grew, so did my heart for service. hosting people for meals is a form of service, and enjoying hosting is just another example of how the Lord has grown and changed my heart, making it more like His. oh how i thank my Lord for that :) as cheesy as that might seem, it is the truth.

Day 294

today was pia's birthday, so tracy and i took her to lunch at nieman marcus. i had never been there before - did you know they have models that walk around while you are eating to tell you about the dress they are wearing, and any trunk shows they have that day? my question is, who wants a model talking to you when you are eating? not me. on that note, doesn't pia look awesome!?!?! she sure does :)