Merry Christmas!

Leah loves her new swing : )

Who would guess that my best Christmas would be one where I didn't get anything. I spent Christmas with my daughter & my fiance. So far this break has been pretty amazing. And I've come to a realization: the best moments in life aren't captured on film, because you're too busy enjoying them to reach for a camera.

Furthering the academic geekdom...

I caught the last half of this radio program the other day and thoroughly enjoyed it. They give Garrison a shout out for keeping America into poetry! Give it a listen if you're just sitting around, wondering how you could make yourself feel a bit more academic:

http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/12/29.php#30998

Listen to the 11:00 show with the former poet laureats.

Christmas. . .

well -- I almost forgot all about our nifty little blog this break and everyone sounds like they had a great one so far. Well, my Christmas was, well, redundant. But not in a bad way. Christmas with my mom was pretty amazing on the 24th. I pretty much got the best present EVER!! I got this big luggage thing with zebra print and cyan blue liner. . . its legit! Also I got a Love Spell kit for Victoria's Secret and a couple other things. My dads Christmas on the 25th was alright. Its always that was though (hence the redundant). He basically got me the last present I said I wanted but I don't want to complain because he did it out of love anyway - another hint to the redundant issue. After Christmas with my dad and two brothers, we headed over to my Grandmas house where everyone decided they wanted to show up early so we had to clean her house in quite the jiffy. After that, all 13 of us (including brother-in-laws, nieces, and nephews) made our way back to my dads house for a traditional family Christmas of gift card presents and leftovers from Christmas at grandmas. The 26th was quite the day as well I might say. Me and my brother did our traditional "shop after Christmas and spend everything we got" day along with his girlfriend. Then we had another Christmas with the other side of the family until about 6 o'clock. That Christmas was rather interesting as well. . .my grandma and her boyfriend bought us all popcorn poppers but unfortunately I hate popcorn unless its covered with white chocolate. But I did decide that by bringing this Christmas gift to college, it might just help me get my M.R.S. But to brighten up the gifts on that day, I got a book I have been wanting (OH SO VERY BADLY) about a man whose family was murdered and his restoration of faith. After that Christmas, we decided to head back to the mall to finish up our "shop after Christmas and spend everything we got" day. Well, that about sums everything up I suppose. Did I mention I got sweet luggage (saweeeeeeeet)!

my list...

Ok, heres my list of the cool things I got for christmas...only because i'm terribly bored and my books aren't to the library yet, and i'm stuck on all my videogames...
LIST:

• 5 videogames: Final Fantasy 4 (DS), The World Ends With You (DS), Rhythm Heaven (DS), Squeeballs (Wii), We <3>
• $25 gift card
• $50 cash
• 4 bags of chocolates
• yummy smelling stuff from bath and body works
• lime green eyeliner (???)
• glitter hair mascara
• Toe socks!!
• and some more crazy random stuff...

(Yep, i had a pretty good christmas this year!)

Free Download of "Wake" -- check it out

Lisa McMann posted this on facebook:

Download WAKE from Simon & Schuster for free! 3 days left to download, 30 days to read before it disappears. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdigg.com%2Fu1Ifeu&h=82a2452fe214d19d888d39d9471c95e7

:-)

Christmas Break So Far

So, Christmas break is going quite well so far. There have been many IHOP adventures, but none compare to this one which im about to tell you all. Enjoli, Bree, and I, went to IHOP and were all using laptops when these three drunk men came in and sat next to us. That's when the oldest one said, "I love scholarly people; how about I buy you all meals." What were we supposed to do but take him up on his offer? All I have to say is if you want a free meal try going to IHOP late at night, maybe a drunk person will buy you a meal? =D Onto my second reason(s) for why my break is amazing so far-CHRISTMAS! I got what I wanted and I hope everyone else got what they wanted! Now like an excited kid at school after break im going to list what I got. XD
Ipod touch
Alarm Clock Doc
Silverware
Mixing Bowls
Beater
Blank Poetry Book
Carrying case thing
New Moon Game
Some pretty awesome shirts
and money
That concludes my list of what I can think of, but that wasn't the best part. The best part was that my family was alltogether, which doesn't happen often at all.

Opinion...

So I wrote an essay for the Best Day Ever Contest. A lady from it called me today and asked me if I knew that my essay would be published for everyone to read if it continued in the running to win. My essay was pretty personal, and she did not know if I would want it for everyone to read. I know most of you have no idea what my essay was on, but I couple people do. So, I was wondering if you, who read it thought I should pull it from the contest or keep it and let others read it. Others can post their opinions too. Thank you for your help.
Hope your break is going well. =]

Here are a few pictures from our "non-party".

I hope everyone is enjoying their break! :)

Secret Santa

For Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, write clues as to who you are and "slip" them to your secret pal!

On Friday, bring a "White Elephant" gift (something you're re-gifting -- no $$ spent) for your chosen.

People will try to guess who their Secret Santa is on Friday!

Happy Birthday Nicole!

Technically, Nicole's birthday is Saturday but I wrote a poem for her marvelous 18th birthday for poetry day. So I'm going to share it regardless of the snow. So here it is for all the world to see:

On Your Eighteenth by Elizabeth
Congrats.
You've made it.
Eighteen at last an adult finally.
Sure there's the sad side:
Taxes, work, childhood washed away.
But what can wash childhood off of you?
You're still the same with your thoughts caught up in fun.
Hey, did you know you're old enough to order from infomercials now?
And lottery, you have to buy one.
And with the childhood you hold on to comes me.
Through these eleven years I have been there.
I'll be here always with a poke for your side.
So to my friend, my older sister in more ways than one:
Happy Birthday to you.

Not like I haven't written it a million times already, but ... happy birthday Coie.

SNOWDAY!

Obviously, your projects are not due Monday! Have a great weekend!

Huge shout out to the folks in the play -- it was AWESOME!

"Burned" book afterthoughts=].

I have just finished probably the most unsettling yet irrevocably sincere books I have ever read (yes I do admit, I haven't read very many books). Regardless, it was astonishing how hard it hit me, right in the gut, about life, love, and death in general. It made me realize how precious life really is and how long it took to construct, yet it can all be shattered in a matter of seconds. Also, it talked about love and how only the lucky people find real love, the kind that makes you want to travel across the world just to feel the warmth of a smile that can only be felt in person. The unsettling part? That only the lucky ones find what love really means. I just couldn't fathom that some people may never truly find love; it kind of broke my heart to read that. To know that some people go through life with a tasteless, loveless manner just waiting for the next routine, the kind that makes a loud enough drone that you forget that you are hearing anything. But then I thought that possibly, someone could have found love, but didn't even realize that they had only to find themselves running away from the very thing that offered security and comfort for their fickled little heart. So, i guess the book may be wrong after all. Maybe we do all find love throughout our lives, but we just don't take the time to cherich it and nourish it until it blooms into something even more. Trust.