Hello holidays!

We are just up to our eyeballs in holiday cheer! Add to that just a dash of over scheduling and you have the chaos that is the next two weeks! I love this time of year, but it always feels completly crazy! Things got into full swing this week where we went with a big group of friends to see A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like 30 of your closest friends causing a ruckus in the balcony!

After a big night out on the town with friends, we followed it up with a Saturday fit for an old married couple. We went furniture shopping and after weeks of research finally bought a couch! And, man oh man....it is going to be sooooo nice. Big, soft and cushy! Everything you could dream of and more, if you've been like me and have been dreaming of couches.

On Sunday we went to the Army Band Christmas Extravaganza 2010 with some friends. It was at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Constitution Hall, which was just beautiful! It was hard to drag myself out of the house on a cold, rainy afternoon, but I am so glad we did. It was just awesome event! It will definitely be working its way into our annual holiday tradition rotation!

All of this holiday goodness is followed up with a JMU Alumni Holiday party tomorrow at Blackfinn. I am so excited to celebrate with many of my favorite JMUers, some of which I haven't seen in years! GO DUKES!

++=LOVE

But wait...there's more! Did I mention we are hosting TWO holiday parties next weekend?

And babysitting my 3 cousins all under the age of 7 (eeks! Any ideas for an afternoon of fun)?

And hosting my Women's Leadership Retreat at our house?

And going to a wedding shower in Richmond?

Add to that more Christmas shopping, goodwill purging, house cleaning, Christmas cookie baking, wrapping, traveling to Illinios, and fixing a small leak in the roof!! Yeah - its going to be a busy couple of weeks! I simply have to be thankful. My problem is too many good things, and not enough time. We are am overwhelmed with blessings this holiday season, and that is a very, very lucky place to be.

Hello again world...

So much has happened since last I blogged. All of the things in life seriously swallowed me up, swirled me around and then suddenly I am on the other side! There are plenty of things that have happened over the past 6 months or so - but the BIG ones are:

1. We are MARRIED! While I didn't love wedding planning - it was worth every bit of stress, money, tears, frustration, excitement etc. It was a perfect weekend, perfect ceremony, and a real celebration! I am thrilled to spend the whole rest of my life with Anders! To put it quite simply - he is just amazing.

2. Drew is living in DC! In our house! Right down the hall! Perhaps my new found desire to blog will get Drew back on the wagon too? We shall see. It has just been so much fun. Anders summed it up best last night "Living with Drew is making memories we will have the rest of our lives." It really is so awesome to get the chance to live together again as adults. We should throw more parties! Get back to our teenage roommate roots!

3. Anders and I went on a FANTASTIC honeymoon. Its really the kind of honeymoon that makes people say "Whoooah!" We took almost three weeks and traveled half-way around the world to Thailand. It was such a romantic and fun adventure. We were so lucky to be able to take that much time and to be able to really enjoy our first few weeks of married life together.

So those are the highlights! One month in to wedded bliss, and it feels like we still have a lot of settling down and catching up to do. It will all happen soon enough!

Excited!

I cannot believe a month ago I was landing in Capetown. It feels like it was yesterday! I am going to take a very brief time out from South African blogging. I promise posts are coming and I will do my best to be productive over Thanksgiving. We dont need this epic journey to drag on and on.

Instead this will be a quick and very exciting update. Anders successfully closed on the house! After months and months of waiting we are finally here! I think we are both so excited to finally get to start our life together and to move into this beautiful new home. Unfortunately Anders work schedule has been a bit hectic during the past few weeks. You know - 7 days a week 8am to midnight or later - typical lawyer madness!

With Anders swamped at work I have taken the charge on the paint, prep and move to do list. I started with the grimy and dark laundry room first. It was a gross job - lots of navigating bug parts while painting many nooks and crannies. However it looks beautiful now! I'm excited to do the final touch ups and reveal it to the world! We also picked a lot rich paint colors for the rest of the house. That job is much bigger so I have been getting estimates from contractors and I hired a painter today. I am so lucky to have picked up construction lingo from my days working at Scott Thomas Construction and to have a father who can create a complete bid scope at the drop of the hat. I had plenty of good coaching on how to whip these contractors into shape. It will all get painted next week, so look forward to a future post with beautiful (hopefully) before and after pictures.

Beyond that I am so excited for Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday by far - I love the opportunity to reflect on those things that I am thankful for and to eat really amazing food. What could be better?!? It will be particularly special this year because Anders is coming to Kansas to spend the holiday with the WTs. I imagine it is hard to spend your first big holiday away from your own family and I am so thankful that he is really excited about flying halfway across the country to be with mine. Have I mentioned how amazing he is?

Anyway - in my lead up to Thanksgiving excitement all I can think about is eating. I thought I would share a favorite website of mine. Its a visual food buffet and filled with lots of seasonal recipes and beautiful photography!


http://www.tastespotting.com/


This week I had my staff share their favorite dish from Thanksgiving dinner. It was so interesting to hear the wide variety and unusual items that different families include - from a layered squash, cheddar, tomato dish to classic Greek food to a deviled egg/cream of mushroom casserole (yikes)! Personally I really like the classics. My moms stuffing, really great mashed potatoes, and as many varieties of cranberry sauce as possible. For desert I enjoy ALL types of pie - but my Grandma Barbs chocolate pie is certainly a Thanksgiving classic. And it would not be a complete meal without Pillsbury crescent rolls carefully constructed by DrewBear.

So world - what dish are you looking forward to?

South Africa - The preview

Well it has been a busy week since returning. Work has been moving along at a clip. Also after many months of waiting things are finally moving forward with buying the house. If all things go right Anders will be closing exactly one week from today! After it is finalized we are hoping to spring into action and move into the house before heading to Kansas for Thanksgiving! Who knows if it will really happen that way - we are trying to strike a perfect balance of not stressing ourselves out, while moving as fast as week can. It all still seems a little surreal after almost 5 months of waiting, but that is also mixed with a huge amount of excitement. Cross your fingers that everything goes well.

Unfortunately I have not had a chance to go through my pictures yet or write the very long and detailed blog post I am planning. I would do it this weekend except Anders, Huxley and I are headed down to Chapel Hill this evening. We will be visiting Anders parents and go to the UNC/Duke football game with friends. I am really looking forward to it.

So basically South Africa will have to wait until next week. To keep you hanging on I will leave you with a pretty cool tidbit. This is on the game drive and is the only video I shot while there. You will see two baby lion cubs and an adolescent male lion. You will also hear some really inspirational narration from yours truly as well as a little play by play from our South African guide Doug.

Unfortunately my camera died before the mama lion came into view. Doug was right though - only moments later she came over and let the bigger male know who was boss.

Hope you have a great weekend!