Maria hat Geburtstag!

Maria turned 25! Yeah! Because her birthday fell on a day in which we had class for 6 hours and Maria works for 6-8 hours, we didn't get to do anything fun. But Dee and I did make some pretty rockin' cupcakes to share during class. We got 25 candles all on one cupcake, which resulted in about a 4-5 inch flame. I think this entire weekend will be dedicated to birthday shenanigans for her, of which I hope to partake.

My favorite quote from class so far. . . "There's only a lot of reading if you do it". My new motto.

Turning over a new leaf

I successfully made it to all of my classes this week, and although I am already overwhelmed by the amount of reading, I am excited. I didn't think I would ever get that feeling toward school again, so I am pleasantly surprised. This quarter I am taking International Perspectives on Trauma, Family Systems, Gender Based Violence, and the old standard - Seminar. It's also nice to have one less class. I'm hoping that contributes to a higher percentage of completed reading for the classes I am taking :)

A Few Moments from People I Love. . .

Brian provides cinematic direction. . .



Yesterday I went down to the Springs for our Guitar Hero marathon. About 3 hours into it, we realized we were not reaching our full potential. So we went out and bought RockBand. It was phenomenal. We played for another 5-6 hours. Here's a small sample of Maria finishing a song on the drum set. Although it's short, I think you can see the pure bliss on her face.

Getting back into things

I have decided that the best way to ease back into work, school, and internship is to have an entire day marathon of guitar hero with my friends. Classes start again on Monday, and I am less than ready. For the mod. . . I do not intend to play guitar hero through the first day of class, but I make no promises.

Christmas was delightful. It was wonderful to see everyone and meet all the new additions.

When are the next Olympic Try-outs?

I went snowboarding today. A bunch of my classmates were going, and as this bunch excluded Maria, I was able to borrow her board. Except that's Savi's car sorta blew up and began emitting copious amounts of smoke leading to its towing, the day was great. I am a snowboard fiend.

Holiday Sweater Party

So last night was our holiday sweater party. It was everything we could hope for. We were graced with some homemade decorations from Dee's mother, which were awesome. These included authentic bubble lights and a glowing santa. Dee is looking fabulous in her red turtleneck and silk holiday vest, although no one could top Renee's sweater (well done). We also played "Christmas Carol Charades". I was amazed at how competitive my classmates could get. More accurately, I was amazed at how competitive Julie got - I always knew Renee had it in her. We also enjoyed some tasty apple cider. Because Elise and I don't have a real Christmas tree, Dee made us one out of construction paper. We had everyone help decorate it by drawing on an ornaments with crayons. We completed the night by taking a "family" picture in front of our fake christmas tree.

Substitute Weekend

My good friend Dee happened to be present when I was getting the unfortunate news that my parents would not be coming for the weekend. She took pity on me, and invited me to journey to Colorado Springs to spend the weekend with her and her family. It was amazing. The entire weekend was spent doing exactly what you see here. We watched movies (had an entire Harry Potter marathon), played games (we played four different versions of Scene It, some more than once), and ate. Fabulous. Also affected by the weather, we ended up having to spend another night (no tears were shed). Her family was so nice and caring! I am so grateful for the surrogate family time.