The Gathering Place

This Thanksgiving was a real treat for Brian and me.  Because the fam-diddly moved to Canada, and we all aren't going to be able to get together for Christmas, we decided that we would all get together for Thanksgiving - the meeting point being none other than Columbus, Ohio!  Travis and Shanel drove in from Maryland, Amy flew in from Maryland, and Mom, Scott, and James drove into town from Canada.  Everyone landed safely at the casa, and it was simply fantastic to have a full house!

There's something so amazing about the holidays!  We were able to celebrate together with Brian's family for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful to wake up every morning and see so many familiar faces!  We laughed so much this Thanksgiving!  We cooked, we ate, we played games, we made ornaments, we did a little bit of shopping, we enjoyed our company, and we had many, many things to be thankful for.  I cannot speak for everyone but just having our family together was a huge one for me.  It means so much to me that everyone is comfortable here in our town, at our house, and we are able to all have such a good time together.  It is truly a great feeling.

In addition to the many thanks that we have for our family, we are also thankful to have such an accommodating kitchen!  Having an additional six people in the house was so easy thanks to our wonderful gathering place.  We were all able to huddle around together, drink, enjoy, and laugh - experience what the holidays are all about!

We hope you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!  Enjoy our photos below!

What is Round, Glittery and Sparkly?!

This year, we had the (some would argue "not-so") bright idea to make some homemade Christmas ornaments.  All of us girls: Mom, Shanel, Amy, and I are a pretty creative bunch, so we figured we could round up some supplies, conjure up some great ideas in our noggins, and get to ornament making.

Um...way easier said than done!

Making homemade ornaments is not as cushy as it appears.  We tried to follow a few different types of DIY ornament styles that we found online and we tried to come up with a few of our own, but we may have to take another approach next go round.  It was hard to work with glass.  It was hard to wait for paint to dry.  It was hard to manipulate the craft supplies that we had into small little glass balls.  It was hard.  I think we ended up with more glitter, sparkles, and paint on ourselves than on or in our ornaments, but we pressed on...

...We have ornaments, we don't have much consistency, but we have ornaments! 

I think the key to making homemade ornaments is to find two or three that the group likes, grab the supplies needed to make those select few, and follow directions together. (Including the preparation that may need to happen beforehand - like washing the ornaments and letting them dry!)

Even though making the ornaments was more difficult than we had originally planned, we still had fun!  And I, for one, won't necessarily rule out ornament making in the future... I'll just plan it a little better!

All of the Lights

Though not officially turned on (we'll wait until after Thanksgiving), our Christmas lights are 100% installed and ready to shine!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

How Will We Top This?

OMG.

We made our holiday cards tonight!

Every year we wonder how will we top last year's card.  And every year we pull it out of nowhere and end up doing it.

This year's is no exception.  We cannot wait to send you all our holiday greetings.

Be prepared to laugh, possibly cry, and definitely enjoy the holidays!

(We would love to give you a sneak peak, but we simply cannot do it.  However, until you officially receive our 2011 holiday greeting, feel free to peruse our holiday greetings of Christmas' past:
Christmas Cards Throughout The Years.)

College Girls

I met Elaine in the Fall of 2000. We were both freshman Hokies, we were both from Maryland, we were both residing in the same suite; we became fast friends! Elaine and I are part of the amazing Hokie Four connection: Brandi, Shalu, Elaine, and myself. We all shared many great moments throughout college - classes (History of Architecture!? and Elaine Kwan by Elaine Kwan), parties (Delta Chi), spring breaks (Muuuurrrddeerrr in Mesopotaaamia! and, "That is my British accent!") - just to name a few! We've also shared many great moments after college. We all headed back north to the homeland (read: Maryland), except Brandi and I were just across the border in Northern Virginia. Brandi, Shalu, Elaine, and I were all in close proximity where we could all get together for dinner for our girls nights. They were nights we all looked forward to, and we will all continue to look forward to those nights!

At one of those special girls nights, we all kind of had ... news. Elaine was headed out west to Los Angeles, California; Shalu was going back to school which required a move south to Miami, FL and a couple semesters in Dominica; Brandi was moving north to Maryland; and I was headed west to Columbus, Ohio. Our Hokie Four was dividing, our girls nights would become a bit fewer and farther in between, but we decided that no distance would ever come between us. And, to this day, no distance has!

This past week, Elaine had a business trip to Fairborn, Ohio. Now, Fairborn, OH is just over an hour away from Columbus, OH. (For the record, Los Angeles, CA is just over 36 hours from Columbus, OH.) I was not going to miss this opportunity to meet up with Elaine! We met half way for dinner at The Red Brick Tavern in Lafayette, OH! It was a quiet, dark, small town, and The Red Brick Tavern was very old - over 150 years old! We both agreed that the building and interior was kind of creepy, BUT they did serve warm cinnamon rolls which [somewhat] made up for the eerie interior.

Can you see the "ambience" caught by the antique decorating?!

This was one of the few lights in downtown Lafayette, OH.

We even signed the guest book at the RBT!

It was such a special treat to meet up with Elaine...in Ohio...on a work night! As usual, it was amazing to catch up, it was amazing to laugh together, it was amazing to be in each other's presence. Her company is truly top notch! And now we have yet another experience to add to our list together! ♥ you, Lainey!!

The Dog in the Closet

Jack thinks we keep a dog that looks just like him in our downstairs coat closet.  Every time we open the closet door he'll run over to it, gaze at his very own reflection, and bark...endlessly, until we close the door and lock our other dog back up.

We explain that it actually is himself that he is barking at.  It never works.

We always ask him to use his inside bark. That also never works.

So, without further ado, meet our dog that lives in our downstairs closet, Jack II:


Jack wonders, "what the...?"

A grumble soon follows...

...He was going so crazy barking at this "other dog" that the rest of the pictures are blurry...

...Crazy pup.

All is Full of Love

It was Christmas Eve two years ago.  I was on a flight to Baltimore, MD from Columbus, OH to spend the Christmas holiday with my family.  Andrea was on that very same flight with a connecting flight in Baltimore to New Hampshire to spend the holiday with her family.  She sat next to me and started off the conversation over the book I was then reading: The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.  We talked the whole flight, and when we departed we exchanged information and decided to get together for dinner after the holidays.

Since then, we have gotten together many times!  She is a really amazing person, and it has been truly a pleasure building our friendship!  We were fortunate enough to have her attend our wedding ceremony in August 2010.  We were also fortunate to attend her wedding this past weekend, and when I say it was beautiful and amazing and full of love, I mean it was absolutely beautiful and incredibly amazing and SO full of love!  It was evident by the amount of joy in the air that Andrea and her now husband, Doug, are surrounded by so many loving families and friends.  Brian and I both agreed that their ceremony was one of the most sentimental and heart felt ones that we've been to.  The reception was equally as beautiful and full of fun!  (You'll have to check out some of our best photo strips yet from her photo booth in the album below!  We were quite impressed!)  We were so honored to be a part of such a wonderful day, and we are so happy for Andrea and Doug! 

And may you both always remember the following from Mama T:

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

Congratulations you two!  We ♥ you!

Thirty Years Ago

Thirty years ago, my Mom was nearly three months pregnant with yours truly; Brian was nearly five and a half, causing trouble somewhere no doubt.  Nonetheless, it was then that my mommy dearest decided to undertake a very special, very time consuming, very loving art project for her first born: a beautiful, yarn wool embroidered canvas with numbers one to ten and corresponding objects to account for each number.  At one point, it hung in my room.  I remember it not hanging but being hand held.  I remember going through each of the numbers, tracing the perfect stitching with my little fingers, and I remember the "seven hearts" being my favorite.  It is a treasured masterpiece that I hold very dear to my heart.

This special canvas has travelled with me to different homes, to college, to real life outside of college, and all the way to Ohio into our new home.  Throughout all of these years, it has always reminded me of a very special part of my childhood, and I hope it continues to do so.  Unfortunately, throughout all of these years, it has also undergone some moth damage.  Those little buggers.  Some of the yarn was eaten, some of it was frayed from partial snacking, and a few weeks ago I decided to see what could be done to repair such a treasure.  Three shops, five phone calls, and two emails later I found someone who could repair my canvas. And repair is what she did!  Nine different colors of yarn wool were damaged, and the woman who worked with me, Shayna, repaired them all!

I am truly delighted that I was able to get the broken yarn strands fixed.  I cannot put words or a price tag on how meaningful this canvas is to me.  I am so happy to be able to keep a little bit of childhood with me wherever I go, and I am so thankful to have such an amazing, loving, wonderful Mom! 

(For the record, I would have been 100% content if nothing could have been done to repair the stitching.  Just having this canvas art means more to me than anything.  Fortunately, it was able to be repaired, and I could not be happier!)

PS: Happy 11/11/11!

Above the Clouds

I would encourage you to remember that even when skies are gray and looming overhead, the sun is always shining above them; the warm, glowing light will shine through. 

It always does!  (♥ ya, Amy!)

Lost and Freakin' Found

Where do I begin??

I have had a tumultuous couple months with all things electronic and valuable.  Nearly two months ago, I used my handy, dandy Garmin which has [most of the time] successfully helped me navigate around central Ohio.  The last time I remembered using my Garmin was from Powell, OH heading to New Albany, OH.  I was going to meet Brian, Matt, and Brian's parents for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.  (Yeah, that long ago.)  When I went to look for my Garmin just three short days afterwards, it was no where to be found.  No where.

I scoured my car, I called The Cheesecake Factory, I called Easton, I turned the house upside down (and my purse, if you were wondering), I looked in Brian's car, I looked in my car again, I even looked in our laundry...

...And I still had not found my Garmin.  I thought for sure that it had fallen out of my car, unbeknownst to me somehow, and was scooped up and taken to a new home.  (I secretly waited for it to show up in the mail since our "home" button is our address, but it didn't.)  I may or may not have complained daily about needing a Garmin.  While I am confident about getting around town, I very often need to find things in areas that I don't know, like a post office for example, and that's where Mr. G would come into the picture.  That was then.

Two months later, when Travis and Shanel were in town, I shared my unfortunate news.  On Sunday, while we were looking for something else, my brother asked me if Brian had a Garmin too.  I explained that Brian has the map thingy in the front of his car that you can put addresses in.  (A GPS system, for those of you who don't know what a map thingy is.)  Travis then pointed to a Garmin that had mysteriously appeared wedged up underneath the passenger's seat.  IT WAS MY GARMIN!  Amazing!  I swore I had looked in Brian's car.  Brian looked in his car too, but it took a special pair of eyes to spot Mr. G, and it was a wonderful discovery!  (Thank you, T!)

Well, on Saturday right after I had used my camera to take a video of the last play of the Buckeye game, we charged the field in excitement after the win.  I slipped my camera into my unsecure pocket and jumped the rail.  That was the last time I had my camera that night.

We ran across the field, hootin' and hollerin' no doubt, and celebrated the victory.  Five minutes later, smack dab in the middle of singing Carmen Ohio, I realized that said camera was no longer in my untrusty pocket.  Son of a...

(Travis hadn't spotted my Garmin at this point, and I was beginnning to seriously doubt my ability to be an adult and cherish my valuables.)

We retraced our steps; there were so many people.  I thought for sure if my camera wasn't picked up, it was most definitely crushed by the herd of people that ran across the field after the game.  I was bummed, but knowing that Travis and Shanel had a camera made me feel better.  We spread the word to the right people that I had lost my camera and headed out of the stadium.

On Tuesday, Brian received a picture text message with an image of Brian, Travis, Shanel, and me on my camera screen with the text, "is this what you are looking for?!"  IT WAS MY CAMERA!  Of the 105,411 people (or something crazy like that) who attended the game, one of them was a good samaritan and turned my camera in.  Mine was one of only four.  Four!  There are so many responsible people out there.

I was again extremely thankful to have been reunited with my camera.  I literally use it on a daily basis, and it feels so good to be complete with all of my electronics.  Thanks so much to Pang who kept an eye out on the lost camera stash and spotted mine.  If it weren't for these two fine gentlemen - Travis and Pang - I would be out a Garmin and a camera.  I am an expensive date.

And, for the record, I've cut myself off from any "new" electronics until I can become a bit more responsible...