Happy Holidays!

For those of you that know me, I'm not one to be politically correct. In fact, I pretty much hate all that political correctness crap. With that said, I say happy holidays, not in fear of offending someone with a Merry Christmas, no, but because this post covers both Christmas and New Year (therefore, multiple holidays). :)

I made it home, finally finishing my semester at Columbia, and was greeted by a very welcoming and loving Patrick who took two weeks off! YAY!

So, after being home for a few days, we took off eastward headed to Wisconsin for Christmas with his family. Sam came with us and did amazingly well on the long car ride. It was about 17 hours, and he was a trooper. Much of the time Patrick was driving Sam spent curled up on my lap dozing or purring. However, when I drove, he curled up on the back window. Haha! :D

We made it to WI, and Patrick's younger brother Ben arrived the next day from Rochester, MN. He had left his cat, entropy, at home. We hung out with Ben and were greeted the next day (Christmas Eve) by Patrick's youngest brother, Jeff, and his fiancee, Molly. They brought two cats with them, a young playful one that quickly became a great friend to Sam and an older, more skiddish one that never really warmed up to him or me. There was some drama at the meeting but overall everyone did well.

Christmas was fantastic! It was so great to see everyone open and enjoy their gifts. I love it! Patrick made me an amazingly sweet book full of pictures of my dad, as I didn't really have any but his baby picture. It was very sweet. Overall, the day was fantastic.

The trip ended well, and I saw a bit more of where Patrick grew up, which was very neat.

We split the drive home up over two days, which made it much more tolerable. The hotel in Des Moines was nice. Once we finally got home, we enjoyed a nice snowstorm. We got about 6-8 inches...woo hoo! Sadly, I missed the storm that hammered NYC with more than a foot! :( O well. At least we got some here, and a lot of it is left, surprisingly, because it's been pretty cold.

New Year's Eve, Patrick's friends threw a masquerade party, which was a lot of fun. Surprisingly, everyone showed up in formal dress and a mask! Yay! It was a fun evening, and the next day we enjoyed watching the Rose Bowl game. Patrick was, of course, rooting for Wisconsin. I (surprisingly) rooted for TCU. It was such a fun game to watch, well played by both teams.

And now, we're just enjoying the rest of my break. It'll be hard to go back, but we know it's only a short time more and then I'll be done for good. :)

Christmas Cheer

Christmastime is here...Happiness and cheer...

Ok, for all you cartoon inept, that was Charlie Brown Christmas "Christmastime is Here" - - Google it. :)

Anyway, I've been gettinga lot of requests for more pictures of NYC, since I'm only here a year, and especially now since it's Christmas. The city is totally bedecked and bedazzeled and looks amazing. Everywhere you turn there are lights and cheerful displays. So, I thought I'd share some with you.

This is Columbia's main campus, from the entrance at Amsterdam & 116 looking down the row:

This is the old, original library for Columbia that is now just admin:

Here are the trees around Columbus Circle, wrapped in a bluish white:

And the Columbus statue:

In the mall right there, they're having a Dali exhibit of sculptures inspired by his art:

This is hanging inside the mall:

This is the Cartier store on 5th Ave:

The tree at Rockefeller Center:

Radio City Music Hall, where the Rockettes perform:

And some window displays. This is the Anthropologie window:

And some from Saks 5th Avenue (the real one, on 5th!):

Finals...O How I Loathe Thee

Well, it's finals week. That means a couple things: a) I haven't seen daylight in a few days, as I've locked myself in my room to work on projects and papers, b) everyone is stressed to the MAX and half are sick c) my diet consists of anything I can get delivered or anything free and d) my brain feels like pudding.

But, it also means that in a week I'll be heading home for semester break to spend the glorious month off at home. AND I'll be 2/3 of the way done with my Masters! I can't believe it. It's going to be a tough finish, lots of work and dedication, but I know I'll do it. This week is hell, but it's only a week, and I can do it.

Everyone's been so encouraging and positive for me, thank you! I can't wait to be done and home to finally enjoy Christmas!

Soon!

Just Another Day at the Office

As many of you know, I have two jobs on campus (on top of 15 grad hours...I know, I'm crazy). So for one job, the Reading and Writing Project (Lucy Calkins), we're throwing a Holiday Party to thank the other departments on campus for all they do to help us out. My job today was to go shopping for the decorations. Fun!

I went with a coworker, armed with petty cash. O boy. Everyone knows how I dispise shopping, but Christmas decorations and someone else's money equals FUN! :D So, we set out. We ventured into Harlem to the .99 store, but they didn't really have much. I was kind of surprised, actually. Anyway, we decided to head down to a discount store further up called "El Mundo." This was a pretty cool store. It's like a Savers or something like that.

We shopped around in their Christmas display, and loaded up the cart with our decoration goodies. As we headed to the checkout, Natalie realized she didn't have the cash anymore. O no! What!? So we looked around, hoping to see it on the ground nearby. No luck. We surmised that it must have dropped out or she had gotten pickpocketed. Sucky!

So, we headed back to work, calling on the way to explain what had happened. Sucky!

Well, on the bright side, we made someone's day. Someone is $100 richer now. Poopy. O well.

So, now they're sending me back out to go try again. :) Round two!

Just another tasty treat from the gang at Empire Records!

Tupperware Bandits

We join our hero as she gathers her things diligently, carefully, ensuring she's got it all and balancing her way out the door...

So I gathered up my dishes and to carry them down the hall to wash them. There are two fire doors I have to open and walk through to get to the kitchen, so I have to balance all this stuff really carefully to be able to manage all this. Unfortunately there was some water on the floor I didn't see. Out go my feet; up go my hands, and flying go the dishes. It was a mess. It was totally one of those banana peel cartoon moments. (Shut up, John, I can hear you laughing from here.) Anyway, now that my dishes are all in pieces, there is no need to wash them. Grr...

So, I decided that I should make a trip to Ikea. I've never been, and they have really good stuff like this for super cheap. I texted my friend Kate, who I was meeting with later that night anyway and we decided to make an adventure out of it.

Neither of us had been to the Ikea here, so I looked up directions...Brooklyn!? What!? Ug, fine. So nearly an hour later we arrived at our train stop. (Hindsight says, don't try to leave Manhattan on a Monday night at 5ish...ever!) The lady at the booth told us where to go to catch the shuttle for the Ikea. Their website said it ran every half hour and was right outside the train station.

"Go out this exit and through the park. It stops down there," she said curtly, vaguely pointing behind her. So, we followed her quasi-directions and found ourselves wandering down a street next to a park. Overall, it seemed kinda sketchy. So, with no sign of the shuttle in sight, I made the executive decision to hail a cab...screw it-it's better to pay $10 for the cab than get mugged or worse.

When we finally got to the store, I was amazed. Ikea, if you've never been, is like a Sam's Club on CRACK! It's HUGE!! It's got everything! It's crazy. We got lost in the store. Their maps are so oversimplified. It seems like you turn one corner and you're in the next department. LIES! You snake around 8-9 turns and then find a door marked "shortcut" and never know how you got where you are, nor how to return. And then, it still wasn't where we needed to be! Out of desperation we asked someone for directions. Once we finally got to the correct location (after a ride in a HUGE and rather sketchy elevator), I found the jackpot...tons of plain, drab, fairly ugly dinnerware for CHEAP! Bowls for .78? Yes, please! (Mind you, during all this wandering and chaos trying to get to the store and around it, Kate says, "Why didn't you just order this online?" Omg, really? I'm a retard!)

After finding, finally, what we'd come for, we realized that it was dinner time and had always heard about the famous Ikea meatballs. We decided to give it a try. They were surprisingly tasty. I mean, for store food, not bad, and reasonably priced (for being a captive audience).

On our way back through the ridiculous maze to get out, we stumbled upon some tupperware containers. This made our nights. $3! OMG! I love this place. :D So, both of us getting a set, we made our way to the checkouts. What? No bag? You mean, I have to wander around the city carrying plates and bowls and tupperware? Ug! I'm a moron. OK.

We got the shuttle this time, and headed back to the train. We decided to watch where it dropped us off to see if we were even in the right place to begin with. We were not. The MTA lady had pointed us in completely the opposite direction of where we needed to be. Thanks a lot. But, we were here now, blue dinnerware and all. Wandering through the station, a cop asked us what we were doing carrying all that stuff. He kinda sounded like he was gonna check our receipts to make sure we hadn't stolen them...really? Cuz it's so easy to smuggle bowls and plates out like this!? Grr. Then he just made fun of us. Gee, thanks, helpful.

Once we were finally on the train, we could relax. It had been quite an adventurous night. Then, as we approached our stop and were getting up to get off, the train door closed in our face. What!? Really? Yup. That just happened. So we had to get off at the next stop and walk through Harlem with arms full of porcelain dinnerware and tupperware. Yeah, we're cool. :D

We finally made it home, and let me tell you...the cereal today tasted so much better out of that damn bowl. haha. And Kate is pretty excited about her tupperware, too.

Yay Ikea v-card turn-in. :D

Very Thankful

Although Thanksgiving was yesterday, I vote it's never too late to be thankful. So, I figured I'd write about it.

This year, I am very thankful for the many blessings I've been provided. I have many friends and family that love me very much and that give me an opportunity to love. I am healthy, and have a nice home and food. I am safe and warm, thanks to the many others that sacrifice for me. I am thankful for those that keep me safe. I am thankful I was able to travel home safely (un-frisked! :D) and be with Patrick and our friends, Jim and Nicole (and baby Riley).

I am a very blessed woman, and for that, I am thankful!

Long silence...

Hello all,

I know it's been a while since I've posted. That's because I've been a boring Grad Student. :) After Patrick left, it's been a crazy few weeks.

Last weekend, though, I was able to go down to Baltimore to visit my uncle, aunt and two cousins. It was a great time. Alex, the older cousin (13), was in a play Saturday night. It was fantastic. It was an original play called Once Upon a Game Show. They were all different fairy tale characters and were on a game show like The Dating Game. It was very cute. Alex was to play the part of Doc (7 dwarves) and a stagehand for the game show. However, the day of the performance, one of the kids got hit very hard in the head at his soccer game and was unable to perform. So, Alex picked up his part, too. He ended up playing all 7 dwarves plus the stagehand. He was great! You could never tell that wasn't his original part. He did so well! I'm very proud of him.

The whole weekend was very nice and relaxing. Unfortunately, I picked up Tom's cold (he's 10 now!) and brought it back :(.

So, suffering through this cold has been icky, but then Monday night I got food poisoning on top of it. I was sick all night. It was terrible. But, I have a very sweet friend here that happened to be around when I was in the bathroom and nursed me. She has checked up on me making sure I'm ok. Thanks, Tomomi! I'm feeling much better today, though. My cold is starting to break up...yay!

And tomorrow...I GO HOME!!! I'm sooooo excited for Thanksgiving! Patrick and I are planning to do some skiing, and spend Thanksgiving up in the mountains with our friends Jim and Nicole and baby Riley. I'm quite excited. :D

So, with that, I'll leave you. Happy Thanksgiving, all!