- December brought the first Cristo Rey Lady Pumas basketball game. I've been an "assistant" coach for 5 years now and jut love those girls. (And I use the term "assistant" very lightly. I pretty much just show up to some practices, scrimmage with them, yell every now and then, and sit at the end of the bench at games so they come sit by me when they get in trouble.) :)
- I went to a holiday craft market with my roommate after work one day. Lucked out and found my mom a cool necklace from there for Christmas!
- A little family fun with Hadley and Hudson. Thankful these two cuties live right down the street.
(SERIOUSLY. Why won't these pictures rotate??)
- A rainy day in KC -- and my face shows how I feel about that.
- My box I shipped from the supermarket in Sweden finally showed up on my doorstep!
And right on top was the scarf Guðmundur gave me before I left Iceland. It is definitely not the softest thing - made out of scratchy sheep (or lamb?) wool, but I think it is the warmest thing I own!
Also in there was my hand made Icelandic wool sweater. Made out of the same material as the scarf (not soft) but man...just so, so warm. As it should be for what I paid for that thing!
- My big Black Friday purchase was a new tv for the family room. I measured the opening in the entertainment center and found a giant tv that literally fits in their just perfect.
- My other Black Friday purchase was a new print from Art.com. I love maps and I love bright colors...so this piece was a win/win! Even had the perfect spot for it in my bathroom.
- Finally got around to decorating the house for Christmas. Hey better late than never, right?
Ended up with a new tree this year. My old one was just too small and looking a little rough, so it went downstairs and I got a new one for upstairs.
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| K-State theme going on downstairs this year |
- My sister-in-law was sick and I wanted to do something to help her out. Since I was already going to Costo, I offered to get her groceries or whatever she needed from there too. What ensued was just hilarious. The list kept growing and growing...and I kept sending her pictures of every single thing I picked up for her to make sure it was the right one. She probably wished I'd never offered after that string of pictures and text messages! ;)
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| Seriously. That's a lot of stuff to send pictures of. ;) |
- I got a new phone holder for my car - so I can now FaceTime and/or Skype hands free! (Real safe, I know. But at least it's safer than holding the phone and doing it!?)
- And this is where my phone got deleted. Looking at my Camera Roll and seeing this was so sad:
- My friend from Philly flew in for a night (on his way to Malibu for the weekend) and he showed up at my house in a truck! Out of all the rental car options...he chose a truck! I couldn't help laughing. ;)
We went to dinner at Plaza III for a good steak, after he shot down my barbeque suggestion.
(Oysters in Kansas just can NOT be good...)
- Aahh this picture has a good story. I was driving back home (4 hours away) one Friday night. Of course I was speeding, and of course it was in a construction zone. I got pulled over AGAIN, pulled the "dumb blonde" move and said I was "totally just eating this salad and had no idea I was speding" and he let me go with a warning. SO lucky. Would have been a big ticket!
- Made it home and was reunited with my girls (my dogs) who had been with my mom for almost a month. Not sure they missed me. I think they like being with my mom all day instead of being at my house by themselves all day!
- Found some old pictures while cleaning things out and packing up. Look at my thighs in that first picture! Whoa...
The last pictures of the bedroom I spent the first 18 years of my life living in:
(I even painted that border around the top!)
- A new first for me: driving a 26' UHaul. What an adventure. My brother tells me I hit the same curb twice...but I think he's lying. ;)
Spent Saturday loading up the UHaul with everything we could fit in there from my moms house...
...and then spent Sunday UNloading it in KC.
We quickly filled up the first storage unit and had to go back in to get a second one.
Oh, and the house is still half full. (YIKES!)
- Hadley LOVED the new (used) My Little Ponies I brought back from home. Apparently she bathed and slept with them the first night, haha. Totally should have kept that box as a Christmas gift !
- I sent Mundi a dual time zone watch as a "Thank You" for putting me up, cooking for me, and driving me all around Iceland for three days. One of the old men he takes care of at the retirement home thought it was so nice of me that he wanted to give me a chocolate covered bunny!
I got this picture of it, but will never see the chocolate bunny in real life.
It got thrown out for apparently smelling like "old fish."
- We took the kids to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa one night. Turned out everyone else in KC decided to try and see Santa that night, too. 3 hours wait? No, thank you. We got this picture in front of the pretty tree instead and called it a night.
- Just your standard Kansas sunrise:
- And THIS is what I have to try and tame down in the mornings...
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| It's shocking, I know. |
- I got sick this month. :( Left work around noon and slept for 3 hours...and woke up to this. Went straight to Urgent Care and tested negative for the flu. Just some stomach virus, which thankfully went away in 12 hours. Either way - being sick is NO fun!
- At least I picked a good day to be at home sick from work. I woke up to this...and got to stay in bed all day. :)
Once I started feeling better, I was bored out of my mind sitting around at home. I think I watched like 4 movies.
I don't remember why I took this picture. Boredness had set in I guess. ;)
- Took the dogs to the vet for their annual check up. I was only three months late on that one. Ooops.
Willow weighs 107 pounds. That is a LOT of dog.
The vet told me she's over weight. They both are, actually. So I told him he should try and look at those big brown sad eyes when the food dish is empty!
- Just more places I want to go. I know, I know. Already been to Iceland, but I didn't get to see what I went there to see! So...I'm going back. Like, next month. :)
- Since I have had such great experiences Couchsurfing, I decided to host some people myself.
KC isn't exactly a popular place for people to visit, but I did get Maria and her daughter from Mexico coming through one weekend!
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| Maria's daughter - taking a selfie on my phone. She's 6 years old and speaks three languages: English, Spanish, and Chinese. |
I cooked them dinner and then drove them around to look at Christmas lights in the city.
- Had a little incident that night with the spare house key. I had moved it from the hidden spot outside and given it to Maria, not thinking anyone used it much. But when my (drunk) roommate got locked out and started rining the doorbell at 1am...waking up the entire house, I knew I had to get a spare "Couchsurfer" key made first thing that morning.
- Christa got me a new curl stick awhile ago and I'm just now getting around to trying it and figuring out how to use it. It's a work in progress. I can usually get the front to look okay, but the back? Eh, not so much. ;)
- These kids have to have one of the biggest play rooms ever...
- The house hunt is on for my mom. She's temporarily going to be living with me until she finds a place of her own. As much as I love having her around, I'm quite motivated to find her her own space. ;)
- I met these two girls when we were all bridesmaids in Angie's Aspen wedding this fall. Ugne lives just down the street from me, and Annie isn't too far either! So we decided to get together and hang out . :)
- I got this magnetic map of the world while shopping at the Chelsea Market in NYC. It fits perfect on my fridge and it matches the blue walls in my kitchen perfectly! :)
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| Another map in my house. Just what I needed ;) |
- And his was the last sunrise of 2014, taken from my back deck. A pretty good one to end the year on if you ask me!
