It was a long month.

We're still alive and well! It has been very very very busy here. We're getting ready for some upcoming changes!

Both Scott and I are back in school.  Hallelujah it is my LAST semester! The downside?  In order to finish up this spring I'm taking seven classes.  That's not even really allowed, I had to get permission.  I am crazy, but very motivated and excited.   

Along with me graduating, I have also decided to leave my job at the arts council in the spring.  It's extremely bittersweet; I have been there over five years!  Scott and I still plan on volunteering, we LOVE the people we have become connected with there.

Some board members and our staff at a recent event

If you know Scott and I, you know we don't let ourselves get so busy that we don't spend some time doing fun things!  Probably too much fun.  Actually, is there even such a thing?

Just this past weekend, we got to 'cash in' on the Christmas present my siblings and I gave my mom.

We all went to see 'Anything Goes'.  It was long overdue!  Growing up, we heard the story of how mom was in that play in high school.  After all these years, none of us had ever seen the show!  When we (the kids) heard it was being put on by WSU in January, we jumped on it and bought 9 tickets for Christmas. Mom was so surprised!  Yesterday was the day, so all the kids, mom and dad, and Nana went.

All bias aside, my mom had the BEST role in the show!  She played Bonnie/Erma who is a hysterical flapper (the play takes place in the 20's).  Tonight after Sunday dinner, dad pulled out his old 8mm projector and we watched some actual footage of my mom in the play!  He and mom were high school sweethearts so he had taped her in the show. What a treasure!    

Bear with me in the coming months...with so much school on the brain I might end up blogging a thesis.  At least that way you could all proof read it for me.  Ha ha, don't worry.  I'll keep things straight. I hope.

Resolved

We went to the gym last night, we're always great at going the first week of the year, ha ha! We weren't the only ones there, holy cow!  It was PACKED with people like us that are attempting their new year's resolutions.

We have some pretty good motivation to keep our fitness goal this year...if all goes as planned we're going to HAWAII for the first time this summer! Finally! We've wanted to go so badly, we can't wait!

So, we are working on our swim bods since we plan on living in swimsuits for two weeks. QUESTION: what are some of your favorite songs or artists to work out to? Rihanna & Britney (why am I admitting this?) are my favorites.  I'd love to hear some suggestions so I can add to my playlist!

Christmas Snapshots

Our home at Christmas time

 I'm loving all your Christmas posts! We had a great weekend with family.

 

It's a tradition at Mom and Dad's house for each couple to perform a Christmas song on Christmas Eve, and Scott and I always try to embarrass ourselves as much as possible. This year we sang the Chipmunk Christmas Song, hence the costumes.

We slept over that night, and stayed up until 2 am playing Cranium with Ash and Luke. We had fun opening presents at 9am...ahhh the joys of sleeping in!

I got Scott some clothes and a power saw. Like usual, he was amazingly creative and totally spoiled me! I'm so excited about it I made it its own post...I always want to remember all the awesome details he put into it.

We had a great time getting to talk to Scott's brother Jeff, he's on a mission in Georgia.  The whole family conference called in from four different states, it worked awesome!  It was definitely a highlight of the day.

We were also able to go to my Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas, it is always great to see family and eat awesome food! (Colleen, that salad was incredible! )

Happy new years this week to you all!

Vanity can be a good thing

Scott worked on a Christmas present all week and I had no idea what he had up his sleeve.  I was so surprised!

I usually get ready sitting in front of a mirror on the floor because our one bathroom is tiny and has about two inches of counter space. Scott decided that was no good, so he made me a vanity! 

He took an old desk (that was free on the side of the road, ha ha) and painted it. Then he took an old vanity mirror from his parents and painted it to match. Scott is the king of organization, and he thought of everything!

A basket for my hair dryer and irons.

Plenty of room for my jewelry and makeup! There is so much storage...I have an entire drawer just for head bands.

The stool is from Ikea.  On Monday Scott took me out and we went and bought a few accessories:

The iron frame above the vanity was our splurge ($20 from Hobby Lobby).  It was brown, and Scott spray painted it shiny black.  It's gorgeous! We also got an 'x' for $2 (Hobby Lobby), a mini vase (64 cents at Michaels) and an adorable pair of quail ($1.75 at D.I.).  Don't you love getting good deals?!

Now my corner is good to go! THANKS SO MUCH BABE! I LOVE IT!

Recently:

We're still here, let's just say the first two weeks of December could be summed up in one word...FINALS.  Gross!  I'm glad to have some quality time with Scott now that doesn't include words like "quantitative research" and "AP Style".

My little brother snapped some backyard shots of us all geared up for winter (for Christmas cards). I like this one (and we like our X mugs from Pier 1).

Other non-homework happenings:
We have been updating a journal we keep- it was a Christmas gift from Scott last year:

We write down quick one-liners about what went on during the month.  It is fun to go back and remember funny inside jokes and things.  We fell behind so we have been working to get it up to date.

My view for the last five nights:

My fingers are tender but it has been good.


We have also been able to see a lot of family recently- can't beat that.  Merry Christmas to all of you! Hope you have a wonderful week!