Christmas #1

Uncle Mark came to Florence today, so Christmas #1 is officially in the books!

It was an absolutely crazy morning with wrapping gifts, cleaning and cooking (plus a migraine or really bad tension headache), but we managed to get all the essentials finished in time. We opted out of the traditional Christmas meal this year since there were only four of us today (and because I really don't like leftovers--like Grams). I planned to make Grams' cake with cooked chocolate icing in addition to banana pudding (Uncle Mark's favorite), but I didn't make the icing until after he left. More for us, I guess!!

We opened gifts and I was quite spoiled. I absolutely hate to iron, so I got a professional grade steamer. The girls at work won't let me by if I wear something not perfectly pressed anymore! I also got a stainless steel garbage can for my kitchen. I've wanted one since I moved in since I have to have it out in the open, but I never broke down to get it. My favorite gift has to be the 2012 Southern Living Annual Cookbook. I can't wait to make several things in the cookbook!

Since Uncle Mark was here, I decided to take advantage of his photography skills and Emma and I had a mini-photoshoot. Here are a few of my favorites...

Still Christmas Shopping

I thought I finished nearly all of my Christmas shopping back in November...before trips for work and fun, before Thanksgiving.  I thought I was so ahead of the curve and I was so proud that all of my gifts were wrapped in brown craft paper and tied with various grosgrain ribbons and looked like something out of Martha Stewart Living.

I knew there was ONE gift left to buy, but little did I know, there were MANY more to buy.  I took care of what I thought was my last gift last Saturday in Florence, but I was sorely mistaken.  Mom and I bought a few more things that day and then I've placed three separate orders with Amazon this week including one this morning.  It's a good thing I signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime, otherwise I nothing I ordered would arrive in time and I'd have to venture to a brick and mortar store...the horror!! :)

Now, I have at least 12 more gifts to wrap, so I guess the leftover craft paper will be going to Florence with me.  I bought three big rolls and didn't even use all of one (way more on a roll than I expected), so I guess my over-shopping is actually useful since I don't need more wrapping paper.  I think I have ribbon left over, but I'm not positive...it has been more than a month since I've wrapped all the first batch of gifts! :)  I think some gifts might not get ribbon if it saves me a trip to Hobby Lobby at this time of year!

Sing, Sing, Sing

Today was our choir's cantata in Florence. I'm so glad I was able to learn the music well enough from the CD and my two measly practices at home so I could sing with this super-talented group! We had handbells, a children's choir, a youth choir, a full orchestra as well as the adult choir. It was definitely a powerful feeling to perform with all of these talented musicians. Even though staying for the second performance made for a long night driving back to Nashville, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I find myself laughing more than at any other time when I'm with people from this choir and I'm grateful that I've had the opportunity to sing with them for TEN (eek) years!!

There's no place like home!

After ten days away from my house, I am so happy to finally be back. There really is no place like home...except my other home in Florence! :)

Q Center Woes

It's after midnight and I can't sleep. It's just part of another wonderful day at the Q Center. Or not...

I've been here for three night now and this is the first night I absolutely cannot sleep. I think I still needed to catch up from Disney the first two nights. Now, I'm just hot, claustrophobic and bored. Plus, I almost fell asleep earlier, but almost rolled off my twin bed which certainly got me awake.

The rooms here are tiny. I've tried to upload a picture I found on the Internet that is of a similar room. It's clean, but tiny. My dorm room at Auburn was double the size of my "closet" here. Also, the thermostats don't seem to work since my room is approximately 80° right now. I am very cold-natured and like warm rooms, but this is taking it a bit overboard.

It's not easy to leave the compound since we're an hour away from Chicago and finding a taxi is not the easiest thing. We ate deep dish pizza at Gino's East on Monday night and that was certainly the highlight of my trip. Now, I'm just looking forward to the limo ride that will take me to Midway and eventually home.

I've decided this experience is very similar to being in a minimum-security, white-collar Federal prison. I've got some space to roam (only on campus), hot meals (not of my choosing) and a bedroom (although small and cell-like). I've got an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia and I can't wait to be back in Nashville. I know this sounds melodramatic, but I've never been to another place that I dislike so much.

I'm hoping for better and more interesting training tomorrow and maybe another trip off campus tomorrow night. Thank goodness I'm not here alone and have work friends to spend time with while we're here!

Long time, no blog...

Oh my, it's been a long time since I've updated. I want post about my Christmas decorations and my awesome trip to Disney, but for now I really need to pay attention in my continuing education classes. I'm at a training center about an hour and a half from Chicago and so far I'm about bored to death--only four hours in!

We're (four other from work and myself) are going to eat pizza at Gino's East tonight, so I'll try to take a picture of the yummy pizza we order. That's the highlight of the trip for me!!

I'll try to catch up soon, I promise!

It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas!

I brought back boxes of ornaments and other decorations from Florence this weekend and I can't wait to put up my tree! I'm so excited about it that I think I'm going to get started tomorrow night!

I heard Christmas music in a store for the first time tonight and I've been listening to the CD of our choir cantata, so Christmas music is definitely in my head. I think it's time to set up a Spotify playlist for my work computer!

I went to the mall in Franklin after work and did one of my infamous marathon shopping trips. I think the store count topped out at 7, but I think I'm about halfway finished with the gifts I am responsible for. I'm going to be back in Franklin tomorrow afternoon for CPE, so it might be a good opportunity to knock a few more things off my list!

I love getting to shop for other people and seeing their faces when they open their gifts, but I know I'm going to have the hardest time not telling Mother about what I bought! I need to go ahead and wrap everything as I go so I can forget what I've bought. That way we'll all be surprised on Christmas Day!

Hopefully I'll have everything up by the end of the weekend and can post a few pictures!