Have an hour?

...because I haven't posted in a while and I have lots to say! Let's start with my birthday. It was a really good day; I got a preschool birthday celebration where my mom works, because one of the little boys there had the same birthday as I, so I took some snacks for the class of four and got sung "Happy birthday" to by three and four year olds. In the afternoon Jake took me ice skating, just the two of us (everyone else was working still or at school). Then I went to Origami sushi restaurant with my family, Jake and my grandma, and we had a great BIG sushi dinner! It was so delicious, I LOVE sushi!

After babysitting those two boys again on the day after my birthday, I went to Santa Fe with my dad and we got some more Christmas shopping done. It was good to spend time with just him. Yesterday we went to my grandma's Christmas party with my loud, obnoxious, hyper family in my grandma's teeny tiny house. Good times. And today I went to Wal Mart in Espanola with my mom to still get more Christmas shopping done. Now I have one last gift to find, for my godmother.

Saturday I went to church in the evening with my parents, then my mom and I went and saw te movie Brothers (filmed in Los Alamos!) which was so good, not to mention it was so cool seeing all the Los Alamos scenery and public areas. AND the Cowboys beat the Saints! The Saints, who were undefeated until they faced off with the Boys! We were all so excited!

Church was actually great. To be honest, I hadn't been to church since before I went to Costa Rica. However, it was great to be back and it made me feel good. We sat next to some dear family friends, a couple, Ray and Joan, who have been married a very long time. They were my parents' sponsor couple when my parents were preparing for marriage, as well as my sister's and Brian's. Ray also married my sister and Brian, and he also baptized me when I was merely a few weeks old. So they hold a special place with us. Anyway, during church I looked at them and saw a perfect picture of true love. They have been through so many things together. Their son, while he was attending college at NMSU years ago, was hit by a drunk driver and had severe brain damage, altering his personality. Today, though, their son is a great person, extremely funny and witty and just caring overall. Joan has also been battling some major health issues for years, but she still wears a smile and gives you a warm hug whenever she sees you. I was behind them receiving communion, and while walking back to our pew I saw Ray put his hand gently on the back of Joan's head and rub it with his thumb. It was such a simple act, but it was clear that they were still very much in love.

Well I am going to go wrap some Christmas presents and watch TV :) Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve!

I'll be home for Christmas

Well, my sister and her husband are officially moved out of our house and in their own little house in Los Alamos. The downstairs of our house feels different! I'm all alone! She's abandoned me once before, when she went to college and I still had two years, but at least she came home during vacations and summer. Now she probably won't ever be staying here again! I'm not actually that sad about it, it just feels weird, but I can tell my mom is. She keeps going into Shanda's empty room like she needs to do something, but there's nothing to do. She looks lost :( Now I'll feel really guilty when I get married or move far away.
So that's what we've been doing the past two days, packing five vehicles with boxes, furniture, bags, etc. to the brim, driving up to their house, unpacking said items, and repeating this several times, all in the cold weather and about a foot and a half of snow. You never realize how much stuff you have until it's time to move! Seriously, I hope I don't move very often after college. Once or twice. Three times tops, and that's pushing it. It is just sooo much work and can be overwhelming when you're packing and unpacking. After I helped with that today, I babysat the two young boys of some family friends for four hours. That was fun; we went to see the community's production of Willy Wonka, but we only lasted about the show because the youngest boy is squirmy and has an amazingly short attention span. Champion.

Boy, is it cold here! There's plenty of snow on the ground, and we should be getting more tomorrow! Last year it snowed for at least 48 hours straight, including through my birthday, so we celebrated at home. I'm not really sure what I'm doing for my birthday this year, in three days! I don't want to plan anything big or specific, but it would be nice to do something, and see people. My parents suggested taking me out to dinner, but I can't decide where I'd want to go; I also kind of want to go ice skating and see some friends. But I really don't want anything huge; I've had enough actual parties in the past.

It feels sooo good to be done with the semester! I have absolutely nothing to worry about right now academia-related, and it's awesome :) All I need to worry about right now is getting Christmas shopping done, and I still have a little while.

For those making their way home from school this holiday season, I pray you all have a safe trip!

PS I've noticed my blogs aren't as witty and sarcastic as they used to be. I miss it. Right now they're just feeling like a "what I did today" kind of thing. I'll work on the wit and sarcasm more.

Monday Madness...

...the beginning of the last week of the last fall semester that I will be an undergraduate student! I can't believe I am about to round the corner and see the final stretch toward graduation.
Still don't know what I am doing after college :P I'm okay with that though, take it as it comes, fly by the seat of my pants, you know. Sometimes I wish I knew what I wanted to do exactly, but I figure that I'll figure out when I'm meant to. I'm hoping that my independent study class with my FAVORITE professor next semester might help me...I'm a little obsessed with him...well, mostly obsessed with what he does. He travels so much around the world, and his "specialty" is going to the Canadian Arctic for several weeks each year, researching and hanging out with the natives of Iqaluit, Nunavut, speaking Inuktitut, hiking through the arctic with the sun shining at midnight... I would really like to do something like that, just maybe somewhere less cold :) His emphasis of research is environmental & cultural communication, which are the branches of communication I'm most interested in too. So I am hoping that by working with him next semester he'll come to be some kind of mentor to me and will give me some ideas. If I were to do something similar to what he does, I think I'd like to research in Central or South America, and possibly Africa. I've gone to Central America three times (Honduras twice, Costa Rica once), and each time I have left a piece of my heart there. As for Africa, I've just always wanted to go there and do volunteer work...and of course see giraffes!!!
Also, I can see my self doing graduate school, but not right away. To be honest I'd rather just work for a while, perhaps settle down with...someone...lol, and maybe when I have made some good money I will continue my education. Some companies will even help you or even pay all of your graduate education. So again, I'll be taking it as it comes.
Now back to working on my 1,500 word Spanish essay!

And she'll have fun fun fun...

Last night was so much fun. After trying to finish up a paper, Jake called me and we made plans to go out to dinner with some friends and play games afterward. So he and I, Mike, Jeff, Danielle, and her roommate, went to Uno Chicago Bar & Grill, close to my apartment, and had a great time. We all got drinks; I got something called an Autumn Breeze, with Skyy vodka, cranberry and pomegranate juice. It was sooo good- not too strong from the vodka, and not to bitter from the cranberry juice. After having a good time there, we all went back to my apartment (except Danielle's roommate) and played games and drank hot chocolate. I don't know what got into me, but I developed a ridiculous amount of energy and we all got SUPER hyper. We were all really slap-happy or something, plus the games we were playing gave us the sillies and lots of energy. We played spoons, which I haven't played since high school, and Egyptian rat screw. When we were not playing cards, we were just doing dumb stuff like wrestling and trying to pull pranks on each other, and getting ourselves cracked up. At one point we had so much energy that we went outside in the freezing cold around 11:30 PM and played Jackpot with a koosh ball. I'm sore from that now, from all the running and jumping and knocking each other over and elbowing each other in the eyes/chest/mouth.....good times. Finally we all started getting tired and went back inside to watch a bit of TV. When everyone left around 12:30 or 1, I was so exhausted and conked out, finally waking up at 11 this morning! It's rare that I sleep in that late. I had such a good night though, I haven't been that hyper in so long, and it felt good to act a little immature and let the child in me come out. I guess I just haven't had the time lately!
Now that it's Saturday though, I need to get my final papers and test-studying going, so that I can once again head back home on Thursday...5 Weeks of family, friends, and holiday happiness here I come! :)