celebrate

happy new year from my balcony covered in snow in -8 degree weather with a cup of hot chocolate to yours. cheers!

what the what?

where have i been. i've been busy. OK. i've been cleaning my house daily. my little puppy got sick. twice. i've been packing. i've been selling things. i've been to handel's messiah. i've been to the nutcracker. my sister got engaged!!! and i've been in denver for the past 4 days.

so, my house is clean one day, and dirty the next. how does that freakin happen? how does a house get so messed up so quickly? i mean, i know how it happens...it's easier to mess up a house than clean it...but really, how does it happen? so, i've been cleaning non-stop lately. and, since i've have been gone for 5 days when i get back home, it'll probably be a mess again. ohhhh, so that's how the mess happens..............

poor poor oliver has been sickly lately. a few weeks ago, he was throwing up. a lot. so he needed meds (expensive ones) and a vet visit. that was rough. it's so hard to do anything around the house when there is a poor sick puppy that just wants to snuggle in your lap! then, last week, his eye and ear got hurted. there is an ulcer in his eye and an infection in his ear. so, until i figured that out, he slept all day in my lap again. if i tried to get up, he would follow me everywhere as normal, but slowly, and it looked painful. so i took it easy with him. and then he needed more meds (more expensive meds) and a visit. and let me tell ya, rubbing gel on your dog's eye is not only gross, but really really really hard to do. at least the ear meds are simple. and he's happy again :) omg, i love my doggy sooo much!

i saw handel's messiah with mary ellen. my besterest friend. she quit her job, so i treated her to some symphonic action :) i love handel's messiah. it puts me in the christmas spirit. unfortunately, it was performed in a church that had horrible acoustics. that aside, it was beautiful. and before and after, ma (that's mary ellen) and i drank yummy hot chocoloate with mccormicks. yum

daniel and i bought his mom tickets to the nutcracker for her birthday back in november. so, she cashed that in on december 11 and we got to see the beautiful ballet. it was magical. i haven't seen the nutcracker...or any ballet in FOREVER. it was one of the most beautiful things i've seen this year. makes me want to be a ballerina. bad. then, watching "black swan" made me want to not be a ballerina.

the night i was the nutcracker, my sister went on a date and it ended in engagement :) so, i grew up with a bunch of other filipino kids. most of who have significant others now. daniel and i have been together for almost 4 years. michelle and matt have been together for like 7 years. ilene and kenneth have been together for i don't even know how long...maybe 8 years? charlton and linda have been together for probably 5 years. and the rest of the kids don't have sig. others...except for my sis who has been dating colin for about 1.5 years. and here they are. engaged. my little sister. weird. i never woulda thought that my sister would even date someone. ya know? she's my baby sister! how can she DATE a boy? but, here they are. and he's a good guy. one of the best. i can't wait for the planning to start. i only wish i wasn't going to be in denver during this time. but, her and i are going dress shopping this week on 3 different occasions! now, i can put what i've learned from my obsession with the show "say yes to the dress" to use. yay for my sister and colin! i've always wanted a brother :)

so, here i am. sitting in a hotel room in denver. and i just realized, i don't think i've ever been in a hotel room alone. i've only ever been in a hotel room with my family, or daniel, or on a school trip and sharing a room with 3 other girls. this is the first night that i've gotten to sit. these past 4 hours that i've been sitting on the couch watching "toy story 2" and "sarah palin's alaska" (yeah..it was the only thing on for a while...) has been the longest amount of time that i've done nothing since thursday. my mom and i arrived on thursday morning and we've pretty much been driving or looking at an apartment since. i dropped my mom off at the airport this afternoon and drove back to the hotel and am RELAXING. i think i've finalized my choice as to where i'm going to live. it's not where i expected. i thought i would be living in a unique duplex or house or walk up in the highlands area of denver. it looks like i'm going to be living in downtown. better deals, ya know? so, it's not as unique, but it's nice all together. plus, i'm broke as a joke. so, i've got to get the absolute best deal on a place that makes me feel safe. i saw some holes for real cheap, but i would not feel safe at all there.

i really don't know what i'm saying now. i can't even read the last paragraph to edit it...i'm so exhausted. i can't wait to go home. goodbye.

getting in the christmas spirit

i'm torn. i LOVE christmas decorations. i even bought a whole bunch more stuff last year at the after christmas sales just to add to this year's decorations. BUT, i just don't know if i should put them up this year. i'm leaving for denver not long after christmas, and i won't have time to take everything down before leaving. and i know daniel probably will not take them down. and even if he does, he won't put things away properly (i'm pretty much a control freak when it comes to the organization of our house). with all that i have to take care of around the house before i leave, and all that i have to pack and organize, i just don't know if taking the time to decorate and un-decorate the house is going to be worth it. if i do put the decorations up, i'll have to take them down like on the 23rd or 24th. and that would just be sad. to have to take down chritsmas decorations before christmas is even here? that just sounds sad. but, to not have christmas decorations up at all? that sounds sad too! i don't know what to do. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

thankful

hello! it's thanksgiving! the means fooooooood! and family! and being thankful :)

i'm thankful i'm healthy.
i'm thankful i got into nursing school! finally!
i'm thankful for my understanding, loving, wonderful, funny, weird family.
i'm thankful for my dear daniel.
i'm thankful that daniel let me get a dog in april and that we now have the crazy and cute oliver in our lives.
i'm thankful that my family, boyfriend and i are doing well in our lives. we have a lot more than some do, more than we need sometimes.
i'm thankful for the bestest friends anyone could ever ask for!
and for thanksgiving food. gooooooodness. i love food!

happy thanksgiving :)

i'm a pig

this is what my entrée plate looked like (after my apetizers plate)

thanksgayving

yay! today is the annual THNX4GVNG POTLUCK. i love today. it's hundreds of beautiful men (albeit gay) and tons and tons of food. i love what this day is for, too. they started having this thanksgiving party 8 years ago because some people weren't welcome home for holidays anymore after they came out to their families. so, they started having a thanksgiving holiday in austin for their "austin family". so what everyone that attends does is bring a dish and some canned goods or things that you could give to the needy. everyone brings GIANT dishes of magnificent, ohhhh so delicous thanksgiving foods and everyone just eats and eats. and drinks. last year, or maybe it was the year before, but one year, i filled my plate to the brim. no one thought i could eat it all, and i actually can't remember if i did. i think i at least got close. i may have a picture of it somewhere...not sure.

so, i seriously love food. especially thanksgiving food. i make thanksgiving food alllll the time for daniel and me. we eat good. and that is what i LOVE about the annual thanksgayving dinner. good friend and good food. good cause. it's one of my favorite get togethers of the year. my other favorite get together...young folks annual christmas party (which i will unfortunately miss this year because of stupid nursing school orientation. ugh.) and the annual (more like bi-annual) crawfish party. we didn't have it this year because i couldn't get my shit together. but, i have a break from school next year at the end of march, so maybe i'll have the party in austin! we'll see. that's a long time from now.

ok, daniel's back with eggs, so i'm off to make a butt load of cornbread. goodbye.

growing up

this year, daniel and i are doing our first joint holidays. we are not technically married (common law, yeah. but not "really"), but this will our 4th holiday as a couple. it's about time we join forces, right? what we decided on is thanksgiving at my parents' house and christmas with his family. sounds easy enough, but this is proving to be a bit difficult. neither of us has spent a holiday away from our families. and we both are very close to our families. naturally, we both feel torn. it sorta sucks to have to grow up. it sucks for daniel because holidays are pretty much the only time he gets to spend time with his little brother who goes to university in mississippi. and having to start doing this this year is very hard for me because days after christmas, i'm leaving texas, my home, for 2 years for that dreaded cold place where all i'm going to get to do is study every hour of the day (except, i probably won't study EVERY hour). ugh, having to leave in fifty-something days is really really stressing me out. this is so much to do in so little time. and holidays take up a lot of the rest of my days left in texas. i have to pack, buy presents, see all my friends, see all my family, go to parties, fix everything that broken in my house, try to get rid of all the excess shit i have built up in the crevasses of my house, write up a new lease for our tenants, go to denver for orientation, try to find a place, try to find a roommate (if i end up wanting one. still thinking about that one). it's a lot. and all i want to do is sit on the couch and catch up on all of the ellen episodes i have tivo'd. that takes time. i'm also trying to read the harry potter series (i bought all of them for my sister as her graduation present this year because she wanted to re-read them, but had borrowed books the first time she read them. now that she's halfway through, i want to start reading them. probably not the best time to start reading that). i also ordered books that have been reviewed as good books to read before starting nursing school. once they're in, i probably have to give up harry and read those. then harry can maybe come back in 2012.

there's just so much to do. and it's really sad that i probably will only get to see my parents like, twice in all of that craziness before i leave. i feel so bad about not spending christmas with them. when i told my mom, i think she was pretty surprised. it was hard. holidays are always sooo much fun because we spend it with lots of other families. i love the business of those days with so many people around. i'm sad i'm going to miss out on that on christmas. but, the good thing is that daniel and i both feel close to each others' family, so at least it's not a total loss. no matter where we are, we'll feel at home.