Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Pre-Christmas Countdown Round-off

First of all, yesterday was my mom's birthday, and I just want to put out there what an amazing woman she is. Let me give you an example: Last week the whole family was in town, and almost every night she asked what we wanted her to make for dinner. This was THANKSGIVING week. We all looked at her like she was crazy and told her not to make anything, since we knew she would be cooking all day Thursday. She just said, "I like cooking for you guys." Honestly? Who LIKES to cook for the whole hungry family every night and THEN prepare an entire Thanksgiving meal? But that's not all. She will wear herself out in the service of others, falling into bed each night without getting more than a few things done on her own to-do list because she was too busy helping others. And she's always been like that, it's not a recent "new Relief Society president" thing, although that has given her opportunity to meet and help more people. Nope, it's just my mommy, being her own selfless self, and not thinking very much of it at all. Everybody loves my mom. And I mean everybody. I have never met a single person who said anything other than "I just love your mom" or "Your mom is amazing." And boy, do I know it. And I am so grateful. Happy birthday [yesterday] Mom!
Okay, on to Christmas:
Starting tomorrow [and every day that I can think of one following that] I will have my Christmas countdown posts. Last year we tackled: snow, socks, trees, lights, advent calendars, music, Chicago Christmas, cards, movies, wrapping paper, candy, and Santa. It was a lot, but so fun, and well worth it. Any requests for what you would like my take on this year? Or should we just leave it up to my own devices and see what sort of cleverless [read: craziness] I can come up with on my own?
Regardless, the Christmas season is officially upon us. It really IS the most wonderful time of the year.
Here's a video of one of my absolute favorite Christmas season songs just to kick us off. It is truly amazing, and moves me every time I hear it.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Random stuff...again

I keep thinking that I will be better about keeping this blog updated with all of the adventures of my life for all of the world to read and enjoy, but the truth of the matter is this: I do not lead an adventure-filled life. Truth be told, my life is currently very boring. Take a sample:
Every day I wake up and get ready for work. I should get up earlier and work out, but I can never manage to convince myself that leaving my warm bed to sweat is better than staying in it and sleeping more.
I go to work.
I take my lunch break and waste time.
I go back to work.
I go home and eat.
I do whatever activity I have lined up for that day, whether it be something with the singles ward or a date with my washing machine or watching NCIS.
I go to bed.

Spattered throughout that very exciting spread is the occasional waiting for news from grad schools, getting brilliant ideas for my stories [I REALLY need to be better about that! I've been slacking.], and discovering new things, like Pinterest. Ho boy, Pinterest...
But all in all, I really don't ever have anything to say. I dunno, what do you guys WANT to hear from me?
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Thanksgiving is over, which means Christmas is upon us. I'm so excited about this. Christmas is such a magical and spiritual time and it just fills up my soul. And not gonna lie, my soul could really use some filling. Things are tough right now.
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It was WONDERFUL having my family all here for Thanksgiving. I am really so blessed in the people I have in my family. It is so quiet at the house now. It's a little weird, to be honest.
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I'm trying to decide if I will do the Christmas countdown posts this year again and I just don't know. What do you think?

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

November!

So October was not very active as far as my blogging is concerned. But I did actually do a TON last month. Here's a quick recap:
  • General Conference. LOVE.
  • Phantom. See post below for my true feelings.
  • Trip to Lansing. AMAZING. Enjoyed a fantastically fun-filled weekend of silliness with my niece, which included the coolest apple and pumpkin farm ever. It was windy, or "winny" as Carly says, and enjoyed doughnuts, fresh cider, cider slushies, and picking our pumpkins from the patch. So fun! She's so awesome. I think being an aunt is the best.
  • Trip to Knoxville. Very fast trip, but SO fun. I got roped into participating in Jenny's institute activity instead of just helping, so I was in the brown bag skit entitled The Dark Side of Justin Bieber. Totally hilarious, particularly when the institute director was Bieber..... Then Jen's meet was AWESOME, and we got to see some of our friends who were there for UK, which is okay, and UT beat IU, which makes the world a happier place.
  • Trip to Louisville and Cincinnati. Got to watch Jen and her team beat Louisville very soundly, which was awesome, as I tend to not be a very big fan of them, but that's besides the point. The day was a bit of an excited blur, thanks to an announcement I will discuss later. Then we drove up to Cincinnati and stayed with the Rahlf's for a few days, which is the most relaxing thing in the world, and not just because they have a fireplace that turns on with a light switch. We watched Dallin play his last high school football game, which ended in a disappointing loss and we spent most of the game angry, but I won't touch that soapbox. I would never get off. I did get to see my friend Amy, who is probably the friend I've had for the longest that is female. We hadn't really talked in a looooong time, so it was so awesome to see her. Saturday we came back home, but not before stopping in Indy to see Chris, who was there for a conference.
  • Stake Conference. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! One of the best EVER!!!!
  • Halloween.
So yeah, that was October. Pretty busy. What you don't see listed are the days and hours spent working on blasted grad school applications and essays. If I never do another, it will be too soon. Thankfully, everything is done except entering the GRE scores and mailing them off. And ordering transcripts. I have to wait until November 8th for my scores, and once I have those, I will order transcripts and mail everything off. I cannot wait until all of this is over.
I am currently on a Jane Austen kick. Again. It comes every few months or so. I just love it so much. Anyway....
Halloween last night was pretty fun. Dad and I sat outside with our outdoor fireplace and handed out candy. I love doing this, because we get to see all sorts of costumes and kids and we get to talk with parents. It was cold, but fun still.
Okay, now to the announcement which has changed the course of life for the Connollys forever: On Thursday, just before Jenny's meet, we found out that my brother and his wife are having TWINS! I NEVER expected that, and obviously neither did they. It has been an entertaining few days for me, watching my parents talk about what they are going to do and want to do and being giddy grandparents. I cannot imagine how overwhelming it would be to find out you were having two babies instead of one, but I am confident that Chris and Erin can handle it perfectly and they will be the most fantastic twins to ever grace the planet.
So that is life as I know it. Now it is November, which is a nice month, but tends to be a tad depressing as all of the leaves turn brown and fall from the trees and it gets colder and darker. But Thanksgiving is at the end of the month, and I really do love Thanksgiving a lot. I'll post on that holiday later, but I feel very strongly it needs to receive its own due.
Happy November to all, and when you are out of your sugar-coma from last night, go for a walk. It's pretty today.