Pretty Christmas Highlights

Here are some of the beautiful things I encountered over the holidays

This incredible garland was made by a friend of mine (if you're interested for next year they're for sale!)

Cute signs marking the stations around the apartment at a holiday party!

The santa snuggie that I won and unfortunately lost at a secret santa event!

I love the lighting through the condensation

Lucky number one!

Christmas 2011

After spending last Christmas away from home (though I can't really complain, I was in Rome), I was really looking forward to a traditional American Christmas with my whole family in WONDERFUL North Carolina.  I missed the Christmas trees, my favorite holiday tunes, and two wonderful feasts; not to mention the unmatchable comfort of being home!  Fortunately for me, this is exactly what I got (despite the complications of juggling house sitting jobs). 

 I tend to have a Charlie Brown like relationship with the holidays where I find myself looking forward to them well in advance only to find myself rushing around and missing the Christmas activities I have planned to participate in.  This year I think that I was too busy to fully delve into my typical Christmas melancholy but I did watch 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' 3 times!

Here are some highlights from this year...

We were all impressed by the incredible amount of presents under the tree! Makaela and I both received our requested reading devices and are completely obsessed!


My Grandfather reading the Christmas story, our pre-gift tradition



My not so little anymore cousin with her vintage camera



There were also plenty of unique gifts like human fly masks and a mop










Makaela received a slap watch, which we proceeded to have a lot of fun with! Watch the video to see, we got a lot of distance!

Winter Is Here/Thanksgiving

The below post is proof that I did attempt to update my blog over a month ago. I didn't...but I tried


I feel like I have fallen off of the planet!

The last couple of weeks everything has been sooo busy and my desire to tackle any of my tasks is waning.

Basically, I am in desperate need of my month long Christmas break.  I don't think I have ever been this ready!

A lot of exciting things have been happening, an internship possibility, future job interview, part-time job interview and one family filled trip to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving!

I know this is a little late, but a few weeks ago I woke up to discover my pumpkin, Jack, had become quite the little sot!

The neighbors clearly took advantage of my perfect little pumpkin!

In update, my pre Christmas/end of semester angst has subsided after several weeks of lounging at home, lots of friends and family, and the relief of passed exams!
I am overjoyed by the completion of my first semester and possibly rested enough to tackle another semester of B School.  I'm also just really looking forward to my upcoming China trip in March!!!!! YayYayYay a cure to the travel bug I caught a couple of months ago.


In the interest of avoiding wordy descriptions of the last two months events I will post some photos of the highlights, Thanksgiving first!



The first snow of the year made my day! I can't wait until the South East finally gets some real winter weather!



For Thanksgiving my whole family made the trip up to Pennsylvania to visit my Great Grandmother.  It is always nice and incredibly nostalgic as 3 generations of us have been making this trip for most of our lives!



There is also an incredibly beautiful B&B in Tyrone which belongs to the Riley's, it also happens to be the ONLY place to stay in the city!













The architecture is my favorite part of this old town.  The houses are intricate and unique but usually in need of serious repair.



 As usual, I was lucky enough to have two Thanksgivings however to my relief they were on different days this year. In the past I have partaken in 3 in a day and I can't recall how I did it, as this year I had to sleep off the feast I consumed at event #1!

Happy Halloween

I carved an awesome pumpkin this year, Jack Skellington!

I celebrated Halloween early this year since it was, unfortunately, on a Monday.  So sad.

This holiday tends to creep up on me and I am never prepared to celebrate it ( I am always scrambling for a costume at the very last minute).   This year was no exception but fortunately I had all the components that I needed to be Rosie the Riveter!

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty sure that I would be mistaken for Aunt Jemima or a maid.

I think the only reason this didn't happen is because no one knew who I was...

Julia, from this well written blog, came up to Boone for a visit, making my day better than I had hoped for. After an anticlimactic trip to a bar, which appeared to have the sole purpose of housing rejected pledges, we corrected our mistake and made it to the Bafoodus Halloween dance party in time to catch Thriller!
The band also closed with a song that I have been obsessing over lately, I couldn't believe it!








Happy November, I can't believe it is already here!

Atlanta

I have been so distracted lately.  Maybe it's the sudden wintry weather that has arrived in Boone or maybe just that mid semester lull.  Either way I can't seem to do anything: homework, staying in contact with friends, or updating my blog...

For Fall break my dearest friend Zack and I took a trip to Atlanta to visit another dear friend, Aimee.  It was awesome to get out of Boone and go somewhere other than Brevard; a well needed change of scenery.    I do love living in Boone again but all in all I think that I am ready to strike out in a new place, that's a bit bigger, where there are new things to discover!

Anyway, it was great to see Aimee and to enjoy the perfect, warm weather in Atlanta.
We enjoyed lunch at Majestic Diner on Ponce (that's Ponce De Leon for all of us uncool tourists).  It was a cute, super trendy spot with diner standards that one would expect.






Zack and I looking rough as usual...


I ordered the vegetable plate (I know the name is questionable).  The collard greens were AMAZING!

We also headed down to Krog Tunnel, a regular spot for graffiti artists to display their skillz.
There were some interesting pieces and a lot of scary loud motorcycles.







And...as we had not eaten for five minutes, it was essential to stop to get Frozen Yogurt.
Note: Aimee and Zack talked up Yoforia and how incredible it was etc, etc. However, we didn't eat there we pulled up to the first FroYo spot in sight, Yogley Mogley...apparently it is all the same!  What?!





Most of the weekend centered around eating, which is fine by me!  I definitely recommend checking out El Taco, I don't think that I ate a single thing there that I didn't love!  We also went to MJQ Concourse, which is essentially an underground car park converted into a bar and dub step club.  A very interesting scene with pretty solid house music!  All in all, a great time for such a short two day trip.  I can't wait for the next time I'm willing to tough out the AWFUL drive from Boone!


Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!
(I hope it is warmer where you are than in my house!)

Bike,Bike,Bike,Bike

This past weekend I went home to Brevard to enjoy time with family and friends as well as to help out with the Zombie themed alley cat race (which was wonderful)!

In fact, Brevard is just wonderful!  It is so beautiful, the people are the best, and the unexpected always happens.  I honestly did not expect to spend my evening dressed as prom date zombie, while participating in some pretty incredible checkpoint activities.  Or to end the night enjoying a metal show while watching Gumby and Pokey mosh down front.  Everyone's costumes were out of this world and the level of participation made this event an overall success!  

Why did I leave Brevard for grad school??? Silly, Silly!!!

I couldn't help bust post all of these pictures.  The variations in expressions in each of them are absolutely hilarious!!! More pictures of the costumes and checkpoints to come!

Friday Hike

Last Friday, I went on a hike with Miles to Yellow Mountain in Avery County.  I had no idea what I was in for, but Miles assured me that there was an incredible view at the end.  He certainly was right; the best part is that the hike follows the Tennessee/North Carolina border and from the top Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virgina are all visible.  I was kind of bummed that the leaves were not in peak season but I guess that just means I have more time to get out and enjoy them!  The hike went by so quickly and the day was absolutely perfect.  What began looking dreary turned into warm, sunshiney perfection!  I think the weather held out just for us since the clouds started rolling in during our descent!

I love the shadow on the far side of the mountain!

The night before, I made blackberry muffins using an incredibly simple recipe that turned out oh so well (I'll try to post the recipe soon, thanks Mom)!!!

Apparently this is a heavily photographed spot in WNC, too bad my photo is a bit lack luster!

 

Miles climbed on top of a huge boulder.  I attempted to climb it but scraped my wrists instead, typical!

I can't wait to continue enjoying Fall!  I'm currently in search of everything pumpkin flavored and have tentatively agreed to run the Flight of the Vampire in Brevard.  Speaking of Brevard, I can't wait to head home this weekend to help out with the Zombie Alleycat race happening on Friday (you may remember the photos I posted about the last Alleycat, here).

Have a wonderful weekend, I know that I will!