Christmas Has Come and Gone

Wow, I can't believe Christmas is over. The end of November and all of December has seemed like a whirlwind. We spent Thanksgiving with my family and friends and had a wonderful time. During December we got to spend time with friends and family. We had a wonderful Christmas with both my family and Rod's family. I couldn't believe how fast Christmas came. The whole month of December I felt behind in gift buying. We didn't wrap our gifts until December 23rd. It was so crazy how quickly the time went by and I felt like I ran out of weekends to get all I wanted to get done.

Work was crazy at the end of November and the beginning of December. I worked long hours and even worked from home at night a few times. I love my job so I didn't mind it too much, but it's nice to have a break for a couple of weeks.

Our house is almost complete! We have our inspection on Wednesday and I can't wait. On January 4th we have our walk-through and our closing on January 13th. I am so excited!! We are planning on moving on January 16th. If anyone would like to come help us move, we would more than welcome you ;)

Our New House!!!


We spent a lot of time in December buying furniture. I really enjoyed shopping for furniture. I can't wait to see it in the house.

Here is the guest bedroom set we bought


This is the circle chair that we bought for the sitting room in the master bedroom



The dining room table we bought


The living room tables to go with our light bluish/green couches we already own


The new couch that will go in our family room. We got it in a chocolate brown color with 3 blue pillows and 3 pillows with a blue/brown/beige circle design pillow


January is quickly approaching and it is amazing how 2009 just flew by. This year was filled with the death of one of my friends, my graduation, the building of our house, the birth of our godson Griffin, the birth of my(adopted)niece Aubrey, my first real job out of grad school, and the death of my grandfather. Although there has been some trying times this year, I am loving my life. I have the best husband, family, friends, job, and coworkers anyone could ever ask for. I hope 2010 is a wonderful year for everyone and brings new opportunities, excitement, and memories!

Holidays Are Upon Us

I cannot believe that the holiday season is now upon us. If you go into any store there are Christmas decorations everywhere. I normally don't start thinking about Christmas gifts until after Thanksgiving, but this year we sent my sister and brother-in-law Christmas gifts when my parents went to visit them. I still have a few things to get them, but it definitely got me in the holiday spirit. I was hoping to be in our house by Christmas so we could celebrate with Rod's family, but that will not be happening. Our house is supposed to be done in the beginning of January. I really wanted to decorate for Christmas and put up our own Christmas tree, but I don't think it would be smart to unpack any boxes at the same time we are trying to pack our whole apartment. We'll just have to visit my parents' house often. I love spending time with family all the time, but especially during the holidays. I really couldn't ask for a better family. I probably talk to someone in my family at least once a day. We all have this weird connection and tend to get phone calls from other family members while on the phone with a family member. It's really strange but makes me realize how connected my family is. I love my in-laws too. I know some people who have horror stories about their in-laws, but mine are absolutely the best. I couldn't have married into a better family :)

We don't have any major plans for the holidays. We'll spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family this year. Thanksgiving is not enough time for us to travel. I HATE traffic so I do not want to spend hours in the car driving and we don't have enough time off to go to visit Rod's mom in Arizona. Christmas time is a different story, but we went to Arizona last Christmas so we'll stay home this Christmas. I'm not really sure what our plans are for the next month, but I do know a lot of time will be spent finding stuff for our new house. With our moving date fast approaching, we have a lot of stuff to get done. We are moving from a one bedroom apartment to a four bedroom house so we definitely have a lot of furniture that we need to purchase. We also have a lot of packing to get done, but I must say my wonderful amazing husband does most of this. One great thing about packing during December is I can listen to Christmas music while putting things in boxes :) All in all this holiday season is going to be quite busy.

Although I don't have to much to say, I really can't complain. I am so thankful for everything in my life right now. I have a wonderful loving husband and amazing family and friends (who I may not see as often as I like but I can keep in touch with online), we both have great jobs where we enjoy going to work, and we have a new house which we will move into shortly. Life is great right now! I hope all is well with everyone. Have a great Thanksgiving!!!

LIFE

I feel like such an adult. I have a husband, a job, and soon a house. Life seems to be falling into place. I thought life would slow down a bit once I was out of school, but it seems to go faster. I can't believe it is almost November. I have no idea where October has gone. Every weekend we have been busy. The weeks are filled with work and going to see the house. It's incredible watching the house go up and seeing it come to life. Last night the house had drywall. It made it seem so real because you could actually see the rooms and how it will really look when it's finished. We were given a date of January 7th, but I hope it moves faster than that. I would be bummed if it takes that long. The two weeks before closing, we cannot go see the house. I think it's a weird rule, but I understand. They don't want us to spill anything or break anything so we can't go. On the nights we go to see the house we try to find a local restaurant (not a chain)to try. Last night we went to this interesting restaurant. I don't really know how to classify it, because I had braised chicken and Rod had a steak wrap. The food was delicious. I have never had such flavorful chicken. In the same little area there were three other restaurants that we want to try. We want to be able to take people to local restaurants when they come to visit instead of chain restaurants. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are great at finding cute little local places to eat when we visit them and we want to do the same. Anyway this is my life lately. It's filled with house stuff, work stuff, and family and friend stuff. Although it is very busy I am loving life right now and having a great time! I'll try to post again soon :)

Back Into the Swing of Things

Wow a month flies by so quickly! I thought once I was out of school time would go a little slower, but it hasn't. The rest of August and almost all of September has flown by in a blink of an eye. I have kept myself busy with my new job, spending time with family and friends, and visiting our new house to watch it constructed.

The job is wonderful! I work with great people and both of my supervisors are awesome. I'm really looking forward to working with my school as well. This week I was in training in Charlottesville for the Career Coach side of my job. Surprisingly, I bumped into my friend Brandi from undergrad while checking in. She has been a Career Coach for a year. It was wonderful to see her, catch up, and meet her new daughter. I hadn't seen her in 2 years so it was so neat. What a small world we live in. Next week will be my first week at the school, but I am so excited. I know it's going to be a busy year, but I'm getting to do something I enjoy. I went to the school yesterday and only planned on being there for an hour or two and ended up there pretty much all day. I have this feeling that if one month flew by as quickly as it did, it's going to be next summer before I realize it.

Rod and I have kept ourselves visiting family and friends on the weekend. We've been to NJ to see our friends and godson and down to NC to see Rod's brother and sister-in-law. I love going to visit people, it's just a lot of driving. We have other friends further down in NC and we need to get there soon because we haven't seen them since earlier in the year. It's nice for us to be able to do the traveling since we don't have kids, it's a lot less hassle for us to see others. Plus, we can't have people visit us yet because we are still in a one bedroom apartment. It's also nice to be home some weekends and visit with family and friends in the area.

Now onto the house :) It's getting there. Last week we went to see it and they had started putting wood on it and were working on the second floor. This week Rod went to see it and there is a roof!!! It is very exciting to see the progress. Once they start working on the inside we won't be able to see the progress, but at least we'll know they are closer to getting finished. I'm hoping that we have a middle/late November closing. I would like to close at least one week before the end of November so I have time to clean the apartment. Last year when we moved from our other apartment I steam cleaned the carpets myself, but I may consider hiring someone to do that, we'll see. We really need to get started on packing though. Rod thinks packing doesn't take long, but I disagree. He did pack most of the other apartment so I feel like I need to help this time. Hopefully it will go twice as fast. For right now, we could at least get our bookshelves packed up and the out-of-season clothes. Then we can start packing kitchen stuff that we don't use often and if you've ever been to our place you know we have every kitchen gadget you can imagine. I guess we better get started with all of this because before we know it, it will be November.

Summer Time

So I planned on updating this thing a lot more often this summer. Some how, blogging just gets set aside. I read others' blogs and I think I should blog and yet never get around to doing it. So this summer has been quite exciting. I interviewed for a position I really wanted. I made it to the second round of interviews and never heard from them. I then heard from people I knew that the job was offered to someone else. I was so bummed. To take my mind of the job thing I visited my sister and brother-in-law in St. Louis. I had a great time. Although we didn't do a whole lot, I got to meet a lot of great people, tour around St. Louis a bit, and see just enough to make me want to go back and see more. Plus I had a great time just hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law. Once I got home, I spent the rest of the week and the next week hanging out at home for the most part. I definitely was in a funk. I hate job searching and interviewing. It's the worst thing in the world. It's time consuming, boring, and really depressing in these economic times. So instead, I just read books. Then I headed to California. Normally when I go to Cali during the summer it is a relaxing trip. This trip was not as relaxing as I would have liked it. We were really busy. My family flew in at all different times. My brother and I got in on Saturday July 25th. Sunday we just hung out. On Monday, my brother and I drove up to Santa Barbara to see my friends Kevin and Erika and my godson Griffin. They were out in Cali visiting family at the same time. My sister and brother-in-law flew in on Tuesday. Then Wednesday my sister and I got our hair cut by our aunt and my brother-in-law took a test so he can eventually become a captain with his airline company. On Thursday, my husband and mom flew in. After picking them up from the airport, we went to La Brea tar pits. Then went to the Farmers Market in LA for lunch. Then we drove down Rodeo Drive. Before we headed home, we went to this market that had old time bottled sodas. I had a blue bubble gum soda that was awesome!! Friday was my dad's parents 60th wedding anniversary. We had a party and it was a great time spent with family. Saturday we hung out with family. On Sunday we headed to my mom's parents timeshare in Carlsbad. We spent the next week there before heading home. The week at the beach wasn't as relaxing as it normally is. I didn't really sit out and get as much of a tan as I do. I didn't even read one book...bummer. I did enjoy spending time with my husband and my family. We even went to Old Town San Diego for a day. It was neat to walk the streets. Then that night we went to Ocean Beach and hung out with one of my college roommates. I think most of my trip I was stressing over my job situation. On Wednesday at the beach, I got an email setting up an interview for a different job. I was glad I was at least going to have an interview when I got home. On Thursday, I got at phone call in the morning. I was thinking they were just calling to confirm the interview for Tuesday, but instead it was someone else offering me the position I had interviewed for in the beginning. I was so happy I started dancing around the room. So I came home from vacation with a tan and a job offer. Can't get much better :) Now I'm enjoying my first week home seeing friends and celebrating my new job. Yesterday, Kevin, Erika, and baby Griffin stopped for dinner on their way down to NC from NJ. It was great to see them and to see how big Finn has gotten. Then today I had lunch with one of my best friends and dinner with another. In the last few days I haven't spent much time with my husband, but I know he understands. Tomorrow I'm headed to see another of my best friends, Bri, who just had a baby. I can't wait to see how big the baby Aubrey has gotten. Friday, Rod and I are head to Ohio for a wedding. I'm looking forward to the wedding, but not to the long car ride. Anyway, I'm still fighting jet lag, but I should head to bed and try to get back on this time zone. Goodnight!

We Bought at House!

Last Friday we bought a house. We had been looking in MD, but we weren't really planning on writing a contract on the house. We liked the neighborhood and the model homes, but we weren't sure we wanted to be so far from my hubby's work and my parents. Then we went last week, they had dropped the prices by $22K. We talked about it over lunch and called our parents and then went back and put the contract on it. I am super excited, but at the same time I'm a little scared. As of right now I don't have a job which makes me a little concerned because we need to be able to pay the mortgage and put money in savings. We're also going to be an hour and a half from my parents, which isn't too bad, but right now I see them all the time so I know my relationship with them will change a bit. I'm excited to start a new chapter with my husband though. We'll have more space to clean (yuck) but we can have guests over, get the dog he's always wanted, and eventually have a family. I look forward to having people over, but most of my friends are near my parents. The house hopefully will be done by the end of November so we can get the tax credit. We went to look at the lot today with my mom and his aunt, but nothing has been done. I didn't really expect anything to be done yet. It's going to be exciting to watch it get built. There are no homes that are the same model built yet so we picked the home from a paper. I hope the house flows well and works for us. I'm really excited to start seeing what it looks like.

On the job note, I do have a second interview on July 6th. I interviewed for a position with Northern Virginia Community College. They interviewed 6 people. I really didn't feel like I did that well on my interview, but I was chosen to compete with one other person for the job. I'm worried about my second interview because I get really nervous, but I hope it goes well. I think the NOVA job would be perfect for me because it's 30 hours a week, working at the school I interned at, doing a lot of career things with students. I have a passion for this because I know so many young college students who wish they had someone to give them some direction in high school. I feel like I could be that person if I get this job. I want to help students discover things about themselves and explore different classes to see if they are truly interested in what they think they are. I think high school is the perfect place to take different electives to see what fits your personality. I am excited about the difference I could make in many of the students' lives. If I don't get this job, I'm not sure what I will do. I really should be spending my free time applying to other jobs. I guess I haven't because I really want the NOVA job, there aren't many jobs available and I won't be around much this summer to interview. I just don't know what to do. I guess I should also be looking for a job near our new house. I know I can get a license in MD, but I need to figure out what I need to provide them. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

I'M DONE and looking for a job!!!

Wow, I can't believe I haven't written on my blog in over a month. Time just flies when you're busy :) I am finally done with grad school..officially. I graduated on May 17th. I am still waiting on my diploma and my transcripts, but I'm done! I really don't know what to do with my free time though. I told my husband that I was going to have to sign up for some adult education classes to keep me busy.

I sorta have been lazy with the job search. I'm not sure if its a depression thing because there aren't many job options out there or if I'm hoping the job I really want and have applied for will work out. I have applied for a job through NOVA that will be working at T.C. Williams High School 4 days a week. It's a part time job and doesn't provide benefits, but that would be perfect for me. I guess I have been hoping that I might get that job and not been looking for other jobs. I really do need to continue in the job search. It is just frustrating to be graduating in one of the worst economic times in our country. I guess I can always sub, but we'll see what happens.

Rod and I are also looking at houses again. We are looking in MD and VA. I'm not sure what to do about this either because I want him to be happy which would mean for him not to be driving at all or very little wherever we live. We're trying to accommodate for that while trying to find an affordable townhouse or single family home. We went to see a model home in Clinton, MD yesterday and I really liked it. I think he liked it too, but there wasn't a whole lot around. It was sorta in the middle of nowhere which is surprising that there are places like that anywhere close to Washington, D.C. My husband is so wonderful though because he told the lady last night that the amenities he wants in a house are whatever will make me happy :) The nice thing about the new home is that they are offering a finished basement with bathroom and $25,000 in upgrade options. The downside is that it would take 6 or 7 months so it probably won't be done in time to get the government tax credit. We also drove by some houses that were on the market that we liked just to see the area. We'll see what happens in the next couple months.

I've been subbing a lot lately at my old school. I love being there and talking with all of my friends. Next week I'm subbing every day. I'm off today, which in some ways is nice because we definitely needed to get some laundry done. Plus it is a beautiful day outside, so once the laundry is done I'm going to go sit by the pool and soak up some sun. I hope everyone is enjoying doing well and I will update soon on all the happenings/non-happenings!

I PASSED!!!

I meant to write on my blog last weekend, but we were out of town. I am not sitting and printing my graduation announcements so I figured I could update this as well. I passed my comprehensive exam! I really second guessed myself during the week and a half wait for results. I walked out of the exam thinking I didn't do the best, but I passed. Then after talking to others and hearing how hard they thought the exam was I started to second guess myself. On Saturday the 18th I took my NCE exam. It was by far easier than the CPCE. The questions were very similar to questions I had seen before. I felt much more comfortable with those questions. I went to lunch with some peers from my cohort and we talked about the exam and how we all just wanted to graduate. We didn't find out we passed our comps until Friday. My husband and I headed to NC for the weekend last weekend. I was hoping to have heard about our scores before we left but we didn't. I got up early Friday morning and I checked my email and nothing. At about 11, I looked at my phone and had missed a text message from a friend saying we were getting individual emails about our scores on the exam. I checked my email again and nothing. I started to panic because my name is the first in the alphabet. So I stalked my email for awhile. Then I decided to take my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's dog for a walk to get away from the computer. When we got back, I checked my email again...still nothing. I really started to panic at this point. I told my husband we needed to go to lunch so I didn't have to think about it. Before we left, I decided to send an email to my professors to say I hadn't received my scores and if it was bad news just to let me know. When we got back from lunch I had an email from my professor saying she was sorry and that I was the first one she emailed, but for some reason it got returned to her several times. I was so excited to see I passed and I will be graduating on May 17th. It made the weekend even better :) On Friday evening we went to Rod's roommate from college's house. We went to dinner with him, his girlfriend and some other friends from when he was in college. We had a great time and it was great food. Then on Saturday we took their dog to Bark in the Park. It was a lot of fun walking around with other dogs and getting free stuff from vendors. We then took the dog to lunch and met some of our other friends Vicky and her husband. We had such a great time! After lunch we headed back to the house to pick up our stuff because they had a wedding to go to. We stopped on our way back to my brother-in-law's place at Vicky's to visit a little longer. Saturday night we went to dinner with Rod's brother, wife, and their friends. We then went bowling at a Christian bowling alley that didn't have alcohol or smoking. I really liked it because it was clean, there were open lanes on a Saturday night, and most importantly I didn't walk out of there smelling like I had been at a bar. On Sunday we had breakfast at the Waffle House and then my sister-in-law and brother-in-law took us to this really neat store called Southern Seasonings in Chapel Hill. I could have spent hours in the store. It was so cool. I bought a few things for baking. After that we headed home so we could pick up our kitties. It was such a great weekend and I miss all of our family and friends in NC. I wish we lived closer! Hopefully we'll get to head down there again soon to see everyone and stay longer. This week has been crazy busy at my internship. A job I want to apply for was posted yesterday so I need to look over my resume and apply for this job this weekend. This weekend will also be filled with running errands, buying gifts for a bridal shower and baby shower coming up, and a mother-daughter tea for a group I am co-facilitating at my school (my mommy's coming with me!) Next week is my last week of internship! I am excited and sad at the same time. I have loved my internship placement this semester and I am really going to miss everyone there, but I am excited to start a new chapter in my life. I only hope I will be able to find a job. Next week I will be spending much of the week proctoring the AP exams, but that's ok because I won't be by myself. One of the counselors will be out of town so I am taking her spot. It's something I'll have to do if I am ever a high school counselor so I figured I better learn now. Everything else is great and graduation is coming fast. I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy :)

Comps Over.....now onto the NCE

My comps are over...finally. I'm not sure how I did and I think it's going to be a week before we get our scores back, but I hope and pray that I passed. I can't imagine being in grad school another semester. I'm just ready for it to be over and to move on with my life. Maybe buy a house, get a job, and start a family beginning with a corgi :) I spent so much time studying last week. I gave up my entire spring break to study. I had a study partner and we probably spent over 40 hours last week studying. I felt confident going in to the exam today, but the questions were not like what we had studied. Some of the information was stuff I didn't really think I had ever studied. The part of the exam I thought was the hardest was Human Growth and Development and my undergraduate degree IS IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (how ridiculous is that?)My husband has been a great sport as I have not been cleaning, cooking, or even at the apartment much. On Saturday is the NCE which is very similar to the CPCE. I hope the wording on this exam is a little easier, but on the bright side all the study material was created for the NCE not the CPCE. I can't wait for all the tests to be over and just be able to relax. After next week, the rest of the semester is going to fly by. Next weekend we are going to head to NC to just get away. We are planning to see our friends who we haven't seen since our wedding and others we haven't seen since last year. I am so excited to be able relax and not be here. I'll update again after the NCE (maybe), but if not, once I know if I passed comps or not. Hope all is well with everyone.

Getting Ready for Comps

I haven't written on my blog for a long time. I think after Mike's death, I just didn't have anything to write about. I still really don't have much to write about. Comps are coming in 3 weeks. I'm very nervous, but I hope I'll do ok with all the studying I have done. I definitely need to spend more time at night studying over the next few weeks. I also think I'm going to buy a few practice exams online. If I do that next weekend then I will have all of spring break to brush up on any of my weak areas. I'm trying to get a group at my internship started. It's really difficult to get it going, but I need to start in the next couple weeks so I have enough time to get all the data I need. I'm looking forward to comps being over because then I can relax and spend sometime enjoying my life more and cleaning around the house. The weekend after comps my husband and I are planning to go to North Carolina to visit family and friends. I'm really looking forward to this trip, but I don't want to wish away my study time. I'm looking for a job and I really need to start applying to some school districts. I had this surge last week to apply to a few jobs and when I got home our internet was down. It was such a bummer. Since then I have wanted to spend my time studying or relaxing with my husband. Maybe later this week I'll apply to a few school districts and a couple of the federal jobs. I'm headed to Newport News this week for the VSCA conference. I'm staying with my brother which will be fun. I'm really excited about Friday because there is a meet and great with the school districts (hopefully I will make a good impression). Next week I have an interview in Spotslyvania county. It's not promising since they have already cut 7 jobs so those people are on the first call back list, but it's an interview. I know that this economy will turn around eventually, I just hope I can find a job that has something to do with education or counseling this next year. Well that is what is going on with me lately. I hope all is well with all of you!

Rest In Peace Mike!

It saddens me to have write this. I've been thinking about what I want to say for awhile. I just can't believe my friend Mike is gone. He was in a car accident last night and died on the scene. I just can't believe he's GONE! He was here one minute and gone the next. I just saw him a few months ago. He was such a good guy and he was on the right track in life. I have so many memories of him from high school. One Halloween we got him to dress up as a devil in red spandex underwear, a red cape, and horns. A few years ago we were at VT and we went to a pub. When we got back to our friends' apartment the guys thought it would be a great idea to tie tennis shoes together and try to get them over the power lines. I don't think they ever succeeded, but it was fun watching them try. The pictures following are from that night :)














Something like this really makes you look at the life you are leading. For all of my family and friends I have not seen in a very long time, I hope you know how much I love you and miss you! My life is so much better with you in it!

Turning 25

I'm really having a hard time knowing that I am turning 25 on Friday. 25 should be no big deal, but for some reason it's really bothering me. Part of it has to do with feeling I haven't really accomplished anything yet. I know that's not true but it still feels that way. I've never had a job that I wanted to keep for the rest of my life. I'm working on my master's and unfortunately I'm going to be graduating during one of the worst economic times in our country. There are not going to be any school counseling jobs this year. If the economy picks back up next year, I'm going to be competing with tons and tons of people to get a job. This is what I have wanted to do for so long and now it's not really going to be an option. I just don't know what to do. And it's really disappointing that I have spent 3 years and a lot of money on a Master's degree that I'm not going to be able to use. I wanted to buy a house last year and that fell through. Now I'm not sure. I want a house so we have more room and we can think about starting a family, but my husband doesn't want to move and I have no idea how I'm going to help provide money next year. That is one of the most frustrating things in my life right now. My husband has a wonderful job and he loves it and I don't have a job and I'm not sure what to do next year. Maybe it's not really the turning 25, but the not having idea of what the next year holds. I don't know, but I hope it get's a little easier and I don't have a major meltdown on Friday.

Bored

So it's Wednesday and I have been home for the last 3 days. I really need to get things organized, but it's so hard for me. I wish I had learned organizational skills when I was in school. As I'm working toward my school counseling license, I'm trying to be more organized, but it seems when I take one step in the right direction I turn around and I'm two steps behind. When I get one thing done I feel like I have really accomplished something, but it takes me forever to get that one thing done. I really want to start my last semester on a good note.

The semester starts on January 21st. I'm looking forward to it because it's the last semester, but I'm also terrified. Interviews for Fairfax County start on January 24th. I'm not a good interviewer. I don't really know how to prepare either. I'm also worried about the exams. The CPCE is on April 14th and the NCE is on April 18th. In a way I'm glad they are both in the same week so I don't have too much time to stress over it. I have a book that goes through 1050 questions and explains the questions. I just hope I can make it through this semester without dying, interview well or at least ok, and find a job for the next school year. Wish me luck! On a good note, we just finished paying for my grad school, thanks to my wonderful husband! Yay for being able to save money :)

Much Needed Update

I can't believe it's 2009! I've been meaning to update my blog for the last several weeks. I thought about updating right after Thanksgiving and then I never did it. Then life got busy and here I am on January 3, 2009 finally updating my blog. Happy New Year!!!

Here is what has been going on. Thanksgiving was great. We had a lot of fun with family and friends. I finished my internship over the next few weeks. Then my hubby and I head to CA for a friend's wedding. We had a great time out there even though there was some strange things that occurred during the wedding weekend. We got to visit Hearst Castle while we were in San Luis Obispo. It was really neat and I would love to swim in those pools. We then spent some time with my family down in Los Angeles. My husband came home for work, but I stayed until the Dec. 22nd for a family party. I had a wonderful time and I loved getting to see all my extended family. Once home I had a day and a half to recover. We then stayed at my parents' house on Christmas Eve. I love spending Christmas with my family, but I also love spending time with Rod's family. We flew to Arizona on Christmas night. While visiting my mother-in-law in AZ we did many things. We went to a wildlife zoo, a mystery castle, a botanical garden, the Apache trail, Sedona, and many different shopping places. We also took this awesome night time desert tour in a hummer. We went off-roading in the dessert. We got to use night vision scopes to look for animals. Unfortunately it was way to cold in the desert for animals to be out. We also got to use heat detectors which showed living things as white and non living things as black. At the end we got to use this really neat star finding thing which you would point it toward a star and then click a button. It would tell you the name of the star and give you information about the star that you could read. Many of the stars even had audio information that you could listen to through earbuds. It was a really cool experience. Both vacations were really nice because my husband and I got to get away together and spend time without a lot of tv and computer. We got back on New Years Day, but we spent time at my parents' house because my sister was in town. We don't get to see her very often so it was really nice to get to spend some time with her. Last night we all went to dinner to celebrate mine and my sister's 25th birthday that we will celebrate on January 30th :). In two weeks I will start my last semester of my Master's. My internship is going to be at T.C. Williams High School so I'm really excited about that, but I can't wait for it to all be over. Hopefully I'll be able to find a job next year :) Well this is what has been going on in my life. I really am hoping to be able to update this blog a little bit more this year! I hope everyone is doing well and I wish you and your family a very happy new year!