Accidental holiday recap

When I have not posted in a while, I think of my header. I really do not know where to start. The holidays were probably about my busiest ever between travel, holidays, company, events, etc. I still have our tree up until this weekend though.

Haha. Just kidding. That is Rockefeller Center. This is our tree.

And this is my parents' tree with all the gifts under it before going to bed.

And here are the filled stockings. My Mom is, Uh, helping Santa by putting stuff he left in the stockings?

But I digress. Or actually maybe I should just make this a holiday recap?

You asked for it!

• 11 hour drive to and from New England Thanksgiving weekend. Everyone was home. It was great. We put up my parent's tree.
• CF's parents and sister arrive on December first.
• New York for three and a half days with CF's sister.
• Work a couple days.
• CF's graduation. (He has yet to defend, but they will let you walk whenever, I guess.)
• A weekend trip with CF's fam. Other dinners with people, farm visit, museum visit, etc. in the mix.
• His fam left the 13th.
• Worked a couple days.
• Saw the Trans Siberian Orchestra. (Highly recommend it.)
• Few days of work during which my experiment went extremely well. (FINALLY!) I got 'Figure-worthy' blots, according to my boss. This is a good thing.
• Bake cookies and have people over for cookie decorating.
• 11 hour drive to and from New England for Christmas. CF told me I looked 'beautiful' Christmas Eve. He seriously meant it. Usually he just says 'cute'.
• Some days of work. I like the slow pace of campus the week between Christmas and New Years. I sleep in. There is NO traffic. I can park in the expensive parking. No one is around. I have lab to myself. I was not SUPER productive, but I still got stuff done.
• Attend a wedding New Year's Eve.
• CF packs up and heads far, far away for a new job. Jerk had the nerve to tear up. I have tried to be resolved not to cry. Have not failed toooo badly. Until my bro' said to feel free to call if my apartment got too quiet. Jerk. ;-)
• Worked Jan 2nd. Did not occur to me that people had it as a holiday. As a matter of fact, the University was still closed. So there was NOOOOOOOOOO traffic, and I still got to park in the expensive parking.
• I went to the 'young adult'/my age range Bible study tonight. That was what I was going to post about before I got distracted. For another time.

Karma, Part II

I nearly finished my Christmas shopping tonight. In addition to Christmas presents, I needed to pick up a few more things for cookie decorating in a couple of days. I found myself at BB&B and realized I should have started there. As great as Wilton products may be, Betty Crocker is more my speed. (Not that I need that expensive Wilton kit either, but you get the point.) And I had a 20% an entire purchase coupon.

Anyway, I overheard a lady asking an employee if they have 20% off coupons (usually just off one item) available, which they do not. I am in the habit of keeping a BUNCH in my car though, and offered to go get her some. I brought back six or seven coupons, and she and her friend kept thanking me and saying how sweet that was and Merry Christmas.

I seriously do this type of thing all the time.

My reward is a new $300 starter for my car.

Karma fail.

Ready for my close up

I do enjoy my digital camera - it is an easy-to-use point and click that takes great pictures. A while back, I said something about being ready to upgrade from my Canon Elph 850IS, and my Mom suggested I put it on my Christmas list. The camera I will eventually upgrade to will likely cost a little too much to put on a Christmas list, plus I have not put ANY thought into what camera I want! I do think it will be fun to learn to use a more advanced camera and a macro lens to take close up pictures. In the meantime, my camera does fine taking photos with the macro setting, it is just impossible to tell the camera exactly what I want it to focus on.

The High Line Park in NYC

Hot chocolate with handmade marshmallow from City Bakery.

Tiles on the floor at Ellis Island. (As an aside, if you have any ancestors who came through Ellis Island, the records are mostly or all online now and you can search them!)

Mushrooms from CF's yard.

My kitty...who was just chillin' on the dining room table watching us unlock the door when we came home last night?! She is NOT supposed to be up there.

 Um, strawberries.

Reward

My reward for going to NYC with CF's sister was seeing friends. Yay! I got to see several college friends, some college friend partners, and a former coworker.

I also did touristy things.

 

 

 

 

Karma

I do not remember all the details of the happenings that have made me think of this post in the past two weeks. I am not sure I like the way karma is working out for me with the few examples I can recall.

I forgot my camera battery in the charger when CF's sister and I went to New York City for a few days. I managed to talk a guy down to $40 for a "Energizer" replacement that was already charged. I was afraid of how little charge it might have, so limited my photo taking. Sad, because it was NYC and there was plenty of which I could have taken photos.

I helped a lady on the subway in NYC pick up the papers she dropped all over the ground.

It was raining today, and there is a gigantic flock of crows that roosts at night in the town where I work. Walking to work, I got a rain drop in my eye, but at least I did not get pooped on by a bird.

My Ex is engaged. I accidently dropped a mug I like on a glass he gave me and broke both.

CF's family left last night. I had been driving his 2-door car, and he my 4-door car (with new tires) as he took his parents and sister around for almost two weeks. Today, I met with the associate pastor of the church I have been going to in order to talk about things in which I would be interested in getting involved. When I left work late (after talking about life with the other post-doc), and got in my car and turned the key? Nothing. Well, not nothing because the wipers (which were fixed over the summer), the radio, etc. all came on so the new battery I got before CF's family came works fine. Who knows what expensive wiring will have to be redone. On the bright side, I was near my mechanic, got it towed for free (thanks triple-A!), and CF still lives here so he could come pick me up.

CF is heading to look for a place to live in the New State on Sunday.

I invited people over to decorate cookies next week.

What else is coming my way?

Very nice

Lest any of you wonder if CF is worth it. He is off picking up his parents and sister at the airport. I left work early and this was on the table...

...with two tickets to the Trans Siberian Orchestra for the weekend after his family leaves.