OMG Christmas

Whew! Christmas has come and gone and of course I haven't updated my blog in like a year or something. If there's one skill I've learned in 2009 it's how to be a slacker.

I hope everyone had a really nice Christmas with their families and safe travel! It seems like the older I get the more and more stressful the holidays become, but I always enjoy them when they finally arrive. I spent the week prior to Christmas with Mike in Ionia, which was so, so nice. The first night we visited Shruti in GR because it was her birthday!! :D I got to see her apartment for the first time (which was adorable and so her) and we exchanged gifts before going to the BOB in downtown GR (aka the most badass bar I have ever been to in my life). Shruti, knowing my love of dragons, actually drew and framed a piece of her own artwork for me which is a dragon curled around a heart! It is so beautiful! :D She also gave me a dragon figurine which has a light-up globe to be used as a night light. OMG! That girl knows the way to my heart. ;)

The second night I spent in Ionia we drove to our old stomping ground of Kalamazoo, where Mike and I originally attended WMU together for undergrad. Our friends Katie and Chuck were having a get together at one of our favorite pubs, the Old Peninsula! The Lovely Kate and the Handsome Dave were also there!! I got to meet their daughter Audrey for the first time, which was really nice because she's adorable, and I also got to see Ryan! So many good old friends to remember some good old times. It made me feel a little old, however, to realize that it's been nearly four years since we were all together in Kzoo. :-/

The weekend following the Kzoo trip was spent Christmas-ing with Mike's extended relatives for the Gibbard family party on Saturday, and then up to Claire on Sunday to see Grandma Dent for Christmas as well as her birthday. :) It was back to Ionia for a few more days then, where we finished the remainder of our registry and got to celebrate the holidays with each other. For Christmas Mike got me an iPhone and started us on a family cellphone plan together!! :D This makes me pretty excited because I was using his old iPhone as a PDA for school, so now I don't have to carry around a PDA and a cellphone (and I also have unlimited text messaging for the first time ever!)! He hooked me up with some sweet applications and taught me how to use them, and I've been having fun playing with it ever since. :) He also got me the necklace which matches my wedding dress!! :D It's so beautiful--it will be hard to keep it in my jewelry box until June!

I came back to Lansing the day before Christmas Eve to spend some holiday time with Mike's family. We ate a delicious dinner, played lots of our favorite games, and exchanged gifts!! Sandy and Debbie got us each matching 6-piece luggage bags to use for the honeymoon! :D They also got him a widescreen TV because his current TV is almost as old as I am. That gift was technically "his" but of course I'll get to enjoy it myself as well. ;)

Christmas Eve I returned home again to spend some time with my own family. We had a great time eating dinner and watching old, old Christmas movies together!! It felt good to have all 5 of us together in the house again. Of course we played Mariokart, as is our tradition, and I lost pretty bad once again. We all had to go to bed then so Santa could bring the loot, and then it was Christmas morning!! I love this time because we all take turns opening one gift at a time so we can each see what the others receive as gifts. We play Christmas music, have donuts for breakfast, throw wrapping paper at Chris, and just have a great time. I received several wonderful gifts from my family, including all 25 episodes of CareBears, $150 in giftcards to Michaels (OMG SQUEE), several new blouses, My Little Ponies, and new jewelry making supplies (because I'm interested in taking up jewelry-making post graduation).

After gifting it was time to pack up and head to the Jobin family party! We picked up my Aunt Diane and met at Grandma's house downstate for dinner. For the first time Mike got to come to the family party, and I was so excited that he was there! :D Dinner was delicious and then there were more gifts to open. A few plates of food, numerous family drama, and several hours later Christmas was officially over, and we made it back home for the night. My parents and brother exchanged gifts with Mike before we all hit the hay after a very long but festive day. :)

Since then I've been cleaning up, spending my giftcards, and spending some time with Chris before he goes back to school. On Wednesday I'll be going back to Ionia to visit Mike for the remainder of my break, and then next Monday it's back to pharmacy school. Oh ballz.

That's okay though--it'll be back to pharmacy school for one last time. :D

Ghost Huntress

Beth: So Amanda... I got your Save the Date card in the mail today.
Me: Geez, that was fast!
Beth: Yeah... just wanted to let you know, I'm gonna be busy that day. Sorry.
Me: ...... I'll steal your baby.
Beth: Ten bucks says you give it back as soon as it cries.
---------------

Mike: My bugs are driving me crazy tonight.
Me: Your what?
Mike: My bugs.
Me: Bugs?! What bugs??
Mike: The bugs in my armpits.
_________________________________

I got to hang out with Beth and her adorable offspring tonight, which was great fun. We watched Ghost Hunters On Demand and talked about how hot we think Grant is. We agreed to start Wednesday night date nights for February! I've always wanted to do something like that with her. :) In other news, getting ready for Christmas, seminar, and the wedding. I've had a relaxing couple weeks at home to get ready for the busy one ahead before the holidays are upon us! I'm already getting pretty hungry thinking about Christmas dinner at Grandma's. I love this time of year.

Except for the snow, ice, and treacherous road conditions. -_-

Vacation Babbles

It's that time again--seminar time! My clinical seminar (or basically the thesis of pharmacy school) I will be presenting in Kalamazoo in early January. So, much like all of September and October, a significant majority of my "spare time" is spent staring blankly at trials involving the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. And no, it's not interesting. >_<

And, much like September and October, I am trying multiple tactics to avoid working on it. One of my favorites you've probably already guessed is updating my beloved blog. O:-)

I spent the past week visiting my lovely sister in Monroe! It was a busy couple days, but we got to go shopping together at multiple craft stores (another money-spending vice for which I have no self-restraint) and play LOTS of old school Nintendo games. In fact, we stayed up until the wee hours almost every night watching me SUCK at Zelda: the Ocarina of Time. And I'm not just being modest, I really do suck. A lot. We also got to have lunch with my Grandma, which was very nice, and I spent lots of time cuddling with her guinea pig. *squee!* One of my favorite things we did was visit her office where she works, which is a historic building in downtown Dundee. I got to see how it looked before it was remodeled and then she gave me a tour and introduced me to her coworkers. And.... then we judged them in the car on the way home. >:-D It was great fun and I was very sad to leave on Friday. :(

For the weekend I visited Mike in Ionia (and if I don't mention him this time he's just going to WHINE ABOUT IT). :P We ended up getting our Save the Dates finished except for about ten which need clarification from grandmothers or other relatives before we send them. I loved how they turned out and I can't wait to start working on the invites as well. We also ended up visiting our friends Nick and Colleen whom I haven't seen in ages. We went to a sushi bar (where I declined sushi and ate regular Chinese food, naturally) and got Colleen's dress ordered. On Sunday evening we ended up making cookies (which turned out delicious) and using every Rubbermaid container Mike owned. I mean geez. That's a lot of cookies.

Monday it was back to Flint again to help the Mom decorate the house, finish up my seminar handout, and take care of some Christmas shopping. I wouldn't be so hard up for cash right now if I didn't love so many people, OMG. The list gets longer every year. ;)

On God

Kristen: She was one of those "God has all the answers" types of people.
Me: Maybe God does have all the answers.
Kristen: He's just not sharing.
_____________________________________