Craving New Habits

Look! I'm blogging again! (At least right at the moment I am.) Since the last time I posted, I have settled down enough to get my footing again...

I spent most of September moving into my new apartment and making it mine. There's nothing I can do about the sort-of-hideous purple carpet (miss my wood floors!) but I think the kitchen and bathroom have turned out pretty well. Pictures sometime in the future.

In October, I worked mostly on settling into my job and getting used to wearing a suit more often. But at least once, I got to wear a different, much more exciting suit:

Surfing might be my new hobby for next summer. The weather was gorgeous and we had a blast. It was just what I needed as an outlet for all of the craziness that had been happening.

November and December were good for playing hard on the weekends and beginning the holiday fun. 

 

 Thanksgiving  

(Okay, this was actually a fake, pre-Thanksgiving in October, but I think the picture can count here. I actually spent Thanksgiving with Kelly and Jason, but no pics-- just good company and good food!)

 

Going to see The Nutcracker in Boston 

December was the biggest adventure of all. At work, we finally submitted an article for publication in a medical journal, on which I am first author! Besides that, I made kites, went skiing in UT, cleared my head, and hit a quarter-century. It was a particularly memorable birthday since I spent most of it in an airport before being diverted to Chicago. (Which was actually fine by me since I got to stay with Ashley and Aaron, whom I hadn't seen since their wedding this summer! Definitely worth the vacation time I wasn't planning on taking.)

As for the new year, it's going to be a good one. This month marks the end of my moratorium on "scheming about the future," so I'll be back to that shortly. :) For all the scheming though, I am glad I've stayed in RI. (I never thought I'd say that!)

I am learning so much about life and how to get where I want to be, and I'm pretty sure it's going to help me change the world. To a new year, new growth, and better blogging... Happy New Year!

Blessed vacation

Well hello! I am back.

I know that most of the people that read this are the ones I just visited. So thanks for indulging me as I recap some of my fun from being in Colorado and Utah with family and friends (and the mountains, which count as both). :) Feel free to skip ahead, but I want to capture some of the things I love about the holidays-- I want to remember the core ingredients that make up the good times so I can help re-concoct them again, even when the rest of the ingredients change (as they most certainly will). :)

And that's kind of what traditions are, right?

With the extended family, I love the Christmas Eve nativity puppet show and the piñata we have every year. The puppet show is staffed by the grandkids on my mom's side (the ones who can be there), and the story comes from both Matthew and Luke so we can get the wise men in there. (I plan to make my own set of puppets eventually.) Then we break open the piñata!

This particular Christmas was momentous because we decided to shake things up a little with these traditions. For example, we always let the youngest choose their puppet first, and there's always a fight for Mary. This means that I have not been Mary since I was five. Or may seven. But guess who got to be Mary this year...

(James was doing the reading, so he's not in the pic.)

Yup, exactly. I think it was because none of the "little kids" are really little enough anymore to cry if they aren't Mary. Anyway, the fact that everyone always wants to be Mary makes me smile. It also took all 9 of us to break the piñata, which is also rare since those "kids" are also much stronger and usually break it before it gets to any of my siblings. (We're the oldest.)

Other things I love: Opening stockings and reading Tú Eres Especial with my siblings (which did not happen this year since none of us actually woke up in the middle of the night), omelettes for Christmas breakfast, and everyone getting at least one book (usually from "Santa").

So basically, I love all the things we do that give us a chance to spend stress-free time together, to be festive and remember what Christmas is about, and to build memories together. And I think we do a good job of splitting extended-family time with immediate family time. We don't always succeed at the stress-free part, but overall, pretty good.

Thanks, fam.

And then I got to do round two in Utah with some friends from college. It was such a blast to actually see people again-- not that I don't appreciate the phone time, but it's different. :) Being there in person pretty much made it a slumber party every night (which meant not so much sleeping but lots of talking, especially about boys and life plans).

I really loved being in an apartment with close girlfriends and having people around so frequently! One night, Ashley and I randomly invited 15 people from her apartment complex over for dinner. I ♥ random "dinner parties." Other nights involved smaller dinner groups, game nights, and various excursions. I love everyone I have here in Rhode Island too, but there's a different vibe with large groups of people that you just can't get in groups of 2-4, which is mostly how it goes here. More energy, I guess, which is fun sometimes no matter how much you love your heart-to-hearts. And I do love my heart-to-hearts.

I'm not sure I was quite ready to come back... but it was great. And I am glad to start catching up with the friends here that I missed while I was away!