Back to the grind

We had a wonderful time during Christmas break and are sad to be away from our families. It was a whirlwind two weeks making time to visit with friends and family; yo-yoing between Okemos and Grand Rapids and making trips to Caro and Commerce on the other side of the state. Our trip back was uneventful until we got to St. Louis. We were going to visit the REI store which we don't have in Springfield, and see if I could find a decent pair of warm gloves. I called ahead for their hours and with our GPS in hand, we drove confidently into St. Louis content to the fact that we knew exactly where we were going.

This was until we happened upon a plethora of orange signage and an abrupt end to the interstate. We figured "hey, we'll just follow the detour, no problem." However, the detour was to the zoo and the space center, neither of which we wanted to go to so we chose the zoo thinking that was the most appropriate destination for us. The GPS during this time was having a corinary, recalculating our route at every intersection and trying to direct us back to the highway, which was a large muddy trench. So there we were: Atalie, the driver, with a "what the heck do you want me to do" look on her face and I, the navigator, just telling her to turn at the next intersection ("which way should I turn" "I don't know, try left"). After a long 10 minutes we stopped, reconfigured the GPS to ignore highways, then arrived at REI only 20 minutes behind schedule. Appropriately, I didn't find any gloves- Atalie did. I love St. Louis.

Work started back up on Monday (yay) and this morning Atalie and I started our first morning jog. We received some exercise clothing for Christmas (thanks!) and decided we should use it. Hopefully we'll be able to move enough tomorrow morning to get up and do it again. That is all from Springfield- have a good day.

[Atalie will hopefully be participating in this blog in the near future]

Christmas with the Womble's

Photos from our afternoon with my family:



Jackie attempting to turn on her new camera (the rain coat is protecting her from the indoor precipitation that Michigan is notorious for).

I thought it might be nice to include Sally even though she is boycotting the blog (it is Christmas after all).

Atalie with her beloved Wall-E.

Christmas with the Albin's

Christmas this year treated Atalie and I well. Here are some photos from our morning with the Albins:

Mrs. A

Courtney

Brittany

Mr. A

This was Atalie's idea.

Pre-Christmas Happenings

So I lied... we are posting during break!

Each of us spent this past weekend with our respective families, which we enjoyed, and then met up in GR on Tuesday. Mr. A drove down to pick me up while Atalie was out with some friends for the afternoon. The roads were/are crap and we were slow going when we arrived in GR city proper. That evening we went ice skating with our friends Mike and Nikki at Rosa Parks circle. It was a lot of fun! The snow was intense and quickly covered the ice in a couple inches of wintry goodness. The four of us met up with Brad, Jim, and Jason afterwards at Flanningan's which was just across the street from the ice skating for a drink and to warm up.

Christmas Eve was spent in Caro, MI with Mr. A's side of the family. It was decided the night before that we wouldn't be going due to the weather forecast however, Christmas Eve morning the forecast had changed so we made a run for it.

It's now Christmas Day and we're about to open gifts-

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND GOD BLESS!!

Mike, Nikki, and I covered in snow!

Atalie cooking the perogies at the Christmas party.

Mr. A, Sarah (cousin), and Courtney making paczki ("poonch-key" Polish don't know how to spell).

Back in Michigan

We arrived back in the Great White North yesterday and were met with little weather resistance (luckily). No pictures in this post since the snow we have in Okemos is nothing special but I hear GR got doused again last night with more. We're happy to be home and are looking forward to spending some time with our families. Since, we'll likely be seeing all of the 4 people that read this thing look for posts after Christmas or the new year.

Hansel and Gretel?

My mother sends, as is her yearly obligation, a gift to us for St. Nicholas Day and this year was no exception. She sent a ginger bread house kit which, when packaged looked like a brick of cocaine (except it sounded like a box of cereal when shaken). Not that I know what a brick of cocaine looks like...

We erected and decorated it this evening and this is what we managed to create:

Patrick putting the roof on.

Atalie frosting the roof


Continued decoration...

All finished!

Oh, and I almost forgot- I submitted my application for PhD to UW-Madison this morning.

Thanksgiving Memories & Christmas Anticipation

As many, and possibly all, of you know, I was fortunate enough to talk my parents and one sis into coming to Missouri for Thanksgiving! They arrived Wednesday, and after a relaxing night we woke up to a morning full of meal preparations. Despite several clocks in the apartment, mom was running on Michigan time still (i.e. her wrist watch), and threw the turkey in a tad bit early. :) Other than that, everything went according to plan, and all the food- turkey to boot- was delicious! I even ventured to make my Grandma's pumpkin pie recipe, which I'd say was a success since it tasted just like hers! Our friend Kat's mom came to visit her on Thanksgiving as well, so the two of them joined in our gluttony. We needed the next 8 hours to let it digest, so we spent the afternoon and evening lounging and chatting- before dipping into the leftovers again, of course!

Mom, Dad and Britt left on Saturday, following a casual Friday during which we did our little bit of shopping. While I was sad to see them go, Patrick and I made the best of the remainder of our weekend by enjoying some hot cocoa and reading in front of our fireplace. Our week since has been uneventful, but with Christmas just around the corner, it's pretty impossible not to get excited! With our tabletop tree decorated (courtesy of my mom), and a gingerbread house ready for construction (courtesy of Patrick's mom), Patrick and I are already celebrating. But the real fun isn't going to begin until the 20th, when we leave for Michigan! Hmmm, maybe I should say the 21st.... a 10-12 hour car ride isn't really what I'd call the beginning of fun on second thought! :)

Mom and I may not seem like successful chefs by the look of us, but we let the food do the talking!

Brittany in her jammies, keeping an eye on mom and me through the kitchen window.

(Sorry- Patrick and I don't have any pictures of the actual event!)

Our Sunday afternoon owed its leisure to this!


Our cute miniature tree, spreading some Christmas cheer throughout the living room!