Favorite Things (For Theresa)

FAVORITE TOP 5 NOVELS: Actually, there are more than 5...it's a series by Laurell K. Hamilton about Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (I know not earth-shattering literature, but I still love them). They are: Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, The Lunatic Cafe, Obsidian Butterfly, Danse Macabre, Blue Moon, Cerulean Sins. I also love books by Anne Rice - I'm kind of into vampires! I also love the Scarlet Letter

FAVORITE SHORT STORIES: I have no idea - do kid's books count?! LOL

FAVORITE POEM: Not sure...and I'm feeling really uncultured right now.

FAVORITE SONG: Seriously? I could list a song a day for 10 years! A few: My Daughter's Eyes by Martina McBride; Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran; Shameless by Garth Brooks; Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode; Amazing Grace

FAVORITE CONCERT ATTENDED: Melissa Etheridge and KISS (I was front row...Gene Simmons could have licked me...hee hee)

FAVORITE ARTISTS: Ansel Adams (I know, it's photography, but that is art to me); Van Gogh; Monet; Mary Cassatt; I also like some of Gauguin; Gustav Klimt (love The Kiss!); Daniel Pollera

FAVORITE MOVIES: Interview with the Vampire, Grease, Dirty Dancing, Titanic...and I could go on & on & on...

FAVORITE TV SHOW OF ALL TIME: Golden Girls

FAVORITE FOODS: seafood and steak

FAVORITE VACATION: Any trip to the Bahamas

FAVORITE SPORT: NE football, Gymnastics

FAVORITE TIME OF DAY: Leaving work

FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK: Friday

FAVORITE HOBBIES: photography, movies, travel, reading

Winter Fun, Dorms and the Land of Lincoln

My nephew started to college mid-January, and luckily, he's a little closer than he has been so one evening, Mom, Zoie & I went to visit him and check out his dorm room as he embarked on collegiate life!



After some pretty January snow was falling, I bundled Zoie up to go outside and she did her first "snow angels." She kept saying, "wings fly so keep arms high!"



On another day, Grandma wanted to get Zoie a sled so we headed off to Wally world and found her a saucer. We got home and Grandma (and I) took her on some runs around the back yard. She loved it! She kept saying, "Go faster, Gramma!" Indie got into it too as we let him off his tie-out since we were outside to make sure he didn't go through the fence!





Next was her/our first go at a snowperson...we think she turned out beautifully - her name was Crystal (as in Frosty's wife).





As for me, I was sent on a short work assignment to Lincoln County, Illinois...I was only there a couple of days, but snapped some photos...it was very appropriate to be there at this time since this year marks Honest Abe's 200th Birthday! Very cool...

^^ Christmas & New Year's 2008 ^^

Well, here is our holiday post - FINALLY! It's been a busy new year so I hadn't gotten a chance to do this until now. Since I had to travel for work in December, it made the month go even faster! One early gift that we all received was the notification that on top of the regular holidays we got off, my company was giving us the three days between Christmas and New Year's off as holiday time as well - 12 days off, paid, and not using any vacation time! Woohoo!! I felt like a student again!

Zoie was really into things this year and was even more into the Santa thing. In fact, she was willing to go see Santa and sit on his lap - so I very quickly got her to the mall before she could change her mind! When we got to the area where Santa's 'little village' was in the mall, she looked at me and said, "He's BIG!" He was also a very sweet, authentic looking Santa. Even more touching and poignant than her sitting on Santa's lap, Zoie took the Biblical aspect of Christmas to a new level...for those of you who didn't know, SHE was born in a stable in a manger bed of hay and I am Mary...you ask her where she was born, and this is what she will tell you with strong conviction! And if there's a blanket nearby, she will have it wrapped up around herself and saying, "Look, I'm baby Jesus," faster than you could turn around! I love that this is what she talked about the most - very touching and so pure.

We headed out to Gary's on Christmas Eve evening and we did leave a letter for Santa this year - she told me what she wanted to write and she also wanted to trace her hand for him...


The next morning, I showed her that Santa had written a note back to her but she was more interested in what he left for her, so we started with the stockings. Uncle Gary showed her how to dump the stuff out and she was overjoyed to find CHOCOLATE!





Then she saw a few other things that were from Santa. It's twin girls! She loves them so much!



To be continued when I have time...