Life with Gling

It’s a been a few days since I’ve updated..but alas…internet connection in Emden is sloooow. Either way…the update is here! I’ll just give some highlights of our days away.

Dec. 23-My birthday…Jared took me out to eat and for a movie. We saw The Family Stone…and it was fantastic! I highly recommend it to just about anyone. Max was my birthday present…we just got him a few weeks early.

Dec. 24-Christmas Eve…some computer part went out on our new car…but our car salesman came to the rescue and let us have a loaner from the dealorship. (A Buick LeSabre Custom…it was hillarious.) Jared and I opened up our presents from each other that morning too. He got me a pair of beautiful princess cut diamond earrings! (I was stunned!) We went back to Emden and went to Christmas Eve service and had Bennigan’s to eat afterwords.

Dec. 25-We opened presents at my parents house that morning with them. We went to church at Vale and then headed up to Marseilles for lunch with the family. Lots of food and presents there…and lots of good times with the fam. After our time there we headed to Danvers for dinner and presents with Jared’s family. We were so stuffed by the end of the day…but it was sooo worth it!

Dec. 26-Slept in and then went shopping with mom. Got some wrapping paper, greens and a few other Christmas-y things for next year. Went back to Emden after that and Jared and I watched movies with my mom. Amy and Kyle stopped by for a bit too…which was great.

Dec. 27-Went to Champaign for the day to hang out with Karyn…good times! I don’t see that girl enough anymore!

Dec. 28-Met Jared’s mom for lunch at Steak-n-Shake and then headed off for a movie with Geof and Lauri. We went to see The Chronicles of Narnia (AMAZING!) and then had some dinner at Famous Dave’s (just what we needed!)

Dec. 29-Slept in and then mom made us a yummy lunch. Then we had to pack up and head home. Max came with us, so we had to get him all packed up too. I’m convinced that he didn’t want to leave…he got pretty spoiled while we were at my parent’s house. We hit the road by 3:00 (which was good for us…usually we drag our feet when we have to leave.) We had to stop through Lincoln and sign off on our new life insurance policies (wow…we’re adults!) and then we drove straight to Greenville.

We had a great week away from home! We love being around family so much and it’s always hard to leave. Yay for being adults…or something like that. We’re back in Greenville though…Jared’s playing X-Box and I’m upstairs with a cold. (Which I’m hoping is almost gone by tomorrow.) We’re heading down to Louisville for New Year’s. We’re celebrating with some friends from college….which will be great. There’s some more pictures posted of our house and whatnot…check them out! Adios!

Yay…today’s my birthday!!!

Ok…so Jared’s been playing around with our website. It’s not totally finished and ready to go, but you can still get to my blog and there’s new pictures up. Just click on the “pictures” link on the right. There’s pictures of Maxwell, our house before we bought it (more recent pictures are on the way) and a few other random things. As for me, I’m anxiously awaiting Christmas. I’m almost done wrapping presents and I only have 1 more thing to buy. Last night I watched my old tape of Christmas cartoons from the early 80’s. It’s a tape of tv movies that we taped soon after we got our first VCR. It’s starting to fade and the sound quality isn’t so great, but I still love it. Nothing gets me in the Christmas mood more than Garfield’s Christmas and the Claymation Christmas! (Oh…and Charlie Brown too!) My parents stopped by out of the blue last night too (which is always fun…I love having visitors). They had our Christmas present with them…our new dining room table. We started putting it together as soon as they left. Only 2 more chairs to go…and we’ll be done! Anywho…I can’t make this much longer. I have my last campus visit of the year coming in any minute now. Enjoy the pictures….we’ll try to get more up quickly! Oh yeah…tomorrow’s my birthday…yay!!!

1. WHAT TIME DID YOU GET UP THIS MORNING? 7:00 a.m.

2. DIAMONDS OR PEARLS? Can I have them both!? Probably pearls though…I love pearls.

3. WHAT WAS THE LAST FILM YOU SAW AT THE CINEMA? Rent

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE T. V. SHOW? Alias and Friends

5. WHAT DID YOU HAVE FOR BREAKFAST? Strawberry poptarts and a can of Sprite

6. WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME? Leigh

7. FAVORITE CUISINE? American (Give me some ribs and fries any day!)

8. WHAT FOODS DO YOU DISLIKE? Most veggies and fruits (I hate the texture in my mouth)

9. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CHIP FLAVOR? Sour Cream and Onion

10.WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CD RIGHT NOW? Walk the Line Soundtrack

11.WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU DRIVE? 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix

12. FAVORITE SANDWICH? Turkey with cheddar on sourdough at Panera

13. WHAT CHARACTERISTIC DO YOU DESPISE? Self-Centeredness

14. FAVORITE ITEM OF CLOTHING? Black Sweaters and goucho pants

15. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ON VACATION, WHERE WOULD YOU GO? Paris or New York

16. FAVORITE BRAND OF CLOTHING? Nine West

17. TO WHERE WOULD YOU RETIRE? Somewhere near my family….probably good ol’ Illinois

18. WHAT WAS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY? December 23, 2002

19. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? Chicago Cub’s

20. GOAL YOU HAVE FOR YOURSELF? To get my master’s

21. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? December 23, 1981

22. WHEN IS YOUR ANNIVERSARY? June 5, 2004

23. ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT PERSON? Night person…definitely

24. WHAT IS YOUR SHOE SIZE? 6-7…depends on how the shoe fits

25. PETS? A kitten named Maxwell

26. ANY NEW AND EXCITING NEWS YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH US? Jared and I recently bought a house…and it’s super fun!

27. WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE? A Dancer

28. HOW ARE YOU TODAY? Crazy tired…morning came way too fast today

29. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CANDY? Turtles

30. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER? Antique Roses

31. WHAT IS THE DATE ON THE CALENDAR YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO? December 25th…it’s Christmas and we get to see our family!

32. WHERE IS THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE EVER BEEN FROM HOME? Oaxaca, Mexico

33. SMALL THING YOU REALLY ENJOY? A cup of chai and a Nicholas Sparks book

Jared and I had a great weekend. Friday night we worked around the house a little bit and curled up to watch tv and play with Max. It was a pretty uneventful night…but it was great! Saturday morning we slept in until 11:30…which was equally as fantastic! (I can’t tell you how long it’s been since we slept in without an alarm.) We cleaned around the house and continued to sort through boxes during the day. We had a Greenville College Alumni Christmas pary that night as well. So around 5:00 we had to stop the unpacking and get ready for the evening. The party was fun. We basically hung out with people from work…but it was nice to get out of the house. We headed home after the party and put up our Christmas decorations on our porch. We now have a festive house adorned with greens and bows! After decorating, we snuggled up for a movie. Sunday we went to church and got some lunch at Arby’s. Which, by the way, their new potato bite things are amazing! We had some time to spare that afternoon, so we caught an early showing of Rent. I love that show! It’s great on the stage, but the movie was actually pretty good too. Best part…we saw it at the cheap theatre for $1.50 per ticket. How awesome is that?! Anyway, we headed to Highland after that for a Christmas party at one of my co-worker’s apartment. It was fun to hang out with everyone from work again. We had a fun night of snacks and Cranium. After the party we had to stop by Wal-Mart to get some groceries for dinner tonight. I’m having my student workers over for a Christmas party…so I had a lot to buy. I was up late making a cheesecake (which turned out beautifully!) and also getting the last few boxes out of eyesight. Needless to say…we got to bed around 2:00 this morning. I’m dragging…and I’m hoping I make it through tonight! I’m pretty sure we’ll be sleeping well tonight. Anywho…off I go to cook and prepare for the Christmas party!

Well…things are still moving along with the house. Quite a few more boxes have been unpacked, and it’s really starting to look like a home. Jared was excited to bring his drums home from church this weekend…and he set them up right away. I sure hope our neighborhood likes drummers! (I know I do.)

The weekend was pretty normal. Friday night we went to the President’s Society Dinner here on campus. Since Jared works in Marketing, we got to go. Basically it’s a big evening dedicated to people who give oodles of money to the college. All night I kept wondering if they thought I gave oodles of money to the college. Either way, it was fun to get all fancied up for an evening out. Saturday we got up early and headed to the bank…well our new bank at least. We hated our bank because they always screw up the online transactions…and when you can’t get into the bank all day because you work and they close early…online banking is a necessity. So…we switched…and we’re quite happy now. Oh…I also got my hair cut on Saturday. Jim (my hair guy) blew a breaker while he was doing someone’s hair that day…and his electric chair thing wouldn’t work. So…like a little kid…I had to hop up on this booster seat so he could do my hair. It was hillarious…and I definitely felt a little bit like a kid again.

Sunday was pretty crazy. We got up and headed to church (which was great as always). We had a yummy lunch at Steak-n-Shake….yay for chili mac! We also looked around at a few furniture stores. (We’re shopping for a new dining room table and chairs….which my parents are getting us for Christmas.) We didn’t really find anything, which is ok, because my mom did…and it’s so pretty! Anyway…the excitement most definitely does not end there. Jared decided to let me get my birthday present a few weeks early this year. (He needed me to help pick it out.) His name is Maxwell (after Maxwell’s Silver Hammer…by the Beatles)….and he’s just about the cutest little thing ever! Oh yeah…he’s a kitten! He’s white with little orange splotches and he’s nuts. He’s a little spazzy right now (new home and all), but he’s also a cuddler. He fell asleep on my shoulder last night while we were watching tv…it was the cutest. I’ve never had a kitty before…so it’s exciting! He’s like our little baby or something.

Anyway, I need to get back to work. (Go figure.) When we get the chance…we’ll upload some pictures of the house and Maxwell. Adios!