I need to take more pictures...

The weekend looked something like this....

Friday, Mike and I had Dangerously Delicious pies for dinner (a strangely delicious curry tofu pie, a yummy pork bbq pie, and pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream!). I can't believe it took me this long to try Dangerously Delicious. Then we went to see the Hobbit. I won't spoil the movie for you, but there was a lot of walking and eating and Howard Shore. Gollum stole the show, per usual. The highlight of the movie for me was when Mike got a free popcorn voucher with his Regal card and, since neither of us wanted popcorn, he let me go to the cashier and tell them to give it to the next person who came to order popcorn. Popcorn is $6.00!

Of course, Gollum still creeps me out and, when Mike found that out, of course he began talking like him. Bane, Tommy Wiseau, Gollum....he's not limited by creepiness.
http://purplepond.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/gollum.jpg

Saturday involved a 7 mile run with MJJ to the TJ memorial (I'd also never been there). I had only wanted to complete 6 miles (never the overachiever in my half marathon training plan), but apparently MJJ is a track star who never trains then always outruns me. Steph W. and Josh also had scheduled a day-long LOTR (extended edition) marathon complete with 7 hobbit meals. I am distraught I was only able to attend a portion since my sisters and I always dreamed of daylong LOTR marathons, but I got to see Aragorn re-gain the throne, eat some of the best pot-roast ever, and my faith in Peter Jackson was momentarily restored.

Sunday was a Secret Santa gift exchange with the GGSS crew. Sara got me an absolutely adorable bracelet and gloves...what she does not know is that earlier that night I was searching through my jewelry for a gold bracelet because it would have gone with my outfit and I realized I didn't have one at all! Mind-reading Santa! This was also the night Noah's birthday was being celebrated with a rendition of Jesus Christ Superstar, a Broadway musical I'm unfamiliar with (what else is new?) so I was able to reprise my role as an audience member while all of my talented friends entertain me through their singing and dancing. After a lovely dinner at Emily's and discussing the Redskins' win, the weekend was over.

And here I am. Monday again. Five days until vacation. It's gray and balmy outside. DC weather as weird as ever. But Christmas is coming.

Thankful Thursday

I was convinced today was Friday. No matter how many times I was reminded it was Thursday, some part of me really wanted it to be Friday. It's not like I didn't try my hardest to make that happen. Yesterday I scheduled an appointment with a student for today and today when that student showed up, I saw that I had put them on my calendar for Friday. Sigh...

Despite it not being Friday, I woke up this morning feeling just really good and thankful. Do you ever have a morning like that? Where you wake up and you just feel like you should be thanking someone for the morning? Today was that morning for me. In fact, so much that I texted my sister Kim, "Do you ever have a morning where you wake up so thankful and happy that you have to thank someone for it?" My youngest sister Kim, God bless her, is a person I know I can always go to with my impulsive emotional rants and feelings never having to censor myself. Sometimes she responds, depending on how long my rant is, with a "you're overwhelming me again" or sometimes, like this morning, she responds in the affirmative with a "yeah".  Victory! Whenever, Kim identifies with one of my random thoughts, it means I could be on to something. Anyway, yeah, I had no reason to be feeling all thankful this morning. I accidentally set my alarm too early (thinking it was a Friday when I had to go in at 9am instead of a Thursday when I have to go in at 10am). I snoozed my alarm no fewer than 3 times which meant none of my extra sleep really counted as quality. And I had A TON of work to do today.

BUT I am so thankful for each and every one of my students. I never dreamed I could be so happy doing something that isn't "counseling", but my students teach me things I don't know every day and they challenge me in ways I haven't yet been challenged. I am so thankful for the past 4 months in which I've slowly adapted to living in a city which is, honestly, something I never thought I would do.

Maybe Christmastime will do that to you....give you random thankful moments. I had the day off on Monday and I was wandering around Chinatown exploring the city, which I feel safe enough to do in the daytime. I was stopped by a guy with the UN Refugee Agency asking for monthly donations. Well, first he tried to help me figure out how to properly work my new iphone since I looked lost, but then I asked him to tell me about what he was doing there that day and he told me about all of the refugees fleeing war and famine in the world and I had heard about Syria, but what about Mali and Somalia and all of the other stories that aren't covered by our media?

There is this other side of thankfulness. It's the recognition that you are blessed and that you have the ability to bless others.

Breakfast

"Good friendships are like breakfast. You think you’re too busy to eat breakfast, but then you find yourself exhausted and cranky halfway through the day, and discover that your attempt to save time totally backfired. In the same way, you can try to go it alone because you don’t have time or because your house is too messy to have people over, or because making new friends is like the very worst parts of dating. But halfway through a hard day or a hard week, you’ll realize in a flash that you’re breathtakingly lonely, and that the Christmas cards aren’t much company. Get up, make a phone call, buy a cheap ticket, open your front door. Because there really is nothing like good friends, like the sounds of their laughter and the tones of their voices and the things they teach us in the quietest, smallest moments." -Shauna Niequist in "Bittersweet"

For me, the Christmas season always starts out with such anticipation. I can't wait to watch all the movies (I have a set lists of Musts), bake all the cookies (well and cupcakes and muffins), and do basically all of the things they do in the movie Elf. 

[For instance my Christmas bucket lists looks something like:

• All the movies: Elf, The Holiday, Love Actually, Muppet Christmas Carol, all of the old school Rudolphs and Frosties (except not the ones where they bring in baby new year or jack frost)
• Bake the classics: the peanut butter cookies with kisses in the middle, gingerbread, snickerdoodles, and just like all of the Christmas-decorated cupcakes I see on pinterest.
• Go look at Christmas lights!
• Find the best hot chocolate in the city! (or a really good one)
• Go see the big Christmas trees!
• Find an occasion to wear my Christmas sweater!]

Then comes the end-of-the-semester crunch. I should be used to the this by now. I've been in higher education (either as a student or now a young professional) for long enough to know that the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas is always just a blur. No, I don't have exams, but all of my students do....or they are trying to complete their theses papers in time to graduate. Thank goodness I no longer have to experience that kind of stress, but it is easy to get caught up in the stress of my students, the stress of the impending holidays (searching desperately for a way to squeeze Christmas present money from my budget), and the stress that comes with lots of traveling to see as many loved ones as possible in a short period of time. 

It's easy to let things slip by during this season: sleep, working out, breakfast, and friends to name a few things. And I can find lots of excuses. It's too dark/cold outside. I have too much to do. Too many Christmas parties to go to. Too much potluck food to cook. Too many things to pay for. However, in the midst of all of the parties and running around, I'm still stressed and still cranky and I don't know why because it's Christmas and you're supposed to be joyful and triumphant!

If there's one thing I know about myself, it's that whenever I'm really cranky it's probably because I'm hungry. (I need to snack at regular intervals for optimal functioning.) Well, I think that's why this passage from Shauna's book Bittersweet (Yes, I know I quote this author ALL the time and I'll probably never stop) has really stayed with me over the past week. Although I feel surrounded by festivity, parties, events, plans, and preparations for Christmas, I also feel a little cranky, a little irritable, a little hungry, maybe even a little lonely. I think this yearning is almost  inherent in the advent (also winter) season for me, but that it's also indicative of that I'm investing time into the wrong things. I may be spending lots of time with  people, but is it quality time? Am I being present? Christmas is not an excuse to stop being genuine, to stop investing in our family and friends because we're too concerned about what we're going to give them from Etsy or the DIY gift boards on Pinterest. We have an incredible gift to give others and ourselves already: just being present and pausing to really experience one of the most wonderful times of the year.

http://www.wearefoundingfarmers.com/tag/breakfast/

Fun Fact: Apparently Founding Farmers had their chicken and waffles with eggs named the Best Breakfast by Food Network a couple of years back. And now I am hungry.