The upside to being sick...if there is one.

If there is one good thing about being sick for over a week, it must be the fact that one can get in a lot of movie-watching time

I think I have watched about 8-10 movies in the past week and a half - lying on the couch! I am currently in the middle of Eat, Pray Love. Kind of slow so far - one of the reasons for the blog post. Give me a movie with Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Lopez or gay men, and I will be a happy camper.

Besides the multiple movies I have watched this week, Derick and I have watched a ton of episodes of Modern Family - catching up and finishing season one and starting season 2. that show is too funny. My favorite is the gay couple with the adopted daughter - Cam and Mitchell. Too funny!

Here are just a couple of quotes from the show from them that make me seriously laugh:

• Cameron: I’m sort of like Costco. I’m big, I’m not fancy and I dare you to not like me.
  
• Mitchell: Take it down a notch. We’re trying to make a friend, not initiate a three way.
  
• Mitchell: It’s Cameron’s turn to be out in the world interacting with other grown-ups while I get to stay at home and plot the death of Dora the Explorer.
  
• Lol here is a quote from the movie Eat, Pray Love:
  "Do you always talk in bumper sticker?"

I am happy that I am finally starting to feel better! Yay! Just in time to go back to work on Monday. Ugh.

But, let's not focus on that part. I have had a decent holiday this year, despite Derick first being sick and then me, following after, picking up his cold.

Christmas with my mom's side was pleasant and short, just as it has been the past few years since we have transferred Christmas to Lucky's restaurant vs. my grandma or aunt's house. We all travel out there, eat a good home-cooked style meal, the kids open their presents and then the adults participate in the White Elephant gift swap. This has only been the second year of the White Elephant, but is has been a big hit! This year a couple of the last year's gifts resurfaced and were TOO funny!

Then my parents hosted my dad's side Christmas. My uncle and cousins drove up from North Carolina, and it was fun to get to spend some time with them there. Later in the week Derick and I went over to my grandma's house to spend more time with them. We played games and were able to see their puppy Shadow! What a cutie! Maybe they are in town next time - the summer - we can take both their dog and Tucker to the dog park. I love dogs. Didn't think I would say that, and if you asked my mom and dad the same thing, they wouldn't think so either!


The Doberstein Christmas was fun as well - also short and sweet. The drive over on Christmas Eve day was really nice. We took an alternate route in hopes to stop-in at Derick's Grandpa's house, but we could not get ahold of him on our way there, so we abandoned that route and went straight to his Grandma's house where there was so much lasagna that I thought I might be in heaven! There was a lot of good food, a little dash of drama, and then the flurry of tearing gift wrap and tissue paper as everyone opened their presents. I now have enough popcorn to last me until next Christmas! My goodness! We decided to head out that night for home since Derick was not feeling great and I was starting not to feel so great as well. Derick and I realized that over the past 5 years we have been together, we have been on the road for more holidays that we can count!

Next up in our Christmas celebrations, was my little intimate family Christmas with my mom, dad, sister and Derick. We always light the advent wreath, read the Christmas Story in the Bible and then exchange and open gifts!

This year I got many of the things that I wanted! A lot of baking accessories, including a new set of airbake pans, cupcake liners and much more. I think that a lot of my family and friends have caught on to the cupcake devotion I have more recently acquired. It is fun to see when and where the cupcake-inspired gifts pop-up! My friend and coworker got me a smattering of things all cupcake related - a cupcake mix from Sprinkles, the famous cupcake bakery, a cupcake corer and a cupcake ornament and chapstick cupcake scented! It was too cute!

There are so many things that I am thankful for this year, and so many happy moments and memories. Some sad ones, some bad ones, but all in all, it has been a year of growth and experience for Derick and myself. My wish for all of you reading this is that you can reflect on your moments of experience this past year and look ahead to making new ones in 2011. Thank you for following me and reading with me through some of those moments.

-L

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season for

Christmas cookie exchanges
Family Holiday Parties
Friend's Holiday Parties
Baking
Secret Santas
Decorating the home for Christmas and winter
Cold weather
Over-eating
Relaxing
Christmas Shopping
Wrapping
Christmas movie watching

The majority of those things we have already done this year. Today we will be checking one more off the list - today is the Nordquist Family Christmas gathering in Amery, WI.

I was trying to count how many Christmas parties we have been invited to and will be attending this year...let me see,

1. There was the Barnetts -Friends (which was cancelled last weekend due to the snow-pocalypse)
2. The Nordquist's - Family (mom's side) (White Elephant)
3. The Krutzig's - Family (dad's side)
4. The Krutzig's - Family (immediate family)
5. The Doberstein's - Family (Derick's side)
6. The Sunnarborgs - Friends of the family
7. The Beckers - Friends of the family (TBD if we are getting together or when, but we usually get together each year)

So, all-in-all, that makes for many Christmas gatherings with friends and family! It is nice, but also exhausting! 

Last night, my sister and I went to see Billy Elliot, the play/musical. Our mom had gotten us tickets to go see it, and we did. We were both surprised at how long it was! After the first act was over it was already almost 10pm! We ended up getting home closer to midnight. We both left not really having enjoyed it, which was a bummer, considering it is always really fun to get a little dressed up and head downtown to the theater! So, that part was still fun. Not finding parking in downtown Minneapolis, but it wasn't so bad. Thank goodness for my GPS too - getting down there with a couple of roads blocked off would have been hard to navigate otherwise! Yikes!

I have all of my Christmas shopping done and wrapped and under the tree. We have been done for awhile now. I like that feeling of being done with it!  A lot of my family wanted books for Christmas this year, so Amazon was my friend this year :) I am looking forward to running through Target on the day AFTER Christmas again this year - getting a few new things here and there to decorate for the holidays. I do not really need much this year - but I do hope that they have my snowflake dishes on clearance like they did last year that I was able to pick up a few pieces of the collection! They even added a few "new" pieces to the collection, so that will be a fun hunt for me this year!

I have one week left to work before I get a whole glorious week off! I am really looking forward to that! I think everyone needs to take time off just to take the time off and get away from work. especially where I work - with all of the leadership changes we have been going through at the most rapid rate imaginable. It is a little unnerving, to say the least. I just go to work every day, hoping my badge lets me in the building, and that I have a place to sit and work. Sad, but that is the state of affairs there at the moment.

Well, I am off to finish getting things pulled together to head over to Wisconsin for the afternoon, I will update when there is more to update! I am sure there will be some great stories from the White Elephant exchange this afternoon!!

So, glancing at the blog, it has been awhile since I have posted!

First off, Thanksgiving! We made our way to Medford, WI to celebrate Thanksgiving with Derick's family. I tried my hand at making a dish from my family's usual gatherings - Scalloped Corn! It turned out alright - it could use a little work. Practice, practice, practice! It was nice - we got to see a lot of his family and eat some yummy food!

Snowmageddon, SnOMG, tSNOnaumi...these are just a few of the catchphrases that were flying around cyberland this weekend in Minnesota referring to the incredible amounts of snow that fell on us during Saturday. The snow, combined with the wind, made for a very interesting day! People were gearing up for the storm the day before, figuring that they were going to be "grounded" all day Saturday - and that was pretty much the truth! The snow began late Friday night and did not let up until late Saturday night. It snowed, and snowed, and snowed! The first time that I had to let Tucker outside, there was a huge snowdrift right outside our front door - I am guessing about 3 1/2 feet tall. Well, Tucker went to jump outside, and jumped right in the big part of the drift and I could not see him - the snow was over his HEAD!! He came up, shook it off, and went about his business - quickly. After that, I decided that I would let the snow fly for a little while longer and then go try to shovel a path away from the door. I let Tucker come out with me and run around. I threw a few snowballs his way and he tried to catch them until he got to cold and wanted to go inside. In all, I went out to shovel out our front door three different times.


Also, Saturday, I made my day go by baking and watching some of the chick-flickier movies that Derick never seems to want to watch with me - Dear John and Last Chance Harvey. The first was good, the second not so much. I also baked cinnamon raisin bread and 5 different types of cookies!  I made spritz, red velvet cookies, toffee bars, peanut butter blossoms and peanut butter reindeer. There are still a few more that I want to try - and one request from Derick about a kind that he wants me to make. Becky and Justin's Christmas party was supposed to be that night, but they called to cancel part way through the evening. There was no way that anybody was going to be going anywhere. It was pretty funny to watch some eager beavers try though...

There have been many changes on the work front. In a matter of a month and a week, the following has happened: my boss who first hired me, left the company. Our department was moved and now reports to a different department. I had to relocate floors and "desks." My new desk is about 1/2 the size of my last space.I got a new boss (the jury is still out on that one), and found out that in that time frame, six people are quitting/have left the marketing department. To add insult to injuries, Derick found out that his teaching gig will be up 2 weeks earlier than originally planned, with nothing long-term out there until April. It has been really hard  sometimes - the fact that he still does not have anything more permanent. I wonder if we moved states if that would help or change anything. I almost want to just because. So, if you are reading this, and live somewhere other than MN, and know of a teaching and or graphic design job out there, or both, let me know!

Well, there you have it, a quick update!
see you soon!
-L