Posted in holidays on December 24, 2010| 1 Comment »
Hi friends. I hope you missed me as much as I missed you. I’m coming back this year. Maybe on a different domain, but back. It’s been quite the journey this year with more to come next year. I’m ready to start documenting it.
Merry Christmas. Enjoy your family and may your fondest wishes come true.
Posted in craft, holidays, sewing, tagged crafts, felt food, sewing on November 29, 2009| 5 Comments »
*Not my photo: Flickr-Melanie Hughes
Our financial situation is causing me to get creative for Christmas. I’m actually enjoying the challenge. John and I picked up a couple of things on Black Friday, but otherwise, we’re going to be making most of our Christmas gifts.
I am pretty excited about a project I’m working on for Rhys: felt food. I’m inspired by this Japanese site (click on the links and prepare to be amazed by the vast array of felt foods), though I assure you that mine won’t be nearly as fancy or diverse.
I’m also taking some inspiration from this awesome crafster, and this amazing crafter. Okay, now that you’ve seen all the links, you want some felt food for yourself, don’t you? I admit, the thought of playing with all that food is very exciting. I just hope I can pull off a few pieces by Christmas. And that Rhys likes them.
I’ll try and take some pictures of my finished products and showcase them next month. Plus, I have other homemade gifts in the works that are pretty fun as well. I haven’t done any crafting in a while, so this just makes me happy.
Posted in holidays on December 16, 2008| 2 Comments »
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. We are flying west tomorrow to Nevada and Arizona to be with family, so I probably won’t be around to post much on here. However, I’m going to be rolling out some changes on this blog. I’m hoping to have that ready by the new year.
So stay tuned. To any readers I may have, I wish you all the best for a healthy, happy holiday. May your new year start out well. See you then.
Posted in holidays, john on February 22, 2007| 1 Comment »
I skipped out on my writing class last night to go to a Phoenix Suns game with John. It was totally worth it. Partly because I’m getting bored with my writing class (which probably means an MFA in creative writing isn’t in my near future). And partly because basketball is my favorite sport of all time–both for playing and watching–and John has easily sold me on the brilliance of the Phoenix Suns as a team. But mostly because it was so nice to spend some time with my husband.
Especially since yesterday was his birthday eve. Which means that today is…Johnny’s birthday!!! Yay. Happy birthday, sweetie. May this year be your best one yet. (You get to look forward to being born in the summer of your twenty-seventh year.)
Posted in goals, holidays, random on January 25, 2007| 5 Comments »
It’s my birthday, so I’m going to do a year in review. Some great things have happened this year, and surprisingly, I’ve done some great and interesting things. Sad and hard things have happened as well, but life is like that.
On to the list:
January
I had jury duty for the first time in my life. We got a puppy and a day later realized we shouldn’t keep it. I took a Chinese calligraphy class at ASU. John & I spent our first night apart when John flew to New York for a fellowship assessment. John and I went to San Antonio and also celebrated my birthday there. John gave me a mandolin for my birthday. (I have yet to master the instrument.) John went to the emergency room (it turned out to be an infection that was causing his throat to swell.)
February
I got a raise. John turned 25. We started seeing a nutritionist. I got bronchitis.
April
John and I both got pneumonia. My little sister got married.
May
John graduated with an MPA and was the top scholar/citizen. We bought a PlayStation II and Dance Dance Revolution, and life hasn’t been the same since.
June
We jumped on the LOST bandwagon and caught up on all the episodes. John gave me an iPod. Just because. We babysat our niece while our sister had our nephew.
July
Stuff happened, but I don’t remember what…
August
October
Barbra Streisand called me personally to remind me to vote. John visited Lawrence, Kansas and Bloomington, Indiana to visit potential schools. John got a new job. John and I went with my dad to see the drag races in Las Vegas.
November
John and I both voted. (Thanks, Babs, for reminding us.) John and I took a trip to Newark, Delaware to see the school there. We saw a performance by Dolan Ellis, Arizona’s state balladeer.
December
John got Karaoke Revolution, and life hasn’t been the same since. I got a Magic Bullet and sewing machine for Christmas, and life hasn’t been the same since. I registered for a writing class. We started hiking in earnest.
Posted in craft, holidays on January 24, 2007| 2 Comments »
I want to make this cake for my birthday:
I don’t actually like to eat cake, but I love the way it looks and the traditional birthday feeling it gives you. So, great solution — fake cake! I won’t actually make it, because come on! All those ingredients and work for…a fake cake. But I’m going to file this in my someday file. Everyone should make a fake cake at least once in their lifetime.
Posted in family, holidays on December 22, 2006| 1 Comment »
I am at work and racing around trying to finish everything by 3pm, which is when John and I are off to Nevada to spend Christmas with the family. I’m currently exhausted, nostalgic, happy, and a little contemplative. I am thankful for so much this season. I’ve already blogged about some things, but there never is enough time and space to chronicle it all.
I expect the year 2007 to be my best year yet. I’m excited by some of the goals and plans we have in store for the coming year, but I guess I’ll blog about that later. For now, I will say merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Be safe and happy this holiday season, and may the new year bring you good and wonderful things.
love,
Holli
Posted in holidays, john, work on February 22, 2006| 3 Comments »
A week goes by and it seems like my life changes completely. Here’s a random sampling of what’s been going on:
**It’s my husband’s 25th birthday!!! Go here to wish him a happy birthday.
**Remember the library job? Well, I got offered the position. The salary offered was pretty much what I’m making now (except without my new raise), and he wouldn’t budge on that. Still, I was all set to take the position but found out other things that made the offer much less acceptable.
1. I wouldn’t get benefits for three months. We are not currently in a position to be able to go without benefits. Remember the emergency room? Yeah, I wouldn’t want to pay for that out of pocket.
2. I would be paying $150 more per month on insurance premiums. So my salary dropped even further.
3. I would only get 10 vacation days per year (I get 22 where I’m at now), and they wouldn’t start accruing for three months. Also, I would get no sick days—instead, I’d have to use vacation days if I got sick. (At ASU I get 12 sick days per year).
4. The guy who made the offer was just sketchy on too many things. I realized I would have no idea what I was getting into, and by the time I found out, it would be too late to do anything about it.
For these reasons and others, I declined the offer. I was a little sad, because I truly want to work in a library, but I don’t regret my decision. So I guess that means I made the right choice. It’s back to the job search for me.
**Some hard things are going on with my family right now. I guess you could say my dad got ‘fired’ from the best part of his job. He still has his job, but without the cool part. And the person who did the ‘firing’ is my mom’s direct boss. It hurts a lot to hear that my dad was sobbing after he got the news. The hardest thing is that there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s hard for me to see the people I love in pain. I’ve been praying a lot for them.
**I went to the doctor, and it seems like she really knows what she’s doing. They drew blood to check out my thyroid. We’ll see how things go with that.
**Something unbelievable—my coworker/supervisor apologized for her behavior on Friday. I wasn’t expecting that at all, but it was great of her to do it. Things are much less tense around here. Crazy.
Posted in holidays, john, love, pictures, travel on February 6, 2006| 4 Comments »
Okay. I have to mention the amazing gift my husband gave me for my birthday. He has gone above and beyond what I ever expected for my birthday. I was simply amazed when I opened it.
A while before he gave the gift to me, he told me I was really going to like it. Then I found out he was keeping it at his mom’s house, which made it seem like a large item. A piece of furntiure? I wondered, but couldn’t figure it out.
Finally, on the day we got back from San Antonio, he gave me this:
Yes, my husband gave me a mandolin for my birthday!!! I could not have been more surprised or excited about a gift. John knows me so well! The interesting thing is, I had only mentioned in passing that someday I’d like to learn to play the mandolin. But that was enough for him to search around online for hours, finding a mandolin for me so that I could fulfill my dream!
I am still amazed that I have such a perceptive, sweet husband. He took the time to figure out what I like, spent a lot of time finding what I liked, and then purchased it for me. I ended up with a truly unique birthday present–a gift specifically for me. And that means so much to me.
I guess this is an entry where I get to be sappy and say that I found the perfect person for me. I have been blessed in so many ways since getting married…I can hardly count them. In six days we’ll have been married eleven months, and while it’s hard to believe so much time has passed, the saying is true that time flies when you’re having fun. And we certainly are.
I know I’m not a perfect wife–I know it too well. But I have a husband who loves me anyway and lets me become something better. And I don’t take this for granted. I definitely know I’ve got a good thing.
Posted in friends, holidays, john on January 26, 2006| Leave a Comment »
My birthday was a success. I got many lovely presents from coworkers, friends, and family. And I still have John’s present(s) to look forward to. 🙂
Two of my good friends came over last night and we ate Oreganos takeout, had too much junk food, and watched The Parent Trap. So fun! Then my friend TK spent the night so I wouldn’t have to be alone on my birthday, which was so nice of her. I needed it, too. I was kind of sad not having John around on my birthday. Being alone would have been a bit too much.
Plus, during the middle of the night I had a dream about that Danny kid from The Shining. I distinctly heard “Redrum! Redrum!” coming from somewhere in the house. It woke me up, and at that moment I was never so glad to have someone else in the house with me.
And this afternoon I’m off to San Antonio to meet up with my sweet husband. I can’t wait. In fact, I’m sitting here at work unable to concentrate. I just want to be with my husband again. I missed him way too much.
Posted in holidays on January 25, 2006| 4 Comments »
Today is my birthday, and it’s been wonderful so far. (Apart from waking up in the morning with no one to cuddle next to. 😦 Which reminds me—without my husband’s built-in heater I had to wear pajamas, socks, AND warm up a rice bag to take to bed with me.)
Anyway, several items of interest.
1. A coworker gets bonus points after this conversation:
Her: How old are you turning?
Me: 31.
Her: WHAT??!!! I thought you were 22 or 23!
How she could think that, I don’t know. But it sure made my day.
2. Nobody noticed that I dyed my hair yesterday. Which is funny, considering the ordeal that it was. I’m sure TK will be mad at me for what I say, but I’m writing it anyway. My friend TK is kind enough to dye my hair for free. She is not a professional, and in her words, “You get what you pay for.”
I wanted my hair dyed to cover up the few gray hairs I have. It’s my birthday—no gray hairs! However, after we finished dyeing my hair, I looked in the mirror, and the gray hairs were still there on my head! I had no choice but to pull them out one by one.
The other problem is that the dye not only dyes my hair, but also my scalp and part of my face. No amount of scrubbing afterward gets it out. Time alone resolves that problem. Meanwhile, I look like leprosy has erupted on my head.
And then nobody can even tell a change has occurred with the color of my hair. Oh well. What can you do? But it’s my birthday, so I don’t care. I look hot today, and that’s all that matters.
Posted in friends, holidays, john, love on January 24, 2006| 2 Comments »
I drove my husband to the airport this morning so he could fly to New York for a fellowship assessment. This is officially the first night since we got married that I (and he) will be sleeping alone. 😦 It’s going to be so weird. The bed will feel so empty.
The only sad thing is, my birthday is tomorrow, so I won’t get to be with him on my birthday. And I want to have a good birthday.
BUT, the good news is that I’m hanging out with my girlfriends Wednesday night, and then Thursday I fly to San Antonio to meet John (he has an assessment for a second fellowship in San Antonio), and we’ll celebrate my birthday together in Texas. 🙂
And I’ve already received some awesome presents—My sister got me Parent Trap I & II, and it’s difficult to explain to you how gleeful I was to get this present. Parent Trap II has never even been SOLD before; it was on TV only (which may explain to you the quality of that film…), and I’ve wanted to watch it for a long time, but just didn’t have it. So, yeah…time for a PT I-IV party!!!
My mother-in-law gave me a Victoria’s Secret gift card, which yielded me the best bra ever!
And my grandpa-in-law (is that correct?) gave me money.
And I wasn’t even expecting presents. I love my birthday!!!
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