All Manner of Pressing Issues

Little Rock Half Marathon, Little Rock, AR: 2:14:01

Miles for Missions 5K, Little Rock, AR: 27:47

Women Can Run 5K, Conway, AR: 29:32

Crystal City Twlighter 5K (after an 18 mile run), Arlington, VA: 32:36

Marine Corps Marathon, D.C.: 4:59:44

Crossroads 12K Quantico, VA: 1:19:48

Turkey Chase 10K, Bethesda, MD: 1:00:47

Jingle All the Way 10K, D.C.: 56:21

It was a year ago today that Richard and I brought Olivia home. She was 5 1/2 weeks old and weighed 3 pounds. We cannot imagine life without her! She makes our hearts melt and makes us laugh on a daily basis. We can’t beat that combination!

(Arlington Cemetery)

We’re under a blizzard warning! So far we have at least 1 foot of snow and another 9 inches or so is expected! Would you believe that I actually want to go to school Monday? I’ve been sick for two days and miss my students! But, for now, I’m enjoying the snow!

When I was in high school, I worked at a gift shop in our town. I started buying Christmas ornaments there when I was in high school and throughout college, so I would have a collection when I got a tree of my own. The shop is closed now and I miss it to this day. Richard’s family has a tradition of buying an ornament each year, so he had an ornament for every year of his life when we married. When we went on our honeymoon, I decided to buy an ornament instead of a typical souvenir. I have continued this when we go anywhere of interest. We have ornaments from Mount Vernon, Monticello, New York City, the National Archives, and the Reagan Presidential Library. Of course now I am recalling places we’ve been where we should have bought an ornament and didn’t.

We have continued Richard’s family’s tradition of purchasing an ornament each year. We try to buy an ornament that tells something about our year. One year I bought Richard one that was a grilling apron with grilling tools and last year I bought him one that was a gingerbread house because we made gingerbread houses together.

This is the ornament we got when we went to NYC this summer for our birthdays. We rode in what felt like 14 million cabs, so we thought this ornament was appropriate.

This is Richard’s ornament for this year. We have watched our fair share of The Office over the years.

I got this ornament when Mom and I went to the beach last summer. If Santa had been there when we were, he would have needed more clothes on than this!

I got this ornament at Celebrations (the gift shop where I worked) while I was in college. I bought this in memory of an elderly friend of my family’s, Mrs. Gertrude.

One year I got into making Christmas ornaments. I made this one for our first Christmas together.

This is the ornament from our Honeymoon (St. John).

I must admit this might be my all time favorite. I have this green down vest that I’ve had for 8 years and I wear it all the time. Richard makes fun of me because I wear it so much. This little ornament is just very “me”.

I currently work in an international neighborhood school. I have students from all over the world in my class. These children have changed me so much that I thought it appropriate to get an ornament this year that represents them.

You get a two-for-one in this image. The Razorback ornament in the back was given to me by a parent from the school where I did my internship during my master’s program. It’s a little damaged from being wrapped in tissue paper, but I still put it on my tree every year anyway.

The second ornament is one I got at a store in DeWitt, AR one Thanksgiving. This ornament inspired my classroom Christmas tree (which I no longer have). For my first 4 years of teaching I had a white tree, with white lights with multi-colored ornaments. The kids loved it!

I have been battling cold-type junk on and off since the end of October. I knew I was at my breaking point Wednesday when I skipped our faculty holiday party and an event Wednesday night because I was sick. I took Thursday off (gasp!) to go to the doctor and the doctor recommended I stay home today, too. I am already on the mend.

I have been home with this little thing. Yesterday she was really restless, but hopefully she’ll be more relaxed today. I have already told her that if she isn’t calm by 11:00, she’s going to day care!

Other than being home with Olivia, two other good things have come out of being sick: 1) I have gotten to knit. and 2) I watched a movie (The Family Stone). Well and really there is a third thing too… 3) I found the Yule Log on On Demand. How have I missed this?? I have a ways to go on the stocking cap yet. I need to weave in the ends and I am going to line it with fleece. I hope to have this finished by Monday.

It is supposed to snow this weekend. Emails have already been flying around in my running group about whether or not we should run. What? How is that even a question. YES we should run! I have never gotten to run in the snow before, so Saturday will be a first for
me! The consensus was that we will run, but we will not attempt to cross Key Bridge.

Would you believe that not one cup of egg nog has been poured in this house? I have not been able to find the low-fat version and I cannot bring myself to drink the regular kind. Not one cookie has been put in the cute snowman cookie jar either! I only have 4 days left here before we leave to go home, so I better get on the ball! Having a few days off has for some reason put me more in the Christmas spirit. I am going to make a list of things to bake over the weekend. I might even get crazy and drink some regular egg nog.

To all of my friends who get out of school today… I am jealous. I have students all the way until 1:30 on the 23rd. Yes, you read that correctly.