Back from the silence

My sister informed me that I need to update my blog because I am not in California anymore. She is correct...it is 3 stinkin' degrees outside which is definitely not characteristic of most of California. Matt and I went to the Creighton basketball game with Dan and Becky last night and then went to Barley's Tiptop for some drinks. After driving them back to their car (we left it at California Pizza Kitchen after dinner so we only had one car downtown) we arrived home at about midnight. The gauge on our car indicated it was a balmy 48 degrees outside. I remember not buttoning my jacket when we walked out of the Qwest.

I woke up this morning to the sound of wind howling so I turned on the tv to find out what the temperature was and discovered it was 10 degrees. I think that was our high for the day. Matt and I headed out to do some Christmas shopping and froze running in and out of buildings. But, we got some very important Christmas shopping done! Ma tt talked to his sister this afternoon and they went from 60 degrees to 20 degrees in about 30 minutes!

I also finished decorating our hearth tonight. I started working on it last week and bought the finishing touches today. I included a picture below just for fun.

In January, our household is growing! Pell and Bren have decided to move back to the midwest and Omaha was on their list of possible cities to move to. Matt and I let them know that they would be welcome to move in with us until Pell finds a job and they are able to sell their house in Oregon. They have taken us up on our offer so we are gaining three roommates (they are bringing their cat with them) around January 25th! We are excited to have them close by and thrilled that they will be able to live with us while they figure things out! We will be spending some time over our holiday breaks getting the house ready.

I am working a 4 day work week this week (I'm taking Friday off to finish some Christmas shopping and get some things done) and then I only work Monday and Tuesday the following week. I love working in Higher Ed - especially Creighton because we were supposed to be off until January 2nd, but the university imposed a mandatory vacation day so I don't have to go back until January 5th. Twelve straight days off! And I need it - especially since we have plans to go to Shelbina for a few days and then thought we would head to Saint Louis because Gregg is home for the holidays and there is a Jameson baby we haven't met yet!

I have decided to give candy making a try this year and will be starting with english toffee. I bought a candy thermometer the other day and plan to make a batch sometime in the next week. I need to figure out when the humidity will be the lowest - maybe next Sunday since the high is supposed to be 5!

Wonderful

The wonderful smell of homemade banana bread in the oven is filling my house right now. Matt and I had some bananas that had moved beyond the edible point so I whipped up some banana bread for him while he was at the softball coach's meeting tonight. I'm not a huge fan of banana bread, but the smell filling my house right now is pretty incredible. I'm excited to see how the recipe turns out because it is a new one and I was intrigued because it includes plain yogurt. I guess we will know soon how it turns out.

I stayed home from work today. I woke up at about 4am this morning and felt like I was going to be sick. I never actually got sick, but I still wasn't feeling 100% when my alarm went off at 6am. Stephanie is 38 weeks pregnant and we have an agreement in our office that we will not come to work if we are sick, so I called in. The last thing I want to do is give Stephanie the stomach flu or something like that. The good news is I don't think I have the stomach flu, but I still don't know why my stomach was so upset in the middle of the night.

Matt and I spent Friday night watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We decided to enjoy some Chinese food to keep with the theme of the evening and then spent the evening ohhing and ahhing over the opening ceremonies. I'm a huge sucker for the Olympic Games and I usually enjoy the opening ceremonies even though some people find them boring. Friday night's ceremonies did not disappoint. The Chinese put on a wonderful show for the world and it was fantastic to see all of the athletes together for the Olympics again.

As a Olympic junkie I've been pretty attached to the television for the last couple of days. However, a DVR is an Olympic junkie's best friend - as long as you can keep up with watching. The US women's basketball team played during my workout on Saturday morning (beating China handedly) and I tried to stay caught up until I picked up my mom for some shopping on Saturday afternoon. I was in desperate need of a new work shoes - both winter and summer and I managed to find a pair of each at Yonkers on Saturday and only spent $55! I found several items at Pottery Barn I could have purchased on the spot, but held off for the time being.

After shopping I came home, watched a little more of the Olympics and then Matt and I headed to Becky and Dan's for their annual fiesta. It was a little tamer this year that it has in the past and we had a great time chatting with them, Becky's mom and playing with Josie - their chihuhua who was absolutely thrilled with all the people at her house (insert sarcasm here). Poor Josie. Interestingly enough - it was the tamest fiesta I have been to, but apparently the cops paid them a visit after we left. Isn't that how it always goes?

Yesterday, my family attended Flip's memorial service. Flip's wife Kathleen, his daughter Rachael, and sister Phyllis all traveled up from Kentucky for the service and it was nice to see them. Ron's brother Richard also attended and while I've heard many stories about him, I had never met him before. We got the chance to laugh and share stories about Ron and his life. And, as would be fitting, we ended the evening at Pizza King in CB, which was Ron's absolutely favorite. I don't think he ever returned to the area without visiting Pizza King.

Matt and I are currently wtching the US Mens' Gymnastics Team in the team competition. Holy Cow! They totally rocked it on the high bar! I love when the underdog succeeds!

The start of the weekend...

We had Stephanie's office shower yesterday afternoon at the Twisted Fork. The decor was very eclectic - an industrial ceiling, chandeliers, and animal heads hanging on the walls. Dayo did not make it to the shower because he wasn't feeling well yesterday so Kim told him to stay home and not risk getting Stephanie sick in her final weeks of pregnancy.

We ordered drinks and appetizers to share. The menu is also very ecclectic - we shared fried dill pickel spears, a cheese plate (with goat, sheep and cow cheese, with apples, pepper jam and candied walnuts), and dippin shrimp - which were shrimp in buffalo sauce served with chunky blue cheese dressing. They were served in a martini glass - so much fun!

Kim and Mackenzie both ordered fun drinks. Mackenzie is a big fan of Bloody Marys and Kim got a passion fruit margarita.

Yes, Mackenzie's Bloody Mary was served with a dill pickle spear on top.

We gave Stephanie a Vera Bradley diaper bag. She mentioned at one time to me that she would really like one and I was fairly certain she would not spend the money to buy one for herself.

We had a small scare yesterday because Stephanie did not feel well all Thursday night, and sometimes that can be an early sign of labor. She has had some complications in her pregnancy and her labor will be complicated because she is taking blood thinners that she has to get out of her body before she goes into labor. So, if she is in labor, she needs to know ASAP. But, her sickness disappeared so hopefully it was just a bad reaction to something she ate. We are all excited to meet Alice, but I think Stephanie would like a few more weeks before she makes her appearance.

We shared dessert - a s'mores brownie - which was divine!

Matt and I enjoyed a quite night at home last night, except for a walk we took around our neighborhood once it started to cool off a little bit. We ended up heading to bed early, and I got to sleep in this morning. After heading to the gym for a bit, I took off to do some shopping for Matt's birthday. Sometimes I really struggle with knowing what to get him, and this birthday was defintely one of those times. I wandered around for awhile, managed to figure out a gift for him (a giftcard that I know he will use) and ended up finding a couple of items for our kitchen. We had received a giftcard to Pier One and I usually like to find something special to use a giftcard for and had not found anything spectacular at Pier One in awhile. However, I did today - found glass containers for my kitchen counter to hold flour, sugar, tea, etc. I plan to get them set up tomorrow and will definitely take a picture when I get them set up.

Matt and I watched the Cardinals game tonight - a 5 hour, 14 inning marathon. The Cardinals ended up on top, which is great because they had lost their last five games after sweeping the Padres starting the second half of the season. Hopefully this changes their path for awhile. Chris Carpenter is supposed to get a start this week!!!