And so it begins...

I can hardly believe we're in 2010 already! I apologize for being such a blog-slacker lately, but I think we all relate that the busier you are, the more overwhelming it is to take the time to write it all down. So, rather than go into great detail, I'm just going to keep it simple and give you the highlights of the holidays.

I spent Christmas with my family in Knoxville. This is the first year in a while that we've stayed "at home" (although really, home is Iowa). It's our "off" year as I call it, since Ryan, Cheri and the kiddos spent Christmas with her family this year. The last "off" year we had (every-other-year), the rest of us went on a cruise, but as much fun as it was - it seemed very strange to be in tropical weather during Christmas. I think we prefer snow (it's in our Iowa blood), and we definitely prefer snow sports, so we're thinking maybe Santa Fe next year. You might not think of Santa Fe being a cold-weather place, but with a base area elevation of 10,350 feet, Ski Santa Fe is among the highest ski areas in the continental United States. Crazy, huh? Anyhow, it was a very relaxed, low-key Christmas, which honestly is what we were all needing. We went to the movies on Christmas day, spent the 26th in Chattanooga, played games, stayed up entirely too late and didn't get near enough sleep :). It was good.


My friend Steph & I hosted a "progressive dinner" of sorts for New Year's Eve. Everyone started at my house and we had a mexican fiesta! Well, the food was mexican at least. I didn't make anyone sport sombreros or anything like that. :) We exchanged funny stories from our Christmases, had a Wii tournament and played ImaginIff. From there we piled into cars and headed over to Steph's house. We had all sorts of dessert goodies there and played games until it was time for the ball drop. There were probably about 15 of us, cheering, toasting, dancing, laughing and definitely ringing in the New Year with tons of excitement! It was exactly the way I'd like to spend my New Year's every year! I took a ton of random photos, but I'll post the few "group pics" we took at the end. This was after midnight sometime, so some people had already left (Josh looks pretty lucky with his harem of girls! haha!! Oh, and I'm behind the camera rather than in front, but I used a self-timer on the last one), but these pictures best sum up the night...


The rest of the weekend was so fantastic. I slept in late on Friday and then went to see Did You Hear About the Morgans? with my roommate. It was pretty cute. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it either. It was cute and entertaining and I'm totally okay with that! After that, I met up with a new friend to discuss a women's retreat that Kairos is planning for this spring. We had a great time just getting to know each other better and sharing where the Lord is leading us in 2010.

Saturday we went to see Avatar in 3D. It was long, but I really enjoyed it! I know several people have said that it's too long, but I was engaged the entire time...I never got bored. Afterwards we all headed over to Murfreesboro to do some shopping at The Avenue (a fun little outdoor mall). There were some great after-Christmas sales, but I passed on all of them (aside from a few plug-in deals at Bath & Body Works). We made one last stop at Red Robin to enjoy a horribly unhealthy but oh-so-delicious burger as our "last supper" before starting the new year on a healthy note :).

Sunday I visited Cross Point, which I really liked and plan on visiting again. The only downside is that it's quite a ways from my house (about 30 minutes), but it would be worth it. It wasn't their typical Sunday service, so I definitely want to go again to get a better feel for things. Afterwards we wandered around The Hill Center in Green Hills (I love the Whole Foods there!) and then headed to the nail salon to get a "new year's" mani/pedi. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning out the pantry, making a grocery list (a very healthy grocery list I might add!), shopping and then cooking/preparing my menu for the week. It was a very relaxing and productive end to vacation.

I'll close this up with one last thing. I'm not a big believer in "New Year's resolutions" - mostly because we all know they rarely fully play out. This year I'm not making a resolution per say, just committing to diving in 110%. I plan to get up early (the biggest challenge of them all!!), workout before work every day so I never have to worry about my evenings conflicting or getting in the way, eating healthy (I'd be happy to share my eating/fitness plan if anyone is interested), serving my community, building relationships with people I already know and people I've yet to meet - and also connecting others with each other (and with Christ!). More than anything I want to grow in my relationship with the Lord not only personally, but in a way that overflows into every other area of my life.

I am confident that 2010 is going to be a great year. Maybe even the best yet! :)

Skiing, Rob Bell, Brunch and more

Now that I've finally finished all of my posts about China, I can finally move back to "present day" and update what's been going on in my life since I returned. Let me just say, it's been crazy!!! I don't recommend taking a major vacation right before the "holiday season" only because it completely throws you off. I needed like a 2-week "re-entry" period to get myself rested up and ready for all the festivities. The first week wasn't too bad, but the week after my return, jetlag hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't fall asleep at night, so I was going to bed super late but still having to wake up early to get to work. I was late every day last week which just starts your day off on the wrong foot. I anticipate this week going a little more smoothly (at least I hope so!).

Back to last week...

Monday night my roommate and I purchased our Christmas tree and got it set up. Sadly, it sat in the living room, completely naked, for the next 3 days before I was able to get any lights or decorations on it! Regardless, I'm glad we were able to take care of purchasing it that night since it proceeded to rain almost every day the rest of the week.

Tuesdays are pretty much my favorite day of the week since that's when Kairos meets. The 2nd Tuesday of every month we have a leadership meeting before Kairos, so I left work early and headed over for that. I'm heading up the ski trip this year (which I am sooooo excited about!!), so I stayed afterwards to have a meeting to go over the details of that trip. It made for a full evening, but all good stuff!

Wednesday night I headed up to Nashville to meet up with a group of leaders from Kairos that were going to hear Rob Bell speak at War Memorial. It started at 8 and was a 2.5 hour "lecture" f you want to call it that. I'm not sure that's the best term to use since lecture sounds boring and believe me, it was anything BUT that! He is such an engaging and inspiring speaker. If I had my notes with me (which I hardly took since I was so drawn in to what he was saying) I'd share some of the profound things that he mentioned. I'll admit, I had a long day before going to hear him speak, so I was very tempted to back out and just go home and go to bed early, but I am so glad that didn't happen. It was a night well spent - and if you have a chance to hear him speak, you must go!

Thursday night I left work and quickly headed home so that I could get the tree lit and decorated before my volleyball game. We finished JUST in time for me to throw on my team "jersey" (tshirt) and jump in the car. I ended up being slightly late (missed my first serve...sorry team!!!), but maybe that was a good thing. I had such an "off" night...which as anyone who plays sports knows...is incredibly frustrating. Thankfully my team played fantastic and we walked away winning 2 out of 3 (and only losing the 3rd at a score of 26-24).

Friday night was "crunch" time since I was in charge of hosting this month's supper club. Due to holiday parties and all sorts of commitments, we decided it would be easier to do a brunch in December, which is always fun! I spent Friday night finishing up some last minute holiday decorating and cleaning.

Saturday morning I got up early to get myself ready and finish the fresh flower arrangement for the centerpiece as well as getting all the food prepared. I apologize for not taking more photos, but once the girls arrived I was enjoying hanging out with them and forgot to take pictures. I have a few of the table and one blurry one of the food, but at least you get the idea.


Sunday night we had a dinner at my boss' house since the Gutwein's were in town to shoot a video (which is happening today). I was in charge of making dessert, so I made a family favorite - dark chocolate peppermint stick ice cream dessert. I didn't take a picture myself since I didn't want to take my camera to the dinner party in order to capture it, but here's basically what it looks like...

(photo by Mark Thomas)

Meri made an incredible dinner and we had a great time chatting away and telling stories by the fire. It was a very nice, relaxing evening. I was even able to fall asleep as soon as I got home and because of that, am back to arriving to work on time! Thank goodness.