Holiday-whobie-whatie?

So here are a ton of pictures of the holidays this year:

Our adventures in peppermint hot chocolate making. Finished off with a comfy couch and The Santa Clause, of course.

My delicious dinner. Crispy cheddar chicken washed down with a Great Lakes Christmas Ale and reindeer feed for dessert. It was heavenly. 

My mom has the best ornaments. I especially love her old Campbell's Soup ones. My great grandmother had a bunch as well. 

We celebrated my sister's 19th birthday with a delicious Giant Eagle cake. I can't believe how old we're all getting.

Dan and I did a really fun photo shoot in front of the Christmas tree... and under it, too.  Thanks to my handy dandy gorilla pod. 

Besides an awesome summer trip to Niagara Falls, Dan also got these hand-stitched Han Solo and Princess Leia things that I made. After hours upon hours and sore thumbs, they came out pretty great. He kept Han, I kept Leia. 

Here We Are...

....as in olden days, happy golden days of yore... 

Just kidding... Christmas is over.

So here we are, I am OFFICIALLY a college graduate. OFFICIALLY. No more school! 
(Until I work up the motivation, time, and money to go to grad school, of course.) 
I am also OFFICIALLY a 9-5 working woman. 

Let me tell you, it is weird. The thought of not doing homework or studying after work feels so good. Although getting up every day at 7:00a.m. isn't too fun. I feel very blessed to have a great HR job that will give me some great experience when it comes to finding a job in Raleigh. 


Christmas was great. I got to watch all my favorite movies (Grinch, Christmas Vacation, and The Santa Clause), eat all my favorite foods, and be around all my favorite people. And finally Dan and I were able to coordinate our schedules so he could come to the Christmas party at my grandparent's house. We play a crapload of games, we all sneak shots of drink blackberry brandy, and have such a fun time. 
This year all of our games were from the show Minute to Win It. 

Christmas Kissing Balls Game

My mom and I organized all of that and everyone seemed to really enjoy it! Pictures to come - I'll have to use my new card reader courtesy of Danta Clause. ;)


I'm sure you have all been dying of suspense about what Dan's big Christmas/Anniversary gift was... 

DRUM-ROLL.... DDDDRRRRDRRRRRDRRRRR!

We are going to Niagara Falls, Canada for a whole weekend in May. Whoop whoop! 

We're going on Maid of the Mist - it looks so gorgeous and fun. 

Most importantly, Jim and Pam got married on it! Who cares if they are fictional characters, I love them.

On Saturday night, we will be going on a walking ghost tour. It got the 2nd best ratings on tripadvisor so it's gotta be good, right?

I'm officially the best girlfriend ever. 

I hope you all had a fun and family filled Christmas. 

Let's Play Catch Up!

Eek! It's been quite a bit since I jumped on here and spilled my guts. So, let's play catch up! 

Have fun, it's the weekend. 

Two weekends ago, Dan's mom started to put up her Holiday decorations, which basically put me in the Christmas spirit! I am so excited for this Christmas. The food, the music, and just the time you get to spend with your family is more than enough for me! Anywho, we had some of his mom's yummy chili and then I got to annoy the cat with some artsy photo-taking and watch Dan read a book for his research paper. Ugh, we are both so excited for this semester to be over. SO CLOSE!

  

 

 

This past weekend, one of my best friends, Alison, finally came home from Chicago! She even brought me and my family Sprinkles Cupcakes from Chicago. Not only were they so stinkin' cute, they.were.PHENOMENAL. I would be as big as a house if I lived in Chicago and had that right around the corner! I love me some cupcakes. 

 

After she stopped over I had to grab my snazzy camera and take some Christmas photos for Dan's family. They decided to do it at our local Petiti's, which sells home decor and Christmas trees. It was an interesting experience to say the least - the boys weren't exactly cooperative. The moral of the story is that I will never make my family pose in a department store. I'll stick with my Christmas tree. ;)

 

Jobs, jobs, jobs. 

Dan got an awesome job with a Network Support company owned by 2 guys, one of which runs the tech stuff with Dan at our church. He is loving it! God has really blessed him with an opportunity that will most likely continue after he graduates. 

Speaking of jobs, I have concluded my job search. Why? Well, I received an offer from a medical services company for their HR Coordinator position. It happened soooo fast. I went for the first interview last Friday, then got a call for a second interview an hour later, had my second interview yesterday and was offered a job later that day! So today I called and accepted the position. I'm excited, nervous, and blessed! It really hasn't hit me that now the only thing I have to worry about is graduating. 

Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving! 

Surrounding Sounds.

I had this bizarro thought the other day and I can't even remember how my mind started to wander on this topic. I've got so much on my mind these days I'm pretty sure that I'm trying to do anything BUT think of the important stuff. For example, I was so zoned out at the gas station pumping my gas last night that I literally jumped when the gas pump clicked to tell me it was full. Embarrassing to say the least.

Anyways, back to my thought. Have you ever really thought about all the different sounds you hear in one day? What are some of your favorite sounds? Sounds that trigger past memories? Emotions? Reactions?

I came up with some of my favorite sounds:

The purity/promise ring that Dan bought me is actually 3 rings that attach into 1. Because it's designed the way it is, I hear it jingle throughout my day depending on what I'm doing. It's a nice little reminder to look down on my finger and think of Dan and the promise that we made to each other. 

I actually just really took in a moment to listen to this sound as I walked to my night class tonight. The sound of rain hitting piles of dried up, dead leaves. There was just something about it that was peaceful and reminded me to slow down and relax a little. I think rainfall has that effect on most people hence why people enjoy falling asleep to the sound of rain.

I noticed this sound the other day when I was eating my fun size bag of m&ms. For the record, there is nothing fun, I repeat, nothing fun about a little bag with about 8 m&ms in it. It's downright criminal. Anyways, I noticed the sound of candy - the sound when the pieces bump into each other. There's just something fun about that sound, partially because it means you're about to eat a sweet colorful treat. 

My next favorite sound would be the sound of Dan's Wii starting up. It usually indicates that I'm about to whoop his bum in some Wii Sports Resort. I'm a master at canoeing - don't even try to come at me! I honestly wish we looked nearly as intense as these 2 senior citizens - we have some work to do that's for sure. I wonder if this is why Wii isn't as popular anymore... I would love to see my grandmother try to play Modern Warfare 3. I'd have to show her how to turn it on first. 

This one is not a recent development at all. Basically since the day I told Dan I'd be his girlfriend he took it as an all access pass to pillow fights. And we aren't talking nice, playful pillow fights. We go all out - people thrown off of the couch onto the ground. Gladiator style pillow fights. Aside from the sound of pillows being bashed upside Dan's head, I mostly enjoy the sound of my giggles and his laughs as they erupt during these battles to the feathery death.

Also, I had my first interview with Target yesterday, followed by a ridiculously difficult assessment test. I'm hoping that something comes out of this - it's a great HR opportunity for me in a company that I can really progress in. Stay tuned for an update on that!

Goodnight! :]

A Celebration and A Trip Down Memory Lane

Howdy!

Some of you may know that I'm currently an administrative assistant for the marketing department with Darice, Inc. (People that own Pat Catan's & Crafts 2000 Craft Centers). Well I manage the 2 different Facebook accounts for our retail stores. Let me just tell you, I really enjoy it. I can literally sit on Facebook all day and no one lifts an eye. It gives me a chance to be creative and conversational with our customers, which I think is the main reason it's become so wildly successful. My boss, the retail marketing manager, has been bugging me to bake a cake since way back when we hit 3,000 total fans. (I didn't. I suck at baking.) But as we started to approach a total of 5,000 fans he began to mention baking a cake again and how I should be busy this weekend. So guess what? I was busy this weekend. Making this gem:

Sure the border is completely uneven and the guy has a hitch hiker's thumb, but that's a pretty good looking cake if I do say so myself. My boss nearly fell off his chair, he loved it and then gave me a bunch of compliments about my work ethic. I'm starting to learn that I need to really take in these compliments because not many bosses let you know how awesome they think you're doing. 

On my way to work I decided to drive through Cleveland's beautiful Metroparks.

The Metroparks are arguably one of the best things about living around here. Dan and I have so many wonderful memories of walking in the Metroparks, taking photos, shooting his paintball gun at trees, and carving our initials into a tree (sorry, tree!). We've had a ton of adventures that I will cherish forever and leave me so anxious for more.

Here's some of my favorites:

Summer 2011: The weekend of my best friend Kelsey's birthday. We spent the next day in Marblehead. Aren't we good lookin'? 



Summer 2011: I took Dan white-water rafting in Pennsylvania for his 21st birthday. It was one of the best things I've ever done.



Summer 2011: I brought Dan along for our 2nd and last trip (the huge cabin we stay at burned down last month) to Hocking Hills with my mom's side of the family. This is basically the weekend that I knew without a doubt he would fit in with my family.



Summer 2011: Dan and I met a bunch of our closest friends up at Panini's (our local bar and grill) for his 21st birthday. He had a blast!  

  

Winter 2011: One night we were just sitting around in my basement playing on my laptop when we discovered the awesome things you can do with webcam effects. It's a beautiful thing.

Spring 2011: We did a lot of baking our first year of dating. I'm not sure why that is besides the fact we both love food and it was fun to be creative with different flavors. This is us sporting his mom's aprons.

Fall 2010: Dan drove me all the way to visit Kelsey in Erie, PA where she goes to school. We went to Presque Isle and saw the marina.  

Spring 2010: Dan, Kelsey, and I got in the car and headed to Squire's Castle. This is a cool little castle that was bought by the Cleveland Metroparks. We took some hilarious photos here and I'm pretty sure Kelsey loved Dan after that.



Spring 2010: A bunch of our friends came with us to an Indians game with the youth group from our church. It was miserable - rainy, windy, freezing. But we did get to see Newsboys perform afterwards in the Q so that was cool. I remember secretly holding hands under a blanket because no one really knew we were seeing each other. (I'll save all that for when I have the time and energy to write our love story.)



Summer 2010: We took a trip to Kentucky with a bunch of our friends for a weekend. It was a lot of fun and the first trip we took out of state together. Kentucky is super boring though. We stopped at this place that claimed to sell rare gems/stones. No they were definitely just colored glass.

Spring 2010: Dan and I love Brecksville Reservation. It has some awesome bridges and structures to take photographs of. We've taken so many walks here. This was Dan's horrible attempt at taking a photo that makes it look like he's smashing the bridge. Nice try, Hulk.

This is the tree we carved on our "first date" in Brecksville Reservation. It smelled like pumpkin and I was so nervous someone would walk up. Looking at this photo makes me feel bad for this poor tree - but we've seen it since and it's all healed up and still bares our initials for everyone on the path to see.

Thats a fun little trip down memory lane. Now I'm off to eat that delicious looking cake of mine! Yum.