Whirlwind

Decmber has been nothing short of a whirlwind, and once again, I have let my blog fall to the wayside. December rolled in and it was time to organize and sort everything we own in preparation for our big move. In that same time, I finished my student teaching and master's program - woo hoo! I am extremely excited to be able to spend some time working before beginning any classes again.

Then, it was time to move. Because the husband was leaving the military, we were able to use their moving services for the majority of our things. However, the movers came about two weeks before we were leaving so there was plenty of stuff to pack into two vehicles. The drive was long but rather beautiful, and I used Christmas music and some other "belt it out" type songs to pass the time. 

After my 3 am arrival in northern Virginia, I pulled the car into the garage, got the dogs settled in the condo, and slept all day. The next few days were filled with unpacking and trying to find a place for everything. [we still have lots of unpacking/organizing left to do - our garage is a mess and no longer fits a car inside of it] I was also able to fit in an evening out in Annapolis with a very dear friend of mine - and what a lovely evening it was. All of that fun had to come to a halt as we packed up the car once again and headed to western PA for Christmas.

We spent five days with my family for the holidays. The days were filled with laughter, warmth, food, drinks, snow, and lots of love. A very merry Christmas it was!

Kings and I continued our travels as we headed to Lancaster, PA to say farewell to a friend who is moving to Japan. We enjoyed a night of remembering old and creating new memories with friends from college.

After all of the excitement, I've returned home [my new home] for a day and a half, only to head off to Philly for NYE festivities. 

Like I said, this month has been a complete whirlwind, but I am proud to say that I have found myself smiling and laughing often, and delighting in the simple things in life.

New Name

Some of you may be arriving from my previous blog, Twinkling Nights. While that blog was only active for a short time, I had been searching for the perfect blog name to fit my personality, writing style, and discussion topics. 

I finally came up with the perfect one - 'Tis life, darling! Some days are utter disappointment while others are overflowing with joy and excitement, but both are equally important parts of our lives.

Hope you enjoy the previous posts and what is yet to come!

xo
Alli J

Where are you Christmas?

It’s December 10^th – only 15 days until Christmas. This is normally my favorite time of the year. I’m usually bustling about decorating our home, hosting parties, buying gifts, and enjoying other holiday festivities.

This year is different. Because we’re in the middle of a move, I barely have any furniture in my apartment, let alone decorations. The stress of completing my student teaching and grad school while getting ready to move and job hunting has got me feeling down in the dumps lately. And to top it all off, there was a record high temperature in this area of Florida today – 78 degrees on December 10th - oy!

Needless to say, I am having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year. It pains me to type that as Christmas is absolutely my favorite holiday and I have delighted in its presence for as long as I can remember.  I am trying to find ways to boost my holiday cheer in the midst of all the chaos - any ideas?

Here is my one measly strand of white twinkle lights that I managed to grab out of storage before everything was shipped away.

I feel like Cindy Lou Who from the Jim Carrey version of the Grinch.

“Where are you Christmas?

Why can’t I find you?

Why have you gone away?....

My world is changing

I’m rearranging

Does that mean Christmas changes too?”

It's been a while...

Wow.  I kind of fell off of the blogosphere. I had every intention of contributing to the blog at least twice per week, but then life happened. I missed two entire months, and two of my favorite months of the year at that! Let’s give this another try.

While I was out....

October – Student teaching & grad school have consumed my life. I feel like every waking moment is spent lesson planning, teaching, or writing papers. I managed to make it to one Halloween party where some friends and I were the cast of Grey’s Anatomy. I was Addison Montgomery, visiting from L.A. of course. I missed the Northeast terribly, but was able to enjoy a few cool days at the end of October. I supplemented my yearning for Northeastern autumns with pumpkin spice coffee daily and comfort food, a la turkey pumpkin chili –mmm! That’s my October in a nutshell. 

I also took some time on October 8th to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. I roasted a turkey breast and served it with all of the fixins' - yum!

November came and went in one big blur. I honestly do not recall doing much of anything outside of student teaching and graduate school. ‘Tis the life of a student teacher.  I was able to escape all of my schoolwork to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends. We went to Kings’ grandmother’s house and shared a wonderful meal and many laughs with aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and my mother-in-law. It was a terrific holiday.

Oh, and I managed to get out there and vote on November 6th. Politics aside, voting to me is an inspirational experience. To know that we live in a country where we get a voice, a voice that so many of our ancestors fought long and hard to be heard - we get a voice.

Sometime during the two months, I managed to make one fall craft – an autumn banner. Incredibly simple DIY project. I bought wooden letters from the craft store, painted them various colors, hot glued them on twine, then added a couple Styrofoam pumpkins when it was hung.

And voila!

A simple autumn banner made my Florida apartment feel just a little more like fall.