Baby it's Cold Outside!

This may be a first. It is a Saturday, and there isn't Idaho football on TV, and somehow I am not skiing with my Dad!! It is so cold here that on the mountain it is six degrees!!! BRRRRR! A little too cold to make skiing fun! I am spending the day waiting for a package to arrive, shopping and maybe if I can squeeze it in...a little baking!

My Mom treated me to a manicure this morning which was such a treat. Granted I don't have nails still...**note to self: stop stressing out and taking it out on my nails! But my hands are super soft and groomed quite nicely!

A favorite pastime has been torturing the poodle by putting Christmas decorations on him. This morning he sported a giant red bow off of a package of cookies. He puts up with it, but always looks at me like "what did I do to deserve this!"

I have a large amount of shopping to knock out in the next few days. I am dreading the crowds, I can feel a headache creeping up on me already!! Wish my luck to find the perfect gifts for my family!!!

Three Clicks of My Heels

So it wasn't as easy as clicking my heels like Dorothy, but I am finally in Boise for Christmas. My planned trip was a flight from Dulles, D.C., to Las Vegas and then into Boise in time to have dinner with my family and enjoy the evening. Instead due to a technical problem in Dulles and a snow storm in Las Vegas (??!!??!?!) I ended up being routed from Las Vegas into Salt Lake City and then finally into Boise. I still had dinner with the parents but crashed shortly after for the night. My bags are still missing. I have managed to put together some outfits from my mom's closet...tomorrow I think I will be relying on high school t-shirts and mini skirts....or not.

It is wonderfully cold here and the snow has been falling on and off since I got here. Bogus opened yesterday so I am sure I will be hitting up the slops over the weekend. For now I am enjoying my wonderful bed, the poodle (who we all know I can't get enough of) and tomorrow I am battling the mall to do ALL of my Christmas shopping. I really should have been more on top of things in D.C.. Tomorrow night my parents are doing a business dinner, and I will be heading to my favorite pizza joint to enjoy my all time favorite "white" pizza from Guido's. yum!

We decorated the tree tonight (and tortured the dog as usual by making him wear Christmas decorations for photo opts). The tree is decently simple this year compared to years past since we will be having another tree when we get to Sun Valley. Red and gold was the color scheme this year and it looks wonderful! My dad did a great job with the lights out front as usual and my mom is working to put the usual festivity in the house.

The poodle has been a snuggle buddy. He sticks to me like Velcro!! I've missed him a lot! Hope everyone else is having safe travels home! Miss you all! Pictures to follow when I can manage to get them uploaded to my camera. (Ps photos of the Holiday party will also be up once I can find the connector cord for my camera)

B&D Holiday Extravaganza

Tonight is my office's Holiday Party at a hotel in DC. From what I have heard it is a pretty crazy night. I am thoroughly excited.

The run down of the outfit:

Yellow BCBG Dress that I wore for the last Black Diamond Event
Side curly bun hair
Black and Gold Eyes
Black Satin Shows

I will post pictures and the details tomorrow!

Bedrock Billiards Trivia Night

Alex arranged for us to meet up with two of his co-workers to play trivia at Bedrock Billiards in Adams Morgan. The trivia night was voted one of the best bests so I was excited to try it out. The bar was pretty neat, a large open floor plan with pool tables, TV and a large bar counter where trivia took place. There were lots of rules for the trivia (I am sure it varies every Sunday for whoever is hosting it). There were definitely the "regulars", who knew we were first timers, but the bar tender was still attentive and helpful. No food available at the bar, but you are allowed to order in which made for a cool ambiance to see people using the bar phone to order various orders of food. Beer was typical. We lost, were humbled and are now assembling our dream team to play trivia! My favorite question of the night: What is the title of Britney Spear's new CD?. Somethings I learned: According to Urban Dictionary a prolonged interaction between two people where nothing but atrraction takes place is called a flirtationship. And a mythical creature that is charming, good looking, funny, charismatic, smart, chivalrious, etc. is called a manicorn. And surprisingly NSync did not produce one of the top 5 christmas albums since 1991 or something like that: M. Carey (which i got), and Celine Dion. Well off to work for the day!

A Thousand Little Boxes...ok More like 21.

For work I helped out arranging the Secret Elf gift exchange for this upcoming week. Jessica and I wanted to do something cute for people to draw names. I (with lack of judgement) offered my crafting skills and said I would make little paper boxes filled with Hershey's Kisses. Total Project Time: 5 hours. Worth the efforts: Most definitely. Here was my finished product!

American History Museum- At Last!

The American History Museum has finally reopened after doing some renovations and re-doing the star spangled banner exhibit. Out of all the Smithsonians I thought this one was going to be the best and one of my favorites. While it did have some really neat parts to it, Alex and I agreed that it lacked "direction" and "cohesion". The new Star Spangled Banner exhibit is amazing. The flag is gorgeous (in a sense that it is amazing that it has been preserved!) The flag used to be hanging on a wall, but it apparently was rapidly deteriorating so a new exhibit was created to make sure it was preserved correctly.

Another thing I found about the museum, is that it was very wordy. There seemed to be more to read than things to see. I was incredibly moved by the president exhibit. They just made an update to the presidential timeline that gave me chills to see.

In this exhibit they had Lincoln's top hat and a very moving exhibit on the presidents who have been assassinated.

Some other highlights were: Dumbo the elephant from Disneyland, Kermit the Frog, Oscar the Grouch, Dorthy's Ruby slippers (size 5!), and some neat Idaho references.

One of my favorite things was the transportation exhibit. There were train, cars, buses, etc. all inside this awesome display area. But my absolute favorite was a display with a car and a guy who tried to drive across the US. When he was in Idaho he picked up a dog, and the dog wore....GOGGLES!

A Little Bit of Dedication

So for the few of you who follow along, I realized I need to be better about posting. I think at first I had blog bliss, where I loved my new blog. The sensation wore away, and now I just need to be more diligent in posting about my adventures. I have done a lot since my last post so it is going to take me a bit to get caught up I am sure. On a personal note:

Work is still going very well. I am getting to know some more coworkers and that is making me enjoy my job even more. I think I am finally making some decently valuable contributions which I have been told people are recognizing! So yay!

I have been trying to get on a regular work out schedule without being too stringent. I am really hoping to start dancing again when I come back from Christmas in Idaho. But thanks to the senior 30 (i avoided the freshman 15, only to have revenge take hold my senior year) I am needing to loose some weight and strengthen (since I don't want to re injure my hip, which is prone to pain and what not). So I have been utilizing the apartment gym and am starting to get into a habit of working out every day for an hour which is challenging on the days that I work but I have also noticed the benefits of better sleep, less junk food eating, and a better mood.

I will be getting to go home for a very extended Christmas break! (HuRAH!) My work is awesome like that. I will be doing some work from home, which is fine and I will welcome a little but of money inflow to help pay for rent in January.

It snowed a bit here, a very light dusting this evening, but it was beautiful and put me in a great Christmas mood. I am very excited to get home and get into holiday season full swing!

Well hopefully I will get caught up on my postings soon!