The Ocean...

The ocean brightens my soul. I love it. I don't get to see it very often, in fact, the last time I went to the ocean was on my honeymoon last January. So, one of the benefits of our massive road trip, that I am sure I will be talking more about, is that on the way home the husband and I drove by the ocean.

The husband pondering it all...

Ahhh... The Ocean.

Oh yeah, and Happy New Year!

Something to Consider this Holiday Season

When I opened my yahoo this morning, one of the things that come up was a Time Magazine article about the "Church Group that Attacks Christmas Commercialism." I read the article and was intrigued. I am one of those Christians that use Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas interchangeably. I realize that other people have beliefs about the Christmas Season, and I respect those beliefs. This article brought it into a new light for me. The commercialism that surrounds Christmas does bother me. I then went and looked up the website Advent Conspiracy and checked out the video that they referred to in the article. It is a cool video, with good things to say. Rather than just saying how people that are attacking Christmas are evil, it brings it home a little more, saying we are part of the problem (with the commercialism). They are trying to get clean water to third world countries. It sounds like a good thing. Check it out if you would like.

la la land

In true Angle/Baran (Johnson) form, we did not take a picture in LA until moments before I was to leave. So, we had the cute bartender/waiter at The Counter take one for us.

-The Highs-

A Weekend with my favorite Brook e.

Cabaret

Christmas Shopping

Meeting the Non-Boyfriend

Who now thinks I hate him... (Don't worry, I don't)

Sushi

The Actor/Waiter

3 days of FUN

-The Lows-

Traffic- Took us 4 hours for a trip that would have normally taken one hour

A co-worker of Ms. Angle who I had to chew out... and finally just walk away all because of a boy, who had a "Connection" with Ms. Angle

The boy, was also a Jerk, from my perspective

No husband to be a part of the fun

Knowing that Ms. Angle and Ms. Baran do not live nearly close enough to each other

Overall, I had a completely fabulous weekend, and loved (almost) every minute of it.

The Little Things

I know there are a lot of big things that help make a marriage work, but it is also a lot of little things.

The little things, like the husband who makes my tea while I am in the shower, then takes a shower, then goes outside into the cold to shovel the snow from around my car, scrapes the snow off of my car, and gets it started so it is nice and warm by the time I am ready to leave. Through the winter, he does these things consistently, and I remember again and again why I love him.

On a completely different note, he has never once read my blog, which is fine with me. I don't think he even knows the URL. I think he would be embarrassed if he ever did.

An Unfortunate Side of the Holidays

As I stated yesterday, I love, love, love Christmas. However, there is one thing that I do not like about Christmas...

The one thing that I don't like about Christmas is the carols. I do like carols in limited quantities, however, this being the third of December, I have heard them every place that I have gone, including work, since November 29th. It is just way to much to me. There is still 22 more days to endure of Christmas Carols EVERYWHERE! It is way to much of a good thing in my book.

The Holiday Season

I love Christmas. I love buying presents. I love wrapping presents. I love being with family. I started my Christmas shopping probably two months ago. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Now, the holiday season is here with all of the chaos it brings... Here is a little bit about what I have going on in the next month...

Thursday 12/3- Leave for LA (also lovingly referred to as la la land)
Sunday 12/6-Return from LA
Saturday 12/12- Johnson Family Christmas
Sunday 12/13- Wedding at Work
Friday 12/18- Drive to Redding
Sunday 12/20- Drive to Eugene, OR to be with the Baran Family
Wednesday 12/23- Drive someplace else in OR... The in laws are planning this... I don't have a lot of details, but it should be fun.
Thursday 12/24- Back to Eugene and go to Midnight Mass-I've wanted to do this every year, and I told the husband that, yes, this is the year. Plus this way the husband and I will get to sleep in a little longer on Christmas morning instead of going to mass with the family (yeah right, but it is a nice idea).
Friday 12/25- Christmas
Saturday 12/26 or Sunday 12/27- Head back to Cali
Tuesday 12/29- Back to work : (
Thursday 12/31- Amazingly my work is not having any events this year, so I actually get New Years Eve off... I have not come up with any fun ideas yet about what to do, let me know if you have any suggestions...

Happy Holidays Everyone!