Europe has changed in 10 years...

I have been back from our trips for 2 days now, and I have enough stories for several blogs. Trust me, they are coming, but I wanted to write a short summary of the trip. The highlights, if you will.

London

• We had the opportunity to see two awesome West End plays: In a Forest Dark and Deep (starring Matthew Fox!) and Wicked
• Took a ride on the London Eye (this time at dark, and the lights of London are beautiful)
• A river cruise on the Thames at sunset was an exceptional experience
• English Tea at the National Portrait Gallery
• Hop on hop off bus tour, riding an iconic red double decker bus

Amsterdam/The Netherlands

• Seeing the look of amazement on my sister's face when she saw a windmill in person
• Delicious fish and chips in a Cafe on the harbor in Volendam
• Dinner with a fellow Theta Eta sister, and native of Holland
• Walking the quaint (yet cold) streets of Delft

Brussels

• Getting to see the city through older eyes
• Warmest and sunniest days of our trip
• The best hotel room by far of our trip (Le Meridien, great find on Expedia, THANKS Monique!)
• Belgian waffles with Belgian chocolate, for BREAKFAST

Best part of the trip:

Experiencing all of this with my sister and best friend

I'm the BEST Travel Agent, EVER!

That is, in my own opinion! Just kidding, but I do think I am pretty kick a**, otherwise, why would I be in such high demand?

Okay, okay, I am just stroking my own ego here, but seriously, I must be okay at it. Lately my calendar has been extremely full with travel related planning. I work three days a week for Cathy, and almost every foreseeable Friday from now through May I will be filling in for Pat, either all day, or at least a half a day. And then there's the travel agent-related questions I get on Facebook, which I actually love answering (and for those of you still waiting to hear back from me, I promise I haven't forgotten you!).

It is probably for this reason that my brain is a little flustered at times. The other day, after I was SO excited about figuring out and booking hotel rooms, I was on cloud 8 (cloud 9 comes once EVERYTHING is taken care of). Well, I wake up the next morning to an email on my Blackberry that says FAX------. Okay, that's weird. But its on my Blackberry, so I'm not worried about opening a virus (can you get a computer virus on a Smartphone?). I open the message and this is what it says:

Open het bijgevoegde document. Dit document is naar u verstuurd via de scanner van de HP LaserJet M3027

Okay, well that's some foreign language (duh!). Let me tell you how much I love having Google on my phone (and ask anyone, I use the hell out of Google on my phone!): select and copy the text from the message, open Google in my Browser, type translate then hit paste, and VOILA!

Open the attached document. This document is sent to you via the scanner HP LaserJet M3027

Okay, so I open the attachment (still on my phone, seriously, am I crazy doing this, can you get a computer virus on your phone?) and its an invoice from the hotel in Amsterdam for a no show fee of  €140! Uh, oh! What did I do?!?!? Apparently I booked our room for that night, instead of for March! I guess when I clicked Check Rates, and a new window popped up, the dates were reset. (It kept happening to me while trying to book rooms in London through Holiday Inn Express, should have paid more attention.) I emailed the hotel, and a very nice woman emailed me back that they would refund the charge and make the reservation for the correct dates! Yay, we're back in business! BUT, this means that I need to be extra diligent at checking dates and all. This was Tueday.
 
Yesterday, I worked at the travel agency in the afternoon. I had a lady come in with her husband and two adorable daughters, wanting to book Disney. YES! I am all over this, its my specialty! We were having so much fun, discussing what all they could do, and I was blowing her mind talking about Fast Passes, that I did not realize it was 10 after 5 until Jenny came to my desk and said she had to get going! Oops! So I finished up with the lady, and packed up to go, still on my high of being the best Disney agent out there (again, just me and my big head! I know I sound conceited, but every now and then, I think I'm allowed).
 
I drive home, and when I go to get out of the car I notice the red light on my Blackberry is blinking, Somebody loves me! I open up the email and see three, THREE emails from United Airlines. My first thought is What the Heck? Wait, I booked our tickets on EasyJet earlier that day, but EasyJet has nothing to do with United. What could this be. Duh, open the message and find out! Here is what the message first said:

Subject: Your United Airlines confirmation- March 10, 2011- Orlando, FL to Washington, DC

OH MY GOD!!!! What have I done? Who did I book from Orlando to DC, and WHY would I book someone from Orlando to DC?!?!?! I was standing outside my back door, about to have a heart attack, when it occured to me, MONIQUE!!! Monique was going to book her tickets through United! Yes, that must be it! So I send Monique a text that I got her itinerary THREE times, and my phone rings, its Monique! Her roomie heard my text come through and thought I was calling, so lovely bestie that she is, she called me back, where I explained the coronary she just gave me. Enter Monique and her roomie laughing the a**es off, at my expense! Her roomie loves to laugh at me, but I allow it, because I am usually being classic Lonnie, who deserves the laughs.
 
So, very long story short, I will now proceed to read everything 18 times before I click, or over react, plus I think I will have 27 different people verify my work after I have read it 18 times, before I click. Which totally makes me the BEST TRAVEL AGENT EVER!

The Jetway and Big Ben are In Sight!

I have spent the last couple weeks working on arrangements for our trip to Europe. Since my last post, we have made leaps and bounds on decisions about where to go and what to see. After a particularly interesting conversation with Monique about Traci, and how she could get lost trying to find her way out of a wet paper sack (or in her own words, she's like an "uncharged GPS. Potential yes, but the nonetheless lacking."), we decided our trip should start in London! I absolutely love London, and I am so excited to be taking my sister there. This is a perfect place to start her crash course on Europe because, of course, they speak ENGLISH! (Well sort of, but it will be easier for her to understand than, lets sa,y starting her off where they speak FLEMISH!)

We have decided to spend 4 nights in London, then fly to Amsterdam, where we will spend 3 nights. After Traci gets her fill (which I am sure WON'T happen on this trip, unfortunately) of Holland and the Netherlands, we will train through Brussels, and on the Ghent, which happens to be the same train station for Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, and where Traci will be living for three weeks once we leave. Actually even longer, because all three of us will stay at her B&B for the last two nights before Monique and I move on to a hotel near the Brussels airport for our morning departures.

I am getting so excited about this trip, but I am completely on information overload when it comes to booking hotel rooms, looking for tours, researching sites, and everything else that planning a European vacation involves (rent a car versus take the train, etc). Its crazy to me how much work this is, and I'M A TRAVEL AGENT! I guess it really is easier booking a trip for someone else! :)

We have all of our hotel rooms reserved, so that is a load off. Most of the transportation details have been decided, so that is good too. Now comes the fun part: deciding what we are going to do in each of the cities! I have some great ideas, and we have already decided on a few sites (Madame Tussauds in London, the flower marts and cheese farms in Amsterdam, and this mini-Europe model park in Brussels), now we are just waiting for more input from Traci on what she does (and DOESN'T) want to see.

If someone had told me a year ago that I would have the opportunity to travel through Europe again with Monique, AND I'd get to bring my sister as well, I would have laughed and said yeah right! But here we are planning hopefully one of the greatest trips ever. I just hope it lives up to everything (and exceeds!) Traci is dreaming of. What better gift could I give one of my favorite people?

Where has January gone?

I cannot believe it is already January 26! This year is off to fast start. I am so excited for the next few months to go by quickly, except for the fact that I have TONS to do between now and then. Then being MAY 15TH. Graduation Day. I cannot believe I am finally in my last semester of grad school. What started out as something to do after I was laid off has become very rewarding. I have met many great and interesting people on this journey, and I really hope to keep in contact with them, once we are not required to keep in touch. :)

While January is almost over, I think I can cross one thing off my list of TO DOs in the next several months:

• Secure client for research methods class

There are still many more TO DOs however:

• Secure client for applied strategic planning project
• All planning and reservations for trip to Belgium with sister and best friend in March
• Fill in at Travel Agency (which I LOVE, but can be exhausting, when you have gotten used to NOT working all day)
• Make sure that other boss's clients are taken care of while she travels (again, I really enjoy this job, but sometimes there are more people and demands than there are hours in the day)
• Travel to Europe with a very GREEN (in most senses of the word) little sister, and make sure we do a good job of acclimating her, so she doesn't follow us back to the airport
• Stay ontop of grad school work and my boss's clients while on said trip to Europe
• Actually, stay on top of school work and the gazillion or so papers and projects through the duration on the semester
• Find a way to be in Las Cruces for my sister's graduation on May 7th, and make it to DC by 8AM on May 8th (I'm totally on top of this, and WILL figure it out!)
• Ace the case competition capstone portion of my degree, so that I can...
• Take part in TWO graduation ceremonies in DC, one of my 4th wedding anniversary, and the second on MAY 15TH!!!!

And then once I am done with all of that, I have the task of finding a job (although I guess that is actually part of my pre-May 15th To Do list as well) and getting out of Georgia, but more on that later.

I will leave you with a favorite picture from the month of January:

Who knew you could get alcohol at the movies? Enjoying (???) Black Swan with a large (HUGE) Amaretto Sour (me) and a nice glass (cup) of Reisling (Monique).

A Year In Review: 2010

With the continuing declining economy, many people have felt that 2010 was not a very good year. I was one of these people. While I am not exactly unemployed, I am definitely "under" employed. The declining economy has affected the construction industry, which affects Marshall's business, the same can be said for the travel industry, and businesses with which I work.

However, with further reflection, I realized that 2010 has actually been a pretty good year for me. I was able to travel A LOT, spend time with family and friends, learn a lot more about the industry that I love and hope to be a part of, and I learned more about my self.

• I was able to make three trips to Orlando in 2010, and spend time with my best friend, reconnect with sorority sisters at Sigma Kappa's National Convention, and get to experience the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

• I visited my brother, sister-in-law, and neice in Nebraska, and had an awesome time reconnecting with my brother, visiting Bass Pro Shops, Cabelas, and playing  A LOT of games on the Wii (who would have known that I could kick my bro's butt in Bowling and Frisbee Golf?).

• I was granted the opportunity to intern with the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Burea, analyzing culture and heritage. This allowed me to spend over six weeks with my family in NM, including a trip to my other brother's house, where I got to meet his AWESOME girlfriend. Lots of fun was had during those weeks.

• Marshall came to NM at the end of my time there and we traveled to Southern NM, visiting White Sands National Monument and Carlsbad Caverns. We also later took a trip to Las Vegas for my 30th birthday, and Halloween.

• I received a $1000 scholarship from Tourism Cares for the Fall semester, and as a scholarship recipient I was given the opportunity to travel to Montreal, Quebec for the National Tour Association Convention. This was truly an experience I will never forget, and the highlight for me, was volunteering at the St Joseph's Oratory.

• This past year I also started blogging about my experience as a cancer patient and cancer survivor. This has been very difficult, and very rewarding. I hope that my story can help other patients and survivors make it through a difficult time.

This past year has been very good to me and my family, and I hoping that 2011 is even better! Happy New Year to all!

1 Day After Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends! I know we did!

Customize a picture collage

1 Day Until Christmas!

One of the best things about the holidays is all the food! While it may not seem like it to the rest of my family, food is an important tradition to our family Christmases. I have already mentioned baking cookies and eating posole for Christmas breakfast, but there are so many other great things!

Another favorite is making tamales. We have attended and hosted tamale making parties. Tamales are a big deal. The best tamales are made from masa (the corn-meal type mix that is stuffed with meat and wrapped in corn husks) from El Modelo, in Albuquerque. It is probably the best because it is made with lard. It's Christmas, deal with it.

New Mexican food is served on Christmas Eve. Fajitas, enchiladas, chip, salsa, and queso join the tamales. I am sad that I did not get to make tamales this year, but I am serving my favorite, green chile chicken enchiladas, with chips and homemade salsa for dinner tonight. Along with all my baked goodies.

Christmas dinner is generally traditional, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole (which I actually despise!), and my grandmother's famous fruit salad. I say famous because there has not been a single holiday, or big family get together, where she hasn't made her fruit salad. The salad is made with segmented oranges, bananas, apples, mini-marshmallows, and whipped cream (Dream Whip for the big bowl, and Cool Whip for my aunt and brother). While its not necessarily a favorite of mine, I can't imagine a family dinner without it!

Christmas dinner will just be Marshall and I, so we got a small spiral-cut ham. I'm planning to make cheesy scalloped potatoes, roasted asparagus, and rolls for our dinner. I am sad to not spending this Christmas with my family, but I know they are with us in spirit, and we are with them as well!

2 Days Until Christmas!

I spent today baking Christmas goodies. Apple pie, pumpkin pie, and sugar cookies. All day today while baking, it reminded me of my family. This is the first year that we are not flying home to New Mexico for Christmas. This is sad and happy all at the same time.

It is sad because I will not be seeing my brothers, sister, or parents. It is happy because I get to experience a true Georgia Christmas with Marshall. Marshall's son is even joining us for Christmas Eve dinner. I am happy to not have to be traveling with people who do not seem to be happy to visiting their families (because we all know there are rarely happy people traveling around the holidays).

Family is the reason for the season, too. Getting together and reliving memories and traditions is what Christmas should truly be about. Taking time to appreciate those around you, and remind them how much they are loved!

Merry Christmas to you and yours! Remember that we love you all!

3 Days Until Christmas!

I LOVE Christmas movies!!! I love them so much that I look forward to Christmas in July (on certain cable stations) so I can watch Christmas movies.

Strangely enough, there are some Christmas movies, like Its A Wonderful Life, that I have still never seen in their entirety! I do have Its A Wonderful Life on my DVR, and plan to watch it this year, but there are so many movies that I love, I sometimes would rather just rewatch them.

A favorite from childhood is The Night They Saved Christmas, starring Jacqueline Smith and Art Carney. Who wouldn't love a movie about oil drillers trying to blow up Santa Claus? Just kidding, but that is the main premise of the movie. And who hasn't wanted their very own Reindee Zephyr? All in all, a great movie, and I wish they would show it at appropriate times (instead of 4AM! I love the movies, but that is just crazy!).

My two favorite Christmas movies from my childhood are The Christmas Gift and A Smoky Mountain Christmas. In The Christmas Gift, John Denver plays an architect sent to a small Colorado town, to scout land for a ski resort. I remember being 10 years old, and saying that I would NEVER let someone buy my land for resorts. And now here I am, looking to go into tourism development! I guess the one bright star that doesn't make me feel bad is that I am working to create sustainable development, and concerned with local communities. But I digress. :)

A Smoky Mountain Christmas is about a country music singer, played by none other than Dolly Parton. She is tired of her glitzy, non-private life, and heads to her best friends parents cabin in the Smokies. There she encounters a group of runaways, and they change eachother lives forever! At least that is how I look at it.

I think I love Christmas movies for the same reason I love romantic comedies. They are heartwarming stories about family, friends, and love. There is always some sort of moral you can take away from story, and they make you feel all warm and cuddly from the inside out!

In the past several years, there are newer movies that have joined my ever-growing list of favorite Christmas movies. Here is a list of a few of them:

• The orginal Miracle on 34th Street
• The Christmas Card
• Comfort and Joy
• Recipe for a Perfect Christmas
• A Boyfriend for Christmas
• Holiday in Handcuffs

• A Holiday to Remember

And we cannot forget the Christmas movie to end all Christmas movies! The BB Gun Movie! A Christmas Story. And with cable channels like TBS playing it for 24 hours on Christmas Day, how could anyone forget that Ralphie wanted a "Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and a thing which tells time" and how he's rebuffed time and again with "You'll shoot your eye out!"?

4 Days Until Christmas!

Christmas trees are ubiquitous signs of holiday cheer, and in my family, nothing was more cheerful and horrifying, than getting and putting up a Christmas tree. In a previous post I mentioned that my mom was a bit of a snob when it came to her luminarias. She's the same way with her tree. And she raised her children to be snobs about trees too. Or at least we were when we were younger (and weren't the ones paying for the trees!).

While shopping for Christmas trees it was always about getting a tree that was tall, but not so tall it wouldn't fit, and full, but not so full that the big ornaments wouldn't sit between the boughs, and then it had to survive for the weeks leading up to and after Christmas. Not too big an order.

(Side Note Funny Story: One year when I was home from college, my brothers, sister and I piled into Mom's Suburban to go find a Christmas tree, first year without Mom and Dad in tow. We drove to Los Lunas, and out towards Bosque Farms. There was a house with a huge lot full of trees, so we parked in front of the house, got out and started looking. Can't remember which one of us it finally dawned on, but turns out it was just a house, with a front yard full of pine trees, NOT a Chritsmas tree lot! We got a good laugh out of that as we ran back to the car!)

The horrifying part of putting up a Christmas tree, after Dad has sawed the bottom off, and finally got the tree to stand up straight, was when Mom pulled out the lights! Our solarium used to be closed off by double French doors. I remember Mom would close herself off in the solarium with the tree and the lights, and we were not allowed to talk to her until she was done. Every year, when she would unwrap the tree, she would painstakingly coil the lights up, nice and untangled, and the next year when she'd pull them out of the box, the light fairies, elves, or whatever other demonic creature lived in our Christmas boxes, would have tangled them all up again, and stole some of the bulbs!

When Marshall and I bought our first tree all those years ago, I finally understood her plight and aggression. Needless to say after many years of fresh cut trees at Mom and Dad's and live trees at mine and Marshall's, both our households are the proud owners of fake trees! My sister even has a BEAUTIFUL white tree that she "Seuss-es" up each year.

While Marshall and I plan to go back to the live tree at some point (I am allergic, and breakout every time I touch the boughs while decorating), I am very much enjoying my pre-lit, stick it back in its box, don't have to vacuum up after it, burn a pine-scented candle in the house and you wouldn't even know its fake, Christmas tree.

5 Days Until Christmas!

Christmas is a time for giving, and I love to give! My grandma and my mother instilled in me a need to buy gifts for everyone, and start my shopping early. I am not like some people who will hit the mall the day after Christmas to stock up on season leftovers at great prices (except for Christmas cards and gift wrap, those sales are GREAT!). I like to do my shopping while I am traveling. That way I am ensuring that I am buying gifts for my family and friends that they could not get from just anywhere. I also try my best to buy QUALITY gifts over QUANTITY gifts. Some people (like my sister) are just way too easy to shop for, and I find myself needing reminding that I have already bought said person MANY things (or this year, that I did not drawn their name, and had already bought them tons!).

With giving comes receiving, and lets be honest, everyone likes to GET gifts. But for me, it really is about the giving. I put a lot of thought into what I buy for people. (Except when I am walking through a store and something jumps out and says "You know exactly who I am perfect for!" But in all honesty, those gifts are reserved for those who are really easy to shop for.) When I know I am headed somewhere in particular, I make a list of who I need gifts for, what they like, and what I can probably find. Going to Orlando, and Walt Disney World, is a prime example. There are usually certain things, that certain people, would like, and I know I can find a Disney version. I love shopping for my neice at Disney World, because even if I can possibly find something similar at a cheaper price, I know that what I am buying is quality, and will hopefully bring a smile to her face, the way shopping for her brings a smile to mine. I also have a nephew on the way, and I am excited to shop for him too.

So while "Jesus is the reason for the season," I remember that Jesus was God's gift to all of us, and I try to spread cheer, happiness and love by giving gifts from my heart.

6 Days Until Christmas!

Baking Christmas cookies has been a favorite tradition of mine as long as I can remember. It's funny, even to this day, I get so excited to bake cookies, but halfway through, I forget why I was excited in the first place!

Today I made chocolate chip cookies for Marshall to give to his best customers (and a few that will go to my friends as well). I made a double batch, which is A LOT of dough. I have also discovered that while making the dough in my Kitchenaid mixer is great, it is better to just use the mixer for creaming the butter, sugar, and eggs, and then mix the butter mixture with the flour mixture by hand. Sometimes I want to becoming a professional baker just to get the upper body strength they must have from mixing and whipping!

Later this week I will make sugar cookies, and I am really excited to make snowflake cutouts! A few years back I tried drawing snowflakes in white icing on round cookies with light blue icing. Instead of snowflakes they looked more like Hanukka cookies! :) I found snowflake cookie cutters at a kitchen store in Savannah when mom was visiting, and mom gave me a couple more snowflake cutters, so I have lots of options!

7 Days Until Christmas!

Its funny, sometimes when I think back on holiday memories, it seems like certain things happened every year. But it could just be fond memories of a singular event. Driving through Albuquerque and looking at Christmas lights is one such event (or maybe it really was a tradition).

I remember being really young (my brothers were probably still babies), and piling into my grandparents conversion van to go look at lights. We had hot chocolate, and I seem to remember my grandma, Bam's guacamole (again, I could be confusing memories!).

I still look back on that trip (or maybe it was several trips) to go look at lights as a family as a memory I will always cherish. I hope to someday bundle my own children up, and drive around looking at the Clark Griswold-wannabes, and creating memories that they will cherish for a lifetime as well.

8 Days Until Christmas!

Today Marshall and I decided to make a new tradition, by partaking in a very old tradition in Atlanta. We planned to go to the Georgia Aquarium, stop by CNN Center, and then head over to Lenox Square to see Priscilla the Pink Pig.

The original Priscilla the Pink Pig

According the Macy's website, Priscilla has been an Atlanta institution since 1953! The Pink Pig is train ride through a lifesize storybook. Marshall actually remembers riding the Pink Pig when it was at its orginal home at Rich's department store in downtown Atlanta. Unfortunately, we did not make it to Macy's today. :(  However, Priscilla will be running through January 4th, so I will get back there to ride her, and make an Atlanta tradition a Williams family tradition.

We did make it to the Aquarium, and it was decorated for the season. There are also two new additions to the aquarium family: Qinu and Grayson, beluga whales. Here are some pictures from our excursion:

Underwater tunnel in Ocean Voyager

Four beluga whales in Cold Water Quest

Christmas tree at Centennial Olympic Park

While visiting the Georgia Aquarium has not been a tradition, in the past, Marshall and I love aquariums, and have been to several. Maybe it can become a Christmas tradition of our very own.

9 Days Until Christmas!

I wrote about traditions yesterday, and mentioned my mom's village. I wanted to make today's post a more in depth look at the Village.

My mom started her collections in the mid 1990s, I believe. There was an awesome store in Northeast Albuquerque called Chezems. They sold everything Christmas and collectibles. Over the years, my mom's Village has grown from fitting on small table, to overgrowing the 4X8 plywood table my dad made specifically for it.

Marshall took some "glamour" shots a while back. And even these really don't do the Village justice. Not too mention the Village is even bigger than this now!

Putting the Village together was always a fun and frustrating event. Mom would set the peices out, and for days (and sometimes weeks) after we would each go in and rearrange the pieces and add accessories. My absolute favorite pieces are the camper trailer pulled by the station wagon.

Department 56 "On The Road Again"

10 Days Until Christmas!

I thought about creating a Top 10 List for Christmas, but in all honesty, I am not sure I could limit it to 10 things, and there is no way I would be able to actually rank my favorites. So over the next week and a half, I plan to list my favorite traditions and memories. I wish I had pictures to go with a lot of my stories, but some go back SO far (like 20 plus years!), you will just have to use your imagination.

So for this post I will focus on traditions.

Growing up we had several tradtions. The most memorable (and biggest pain in the butt!) were putting out luminarias, or more accurately, farolitos. For those who are unaware, these are the little brown paper bags, filled with sand, and then a small candle is placed inside. (I am sure somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I know the significance, but could not tell you now.)  The reason this is a pain in the butt, is because my loving and caring mother is a bit of a snob and stickler when it comes to her luminarias (and wouldn't you know, she's raised at least one more luminaria snob). Here are the luminaria rules:

1. Bags must be folded neatly, without tearing. Torn bags are not to be used. (True luminarias have the top of the bag folded down, and this is a true art form!)
2. Bags must be placed in straight lines, and evenly spaced apart. (There was actually a stick we used to ensure even spacing!)
3. The seems of the bags go to the BACK, ALWAYS. That way when lit up, you can not see the shadow across the front of the bag.

These rules sound easy enough, but trust me, they are concrete, and must be followed to the T. I have to admit, though, when followed, the results are beautiful!

Pictures of Christmas Eve Luminaras

Getting ready to measure correct distance 2005

Making sure all seems are to the BACK 2005

Lighting candles 2005

Mom and Dad's House 2004

Marshall preparing luminaras at our house 2006

Marshall preparing luminarias at our house 2007

Our house, Athens, GA 2006

Christmas 2007

Other traditions:

• Posole for Christmas breakfast
• Reading 'Twas The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve, and in later years reading the Christmas story from the bible
• Putting up my mom's Village (which I should say was another undertaking!)
• Opening family Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, and Santa gifts on Christmas morning
• Friends and family Christmas party at mom and dad's house on Christmas Eve (there were years that the boys and I would start kicking people out so we could open gifts)
• Going to our grandparents, Bam and Papa's house on Christmas morning
• Listening to Christmas music, first on Aunt Kathy's record player, then on reel-to-reel tapes, and finally on CDs (favorites around our house on record were Elvis and Cristy Lane, followed by George Strait, Reba McEntire and Alabama on cassette tape)

Looking Forward to the Next BIG Trip

This may actually be the FIRST BIG trip in a while. I am talking BIG like our Honeymoon to Alaska BIG! Even BIGGER than the trips I took to Cancun and Jamaica in 2008. What makes this trip bigger than those, you might ask? Well, the cost, for one thing, will be coming out of my pocket.

Where am I headed on this BIG trip, you might ask? My beautiful little sister has asked me to join her on her first trip abroad! We are headed to Belgium (and planning trips to the Netherlands, Germany and France)! I am so glad my sister is a bit of a procrastinator (I love you kid, admit it already, you are a procrastinator!), because that meant I got involved trying to find her a program that would satisfy her language requirement, so she can finally graduate from college. This program also had to fit her rigorous requirements, and since we were unable to find a Dutch Immersion program on the island of Sint Maarten (which I'm thinking they are missing a key group of Seasonal Affect Disorder people who need to meet language requirements there!), I knew we were looking for something shorter than the requiste semester or longer.

Halleluja for an immersion program in Belgium where she can get 70 hours of study in 1 week! And an even greater HALLELUJA that her school accepted the program and she will only need 4 weeks of classes to satisfy the requirement!

We are still a long way from being ready to leave, but that is okay. We still have a little bit of time. Approximately 4 months! I have started my planning by ordering a set of French Immersion software. I am pretty good with Spanish, and can get by with Italian, but my French is limited to mainly the culinary arts, and certain greetings. Bon Jour, Bon Soir, Au Revoir! (And I even had to look up the last one for the correct spelling.) If my first trip to Belgium was any indication, French is important. It is one of the three (yes THREE) official languages of Belgium, along with Dutch (hence, little sis doing her immersion there) and German. I remember Monique and I trying to order lunch at a Pizza Hut (yes, they have them there, and for a 21 year-old American, it was AWESOME!) and ending up pointing at pictures on the menu. Mind you, Monique speaks French, so yeah, I have my work cut out for me.
This time around, I hope to be more wordly and eat at LOCAL restaurants, not international chains. We will see how the little sister feels about that. Luckily, I now have my 1000 Places To See Before You Die books that I WILL be consulting, so we don't miss a single place. I am really looking forward to this trip. My sister is one of my best friends, and I really don't get to see her enough.

Wish Europe luck, the Tuttle girls are headed your way!