my life

Happy New Year!

Well, the holidays (and my paid time off) have come & gone, and it's a new year. Wow, that was fast. I went to Boise and then to Portland for Christmas, and got to see plenty of friends & family along the way. It was lots of fun and it was so nice to have two really long weekends in a row. Yay for paid holiday time!

We started a new family tradition last year when my cousins Emily and Aaron (that's them in the middle of that picture) moved to Boise. We do a White Elephant gift exchange every year, with ridiculous thrift-store gifts. This year I ended up with some strange clay figurine thingy and a ceramic cowboy boot. Oh joy. The funniest gag gift this year was a douche. And my mom is the one who bought it (at the dollar store), hahahaha!!! My cousins and uncle were sporting some sweet thrift store Chritmas vests and sweatshirts (my uncle brought them all the way from Kansas). In the picture is Wes (my cousin's fiancé as of Christmas day), Emily, Aaron, and Uncle Jerry. Yes, my family is silly, and we're damn proud of it!

I got to hang out with some friends from Boise (which at times felt like a mini-high school reunion), many of whom I haven't seen in forever. It's amazing where everyone is now & what they're doing, and we only graduated high school together 6 years ago... My friend Amy just bought & is moving into her first house of her own this week, CONGRATULATIONS AMY! :) Now I have another excuse to visit Boise more often and someone new to stay with. We went to Portland for Christmas Eve and Christmas, which was wonderful! I love seeing all my cousins, especially the little ones. We had some big family meals (and even still had a "kids table" which I sat at because we're too big for one table) and I got to play with my cousin Joan's son, Connor. Man, kids grow fast! I'll be uploading the rest of my Christmas pictures soon, they'll be on my flickr page.

On the way home to Moscow, my car decided to die on me! The battery light came on, then the stereo went out, and then I started losing power... I pulled over and then couldn't get it started again. :( Luckily my parents were about an hour behind me and I got a ride from a very nice person to the nearest town to call them (no cell coverage where I pulled over, dagnabbit!). I called my insurance & got a tow truck, then got picked up by my fam and we went back to the car. We towed it back to Boise where my cousin, Aaron, installed a new alternator and battery (after much hassle with getting the right alternator). My family saved the day, yay! And I totally owe Aaron for getting me back on the road the next day. ;)

It was good to finally be home, and Juneau was soooo excited to see me! He attacked me with kisses when I got home (and so did Seneca, although there was no jumping up & scratching involved). I made out like a bandit for Christmas as usual (thanks everyone!) and got mostly useful stuff (like a popcorn popper! and a DVD/VRC player! and rope sandals! and organic cotton towels!). My mom sent me home with presents for Seneca, Juneau, and Maya since they were in Moscow for Christmas. They all loved their gifts and so do I! :) I hope I spoiled my family just a little this year as well, they deserve it.

My sister, Rachel, is now studying abroad in Spain (she left New Year's Day for five months). I'm so jealous! Except that I am going to visit her there in March with my parents. It sure will be interesting finding vegetarian-friendly food in such a meat-centered culture. Rachel's gonna stake it out for me. I'm hoping Seneca can come meet me in Spain and we can go elsewhere in Europe (Paris! Amsterdam! Brussels to see my friend Nate! Prague to see our friend John!) but I have a feeling that would be too long & too expensive of a trip, so maybe we'll have to wait 'till next year... Until then, I will be practicing my español (Soy vegetariana, y tu? ¡Las corridas de toros son crueles!)...

Yup, good holidays. It was fun. And now, on with my way-too-many-to-keep New Years' Resolutions!

Labels: holidays

posted by Megan @ 3:58 PM