Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I've been behind on writing this week with so much going on, maybe that will be one of my resolutions. On Christmas day, Anya and I hung out watching Christmas movies and cooking my Grandma JB's pasta sauce. We then both traveled home later in the week to celebrate Christmas with my immediate family. Then the same day I got back to VA, I had a friend come into town for a quick visit. And now it's the start of the new year!
Reflecting back over the past year, I've heard a lot of complaints about how 2017 was the worst year. Just wanted to remind you, that's in all in your attitude how terrible or wonderful your year went.  You don't need a new year in order to start over, although it doesn't hurt.  My year was full of a new job, a new apartment, a new car, and a new location. I traveled to Iceland, Denmark, and Turks and Caicos. I learned a lot about what I want and what I don't want, made new friends, and reconnected with old. Some of the resolutions I have set for myself are to get rid of negative energy (already saged my apartment), read one book a month, learn the guitar again, visit someplace new once a month, join a meetup group/be more social, get better about actively going to church (not just watching it), and the usual of eating better and working out more.  I hope you're able to leave the negative of 2017 behind and leap forward into 2018 with a new attitude and fresh new slate.  Do more of what you love and what makes you happy. Here's wishing you a new year ahead!

Movie Time

I was one of the winners of my work's Christmas dessert contest! Thank you to everyone who voted for my stuck santas! I had a lot of fun making them and I hope you enjoyed eating them!

40 Movies Every Woman Should See Before 40 

While finishing up preparations for the holidays, I indulged and caught up on some movies this week. I watched Thor, Coco, Mother!, The Glass Castle, Wonder, The Greatest Showman, as well as a few Hallmark movies. I also plan on going to see Pitch Perfect 3 at some point this weekend.
The Greatest Showman was exciting and lively - I've been listening to the soundtrack since I saw it. Musicals just always have a way of putting you in a good mood and of course making you want to break out in song and dance.
Mother! on the other hand was rich in symbolism and profound that it really made you take a step back and think about the meaning...... Let's be honest, it was incredibly dark and I had to research the symbolism involved. I will give you a hint though....Mother Nature.

Christmas Baking

My beautifully talented great friend painted me this incredible picture for Christmas. She modeled this after one of my dancing pictures and I adore everything about it! 

My work secret santa was so wonderful and thoughtful! When I went to open my gift (wrapped in Christmas palm tree wrapping paper) that was on the gift table, it said "Sorry this isn't your actual gift....look under the drink table for your real gift." Underneath the drink table was a large box with several other smaller boxes inside, with an elephant wine holder, elephant jewelry, and my favorite scented candle.  I love all of it, so whoever you were, thank you so much!

I also made these fun stuck santas!

I traveled home to visit my parents for their birthdays this weekend and the Christmas baking continued! I made my grandma's oatmeal raisin cookies and her Christmas cookies, chocolate covered peppermint pretzels, white chocolate covered pretzels, peppermint chocolate fudge, and chex mix.  There will even be more baking next week for Christmas, including peppermint cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake, butterscotch pudding, and broken glass cake! Yum!

Let It Snow...Somewhere Else

This week was filled with getting into the holiday spirit with Christmas activities:

Planned my Christmas flights home

Looked into some ugly Christmas sweaters

Finished up decorating

Drove to a Festival of Lights

Visited Santa

Played in the snow

I enjoy snow....on Christmas day....that's it.  It's not Christmas yet so therefore it needs to melt and come back again later. I will take the seashells over snowflakes any time of the year.

Back to Reality

Well my first day back to work a relaxing vacation, I ended up having two crashing exotics patients and I came home to a note on my door says that my rent would be increasing by $200 in the new year! On top of that I've been trying to do my Christmas shopping with no ideas at all, and 16 people at my work called out sick. Talk about coming back to reality....

On a merrier note....It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around my apartment!

Turks and Caicos

My family traveled to the stunning Turks and Caicos for Thanksgiving! This is the 7th year we have traveled for Thanksgiving and each year has happened to be somewhere in the Caribbean.  I can honestly say that the Caribbean is one of my favorite locations on this earth. Not only was it home for 3 years, but the food is tropical and delicious, the weather is my favorite temperature year-round, the water is indescribable blues,  but island time is the best way to relieve stress and just be present. It's a type of freedom and therapy that you can't obtain anywhere else. 

 Conch spring roll

My bliss

 Iguana Island

Those blues though

Rum punch on a Caribbean beach to celebrate an American holiday

 Conch fritters, crack conch, and fried plantations 

 Scuba

Champagne on a boat while fishing 

"See the line where the sky meets the sea, it calls me!"

 Conch outside of its shell

 Rum punch mon'

Creole conch

The rescue facility on Turks and Caicos

 So who needs snowflakes when you have seashells. I'm going to have to break up with winter. It's time to start seeing other seasons. Summer is hotter and clearly better than you.

Turks and Caicos Recap

Where Did November Go?

US lifts ban on elephant hunting trophy

Trump Elephant Trophy Ban

Hopefully this doesn't actually become an issue. It would be disgusting and shameful for this ban to be lifted. 

Dogs Really Can Smell Your Fear

Food truck festival this past weekend .....I tried a melt-in-your-mouth delicious Frenchman sandwich.  It contain fried chicken, egg, ham, cheese, and bacon. It may have feel apart while I was eating it, but I inhaled every last bite. 

Stuck in Colder Weather

I had off this past Friday, so of course I had to do a bit more hiking, even though the cold almost kept me inside snuggling up with Anya and a mug of hot chocolate all weekend. Old Rag Mountain Hike is a strenuous hike, but the view was well worth the journey.  We couldn't have picked a better time of year to go. 

The weather has gotten down to the 30s this past week.....I had to go shopping for more winter clothes.... I even saw a guy with his convertible top down!
Luckily in a few weeks I will be able to enjoy some much need beach and warm weather time!

Halloween 2017

This week was spent getting back into the swing of things at work after such a wonderful vacation.

Halloween was this past week! I decorated the apartment a bit in the spirit of the holiday. 

This was the first year that I wasn't able to completely dress up for Halloween such was a little disappointing. I did a few little subtle things though....

Anya did dress up for me instead, although she wasn't too thrilled.