Christmas, Candles, CDs

The weather this last week has been absolutely glorious! I love fall and am glad that it saved some of its wonderful sunny-ness and leaf changing for when I came home. I laugh because the weather this last week was nicer than any consecutive weather I had while traveling for 5 and a half weeks. I get all the good weather when I travel. :)


So today I decided to welcome fall with open arms (finally) and do what I have long dreaded to do... turn on the furnace... I realized this morning when I was freezing inside my house that I needed a bit of heat turned on. :) It's funny, because in NZ and Aus, I was in the mindset that spring and summer were coming... and then I come home and they're over! But that's all right! Along with fall comes the beginnings of darkness earlier and coziness inside the house. Like lighting candles and turning on the fireplace and snuggling under a blanket with a good book.


I have some really cool candles so in anticipation of some friends coming over tonight I decided to light them. Works well for ambience, creates a nice smell and they provide warmth too (okay not that much warmth, but I'll take it)


I could stare at candles forever.. it's like having mini contained fires (that hopefully stay contained)

What a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend as well! Went to see two musicals in Seattle with my friend Megan, one of which is in my top 3 of favorite musicals! So good! And then I had 2 family gatherings-so wonderful to spend time with family and catch up and connect. And a brunch with friends as well! So blessed! :)


Last night before bed I was a bit overwhelmed with all the things I need to get done. So I wrote myself a to do list and a "things to do around the house" to do list. I crossed off quite a bit today, partly avoiding making some videos and also cleaning before having people over. Both great motivators.


One thing I got a great headstart on today was wrapping my Christmas gifts!! Before you think I'm crazy, let me explain... I LOVE december and I love Christmas and taking time to reflect and such and spend quality time with friends and family. So since I'm gone in November, I figure I will get all my stuff done now and be totally free to enjoy in December!


And the thing I was procrastinating from all day: the videos for my application to grad school. I applied months ago but was missing 2 ten minute videos. So I called a friend and said she should pop by after work so I could bless her with a ten minute free counselling session (i sold it so well) and then I made a 10 minute video of myself talking about depression. SO good to be finished them, with the CD burned and ready to be dropped off tomorrow. And then we shall go from there. The idea of returning to school gets me very excited!


And I figured I'd take a scrunchy nose picture of myself because apparently I think it's funny to take pictures of myself.. oh scrunchy nose.


And now I'm ending the day by watching the video footage of the Chilean miner rescue while blogging. How incredible! So emotional! I remember hearing stories about them on the radio while I was in NZ. I think the one that moved me the most was the woman who had a baby and sent a note down to her husband who said she should be named Esperanza, which means 'hope' in Spanish. What a picture of hope it is to see these miners out of the mine.

And now I'm off to go to bed early as I have a busy morning of playing with my favorite little man tomorrow.