Christmas in Neskowin

What a loverly break it has been.
Christmas day, we woke up and waited for my dad to stop getting ready (not so favorite tradition), opened gifts from Santa and the family (a more favorite tradition), and ate a yummy breakfast. We had our Christmas program at Church, which I sang in with my momma. It was really a great service.
That afternoon, we headed out to our beach house in Neskowin for a couple of days.  Very relaxing.
One of the days we were there, I took some time to take pictures since I haven't done it in awhile. I literally was the only one on the beach for a couple of hours.  Here are some picts from my solitary shoot:

Then we had some family pictures.

more about my break to come!

tiny tim

...is not the one from A Christmas Carol. Check out what my brother just showed me.
http://youtu.be/c71RCAyLS1M

Then watch this.
http://youtu.be/26wsU5LaWb4

Now go out and feel better about your singing abilities and performance showmanship.

vampire diaries

Is it possible to be in love with fictional characters? I am more bitten...I mean, smitten...with these vamps than I ever was with Edward Cullen.  They have been the source of my entertainment this winter break.

I mean, seriously, move over Robert Pattinson.

Ask Anna. I tried really hard not to get hooked. But who can resist this?

Bye, Independent Study!

I mentioned to my mon that we ha won the decorating contest at work and she said, "yeah, I saw your blog. Was that really everything?"
We had no budget and a large area, MOM. But in case anyone else isn't convinced, I have more pictures.


Today was my last day working at Independent Study after 15 months. I've really liked working here and it was sad to say bye to everyone there. Besides being winners, we had classical rock duets, basketball tourneys, and plenty of things to laugh about. I'll come back to visit, my fellow paper pushers!!!
In the mean time, I'm going to recover from finals and papers by taking a fatty nap and going to the temple. Portland tonight! ❤

nerd

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear

A couple of weeks ago, my work sent out an email declaring a decoration competition that will be judged at the Christmas party.  That day, I walked past the testing department and they were already going crazy.  Each time I walked by, their area had vomited more Christmas everywhere.  It was war.  I went to my supervisor's office and asked her what our budget was and she informed me that we don't have one. Challenge accepted.

We were separated into areas so that we could branch out and meet others. The issue with my area is that it was the biggest area.  We can work with that.

Our motto for the proceeding week was "We need to beat testing."  Since we work with mail, we decided to make our area into Santa's workshop.  

We had Santa's flight plans:

We managed to get letters to Santa from the North Pole:

We had the good and bad lists (checked and ready to be checked again):

Our elves were busy at work:

We value our elves:

I don't have any other pictures from the other rooms, but it was very festive :)

The morning of the big day came.  The day of judging, of course (what did you think, Christmas?).  We had a popular vote within the office and for the whole morning, it was neck-to-neck with testing.  At the beginning of the party, it was announced that testing won the popular vote.  So now it was up to the judges' pick. Second place=yellow! (testinggg)  And in first place....GREEN!! WE WON!  

Best. day. ever.

what will you give for Christ(mas)?

http://youtu.be/0FSQuHDIsVw

In the past few years, I have been so wrapped up in the stress of finals that Christmas surprises me.  I'm not fully in the Christmas spirit!  So this year I promised myself that I wouldn't let that happen even with 25 pages of essays and 5 finals in 2 weeks.  I heard yesterday that the best way to get in the spirit of Christmas is to give to others or to serve others.  Last Saturday, I went Christmas tree hunting for 5 trees to give with our giving tree gifts to 5 needy families in the area.  Hunting for Christmas trees is my favorite thing to do, so much so that I make my family wait until I get home from school so I can go with them.  This weekend's hunt was an adventure.  I'm used to going to tree farms in the quiet neighborhoods of Wilsonville, but in Heber City, Utah it's ok to just go to the side of the road and cut a tree down (with a permit, of course).  So we were parked on the side of a highway, trudging through 2 feet of snow through the forest and up steep hills and across freezing creeks to find the perfect trees.  We were successful and cold.
And I was officially in the Christmas spirit.
We talked about Christmas traditions and listened to the Carpenters Christmas and Bing Crosby during the long drive.  It got me really excited and that excitement has been building since then.

{photo cred: Trey Mortensen}

Our ward Christmas party was Monday, I am constantly listening to Christmas music (since it's after Thanksgiving, now), the First Presidency Devotional was Sunday night, I have some shopping done, and our apartment looks so festive!  All with time to write papers and freak out over finals.
I love Christmas.
Have you listened to Michael Buble's new Christmas album? Soooo good.

hey, michael. you have something for me?