My Week in Flashes

     I've been somewhat neglecting blogging lately.  Everything has become secondary, now that finals are upon us.  The past two weeks have been a lot of late nights working, with even later nights studying and preparing for Christmas.  Teddy loves to cuddle while I'm studying:

   
     Christmas has become somewhat of a chore for everyone else in my household.  I literally did everything for Christmas this year:  I picked out and picked up the tree, decorated the tree, wrapped all the presents, baked and decorated the cookies, etc.

A photo of my hard work.  It's very obvious I got lazy by the time I got to putting on ornaments though.

      My cats think bows are the greatest invention ever, designed for them to play with.  They love ripping them off packages and running away with them, as I chase them.   By the way, favorite Christmas song:  "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" performed by James Taylor.  Nothing beats White Christmas and hot chocolate while wrapping Christmas presents!  I mean, come on; this mug is beyond adorable:

His name is Mr. Chilly.

Greatest Christmas movie ever, hands down.

    My sister's school had their annual Holiday Concert this past week.  My sister plays mallets (xylophone, marimba, etc.) in Jazz Band and Concert Band, as well as signing in the Pop Choir.  She was excellent, as always.  When it comes to music, she practices hard and it shows in her performances.  When I attended that school and was in the music program, I was a co-founder and founding president of Tri-M, the Music Honor Society.  We started off with about ten members and we all fought constantly.  We did good work though, and I always wished I had had one more year as president so we could have done even more.  Since then, three years have passed and the chapter has nearly thirty members.  It brought tears to my eyes as I watched the new members be initiated, knowing that all the drama I dealt with and all the hard work I put into that "club" my senior year was worth it.  I'm so proud of how it's grown and what it has come to represent in my alma mater and the music program.

     On Saturday I drove my Bharatanatyam teacher, Kausalya to a temple in Connecticut.  The drive was two and a quarter hours long - one way, mind you.  My friend and fellow dancer, Leah, was with us so the drive was not awkward.  The temple was plain on the outside, but incredibly beautiful, elaborate and intricate inside.  We were incredibly fortunate and were able to go inside to observe.  Kausalya is incredibly generous and is literally the sweetest woman I have ever known.  She paid me for gas, as well as treated Leah and I to breakfast.  On Monday we drove to the mall and had Cheesecake Factory.  Kausalya insisted on treating us, even though we tried to pay.  She claimed that she "would pay for her daughter and since we are like her daughters, she would pay for us".  She's so funny with the things she says, especially when she doesn't get all of our American cultural euphemisms or customs.

     My family and I went out to eat over the weekend.  We tend to get pretty goofy when we're out and about.  You never know what's going to happen with my family:

Guns of steel!

"Does my armpit smell?"

Heart sandwich!

     My last final is tomorrow and I'm finally free until the twenty-third of January!  It's crunch time at work, but that's to be expected in retail.  We just hired three new guys and a new woman, plus hired back two returning college girls and one guy.  I'm not entirely sure why since most of the really crazy shopping times are over.  I had to train one of the new guys yesterday... it was a loooooooonnng night. FIVE DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS!!!