The making of a perfect weekend:

• Baja Burrito & knitting night with a really random but wonderful group of women.
• kick-ass (seriously) Jazzercise workout, in which I left with a fully soaked t-shirt.
• doggie bath time... clean pups are the best.
• Little Sister art time
• Christmas party with lots of homemade gifts, wine, delicious food, and wonderful company.
• Sleeping in & making homemade cinnamon rolls... sugar overload.
• Eating lots of homemade apple cider caramels.
• Folk + Free Skool gardening class with friends.
• Dutch Blitz game night, complete with ginger-apple spritzer, caramels, and laughter with two of my favorite women.
• Wrapping presents & putting them under the tree.
• Knitting on the couch with a cat on each side of me.
• Knowing that in less than a week, my grad school friends will be free to hang out with me again (this means you, Sarah).
• Knowing that Christmas is 15 days away!!!
 

Folk + Free Skool

She made this for me. "Jayvea loves Becca as a real sister and mom." 

Corduroy cuddle time.

 

and presents under the tree!

Sandy.

You guys, my mom just adopted the cutest dog in the world (tied with Cohen, obviously). She is perfect for my mom in every way. She's housetrained, crate-trained, incredibly affectionate, so soft & cuddly, a perfect 30-lb size, fuzzy, beautiful, and friendly. They just fit each other so well. I'm so glad they have found each other. Sometimes life just works out like that.... you go to a street festival to visit family, and end up going home with a piece of your family you hadn't even realized you were missing.

That time again

I can't even believe the Christmas season is upon us already. It really caught me off guard, as it does every year. We finally have our Christmas tree up, and our few simple decorations have made their way around the house. The cats have already entertained themselves with knocking off ornaments and pulling bows off of presents. Speaking of presents, I already have a few ready to go & wrapped up under the tree! I love gift-giving, especially when it means making things... :)

The decorations were all Nathan's doing. Crafty husband!

Our modest East TN-raised tree. We like it. 

an ornament from Nathan's parents last year. 

No shame: I love my sparkly ornaments. 

Though this Christmas season brings about some strange changes and breaking of traditions, I am feeling optimistic about it. Nathan & I have a beautiful home & furry family to enjoy Christmas with. We'll get to see a pretty good share of our human families, too. And we'll be spending the first minutes of Christmas with our St Anne's parish family for midnight Eucharist, and then the daylight hours of Christmas with my Park Center family. All-in-all, I have pretty high hopes for this Christmas. The season is already off to a great start...

Cohen on Vacation.

During our Miami vacation, Cohen had a really rough time. He had to lie around, eat fish & chicken (which he rarely ever sees at home), sunbathe, go for warm Florida walks, discover geckos and coconuts, and get a lot of lovin' from his humans. Must be tough.

oh, the suffering...

The beach

On one of our last days of vacation, momma & I spent the day soaking up the sun at Hollywood's beautiful beach. We enjoyed our day surrounded by sand, sun, seagulls, palm trees, cocktails, and the roar of the ocean. I can't even begin to say how perfect it was to spend a beautiful day with the most wonderful woman I know.

The Everglades

So, Sarah was really, really excited about taking us to the Everglades during our time in South Florida. And now I understand why; the everglades are stinkin' amazing (and literally stinkin' in some parts). I've never seen a place like it, and there is actually no other ecosystem like it in the world! We saw some gators, amazing birds, and beautiful old trees. It was a really fun day, and we even took the MetroRail to get out to Miami, just to add a little bit more adventure.

this palm has curly hair, just like me! 

giant ancient Mahogany tree.

University of Miami

During our Miami vacation, we took a trip to the University to see my big sister teaching her Composition Class to a bunch of U of M freshmen. She showed us around the beautiful campus and then let me sit in on her class. She is an amazing teacher... I wish I'd had someone with her enthusiasm, talent, and compassion to teach me how to write. She was great, and her students loved her. I was filled with such pride walking around the campus & experiencing such a big part of her Miami life. She is such an amazing woman, and I am so proud of her.

Sis in front of the student center (which has a BAR inside!)

Sis & mom in front of the U.

Sisters!

Being pretty, showing us around the campus.

Palm trees everywhere.

More palm trees.

Sis in front of the building where she teaches class.

Teachin'

Being a really awesome teacher

Beautiful, huge tree on campus.