2011 Christmas Eve

Look! Another Christmas celebration blog post! After enjoying reminiscing about the V-A Christmas, I am excited to write about the annual Christmas Eve celebration at my grandparent's house! You can see last year's blog post about it here.

 Sadly my camera battery died before the night even started, so I don't have any pictures. :( I stole all of these from Megan, my cousin! Thank goodness she brought her camera!

The night started out with the usual goofing around and hanging out. I actually started to feel sick... my nose was clogged, a got a tickle in my throat, and I was really tired. Oh no, not on the best day of the year! :( Luckily for me, my dad tracked down a pharmacy that was still open and bought me some medicine! Luckily that helped me survive the night.

A fun tradition Megan and I have is doing all of the Christmas dishes after dinner. We started it about 6 or 7 years ago to help my grandma out... and now we have Jack and Ben in on our tradition!

What can I say? Megan and I make washing dishes fun :)

A shot of our butts! Megan and I kept a close eye on the kiddos with the delicate Christmas dishes :)

I love this picture! The four dish washers with my grandma!

I gave Tommy Megan's camera while we were washing dishes and he started wandering around the house taking pictures... this would be the adult table after dinner. Well, adult table isn't right... there happen to be 4 adults at the kids table. Haha. (Doug, Annmarie, Megan, and me.) But we've always called it the adult table!

During the dish washing marathon, the boys were stolen for a picture. Megan and I were like "REALLY?? Right now??" But then we saw that this was the picture they took. All of the boys of the family. I love it! :)

A cute picture of Megan with Jack and Tommy!

Our annual Christmas tree picture! Sadly we were missing Annmarie again this year, she had to work! But she was there in spirit and we missed her!

Ben looking so cute in front of the full Christmas tree!

There's always a lot of commotion as we prepare for hours of gift opening!

I made sure that Megan go this bag! She loves penguins!!!

Ben and me hanging out while the "adults" opened their gifts!

Jack lounging while the adults opened their gifts!

What another great Christmas Eve. Each year we gather at my grandparent's house, load up the Christmas tree, eat lots of spaghetti, play games, and open gifts. For some reason, this tradition just DOESN'T get old! Each year my grandma tries to convince us to change the menu... and we just won't have any of that! There was even talk of moving Christmas Eve from my grandparent's house to someone else's... yikes! I know some day it will have to happen, but I hope that day is far away. Now that Jack and Ben are older, they are starting to love the tradition as the rest of us do!

I can't wait for next year, already. Even if some day we just gather to eat and I become to old for gifts, it will still be one of the best days of the year. I love having the family all together like this!!! <3

V-A Christmas

It's become a tradition to post about the annual V-A Christmas on my blog... granted I usually get it posted before FEBRUARY, but let's not get greedy. ;-)

If you want to relive last year's V-A Christmas, check it out here.

This year was just as wonderful as any of the other celebrations that have occurred in my life... except we got to share it with 4 more people than usual! Doug's girlfriend, Kate, Erin's fiance', Wael, and Stephanie and Erin's grandparents joined us this year. I was GIDDY about how much love was going to be in the house this year. I was thrilled enough that Erin was going to be in town... but we got to add so many other wonderful people. This year's celebration was at our house.

We started the night with watching Doug's video portfolio from school. I loved how all of us crammed into our family room to watch what Doug has worked on this year!

Afterwards, Doug gave us a quick lesson about editing sound and such

It's also a tradition that we eat pasta every year!

We had an extra long dinner table this year! Loved it!

The very full Christmas tree! This makes my heart sing... I can't even describe all of the thoughtful gifts!

I gave Stephanie some texting gloves! The thumbs come free so you can text in winter! hehe

I got Wael a game for his Wii! We never got to play it though! :( Maybe this summer!

Uncle Ed got an e-book!

My mom ordered Aunt Kathy herb markers for when she grows herbs in summer!

We wanted to make sure Mommom and Poppop felt the love, so they got some gifts too! And so did their darling dog, Annie! :)

Erin and I during present opening! <3

Wael got a Chicago Cubs hoodie from my parents! Represent Chi-town!! Haha

My mom realized her gift was wrapped in paper that was fuzzy! She had to show Doug and Kate. haha. She got new lighting for her craft room!!

Don't fear, Stephanie! We got you herb markers, too!!!

Stephanie wrapped her gifts with brown paper and a black and white picture of the person the gift was for and her. How adorable was that?!!

Stephanie and me after gift opening!! <3

I also got a picture with Erin and her wonderful fiance, Wael. It was SO fun to spend a V-A Christmas with him... and hopefully be many more to come!

And last but not least... a picture of the three girl cousins. They are basically sisters to me! Love you two!

Actually, waiting until February to post about V-A Christmas has given me the opportunity to relive and enjoy this year's celebration! I just sat here smiling this whole time about how great it was this year. I hope next year's Christmas is just as big and full of love. I LOVE this tradition!

See you next year for another installment of V-A Christmas!!!

Winter To-Do List Update

Remember my Top 8 list of things I wanted to do this winter? If not, you can find it here.

I thought it would be a good time to see how I'm doing!

1. Go ice skating - Can you believe I have never been ice skating? It's true, never once. I'd like to try it some time! Although I can probably predict some injuries from that haha.
Negative. I haven't come close, let alone even considered it! I actually forgot it was on my list. It's only February... do you think I can still try it??

2. Build a snowman - I don't so it's think I'll ever outgrow building a snowman. They are just too cute. :) No one could guess that my parents have a 23 year old living with them. Ha.
I think part of the reason I haven't done this one is because we haven't had any significant snow!

3. Go to the Walnut Room - I've never been to the Walnut Room downtown, either. It would be so fun to check it out. Chicago in winter is so beautiful!
Well, it looks like I've totally missed out on this one! The holiday season always seems to fly by... and I didn't have any time to go downtown! :(
 
4. Make college scrapbook - I keep putting off all these scrapbooks that I want to get done...  so it's about time I get cracking on them! I have 3 in mind right now, so I am eager to at least get one done this season. It will be good to have a project to work on after Christmas cards are sent out.
Ooo ooo! I have this one sort of started... I ordered the supplies from Stephanie when she hosted a scrapbooking party. They supplies haven't arrived yet, but I am excited to pick out the pictures and get started!!!!!

5. Go Christmas shopping with a friend - I absolutely love Christmas shopping... but it is usually a lot more fun when you do it with a friend! The past couple of years, I have shopped alone because I lived alone or was the only person not working during the day. Hopefully this year will be different.... (if I don't happen to buy a lot of in online!)
Wow, this is depressing... haha. No, I did ALL of my Christmas shopping alone this year. Like I said before, the holidays snuck up and flew by me again! I managed to do shopping during my small windows of free time between work, working out, baking cookies, and cleaning!

6. Have a movie night with some girly friends - I haven't had a movie night in a long time, it would be fun to watch a chick-flick with some friends and eat chocolate. Yum! I'm definitely not having enough girl nights.
Did I have that movie night with Stephanie after I wrote this? We watched her wedding video and 10 Things I Hate About You... it was awesome!!!!! I love hanging out with her! I am going to go ahead and assume we did that after this post, haha. :)

7. Do a holiday project found on pinterest - I pinned a million things I wanted to do for fall on pinterest.... and I didn't do any of them.  :( So I want to do at least one of the projects I found for winter!
Uhhh.... sort of! I found these adorable dessert recipes on pinterest and made them for my work holiday party and for family parties! Brownie Santa hats for work party. A melting snowman for the family parties. I want to still make some of the other winter projects I found... but not sure if I'll do it! I like doing projects with someone! Haha.

8. Go to Kriskindlemarket - I loved going in high school with my friends. Warm treats, cool vendors, and cute crafts. I'd love to go back this year and see how it has changed!
Aww, sad again. Never got downtown for anything over Christmas. I need to get there sometime next year!!!




Well it looks like I have done a less than medicore job of my winter to-do list. How sad! I do still have some time to do some of them! Is there anything else I should add to my list this winter?

Help young filmmakers achieve their dreams!

Howdy! This post is a little out of place considering all of the posting I need to catch up on... but it's important to do this now!

I've mentioned my brother, Doug, and his passion for film making before... but I've got a little something different to post about his current project.

He has a buddy, Casey, who is working on his senior thesis project. It is about George Lucas and his journey to get Star Wars into production.... and Doug happens to be staring as George Lucas! Here is a teaser for the film that Casey posted:



I am so excited to see the final product! Especially because for some reason I love Star Wars and I'm really proud of Doug and his acting... usually Doug says he is not a good actor, but I was super impressed by these shots from the teaser.

The film is set in the 70s, thus Casey needed to buy some period appropriate clothes and props to make it authentic. Also, in March, Casey, Doug, and a few production staff members are headed out to LA to take a few shots in front of the Hollywood sign. With all this mind, it has cost Casey a lot of money to work on this student thesis film. He wants to do a great job as well as catch the attention of Star Wars fans everywhere.

He needs your help to make this film the best it can be, as well as help absorb some of the costs of making a film as talented as this one. Check out this video he and his production team posted:


You can visit his Kickstarter page here and donate money to his cause. I am trying to help spread the word because the team only has until the end of February to raise $6,000, and I know how much they all need the help. And also, Doug has played such an important role in this film, I want to support him as much as I can!

Keep in mind, there are prizes you can choose from if you donate a certain amount of money... but in the end, every penny you can donate will help the team.

Let's get to $6,000, everyone!!!

***Note: Doug's thesis film, which he is also working on, is set in modern day time and he does not anticipate spending nearly as much money. If you are concerned about pledging for him as well, you probably won't need to!

Thankful for...

In order to get back into my normal posting routine, I'm going to have to rewind all the way to....

THANKSGIVING!

Yikes. Considering it is February, this is quite the jump. Of course, I want to apologize for how boring and irrelevant this probably is to 99% of you... but in order to remember and enjoy these special times, I want to write about them! And if you do the math, you'll end up suffering through Christmas and New Years, too. :)

So I had the idea of writing a post about the things I am thankful for... how cliche, right? So at work, I came up with this sort of set up to switch it up a bit:

T


H


A


N


K


F  amily and friends



U


L

Then I couldn't be creative enough to fill in the letters! Geez Amy!

So here is a list, in no particular order, of the things I am thankful for this year (originally written in November 2011):

My amazing parents who support me and love me despite my faults... spending weekends in Ohio with my grandparents... long talks with my brother... being able to have a high school and college education... Sunday mornings at the farm... Spring Valley and its outlet for me as well as its preservation of nature... my amazing bed... the Eric and Kathy morning show on the radio...  the relationship I have with my extended family: cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents... my favorite stuffed animal, Buster, still being in one piece and still having the ability to comfort me... having a wonderful laptop and access to internet... my mom's delicious cooking each night... my smart phone and its ability to let me communicate with Erin when she is abroad... pasta (any and all forms)... laughing... my GPS unit... trees and people letting me plant them in their yards... having an appreciation for nature... being able to landscape friends and family's houses... working at ISU for a year to meet Maria... having two lifelong friends who are more like sisters and cousins (Erin and Stephanie)... being able to travel to New York twice this year... my iPod... being asked to stand up in Erin's wedding... finding time to rediscover my love of reading... facebook and its ability to let me connect with friends and family all over... having support in order to find a job that is a good fit for me...

There's the list I wrote at work during the week leading up to Thanksgiving! Did you post about Thanksgiving? Do we have things in common? What's one unconventional thing you're thankful for?

Hang in there, lots more throwbacks to come. :)