I use to post all the time about my "upcoming events". Then, once we started working on the Tumbleweed Tiny House I put that on hold and posted almost exclusively about the building process.

We're coming up on Winter, so things will be slowing down a little on that front, so I thought now would be a good time to go over some upcoming events.
( things I will be doing soon... )
I think that is all. I'm not a stress ball yet, but I expect to be relatively soon.

PS - sorry for typos and such. After typing all that I don't feel up to editing.

We are back in Georgia after a lovely trip to Michigan where we saw all of our favorite people and enjoyed the holidays. I wanted to record the events here so I could remember:

( One week of Wintery fun! )

And now that we are home we are going to Mazzy's to watch the final Lions game of the year. Wish us luck!

In a big display of the ultimate laziness, I present to you my "Christmas Card Letter" in Blog format. I really enjoy getting the yearly updates from my friends and family, but alas I never quite make it to sending out my own. My solution - post it on LJ and send the link to everyone I would have sent a card to. Brilliant solution if I do say so myself.

( 2008 has been a great year... )

I have finished my Christmas shopping AND I have wrapped all of the presents. oneandonlymatt had a couple more things left to get.

Friday night was my company Christmas party. It was at my house. Usually we do a huge blow-out at a local restaurant. Party dresses, appetizers, full meal, open bar...the whole nine. This year, much like a lot of companies, we were going to cancel the whole thing to save some money. Well, see, I think it is rare when you work for a company where you genuinely enjoy spending time with the people you work with. I just wanted to have a party, so I offered to have one at my house. We made it a pot-luck and a BYOB and I think everyone had a great time.

Now I am ready for Christmas. We leave for Michigan on the evening of the 19th as soon as I get off of work. It'll be late. We'll drive until northern Kentucky or something and then head out again in the morning. Matt and I will open our presents to each other the day before we leave. Yay for early Christmas/Solstice. Truth is, we usually do that on the Solstice, but since we are leaving so early this year we'll have to do it before then. I am so excited about one of Matt's presents!

Yay for limited Christmas Stress. The only other thing I am dealing with right now is the gallbladder thing, so that is plenty of stress for now. No new updates right now, but I'll keep you informed.

Hey all - I just wanted to run though and do a quick update. Things are well, but I am heading into the annual holiday craziness. It is always crazy for us because we do the back to back trips to Detroit.

Last week we spent some time with reikimaster and thunder24. We went to the hemlock festival in North Georgia. We saw some music, did some shopping. Then we went for dinner. We always enjoy spending time with them. We've even concocted an evil master plan for taking over the world on New Years Eve!

This weekend we head to Charlotte North Carolina to see our beloved Detroit Lions lose another game. Soon to be 0 and 10, people! When we get home, I have my appointment with the specialist to determine what is up with my gall bladder. I'll keep you all update.

After that, we are hosting our second annual Mocksgiving with radiantbaby and mtn_hermit. We make a pre-thanksgiving dinner on the Thursday before during our regular TV Viewing night. last year we made a Turducken. This year, we're going a little more old school.

Then it is on to Detroit for Thanksgiving with the families. When we get home from that, we're hosting our company Christmas party. Then it is the dash to Christmas, possible surgery and another trip to Detroit.

I hope you are all doing well. Please pardon any typos, since this is a drive by post, I don't have a lot of time to edit. I'll fix any errors later that make me look stupid.

Hi All. I just wanted to recap my holiday experience. Move along if you aren't interested.

( On the first day of Christmas... )

However, the other TOTALLY cool news that I found out today...
dreamsidhe is coming down to Atlanta for DRAGON*CON! Yay! Dance! Yay! I am so excited. Some of you Atlanta folk will get to meet her at the con that weekend.

We had a great time at our holiday party. All kinds of awesome people came and a good time was had by all. Good food, good friends and good wine, what more can you want?

I didn't manage to get any photos of the party - though I had my camera out all night.

So, I thought I would share some other holiday photos just because I am in a festive mood.

( oooh...shiny lights... )

The holiday is fast approaching and I am trying my hardest not to become a stress ball. When I realize that we are leaving a week from today, it is hard to stop myself from stressing.

( our Christmasy Plans )

So, I have been getting all the 2007 "Newsletters" from my friends and family with their Christmas Cards. Since I am terrible about sending out cards each year I thought I might write a newsletter on this here Blog and then send out the link to anyone who might be interested. If you are, please read. If you are not, move along. I do realize sometimes that the world does not revolve around me. It is a shame, however.

( Holiday Newsletter 2007 )

I look forward to 2008 and all the adventures it will bring.

Our house is SOOO decorated. I love holiday decorations - whatever winter holiday that might be. I celebrate a secular Christmas, mostly because that is what my family celebrates. I honor the Winter Solstice as the turning of the season. Otherwise, my winter affiliations are up for grabs. However, my winter schedule is already pretty booked.

( some of the stuff I am up to )

I haven't posted in a while. I have been in hibernation since a particularly tiring New Years Eve party at our friend Chad's house. It was also my first week back at work since before Christmas so there was a lot to get readjusted to. We've been busy which is really good for us. It usually slows down for us over the holidays but it didn't this year.

We have some new plans for the new year. Matt and I are both going to sign up for Weight Watchers. I am also planning to get up a little early every day and ride the exercise bike for 15 to 20 minutes. I gained more weight over the last year than I care to admit, and the truth is I am getting older so there is no time like the present to do something about it.

Next friday I get my wisdom teeth pulled. I am beginning to get a little anxious about it. I don't want the IV in my hand, mostly. But, I'll get over it.

I am looking to be a little more social too soon. We went out to dinner with lerg last night to a new place called Seasons 52 that just opened here near Perimeter Mall. It was excellent!

Well, that is all for now, I think. We're going to have tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Then we are going to finish de-Christmasing. We started by getting the ornaments of the tree earlier

Oh, we got our camera set up so I'll be sharing some pictures soon too!

We got home last night about 6:30. I had a great time in Michigan for Christmas but I am so glad to be home. I haven't posted at all since I left so I thought I would briefly catalog what we did on our Christmas Vacation. ( Click if you're curious )
And that was our Christmas vacation. If I missed anything, I'm sorry. If I spelled anything wrong...too bad.

Upon hearing that two perfectly innocent bean bags were threatened with abandonment, autographedcat and kitanzi showed up at our house last night to take them into protective custody.

( in other Wheezy news )

Oh, and I got the new Sarah McLachlan Holiday album. I like it very much - I've listened to it a couple times. There are some classic christmas songs but also "Song for a Winter's Night" by Gordon Lightfoot, "River" by Joni Mitchell and an original song as well. The Joni Mitchell song is my current favorite. Well, that or Sarah's version of "On a Bleak Midwinter" - which I had never heard before but I like her version very much.

I just got an email confirmation that says a big shipment from Amazon is estimated to be here by December 22nd.

First, that is nearly 10 days from now...second...it is *the day* that we are leaving for Michigan!!! Ack! I am going to be obsessively tracking that package! I hope their estimations are longer than the actual time.

I briefly mentioned my new holiday tree idea in our Thanksgiving posts. I had an idea to make the holiday season festival and meaningful for myself. So, I present to you my Hellenic Holiday Tree.


( very photo heavy behind the cut )

We decorated the rest of the house this weekend too. We have a "regular" tree with all the fixings. We hung the stockings by the fire. We have a wreath on the door and some lights in the windows. I love me some christmas!

My sister sent this to me in email. I decided to blog it instead of email it back!
( Christmas Meme! )