The Best of 2011

By this time, the internet has been filled with end-of-the-year posts and, though I am an unfaithful blogger, I suppose New Years is the time to do it. It's like those Christmas letters my parents always send, but with free postage! These are my top three of the year:

3. Wyn and I moved into our first apartment together. It's old, drab, and underground, but it's ours and we are thankful for it everyday. We're learning how to organize and care for a home like adults!

2. I took a fantastic trip to Europe with my brother Nick and cousin Megan. For three weeks, we backpacked from Prague to Edinburgh, staying in Hostels and riding trains. It was amazing. Even though we only spent a day or two in each location, we learned a lot about culture and travel. We lost our way countless times and returned exhausted and smelly, but we loved every city and most of the fascinating people we met.

1. Obviously, the top most important and most fantastic event of my life this year was getting married to my best friend and favorite fuzzy bunny, Wyn Moreno. Even though I'm an uptight stressball control freak, the day passed with joy and without too much freaking out. We hope to stay this happy forever :)

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat

Yesterday the first snow of the year came. Wyn was at work, and as I was cleaning the bathroom, I heard something hitting the window. I peered through to see ice pelting the glass, and my heart fell. Snow is not something I look forward to. I really value having warm, dry feet and feeling the sun on my shoulders. However, because it is the month of Thanksgiving, and because I'm attempting to have a good attitude, I'm listing here some of my favorite things about this time of year:

1. Autumn and winter food. Who doesn't love pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, and apple? Winter is the season of hot chocolate, warm bread. pumpkin muffins, and tomato soup. One of my favorites: Delicious vanilla and cinnamon cupcakes.

2. Snuggling under warm blankets with my sweetheart. It's great!

3. Going home for Christmas. My parents are pretty serious about Christmas traditions, and their home is one of the happiest places on earth. Traditions include: Middle Eastern-style Christmas Eve dinner, Doctor Who marathons, and making so many gingerbread cookies we lose motivation to frost them.

4. Shopping for a new winter sweater. I am VERY picky about sweaters, so yearly I brave the weather, go to six or seven different stores, and attempt to find the perfect sweater for the season. Whether it's a rusty red or a warm cream, fall sweaters provide courage and confidence in the face of the evil snow.

5. Spending real time with the people I love most. When school ends, I suddenly realize how little time I've put into the most important relationships I have. I know my mom, dad, siblings, and husband all miss me, but during the semester I seem to mix up my priorities. The holidays are the perfect time to make up for my school induced neglect.

What do you love most about the cold seasons? Help me find some more holiday cheer!

Once upon a time...

It's a chilly night after a beautiful fall day, and I am deep under the covers entering grades and studying flash cards for French. Somehow, my mind went from conjugation to how beautiful the world is and how grateful I am. This school semester has been the busiest of my life, between eighteen credits, honors contracts, and two jobs. However, it's also been the most peaceful. I feel so confident, brave, and beautiful for the first time in my life, which leads me to my thankful topic for the day:

Mon meri. My husband.

We met two years ago and, after a turbulent beginning, dated for a year before engagement and marriage. I was skeptical at first, but he gave every day new life and me new joy. Slowly, I grew to depend on him so much I knew I had to be with him always.

And so, today I am thankful for him. I am thankful for how he checks my tea in the morning if I'm too busy putting on makeup. I am thankful he hangs up my jacket when I invariably toss it on the floor. I am thankful for cute morning kisses and evening study parties. Most of all, I am thankful that he exists, and that he would want me.

Wedding pictures by Envision Image Photography: http://www.envisionimage.blogspot.com/

Life

Today, my sweetheart got this for me.

I wanted to see it so badly while it was in theaters, but the closest it came to Logan was Salt Lake, and I was in the middle of getting married, so it didn't happen. Now it is ours, and I cannot wait to watch it.

Roger Ebert, my favorite film critic, had this to say:

"Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" is a film of vast ambition and deep humility, attempting no less than to encompass all of existence and view it through the prism of a few infinitesimal lives. The only other film I've seen with this boldness of vision is Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," and it lacked Malick's fierce evocation of human feeling." Link to the full review: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110602/REVIEWS/110609998

This was a surprise from my wonderful husband, who knew how badly I wanted to see it. It came in the mail and he unwrapped it gleefully, so happy to show me. I am so happy to have him     :)