My Frozen Backyard Lake

My little lake does freeze over in the winter. You can go snow mobiling on it and ice skating. On December 14th the lake looked like this:

Only 5 days later, this past Saturday, it was thick enough for Jumper boy to go running around on the ice! Although, he did mention that at one place he did crack it a bit... scary! I think I'll wait until it's a bit more frozen to go running around on it!

The #1 Reason to go HOME for Christmas!!!

The #1 reason to go home for Christmas this year is MY NEPHEWS!!! First, I still haven't met little Corbin. Second, Matthew is such a great kid and is so much fun that you can't not miss him!!! I am sooooo excited to see my brother Craig, his wife Ana and their two boys! Here's some reasons why:










Who wouldn't want to go home to that?!?!?!?

It FINALLY feels like December!

I'll start with the Christmas decorations. I put up a small little Christmas tree with the few ornaments that I had. I put up a wreath that I got for $5 at Michaels (plus another $4 for the ribbon to wrap around it) in my kitchen above my table. I put up a stocking that I decorated years ago with Whitney and made a new one for jumper boy... even put a few things in it! :) And, I've taken up mom's old habit of writing cute little things on the packages... just a nice little touch!


I put up christmas lights on my little deck in the freezing cold (slightly rainy). The lights were compliments of John and Marianne who don't use them anymore (but don't worry, they have beautiful lit wreaths and garlands on their house!) I tested all the lights, but it seems that I grabbed one strand that I had put in the "no good" pile by accident. You can see that in the picture... it's been too cold for me to feel motivated to change it out although I think I'll do that later this week. As jumper boy pointed out to me, that was a novice mistake... but since it was the first time that I every hung lights outdoors, I feel that I am allowed to make such mistakes.


I have Christmas music on my computer (and Pandora) that liven up my spirits. I have hot chocolate and little marshmallows for when my friend Elaina comes over this Friday night to watch a Christmas movie! I'm so excited!!

AND on top of all that, we got our first snow yesterday. We've had little flurries a couple times the last month, but we got 6-8 inches of heavy snow yesterday... I can't wait to go skiing!!! I got a ski pass for the local mountain for $200 that lets me ski pretty much any time... it was dirt cheap because I got it so early. I'm excited about becoming a better skiier! But I'll probably wait until I get home from Christmas to go... I've got too much going on before then to worry about it!

December 3

This past Thursday, my boss insisted (with prior notification of course) that I was going to give a seminar at the monthly TB meeting that is held at Harvard on the first Thursday of every month starting in October and ending in May. December 3rd was my appointed date. So, on December 2nd, I headed out to Everett to stay over at jumper boy's house while I finished preparing for my talk the next morning. I like to stay there before these meetings because in order to beat traffic going into Boston, you have to leave Worcester by 6am... so staying in Everett means I can wake up at my normal time. We both studied until about 11pm. My seminar went so well that my boss didn't have a single critique... even thought it was good enough to be a thesis defense! yay! I am so pleased. That day I got an e-mail from a friend of mine who is a post-doc at Harvard... apparently his entire lab came to the seminar and really liked it... and again today (almost a week later) I was told by someone who didn't even attend the lecture that he heard I gave a really fantastic seminar! yay again! As a graduate student it is easy to think that you're not very good at things or that nobody cares about your research. This is the first time I felt like I really am very good at what I do. It was a great reminder to me that even though most of the time I don't feel smart, I am, and I am talented. I just have to remember that more often!

November

Since I haven't posted anything for a while, I'm calling this one "November" so that I can accurately describe for you the goings-on of the month since the illnesses.

Health Update: It seems that jumper boy and I are both well. We are no longer sick or chugging Airborne or going through a box of Kleenex a day. It took some time, but we have healed. I got hit much worse than he did. After recovering from the flu, I had another short series of colds worsened by the fact that I had the strong urge to go to the gym after being sedentary for so long.

Thanksgiving week: I had arrived in Everett on Tuesday evening and we ate an absolutely fantastic spicy pasta with vegetables. We watched movies, we slept in, we cooked dinners and ate homemade soups... it was lovely. Black Friday consisted of lunch and walking around a drizzly Boston before going to see the movie "men who stare at goats". We generally stayed away from the shopping crowds and relaxed instead. We did some homework and reading for work, but only minimally since we really both needed to take time to relax after being stressed out and sick.

Next up: Thanksgiving. Ok. Well, jumper boy has "family" in Pembroke, MA. "Family" is a loose term because really it's the family of his grandfather's sister... I think. Anyhow, they are connected so we drove out there for the party. Let me just say this: if there are any Riel's reading this, do not, in any way/shape/form, have any sympathy for this boy when he eventually meets the Riel's. I'll just stop there. I will say however that I was very warmly welcomed into the home (I'm not sure whose it was, many people said it was their house). Dinner was a bit of a whirlwind- not quite sure when it started or ended... but it was fast. After some time, a long long time considering the duration of dinner, we went to another house of someone else related who also lived in Pembroke. That's where we kicked off the crazy party which included karaoke. Yes, you heard me correctly. Karaoke. I did not participate in this event, but I did continue to drink the sweet sangria-like wine that they kept filling my glass with. I was exhausted after this day but I now know how outsiders can feel while at the Riel Bowl on New Year's Day. I felt a bit overwhelmed... but I survived and the next time I meet them, it will be easier.

The end.