A lonely Christmas Eve; a blistery winter mix; a bottle of Holly’s Reserve and 24 hours of a Christmas Story = a very thankful girl.

Yesterday was 70 and humid with tornado watches. Today is 29 with sleet, snow and 25 mph winds (white out conditions)! I chose the latter; it must be the Midwestern girl in me! It feels so much more like Christmas with those types of conditions outside.

Evan has to work a double shift today so I am here all by my lonesome. It’s part of the job that I will never get used to. I know he’s bummed he has to be at work instead of at home with me. He does, however, have off tomorrow – Christmas Day.

Tonight was spent Skyping with Dave and Lisa. I got to watch my nieces and nephew open their gifts. It was like I was right there with them. It almost brought tears to my eyes. Thank goodness for technology!!!

Tomorrow we will spend the day with our friends, Carl and Diana (they introduced us). It’s as close as home gets and we’re thankful they are willing to have us over. It should involve lots of good food, entertainment and drinks.

Even though I’m alone tonight when many are with family and friends, I am thankful that I have a roof over my head, food on the table, presents under the tree and a fire in the fireplace.

Here’s hoping all of you have a wonderful Christmas. Remember everything you have to be thankful for; there are so many less fortunate. Merry Christmas to all!!!

Three years of wedded bliss!

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband! I can't believe three years have gone by already. I wish I could go back and relive some of the fun we had that week in Cancun. It was one of the most memorable times in our lives.

Long time no post

I can’t believe my last post was way back in August. School started and I guess time got away from me. Not only that, but we’ve been back and forth several times to Omaha and St. Louis to visit family and friends. Time flies when you’re having fun.

The weekend of October 10th I flew to St. Louis and ran in the DaVita Kidney Awareness 5k. My flight to St. Louis was anything but pleasant. Right after takeoff my stomach turned sour. Let’s just say that I am very aware of wear the barf bags are, and I now know the lavatory features inside and out on Southwest’s 737’s. To top it off we had a nice dose of turbulence. I fly this route very often and there’s never turbulence. I guess it just wasn’t my flight.

Anyway, back to the 5k. It was a lot of fun and very chilly. I think the temperature hovered right around the 41 degree mark. It took me until mile two before I warmed up. I even had my very own cheering squad there to support me - thanks Mel, Mike and TT!

Heading to the race

Some light stretching

Off we go!

Victory is mine!

Then this past weekend we headed back to St. Louis for Holly and Chad’s anniversary weekend. The day started off with lunch with a girlfriend of mine that I had not seen in years. We ate, drank and laughed for almost five hours.

That evening, Holly, Chad, Evan and I stayed downtown and had dinner at the Morgan Street Brewery. Saturday we switched hotels, had lunch and headed out to the wineries for the rest of the day. It was a spectacular weekend. We had such a great time with Holly and Chad. My only wish is that we could do it more often.

That sums things up for now.

Valerie and I

View from our hotel. Our camera did not do this view justice. Time for a new camera!

Morgan Street Brewery

Mt. Pleasant Winery

Holly & I

Chad & Evan

Us at Montelle Winery - love this place!

Scenic views from Montelle

A dream come true

The Omaha World Herald did a special write up on my niece, Noelle. Project Nightlights, a non-profit organization, created a dream bedroom for her. They help design rooms for children who have special medical needs. It's a very sweet story. You can check out the link below.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20090813/NEWS02/708139785

Jon Gosselin...the douche bag

I'm happy to see that Jon Gosselin is finding out who he really is. Maybe the cigarettes and the 20 something girlfriend are helping him find the 'inner Jon'. By the way, who picks up smoking in their 30's? I feel so sorry for those kids. I'm almost embarrassed for Jon because I don't think he realizes there are going to be serious repercussions for his behavior. I sure hope that Kate is at home providing a stable environment since their father is too busy smokin it up in St. Tropez.

Attention Keurig Coffee Owners

Shortly after I got my Keurig, I started looking for a way to re-use my k-cups. Since I am the only coffee drinker at my house the Keurig has been my main coffee pot. I don't use the other one unless we have company over because it is too much coffee for me; however, the cups for the Keurig are somewhat expensive. Plus, I felt bad because I wasn't sure I could recycle them. Anyway, I came across this website called My-Kap (http://www.my-kap.com/MYK/). You can purchase this little plastic piece that fits into your old k-cups so you can re-fill them with whatever kind of coffee you want. There are instructions and a video on the website on how to use them. They are very inexpensive and they work beautifully. It takes a matter of seconds to fill the cup and pop on the lid. I ordered a pack of five but wish I would have ordered more.

http://www.my-kap.com/MYK/

Final Farewell

Today we say our final farewell to MJ. I'm sure his memorial service will be fitting of a king. They are predicting that up to a million people could show up for his service. That's absolutely insane!

I wanted to post a video that showed a sliver of the enormous talent that he had. It's also the way I want to remember him. It's not a performance that most would pick but it is a personal favorite of mine. It's the Jackson 5 performing 'Dancing Machine'. Watch as Michael (about 1:44) goes into the robot. It is simply amazing. He seems so happy. What a sad day this is.