since last Friday...

Seriously, it's been almost a WEEK since I last wrote? What kind of person have I become? I'll admit-- I was almost tempted to keep not-writing until after the New Year...simply because then my number of posts for 2011 would stay a nice, even 150. 150 posts!! That's pretty good! But I guess it'll be 151 or 152 or something, because I didn't want to wait that long to write again. I might forget what I've done with my life for the last week.

So, Christmas! It's done with now, yes? It was a good one...lots of time with family (which is what I've been doing all week while I'm busy not-blogging), way too much food, excellent presents, hitting up the after-Christmas sales...good times.  

Here are some of the highlights:


1. Santa Butt pants. On Timmy, of course. Not me. Not nearly as cute on me.

2. Watching Tom go into ULTIMATE NERD MODE with his favorite Christmas present: a BOOK OF FORMULAS. I am not even kidding. I looked at the book. It is full of equations. And he was SO EXCITED about it..."I already have seen some equations I can use to do ___"...I mean, FOR REAL. It was the funniest thing ever. I guess that's why some people have PhDs in electrical engineering and some people teach 4 year olds how to rhyme. Different strokes.

 3. Timmy's reindeer suit. It's one of the cutest things ever.

4. Playing around with aperture settings. Here is an example of what not to do: make everyone and everything look blurry and ghost-like.

5. Example of what TO do. Focus on one thing and make background lights look like glowing orbs. Sweet!
 

6. Back at our own house (although we haven't spent but like 5 non-sleeping minutes there in the last week) it is like Dog Central. We are keeping my parents two dogs while they travel, so that brings our total Dog Count to 3 (if you're not a genius like my brother-in-law Tom, I thought I'd help you out with the math there). Let me just say. Three dogs (in my house) is TOO MANY. Approximately 2 too many. And the 2 visiting dogs are SMALL...way smaller than Lola...but still. That means 12 paws going CLICK CLICK CLACK CLICK all over our floors, which then echoes throughout the house, and when you multiply it with the high ceilings and take the derivative of the sound of 3 dogs barking and playing...let me consult my Nerd Book...carry the 7...um, yeah, it's about 2812048 decibels ALL THE TIME.

There are a few sweet moments like this. But not many. Take Home Message? I'm thankful we have only one dog, and this should effectively squash any "I want another puppy!!!" desires for at least a few weeks. Also, the thrice-daily potty walks times three dogs? And it's been RAINING NONSTOP? Loads of fun. Awesome.


7. We ate lunch here:

...but instead of telling you where "here" is, I'm going to make it a POP QUIZ!!! Woohoo!! If you live/have lived/have visited Athens (and had a half-decent tour guide), then this should be the easiest quiz ever (no formula books required!). Question 1: Where was I? Question 2: What did I eat? Leave your answer in the comments. People who were actually there with me at this meal are disqualified, so you can just leave your comment about something else. Winner gets a great prize, like maybe I will go eat lunch with you at this place (didn't say anything about PAYING, though).

 8.  I've been playing this game:

source

Yall, Hanging With Friends is the funnest game EVER! Technically, I've been playing this game since like October, but my Play Time has definitely increased on this Christmas Break. Hanging is superior to Words, in my opinion, because it's WAY LESS STRESSFUL and a turn doesn't take like 30 minutes. So that's why you should download it and start a game with me. My user name is ErikaB1212 if you want to play me...although you should be warned that I sorta suck at it. 

9. Matt went to Zumba with me on Monday! It was the most entertaining thing ever. After class was over, I asked him how he liked it. He had very sad eyes and said "I give myself a D." I give him an A for effort, personally. And an A for making me want to laugh my head off. He was very cute. 

10. I need to take down "Christmas." :( Obviously I am procrastinating this by blogging, but it needs to be done. It's much better to do it now, when I have the time to do it well, then to wait until I go back to work and then just throw everything in a box and hope it sorts itself out by next year. I bought some more storage tubs at Target yesterday, so I'm hoping that all my accumulated crafts will fit...this weekend, Matt is going to put up more shelves in the garage so that hopefully we will actually have a place to PUT the new tubs full of crafts. Ay yi yi. 

11. Last night I got to hang out with part of the Spectacular Seven! AKA my BFFs from high school...if you're not in the know.

L-R: me, Dustin, Elizabeth, Christopher, Michael, Jessica, Patrick

We did take a picture last night, but I don't have it yet, so a picture from 2003ish will have to do. Last night we got to enjoy hanging out with Patrick and his wife Brooke and baby Charles (they currently reside in Iowa), Christopher and his wife Katy (currently reside in Greenville, SC), and Jessica (currently resides in Augusta) (and myself and Matt, obvs). I had a blast, and it was MUCH more my idea of a good High School Reunion than the one actually hosted by my high school a few months ago (and attended by a few of the folks above, who filled us all in on it last night). We did miss our friends who weren't there, though. :( 

12. OK, the procrastinating must end. CHRISTMAS MUST GET CLEANED UP. And also I should probably like...shower. Or brush my teeth. Or something. 

Or not. I'm still on break!!! Woohoo!!!