Spring has not sprung... yet.

Unfortunately we're currently getting snow and ice here and Maryland. A couple days ago it was 70 degrees. We're also supposed to have a 60 degree day some time this week. Mother nature is awfully confused. I'm hoping that means I can get a snow day out of all of this. I was really hoping that we were going to have an early spring and it seems that we were just being teased.

I had a long day at school today but I feel good about my classes. I am learning a lot in Italian (and struggling to keep it all straight). Unfortunately my 3+ years of French are mixing up my brain. Genetics is extremely interesting and we're studying genotypes, phenotypes and of course the Punnet square. I learned something interesting - it's easier to create a baby (through genetic modification) that has blue eyes than it is to create a baby with brown eyes! And yes, they do make "designer" babies these days.

I have long over-due photos of Valentine's Day and other recent things. I find that I spend 50% of my free time at a book store or a toy store. I really do love both of these places, mostly because they are places that I can let Daniel run around and I can also have fun as well. On a recent trip to Barnes & Noble I found a great, thick bound book of Poe stories and poems for only $20. That's a steal! I also picked up a Disney princess coloring book to appease my inner 5 year old. Daniel goes to the book store just to play with the train set and fool around with other little kids. We did manage to coax him into wanting a couple books, one about a boy named Danny and his dinosaur and the other about bugs. Daniel and the bugs, sheesh. He'd much rather go out and catch the bugs, though. To each his own.

Not going anywhere

I was on and off about deleting this blog since I don't keep up with it too much and I really don't give it the love it deserves. However, I am not going to delete it because I do put time into it and I want to continue to challenge myself to do a public blog. I don't care how many people love or hate this blog, I do it for me. I also don't care how many people agree or disagree with my opinions! Don't like it? Move along!

I am happy to report that school is getting better. I wasn't so impressed with any of my classes at first but I have started to get back in the groove. I also had a great anniversary with my fiance, we went out to dinner and he spoiled me rotten. I got a pair of chocolate Uggs, a new Juicy Couture crown charm and a box of Godiva chocolates! We had a really good time despite that fact that we spent most of the day apart on Valentine's day due to conflicting schedules. I really have to take pictures of the lovely stuff I got, but I've been busy with school, homework and just spending time with my loved ones.

I've recently purchased the Iphone 4 for Verizon. My lovely mother let me have her upgrade and I got the phone I've been wanting since it was released! I never went over to AT&T because I had a feeling Verizon would get it in the future. I really love it so far and I've realized I'm a little bit of a tech junkie. I don't buy the newest and best every time it comes out but I love getting a more advanced phone.

And let me just say, it annoys me terribly when I find my photos on tumblr sometimes because the person has posted it without credit, etc. But it really makes me happy and feel good when I find my photos and not only have they been properly credited to me, they have 1,200+ notes! I do not consider myself a photographer, I just like photography. However, it really helps me when I see that people like my pictures. I've been trying to look on the bright side recently. The internet can be a real downer and annoyance but there are good things about it as well.

And I leave you with an adorable picture of my son sleeping. We've been playing outside a lot these days, yesterday it was frisbee at the park and the day before that we went to another park and ran around. He has really been zonked at the end of the day.

Birthdays, snow, etc!

I'm still alive. Sort of. My 22nd birthday was January 24th but I was busy celebrating and then digging out from the snow. I don't really have much use for this public blog anymore but I'm trying to use it as much as possible. We did quite a bit for my birthday this year. I had a mini party at my fiance's father's house, went out to hibachi with my family and went out for dinner and drinks on my actual birthday. My birthday was really great this year besides the fact that it was on a Monday and the bar was deserted when we went. It was okay though, I had an impromptu dance party in the parking lot with my fiance and friends thanks to some loud car speakers and great electronic music!

Greg and I will be celebrating 4 years this coming Valentine's day. That's not our actual anniversary but we always combine our anniversary (the 12th) with Valentine's day because they are so close. I can't believe it will be 4 years! That's amazing to me, I never saw myself in such a long-term relationship. I don't know what we're going to do yet but I am looking forward to a date night with my boo.

We had quite a snow storm last week and are going to get another one this week. Hopefully nothing too tragic because I start school tomorrow. I'm not too excited about all my early classes but - c'est la vie. I am really ready for spring and summer as weird as that sounds. Winter always stays so late in this part of the country and by the time you get all this snow and ice you're tired of it!

I got a new TV for my room as a birthday present for my mom, plus camera accessories including a remote shutter from my love-bug. I'm so happy with how 2011 has been so far, even if there was quite a bit of drama in the very beginning of the year.

Greg, my fiance, snowboarding

First Snowfall of the Season

Today we got the first "real" snowfall of the season, even if it wasn't much. It only snowed for about 45 minutes and it left a pretty light dusting on the ground but it was still pretty and fun to kick around. Someone flipped their car over right when it had started snowing on my street, don't know how that happened! They would have had to be going really fast in order to accomplish that. Traffic was terrible. I'm just wondering what is going to happen if this Sunday storm brings quite a bit of snow and is more snow than rain. I have finals on Monday! We'll just have to wait and see, I guess. I have two finals left and then I am done with the Fall 2010 semester. Thank goodness! It's so weird starting school when it's 90+ degrees out and finishing when it's cold and snowing. I distinctly remember one of the first days of school standing out on the parking lot and having the pavement radiating heat onto the backs of legs - it felt like my legs were on fire! And now my nose runs when I walk from building to building. So, so strange but I am so thankful that the cold weather is finally here. Hopefully we'll get more snow before Christmas (or on Christmas, always crossing my fingers for that).

Here are some pictures from today:

My neighbor's town house, my town house. We need to add more lights!

Goofball :)

Don't be fooled, these shoes are NOT good in the snow. But they're warm.

Happiest Time of Year

I am so excited that it's finally Christmas time. Everyone knows I wait all year for this. What have I been doing? Decorating the house, painting and doing some Christmas shopping. So far I've got 3 people taken care of, but I have a couple more to go. How are you doing on your Christmas shopping so far?

Everyone loves (and hates at times) this part of the year. I mean, I usually love the holiday season but then again people can get totally rude and annoying during shopping trips and some people can be downright grinchy. And after an arduous trip to the mall I can be a little Grinch myself. However, I do these things to keep the inner Grinch at bay:

See Christmas lights. I love to go around to neighbors and look at everyone else's light displays. Some people can get really creative and Daniel absolutely loves the lights. We also take him to The Symphony of Lights, it's a local light show that the Howard County hospital puts on every year for charity.

Donate to a charity. There are plenty of different charities to donate to during the holidays. Toys for Tots, Salvation Army, etc. Everyone who has some extra money should donate a present or something! It's the season of giving, isn't it?

Decorate! Obviously I decorate to my heart's content. We make decorating our Christmas tree an event. We turn on Christmas music, make hot cocoa and make the event as festive as possible. I love to decorate outdoors and indoors.

Go caroling! It's pretty unheard of in this day and age but I used to go caroling in my neighborhood with my friends. We got sheet music, huddled together in the cold and sang Christmas songs outside our neighbor's doors. We usually got free cups of hot chocolate or egg nog for our efforts. And it's always fun to hear people singing from inside the house. I would love to go caroling again if I could ever get enough people who would want to do it.

Watch Christmas movies. My favorite is Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. I love both movies and any time one or the other comes on around Christmas it really feels like the season. There are other great Christmas movies, of course.

Spend time with family and friends. It's always hectic this time of year but it's nice to make time for your friends and family that you may not have seen a lot. I like to hang out with friends who come home from school during this time and visit family. Seeing people who know and (have to ) love me grounds me.

I hope everyone is having a good start to the holidays. So far we've had zero snow but I hope that changes soon! And for your amsuement, I leave you with my collection of holiday scented candles from Yankee Candle. Can you say "obsessed"?

Thanksgiving & Hair?

November is really flying by! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the United States, so Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans. I'm going to be eating good food and hanging out with family so I suggest you do the same. I have already whipped up my contribution to Thanksgiving which is a cheesecake. It's huge and looks delicious. My mother is currently in the kitchen making the brine to put the turkey in overnight. The house smells like herbs!

This week I have been painting the bottom floor of our townhouse. I have already gone through 2 gallons of paint. I am close to finishing though, which is excellent. I don't know how much more my arms and back can take. The first day after painting I felt like a train hit me and had the worst tension headache. It's all worth it because after I finish all my painting we are going to go crazy decorating for Christmas. It's kind of crazy that "Black Friday" is already upon us. And the crazier part? I've only gotten one red cup this season. One! Obviously I am due for a grande peppermint hot chocolate after Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll treat myself right before I start studying for exams.

I'm going through a stage of wanting to be blond or just have different hair in general. Unfortunately I go through these stages a lot during the year. I need to get it out of my head so I've been looking at people with cool hair. Hopefully if I get my fill of cute hair I can get it out of my system and resume loving my natural brunette color. Have some pictures of people with cool hair. From me to you.

I LOVE HER WITH RED HAIR. *dead*