Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Merry Belated Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas. I am so lucky to have been able to spend this holiday with lots of people I love. Here is a little recap of the great time Bob and I had December 23rd-December 28th!

Bob and I traveled to Sibley to celebrate Christmas with my family, we missed out on half the clan being there as Nate, Pat & Ashley all celebrated elsewhere, we really missed them being around and it felt a little odd not sitting in our regular seats. Tuesday evening Bob and Cole put together a Wii bowling tournament with bracket and all. It was a double elimination tourney with 8 players ranging in age from 4 to 55. We had both our Wii and Cole’s playing on different tvs. Tom and Cole were in the championship game, with Cole taking the prize of $5 in Sibley Chamber Bucks. I am happy to say that I did get 3rd in the tourney; all losers were awarded a conciliation prize of a candy cane.

We were able to enjoy some family time on Christmas Eve with my dad’s side of the family and then our opening presents routine which like I said was a little different because my brothers were not there. This was the first year I sat on a chair but after re-looking at some of my presents I may move back to the floor because I could not see a dang thing. I seriously thought everything was a different color than what it was. We need some lights in there. It was so much fun to see Cole, Merrick & Macy opening presents. Later that night we went to midnight mass at church and then straight into bed so Santa could come. And guess what? He did!

Christmas morning Bob and I loaded up the car and headed to Roseville. We were able to get there by 11:15 to see that Santa came to two different houses, we must be really good. Christmas day was spent with Bob’s family enjoying a great meal and opening presents. Addy is just a little doll and we could tell she was enjoying this wonderful day of celebration.

Friday morning Bob and I headed to the Cathedral to meet with Deacon Jim for some marriage prep items. We now have some good starting points and we also took the focus inventory. We will meet with the Chaplain at Creighton to go over our answers, I hope we passed. Bob and I then met up with his family and cousins at the Mall of America to go on rides. I went on the new roller coaster and that was just about enough for me, it goes straight up and straight down, and upside down all inside the mall.

Saturday Bob’s parents treated us to see A Christmas Carol at The Guthrie. What a great show and we are so lucky that we were able to spend this time with his family. That evening we had their Christmas tradition of Wild Rice Soup, and it was delicious. We also were able to spend some time with Mesa and Tony on Saturday night. I really miss them.

Sunday morning Bob and I and his parents met up with my parents and my sister’s family for a breakfast buffet at their hotel. And then Merrick, Cole, Tom, my Dad, Bob and I headed to the Vikings game to watch them take the NFC North Division Championship. Oh yeah Purple Pride! It was so much fun.

I want to thank of course my parents and Bob’s parents for the great gifts that were totally unnecessary but completely appreciated. Also thanks for letting us stay with you both. We are so lucky to have loving and caring parents who only want the best for us. We hope that you are able to enjoy your presents this year as well.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you all didn’t get caught up in presents but remember the real meaning of this day. How lucky are all of us to have Jesus Christ born on December 25th?

Monday, December 15, 2008

But Baby It’s Cold Outside.

I just have to say it. I Love cold weather. Today is exceptionally freezing and it is stocking cap weather. I love the way everyone looks all bundled up freezing it just makes me think that people look better with clothes on. In the summer I hate it how everyone has barely nothing on because it is so hot. I think I love the cold weather too is because I know I will not get heat stroke. I have had that way too many times and it is such a gross feeling.

Well this weekend was quite pretty fun. I had to work a full day on Friday which was very strange for me but I tolerated it by blogging and playing games on my computer. After dinner Bob and I headed out to go Christmas shopping. He amazed me how quickly we could get things done. We were in and out of stores snapping up some purchases and then on our way to the next place. We hit Target hard and pretty much have everyone complete on our shopping list except for my mom, who is by the far the most difficult person in the world, not only to shop for, she is just difficult! But I do love her.

Saturday after some arousing water aerobics and Wii Fit, I ran some errands and then was lucky enough to watch An Inconvenient Truth with Bob. I had never seen it before and it was on tv. I later made an awesome meal of lamb burgers on pita bread with feta cheese. It was delicious. Saturday night Bob and I met up with Chris and headed out to the Creighton Basketball game at the Qwest Center. Creighton won and it was fun to watch some basketball as both Bob and I could not remember the last time we went to a b-ball game. We took a shuttle back to campus, the student shuttle wasn’t there so we hopped on a bus that took us to the Jay, a bar by Creighton. The bus was packed and there were girls on it doing cheers that spelled out Beer. Give me a B- B-you got your B you got your B. The funny part about the whole thing is there was a kid on the bus too.

On Sunday after church I did my typical Sunday thing of laundry and then we watched the Vikings rip apart the #1 Arizona Cardinals. Take that! My boy Chad Greenway had a stellar game and it was fun to see a win. That evening Bob and I went out to eat at my new favorite restaurant Jazz: A Louisiana Kitchen. We had popcorn crawfish and I enjoyed one of the best meals ever of Shrimp Creole with Dirty Rice. Yummy.

It was a nice weekend and I look forward to this being the last full week of work before the holidays. Boy am I ready.

Friday, December 12, 2008

My Christmas Songs

Well I have wanted to put on my top ten favorite Christmas songs but there are just way too many to only list ten, and I can't put them in order because I could never pick the best. I like all of these songs for different reasons. I included some of my favorite memories with each song title. I also have made links so you can look at the lyrics just in case one or two of these get in your head. Enjoy!

Angels We Have Heard On High This song is probably the reason I wanted to play the French Horn. I also remember loving playing the French horn to this during midnight mass.
Auld Lang Syne Just love the tune, have no idea what it means, but Bob thinks it is the worse song to sing about forgetting old acquaintances.
Last Christmas –Wham I believe we had a keyboard that had this song as a pre-set. It drove my mom crazy.
Deck The Halls This song makes me laugh because during A Christmas Story the Asian men sing farahrahrah.
Feliz Navidad Love it only for Taco John’s Nacho Navidads.
Frosty The Snow Man Comes from my favorite Christmas cartoon. I love Frosty.
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year Because Christmas is really the most wonderful time of the year.
Jingle Bell Rock
Rocking Around The Christmas Tree Both of these songs were ones that I did baton recitals for at the nursing home when I was little. I still remember my x-large t-shirt with a stenciled Christmas tree on it, white itchy tights, and tinsel as my costume. Thanks Mollie's Twirlers.
Carol Of The Bells I love it from Home Alone, it is just a beautiful song.
O Come, All Ye Faithful I tortured my college friends with this tune because I had my own version of lyrics in made up Latin. Est to mey nee pahh too…..Christe atoo.
Over The River And Through The Woods This reminds me of 4th grade music class with Mrs. Glade, I believe I may have sang this for a concert.
Sleigh Ride The ultimate song to play in S-O High School Band. Love it love it love it.
White Christmas Bing Crosby, Christmas classic and you have to think of Kevin in Home Alone putting on the after shave. Ahhhhh.
Winter Wonderland I had to add this one because the lyrics are really odd, who is Parson Brown and why are we calling our snowman that? Also who just gets married when we go to town?Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer Always thought this song was funny and thought of my Grandma Judy getting run over after our Christmas Eve.
Happy Christmas (War is Over)- John Lennon Just a good song, nice calm lyrics, this had to be on the list.
Song For A Winter's Night -Sarah Mclachlan I ran across this song and I fell in love with it, makes me want to curl up next to a fire with some hot chocolate and think of the good times.
Let It Snow Because it needs to snow for it to feel like Christmas
Mele Kalikmaka This song makes me want to go to Hawaii, Merry Christmas to you!
The Chanukah Song- Adam Sandler For all of the Jewish people that read my blog…favorite lyrics are, "O.J. Simpson, not a Jew But guess who is? Hall of famer Rod Carew- he converted"
Little Saint Nick-Beach Boys The old Coca Cola commercial with the polar bears, makes me want to get up and dance.
All I Want for Christmas (Is You) - Mariah Carey This song is God awful. It haunted me one Christmas, I heard it at least 4 times a day. Hate it. But now you can have it in your head.
Baby It’s Cold Outside I love this song when it is in the movie Elf. Kind of a naughty song, but a fun little duet.
Christmas -Blues Traveler I could rock out to this song all year round, so many vocal parts and a fun message about what Christmas has become.

I'd love to hear what some of your favorite Christmas songs are...please?

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

To be continued.

So I am back to finish out last week. I realized that pretty much all I talked about was the food. Yes this is the highlight of my life. You don’t get to look this way without loving the stuff and when we go back to visit we are guaranteed some good food.

So. Monday-Thursday I honestly cannot remember what we did except for work and school. I know that is pretty lame. I did have my one year anniversary on Wednesday of that week. I had a performance review which went fantastic. I was a little nervous my boss had caught on to my complete lack of motivation to go above and beyond but I did exceed expectations on many categories so we are good to go. Bob started respiratory and was excited to have one of his favorite professors from last year-sense the sarcasm.

Friday I only had an hour of work left so I stayed home and made use of my day off by working out and then hit many stores for some shopping. Unfortunately it was not a good trip as I only accomplished one thing and that was a pair of shoes for myself. Oh year Christmas is about giving… Friday evening Bob and started our Christmas tradition by watching some of our movies. We watched National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. What a funny and great movie.

Saturday was like many other Saturdays. Bob woke up to go to school to study and I went to my water aerobics class. It is funny I didn’t want to take water aerobics and then Jamie and Angela started so I went with them. Now both of them are unable to attend on Saturdays so it is me. Oh well the work out is great and it is funny to see all of the old ladies in the class. Saturday afternoon I had another Christmas tradition by being a bell ringer for the Salvation Army. I rang outside the hardware store by our house from 1:00pm-5:00pm. I dressed warmly but after the first hour I was unable to feel my toes and by the time I came home most of my body was numb. I like volunteering as a bell ringer because I know that I am able to do some good with my time. It is also fun people watching. Saturday evening Bob treated me to the Olive Garden to warm up and then we did get a little shopping done after.

Sunday I was still too cold to try to go to a bar to watch the Vikings and I knew it could be a disaster so I stayed home to watch the game on my computer. Not quite the action you are used to but I was able to clean the house and do some laundry during the game. The game was a typical Vikings Lions game and I am happy we squeezed that out again. Bob was at school studying again, I feel bad that most of his weekends are spent at school.

Monday. Just so you know Bob did great on his respiratory quiz and we went out for Indian food with Cassy and Megan from his class to celebrate. And yes this is it, I am talking about food again-it was great!

So we both had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I am thankful for all of my friends and family, my wonderful fiancé, a roof over my head, a job to go to, a car to take me there, my health, and of course FOOD to eat.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Our Thanksgiving. A little late.

Hmmm,

Well I said I was going to blog about my Thanksgiving, and now it looks like we are really a week over due huh? I guess in essence that means I was kept somewhat busy at work that I did not get a chance to blog. Don’t get your hopes up I was pretty bored but at inopportune times to blog so here is a recap of things that happened and things going on. I’m sorry if I forgot something or did not dwell on something that we did.

Wednesday, 11/26/08, Bob and I drove up to Minnesota in perfect weather. The whole time he was driving I was in charge of changing the music, but most of the drive was spent staring out the window looking for deer. I really wanted to see some deer galloping along the road nicely not getting hit by cars. Needless to say this did not happen. We arrived at Bob’s house and were greeted by his parents who are so great to be around and treat Bob like the true prince of the house. He really likes being treated that way I think. We went out to eat at The Caspian, a Persian restaurant that is closer to their house. We were joined by Sara, Aaron, & Addy for dinner. It is fun watching Addy pick and choose what she wants to eat and telling everyone no by shaking her head. It is so cute.

Thursday, 11/27/08, Thanksgiving Day. I could not skip my family tradition so I made Bob wake up, bundle up and go out for a Turkey Day walk. We definitely needed the walk as we ate so much. We enjoyed watching the Macy’s Day parade and getting all of the food ready for Bob’s family to come over. Everything was delicious and a huge thank you to Bob’s aunt & uncle on his dad’s side, and Bob’s aunt & uncle on his mom’s side for the food that they brought. After eating and cleaning up we were able to play some Catch Phrase. Later that evening after the family had left we took the Azar family picture for Christmas and a few pictures of Bob and I that could potentially be used for an engagement photo, thanks to Aaron who is a great photographer.

Friday, 11/28/08 Bob and I did some of our first steps of wedding/marriage planning. We met with the Deacon at the Cathedral of St. Paul to start the process of Catholic marriage prep and planning at wedding at the Cathedral. It made me nervous and excited all in one.
Later that day we met up with Tony and Mesa for some great friend time. I just have to say I love hanging out with them. We actually did a little shopping on black Friday and then we hung out with them into the evening where we went bowling and out for dinner at Bonfire on Grand. Oh how I miss Grand Ave. We ended the evening at their house where Tony and I had some drinks, Mesa slept and Bob sneezed from cat hair. Needless to say my pictures are not great from this night so I will not share!

Saturday, 11/29/08 Saturday we were able to relax with Bob’s family. We were again treated to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Everest on Grand, which is a Tibet, Nepal restaurant that is delicious. We went with Bob’s parents and then headed over for some Greek coffee in Minneapolis-I can’t remember the name of the place, but it was great. Homayoun and I enjoyed Greek coffee and Bob and Judi had their regular “weak” coffee. Later that evening we met up with Bob’s friends Krista and Nick for Thai food, and some major Rock Band playing at Nick’s house. When I get a chance I will post a picture of Bob concentrating so hard while playing!
Sunday, 11/30/08 After one last Persian meal at Bob’s house we left to come back home to Omaha. We were of course disappointed to leave the Twin Cities, all of our friends & family, and wonderful food-we ate too much. We knew reality had hit and we had to head back to school and work and long for Christmas to come so we can do it all over again. We were able to come home in time to watch the Vikings kill the Bears. That was a fun game.

Well more to come about this past week. I promise it will not be this long.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Happy Birthday Tom

Well after the long weekend of fun and family it is back to the grind at work. Before I get too excited about everything this past weekend and post pictures I need to wish my Brother-In-Law a very happy birthday!
Happy Birthday Tom. I am so glad that 11 years ago you joined in the Fleming family, of course at first we were like, really Becky, Tom the guy that wore purple jeans to church? But then we realized that this Marine was a true softy at heart. You have really grown on me and I am so happy to have you as my only brother-in-law. Without you I wouldn't be the proud aunt of Cole, Merrick and Macy. You are such a great father to those kids and you are exactly what Becky needs to keep her life in order.
Happy Birthday-hope you enjoy your day.