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We realized the other day that we only have a few more days to watch our recorded TV before we move to the new apartment and get a new DVR box. Therefore, we’ve been catching up on all of the quality programming that we just haven’t made time to watch yet. Tonight, we settled in for an alcohol-soaked viewing of Next Top Model: British Invasion condensed seasons 1 and 2. God it was awful, but wonderfully awful. Plus, they picked the dopiest looking girls as the winners. What do I know about selling clothing and magazines? Obviously nothing since apparently everyone wants to buy the same clothes as the girl who looks like a tranqued (sp?) horse. Yes, they are that unattractive.

The weather has been nicer lately so hauling laundry baskets full of random household items has become easier and less annoying. Laundry baskets are the preferred mode of transport given that they have handles and are free unlike boxes.

That’s all of the excitement for now. For New Years, we’ll probably attend a party hosted by one of my classmates and then hunker down for some bad TV and soup the next day. I have big ambitions, don’t I?

We’re back home in Seattle. We had a great time at Rodney and Laura’s. Not only are they great company, but they fed us so well. They also had plenty of good alcohol. Unfortunately for me, I took advantage of the alcohol during our stay and ended up with a hangover on Christmas morning. I’m okay now, but I think I’ll lay off the whiskey for the time being.

Now we’re back in Seattle and we’re trying to decide what stuff goes where. We haven’t transferred our stuff to the new place yet, but I’ll probably start making some small stuff runs tonight. I shouldn’t procrastinate, but it’s so easy to just cuddle up with the cats while it rains outside.

After getting back from our honeymoon yesterday, we hit the road this morning for Portland. Rodney and Laura are home for the holidays so we thought we’d crash at their house to eat a little, drink a lot, and open a few presents on Christmas morning.

Before leaving town, we got up EARLY (9am) and went over to our new apt to sign the lease. We got a full tour and the apt is as glorious as we remembered. We met the owners and they seem nice and normal. We had to cough up first and last month’s rent as well as a pet and security deposit, but it’s worth it to us. We get a nice nice place close to school with AC. Have I mentioned that it has AC? Since the highs are in the 40’s now, AC seems frivolous, but trust me: it’s important.

We wrapped up our lease, grabbed our stuff, stopped at the Original Pancake house for some brunch including pumpkin pancakes and hit the road.

We got to Rodney and Laura’s around 4:30 pm. They have a great house. It is almost like going home for the holidays. They have a Christmas tree, decorations, a fire blazing in the fireplace, friendly cats, and lots of good wine. We started drinking, snacking, and talking immediately. Rodney whipped up some spaghetti and garlic bread for us. After devouring that, we went into the living room and played Wii bowling and golf until we were too tired to concentrate. It was great. Don’t get me wrong. I miss my family at Christmas, but this was the next best thing to going home. We are chilling in our pajamas while staying cozy by the fire.

Did I mention that our new apt has a fireplace AND a big deck? Well it does and I’m stoked.

Merry Christmas y’all!

We made it back from Canadia or, for the ininitiated, Canada. Okay, so it’s just Canada, but doesn’t Canadia sound more exotic and exciting?

We had a great time. We got much better at boarding and nearly mastered the easy green run by the end of the day yesterday. The weather was nice but strange. I’ve never been skiing on a mountain with so much fog. I could see well enough but patches of fog would come and go and you just had to keep your eyes open and pay attention.

Even if we hadn’t snowboarded, there was plenty of other stuff to do in Whistler. We went sledding on the first night we arrived. We paid by the hour to rent a tube and have guys push us down groomed sledding runs. We could hold onto each other’s tubes or go solo. It was great and it was a fun way to start the trip.

The next morning, we got up bright and early to get our equipment at the rental center. The place was chaotic but we got our boards, boots, wrist guards, and helmets. We spent about four hours on the mountain with five other beginners and one instructor. We learned how to balance going backwards and forwards and how to do basic turns. I still suck at turning, but the forward and backward balancing got me through this trip.

That night, we went out for our “fancy” dinner at a Bavarian restaurant. I love good German food but alas, this food was not good. The schnitzel sucked. At least we had good food for the rest of our trip.

On Wed and Thurs, we practiced boarding and even took the lift to the top of the mountain to check out the view and have lunch at the big restaurant on top. It was more of a shop/giant food court with an awesome view. We were too chicken to ski all the way down, so we took the lift back to the midway point and kept practicing on our favorite green run.

This morning, we woke up so sore. My legs hurt but my arms are worse. I spent three days balancing and hoisting myself up with my arms. Now they ache. It was worth it though. I have to get better at boarding or “riding.” I’m not ready to buy my own equipment or a season pass, but I do want to take another lesson.

We got home today no problem. Aside from waiting in line at the US/Canadian border for an hour, our trip was uneventful. The scenery was nicer today since it wasn’t as foggy as it was on Monday. We got to enjoy the sea-to-sky highway and see the mountains rising up out of the ocean.

Tomorrow we’re off to see Laura and Rodney in Portland. We’ll be crashing with them until Christmas day and then we’ll be back to pack and move our stuff to our new apartment. It never gets boring.

Whistler is gorgeous. Snowboarding is hard but fun. We have nearly mastered the bunny slope. Tomorrow we will upgrade to a green run.

Everyone who works here is Australian or a New Zealander. This is fine with me. I like their accents. However, I was looking forward to chuckling at “aboots” and “ehs” from the Canadians.

Danny and I got a free sample of this while we were walking around Vancouver tonight. He ate his. I took a bite and bleagthh. It was more the milk chocolate than the popping candy part. It is weird but not bad…if I liked milk chocolate. Anyway, it is just too weird. Try it!

I finished my finals. I’ve slept. We’ve found a new apartment and now, we’re going on our honeymoon.

Although all of this is very exciting, I haven’t had time to get excited about it. I finally got finished with my autumn quarter on Tuesday and I’ve been dealing with weird weather, power outages, and errands since then. It hasn’t been too bad though. I partied with my classmates on Tuesday night and then spent the last few days hanging out with Danny and getting ready for our vacation.

We spent most of the afternoon on campus because Danny needed an internet connection and our power went out at midnight last night. I had a good afternoon though. I hung out with him and negotiated a new apartment for us to move into in January. Most of you know that I’ve been bitching incessantly about our current apartment. The location and price are good but the complex is trashy. I want an upgrade. Anyway, we got a really nice place in a nearby triplex and get this, it has a fireplace AND AC. We’re pretty freaking excited.

I’m tired so I’m going to hit the sack. Updates from Canada to come.

It snowed here. Then the snow melted a little. Then it froze. Now it’s all icy. This would be fine if I didn’t have to go to school tomorrow. I do. I had to go today even though every other university was closed. It wasn’t bad until I waited in the sub-freezing temperatures for 45 minutes for a bus that never arrived. Apparently, Seattle-ites handle snow and ice like Texans: they stay home or drive their cars off the road. The buses were running but apparently a bunch of them got stuck somewhere about an hour before rush hour. After waiting for 45 minutes, I called Danny and got him to pick me up. Thank God we live close to school. I would have had to walk home.

Being a Texan also means that I have no snow-appropriate shoes. I wore my leather flats because they’re flat and somewhat waterproof. My only boots are black Justin Ropers. They are more appropriate for ice skating than for climbing icy hills. I think tomorrow I’ll wear my tennis shoes and watch for puddles. Oh, I only fell twice today and managed not to hurt myself. This was an accomplishment.

In other news, I had a great weekend just hanging out with mom and Daniel. They arrived on Wed and stayed until yesterday morning. The weather was fine until Sunday night when it started snowing. That was the best night for it though because there was no ice.  We drove to dinner as big, fat flakes floated down around us. It was very Christmasy.

Not much else is going on. I’m tired and I’m going to go to bed soon. I hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving and is not stressing over that extra piece of pie consumed.

Before heading to Whistler, Danny and I are going to spend a few days in Vancouver. I booked our hotel tonight so everything on our trip is set. Well, everything except for ski clothes. I have a ski-like jacket but Danny and I both need to get some gear. We’re renting our equipment when we get there.

I’ve been to Vancouver a couple of times before but I’m not sure what I want to do once I get there. I’ve heard that the food, especially the Chinese food, is amazing. I should probably just read a guidebook or something.

Last week, I asked my mom to try and find me a Kinky Freidman for governor t-shirt. Even though he lost, I can still support the cowboy with an authentic vive le kinky shirt. She is bringing it to me post-haste.