MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

It's here!!!! I'm leaving on a jet plane today at 5:10 (hopefully!!!) and arrive in Little Rock at 8:18 pm. (double hopefully!!!) So excited!!!! Let's hope and pray that it's nothing like last year! Yikes! I'm so excited to see family and friends...in particular, Parker! We get him for Christmas day this year, which will be a blast! I'm in town until Dec. 29th (big day!) at 6:50 am-return to DC to head to the beach for the b-day/New year's. Should be a blast! Here is wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May you experience Christ's love in a very real and tangible way as we celebrate His birth. God bless and keep you! See you on Jan. 3!

Shouts out...

WELCOME TO THE WORLD MARGARET CATHERINE ALLEN!!!! Deacy and Bryan had a baby girl yesterday at 4:35pm CST. She weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 19 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great! I'll post a pic as soon as I get one! Yeah for Christmas babies!

Happy Birthday, Alana! Hope you have a great one!

Happy Birthday, Chris! Hope you enjoyed your "girls nite" last nite!

And on a more somber note...I found out yesterday that we lost a sister in Christ; Rachel Ward Talley, an EEE sister and friend from OBU, passed away on 12/18 after a tragic accident at home. She has 2 small children and a husband, plus lots of friends and family. It's hard to imagine, but there is no doubt she is in heaven rejoicing in the presence of her Savior. In the meantime, we will miss her here. My prayers are with her family and friends as they grieve during this holiday season.

Life is short. Live like it matters what happens after.

NYC at Christmas...

NYC at Christmas time. Wow. What a sight to behold! I'm home, by the way! Made it in from Denver on Friday afternoon. Came home, checked the mail, unpacked, had dinner with my girls, went to bed to sleep a couple of hours before heading to NYC at 6:30 am on Sat. morning. It takes me 3 and 1/2 hours to get to NYC from my house! How cool is that??? We got into NYC, parked, went to Central Park, walked some more, shopped, ate, did the storefronts, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, 5th Avenue (Tiffany's, etc.), Time Warner Center shopping, etc...

Recognize this tree anyone???

Went to SoHo and down to Little Italy for dinner. Ate at LaNonna's. It was awesome. Had a great time! Christmas in NYC 2 years in a row! Nothing like it!

At "Tavern on the Green" for drinks. Fun times!

A few of my favorite things...

HO HO HO!!!! It's gettin' close!!! I'm so exited I cannot stand it! We leave out of Denver tomorrow morning and I am READY TO GO!!!! Bad news...lots of bad weather on the east coast, and it's supposed to snow here tomorrow, too. Good news...we have a direct flight to DC! SO--please pray for us! Safety, timeliness, etc...all much appreciated! I'm headed to NYC at the crack of dawn on Sat. morning, so that should be interesting in bad weather, too! Off to see that big tree!

In the meantime, I thought it'd be fun to do another Top 10 List. Here are 10 of my fave websites. Be sure to comment and tell me your's too!

10. www.drudgereport.com This is the first site I visit every morning.
9. www.msn.com This is the 2nd site I visit every morning. Great celeb gossip section.
8. www.stupidvideos.com Hi-larious. Funniest stuff around.
7. www.yahoo.com I have to check my email! I really like the "people search" option, too.
6. www.biblegateway.com Shauna says this is my fave so I can cheat on my BSF lesson! hehe
5. www.triathletemag.com My fave Triathlon site! Almost everything in the mag is on the site.
4. www.performancebike.com Oh yeah. Check out all those pretty bike-els. mmmmm
3. www.marthstewart.com I love her. I can't help it!
2. www.google.com A girl's gotta know....
drumroll, please....
1. www......i think i need to think about this one! I'll get back to you!

Confession

So. Here's my voyeristic (sp?) confession. When I first signed up on eblogger I was looking around at random blogs (you know you do it too...that constant running tickertape thing that spews other people's blogs at you). I was trying to decide my format and such...when I ran across a very interesting blog from someone in Texas. It was hilarious and witty and smart. In fact, I laughed outloud. Not hard for me to do, granted, but if you make me laugh outloud, I'm a sucker for you. So occassionally, I go back and check it out just to see what they are up to. I feel a little bit like I know this person now. Of course I don't...but I do admire their writing skills and a few of their attitudes about life. Today tho, I randomly checked their blog, and I kind of feel like I've violated their space. It was raw and honest and painful. It was filled with distrust and unmet longing and pain. It was sad and sweet and pitiful all at the same time. It was a huge reminder of how much we are created to be in relationships--with each other and with our creator. This person is missing one of those and suffering with the other because of it...and mourning it all. I feel very blessed. I've had a hard week....whew, am I EVER ready to get home. I still have another week here and I'm not excited about it. All this eating out is making me gain weight, and I want to go to the pool and work out, and I feel like I'm missing Christmas, and it's kind of lonely here, and whine and whine and whine.....but....I just got a huge reality check. And for that, I am grateful to my stranger-friend, my co-inhabitor of this blog-o-sphere. Here's to hoping you find what you're looking for.

Ski bunnies

Nancy, Lisa and I at Winter Park, CO-after a long day of skiing. It's starting to get dark in this pic.

So I finally got out of the hotel this weekend! My friend, Nancy flew in Friday nite and joined me in the mile high city for the weekend. Friday, Lisa and I worked until 1 then went shopping at the 16th Street Mall. It's a neat little area in LoDo (lower downtown denver) that has great shops and restaraunts. We spent all afternoon looking for ski pants and Christmas presents. Had a great day then went to the hotel to wait on Nancy (who b/c of terrible east coast weather was delayed by like 10 hours!) Nancy picked us up in the rental car and we went back down to 16th st for dinner.

We got up Saturday morning at the crack of dawn and headed to Winter Park to ski! Had a great day, gorgeous drive into the mountains. Could not have had a better day. I met this random, Karen, and she skiied with me while Nancy and Lisa were in ski school. I kind of went in and out of ski school with them, too. Had a great few runs! We at dinner on the way home in a little mountain villiage-Empire. So cute!

Sunday morning we got up slowly (with sore legs!) and went to Boulder for the day. Had a blast checking out the shops and the street artists. Neat little place and what a view! Here we are in Boulder...

Came in Sunday nite, had roomservice and watched tv. Had a great weekend! Thanks for coming out, Nancy!!!

Still Freezing...

Who knew it was possible to actually hit 20 BELOW zero!?!?!?! Apparently, it can happen, because last nite in Denver, that was the ACTUAL temperature. NOT the wind chill factor, but the ACTUAL temp! Can you believe it??? Crazy.

So, I'm sick. I've been sick since Monday. Started with stuffiness, sneezing, runny nose. Today it's turning into a cough. No fun at all. I don't feel great-but I don't feel as bad as I did, either. I'm praying hard that I'll be well by tomorrow when Nancy gets here! I'm ready to ski!!!

Everyone here is so nice to us! They've brought us lunch everyday so far! They go way out of their way to make sure we are okay. So sweet. I've been spending quite a bit of time in my room thus far (due to the sickness) so I'm a little stir crazy. Haven't been outside since we got here! I'm hoping that all changes this weekend. I'll probably lay low again tonite, to try to shake this cold, but this weekend we're going to Boulder, maybe Vail, Breckenridge, Co. Springs, etc... So fun! No pics yet...cause, who cares what my room looks like!!!

Freezing....

So it's like 5 degrees in Denver right this second. The low today is going to be negative 10 or something crazy like that! Of course, yesterday it snowed 2-3 inches at home. Sorry I missed that! (whatever) But right this very second, I am watching it snow SIDEWAYS. HARD. It's crazy. This morning, I had a gorgeous sunrise and could clearly see the mountains from my window. But now, the visibility is waaaayyyy less than 1/2 mile, very grey, high winds (50+ mph) and COLD. The good news is that my pimpin' ho-tel is connected to work. I could NEVER go outside if I wanted to! There's also several restaraunts, Baja Fresh, Starbucks, gym, pool, hottub, etc...all the ammentities. It's really nice. The bad news is that I've developed a bit of a sinus issue. My throat is KILLIN' me. My nose keeps bleeding (really dry air here) and I just in general don't feel very well. Altitude, dryness, and a cold. Nice. BUT-I'm still having a great time. Went to the grocery yesterday, gonna make a buck or two off my per diem by eating in! Sneaky, aren't I?? ;) I've taken some pics today...hope to get those transferred and posted tomorrow. Hope all is well! Here's a big hello from a mile high!!!

Here's the view from my window...this was the day it snowed like 6 inches in 5 minutes and was 1,000 below zero...so you can't see the gorgeous mtns. in the distance...but trust me, they are there!

DENVER IS GORGEOUS.

I made it! It is beautiful here. Not so much the city itself...but the mountains. WOW. I woke up this morning with an incredible view outside my window. I'm on the 14th floor of the downtown Embassy Suites. I can see the Rocky Mountains. Amazing.

So the flight here was fine. A bit bumpy in a couple of places, but overall it was fine. We got here, took a cab to the hotel, unpacked, had dinner at the restaraunt downstairs, and at midnite, I went to bed.

View of the mtns in the distance...wow.

Something to think about....

Here's a fun one....what are the random things that you think about? What are the things you'd be embarrassed by if someone got in your head? Keep it clean-cause this ain't THAT kind of blog! ;) This list was inspired by my boss Lisa--who says I have the attention span of a puppy, only I'm potty-trained. Most of the time, anyway.

10. Germs. Bacteria. That stuff is everywhere. I spend quite a bit of time telling myself that I am not OCD and I don't have to wash my hands every 4.6 minutes in order not to get the bird flu.
9. There's no way I'm really 31. Have you seen the way I act?? Come on.
8. Bikes. I have become some kind of bicycle rainman. I look at every road bike that passes me and all I can think is "components...what are the components???" I blame this particular compulsion on Anne.
7. Flying. I hate it. I have to do alot of it. How is it even possible??? I spend quite a bit of time researching plane crashes, too. Oiy. I have issues.
6. This is a new one-I just realized that I really do have a deep southern accent. I heard myself on a video Sunday nite and everything my Yankee friends have been saying is true. I do sound like Forest Gump. Except I hate shrimp.
5. Genesis. We are doing a Genesis study in BSF this year. It's really neat...but I am having a hard time getting over that they populated the earth with their sisters and fathers and brothers, etc. Overall, however, I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about Noah and Abraham. Cool stuff. Besides all the inscest.
4. My job. How did I end up a computer dork??? I DON'T EVEN LIKE COMPUTERS. Funny stuff, man.
3. The Biggest Loser. I really wanted Suzy to win. But Matt worked hard, too. Those guys looked awesome. Chalk one up for the fatties.
2. Tivo. We are getting TIVO. Well, Scott already got his, I'm suppossed to get mine tonite! I cannot wait. But I also kind of think it might be bad, too. I really like tv. Now it might be too convienant.
1. House and dog. I want to buy a house. And I want a dog. Can't afford a house. Can't have a dog without a house. But I spend alot of time looking at both realestate and dog for sale ads. Go figure.

There's mine. And you?