Goodbye 26

I had a great birthday this year. I wanted to go to Turquoise cafe for breakfast, but they were closed for the holidays, so Michael made my favorite dish there.


Oatmeal brûlée. We got to use my brulee torch I got for Christmas!

Then we got ready and did some shopping.


Then we met Heather and David and went ice skating downtown.


It was cold, but lots of fun!


Then we warmed up at a new place that just opened: cuppies and joe
This is a really cute place that has cupcakes and drinks. They have big train chai tea (which is the best), free wifi, yummy cupcakes, a reading nook...


Then we went to shoguns for my birthday dinner


The flaming onion tower!




Then back to my house for cake and ice cream (love my black and white dishes, a Christmas present from Michael)


Heather, mom, dad and me


Celebrating at Cheesecake factory


Emily, Michelle, and me


My cards and roses from Michael
It was a great birthday and I am excited about what my 27th year will hold!

I somehow made it through 6 Christmas gatherings so far without taking very many pictures. Here are a few of the ones I have. We just have one more Christmas left. Hope you all had a great Christmas and got to spend time with loved ones!


This was at the end of our scavenger hunt that took us all over Michael's parent's house!!


Tree and stockings waiting at my mom's house


George and Me (George got these goggles for Christmas and wore them ALL day...even to nap in)


George reading his book "pigeon wants a puppy"


Mom and me at my Uncle Richard's house

Today is my birthday and we have our last Christmas on Sunday!

Our Christmas

Last night we had our Christmas together.


We had one of our favorite meals by candle and tree light
Then we went to see the movie Four Christmases. After that we got hot drinks at Starbucks and drove around Nichols Hills looking at the amazing lights, before going home to see if Santa came while we were gone.


Michael excited he finally gets to wear his new coat.


Me with my stocking full of fun stuff, a signature hot chocolate with peppermint, and an oven burn on my arm... what more could a girl want?! :)


Merry Christmas!

Crystal Bridge

Sunday Night we went to the crystal bridge downtown at the myriad gardens. It is free on Sundays in December from 6-9. They have hot chocolate, live music, and decorate the inside with lights, plus the gardens outside have great lights.


the pictures inside did not turn out well as it was so dark


My sister and me
Merry Christmas!

Light closing explained

A little bit miffed at the dark park in Chickasha that should have been lit up with millions of small twinkling bulbs of Christmas wonder, David filled out a "Contact Us" form on the Chickasha Festival of Lights website asking them why the lights were closed on Tuesday evening. Below is the email he got back from Kristi Davis, the Events Director for the Chickasha Chamber of Commerce:

From: Kristi Davis
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 11:39 AM
Subject: RE: FOL Website Contact Form

I apologize for your wasted trip. We made all the notice attempts that we could possibly make in such short notice-website, radio, television. What most people don't understand is that Festival of Light is a volunteer organization. We do not have employees that are told they have to work no matter what the conditions are. When it is below freezing with a wind chill of 15 degrees, volunteers don't come. It takes over 25 volunteers per night to run the Festival. That was only one of the many problems we had last night. Our Park Supervisor fell in the ice and had a compound spiral fracture in his leg and was in surgery, our Park Marshal has the stomach virus, and our gift shop manager was ill. With all the items listed above plus the icing still on several of the walking areas, we made the decision to close the park. Although the roads into Chickasha might have been completely clear, the roads through the park, the parking lots, the bridge, and the concrete steps around the gazebo were not. We put ourselves in great jeopardy with lawsuit when we open the park with ice on those features. The drive through was not the problem, the walk-through was and we can't have one without the other. Our decision was the right one because you would think that people would use common sense when they see ice but they do not. We must make that decision for them. Again, I am very sorry for your wasted trip but we still feel we made the best choice. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and I hope you are able to come back again. Closing the park is very unusual for us and only happens in extreme circumstances. Thank you for your understanding.

As I read Mrs. Davis' email, I can't help but recall what my old high school football coach used to always tell us when we tried to explain our mess ups on the field after the rare unusually sloppy defeat. He would look us scornfully in the eyes and say, "Men, excuses are like arm pits. Everyone has 'em and they stink. What I saw out there on the field tonight was piss poor performance which was the result of piss poor preparation on your part. Don't let it happen again. Titans don't go home losers, Titans go home winners."

And you know what? We took those words to heart and in the end, we did go home winners. We won the 5A State Football Championship three years in a row. Do you know who we beat two out of those three years in the title game? You guessed it. The Chickasha Fighting Chicks, who evidently had not had the benefit of their coach telling them about the magic 6 P formula for losing in football... and in life.

I guess I just always assumed that Chickasha's lousiness was confined to their high school football team. Who knew that it infected their whole town? Maybe next time they can look at a weather forecast, see that it's going to be too cold for their namby pamby volunteers, bundle up 25 of their best staff in their best eskimo gear, and keep from perpetuating the stereotype of their town's repuation for being lame. Isn't that what a chamber of commerce is all about any way?

My apologies for anyone reading this from Chickasha. I'm sure you're a really nice person who's done really well for yourself despite hailing from that arm pit of town. Congratulations on getting out.

Christmas Lights

Tuesday night we went to Chickasha with Heather and David to eat at Jake's Rib and see the lights there.


Here we are at Jake's with their crazy big portions. Those fries are the side for ONE person!!

Then we went to see the lights which were OUT!! I couldn't believe we had drove all that way and they were out. Oh well... we still had fun hanging out together. On our way back we stopped off at this house at 19th and Ollie in Oklahoma city. We watched all of the songs they had. Here is a sample below:


Not quite the like the lights in Chickasha, but very fun and festive!

One of my favorite cities

Gondolas lined up

Passing through the canals on our ride


Standing on the Rialto Bridge



Night in St. Mark's Square

Walking through St. Marks square with the best hot chocolate ever!

Since we've been home

Things have seemed crazy since we have been home. The day before we left for our trip I was shocked to get a letter in the mail telling me my oral exam for my license was the week we were getting back- when I was told I would hear when my date was scheduled in 60 days after the first exam. So our first week back involved me studying and stressing over the exam, hosting book club, catching up on loads of laundry, and adjusting from the jet lag. I have also become one of "those" people obsessed with the Twilight books. I finished the first one and started the second one on the plane on the way home. I couldn't read much the first week at home due to studying, but I finished it this weekend. Now I am racing through the third one. Our hot water heater exploded this weekend, and Michael and I pondered..."Would you rather...be kicked out of your house for 6 days due to an ice storm, OR have no hot/warm water for 3 days have have to pay to replace your water heater".

But things seem to finally be slowing down- just in time for the crazy holidays. I passed my exam, we have hot water again, have got some of our Christmas shopping done, and are sleeping during hours back during our time zone. I can't believe Christmas is ONE week away today!!

Home

We made it home late last night- back to the land of driving cars instead of walking, free refills, ice in our drinks, free ketchup, and knowing the language. We are exhausted and have to return to work today, but we had a great trip! More updates and pictures to come later.

I had big plans for lots of things I was going to do this week, the time in which I would get them done in, and the holiday gatherings we would enjoy. I know there are lots of sayings about plans and I shouldn't hold to them so tightly. Our plans this week were altered by both of us coming down with a nasty case of strep throat that cut a few days out of our week and changed up our holiday plans. Tomorrow we are leaving for Rome with an OC alumni trip Michael organized about a year and a half ago. So today, as I have finally felt better than the past few days, has been a frenzy of getting things done for work, the trip, and other things that needed to be done. Sorry for the lack of blogging, but there is more to be done, and I do need to sleep sometime too!
I'll leave you with two of my favorite pictures from a previous trip. Check back later for a recap of our trip.

"Raiders of the Lost Game"

We had so much fun at the game this weekend, despite freezing our rears off. It was the last home game of the season- I can't believe how fast time is going!


About the leave the tailgating area to walk into the stadium


We had different seats this game and a good view of the players coming out


I met Michelle at half time


Some parts of being a sports fan I may never understand...like this guy for instance, who decided it would be fun on the coldest game of the year to paint his upper body white and wear no shirt...

Happy Fall

We had a fun weekend away at a retreat this past weekend at Lake Keystone. We met some new people, played games, made a craft, ate, and "retreated". :)
Here are a few pics:

Just thought I passed...

As you know I got a letter saying I passed my exam (if you don't know see below). Then we got home from our weekend and I had a letter saying the previous letter had been wrong and that I had failed. Yet my score stayed the same and was over the score needed to pass. Monday I called the licensing board and of course the only person who could talk to me about it was not at work that day. I called Tuesday, and was told "oh yeah, that was a mistake, you passed".

So by the end I have passed, failed, and passed again in a 4 day period!

I PASSED!!!!!!

4.5 weeks ago I took the national licensing exam for marriage and family therapy. I got home late tonight and got my letter saying I had passed.

We went to the cheesecake factory for my favorite dessert to celebrate.

My crazy excited/happy face


Normal happy face

Preparation for the exam and waiting for the results has been really stressful, and I am so relieved to have it behind me! YAY! I turned in my hours for my first reporting period, and have three more to go. Hopefully by April 2010 I will be licensed. Next to do is the Oklahoma oral exam. Have a good weekend!

Gig 'em What?!

We traveled to the OU/A&M game this past weekend with the Mitchell parents.


Hanging out before the game


The A&M band


The crazy swarm of A&M fans, doing one of their "yells"


Us headed out of the game that ended at 66-28...wooop wooop that 12th man!
If anyone knows what gig em even means...let me know! :)