A GIANT Christmas post

Christmas 2008

We have had such a great week. Last Saturday was our annual neighborhood Christmas party. We have been so blessed by all of the wonderful people we have met here...we could not have moved into a neighborhood filled with more fun people!

That's my husband...he cuts rugs...Graham's parents came up on Sunday and we have just been spending time with them.
On Wednesday we went into the city (which takes about 2 hours by train) and saw Jersey Boys. It was a really great play!
It was not terribly cold, either...which was nice.
I couldn't believe how easy it was for us to go and spend a day in New York. Now that we know, we will be going there much more often!!
Today the snow came. Debbie and I headed out to run errands this morning...and we were on a strict deadline due to the impending storm. Well, 11:00 came and then 12:00 came and we were getting very skeptical that this "storm" was going to happen at all. We all sat down to lunch around 1 and watched out our breakfast room window as flurries turned into bigger snowflakes and buckets just began to fall from the sky. Bear got to have his first snow experience...he almost blends right in!


Merry Christmas everyone! I hope it is blessed and joyful!

Tis the Season

Normally I am not a big fan of those pull-at-your-heart-strings, bring-tears-to-your-eyes kind of appeal videos, but this one is amazing. It really captures what Christmas means...something that I think most of us forget at some point or another in our lives. I have forgotten. Let's remember.

The Week in Review

A lot has been going on in the Scobey house this week. A LOT. As soon as we got back in town from Thanksgiving break Graham and I decorated our house. (I have been wanting to do this since mid-November which, needless to say, I was forbidden from doing...so I did not let the freezing rain stop me from decorating as soon as we woke up last Saturday morning)

While watching Top Chef on Wednesday I got a craving for something sweet. "Cheescake", I thought. Well, Graham then got a counter-sympathy-craving for fudge...so we made fudge. It was sticky-sweet fun. My husband makes a mean fudge!!This is just a fun picture of my dog pulling on my jeans...he does not like it when I set the table for dinner because he knows that it means he will have to watch us eating for 30 min or so...pure torture for Bear.
Due to the extremely hectic schedule we have over the next two weeks, us Scobeys did our family Christmas on Saturday this year. Pretty early, we know...but oh well. Here is Bear opening his present. It is a mint flavored orby bone. He keeps trying to eat it because it smells so good, but he hasn't quite grasped that it is a toy yet.We then got our first snow cover of the season this morning (Sunday). The house looks even better with white on the roof!

Well, there is our week in review. It has been busy but wonderful. Classes are done for me...so I just have papers to turn in and exams to give/grade next week :) I hope everyone is having a wonderful December thus-far.

Poignancy In Pop Songs...Part II

As I was running yesterday and listening to my I-pod it occurred to me, yet again, how insightful some of the pop songs are now-a-days. It is truly just amazing.

1. Beyonce - If I Were a Boy: "If I were a boy, even just for a day, I'd roll out of bed each mornin', and throw on what I wanted. Go drink beer with the guys, and chase after girls. I'd kick it with who I wanted, and I'd never get confronted, cause they stick up for me."
   This song is a truly ethnographic look into the life of boys. Beyonce takes an oldie' but goodie' qualitative research method that allows us to learn so much about these "boys". Thank you, Beyonce, you are a true anthropologist.
   
2. T.I. and Rhianna - Live Your Life: "I got love for the game but hey, I'm not in love with all of it. I do without the fame and the rappers nowadays are comedy. The hootin' and the hollerin', back and forth with the arguing. Where you from, who you know, what you make and what kind of car you in. Seems as though you lost sight of whats important with the positive." This challenge to modern day materialism is simply inspiring. I am so please to see this problem addressed. We should all take a cue from these two; don't lose sight of what is important with the positive.

Like I said, positively inspiring.
And yet...no other genre seems to be able to inspire me to move my booty nearly as much :)

Good Things Come in Small Packages

Our family has grown by leaps and bounds in the past year.

Belle Candler, my birthday twin, was born on January 15th...she and I are bound to be partners in crime...

Then, on August 15th, Jake and Mallory joined the gang...coming into the world just one minute shy of each other.

The fourth recruit in the baby brigade is this gorgeous girl, Ella Grace...born November 5th

And as if Belle doesn't have enough baby cousins to boss around as it is, Graham and I figured we would give her one more. We are going to be blessed with a little bundle of our own on June 10th of next year. Here is baby Scobey's first photograph...not quite as cute as the others...but he/she is gettin' there.

Life is so full of surprises, it's a wonder that I even bother planning anymore. We are feeling overwhelmed and excited, but mostly thankful that we have plenty of experienced parents to get advice (and hand-me-downs) from!

Stormy Saturday

Well it has been a good end to a crazy week. We had friends over for a Halloween party on Friday and had a blast. Then we cleaned, relaxed, and ran errands on Saturday. It had been threatening to storm all day long when, at around 3:30 (right when we got home, thankfully), it started to pour. Not only was it raining, but the wind was reaching 40 mph gusts...needless to say our potted plants were all toppled this morning. Then, at 4:00pm, our power went out and didn't come back on until around 7. This is one time that my love for candles has come in handy.

Today we are taking it slow yet again.

Weekends are the most wonderful time to recuperate.

Two weekends ago I went to Atlanta for my Papa's 65th birthday party. It was so wonderful to see all my family. Here are some overdue pictures from the fun-filled weekend.Just a quick update. More to come later.

Crazy, Wonderful Life

I apologize for the lack in posting lately...things have gotten really busy around here really quickly and time has just gotten away from me.

It is winter here...well, in my opinion at least. This week the temperature has ranged from the low 30's to the mid 50's, and Graham, Bear, and Myself are all having to bundle up to go on our walks now.

We have (finally) hung some artwork in our dining room...my little sister (who is, obviously, an incredibly talented artist) painted these trees for our new home right before we moved (there is another one on the other side of the window). I love them.My other sister, Lauren, wrote a beautiful post this past week about the difference between wishing for things and having hope in God. It made me realize that, in my moments of weakness and sadness, I am too prone to wishing...that thing were better, different, easier...when what I really need to be doing is praying a prayer of thanks that I am, in reality, exactly where God wants me to be. He does, after all, know so much more about what I need that I do. Thank you, La, for challenging my perspective.

To Every Season, Turn Turn Turn

Fall was officially upon us last week...but the leaves seemed to change overnight last night. It is just beautiful driving around and seeing all of these fiery reds and glowing oranges. I have really missed this beautiful season these past few years.

This is my favorite thing about Fall...what is your?

Q as in Quilt

I am projecting again. First off, I took a quilting class at JoAnn's yesterday and I am hooked. It was awesome. I began making my first quilt, a basket-weave pattern. Here are all of the fabric strips sewn together. The next steps are to create the pattern, sew on each of the borders (there will be 3), put on the backing and batting, and then snuggle with it. I love the colors and I am so excited to see the finished product.Today we went to the Coventry Farmer's Market (the highlight of my week) and they were having a fiber festival. This is when people from all over, who make their own yarn, come and sell it. It was amazing. There were so many beautiful things to choose from and I finally settled on this verigated yarn. It is going to make a great scarf. I learned so many neat things from knitters who are more experienced than I could ever hope to be. The extent of my abilities are scarfs and hats.

Well, I hope that everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I am off to start my new scarf!

Family-Palooza

This week has been awesome. My little sister, Katie, flew in to see us on Saturday and just flew back to Atlanta this afternoon. She is used to visiting me in LA...so I think she was a little bored with all of the cows...but I really enjoyed having her.

And as if that wasn't enough, tomorrow Graham's mom and grandma are coming up for the week. I am so excited...for completely unselfish and selfish reasons alike. Grandma is a master seamstress (she gave me the sewing machine, remember?) and I have these little slippers that I have been stuck on for weeks. I just cannot figure out what the directions are telling me to do...so I am hoping that she will be able to help me. I am also just really excited to see them both :)

I will let you know how the slippers turn out...oh, and I am taking my first Quilting class on Saturday morning at JoAnn's...so I will let you know how that turns out, too. And, as if we were not already busy enough we start training for the Atlanta Half Marathon on the 28th...but I am so excited. We have perfect running weather right now.

On a completely unrelated note; is this not the best picture of David and Debbie that you have ever seen? Graham took it last time they were in town. We were at the coast near a famous lighthouse (which you can vaguely see in the background). I apologize for the strewn-together thoughts...I have not quite gotten used to my schedule yet, so that is just how my mind has been working lately.

Saddleback Forum

Graham's parents informed me of a forum that took place in mid August at the Saddleback church in California. Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, interviewed both Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain.

It is long, but I highly recommend taking the time to watch these men in a very different environment than we are used to seeing them in.

Click here to watch

Let me know what you think. My only qualm is that the questions, and the way that they are posed, are not quite as challenging to one party as they were to the other.

Ten Things Tuesday

Here are ten things that I am very thankful for this week:

1. My flash-drive: I can tote countless pages of research, journal articles, and the like without having to worry about my back going out. It's genius.

2. Databases: Thank goodness that the days of the card catalogues are gone. Now we have instant access to thousands of articles with just the click of a mouse.

3. Purse Sized Umbrellas: With all of the rain here in Connecticut a small umbrella is a necessity...I don't think I ever used one in California...but I digress

4. Sweatpants: Again, with all of the rain in Connecticut I find myself spending an inordinate amount of time in my sweatpants...and it is wonderful

5. Bookshelves: We got this really awesome bookshelf at Target's back-to-school sale for only $15...and now I have a place for all of my school stuff

6. Gardening Gloves: Since the move we increased our yard size by about 3000%; going from 0 land to about an acre. It is so nice to have space for Bear to run around in, but a lot of yard comes with a lot of weeds...I have cute green gardening gloves to take the edge off of yard work.

7. My Sewing Machine: Since it is my new favorite way to de-stress my sewing machine has seen a LOT of use since it was given to me. I have made purses, aprons, and I am trying (fingers crossed) to figure out how to make slippers

8. Flowerdy Briefcases: My mom got me this briefcase before school started and I have used it almost every day. It is so functional and has a little pocket for everything you could think of - the fact that it is really cute is just the cherry on top.

9. Trashy Celebrity Gossip Websites: Admittedly, this is my guilty pleasure...but a girl cannot spend all her time studying...everyone needs a little diversion sometimes

10. Lysol Wipes: Everyone, I repeat, everyone should have one of these their bathrooms and kitchen. I use these everyday after dinner to clean up my kitchen. It is so easy, and it smells great!

What is it that makes your life a little easier?

Lazy, Rainy Saturdays

Well, due to hurricane-turned-tropical storm Hannah, we have had an extremely restful Saturday. For the first time in several weeks I got to sleep in past 8am...in fact, I didn't roll out of bed this morning until well past 10:00. We have been watching a lot of TV and playing video games all day long. I think that everybody needs days like this, even if they are few and far between. We all need to decompress...and we all have our own unique ways of doing so.

What does your perfect lazy, rainy Saturday look like?

Ashley Through the Ages

My friend Rachel put this website on her blog and it subsequently provided me with at least an hour of roll-on-the-floor tears-down-my-cheeks entertainment. Thanks Rach! On another note, I clearly missed my era because 1960's Ashley is awesome.

1952 Ashley

1960 Ashley

1966 Ashley

1976 Ashley

1984 Ashley

2000 Ashley

Projection

This week Graham and I have been taking part in some major projection...the act of doing projects, that is. We have resolved never to paint another room again. I don't think we are particularly talented at it; as it took us four (yes, four) coats to get the wall to stop looking streaky. Our dining room is now exactly how we want it; which feels so good. It went from red-horrible-floral-wallpaper-border to red-on-our-terms. Here are some pictures of the process.

Before...ugly wallpaper

I was in charge of peeling off all of the old border

and Graham was in charge of sanding

The end! TA-DA!

Then we got these candle holders at Target to put on the blank wall...we like the candles the best...does anyone want to stick up for the flowers?