10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. my civil war professor canceled class on monday and wednesday (lovely man), and my russian history professor was furloughed on tuesday. thursday and friday was thanksgiving break, so no class at all this week. glorious!!

2. my boss decided to close the office at noon on wednesday, so i had two and a half days off of work this week. also glorious.

3. in my russian history class, instead of writing a final paper we have to review an assigned book in blog form with multi-media inserts and blah, blah, blah. horrid book on russian exiles (i've mentioned it before). i couldn't make myself read it, it was so dull. so i browsed it, and i wrote my review, but i've been kind of anxious thinking it was going to be crap compared to everyone else. we posted our blogs for review by classmates this week, and after reviewing 5 other classmates blogs, i am no longer worried. i honestly don't know how professors can stand teaching us. the blogs i read were horrible. most of the people can barely string together a sentence. one of them i stopped reading half way through because i had no idea what she was talking about (changing tenses, run-on sentences, using big words to impress without actually knowing what they mean). one guy compared the book to the harry potter series . . . que? . . . i think i'm going to be just fine.

4. wednesday afternoon found us putting up our christmas lights. and now they're popping up all over the neighborhood and the rest of town. oh, how i love christmas lights. (white ones, you understand. color ones look messy, but if that's all you have, something is better than nothing.)

5. thanksgiving. we had a houseful this year. 14 people in all (or whole extended family, except john, and the termeers and a friend of marc's). it was quite the tight squeeze around the table, but we made it work (tim gunn would be so proud). i must confess i whined about it a bit, but only because i really wanted to eat on the back patio. alas, i was overruled.

6. cheesy made-for-tv christmas movies are taking over the airwaves. life is good.

7. our fireplace is back in action. our family is a fan of the fireplace. we fight for the prime position in front of the fire. if you get up, you will lose your spot. and there are no place-backs or saves. you move, you lose.

8. i won both games of scrabble this weekend. yup. champion. it feels good . . .

9. gingerbread house making competition on friday night. i'm off frosting for awhile, but it was pretty fun. neal and i had a minor setback when our roof decided to not stay put, but we got creative with some gumdrops/pillars and all ended up well. my favorite was michael's fire pit with hot tamale/toothpick people.

10. we went to see a christmas carol (in imax 3-d, no less). it was amazing. i loved it. between the lights, the movie and the music, my christmas season has had the perfect kick-off.

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. went to the so you think you can dance tour. glorious. oh how i wish i could dance my heart out like those guys. i bet it feels so good.

2. afton fell asleep while i was holding her. it was adorable.

3. forgot to mention last week . . . my car passed smog!!! yay! no repairs or anything. good little toyota.

4. let there be great rejoicing throughout the land . . . they have opened a wing stop in fresno. our family has missed it since we moved back from southern california, but no longer . . . we shall have delicious wings whenever our hearts desire.

5. cadbury has heeded the cries of my heart! they have produced a christmas equivalent of their easter mini eggs. oh joy! let the consuming begin.

6. potatoes au gratin. (everything sounds better in french)

7. new pj's.

8. nights in.

9. the cold/rainy weather afford me the chance to wear my wax-coated coat from boden and a pair of my wellies. i felt oh-so-british.

10. friday night i unleashed my inner 14-year-old and indulged in new moon. it was great. i understand that it's not epic cinema, but it is terrific fun if you just allow yourself to get caught up. we all need to be caught up in something ridiculous every so often. it's good for the mental health. (at least i think so . . .)

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. watched casablanca for classic movie night. what i wouldn't give to be as composed and elegant as ingrid bergman (or grace kelly, or audrey . . . you know, those types). and can i please have her wardrobe from the movie?

2. it rained this week. finally, it's really starting to feel like fall.

3. canceled classes = sleeping in. me gusta.

4. a few months ago we took family pictures and we finally got them back and, heavens be praised, there is at least one picture in which everyone is looking at the camera and smiling and it's not blurry and looks great. (why are family pictures always such torture?)

5. handel's messiah. it's a rare day that i listen to the hallelujah chorus without crying a little. glorious. thank you mr. handel.

6. babysitting afton for a few hours on saturday. i like having her all to myself so she doesn't get distracted by all the other people she likes more, which is pretty much everyone.

7. went to a ysa dance on friday night at which they played hoedown showdown by miley cyrus which was sooo bizarre and made me giggle on the inside for a really long time and when i text laura grace to tell her about the incident she was equally amused and her reply text really sent me over the edge. dang but that girl is funny.

8. making christmas wish lists.

9. had a meeting with a counselor at school to see about double majoring in english. she told me she was a "victorianist" and my heart said . . . yes ashlee, do it, do it. you want to be a victorianist too!! so we shall see . . .

10. the plan of salvation. i went to a funeral this week. this person died in unfortunate circumstances, but the funeral was one of the most spiritual and hopeful religious meetings i've been to in a long time. i'm so grateful for my knowledge and testimony of the plan of salvation. my heart was so full this week thinking of how much our heavenly father and our savior love us, and how hard they work to get us back. there is so much hope and love and joy to be had in this life. it is beautiful.

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. there was a wedding this weekend which brought together several people i hadn't seen in years. it was good to catch up.

2. i finally dyed my hair! i've been meaning to for several months but it takes so much effort . . . it's a darker brown, almost black. i love my hair really dark.

3. pumpkin rolls!! my mother finally made them. they're divine.

4. fake mole and pearls day at church. someone told me I looked like a 1950's housewife, which made my heart so happy! and when i got home my mom told me i looked like my grandma mazur, which made my heart even more happy!!

5. i bought a pair of fuchsia heels at nordstrom rack. i. love. them. and i love nordstrom rack.

6. i finally got to see where the wild things are. it was magical. not so much a kids movie though . . .

7. it was a musical kind of day . . . funny girl was showing on tv, followed by my fair lady . . . and then i met up with friends to watch thoroughly modern millie . . . lovely.

8. afton is really getting the hang of the walking thing. and the climbing thing. she's so adorable i could eat her up.

9. the world series if finally over and we can resume normal television broadcasting . . . namely glee. i will never forgive mlb for interrupting glee . . . and all so the yankees could win . . . again. lame.

10. sleeping really late on saturday.

on my mind

i hate how manic everything starts to feel toward the end of semesters. i'm going to spend the better part of this evening on a couch in the fresno state library. i'm trying to power through a book called exile to siberia. i think i would rather be exiled to siberia than read the book . . . it's that dull. but it must be done.

halloween has come and gone and i did not see hocus pocus. i looked all day on saturday and it wasn't showing on a single channel! what is the world coming to? how am i supposed to transition from halloween to thanksgiving and christmas without having seen the sanderson sister witches being destroyed by three children and a cat named binx? apparently i'm going to have to buy the movie and not count on television executives to exercise good halloween broadcasting judgment.

i keep waking up ravenously hungry in the mornings. i don't know what that's about, but it needs to stop. i am decidedly not a morning person and i get up with barely enough time to throw on clothes and some kind of an excuse for make-up. if i haven't thought about what i'm going to wear the night before and i have to pause for a minute to think about it, i will be late. dragging myself out of bed even 5 minutes earlier to make toast is simply not going to happen, so the appetite needs to get with the program.

i maybe have already started listening to christmas music.
maybe.

10 things that made me happy this week . . .

1. broaches. i feel oh-so-very-glamorous and slightly 1950/60's housewife-ish when i pin one on. and people (mostly girls) always say how much they love it and they wish they could wear one too, and i say, you can, just release the pent-up 80 year old woman inside. she has all kinds of fashion adventures for you to embark on . . .

2. pumpkin carving. i carved two pumpkins this year. one was a pirate ship and the other one was polka dots. they were both very cute and i received a multitude of compliments from friends, family and strangers coming to the door.

3. so you think you can dance is shaping up to be incredible this season. i can't tell you how excited i am that a krumper made it into the top 20 (his solo made me want to scream it was so good . . . i wish i could krump . . . alas, i am too white). but this week the pre-historic dance knocked my socks off. legacy and kathryn were amazing. i've watched it several times.

4. soup in a bread-bowl.

5. graham norton. every time i watch his show i laugh hysterically. last year mike and i caught an episode with elle macphereon in which they explored a german wool lingerie line . . . neither of us will be the same again . . . i caught his show on saturday night with guest michael buble . great combo.

6. pumpkin frozen yogurt + cheese cake frozen yogurt + graham cracker crumbs + cheese cake chunks = one very happy ashlee! (hooray for yodiggity)

7. keri's halloween costume. way to go all out.

8. watching "horror" movies on saturday. i tried with all my might, but it just wasn't scary. we were all giggling non-stop as michael was chasing people around with a knife.

9. seven brides for seven brothers. we watched it sunday night (we actually have friends who hadn't seen it before . . . don't know how this is possible) . it never fails to delight. and i'm still waiting for benjamin to come kidnap me . . . .

10. halloween. it is one of my favorite holiday's. (what is the matter with you keri?) what could be better than permission to dress as outrageously as you want and pretend to be something else and getting candy for it? plus there are pumpkins. and the primary colors are orange and black! and there is candy!!