I hit a big milestone last week on Dec 24... it's officially been 6 months since I said goodbye to my family in Texas and moved to Alaska!
I went back to Dallas for Christmas for the first time since I boarded the plane 6 months ago. But before I ventured south, I got to celebrate the holidays up in Alaska a bit. I attended my first ever ugly Christmas sweater party. I do not own the typical ugly Christmas sweater so I did some searching online and found this beauty... yes it happens to be a mens sweater
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| Ugly Santa Sweater |
For the past two holiday seasons in Houston, I hosted a Christmas cookie exchange with my girlfriends to trade yummy treats and decorate sugar cookies. This year my friends in Houston continued the tradition in my absence and I was so sad I couldn't be there, but really happy that they still did it. So I decided to continue to host the party up here in Alaska as well with a new group of friends, but I definitely missed those oatmeal creme pies Angelina!
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| Getting ready for cookie decorating |
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| Yummy christmas tree cheese tray |
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| Cookies! |
It's been fun celebrating a truly White Christmas (and making lots of snow angels)! I still haven't completely gotten used to all of the snow and cold temperatures here this winter, but I am enjoying it. Everyone keeps telling me I will get annoyed after the novelty of it wears off, but it's safe to say that hasn't happened yet. I'm more excited than anything to start enjoying all of the winter sports and snowy activities. Now that there is lots of snow on the ground, I invested in a pair of snow shoes so that I can go on hikes and walks outside. I'm also ready to try out my ice skates on the lakes and ponds now that I know the ice is fully frozen on top :)
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| Snow shoes |
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| So much snow... |
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| That I had to make a fresh snow angel |
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| Emily's snow angel |
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| Snow angels in the parking lot |
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| A couple inches of snow on my car after being parked for only 2 hours! |
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| I love the snow! |
I've never flown during the holidays before so it was really fun to see the different airports decorated for Christmas. My favorite was the Anchorage airport... there are big metal geese sculptures hanging from the ceiling and they were all wearing cute red and green scarves. Holiday travel is pretty hectic, but I was so excited to get home that it didn't even bother me too much that I missed my connection in Chicago (shocking I know), and that somehow I was not on the same plane as my luggage. But both me and my luggage arrived safely and within 30 minutes of each other wahoo! It was neat to see so many happy reunions in the airport of loved ones getting together for the holidays. And I was so excited to see my dad, grandma, and brother Andrew there to pick me up :)
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| Hard to pack all my presents to take home! |
One of my favorite places in Dallas is White Rock Lake. It's a quick 3 minute drive from my house and the perfect venue for walking, jogging, biking, and rollerblading. I took several trips there during the week to enjoy these activities and I couldn't have asked for more perfect weather in the 50s-60s and sunshine all week!
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| Lovely Christmas Day at the Lake |
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| Mom and Andrew strolling |
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| Pretty Sunset at the dock |
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| Merry Christmas |
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| Love Dallas |
I also went to Klyde Warren Park in Uptown, which is a short walk from my friend Abbey's sweet new apartment. It is such a lovely place with yummy food trucks, lots of green space, ping pong tables, books, playgrounds, and lots of tables to sit and chat. Who knew that an overpass over a highway in the middle of downtown could make for such a fun escape from the city. It was great to catch up with my high school friends there and then spend the evening eating Mexican food (my favorite) and hanging out like old times.
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| Enjoying the park |
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| In the ornament |
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| Kylde Warren Park in downtown Dallas |
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| Eating lunch |
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| Christine - "Did you own them?" (the glasses haha) |
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| Enjoying some mexican food and margaritas at Glorias |
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| Out for some drinks in Uptown |
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| Great to see a fellow Northerner |
I also had lots of fun family time, including our traditional Christmas Eve feast. My cousin Rachel and I were assigned to desserts, which we are both big fans of. Rachel made a super tasty peppermint brownie cake and I found a Pinterest recipe for a coconut sour cream cake. I was happy with how it turned out, definitely a keeper for the future! I also went to the Ice Sculpture exhibit at the Gaylord in Grapevine. We had to dress up in parkas to view the Nutcracker and New York themed exhibit that was kept at 8 degrees Fahrenheit! There was an ice slide that everyone could take a ride down, and even my grandma gave it a whirl. Unfortunately I brought the wrong camera lens to the exhibit so all my photos are close ups :( but it was still neat to see!
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| Adding the final touches to my cake |
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| Fabulous Christmas desserts |
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| My dad with his crown roast |
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| Some of the family at the ICE exhibit |
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| Nutcracker in ice! |
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| Nutcracker soldier |
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| Cool cracked ice |
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| At the top of the ice slide |
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| Mom sliding down |
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| New York themed ice room |
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| Ending with the beautiful nativity |
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| Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in ice |
I got lots of warm clothes and accessories for Christmas to keep my hands and neck warm. But my favorite present was a fox fur hat! I have been wanting a fur hat ever since I moved up here and was so excited that my mom found the perfect one based on a picture I had randomly sent her a few months ago. I tried to wear it out in Dallas a few times, but it was a bit too warm... but I did wear it around the house quite a bit! Also, one of my coworkers got me the sweetest Christmas gift - a cookbook called "The Homesick Texan" since I'm always talking about how much I love Texas and that I was sad I wasn't able to go home for Thanksgiving and enjoy all my yummy Texas foods.
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| Fox fur hat!! |
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| New mittens |
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| Yummy cookbook |
On my way back home to Alaska, I stopped at the San Francisco airport. It was an exciting day because both the Packers and Cowboys had to win to get into the playoffs. I missed most of the Packers game during my flight and when I landed, my mom told me that the Packers were playing crummy and it was a close game about to start the 4th quarter. Of course the San Francisco 49ers were also playing at the same time, so every TV I passed was showing that game. I finally stumbled upon a group of Chicago Bears fans clustered around a TV at an empty gate, so I ran over to find the Packers - Bears game on. I decided it would be best to sit in the row behind them to watch since we were opposing fans and all. Luckily, the 4th quarter was amazing for the Packers and they overcame three 4th down conversions to score the game winning touchdown. It was very exciting! Unfortunately, the Cowboys could not pull out a win as well. But it was a nice trip to the San Fran airport, I had a yummy sourdough veggie sandwich, a kale spinach cucumber apple lemon smoothie, and paid a visit to the Ghiradelli shop where I could pick out individual chocolates and pay by the pound. I filled a bag with one of each of the dark chocolate varieties... delish!
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| My custom dark chocolate variety pack :) |
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| Hello Kitty decor in the airport |
Now that the Winter Solstice has passed on Dec 21, we are finally gaining back sunshine daily, yay! The shortest day of the year in Anchorage was just over 5 hours.
Welcome to 2014 and welcome to increasing daylight!
Gee how time does fly... this time last year I was pondering what goals I
should set for 2013. After taking a glance through my bucket list, I decided
that 2013 was my year of travel and adventure! It was definitely an amazing
year and here is a recap of some of the bucket list items I accomplished: Visit
the Grand Canyon, visit every continent (I checked one more off this list because
I counted the Middle East as a separate continent since I never know if its
part of Asia or Africa), white water rafting, ride in a hot air balloon, climb
to the top of a mountain, ride a camel, and go on a wine tasting tour. And I
moved to Alaska! Not a bucket list item, but definitely an experience of a
lifetime.
Since I never print photos anymore for around the
house or to put on bulletin boards, I found this great idea on Pinterest to
gather your favorite online photos from the previous year and create a photo
book on Shutterfly or any photo site. This seems like an awesome way to capture
all your favorite memories from each year and consolidate them into annual
albums. I've started working on my 2013 one and can't wait to get it finished
and printed!
So what's next for 2014... this year I'm going to
focus on my health and wellness! Now that I have found adventure in my own
backyard, I can spend more energy on being healthier. I’ve been lethargic and
tired lately (probably due to the darkness) so I'm going to try to live gluten
free for 3 months and see if I can gain back a little pep in my step. After
that I'll maybe phase a few of my favorites back into my diet. My mom is going
to try it out with me for support. There are lots of yummy gluten free recipes
on Pinterest so I’m excited to start a new cooking spree.
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| My first successful gluten free dinner - buffalo chicken and veggie quinoa |
I also want to get into a better workout and wellness routine. I want to
pick up yoga again and I think I found a studio here in Anchorage where I can go at least
once a week. I'd also love to go on a meditation retreat sometime this year. I
think its important to gather thoughts and memories and make sure life isn't
just passing me by. That's one of the main reasons I created this blog. I also
found a wonderful book that I was inspired by my friend Becca to start. It’s
called the Happiness Project and the concept is to write down a one sentence daily
memory for 5 years. So every year you start over in the book and can recall
what you did the previous years on those days. I’m really looking forward
to 2014!
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| NYE 2013 |
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| Cheers to good friends |
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| Happy New Year 2014! |
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| New Years book |
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| One sentence journal concept |
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| Starting fresh January 1, 2014 |
