Three French Hens

I appear to be REALLY behind on the holidays this year. I blame it completely on school. I didn't even start holiday shopping until about 6 days before, which made for some frustrating mall parking experiences, being as it was mostly too late to shop online. Today is technically the third day of Christmas, it still falls in the realm of THE SONG, so I still want to wish everyone yummy eggnog or treats or whatever jingles your bell this time of year. May 2009 treat you even better than 2008!

One semester has officially ended, which means I am officially one-quarter done with grad school. I couldn't be more relieved! I appear to have performed better during the second term than the first term (read: I saved my ass by studying more) so I'm hoping this is a continued trend in the future. I am overloaded the next two terms, taking 21 hours total, in hopes to make the second year a lighter schedule. We will see how that pans out for me. My energy levels have been really low lately (blame the energy-sucking-baby) so I get the feeling next semester will be a struggle for me.

The holidays were relatively low-key. We spent the Sunday before Christmas with Andrew's Mother's side of the family, Christmas Eve with my family, and Christmas day with Andrew's Father's side of the family. We managed our scheduling a little better this year, so it wasn't quite as much "just driving back and forth" as I had dreaded. One of our big gifts was new front-loading washer and dryer, which sounds really lame to be excited about, but these are the things that tickle my fancy these days people. FASTER, ENERGY-EFFICIENT, NON-TIME-SUCKING laundry. Do you see what I mean about scheduling anxiety? It is a sickness in me. There is no medication, and even if there were, I wouldn't be allowed to take it seeing as how I'm not allowed any meds whatsoever anymore anyways. I would kill for an Rx prescribing me a margarita.

This week we have two weddings to attend, and then Sunday we are off to one of my favorite places to go: Big Mountain, Montana. My family has gone there frequently since I was 17, and this will be Andrew's first trip, since my parents gifted us with the condo for the week (Babymoon?). I can't wait to hear the crunch of the powder beneath my boots! And before everyone gets in a huff about me skiing while preggo, don't worry, I'm going to take it easy and see how I feel. I think I'll be fine, but I promise to listen to my body and take it easy. See you in 2009!