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As if the holiday time isn’t busy enough, Shawn and I took a quick getaway to New Orleans (NOLA to those of you in the know) over the weekend. It was a great time! Thanks to a surprise cold snap, we were a little unprepared for the weather and didn’t get to do as many things as I was hoping to squeeze in, but we made it work.
So…November has been a busy month. It’s already Thanksgiving day and I’m exhausted. But I’ve had some fun adventures.
Apart from the surprise October snow from two weeks ago, I’ve been doing my best to enjoy the fall. It’s been a while since I’ve experienced one, and it will be a while before I see one again. (Ah…the Foreign Service…) Last week we headed out to Shenandoah National Park for a few days to enjoy the changing leaves. Of course, the aforementioned snowfall meant that we were past peak leaf-viewing time, but we still managed to have a good time.
One of the fun things about living in the Washington, DC area is that there are always new things to see. For Columbus Day, we decided to play tourist and check out some of the sights. The weather was perfect, so it was a little crowded on the National Mall, but not as bad as I’ve seen it during the summer. And today was the first day I really noticed that the trees are starting to change colors, which was quite exciting after missing that for the past two years.
Well, we safely made it out of Nassau and moved into our new apartment a week ago. As for most of our things…they were not as quick to leave Nassau as we were (even though we packed out two weeks early), so the apartment is a little empty and we’re still eating out a lot. Next time, I’ll pack more cooking utensils, pots, and pans in the air shipment.
I’ve got a photo from our recent Disney World trip to share today, but first a little background information: I don’t like roller coasters. As a kid, I never went to an amusement park. My brother and I weren’t even allowed to ride the dinky rides at the county fair. You know how some college freshmen get completely out of control with that first taste of freedom? That was me at my first May Day Fair on campus — I must have ridden every ride at least 4 or 5 times. Keep in mind that these were just the silly spin you around until you feel sick sort of rides, nothing near roller coaster level. But I thought it was awesome.
The past week and a half has been a little bit crazy. Approximately 10 days ago was the beginning of the first quilt show I have ever been involved with. Since it was put on by my quilt guild, there were a couple days of set up, and a reception, and work manning the show. In the middle of this, I had to go to Charleston, SC for work. Isn’t that just great timing?
So….it’s been a while. But here are my totally valid excuses:
1. I started a new job. It’s not quite full time, but it’s more hours per week than I’ve spent working for at least the past five years. Bye, bye free time.
So it’s been a couple years since I’ve been surrounded by the craziness of an American Christmas. Namely, the early date which all things Christmas appear. We went to the grocery store last night: the Salvation Army bell-ringer was out front, we were forced to listen to nothing but Christmas music while we shopped, and the candy aisle was halfway filled with candy canes. And the last time we went to the mall (I think it was three weeks ago?), it was all decorated for the holiday as well.