#121. cupcakes for the new year

Making cupcakes for our New Years Eve Party..

Sarah is quitting college to become a professional cupcake decorater. 

Sorry I don't have any photos from New Years Eve at night. But just know, it was a fun night
Heading to Boston tomorrow for the Boston Winter Conference.
I'll have super limited internet access.. so wont be able to update the blog with photos until I get back on Wednesday. No worries, I'll still be taking photos everyday.

#120. sarah(s)

At Sarah K's house (in Clifton Park) for New Years Eve (tomorrow)!
Boston in a few days!

#119. light switch

I just love the cover on our light switch.

I've been sick in bed all day. I'm headed to Clifton Park tomorrow to celebrate New Years and then after that headed to Boston. Prayer that I would get better would be great!

#118. what NJ calls the holiday blizzard

Photo taken on December 28

Many apologies to this picture being a day late. I got really sick last night and fell asleep at 10pm in the jeans I wore that day. 

On my way out to the car, I snapped a picture of what NJ is calling the holiday blizzard. Seriously NJ, try living in 70 inches of Syracuse Snow.. then we'll talk about a blizzard. 

#117. favorite ornament on the tree

I know I've taken a few pictures of our tree already.. but my mom for some odd reason just added this ornament. And its my absolute favorite. I may just take it with me wherever I end up moving post graduation.

#116. i'm dreaming of a (post) white Christmas

It wasn't a white Christmas day in NJ this year....instead we had a white (post) Christmas.

After church today, I threw on some boots and ventured outside to capture a few photos.

Disclaimer, I have a unbelievable fear of spiders. But this frozen spiderweb.. pretty cool.

Frozen sap on a tree..

Snow covered bricks outside our home.

And then I came inside, made some hot chocolate and watched movies all day underneath a warm blanket. 

True story, snow is much more appreciated under these circumstances. 

Things on my Mind:

- Fact. Sound of Music is one of the best movies ever made. As I watched it on ABC today, my mom reminded that I was six years old when my grandma first showed me that movie. And how my sister and I sat pleasantly throughout the entire movie (pretty unheard of for a 6 and 4 year old).

- I saw Dear John for the first time last year, and I hated it. I decided to give it a second chance & watched it again today. Yup, still not a huge fan. 

- A third Transformers is coming out this summer. Im not usually in support of any movie that decides to put out a third.. but I'm pretty excited for it, seeing how I have a guilty pleasure for the first two.

- Clearly I have movies on the brain today. I guess that comes with watching four movies in a row. 

#115. good news of great joy

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS to everyone! 
And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 
- Luke 2:10-11

Here's a few moments throughout my day..

Every Christmas (after opening presents) we head over to our family friend's home for breakfast with a few other families from our church! Even though I didn't take the photo below, I promised I would post it on my blog. The 4 of us (plus a few other ladies, not pictured) basically grew up in church together. It's nice to have a recent photo of all of us together!

Later on my sister and I headed to my grandma's house to have Christmas dinner. This is my grandma, talking to my cousin (not pictured). I love this picture & my grandma.

My sister & cousin.

Here is my cousin and uncle looking at pictures from over 20 years ago. This is about when I put my camera down for the rest of the night.. because soon enough there was tons of photo albums and stacks of pictures circulating between our hands. So many laughs, such a great time. 

And yup, that's my aunt.. fast asleep :)

 Back at home, I took a picture of some of our decorations (that we put out crazy late)

Then my mom & I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. 

As I mentioned before, this is my FAVORITE Christmas movie ever. Not only is it hilarious (case in point- when Linus says "Out of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest") ... but it also one of the only mainstream movies that speaks of the true meaning of Christmas. Charlie Brown spends the entire day fretting over the commercialism our society has made Christmas. Linus in turn quotes Luke 2:8-14, and explains how this day is really about God coming down into this dark world, in order to shine his light.
Watch the clip, because my explanation just doesn't do it justice. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

#114. silent night, holy night

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service.

After several Christmas songs and a message, my church dims the lights and we sing Silent Night by candlelight. 

I have alot on my mind.. so be prepared..

Before I started this 365 day project, I used blog randomly about my life. In those blog posts I sometimes included "my prayer for today".. in which I would share what I would be praying for that day. I think I'm going to start doing that again.. starting with today.

My prayer for today- 

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. - Psalm 16:11.

If you know me well.. you know that I tend to thrive off of the Christmas season "cheer." I begin to listen to Christmas music way too early, I constantly check ABC Family to see what they are playing within their 25 days of Christmas series, and I get a little over excited about holiday decorations.

Well this year finals sucked the life out of my Christmas cheer.  And after my hades weeks of finals were over,  I came home to the GRINCHIEST (yes I made "grinch" an adjective) household ever. This Christmas season has been unconventional & frustrating, but through all my disappointment I was reminded (by a friend and through my own personal conviction) that its not really okay to thrive off of all the materialistic things of Christmas. Instead, I ought to find joy in what Christmas is really about.. God loving us so much that he made the sacrifice of coming into this dark world, in order to shine His light into it.  

So thats my prayer for today (and for the next couple days, and really for the rest of my life), that I would find joy in light of Him, and not expect anything else to bring me the joy that God gives.  

#113. nyc (blocks style)

I've been filling in for one of the teachers at my old work.
Almost every day this week, a particular little boy played quietly with blocks. Today he informed me that he was building New York City.

See that tall one in the middle? He pointed at it and told me that it is the Empire State Building. He then proceeded to proudly explain that it is the tallest building in NYC. Smart (and super cute) kid. 

#112. holiday hot chocolate

Want to hear something funny? I originally had this hot chocolate with my breakfast this morning & I took a picture of it. THEN my mom and I went to Costco to order our Christmas cards (yeah, we're late). Well the picture was on my memory card...and blah blah blah, I accidentally left the memory card in the little Costco machine. SO I had to make more hot chocolate and take another picture tonight...
(No worries, I'm getting it back tomorrow)

#111. passing cars out of focus

No worries, even though I was in the drivers seat while taking this photo....the car was not in motion.

#110. sister

-It was pretty dark & I wasn't using my lens that allows more light into the camera.. so these pictures aren't the BEST quality .....but meet my sister, lying on her bed with her laptop, probably typing out 15 tweets per minute while facebook chatting and texting.... very typical of her. (Love you, Aisha!)

On a super random side note.. have you ever heard of "Dear Blank, Please Blank"?  I'm sure alot of people have.. but for those who haven't.. please, pleasem please click this link to their twitter account and be prepared to laugh non-stop.

Here's a few of the ones that me laugh a lot: 
- Dear Cat, Sorry for hoisting you into the air whenever 'The Circle of Life' plays. Sincerely, a Lion King enthusiast.
- Dear couples holding hands in the hallway, You want to play red rover? Sincerely, single students.
- Dear white crayon, What is it that you do here... exactly? Sincerely, the other crayons.
- Dear nerdy girl who someone laughed at in class today, Starcraft tonight? Sincerely, the guy who didn't laugh.
- Dear Students, I know when you're texting. Sincerely, No one just looks down at their crotch and smiles.

#109. newborn baby.

A family friend of ours had a baby boy on Friday morning.  We went to visit them today..

Meet baby Dominick. (3 days old)

#108. today is a great day

Do you know why today is a great day?

1.  I now have the time to re-continue this photo blog. As most of you know... school work literally took my life away the past two weeks. Four all nighters (three of them were in a row),  one 15 page paper, one 6 page paper, two 10 page papers, 4 presentations, one group project and two final exams later..and I'm free. Which brings me to my next great thing..
2.  I am HOME and free of school for the next month. Dear Christmas break, we are going to have a RELAXING time this year. I hope you're ready.

I'm super sad/a tiny bit regretful that I wasn't able to post a photo a day for the past two weeks. But no worries guys, I never plan on doing that again. Ever. (unless I'm somewhere that has limited internet access)
The upside is.. I was still able to take a photo every day.. so scroll down to view the 15+ posts that I just put up!

Before you scroll down,  take a gander at today's photo..

 Our chandelier

#107. syracuse grads come back

Photo taken on December 17.

Had a few Syracuse grads come back into town tonight! So we went to Stronghearts and caught up for a few hours. 

#106. snow covered bench

Photo taken on December 16.

Don't you just want to take a seat on this bench?

At this point we had about 70 inches of snow fall in Syracuse.
Yup.

#105. i have pretty friends

Photo taken on December 15.

Went out for breakfast to Stella's Diner with some girls.

Meet my friend Jamie. She's pretty. 

#104. inside icicles

Photo taken on December 14.

Have you ever seen icicles grow on the INSIDE of a building? Yeah, welcome to Syracuse.

These babies were growing on the inside of my window..

#103. frozen pole

Photo taken on  December 13

Sometimes I have these wild and crazy ideas.
As I walked home from a final presentation I thought..I wonder if your tongue would really get stuck if you tried to lick a frozen pole like in A Christmas Story.  No worries, I didn't really do it.  (But only because I was walking by myself..and would have no one to save me if I really got stuck.)

#102. peruvian ring

Photo taken on December 12

 I bought this ring in Peru two years ago. It's probably my favorite ring I own.

#101. CRU Christmas Party!

Photos taken on December 11

At this year's Christmas party, there was.. 

Dancing... 

Awesome decorations..

AND Santa & Rudolph! 

(played by Tony & Mike)

As well as yummy snacks, great friends and great music. 

Such a good night. 

#100. a peek into room

Photos taken on December 10

I love my vintage-y coke bottles & Christmas poinsettia. 

#99. more snow, more berries

Photos taken on December 9

Don't the berries look like they are wearing snow top hats? Or is it just me?

#98. alto cinco for Amanda's birthday..

Photos take on December 8

This was Wednesday. Aka the day after my third consecutive all nighter. I literally felt like death. But as soon as my 15 page paper/presentation were done.. I went home, ignored the world and had the most AMAZING date with my bed.. And then later at night I  went out to Alto Cinco with Em & Amanda to have a belated celebration of Amanda's birthday.

It was crazy dark in the restaurant so I couldn't get a photo of us. But Em & I gushed about the Spanish style interior decorating throughout the enitre meal.. so I had to capture a piece of it.

And even though the snow got in the way, I had to post a picture of the 3 of us. Thanks for  taking the picture Rob.. also thanks for picking us up & taking us home!

#97. hello I live in the North Pole

Photos taken on December 7

I'm pretty sure Santa moved to Syracuse this year. He realized that there was not enough snow in the original North Pole and that it instead came to Syracuse.

Doesn't the snow kind of look like a hat?

Also, 6 page paper and presentation (one of three) were finished today. 

#96. with my God..

Photo taken on December 6

This was Monday. I wrote this verse as soon I woke that morning.. after going to bed at 5am only to wake up 4 hours later at 9am.  The night before that (Saturday night into Sunday) I also stayed up until 5am & woke up at 9. Both "almost" all-nighters were spent on my 15 page paper. Monday was the day I had to complete my 6 page paper and presentation..and somehow make time to continue working on my 15 pager. I didn't step a foot outside that day. Instead I planted myself at my desk.. almost delirous from the lack of sleep and tried to get through my paper. I also tried to have one of those break down crying moments.. but I was SO tired & my eyes were so dry from being tired that the crying literally lasted 15 seconds.. before the tears just didn't continue.

Yeah it was bad. But now its over. And I have time for my photo blog again. Thank You God, I know you're the one that got me through these past two weeks. 

#97. my charlie brown christmas tree

Photo taken on December 5

A Charlie Brown Christmas is hands down my FAVORITE Christmas movie ever. I have this tradition of watching it every Christmas...

When I bought this little Christmas tree from Salvo, it reminded me a bit of the tree Charlie Brown bought.

#95. snowflake berries and basketball

Photos taken on December 4th

I had to post all 3 of these photos that I took on this day.. even though they're not related..

Okay, so how many photos can I post of these berry trees, right? WELL.. let me just point out that perfect & amazing snowflake in between the two berries on the bottom left.  I was just trying to take photo of the berries..and that perfect little snowflake wiggled his way in. And I didn't even notice it until hourss after I took the photo.. Can you say SERENDIPITY? 

I took the above photo on my way to what would be a LONG day in the library. And because I worked so hard.. I rewarded myself by going to the SU v NC State game. We got there kind of late.. so we had to sit in the nosebleed of the student section..

And after the game (which we BARELY won. Step it up guys).. Sarah and Em did a little posing.