October 2015 (25x25)

This month involved quite a bit of dressing up, going to Disney, and Bible reading - although not necessarily all of those things together.

Regina, Emma Swan, and Captain Hook

The dressing up and Disney pieces definitely fit together for a visit to Magic Kingdom to attend Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. 

Don't mess with Emma Swan (from Once Upon a Time).

Also, pumpkins made an appearance in October...featuring an adipose from Doctor Who. I had surprising success in hand-drawing this little guy on here from the template I was viewing on my phone.

Where does the Bible reading come into all of this, you might ask. I have now made it to the depths of 1 Kings, which means I am past day 100 on the plan I am using to read through the Bible in a year, with a daily psalm. Mostly I've learned that God stays quite consistent in his rules and guidelines and humans quite consistently fail to pay very much attention to him at all.

Life on Fast Forward

The Day of the Doctor

Saturday, November 23, was a very special day. It was the 50th anniversary of the BBC show, Doctor Who. Yes, indeed, and I will admit to being a Whovian. I enjoyed seeing the special 50th anniversary episode both on Saturday afternoon - I was house-sitting so I actually had cable! - and on Monday evening in a movie theater IN 3-D with a friend. I promise I try to do lots of actually useful stuff with my life.

Thanksgiving at Dowling Park

At the end of November, I was finally able to go up to visit my grandparents in Florida - the snowbirds have arrived down south! When I'm there, I'm the chef and the chauffeur and the IT guy and the Christmas decorator. 

We ate Thanksgiving dinner in the dining hall with relatives, but I there were some traditional family holiday foods that I just couldn't live without. Behold a delicious slice of Dutch Crumb Apple Pie a la mode. Trust me, once you've had this pie, a normal pie crust on top will never satisfy. 

And if you desire a more tart experience for your taste buds, then you might be interested in this Cranberry Apricot Lattice Pie. This family favorite can be found on pages 288-289 of The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. And lucky for you, these pages are available on Google Books for free.

Santa's Marketing Elves

And then, last week, Christmas arrived in grand style. Wycliffe had a building-wide Christmas decorating competition. I work with a bunch of artistic, creative people. Together we decided, go big or go home. Behold the wonder of Santa's Marketing Workshop. 

The Elves have a countdown to Christmas, a live feed to Santa's reindeer, a fire and stockings with their names on them, snow falling on evergreen trees, lots of Christmas lights, lots of paper chains, 6 Christmas trees, a photo booth, Christmas cookies, hats, signs, and presents.

Peppermint "Peppy" Sugarplum is head of Santa's Letter Reading and Response department. She loves reading all the letters that children all over the world write to Santa, even those that are skeptical of his existence.

Merry Christmas!

Random night

Tonight is random night. I’ll post a whole bunch of random paragraphs, and if you have extra time with your life, you can creatively come up with some theme that brings them all together (other than the fact that they all have to do with my life).

After being in our house for almost 3 weeks, we finally got the key to our mailbox. Yay mail! I got a letter from my mommy; therefore, she is the best. Thank you, USPS, for doing your thing, however long it takes you.

I sponsor a child in Ethiopia through Compassion International. Her name is Mihret, and she’s 10 years old. I need to write her a letter because then she can say ‘Yay mail!’ too. Hold me accountable.

Tijuana Flats is a Tex-Mex fast food chain I’ve been introduced to since moving down here. It’s several steps up from Taco Bell, which I think I’ve eaten at only once in my life. A group from my department goes to Tijuana Flats for lunch on Taco Tuesdaze.

My middle sister is back from her summer in Costa Rica. My whole family called me on Sunday evening to tell me all about the wonderful barbeque they were having at the cottage on the lake. And to say that they missed me. I’ll admit it: I miss them too. And the lake. In contrast, I was at the Orlando Premium Outlets on tax-free weekend cause you know that shopping is my addiction. J

They announced the new Doctor on Sunday! In December we have to say farewell to Matt Smith and hello to Peter Capaldi as the Doctor. If you haven’t ever watched Doctor Who, you’re missing out on some lovely British sci-fi telly.

I’m in the middle of applying to be a Big Sister through the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Florida. I am so glad for the time I was able to spend with my Little Sister at Houghton, and I am looking forward to getting to know another one here in Orlando.

After all that, I did sort of come up with a theme. Did you find it? Happy Tuesday evening!