This Christmas

I LOVE Christmas. I do. But this Christmas, I'm having all the feelings and all the emotions, because I know that Christmas can be a really difficult, really sad time for people, and for a lot of people I love.

So if you're having a rough time this Christmas, I'm thinking of you. I don't have anything to say to make it better, because sometimes things are just hard. And you don't have to be happy right now. It's ok. But if you need someone to talk to, I'm here. Feeling lots of feelings.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas. Loving all of you from Missouri. <3

Scenes from this fall

Hey friends!

I got to see my lovely friend Layne this weekend (woo!).

She made an unfortunately accurate comment when she called me "Miss Never-going-to-post-on-her-blog-except-about-books."

Oops.

So I thought I'd share some of the things that have happened in my life since I was a real blogger who posted things other than pre-scheduled book reviews. :)

This year, campus was just BEAUTIFUL for fall. I mean, it always is, but look at these pictures! I was lucky that the week that the trees really decided to turn colors, I had to walk this path 4-6 times a day and got to bask in the glow of the gorgeous colors and crunchy leaves. Heaven.

I played on our student group's rec volleyball team again. Don't let my classmate's #1 fool you -- I don't think we even won one set of one game. It was fun though!! (I'm to the right of the girl in the tie dye :)

For Thanksgiving, Pat and I went home to my parents' house and I got to spend time with that little fluff face up there. Pat also had his traditional bonding with all of the pets, but he of course likes the kitty the best. They're basically besties.

We also had a fire over Thanksgiving! That fire was on the struggle bus the whole time though. For the first forty minutes or so I was just waiting for it to fizzle out and die. But Pat is king of the lab when it comes to building fires, and he eventually got a pretty good fire going despite lack of supplies and some pretty damp wood.

My sisters and I also spent some time over Thanksgiving visiting my grandma. She used to live with us but moved into assisted living after a rough fall in October. She was So. Happy. to see us. It breaks your heart and makes you feel awesome at the same time. It was really good to spend some time visiting her.

Justin, the really cool guy behind Texas in a Box and Oklahoma in a box, sent me this box of goodies to review! Full review coming soon, but since I've been super slow, I figured I'd go ahead and plug it/preview it now -- plus get a discount on your box by using this link! (I believe it's for a whopping $10 off!)

Pat and I went to two KU Volleyball matches in early December. The team made it to the Sweet 16 in the tournament -- the farthest KU Volleyball has gone in program history! Rock Chalk!

Finally, I have been LOVING all the Christmas lights around my little city -- That first one is Mass Street, our downtown area, and the second one is my string of lights in my room :) Twinkling Christmas lights just make my heart so freaking happy. I love Christmas!!

So there's an update on what I've been up to lately. Plus a few papers here and there (finished a 15-page one last night!!), but no one wants to see those pictures!

I've missed you all :)

How is your week going? Can you believe we're a week out from Christmas Eve??? Crazy.