Snow, Snow, Go Away...

I really hate winter. As soon as the weather dips below freezing, I just want to crawl into bed and stay there until spring comes. But society won't let me. What gives, society!? Anyway, that general malaise is why I haven't written anything new in a while. (Does that count as an apology? Probably not...)

The view from my office today (why!?)

To make it up to you, I'd like to do a quick run-through of some things I wanted to blog about last fall, and never got to. I also have a few "real" posts in my head. I'll work at extracting them for you soon.

Kick the Debt Party
In October, four of our friends threw a party to celebrate finally paying off their student loans. (...a joy I hope to know myself someday...) There was a bouncy castle, and kangaroo meat, and there were lots of old friends. It was like a family-of-choice reunion!

Rooke Wedding
The next weekend was the most beautiful and amazing wedding I have ever attended. Our friends, Amber and Dylan tied the knot on his family's farm. They did everything themselves, and on the cheap. It was absolutely genuine, and truly their style. The warm glow of it made my whole life sweeter! Amber has put up lots of posts about it on her blog if you're curious. (Her pictures are much better.)

Parental Visit
At the end of October, my folks drove all the way from Minnesota for a visit. They took the whole week off so they could spend two weekends with us, and the in-between days touring the East Coast. By all accounts, they had a fabulous time! We visited lots of nice Pittsburgh restaurants, they brought us farm-stand apples from Ohio, and we went furniture shopping at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Me & Mom in our natural environment: a coffee shop

Murder Mystery Dinner Theater
Remember last year's show? This one was done a bit earlier to accommodate a Christmas theme. I played a wreath. Jim described the character as like the furniture in Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Shane got into the act too this year. He played grown-up Cindy-Lou-Who's damaged boyfriend. I got to put together both of their costumes. Yes, got to. I LOVE making costumes!

In Charge? Me?
That's right. I'm an officially ordained ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church now. Crazy, right? I was nominated to serve on our church's finance committee. After much careful consideration, I said "yes". It is a big commitment. The term is three years long, and I'll be helping make some difficult decisions. Furthermore, I had to kneel in front of everyone at the all-church meeting and promise to do my best to be awesome.

Coming Up
(Hopefully!) I plan to catch you up on my Christmas and a couple of projects I've been working on lately. I have lots of exciting things planned for 2014!!