A Thrilling Christmas!

Yay for Christmas!
This past week David and I traveled to Chapel Hill, aka the thrill, to visit with the Horrance/Gary clan for Christmas.

Once we got into town we picked up my bro Donovan, grabbed some food at Armadillo, and headed to a UNC Basketball game. I forgot to take any pictures at the game...

so this shot of my new boyfriend is courtesy of tarheelblue.com. Go Heels! Tyler Hansborough played awesome and helped our boys continue their undefeated streak by cruising past UC Santa Barbara.

After the game, and some last minute shopping, we had dinner over at my Nani's with some of my relatives that were in town. Here are David and Donovan discussing world politics.

The entire weekend/week was filled with lots of amazing food. First up, shrimp curry! My Nani made some delicious curry that was very spicy. Unfortunately, David is allergic to shrimp, but Nani made some special chicken curry just for him :) !

Here are Aunt Chantal (my dad's sister, whom we like to call Chauntie) and Bruce (her husband) enjoying spending time at the Nani's.

Wait a second, where did this picture of a hot rocker come from? Oh yeah! It's me :). After dinner with the family it was time to visit with some of my friends from high school. We were pretty tame most of the weekend and enjoyed playing guitar hero at my house.

Josh and Emily aren't so sure about my guitar hero skills.

Good thing Sarah was there to show us how it is done. Do you notice David sleeping on the couch behind her? Poor thing. We kept him up way past his bedtime every night! He is going to be a mess at work on Thursday.

Here is Hadley pretending to play, while Josh pushes the buttons for her.
Look at those acting skills!

Sunday night consisted of a low key dinner at my rents house. We ate mulligatawny, a curried Indian soup. I was feeling a sicky, so I only got to eat a little bit :(.

Ta Dah! The Nani! Always watching...

Twas the night before Christmas and Michelle came home! Yay! She only had a day off from Stompadu, so she came home for Christmas even though it was for less than 48 hours. While she was here Michelle taught us a STOMP routine. Here is Michelle helping the boys practice. David needed a little more help than most :).

Ahhhh, Christmas morning. WAKE UP SLEEPY HEADS! Because we are all a little older now, and therefore more sleep deprived, Christmas at our house always starts a little late.

But I was up first, so I took pictures of all the presents.

First order of business, opening the stockings! My mom did all the stockings again this year. In the past, David and I have done stockings for each other, but this year we decided to spend a little more on presents, so stockings were out of the question! Thanks to my loverly mother we still had wonderful surprises in our stockings.

And since it is Christmas....time to give my mom a break! That's right dad and donz, your turn to do the dishes! We didn't even have to ask, they simply volunteered (despite Donovan's angry look, he did sign up for this).

Noon already? Must be time for presents! Here is a beautiful scarf I knitted myself for my grandmother. I had been working on it since March, and it wasn't quite as long as I hoped, but it still works as a scarf. The funny part was when my Nani opened it and asked me, "What is it?". Yikes is it that bad?

Here I am displaying my favorite gift from David, a new corduroy jacket! Yay! Thanks babe. And Donovan is sporting his new pj pants we picked out for him.

This gift was one that I was most excited about giving. I got my sister and David season salt from Bojangles! They both love the seasoning that comes on the fries at Bojangles, so I got them each a pack of season salt so they can make their own Bo fries at home.

Every year my mom makes her famous Pavlova cake, other wise know as a baked meringue with whip cream and fruit. Delicious!

Here is do do head eating the left over pavlova cake off of a knife. Man that stuff is good.

Where is my mom through out all of the festivities? Always in the kitchen! She worked so hard, non-stop to make some delicious meals possible. Yummy Lamb dinner, breakfast burritos, and ham with sweet potato casserole and corn bread pudding! You do too much mom! But we do appreciate it! In fact, after spending last Christmas with the Harris' in Florida, I had forgotten how hectic and chaotic our Christmas can be. I needed a whole day to recover after I got back home. Or as some like to say, I needed a vacation from my vacation!

It was so much fun to spend time with our relatives. Here are Chauntie and Kenny representing the Deez side of the family.

And here are the Garys, my mom's brother Mark, and his daughter Linda. And the best Christmas surprise ever? My cousin Linda is pregnant! Yay! We are so excited for her. Here we are looking at her ultrasound pictures.

Here is the proud Gary family, Uncle Mike, husband Michael Adams, Uncle Mark, and preggy Linda, who is barely showing.

Ah, and one of the funniest parts of the whole weekend was what my dad wanted for Christmas. After a musical Sunday school lesson, he determined that the only gift he wanted was my mom to play Handel's Messiah every time he walked in the house. Here he is enjoying his music at full volume. It was hilarious.

Man Christmas went by so fast! We had a great time visiting with friends and family and got way too many good presents. Thanks everyone! Let's all do this again next year shall we?

Christmas Time is Here!

It's Christmas time! I bet you are wondering...what happened to Thanksgiving? Did I miss a post David or Natalie put up about their trip to Florida for Thanksgiving? No, no. David was in charge of the Thanksgiving post, so my guess is that by this point, it ain't happening!

This past weekend David and I finally put the finishing touches on our Christmas decorations. It feels great to have everything up, especially since we were feeling the neighborhood pressure when we arrived home from Thanksgiving to find our entire neighborhood completely decked out. It just took us a while to find the time to get things going. But now you can enjoy the fruits of our labor without even visiting out house!

My friend Andrea had this Christmas Quiz up on her blog and it made me laugh so I thought I would do it too. This quiz will give you all kinds of insights about my personality just by learning how I decorate during the holidays. Enjoy!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both! If it can't be wrapped, it must go in a bag. Although I am notorious for wrapping odd shaped gifts that should have been bagged.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real! I love the smell of a real Christmas tree in our home.

3. When do you put up the tree? I have a rule that the tree cannot go up until it is December. Once November is over, anytime is fair game.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually the first weekend in January.

5. Do you like eggnog? No. It takes like crap.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Microphone, guitar, and jumpsuit. It was a karaoke set for kids. I totally rocked that gift. There are also embarrassing pictures somewhere...

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, we just bought our first one this year! David doesn't like the people that came in our set, but loves the Creche. As soon as we can find some suitable wooden figures we will replace them!

8. Hardest person to buy for? My sister Michelle. Her taste is all over the place and I never know what she will like.

9. Easiest person to buy for? My brother Donovan. He is very good about tell me exactly what he wants :). Thanks Deez!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail! Who doesn't love getting something in the mail besides a bill? This is the only time of year I look forward to getting the mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Tissues. No seriously. One time a relative who will remain nameless wrapped up tissues and gave them to me.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? Love Actually. This movie makes me melt and cry every time I watch it. I know it is not a traditional Christmas movie, but I am not very fond of those old school cartoons and claymation. Alright I also like Charlie Brown's Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Sometime in November.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can think of. . .

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Breakfast burritos! After we open presents on Christmas day we make breakfast burritos which consist of tortillas, salsa, eggs, bacon, potatoes with sausage and onion, cheese, black olives, sour cream, and hot sauce. Yummy. I can't wait!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear lights inside and out!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Mary Did You Know? sung by Clay Aiken. (This is David's favorite too :)).

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel. Until we have children of our own we take turns doing Christmas with our families in Chapel Hill and Florida.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? On Dasher, On Dancer, On Comet, and Vixen, On Donner, On Prancer, On Cupid and Blitzen. Oh yeah and Rudolph.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Morning. Usually around 10 am.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The Christmas music on the radio. Well, you get tired of it by the time Christmas rolls around because it has been playing since before Thanksgiving!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Red and Silver!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Baa Baa Lamb. With yummy spinach and mushroom stuffing.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A baby. Just kidding David :). I would love to sleep in and hang out with family and friends. I have a feeling I will get to do all of those things!

Regina

The night before David and I headed to Florida for Thanksgiving we attended a Regina Spektor concert with my parents, brother, and some friends. The show was amazing and we had so much fun! This was my second time getting to see Regina perform and I was so excited to be going to a concert. It has been years since I had attended a real concert so I was pumped.

The first time I saw her was several years ago, before she was popular, in a small coffee shop with about ten people listening (I must credit Michelle, my sister, for introducing me to her and taking me to her show even though at the time I was not appreciative of her odd lyrics). At the end of the show, she thanked us for coming and passed around a basket for tips since it didn't cost anything to see her.

It is so crazy how much she has blown up since I first saw her. The concert was performed on Duke's campus (I know, I know but we must get past that, besides the people of Duke, as Regina called them, were very polite concert folk to be around). It was a packed house, and in fact the show sold out in one day!



Even though we were a little tired by the end of the night, the show was fantastic and it was great to see such an incredible performance. Regina is so fun to watch because she comes off as shy, but very humble, and thanks you for clapping after every song.

Below are clips of two of my favorite songs by Regina. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Retirement

Yep. That's my mom. In her early years of dancing of course, but that is her!

This past weekend was my mom's final horah at Duke University where she is a professor of dance. After 32 years of teaching ballet for Duke, she is finally retiring. I must say, I couldn't be happier for her. Of course she will continue to teach and run her ballet school in Chapel Hill, but still, I can feel the load being lifted off her shoulders. Maybe now she will finally have time to keep the house clean and cook dinner every night. Ha ha ha. Just kidding mom, we love you.

The weekend was filled with two wonderful shows which included dances by both current and former Duke students. I couldn't believe how many of her former dancers came back to dance their old pieces for my mom. It was such a treat for her, and she was really touched by all those who came (some came from as far as California!).

Well, we were actually the ones being treated. We were able to see some of her best choreography that she set on Duke dancers which included Valley, Palladio, and the Pavarotti pieces. They were all awesome!

Following the final performance we were treated to a lovely intimate dinner with her alumni and colleagues. It was so special and her co-workers had the most wonderful things to say about her. I think she was really touched by all the effort and work that went into her retirement celebration.

My favorite part of the evening included a top ten list of things they would miss about M'Liss. I can't remember all of them, but here are some of the highlights: Diet Coke (my mom is notorious for having a can of Diet Coke in her hand at all times of the day!), her messy desk at work (they came out and dumped trash, papers, and notebooks, all over the podium and floor to symbolize her desk. It was hilarious!), her car (on top of the mess from her 'desk' they added costumes, tutus, etc to symbolize her ridiculously cluttered car and trunk. I was laughing so hard at this point I started crying), and also her famous quotes from class which included phrases such as 'mittens', 'soggy diapers', and 'well that was interesting ______' (fill in the blank with a variety of dance terms such as timing, choreography, spacing, etc.)

The weekend was a huge success and we are all so proud of our very own prima ballerina! We love you mom!

STOMP!

The word is out. My sister is in STOMP! Congratulations Michelle! We are so excited and thrilled for you! I can't wait to come up for a show and cheer you on. For those of you who have never had the privilege to see Michelle dance...check out the video of her and her friend Nicholas (also in STOMP) breaking it down.

ACC Champs!

YAY DADDY! That's right folks! The UNC tarheels have won another ACC title! That makes 18 ACC Championships out of 19. Pretty good ugh? We are very excited and especially proud this year because it was a very close game and we barely made it to the finals (we advanced to the finals by beating UVA in pks in the semis). In the final game we shut out the Florida State Seminoles 1-0 in a tight match. All the ACC teams keep getting better, making each year more difficult and exciting.

Congratulations to the North Carolina Tarheels and my paps. ACC coach of the year?
Hmmmm...

We find out tonight whether we have secured a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Fingers crossed and good luck in the NCAA tourney Heels!

Halloween!

Happy Halloween! The season of carved pumpkins, cute costumes, and candy! (For those of you who attended the Halloween party at the Holmes' house, go ahead and take four pins!)

We got the festivities started by attending the Ward Halloween Party this past Saturday evening. It was a ton of fun (nice job Nicolle!). Plus, there was a chili cook-off. Can you really ask for more? Although, I'm a little upset with the Brewer family for beating me out for "Best Chili." I guess I'll have to settle for second place . . . until next year! Next to the chili, the best part of the Ward Party were the great costumes! Here is Pedro and Deb (a.k.a. Bishop and Andrea). All quality prom photos should be taken with a faux wood-panel divider backdrop.


As good as some of the adult costumes were, the little ones stole the show. Here are Shaelyn and Clara, all ready to go in their lady bug and bunny costumes. Aren't they just so cute? (Go ahead, take another pin) Oh yeah, Michael and Greg are pictured below as well.



Natalie and Jackie were in charge of the games for the 12-18 year olds at the Ward Party, so they came up with a donut eating competition. Here I am with one of my awesome Deacons in a head-to-head competition. I left him in the dust . . . no mercy.




After some prodding, we convinced Natalie, Kelly, Jax, and Erika to give it a try. I think that Kelly won, but there are rumors that she threw a couple of elbows in the process.




Like I said before, the kids really stole the show in terms of costumes. Here are Brandon (Jeff Gordon) and Whitney (pumpkin). The next picture is of Addie in her fairy costume. I think she's ready to go . . .


After the Ward Halloween Party, we were really in the Halloween spirit, so we decided to carve our pumpkin.

I was really excited because I got to make some really good pumpkin seeds. Just ask Natalie how good they were!

Then Natalie got fresh with the pumpkin, so . . .

I kicked the pumpkin out of the house! Doesn't he look mad?

Our final Halloween activity was the party over at the Holmes' house. Here are Shelley and Megan all dressed up for the occasion. Natalie and I were relieved that everyone dressed up. We still have some lingering trauma from a Halloween party that we went to a couple of years ago where nobody dressed up except for us!

Here are Kelly and Carrie "cheesin" for the camera. Nice costumes girls!

Even Jim and Pam (a.k.a. Greg and Nicolle) from the Office showed up. Unfortunately, Jim was up to his old tricks at the Halloween party, hiding cell phones and such, which got me in a little trouble at home. Thanks Greg! Those Sherwoods are such bullies! Is that right Max?

Despite Jim's bullying, we had a great time. And I'm not just saying that because Natalie and I won the costume competition (thank you Erika . . . wink wink).

I'm told that the "Black-eyed Peas" came in a close "second" in the costume competition. Better luck next year! Haha.

The End.

Written by the Big Bad Wolf himself: