Christmas in Dixie!

Above pictures: 1- My bestest Kelly and I. Evidently I was having an episode of some sort in which I was a tiger. Weird. 2- My mom's beautiful Christmas dinner table. 3- The Fam. Alye, Kath, Jack, and me. 4- Alye and me next to the upstairs Christmas tree. I love white lights! 5- Alye, me, and Meg at Neighbor's- Alye's first bar experience! 6-Alye, Meg, me, and Ryan- old friends are the best! :)

So I wound up getting to go home to Forest, VA after all, which was fantastic! It was a wonderful, fun filled week and I did so much and I got to see so many people. It was an interesting change, I guess I had kind of forgotten how different the mountains look when they’re tree covered, and how different the air feels when it’s all thick and nasty. Anyway, here’s my trip.

I got into Charlotte on Wednesday, December 20 and my mom and sister met me. It was a very fun homecoming- they were seriously standing like three feet from the bottom of the escalator, so when I got to the bottom they were right there and I was nearly attacked. It was fun. So we drove home- a whopping 3+ hours- and when we got there mom sprung into action preparing one of my favorite meals that involved a lot of mashed potatoes and gravy and potatoes. It rocked. Thursday morning, I felt horrible leaving but I had some great friends (nearly family) in Fredericksburg to catch up with. So I ventured up north for a few days. I got to eat lunch at Basil’s, the best restaurant in all of downtown Fredericksburg. I got to catch up with a lot of my old AOT friends which was very cool. Thursday night I got to spend some quality time with my best buddy Robin, which was awesome, and then Robin’s husband (God bless him) drove my drunk ass downtown for Brock’s happy hour, where I proceeded to drink my ass off and be nearly sick for the next 12 hours. Great. Friday was spent fighting off a vicious hangover and recovering a bit. I did get to go to lunch and do some shopping with Kelly, and it made me realize how much I miss her. I’m so sad to be so far away. Anyways, we had a great time and laughed a LOT. Then I caught up with some other friends and went to Kelly’s on Friday night to hang with some of my old buddies. It was a huge night because our friends Mike and Ashley had JUST gotten engaged on Thursday, and our other friends Chris and Holly just found out they are having a baby boy. So lots of reasons to celebrate! It was great to see everyone. Saturday I got to eat lunch at the fabulous Pancho Villa and catch up with Robin for a few before heading home.

But then it was time to jet back to Forest because my mom was having a Christmas celebration at our house. That rocked because I finally got to really chill with my sister Alye and our pseudo-sisters (circa 1984), Meg and Ryan. We had a photo shoot in front of the Christmas tree, some of which I will post on here. Very fun night, and at the end we all (including my baby sister… crazy!) went up to Neighbor’s for a few drinks, where I ran into some people I haven’t seen in forever. And so the rest of my break included my mom coming down with a vicious Bird Flu of some sort on Christmas Eve, leaving my sister and me to prepare the Christmas food (hahaha). We went to a Christmas Eve gathering in Forest also. Christmas Day my aunt and uncle rolled in from Columbus, OH, and it was a fun filled Butler family Christmas, per usual. I laughed my ass off at the dinner table on Christmas night as my uncle and my father picked at each other incessantly and we discussed in great depth political issues and world situations from a redneck standpoint. Classic! I also managed to eat FOURTH helpings of my mom's rockin dinner. So good. There was also a lot of alcohol consumption, because that's what we do on Christmas. :)

Anyway, I could go on and on. It was a great time, and I am so thankful to have gotten there at all this year, since originally I did not think that I would do. It would have been lonely and cold in Denver by myself, particularly given last week's snow storm, and the one that is currently happening. I didn't make it in to work today, nor will I tomorrrow to Kaplan beuase they have already closed. Which leaves me with three days on the couch! Yippee. :)

I hope that all of you had a great holiday as well. Enjoy the pictures… sending love!

CAMPUSPEAK holiday extravaganza

Pictures: 1- the CAMPUSPEAK staff dining at the fabulous Sketch; 2- Brady, me, and Shannon concluding the Fall '06 intern period; 3- me and TJ Sullivan.

We had our CAMPUSPEAK holiday party and it was a BLAST. We went to this super fun little wine cellar type place over in Cherry Creek and had tasty wine and a delicious meal, and got to spend some time with the folks from the office in a not-so-work setting. It was also kind of the last event with the current interns, as Shannon and Brady finished up on Friday. I can't believe it's already over and they're moving out- it went by so fast! I am very glad I will be sticking around for another 6 months or so. I am definitely not ready to leave! Anyway, David Stollman was in town from New York, so it was good to see him also. Of course, there was a fabulous gift exchange involving a Jay-Z cd, a Hanukkah cd, mass amounts of chocolate (which interestingly went to Darren, despite the fact that he does not eat sugar), and a rather odd stuffed dog. We all laughed a lot and it made me so thankful for the awesome people I work with. CAMPUSPEAK makes me smile. :)

With an A, With an A, With an A-L-P...

The weekend of December 8, I was honored to travel to Evanston, IL to interview for an ELC position at Alpha Phi’s International Headquarters. It was super fun to see the house and meet some sisters from all over the place. Here are pictures of the house, both outside and inside, for those of you who have been wondering. It’s a very cool place, despite the coldness and grayness of Chicago. :)