Tuesday, December 20, 2011

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It is Christmas time at our place. 




Ginger, Rory and Jared






Its the most wonderful time of the year :)

What decorations do you have?

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Ginger...When Can I See You?

I have been back in North Carolina for just over a week now, and I have been extremely busy! What can I say, everyone has missed me!

First Week back in North Carolina Schedule:
Thursday: Rory and I return home
Friday: Tonya and Mary Beth [dinner and a movie]
Saturday: House hunting and meeting baby Malachi
Sunday: Lazy day with Jared
Monday: Shopping with Kelly
Tuesday: Genetics Department Christmas Party
Wednesday: Rescue Erin and make marshmallow reindeer
Thursday: High School Musical marathon with Tonya and Mary Beth

Is your head spinning yet?
Here is a recap in words and pictures:

Friday:  Tonya, Mary Beth, and I have known each other since our senior year of college and our friendships have grown stronger since we left undergrad. We went to see the movie "New Year's Eve" which was actually better than I expected. It had Lea Michele and Zac Efron in it, so you know I had to see it! We completed the evening with dinner, too much dessert and looking over Miche bag catalogs.



Saturday: Jared, his dad, and I went house hunting with our awesome realtor Zach :) We saw six houses, some of which were new and some of which were older construction. We have not found the house yet, but it was a good experience for me to go out house hunting for the first time. We finished the evening by meeting beautiful baby Malachi and visiting with Will and April.

Sunday: Did absolutely nothing. It was wonderful :)

Monday: Kelly and I were reunited (finally!) We went Christmas shopping for our families, including our typical trip to Bath and Body Works. Every time I go in there with her, I ALWAYS buy something :)

hope baby sister likes her stocking stuffer :)


Tuesday: I went to my old Genetics department for the annual Christmas party. It was so wonderful to see everyone again and to meet all the new students. There were good friends and delicious food, what could be better?
.....turns out the department is falling apart without me. Are we surprised? Just Kidding....but they are going through a lot of changes right now. On the bright side, there is a new grad student lounge with a huge TV, and look what I got to make while I was there:

It got my creative juices flowing

Good news....I also lined up a summer job grading!

Wednesday: Erin and I were reunited. Our day got off to a rocky start....Erin's car starting freaking out on her and she needed to have it towed. They claim it was because she ran out of gas....which she didn't. Who knows! Afterwards we made reindeer for Erin's work party. They were harder to make then they looked, but they were super cute and yummy. We ended the day with Mexican food and makeup tips :)

Finished product, thanks Pintrest!

Thursday: High School Musical marathon. What more could you want out of an evening...plus I got to see Tonya and Mary Beth for a second time.
Dinner was delicious and of course we need to take pictures.....here you go:



Can you guess which HSM movie this is from?

Needless to say, it has been a very busy week, but I have loved every minute of it.
On deck: Hocutt Family Christmas, human research training (groan) and heading home to my parents' house for Christmas!

Well, obviously, you've got a busy day ahead of you, so I'm gonna let you go

Monday, December 12, 2011

Malachi Liam

It is finally my turn to talk about this beautiful baby boy :)

Meet Malachi Liam:

so sweet

sweet boy

sleeping in his man dress

I got to hold him all night :)

Jared and I went over to Will and April's house on Saturday to meet Malachi for the first time. Barely three weeks old, he was the most well behaved baby boy I have ever seen. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner, but most of all each other's company. I learned so many wonderful things about Malachi, but here are some things you should know...

Top Five Things you should know about Malachi:

  1. He fights bad guys in his sleep
  2. Hardly ever cries, except when he gets his diaper changed
  3. Makes the most wonderful facial expressions
  4. He has daddy's nose and mommy's ears 
  5. He is the best snuggler I have ever met

I am so happy for Will and April and their newest addition to the family. I have had the opportunity to watch Will and April fall in love, get married, and become a beautiful family.

Welcome to the world Malachi, we are all so happy you are here :)

Well, tell them it's a baby. People love babies. They'll talk to it in funny voices.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Ten Things about December

I go back and forth on loving and hating December. I mostly love it...but I think sometime I expect too much from December. 

Nevertheless, every year when I change the calender from November to December, I fall in love with it all over again. There are so many reasons to love the month of December. 
Here are my top five:

  1. The smell of cold when I walk outside in the morning. There is by far no better smell than the smell of cold. It is always intoxicating.
  2. Christmas decorations. I love that no matter where I go I am welcomed by Christmas decorations. Sparkling trees, smiling Santas, and of course gingerbreads! 
  3. The end of the semester. I would be lying if I said that I hated school, I obviously love it, but come December my motivation nose dives. The hope of being able to come home at the end of the day and not have to do school work is what gives me that last bit of drive. 
  4. My birthday. Truth be told, I have not had the best track record for amazing birthdays. My parents always had to work when I was a kid and since then it has not been that spectacular either. Don't get me wrong, there have been great ones, but I always look forward to it mostly because it is such a humbling experience. It was the day that the world went from being without you to being with you. That has to mean something....right?
  5. December is so unique.  Admit it, it is one of the most talked about months, and I am not just talking about Christmas. People always say " I cannot believe it is already December!" No one ever says that about January. It is a month of reflection in which everyone looks back at the last year and remembers everything that happened. What could be better? People even write songs about it. What other month ha so many songs about it. 
Back to December- Taylor Swift

Remember December - Demi Lovato

December- Norah Jones

My December - Linkin Park

Not convinced?
Here are five things you probably did not know about December:
  1. December was the tenth month of the Roman calender. It comes form the Latin word "decem" meaning ten. December starts on the same day as September every year and ends on the same day as April every year.  
  2. December 28th is considered the unluckiest day of the year. It is also known as Childermas Day. It is the day that King Herold ordered all males under the age of 2 be killed in order to kill Jesus. 
  3. The first human heart transplant was done on December 3, 1967 in South Africa
  4. There is a legend that all animals can speak the human language on Christmas Eve
  5. The Wright brothers were the first in flight on December 17, 1903

....and I go back to December all the time