New Blog

I have finally decided on a permanent name for my blog that suits my personality, writing style, and discussion topics. That name is: 'Tis life, darling!

That being said, my blog has been moved. Please update any bookmarks and subscriptions to: http://tislifedarling.blogspot.com/

I hope you have enjoyed the posts here and will continue to follow me on this journey!

xoxo
Alli J

Where are you Christmas?

It’s December 10^th – only 15 days until Christmas. This is normally my favorite time of the year. I’m usually bustling about decorating our home, hosting parties, buying gifts, and enjoying other holiday festivities.

This year is different. Because we’re in the middle of a move, I barely have any furniture in my apartment, let alone decorations. The stress of completing my student teaching and grad school while getting ready to move and job hunting has got me feeling down in the dumps lately. And to top it all off, there was a record high temperature in this area of Florida today – 78 degrees on December 10th - oy!

Needless to say, I am having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year. It pains me to type that as Christmas is absolutely my favorite holiday and I have delighted in its presence for as long as I can remember.  I am trying to find ways to boost my holiday cheer in the midst of all the chaos - any ideas?

Here is my one measly strand of white twinkle lights that I managed to grab out of storage before everything was shipped away.

I feel like Cindy Lou Who from the Jim Carrey version of the Grinch.

“Where are you Christmas?

Why can’t I find you?

Why have you gone away?....

My world is changing

I’m rearranging

Does that mean Christmas changes too?”

It's been a while...

Wow.  I kind of fell off of the blogosphere. I had every intention of contributing to the blog at least twice per week, but then life happened. I missed two entire months, and two of my favorite months of the year at that! Let’s give this another try.

While I was out....

October – Student teaching & grad school have consumed my life. I feel like every waking moment is spent lesson planning, teaching, or writing papers. I managed to make it to one Halloween party where some friends and I were the cast of Grey’s Anatomy. I was Addison Montgomery, visiting from L.A. of course. I missed the Northeast terribly, but was able to enjoy a few cool days at the end of October. I supplemented my yearning for Northeastern autumns with pumpkin spice coffee daily and comfort food, a la turkey pumpkin chili –mmm! That’s my October in a nutshell. 

I also took some time on October 8th to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. I roasted a turkey breast and served it with all of the fixins' - yum!

November came and went in one big blur. I honestly do not recall doing much of anything outside of student teaching and graduate school. ‘Tis the life of a student teacher.  I was able to escape all of my schoolwork to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends. We went to Kings’ grandmother’s house and shared a wonderful meal and many laughs with aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and my mother-in-law. It was a terrific holiday.

Oh, and I managed to get out there and vote on November 6th. Politics aside, voting to me is an inspirational experience. To know that we live in a country where we get a voice, a voice that so many of our ancestors fought long and hard to be heard - we get a voice.

Sometime during the two months, I managed to make one fall craft – an autumn banner. Incredibly simple DIY project. I bought wooden letters from the craft store, painted them various colors, hot glued them on twine, then added a couple Styrofoam pumpkins when it was hung.

And voila!

A simple autumn banner made my Florida apartment feel just a little more like fall.