Home Sweet Home For The Holidays

Friday afternoon after work I drove down to Mike’s for holiday break! Friday night we went out to dinner, then to a friend’s birthday party. Saturday night was his work Holiday party. Sunday we cooked dinner for his parents. I cannot express how wonderful it was to be able to spend time with him! This morning I drove down to home home where I was greeted by a cooked xmas tree (above). Sydney (dog) is guarding the tree and the house standing guard, awww, what a cute puppy!

Home sweet home…

Weekend Full of Winterness

Friday night Amy, Mariah, Danni, and myself had a girls night out! Dinner and dancing until the wee hours of the night at the UP Front. A night of fun indeed... :)

Saturday we had a fresh dusting of 5ish inches of snow! Can you think of anything better to do than wander around town with camera in hand? I couldn’t! I needed a recovery, low-key day following last night. I was up way past my bedtime!

Sunday Amy and I walked and got breakfast at Third Street Bagel (SO DELISH!) and then walked around downtown Marquette. I can’t get over how cute this town is. The fresh snow daily covers up the dirty plow snow and gives everything a very clean, pure look. It is wonderful! Sunday night we went to the Doghouse where Amy made me wear a Steelers shirt because she s a fan and we were going to watch their game. Good shirts, good times!

Reason’s Marquette’s Winter Is Absolutely Amazing (part 1 of many!)
~Never have to scrape a car windshield! Whenever it snows, it is too cold for ice so a quick squeegee and the 2,3, 8 inches of light, powder snow just flys away!
~The fresh snow almost daily gives every morning a clean, new, sparkle. Can you think of a better way of being greeted daily than from sparkles of snow?
~The sound of the crunch of the snow under your feet everywhere you walk. This is my second favorite sound of all (first being walking on dry fall leaves and third being thunderstorms).
~There is always something to do…always.

Pictures of this weekend can be found here : http://picasaweb.google.com/Street.Jenna/MarquetteWinter?feat=directlink

Getting Into The Holiday Spirit

What better way to get into the holiday spirit than to go to a craft fair and see the Nutcracker?! After attending the art fair at the dome this afternoon after work, Amy and I decided to go see the local production of the Nutcracker. Little did we know that one our Greco-Roman Wrestlers had one of the leads (picture above)! Another surprise was seeing the president of Northern Michigan University dressed up in a gold dress and makeup as Mother Ginger!

A wonderful, low-key night was a perfect way to end a busy busy week at work!

Thanksgiving

Today I drove back up to Marquette with my Thanksgiving dinner in the trunk. I was able to spend time with Mike, and then go down and spend some time with my family prior to Thanksgiving. My pop cooked a turkey, made stuffing, gravy, and mashed potatoes for me on Tuesday since I would miss the feast on Thursday. That was absolutely wonderful!!!

Note to self: driving on the actual holiday is awesome because there is absolutely ZERO traffic. I put the leftovers from Tuesday’s dinner in the trunk because, well, why waste ice and a cooler when it is cold enough outside!

Prior to leaving we had some great family time including celebrating my little bro’s birthday. Picture above was my gift to him…hehe. It is, by far, the best shirt ever.

Winter has Arrived!

Winter is officially here, and here to stay. I woke up this morning and the picture above is what I was greeted with! Note to self: set alarm 10 minutes earlier to bundle up to walk to work in this knee-high snow from now on!

Still loving life up here, and am extremely excited to see Mike and the family for Thanksgiving!

Another week of work behind me and another one in front of me. Still lovin’ work and lovin’ life up here in Marquette. Marquette is, by far, Michigan’s unknown gem!

5K with Amy

Day after Halloween, Amy and I ran a 5K!!! It was Amy's first run and thus, we ran it together. We ran it faster than we anticipated (then again, this was the first time we ran together without talking the entire way)! We are very proud of ourselves and plan on running a 10K next!

The night prior the run, we (Amy, Mariah, Colby, Myself) made a last minute decision to go on an Adult Halloween Bike Ride...in costume. Bikes with touch lights taped to the front, all in costume (Amy and I were in scrubs, Mariah was an injured coach, and Colby was a business man), off we went around town with a group of about 30ish in full costumes. The end location was under a bridge where a fully-stocked bar was waiting (one dollar donations was our key in) and a fire "hobo style" in a grill was going. It was so much fun! On the way back, long story short, Amy and I got separated from Colby and Mariah, my derailleur on my bike snapped off in the middle of the woods, and Amy and I had to walk home. Because this walk was well over an hour, we decided to stop at the corner store, pick up some chips and queso for the walk home. We rigged a helmet onto my handle bars to hold the chips and took turns holding the queso so we could munch. Overall, the night was so much fun and would totally do it again!

If you would like to see pictures from this night, please let me know and I'll hook you up... :)

Sunday was a true day of rest. The most exciting event of today is that it is Daylight Savings Fall back!!! YAY for extra hour of sleep tonight!!! :) :) :)

Mariah's Birthday and Pumpkin Carving

This weekend started out with a Mexican dinner at Los Tres Amigos with my amigos! It was Mariah's birthday (in the middle ablove) weekend. Saturday we went on we went on a hike through Tourist Park because it was going to be one of the last weekends without snow up here. Sunday we went to the Casino so Mariah could get her free $5 on her birthday (and I won $15 on the penny slots!!) and we picked up pumpkins which were carved that night and ate cake! Oh what a full weekend!