What a Wonderful Thanksgiving!!

***INSERT*** PREVIOUS POST HAS BEEN FIXED!! YOU CAN NOW SEE PICTURES! Let me know if you still have problems. :)

I hope you all had a FABULOUS Thanksgiving!!! There is SO much to be thankful for this year... Especially since I got married! :) 

We had Alex's Parents, his Grandpa, my mom, and our friend over for dinner.  Everyone arrived at our house around 11 am, which was interesting because there were a few cooks in the kitchen, drinks going on in the dining room, and random spurts of the kitty and puppy running through the kitchen to try and steal some food, (specifically turkey for the cat). I also printed out a fun word search with the theme of Thanksgiving.  It was fun, and kept people occupied when Alex and I were working in the kitchen! We had so much food, and we have a TON of leftovers today!!! 

This is what we made:

During dinner, it started to snow again, and by around midnight, there was nearly a foot on the ground just from Thanksgiving Day!

Let's see... What else has been going on this month??

Aunt Dorothy's birthday party, to find out we are going to have another little cousin next year!

Looks pretty good for 92 years old!!

The cat found a new hiding spot...

And then we started getting SNOW!! YAY!!

The beginnings of it...

The puppy decided he wanted to be more like the cat, so....

The day before Thanksgiving, I got another haircut!!! LOVE IT! What do you think?

And then tonight, since Alex is working until the wee hours of the morning, I decided to put up the Christmas Tree!!! I've been wanting to decorate for Christmas so bad, but I knew that I had to wait until after Thanksgiving.  Honestly, I don't really like seeing Christmas decorations on other people's houses or hearing Christmas music when I'm out shopping.  Let's get through Thanksgiving first before we start to work on Christmas! 

ONE HOLIDAY AT A TIME PEOPLE!!!!

But for reals, Christmas is my favorite holiday! 

(Post on Christmas later!) 

And as a follow up from the last post, I did meet with my advisor to schedule next semester:

Now, all I have to get through is a few projects, 2 final exams within two weeks, and I'm on break until the end of January!!! 

I decided on what I'll be doing during the break... that's going to be saved for another day though!! 

Lately, I have been looking at other blogs, searching for some fun ones, and I came across so many wonderful people, my head could explode! Here are a few: 

www.theglamoroushousewife.com

She has some fantastic tutorials and tips on nearly everything!

http://www.superkawaiimama.com.au/

Awesome tutorials, outfits, inspiration, and thoughts!

www.onetoughmotherblog.com

Free printables, and help to get you more organized! 

www.simplysadiejane.com

I've been following Sadie for nearly two years, and she has some phenomenal posts, and I love reading what she has to write!! 

This isn't a complete list, but just a taste! 

Tell me about your Thanksgiving! What are your thoughts on decorating for Christmas??  What do you think of some of the blogs I follow?

Comments always welcomed! 

xoxoxo

The Start of the BEST Season!

Where on earth to begin?? There is so much to talk about!!

AAAHHHH!!!!

Let's see...

The beginning of the month was our friend Timmy's wedding at the Connetticut Street Armory! GORGEOUS!

One interesting night, that's for sure!!

After that week, my mom came over to help make pumpkins for our front porch... We made sure everyone got their own pumpkin, even if they had four legs an fur! I think my mom had more fun picking out the pumpkins... There were so many!

These were the ones we left with:

Before we got to work, my mom got some kitty cuddles!!

Front: Mya and Kisses

Middle: Ares and Velvet

Back Row: Alex, Mom, Jennifer (Me!)

 Velvet's never seen pumpkins before!

And then... we baked the pumpkin seeds!!!

5 Trays FULL!

That was an experience... :)

For the Boston Historical Society, we hosted a Pot Luck Dinner, and had Guest Speaker Kurt Filipiak talk about his paranormal experiences with us.  He also shared his evidence he's found through hunts, and explained all of the equipment he brought that he uses to catch the evidence.  Kurt also has his YouTube Channel dedicated to his findings, called "Paranormal Hotspot". At the end, my mom was presented with a plaque describing the "Michalak" family name from a correspondant for the Am-Pol Eagle, also our own Town Historian. Good food, good company, and some great stories!

Above is Kurt Filipiak, photo from Google Plus.

So why is this the start of the best season ever??

BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME!

Fall is the right temperature where you can just go out in jeans and a hoodie for the day if you wanted, it's not humid, the leaves are changing, and you begin to prepare for a season full of giving thanks... Moreso than what you should be doing throughout the year!

It marks the start of the Fall Holidays, including Halloween, Alex's Birthday, Thanksgiving, and then keeping with the thankful spirit, on to Christmas! (But of course, my birthday before then! haha:) )

Another fun thing is Rocky Horror! This is held at the Palace Theatre yearly, on the weekend closest to, and before Halloween! I've gone for the past 5? years, and love dressing up! This year I went with my friend Tasha, and spent some more time than usual on hair and makeup!

This is what I looked like...:

We had a blast!! We got home around 2 in the morning, but well worth it :)

So now, because I liked having some curl in my hair from Rocky, yesterday I decided it would be fun to curl my hair, and see how it looked.  I liked the curls when I only ran my fingers through it to comb it out, but after a few skype conversations showing my "new" hair, I went upstairs and brushed it out.  Now this look, I LOVE.  I think it's a fun, fairly easy, romantic look good for a night out!

What do you think???

As for school, I went around to each of my teachers to get my grades for mid-term averages...

ALL A'S!!!!

My highest average is a 99.8%!

OH MY GOSH.

Coming up on November 4th, I meet with my advisor to schedule next semester's classes. ALREADY?? It feels like school just started.  This semester is flying by.

What else is there... I know there's more!!

WICKED IS COMING BACK TO BUFFALO!!!!

January 8-26.

Best. Musical. Ever.

Well, maybe.

But it's still an amazing story.

Most people are quick to say how evill the Wicked Witch of the West is. Well, you don't know anything!

GO SEE WICKED!

On the topic of musicals, my genre for music lately has included some interesting Pandora Playlists.  I have two Phantom of the Opera, one Showtunes, and a Movie Scores playlist.  AMAZING and fun to sing along to in the shower.  Also on my playlists:

Etta James, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Country, and 2000's hits.

Some good stuff!

Posts coming soon (I'm writing this one at school, I finished all my homework):

My new organization binder

A Personal Challenge

Halloween Reflections

School/Careers/Minors and Majors

:) :) :)

Questions? Comments? I love them all!

Please follow my blog :)

xoxoxo



A Month's Worth!

Can you believe it has been one month YESTERDAY that I went back to school???

ME EITHER!!

There has been so much work! 

Working on essay #4 for English, 4th Journal for another class, and nightly math homework averaging about 50 questions a class!!

BUT....

100% on my first math test.

Everything else has been A's (and one B!) which I don't think is  bad for not being in school for a few years!!!

Let's introduce you to a bit of my school...

This is my Foundations classroom... Every room is equipped with a SmartBoard and 2 white boards (SmartBoards are awesome!)

Notice the "T" looking thing above the board? That's called a Tau Cross, and it's in every classroom to represent the school being a Franciscan College.  (Who's named after a nun from POLAND!) 

{Mother Colette Hilbert}

Now that it's getting to look and feel like autumn, I can't help myself and take some gorgeous pictures of the trees! 

This one's a picture I took on campus when I was on my way to the library:

This next one I took the other day... We were having a Peace Walk in honor of the Feast of St. Francis, walking from place to place all over campus and reading a prayer or short description of a working of St. Francis.  We were joined with the nuns from the Convent across the street, the original students of the college who started out in the convent next to the college.  (This event was optional to all students for those that were wondering...)

Another fun thing that the Student Government does for the students is for the bathrooms... and it's a brilliant idea!!!

Wandered into the Auditorium for a theatre workshop...

Aaaannnnddd some fun.. 

As for non school related things, we've been pretty busy! 

Alex went to his partner Timmy's stag party a few weeks ago, and women were allowed to come at 7 to join in on the fun.  We were at a place called Castaways, and the sunset was eerily breathtaking...

Tim and Jamie's wedding is tomorrow! SO excited!!

Guess who started NURSERY SCHOOL!!!

That's right, Ariel!!

I got together with her after her first day and we went to a playground for some fun!

Her mom (my good friend Tasha) brought her over for a sleepover, and we had some fun! Ariel likes being a doctor with my stethoscope, and learned how to listen to breathing and a heartbeat, courtesy of Alex!

After Ariel went to bed, Tasha and I had some much needed girl time!

With October comes Ocktober Fest!!!

In Hamburg, they bring together local beer breweries and import German beer, and have a big adult festival! Alex and I went with some good friends from our former Fire Company.  I must say, my favorite drink wasn't beer that night, it was hard apple cider spice with cinnamon sticks! YUM!

Some other pictures throughout the month:

The colors finally starting to come out!!

Velvet falling asleep, and almost falling off the couch...

How she normally is when I'm doing my homework, if she's not trying to walk all over my chest, laptop, swinging her tail in front of my face, or putting herself where I can't see the screen... like she's doing now... She likes keeping her Momma company! 

Life wouldn't be complete without a few silly faces!!

And for the main project.... 

WE FINALLY GOT SOME NEW WINDOWS!!!!

Finally.  Now we won't have to heat the outside this winter :)

We also got one for our upstairs bathroom, with frosted glass on the bottom so we don't have to close the curtains! It looks SO much better!

Above, the new windows... Below, no windows at all! :)

We also had 2 more put in the guest bedroom as well :)

Next project: TBD, but lots of options! 

POT LUCK DINNER FOR THE BOSTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

THIS TUESDAY, 10/8, Town Hall! I'll be there at 6!! 

Have a FANTASTIC night!!

Please follow my blog!! :) 

XOXOXO

Comments, questions, and emails are welcome!