A Christmas To Remember

So I have officially been on my Christmas break for a few weeks now and I am loving the fact that there is a lack of all nighters, projects, deadlines and long lecture in my life right now! Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year and winter is my favorite season of the year so you can imagine how excited I have been for the past little while. Today is boxing day, but also the day Doug (my boyfriend) and I celebrated our Christmas!

I celebrated with my family yesterday which was a great time to fellowship and just stop our busy lives to come together in the same room for more than 30 minutes!
Anywho, back to today! It was my first boxing day experience and I loved it! Getting up at 6 am to get ready for Doug's arrival at 7 am was worth it! It is crazy how many people were out that early (and how dark it still was). My one purchase was a brand new pair of Coach shoes I have been drooling over for a while! Unfortunately they weren't on sale but my birthday money (which I will receive tomorrow =P ) will pay off for this splurge. Doug ended up getting a new 'house' amp for his speakers and TV...a splurge as well! Other then that, we mostly just browsed at the amazing prices, especially for some Canon SLRs =]. After a few hours of shopping we headed out to Priddis to where Doug lives and cuddled up on the couch in front of the TV. We watched "Sweet Home Alabama" then took an hour nap to re-energize. After a bite to eat and an energy drink (it was a MUST!) we headed out for a drive to the rink which was extremely busy so we took a nice drive in the country =]. We got back and decided to go for a winter walk in which we had a mini photo shoot.




It is amazing at how busy the city is on boxing day but in the country the birds and cows could care less about this fiasco! It is so serene and refreshing with the warm weather and sun shining. I loved having this opportunity to escape technology and sitting around and to take part in a physical activity while sharing in amazing fellowship! I learned a lot about my lovely boyfriend that I never really knew before. If only more people would do this!
Once back at home we (or should I say 'I'...Doug ended up making a huge dinner for us) watched "Pride and Prejudice", another movie I got from Santa. For dinner Doug made steamed veggies with a cheese sauce and I had Salmon in a creamy Greek herb sauce while Doug had Chicken.


Wow, I am so blessed by having an amazing chef in my presence!
For a fire we stuck little candles in the fireplace and lit them, created such a unique setting! (the fireplace needs to be cleaned and we didn't want to risk polluting the house with smoke! =P). Suddenly night arrived and the chariot awaited! We stopped at Walmart and browsed at some awesome DVD sales (My sister wanted the 4th season of "Gilmore Girls" which we picked up for her) and then headed over to Michaels where I picked up a cute box to hold all my new stationary supplies (Yes, I am trying out the quill pen with ink!! Tricky so far).
Home sweet home, where I have gazed back at the day and find myself very content with my first Christmas with Doug and my first boxing day experience! I have been so blessed this past year with getting into the program of my dreams, being with Doug, growing closer with my family, and meeting a handful of new people! Now my only wish is to head back to Italy, but that day will come...in the FAR future! =P


Hope all your celebrations were blessed by the presence of friends and family!

5 Days In...I am still alive!

Other than having to hand wash my dishes and the lack of actual 'meals' res/uni life has been amazing! I feel so at home and I have met a bundle of really nice people whom I hope to get tight with over the years =] I will recap what I have been up to with residence:

My Roomies: Charmaine, Taiba, and Vanessa! They are all wicked =] Charmaine (shes pretty quiet!) came from a town just south of edmonton, Vanessa is from Red Deer and Taiba is all the way from India (she just got here today =]). Vanessa (most similar to me) and I are room neighbours and the other 2 are on the other side of the living room! I have hit it off with all of them and we seem to really connect well. No problems with dirty dishes...we all wash them right after we use them so that is wicked =]

Building D: We are located right across from the tennis courts and so I have been going out every day to play tennis with my friend Ashley and roomie Vanessa. We plan on getting really good before it snows haha. My RA is a wicked guy named Hez. He is soo funny and wants to do a lot of floor outings (going to the Zoo ont he 18th!). I have connected with a lot of the girls in the building which is awesome and I love it here!!

Res Activities!:
-Sunday: we had our floor meeting with our RA and the people on the floor and then went over as a group to one of the theatres to watch a 'loose moose' improv show which was funny!
-monday: Mini Olympics! By far the best ever! I bonded with my teammates soo much and laughed a ton! We didn't end up winning first place but we did have a pizza party at my RA's place ( which is right next to ours!) at night. Watched Fresh Prince!
-tuesday: Movie in the park! It was also our first orientation day which was kind of long but good to get a grasp of the campus and what goes on. The movie was at night outside projected onto a screen and there was free popcorn!
-wednesday: Ikea trip! and last day of orientation. The orientation for me was just with the interior design department so that was a lot better haha After dinner buses came to take whoever wanted to go to Ikea! I walked around with Ashley and Vanessa looking at all the neat stuff and ended up getting a few things that we needed for the apartment.

TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF CLASSES! I have an art history class at 9:30 am and then English at 3 so it isn't too bad! But I guess I should head to bed.

So far so good! =]