week in photos

The rest of the holidays in PA and our return to Texas...

Christmas nails/ sink obsessed/ gift wrap/ nap by the tree

my best wrapped gift, for my brother/ advent/ stuffing/ jolly

Austrian drink/ midnight on Christmas/ Christmas eve meal/ playing with kitties

Toms/ Lego architecture/ fruit cake/ Christmas snow

watch!/ appropriate footwear/ drive to Pittsburgh/ in-laws tree

Christmas day travels/ Kyle, his brothers and cousins/ Pittsburgh tree/ morning at Ome's

snow storm- Pittsburgh/  Snuggie action/ Snow storm- State College

morning shoveling/ John's birthday/ Canadian's pup/ coffee with Abigail

snowy Starbucks/ comfy Toms/ hux in a bag/ Dar watching a toy helicopter

lots of Indian food/ Sheridyn and Bear/ fun hat/ flakie

wine/ Herwigs/ holiday Georgetown Cupcakes/ yum 

 movie night/ rest stop in VA/ hotel breakfast/ traveling darwin

Mississippi river/ Hux traveling/ late lunch/ home!

Finnish mits/ swatch/ Mr. Nutcracker/ movies!

- From the desk of Mrs. M

En Route

Killeen airport

Arkansas

Tennessee

Day one: Kyle had to sign out at Fort Hood before we could leave, and then he dropped off his motorcycle at the airport as he is flying back next Sunday and I am driving back Sunday/Monday (the Army is to blame for this ridiculousness). So our road trip started at the airport, as they do. Fort Hood is in the opposite direction of where we need to go, though, so that, plus the fact that Kyle had to stop back at the house (forgetting his phone charger- classic travel faux pas), made us only really leave about 2 hours after we left the house the first time. Dumb. But anyway! Day one was quite nice. Easy. We're taking a different route than last time since it is summer and also there aren't tornadoes this time. We went through Dallas, Texarkana, Little Rock, Memphis, and stopped about an hour away from Nashville (where we had such a tasty southern dinner). We both felt sickness creeping into both of us (uh oh), so we mixed up a nice airborne cocktail while on the road.

 rainy TN morning

 we thought this thing was crazy.  but tried it anyway. not too bad. 

 Ohio (not that interesting)

 "you know you're in PA when..."

Day two. Smooth sailing pretty much. We had a rainy start in Tennessee, drove through Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia ever so briefly, and into PA. My favorite places were Tennessee and Kentucky as usual. We arrived in State College by about 7:30pm, so that was nice. My head was feeling pretty sick yesterday, but I think the Airborne has helped this sickness from becoming a full-on cold, and hopefully it won't get much worse. I slept better last night that I have in two or three weeks, so that helps I imagine. I'm excited but also nervous, waking up Monday when everything is really getting going. Today we're taking in my dress to the shop to be cared for, meeting with the florist and heading over to the farm with the planner to check it out. A ton of people arrive tomorrow!

S.

I Want to go to There

Somehow I went from being the girl who ran off to Europe for a year (ok, I guess a planned exchange student year is not really "running off to Europe") and was planning on returning to study abroad in college, to instead being married with two kittens in the middle of Texas. In quite a short amount of time, too. I certainly changed a lot in the last five years or so, but the desire to travel remains. I don't long for the freedoms of young, unattached travel, nope not at all. I just want to travel with my husband now, and he wants to travel with me, so it has worked out nicely. A while (this post has been a long lost draft since January, heh) ago I watched this video and scanned this article, and they got me thinking about the places we want to go.

On a related note, one of my Christmas gifts to Kyle/us was this...

Which I found on Etsy. I could probably make one myself, but I just came upon this right before leaving PA and ordered it as I thought it would be nice for Christmas. If you don't recognize it, or if you do but can't quite place it, it is replicated from the movie Up.

Right around Christmastime, Kyle also brought Bonnie home if you recall...

which has prompted (though we were already talking about it) us to start a list of places we should adventure to on the motorcycle. Here's what we've got so far.

Possible future Motorcycle or Car Road Trips:

The Alamo
Sea World at San Antonio
California
Shiner Brewery

Having never been for a ride on a motorcycle, however, I don't know if I will like it or hate it, so we will have to see if those trips will be made by bike or by car. Here are just some of the places I'd like to go, a little further than I think Bonnie could take us.
Trips that Require Airplanes:
New Zealand

Scotland

Greece (I mean we're naming our future baby boy Apollo)

Egypt

Norway

Australia

back to Finland (my number one destination)

and really, what I wouldn't give to go whale watching, somewhere.

images via Pinterest

Coming Home

Cats do not like to travel. Cats do not like to do anything that they do not want to do, exactly when they want to do it. Considering this, Darwin and Huxley did quite well when we shoved them in their kennel and forced them to ride in a car for two days.  Huxley made an escape attempt from the hotel room and sprinted through the parking lot.  They both meowed a lot and looked really sad. But we arrived home and they immediately resumed their usual habits and routine, jumping on every surface and crowding to sleep on me.

The route we took this time, with a stop for the night in Memphis. 

As a side note, it is nice to come home to a full mailbox and a house just the way you left it. My Finnish family sent me this pretty gift, and the license plate for Kyle's motorcycle arrived. 

 Mostly, though, it's just bills. :)

- From the desk of Mrs. M