Christmas Surprises

Christmas Eve was a normal work day for me. Dan was on vacation and was able to meet me for lunch, and as we were finishing our meal, he suggested that I ditch work so that we could do something together. That, of course, wasn't possible, and so Dan resigned himself to head home and wait for me to finish my day.

Dan dropped me off at the office and my phone was ringing even as I was walking back to my desk. I took the call, which ended up being rather lengthy, and nearing its completion, I swivelled my chair to look out my ground-floor window that faces the building's parking lot, only to nearly jump out of my skin at the smiling face peering in at me:


While on the phone, someone special built me a snowman to keep me company. It was darned near the sweetest simple thing ever. Never mind that I nearly had a heart attack each time I turned around, having forgotten about my new friend.


With our warm spell, Mr. Snowman was all melted when I returned to work on Monday. It's funny though -- you can totally see the hair, arms, and eyes on the ground outside of the window!

Odie and the Snow

I know, I know -- lots of new posts all at once. I've been a little neglectful with the blog, and am on a roll, plus there was a lot of picture-taking this weekend.

Odie loves the snow, today was a sunny day, and I wanted to use my newest lens some more. Add all of those together, plus loop Dan in to participating, and you end up with the below shots:

Found a stick; never mind the snow up the nose:



Series -- backing up (a command he's recently mastered) so that we can throw stuff to him, and the delicate nature of a snowball, as opposed to his tennis ball:

















Can you see the snowball in the shot? It's at 11 o'clock

"HEY! Whuh happnd?" (Mighty Wind shout-out) Ah well, maybe next time.

Making Headway

A lot of folks have been asking about our plans with housing after the wedding. Dan and I are each proud homeowners, yet our purchases were each starter houses that really wouldn't fit a family.

Dan has been working furiously on his house in the hopes that we can sell it in the near future and then only have one starter home to worry about. We were both quite amused by one of the messier tasks, which rather left Dan looking like Casper when he was through.

Shirt:


Right arm:


Left arm:


TA-DA!:


Thankfully drywall is almost through!

Noel Night Detroit 2008

On Saturday my church's Bell Choir took part in the 36Th Annual Noel Night in Downtown Detroit's cultural center. This free December event hosted over 70 performance groups who dotted themselves in/around the cultural corridor of Detroit making music and entertaining the attendees, all in the spirit of the Season.

Despite the bitter cold and snow, the evening was a lot of fun and I think the crowd really enjoyed our Christmas themed pieces, including the famed (and frustrating-to- play) Carol of the Bells. I think my ringing of A-flat, A-natural, B-flat and B-natural was pretty darn good considering, and was really touched that my sister Deborah and my brother Joel were each able to stop by during one our three performances that evening.



We'll be performing again on the streets of downtown Royal Oak on Thursday 12/11 at 6pm, in case you want to try and catch a show this year, yourselves!

Finally 3!

This past Thursday we were delighted to learn that Andrea & Kirk welcomed their third child into the world. No-so-little Mason Kent arrived on Thursday evening, weighing in at 9 lbs. 8 oz. and measuring an impressive 23.5" ! All of womankind's hat is off to you, Andrea for delivering this child naturally!

I couldn't wait to get to see this newest addition, and Dan and I were able to go down to the hospital on Saturday morning to congratulate Mom and Dad in person -- and to get to hold that adorable little baby.

Can't wait to teach this little guy how to say 'Aunt Becca,' too.