the last day of grad school

Today was my last rehearsal of grad school, my last class of grad school, and my last performance of grad school.

As it turns out, two years can go by pretty quickly.

Last night I had sent my friend and fellow student Melissa an email entitled "our day: the official plan."

The email read:

1. Drive to Boston together

2. Red Mango

3. Quartet rehearsal

4. Improv class

5. Dinner someplace delicious

6. Honors concert performance

7. Pinkberry

8. Drive home, having totally conquered life.

We had to alter my master plan slightly, because a) frozen yogurt twice in one day is too decadent even for the most significant of days and b) Melissa had a lesson during dinner time, but other than those changes, we stuck to the plan, and finished the day as life-conquerers.  Or at least almost-violin-masters.

We carpooled to school for the last time ever.

At quartet rehearsal, I took a picture of my bow beside Melissa's bow.  Our bows are siblings, both made by Pierre-Yves Fuchs.  I got mine last year and she got hers this spring.  We love our bows.

Tulips are still in bloom outside the church across from BoCo.

I went to my last improv class -- a class I've really loved, with a hilarious and insightful professor and wonderful fellow students.

Oh BoCo.  I think I'll probably miss you sometimes.

I thought the last day of grad school deserved a real dinner, and not just some hastily-packed PB&J from home, so Miriam and I went to Pho Basil.  I got drunken noodle with tofu.  Nom nom nom.

{Hey, I went to Pho Basil on my last day of school last spring, too!}

Then it was concert time.  My quartet had been chosen to perform in the Honors Chamber Music Concert, one of five groups selected.  We played Beethoven.

By the time we realized we should take a picture, Miriam had already left for home.  Oh well, three out of four is something, at least.

{A nice washed out picture... thanks, iPhone.}

Then it was time for Pinkberry.

I got peach frozen yogurt with strawberries, pineapple, and sliced oranges.

 

We enjoyed our expertly-swirled deliciousness.

And then we drove home.

The end of an era, I think.

Up next in life:

Commencement and/or having a baby, depending on which one comes first.

You never can tell with babies, after all.

Welcome, 2012!

We rang in the new year in a rather low-key fashion this year.

In fact, our entire week between Christmas and New Year's was, for the most part, delightfully relaxing. I had entire days on my calendar with nothing, absolutely nothing, written on them.

Do you know how amazing that is?

We loved it.

As the clock rolled over to 2012, we thought we should document the moment with a few iPhone photos. Nathan has insanely long arms, which makes him reasonably good at self-photo-taking.

Unfortunately, he also has shaky hands, which makes him good at blurry photo-taking.

then there was a little of this:

After which Nathan declared, "Okay, enough of this homemade pornography!"

and I began to laugh.

and laugh.

and laugh.

and Nathan photographed my hysterics, naturally.

One of the weirder things about this pregnancy recently has been my proclivity to burst into uncontrollable laughter at things that usually wouldn't tickle my funny bone, or at least not quite to the same degree.

I told Nathan it could be worse; no mean or cranky mood swings, and only once have I climbed into his lap with tears rolling down my face for no reason whatsoever.

So, finding his little jokes disproportionately hilarious really isn't so bad, right?

Happy New Year!

what Christmas looks like

it was our first Christmas in our own home, without traveling.

Nathan's family was all here, which was lovely.

it was my first time planning a whole Christmas, doing stocking stuffers and Christmas breakfast and Christmas dinner and everything that comes in between.

the day started off with making my Mom's cranberry coffeecake recipe, a Palmer Christmas morning tradition

the other side of the family has traditions too, so I made Nathan's mom's coffeecake as well.

{this coffeecake is one of those multi-step processes, and may be the reason I got very little sleep the night before Christmas.}

served with eggs and bacon

{Melissa and Roman came for breakfast, but we forgot to take a picture of them!}

there were stockings to open...

and then the gifts, distributed by Andrew, the designated "Santa."

A prank from Andrew for Stevedad, who had requested salami {don't ask me why}: a cucumber, wrapped so as to trick the recipient into thinking it was a salami.

a gift for Baby... from this soon-to-be Mom who just couldn't help herself

a late brunch after church: Andrew's specialty breakfast burritos with orange julius

from Andrew, to Nathan, who does not always excel at arguments, a book of witty comebacks with a particular suggestion thoughtfully bookmarked by the gift-giver.

new gloves for Andrew

and finally, Christmas dinner!

Nathan set the table and photographed everything

dinner is served:

| boeuf bourguinon |

| mashed potatoes {with grapefruit-pomegranate punch in the foreground} |

| mixed greens with candied pecans, pomegranate seeds, and dried cranberries |

| brussels sprouts chiffonade with toasted hazelnuts |

cardamom bread

{and it only took me about 5 hours to make everything... sitting down at the table that evening never felt so good.}

there was cranberry-apple-pear pie for dessert, too.

all in all, I think it was a very merry Christmas!

what Christmas Eve looks like

munchies for all

my Korean pear had a Christmas star!

cranberry-apple-pear pie prepared for Christmas dessert

stocking silliness

cookies

coffee

playing violin in the Christmas Eve service at church

last minute gift-wrapping

six stockings on the mantle (Andrew, Nathan, Sarah, Jared, Stevedad, Carolmom)

gifts under the tree late at night

contentment in our home.

Festive Christmas-y-ness

On Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, we started decorating for Christmas. It's the earliest in the season that we've ever gotten a tree, but we figured we'd only get busier with school and gigs as the weeks went by. So Nathan, Andrew, and I bought a tree and various other needed items and got to work bringing Christmas cheer to our house on Sunday afternoon and evening... our first Christmas in our new place!

I made a wreath for the front door:

(Well, I bought the greenery part of the wreath at Home Depot, and then added the other stuff myself.)

And Andrew helped me make a similar swag to go above the door to the kitchen. We used leftover branches from the bottom of the Christmas tree that we trimmed off.

Andrew is great at making big bows. At one point I started to say, "Should it be more like..." and he interrupted, "Speak again and they will be your last words." So I'd say he takes his bow-making pretty seriously. Don't interfere with Andrew's artistic process.

Andrew claimed the stairway as his decorating domain, and wound a garland and white and red lights up the banister. I added a little string of jingle bells around the bottom post.

We are enjoying the fact that we now have a fireplace and mantel. (Actually, two of them!) In the living room, this is what I came up with:

The mirror was a yard sale find for just $5 last summer, and Andrew dragged it up from the basement to put on the mantel. I added pine boughs I bought at Home Depot (I find it weird to have to pay for such things, having grown up in the country where we could run out in the backyard and cut our own!), candles, pine cones, ornaments, and the two lanterns.

And hanging beneath the mantel, Andrew and I carefully hung red and silver ornaments. Then I laid cedar boughs in the fireplace (which isn't functional right now) and added white pillar candles.

I put a reindeer ornament we have standing among the greenery. I think he likes it there.

And of course, here's our Christmas tree!

Yes, we don't have a tree topper. Maybe I'm just picky, but I cannot find one that I like. They mostly look too gaudy or ridiculous to me. Hopefully one of these years I'll find the perfect one! (Or maybe I should try making one...?)

I love our ornaments, though.

Glass icicles:

And I love this ornament that was a wedding present:

In the TV room, we have a second fireplace. That room is generally less, well, respectable than the living room, as we haven't yet spent much time fixing things up there since we moved in. As you can see, the sconces over the mantel really need to be replaced! But I tried to spruce the place up a little nonetheless.

Those stockings were made for us by a woman from Nathan's church when we got married. But this year we bought four stocking hangers, because we figure we'll need to get Andrew a stocking... and why not a little bitty stocking for Baby as well? (Even though he or she won't be breathing in the piney scents of Christmas yet this December.)

The TV room is also home to Nathan's recently acquired (given to him) organ. I put seven porcelain angels (bought at a yard sale over the summer... who says you have to shop for Christmas ornaments in December?) on top and added twinkle lights, tiny silver ornaments, and pillar candles.

And that's what our house looks like this December.

Happy Advent to all!