January

Fernando traveled a lot the rest of January, so here is my personal January, in mobile phone pictures (sadly, I hardly touched my camera the rest of the month).

January 12.  Riding home from Dad's and Mom's house in Danny's car, I felt a sniffle and realized--bloody nose!  It was a spectacular gusher, and I managed to get blood everywhere except not on my clothes!

January 13.  I was missing Fernando, so took a selfie to text to him.

And then I made some popcorn, using a smaller bowl that I thought would work.  It didn't.

January 17.  We walked--yes, walked--to Chick-Fil-A for a free lunch!

January 21.  Thomas' car had died this past week, so this Saturday, we decided to get it towed to Laurel BMW (yes, he bought a BMW!) so that he could get it repaired under warranty (his used car got a 60-day warranty!).  I took a photo of me lounging on the stoop to our back yard patio.  What a beautiful afternoon!

We ended up calling Westmont Towing, and got Charlie on the phone...

Charlie:  I'm streaking toward you as we speak!

Me:  (In my head)  Is he naked??

Thomas:  Hey, the flatbed tow truck is here!

Me:  Is the driver naked?

We shared this back-and-forth with Charlie, who was extremely extroverted and friendly, showed Thomas around his car, and got everything set.  When he asked if someone was going to accompany him in his truck to the dealership, Thomas jumped right on it, and into his truck.  The two of them had a blast!

After we got everything taken care of at the dealership, we were walking back to the Suburban, which I drove (and Dad rode in), when my mobile phone rang.

I answered, and a voice:  Hi, this is Charlie the Streaker!

What a riot!

January 24.  I met sweet Sarah for breakfast at Honey Jam Cafe, and we spent the morning talking, drinking coffee, eating, drinking coffee, and talking.  I was w-i-r-e-d the rest of the day!

January 27.  I took a mobile phone photo of a scrapbook page of little Jake, whose birthday was today.  Isn't he just the cutest, sweetest baby you ever saw?

January 28.  I actually cooked!  I made berry banana baked oatmeal for breakfast.

That was my January in photos.  Nothing special, mostly without Fernando, just my ordinary life this month.


Back to life,
Christine

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Tennessee

Fernando's employer has an annual get-together in early January; this year he got to drive down.  And I got to go with him!

Friday, January 6 was the gathering at No--, so I hung out by myself for the day while Fernando attended the get-together.  Late afternoon, I met him at his work and I met lots of people whose names I'll never remember (!!), who were super friendly and encouraging to both of us.

From there in Knoxville, we drove to our hotel in Pigeon Forge, just on the outskirts of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Oh, to see those mountains!!  The photos do not do it justice.

The view from our hotel suite.

We used money from mileage plus Fernando's hotel points for this beautiful suite, free of charge!

After a yummy "down-home" meal at The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge, we retired to our suite where it began to snow yet again.  Though we didn't want to see it having come south in the winter, it was beautiful.

The next morning, we drove into Gatlinburg.  We decided to stop along the way at one of the little parking areas dotting the mountain road to tromp through the snow in order to see the river, and the view.  Just amazing!

In Gatlinburg, which was still intact despite so many recent fires near and around, we went to Calhoun's for some Tennessee barbecue--yum.

We wandered around Gatlinburg...

Paula Deen's store!

There was a distillery (one of two), and it called our names...

What a festive atmosphere--until our server got political (why do people do that?).  But the "fare" was delicious, and they gave Fernando a generous military discount!

Down every side street, we saw the mountains in the distance!

We stopped at a local brewery to get some beer for Matt and Jeff, and this little scene greeted us in the parking lot.

We had a wonderful day, spent together, just enjoying a new place and each other's company.

Sunday morning view from our suite before heading home.

On the way home, we played music, sang, and I took this photo with Rocky Top, Tennessee in the background!  I had to play the song for Fernando; he had never heard it before (poor guy!).

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner, got stuffed yet again, and even ordered dessert.  Fernando took this goofy picture of me attacking dessert...

I hope this great start to a new year continues for us.  I hope this becomes a year for new beginnings together, a new life of looking ahead with hope and joy.

Back to life,
Christine

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He is Born

Christmas Day.

Our day of celebration was spent at Jeff's townhome.

A few of us brought gifts, even though we never did an official grab bag or anything.  Jake bought Thomas a pack of Monster--and wrapped it in baby shower wrapping paper...

We got Mom a pair of (hopefully) comfy and warm slippers.

I bought Mom and Char a few goodies from work.

Mom got Dad this weird contraption that we all had fun talking about until she told us what it was--a finger massager.

Our traditional family Christmas picture! 

Merry Christmas to you!


Back to life,
Christine

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December in Photos

Here's the entire month of December up until Christmas...

Thomas and I went to Trader Joe's to stock up for Christmas prep, and we found a chocolate bar.  A really huge chocolate bar.  Two kilos, to be exact.  Of course I bought it.  It was, after all, just one chocolate bar.

For my work Christmas party at the beginning of December, I had promised on multiple occasions to bake my cake.  So I did. Here's the recipe, in case you wanted it.

December 4 -- our first snow!  The first snow is always the most exciting.  (The last snow is the second-most exciting.)

Fernando left for Knoxville, Kentucky on December 5.  He spent two weeks there in training to be a full-fledged field service technician.  No-- is really loving him so far, and I know Fernando will quickly pick up the technology in the high-speed lamination industry.  He has such a big, sexy brain!

I brought home the rest of my cake from our work Christmas party.  Yeah, my co-workers complained.  But my guys were complaining more loudly, and I have to live with them.

December 9 -- Manicotti Day!  Mom and I kept things simple and made a beautiful batch of Christmas dinner manicotti.

December 11 -- at a Christmas party that I attended where my parents and my younger brother were also invited.  I missed Fernando, but we had a blast together with the other guests.  Two piano guys (Duelling Pianos) played music all night, and dancing broke out; I got Dad and Mom to dance together!  It was awesome.

Random photos of me while Fernando was gone.  I like to have the guys take my picture so I can text them to Fernando so he doesn't forget what I look like.  Or that he has a wife.  :)

I throw some goofy ones in for good measure.

December 18 -- Once Fernando was home, we really just wanted to relax together, because we knew he was flying right back out on Monday.  But, friends invited us to a restaurant for dinner and they wouldn't accept a no, so we ended up having a great meal with them.  It was bitter cold that Sunday, too, and I ended up taking a picture of our frozen car, dirt-spattered and icicle-hanging, in the restaurant parking lot.

December 19 -- At an ungodly hour, I drove Fernando to O'Hare for his next trip.  On the way home, I saw, in person and for the first time, a sun dog!  I took an exit before my usual exit (and one that saves time--Fernando's trick!), since it goes by/through a forest preserve.  I pulled over in a parking lot, positioned the tree in the sun's line of sight, and got this beautiful image of my very first sun dog.  They generally occur shortly after sunrise and at super cold temperatures--it was about 11 below when I took this, I think--and they are much more magnificent in real life than in a photo.

December 21 -- New hair style day!  I got my hair cut, colored, and styled by the daughter of our beauty specialist.  I had it done in the morning, then drove up the street to work in the afternoon.  Andrea (our beauty specialist) took these pictures of me.

A lady gushed over my hair, so I gave her Ali's number and she made an appointment on the spot!

December 22 -- Fernando came home from his most recent trip, and Thomas and I drove to pick him up.  Thomas forgot to fill the gas tank, and we ended up circling around and around and around...  So once we picked up Fernando, we drove to the O'Hare Oasis on I-294 and filled up the tank.  It's so good to have Fernando home for just a little bit at Christmastime!

December 23 -- Fernando was coming to pick me up from work when Arabelle (my BMW) had a radiator burst and overheated.  The night ended up being a time of me shopping in my store while Danny and Thomas drove to meet Fernando, then Danny driving to my work to pick me up and bring me back to the parking lot of Our Lady of the Woods where Fernando pulled in.  Then, it was a tow truck pick-up and driving home, and trying to figure out how to get our BMW repaired.

Finally, the day before Christmas came and I found myself baking bread!  I had made a double batch of cinnamon rolls, which also means making two loaves of bread (my recipe makes enough dough for the equivalent of four loaves of bread).  Mmmm, warm bread with butter, all melty and delicious!

That's my December!  It has flown by in a flash, I can't believe it's Christmas, and the coming of a new year!!


Back to life,
Christine

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