Per usual, I apologize for my LONG delay in posting anything. My best friend has been reminding me quite frequently about how she always checks here for a new post hoping I'll have gotten my act together and has been quite disappointed for the last 2 (cough, 3) months. Alas, I seem to have fallen off of the blogging bandwagon.
Well, if you fall off, I suppose one should dust oneself off, get up, and hop right back on. This is my figurative hopping back on.
The last few months have been wonderful. It's hard to begin to describe all the wonderful and challenging things that have come my way, since life truly does seem to be flying by. I can scarcely believe that I completed an entire semester of graduate school here at Harvard and that I am now two weeks into the next. I have trouble understanding that the wedding is approaching in less than 5 months and that J & I will finally get to be in the same place in less than 100 days. Christmas, New Years, and January all passed in a blur of family, coffee, art projects, and general Minnesota goodness.
In an effort to be more focused in my updates, I have decided to do the update via photos. And little captions. Enjoy!
Well, if you fall off, I suppose one should dust oneself off, get up, and hop right back on. This is my figurative hopping back on.
The last few months have been wonderful. It's hard to begin to describe all the wonderful and challenging things that have come my way, since life truly does seem to be flying by. I can scarcely believe that I completed an entire semester of graduate school here at Harvard and that I am now two weeks into the next. I have trouble understanding that the wedding is approaching in less than 5 months and that J & I will finally get to be in the same place in less than 100 days. Christmas, New Years, and January all passed in a blur of family, coffee, art projects, and general Minnesota goodness.
In an effort to be more focused in my updates, I have decided to do the update via photos. And little captions. Enjoy!
Mom & I visited the American Swedish Institute for Fika (Swedish for "coffee time") several times over break. Okay, I'll admit. We went every possible time we could. I'm a sucker for a cardamom bun & a good cup of coffee. See the following Exhibits A, B, & C from three separate visits...
Grandma joined us once for lunch & that was scrumptious as well! I realize that this blog post has become a little food show from the Swedish Institute, but it seems like an accurate reflection of my time at home. Just trying to be true to my experience: delicious parsnip soup & a tasty beet goat cheese terrine.
While I definitely spent quite a bit of time trying to eat my weight in cardamom rolls & replace all of my body's water with coffee (I don't recommend this from a public health standpoint), I did do some other things! Christmas was wonderful and full of family, travel, and snow. We enjoyed it.
Break also included a 5-year high school reunion (where has the time gone?!), which was a great time to catch up with some of my favorite people in the world - it's not often we're in the same place! So blessed to have A & K in my life. A got engaged over break, which made the reunion especially exciting! Congrats you two lovebirds!
Winter in Minnesota is always better with a little trip up north so J & I headed up to the family cabin for a couple of days around New Years. It was great: full of chilly days, some cross country skiing, and a lot of ping pong. For New Years, we headed back to the Twin Cities for a fun party with J's friends. Also, Lloyd the Traveling Gnome made his way to the cabin for the first time. Stay tuned for more of his adventures.
I also spent some of break working on art projects for the wedding! I've been trying to improve my calligraphy over the past few months in order to address the wedding envelopes, which has been a fun learning experience. I also worked on making a large art piece that could serve as a guestbook (people sign the edges). I love how it turned out - so much so that I don't know if I want to use it as a guestbook or just to put it up!
I returned to the lovely city of Boston at the end of January to begin classes again. The last couple weeks have been a bit trying. It's tough to get back into the swing of classes, homework, and schedules, but on top of that, it has snowed almost 3 feet in the last week and a half. The roads are crazy, public transportation is always late, and wait times on everything have been long. Needless to say, I am not looking forward to the snow that is predicted in our forecast...
On a happier note, the snow is beautiful, courses are fine, and E (the roomie) & I have been busy with baking (s'mores cake, peanut oat sandwich cookies, honey wheat bread...) and doing artsy projects around the house. We finally made it out of the house as a complete set of roommates (yes, the first time since we moved in August) & had the most delicious brunch. I certainly struck the jackpot with my wonderful roommates!
Well, I think the quick update on three months is done. Good work if you made it through all of them! The next few months are looking particularly bright - J comes to visit over Valentine's Day & we'll be taking a trip up to Maine for a night, I head home for spring break & a bridal shower in March, and several friends will be here to visit in April! Lots of work ahead as well as lots of fun.
Loves to you all!
Loves to you all!