Winter Wonderland? More like winter "I've almost died on the ice 3 times" land.

I once saw an episode of Grey's Anatomy where one of the doctors slipped on ice, fell to the ground, and then was impaled by a falling icicle. I thought to myself, "That's ridiculous! Totally impossible." Then I saw these icicles hanging off my parents balcony this morning and changed my mind.

Just a gold medal, no big deal.

Our neighbors in Alpine threw a little holiday open house tonight. They are a nice, young couple and the husband also happens to be an Olympic gold medalist (men's volleyball- Beijing). Maybe we asked him to see his gold medal. And then maybe we proceeded to do a photoshoot, with his permission, of course.

Let me tell you, a gold medal is quite the hit at a party. I've got to figure out a way to get one of those.

Winter Solstice

Bad News: Today is the shortest day of the year.

Good News: The days get longer from here.

Is it too early to start counting down to summer?

Who knew watching a bunch of 5 year olds tromp around onstage could bring so much joy?

I've seen a lot of dance performances in my day. I grew up dancing and when I quit, somehow my love for dance grew. Luckily I lived with a few dancers during college, so there was never a shortage of incredible shows to attend. I'm not talkin' mediocre dance here, I'm talkin' people that majored in dance and danced professionally. But this past Saturday I attended, hands down, my favorite dance performance (no offense Kat and Breena) ever. It was Hailey's first dance recital. And yes, I cried through the whole thing.

Hailey Bug

On December 11th, 2003 this little doodlebop was born. I can't imagine what it must be like to have your own children becasue I cannot fathom loving anyone more than I love Hailey Noel. I've been with her the last two years on her birthday, so while talking on the phone today was great, it wasn't quite the same. Thank goodness I'm headed to her house on Saturday.

Hailey's 3rd birthday at City of Hope

We celebrated her 5th birthday early during Thanksgiving. Our family has always liked the whole birthday month idea.

I can't help but wish that Robin was here to make her pancakes and throw her a princess party.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

FINALS WEEK!!!

It's five something in the morning and I just finished one of my papers. My alarm is set for 5:45. Does 13 minutes count as a night's sleep?

Holidate '08

The holiday season is wonderful for myriad reasons, but I love that it's a good excuse to put on a party dress and dance the night away.

The Girls

The Guys (We couldn't get all of them to come pose for a picture. Imagine that.)

Holid8 '08 with N8

Brandon's not too happy about being a last minute date and having a hand-written place card.

This was not easy.

Laura and Tay Tay's choreographed dance moves.

All of the guys naturally migrated from the dance floor when Beyonce's Single Ladies came on. Weird.