Holiday Blog!

Hello, all! Yeah, so it has been awhile since I last blogged...time to fix that! I recently finished off my first semester of grad school, and managed a 3.85 GPA! I am so happy about that...talk about a good Christmas present! I worked hard this past semester, and it definitely paid off. All that being said, I am so happy to be home. I missed it so much, and am happy to be seeing familiar faces. I came home on the 20th of December, which proved to be a bit of a challenge because of the snow storm that hit the East Coast at the same time. Although my train was delayed by about 2 hours, I made it home, and was even able to see my little brother play some ice hockey. After dropping my sister back off at FLCC (she still had some finals), I finally made it home, and was able to sleep in my own bed again...hallelujah!

This year, Christmas was awesome. Like every other year, my siblings woke me up at 7 am to go downstairs and open presents. I felt like Scrooge because I just wanted to sleep...ha. After I finally got up, we all went and opened presents, and it was a good time. This year, my sister's boyfriend, Andrei, joined us. At first, I was not happy about it not just being our family, but it turned out to be a good time...he is a good guy. After our family opened gifts, we headed to my uncle's house for the Schmieder Christmas gathering, which was a good time. It was great to see everyone in one place at one time. For Thanksgiving, I didn't come home and my uncle Andy was in Iraq, so not everyone was there. For Christmas, we were all there. It was a special time, and I am not sure how many more Christmases we will all be there for. The rest of the day was relaxing, which was really nice. NYC is crazy busy, so it was nice to have a change of pace. My siblings and I, along with Andrei, watched 'Disturbia,' which is a great movie. To end the day, we played Catchphrase and Diablo, two games that always prove to be a good time.

The day after Christmas was, in a word, crazy! I got up at 6 am to go shopping with Traci and Jaimee. While I didn't actually buy anything, it was so much fun to hang out with them. We started off the day at Dave's Christmas Shop in Lancaster. I had never been there before. Traci and Jaimee always go there the day after Christmas, so it was part of their tradition. We got there at 10 minutes before they opened, and there was already a line of people. I was shocked. I am not the type of person who goes shopping on Black Friday or the day after Christmas usually, so it was all new to me. People in the store were nuts. I have never seen people push their carts around the store so fast in my entire life. It was amusing and scary...not knowing who was going to try to push by you next. After Dave's, we went to Target, Best Buy, and FYE. Let's talk about FYE for a moment, shall we? It is probably my favorite store to buy CDs and movies from. Well, I was devastated that the one in Batavia and the superstore in Williamsville are both CLOSING! I was like "What?!?!" Luckily, the one in the Walden Galleria isn't closing...if that was the case, I would probably have an emotional breakdown. BUT, when we were there, the first volume of season 1 of Glee was already out!!! This is interesting because it isn't supposed to be on shelves until tomorrow!!!! Although I didn't buy it, I knew I had to go back and get it. We had lunch, and then I spent the rest of the day at Reed's house, just chillin', which included watching Mike Fisher, Carrie Underwood's future husband, beat the Sabres...ugh. I am so jealous...he is a lucky man.

So, yesterday was AWESOME! Every year, Reed, Mal, Pete, and I go shopping after Christmas, and go to Red Robin for dinner. We began the day at Chipotle, a Mexican restaurant that Mal and Pete wanted Reed and I to try. My overall opinion? It was ok, but I think I like Moe's better. We then went to the FYE in the mall. I went crazy. Because FYE has this deal where all CDs are 9.99 or less, I bought not 1, 2, 3, or 4, but 7...lol. My purchases were Adam Lambert's album (if you know me really well, you would not have expected this), Kris Allen's album (love his songs!), Lady Gaga's first album (I love her beyond words), Glee: Volumes 1 and 2 (I am obsessed with the show), Pink's newest album, Funhouse (love her!), and Lady Antebellum's first album (I cannot wait until their next album comes out!!) We went to a couple other stores, but all my purchases were done at FYE :-) We went to Red Robin for dinner, and it was uh-mazing! Because I am now a vegetarian, I had a Boca patty instead of a beef patty, and it was sooo good. Before returning home, we went to the FYE Superstore in Williamsville...and I bought Glee, Season 1: Volume 1!!! Let's just say that I have already finished the first of four disks...love that show!

Today, I am just chillin' at home...watchin' and listenin' to Glee, as well as enjoying the gorgeous snow. I love snow...it really accentuates the beauty of God's creation. I am looking forward to getting together with more and more people that I haven't seen yet. I hope you had a great Christmas!!! I can't believe 2010 is just around the corner...yikes.

'Til next time...