Feliz Ano Nuevo

Grrrr...Happy New Year!

Well, I think I've waited long enough to post again, especially considering that my New Year's Resolution is to post significantly more often.

Oh man, the holidays are nice, and also such a whirlwind! We had a lovely Christmas, and were graced with Brendan's presence, which always shakes things up in an enjoyable way. Then I hightailed it out of town to Arizona, where I spent a few days with Brian's extended, hilarious, and ridiculously welcoming extended family. Seriously, it was actually a lot of fun to be the new face in that group. We climbed a mountain, swam in the pool, made lemonade from the lemons on the trees outside. We even met up with Susie and her family in Arizona, where we met her nephew Trenton, who is indeed the cutest child in America or France.

We got back to Chicago just in time for a really funny New Year's, which consisted of eating a gourmet meal prepared by my sister, then going to a totally random house party, where everyone forgot to do the countdown. All kinds of people were asking each other what time it was, and then all of a sudden Brian was holding up his cell phone, which said "12:00," and we looked around and everyone was kissing and blowing noisemakers. Weird! It didn't make much difference to me, though. Pretty much everything that occurred at the party was hilarious, in particular the spontaneous dance blockade that our little group of five made, which required anyone wanting to get down the hallway to dance their way through, and subject themselves to substantial booty smacks from Annie and Brian. I personally thought that was the most festive way to ring in the New Year. And the best part of these last few weeks is that Brian and I have had so much time to hang out. It's been a dream.

And now...I'm in Puerto Rico! Yes, I'm here for about 12 days doing a course on Drama in Education for school. That's right, I'm getting graduate credits for this. I just arrived today, but I think this trip will be a very useful way for me to begin posting more--and more interesting--stories. I'm going to go finish my fresh pineapple smoothie now.