As promised, I am back to continue my update. I believe I left off with Christmas in the last post.

Christmas break has been amazing this year -- I have spent lots of time with friends and I haven't had to worry about homework. A couple days after Christmas some friends and I went to see The Tale of Despereaux, based off a children's book of the same name by Kate DiCamillo. I have not read the book, but heard that it is not quite the same as the movie. The movie was cute, but had some strange parts. . .but Despereaux was the CUTEST little mouse, with the biggest ears! :-)

A couple days after seeing The Tale of Despereaux, I went to see Marley & Me with another friend. Wow. What a good movie. I read the book (by John Grogan) a couple of years ago, and LOVED it. Marley reminded me at times of Cody, and I love a good dog story. And the ending of the book made me cry (I wasn't expecting it to end the way it did). So, when I heard they were making a movie, I knew I had to see it. And wow, was it good. Now, some forewarning: there are parts of the movie that they probably could have left out, and there are some parts that if they had shown any more they would've had to raise the rating. . .but overall it was a good movie that even children could enjoy. And yes, when we first "met" Marley in the movie, I couldn't help but exclaim that I want another puppy. :-) However. . .just to prepare anyone who might decide to watch the movie: I was crying for what seemed like the last half-hour of the movie, but especially in the last 15 minutes or so (seeing affects more than reading, apparently). And I wasn't alone. I don't think there were very many dry eyes in the theater at the end (I could hear lots of sniffling!). And I had to give Cody and Reba extra-big hugs when I came home. But, with that in mind, go see the movie. . .it's #1 at the box office right now for a reason. . .and trust me, everyone, dog-lover or not, will find it to be a cute dog movie. :-) You'll laugh and cry all in one 2-hour movie -- and to me, that is a sign of a good movie!

New Year's Eve was spent at my friend Sarah's house. We had a blast playing Scattergories, Dance Dance Revolution, Uno, and Backseat Drawer. And, of course, at midnight we watched the ball drop on TV and then ran around the neighborhood banging on pots and pans with wooden spoons. We have to start the year off with exercise, right?! :-)

January has been off to a good start. My friend Joy is back in town for Christmas break, and we just had to do something together! Joy and Mary used to work with me and Devin, and the four of us have done quite a bit together (we all saw Mannheim Steamroller together in 2007, the three of them helped me celebrate my birthday, we have played intense games of Dutch Blitz together, etc.) so it made sense that we'd do something when Joy was in town for Christmas break. We got together and played Scattergories and looked at pictures -- and of course we just had to take a picture. That's me, Mary, Devin & Joy in the picture above.

Last night was lots of fun. I went to my friend Val's house, and, with a group of friends, watched Stardust, which was a strange movie, and I'm not sure I'd recommend watching it. It was a bit weird and, well, interesting. But, after the movie we played Apples to Apples, Bible Trivia, Backseat Drawer and the Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader board game (fun, but WAY easier than the TV game show of the same name!). We also talked, of course, and just enjoyed hanging out together.

There is one week left in Christmas break and I am hopeful that it will be just as fun as the last few weeks have been. After this week the countdown is on for graduation!

I hope you enjoyed the updates. . .I'll try to update more frequently now, assuming I have something interesting to blog about!

Have a great week! :-)