SO WHAT'S NEW

oh, this poor little flower patch. it's a miracle the whole thing is still here! if it were a garden, it would be overrun with weeds and dandelions (not that I have anything against dandelions) and the nearby strays would be setting up camp for their long winter's nap. I'll be the first to admit that it has undergone one serious case of neglect. in earnest, I actually planned a whole holiday line up but when faced with the picture taking and words writing dilemma, I decided to just be present this holiday season. of which, I hope you had a very merry one! full of family and friends and one too many sweet treats. our house is still full to the brim with them. everywhere I turn I'm finding some other holiday goody that needs my attention and I can't in good conscious leave them all behind for my parents to take care of, can I? talk about overwhelming..

but I think it's high time I take my rake and shovel to this cold hard ground and get reacquainted with all of you, what do you say?

one :: after mitch finished (and passed, I might add) his finals, we quickly began running around frantically trying to pack little, tiny, meaningless objects into the leftover nooks and crannies of our moving boxes. we're a very organized bunch in our house, you know. and I almost cleaned that dusty old apartment into ship shape until mitch reminded me that we were paying a cleaning lady whether we liked it or not as per our contract. and so, we went straight to bed in our empty apartment, which sort of gave me the spooks.

two :: okay, so we didn't go straight to bed that night. mitch has been in search of a good doctor show to keep him motivated when doctor school gets tough and netflix just happens to have all of the seasons of grey's anatomy--a show I sort of binge-watched back in high school. he'll probably kill me for posting this, but he sprayed me with water from the kitchen sink earlier, so we'll consider this payback. mitch is watching grey's. and he likes it. despite all of the girly, overdramatic stuff.

three :: and then we woke up and moved. just the two of us. four car loads down three flights of stairs and up three flights more to our new apartment (which is super cute, by the way!). admittedly, mitch did most of the heavy-lifting and I did frequent, smaller trips, but somehow it got done just in time to get to the airport and catch our plane back to the states. I'm still a little overly chuffed with myself at how perfectly I planned that day.

four :: although it would make sense to fly straight to florida without any fuss, we actually flew to atlanta, which is an arguable five hours away if mom's driving (and she can get you where you need to be in a jiffy!). this little maneuver saved us $150 upfront but I think I actually lost it all at nordstrom, anyway.

five :: nordstrom. we got there early and ate in the restaurant for a quick breakfast before open hours. we got lost for hours in the shoe department. and we conquered all of our christmas shopping. nordstrom, I love you and I've got your back. and you've got my wallet.

six :: and then mitch surprised me with an iphone six. with an international plan. no more isolation. no more recluse. I can call my family anywhere I want. they can call me whenever they want. I can upload pictures to instagram right there at the supermarket like the rest of the world! how did I go a whole year with prison privileges? this new year is already looking up!

seven :: backseat, middle seat, with my feet on the hump! that's where I was all the way home to pensacola because, obviously, the seat next to me was full of my nordstrom haul. I don't remember much else other than sleeping the whole way on mitch's lap and a little pitstop at dunkin'.

eight :: in two days flat, we slept off our wild wild trek, scrubbed the house clean, put up two christmas trees, decked the halls with several garlands, and baked all of our traditional goodies. and then, of course, we needed another good long slumber and woke to meeting my brother and his darling fiancé. just in time to celebrate his birthday and some amazing local food!

nine :: merry belated christmas, everyone! I can't believe it, but I woke up first. it wasn't like it was super early. it was like 7 am, but my family just wouldn't get their bums out of bed. with the exception of my mom, who was already up baking. I waited for as long as the little kid inside of me could bear and then I promptly jumped on every sleeping person in turn. minus sean's fiancé. though, that is what she has to look forward to marrying into this fam.

ten :: and I've been relaxing ever since. drinking an abundant amount of diet coke and hot cocoa (though, not together) and reading several new cookbooks while stuffing my face with leftovers. it's a pretty good life and it's making me pretty darn excited to begin 2015.

and that sums up our holiday so far. how have your lives been in my absence? I've missed you. and I hope you know that I am more than just a little grateful that you read this little patch of weeds. let's see if we can get that cleaned up here in the next couple of days, shall we?

love, arielle