Getting to be the most wonderfully worse time of year...

Confused?
I love Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year. I really do. Wonderful food, and sharing, just plain sharing with friends and family. Whether its sharing gifts or sharing time, taking time to get together with loved ones seems like it all clumps together at the end of every year.
Why is it that we do this when its the worst weather of the year? Don't get me wrong... snow makes my heart melt. But snow, ice, and freezing temperatures... makes me wish Christmas was in June...
I've been blessed to not have been involved in accidents in the past, but when you're driving down the road and feel the tires slip, and you can't do anything but pray...
That scares me.
Will I ever move away from the Great Lakes area? I sure hope not... I'd really even love more to move back north to Michigan 'home' but still... wish I had a snomobile sometimes ;) How do you feel about the weather and the holidays?

Be Blessed <><
Christina

I might lose it...

No. Really.

Everyday I am afraid of something ruining my wedding... for example: my band won't be able to play at my reception on my wedding day. But things like that don't really happen when you plan things out ahead of time, right? Well, not unless you're me... some days I feel like if it's not one thing, its another... but everything will workout according to plan. I just need to pray, trust in God, and leave it in His hands.

In other news, Christmas Kickoff went well, but was cut short. I hadn't been to the Lakeview Square Mall in quite a while. Started at Barnes and Noble until Ms Allison and her momma and Lucas got there... walked around the mall for a while and was quite saddened to see how much of the mall was empty. So we went to find dinner at Don Pablos, and headed home... me back to the Fort, and Al, Luke & her momma back to Lowell/Saranac. See, because its Widow's Weekend, Allison's husband was cleaning out and sighting guns (I think, since its too early to 'hunt') and while he was shooting, her sweet little shih tzu Toby ran away... scared, most likely, by the guns. Well, the men were searching for the pup, and had not found him after a few hours while we were shopping. After dinner we called it quits so Allison could get back to her mom's house and continue looking for her little guy. Allison, I hope you have found Toby already, I don't know that I could function if I lost Biggie... We're praying for his safe return home! oxoxoxo

House cleaning and Christmas prep tomorrow after church. Enjoy the rest of your weekends, stay warm and safe... and be extra cautious... Guns are going to start shooting Monday, and the deer are going to be running for their lives -- literally.

Blessings,
Christina

Deer Camp 2010: 3rd Annual Widows Weekend & Christmas Kickoff

So it begins.
Third time around.
Andrew's left for Deer Camp. "What's deer camp, and widow's weekend?" Well, I'll explain it how I understand it. November 16th is opening day for gun hunting. In Michigan, and/or the hunting world... this is a pretty big deal. I say Michigan because from the people I've met in Indiana no one knows these terms. Every year the weekend before or after (depending on when the 16th falls) multitudes of men leave their homes and spend time in tree stands and cabins in the woods. Anywhere from a 3day weekend to a week long vacation as far as I'm aware. I'm sure some go-getters stay out longer.

Deer Camp: Andrew has gone over many of the past years up north with his dad and a few friends of the family to a cabin (they rent the same one every year) its the ultimate "guy's weekend" and they hunt, play poker, they might even smoke a few cigars out in the middle of nowhere.
Widow's Weekend: Since so many wives are left at home alone, and there's like close to ZERO communication via cell phone in B.F.E. Nowhere, this same weekend is dubbed Widow's Weekend... and its strange that although I never see Andrew through the week I really really miss him... give it two or three days and I crack... call his mom to see how she's doing and if she's heard from them...

To stay busy I have started my Christmas endeavours this weekend, this being my third year of Christmas kickoff. The last two years I was able to spend Widow's Weekend in Grand Rapids with my friend Allison, since her husband Mike was also at Deer Camp with Allison's brother... but this year is a first for me to spend it alone. Tomorrow we are planning on meeting up and going shopping somewhere in the middle between Fort Wayne and Grand Rapids... probably somewhere around Battle Creek, which will be nice to see a different mall. Not sure what I'll be buying, but I'll figure it out as I go along... I'll keep updated over the weekend
Be blessed,
Christina

198!

First of all, I just want to put it out there... I am, by no means, good at this. I quite honestly forgot I had a blog for the last few months... SORRY! But I happened upon it today and realized that my last post was 304 days away from my wedding. It's been 106 days since then. Whoa! I don't know where the time's gone!

I've started another semester at IPFW and contracted senioritis... and a side case of wedding brain. It's pretty severe however I am not contagoius haha! Let me explain:
Senioritis: a severe lack of motivation that sometimes happens when one is so close to the end goal and at the same time so ready to be done already that they just. dont. care. It's pretty bad. Only made worse by Wedding Brain...
Wedding Brain: Well, in short, my wedding (what I like many other girls have dreamed about for 20 years) is coming up - did you see I've already lost 106 days! - This is the most important day of my life, and because of that, there is little else that I care about. I feel horrible for saying that. OF COURSE I care about other things... my fiance, family, friends, job, school... its just that I feel like my wedding takes up 70% of my thoughts right now, and it can only get worse until it gets here... I'm done for!

I might need to start writing about this... its therapeutic, right?
Blessings,
Christina