the semester's (almost) over!

I had my last day of classes this semester on Friday.  (And I only had one class, so it was a pretty easy day).  I have to admit, I did get off pretty easy this semester as far as finals go.  Two of my classes had optional finals, and I was satisfied with my grades in those classes so I didn't have to take them.  My other three classes had final papers, and I got them all done.  The only thing I have left to do is give an oral report on Thursday, then I'll be completely finished.

On Saturday, Brian and I decorated the Christmas tree at his place with his family.  If you haven't figured it out already, I LOVE CHRISTMAS.  It was really nice to decorate an actual full-size Christmas tree in an actual house, because I haven't done that in years.  After that, Brian, Becky, and I went out to dinner at Perkins.  I deviated from my usual meal of "breakfast" (some combination of eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, or whatever I'm in the mood for) and got an egg and bacon melt.  It's new! and I definitely recommend it.  Becky ordered one of those huge cinnamon rolls and let me have a bite of it, delicious.

After Perkins, Brian and I went to the video store and rented The Polar Express.

GREAT movie!  I had never seen it before (can you believe it?)  But really, I think it's become one of my Christmas time movies.

On Sunday, Brian didn't have to work (yay!) so we got to make breakfast and watch football!  We had a Jimmy Dean skillet meal, the ham one.  I love Jimmy Dean skillets.  My dad started making them on Sundays when I was about 16 or 17 and I absolutely loved them.  They're a frozen package of potatoes, red and green peppers, onions, and depending on which pack you get, bacon, ham, or sausage.  All you do is add some eggs and you're good to go.

After breakfast we watched football.  The Vikes did good this week, beating the Bengals 30-10.  During the game Becky brought us some Caribou!  Love her.  While watching the game, they showed a glimpse of the Vikings cheerleaders, and I started thinking about how I'd really love to audition for them!  Right now it's just a fantasy, but we'll see what the future holds. :)

Yesterday Brian and I headed over to the mall to get some Christmas shopping done.  Both of us were pretty productive, although I have a few more things to pick up, maybe I'll go out tomorrow.   After shopping we went over to T.G.I. Friday's next to the mall for dinner, because Brian had a coupon from his Give Me More Stripes card.  I got the petite sirloin, with loaded mashed potatoes and broccoli as my sides.  Normally I find the steak to be really good, but mine was a little overcooked, and had a lot of fat in it.  That being said, the rest of the meal was delicious.  I think I'm becoming obsessed with loaded mashed potatoes.  I've been ordering them every time I go to Applebee's or Fridays.  But they are just so darn good!  Potatoes, cheese, and bacon are just meant to be together.

Tuesday nights are Kid's Night at Friday's.  On Kid's Night one of the waiters puts on a rainbow wig and walks around to tables with kids and makes balloon animals.  There was a table of kids next to us, and one little girl was celebrating her birthday.  He's hilarious!  And now I just realized how weird I sound, knowing who specific servers are at Friday's.  Brian and I frequent Applebee's and Friday's so much they're starting to recognize us.

Lately, I've been thinking about how I wanted to become fluent in ASL.  I took some community ed classes when I was young and learned some of the basics, but I think it would be really cool to actually know ASL.  (And it wouldn't look bad on a resume either!)  So I've been taking lessons online and learning the grammar (which is different than English) and basic words and phrases.

Another thing I've been doing lately is preparing for my next pageant!  I hope to compete in the Sweeps pageant in February for MAO, and I have some great ideas.  I'm changing up my talent, but that's all I'm going to say on the matter now.  I have to get a new talent dress though, which I'm very excited about.  If I end up not being able to do the Sweeps, I'll definitely be competing more this summer.

Goals for winter break:

1. Write my resume so I can apply for internships this summer!

2. Work on pageant stuff, mostly talent, and also getting my hair to stay put!

3. Learn to cook in the crock pot

4. Continue to learn ASL