One Semester Down!

Hi all!  I greet you with relief and enthusiasm, as all of my final exams and term papers are complete.  Although stressful at times, I feel like my first semester at UNC flew by.

Thanksgiving break was relaxing and very nice.  Before we headed off to West Virginia, my cohort decided to have an AuD Thanksgiving Dinner.  A few of my classmates from the west coast weren't able to make it home for the holiday, so we wanted to make sure everyone got a good Thanksgiving meal with friends.  I made the mashed potatoes, and I found out the hard way that you can't chop potatoes in advance without putting them in water immediately.  Lesson learned.

A few days later, I enjoyed a second round of Thanksgiving with Mom & Dad, the Foxes, & the Widney's. We missed Chris & Abby, but they were off having a marvelous time in Nicaragua with Leslie & Carl Agsten. I must admit, when I saw pictures of the beach they spent Thanksgiving Day on, I did get a little jealous.

After Thanksgiving, Christmas was on everyone's mind.  Back in NC, classes were wrapping up and finals were looming.  Luckily, Evan and I found some time to enjoy decorating for Christmas.

The first decoration up was a wreath for the front door.  I made this Christmas wreath last year.  After a little bow-fluffing, it looked brand new!  I'm hoping to make a fun Valentine's Day wreath over the break.  Having something little on our door really brightens up the entrance. :)

 Next stop, we headed to Apex, NC (about 20 minutes away) to the Jordan Lake Christmas Tree Farm.  This little place was SO fun! There was hot chocolate, homemade mini doughnuts (Evan's favorite), homemade wreaths and decorations, ornaments, and of course, lots and lots of trees! Some were pre-cut, but we ventured out onto the farm and found the perfect tree for our apartment. It was a beautiful Saturday to chop down a tree - about 65 degrees and blue skies!

So many trees to choose from!

That evening we got the tree set up in our apartment, put on a Christmas movie, and decorated. Since we only have about 10 unique, fun ornaments (we bought one at the tree farm), we put those in the front and decorated the rest of the tree with a colorful assortment of bulbs.

We also found a really pretty tree topper at a local store in Durham, and Evan did the honors of placing it on top once the tree was ready. We've loved having this tree to brighten up the living room all month! I'm not exactly sure what kind of tree we bought, but it's been great! No needles are falling and it's staying nice and green.  I'm a little nervous to see what it looks like when we come back from break, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. 

The finished product!

Now that I'm finished with finals, I'm taking a few days to decompress in Carrboro.  Christmas shopping and painting will fill my week, and then I'll be heading home for a bit. Looking forward to seeing all my loved ones & friends that I've missed so much over the holidays. 

See you all soon! Happy Holidays!

-Molly