December 2014 Round-up

Happy New Year's Eve! With only a couple hours remaining in December (and 2014), it's time to reflect on the best moments of the last month:

• Traveling down to San Antonio one weekend. I enjoyed shopping at the Alamo Quarry Market and visiting Market Square. While I wasn't able to make it down to the River Walk that night (there was a high school playoff game at the Alamodome), I drove down the following morning before returning to Austin.
• Performing handbells at the Christmas concert on Dec. 7, at an assisted living home on Dec. 17, and in church on Dec. 21.
• Finally finding a new Christmas tree early in the month. This one doesn't have the same character as the last one (for one thing, it stands upright), but it's nice to have a tree where all the lights work.
• Enjoying the annual Christmas breakfast/brunch at our office building one morning.
• Finally receiving my Chicago photo book from Blurb. The first one got lost in the mail, so Blurb graciously reprinted a new version for me.
• Driving down 360 to see the decorated trees.
• Celebrating 20/20 vision one year after my PRK surgery.
• Catching up with several friends over lunch or dinner throughout the month.
• Spending the last week of the year at home with Mom and Dad. It's always so good to be with them.
• Watching Russian Nationals on my computer through ESPN.
• Attending the Christmas Eve service at church and Art's party on Christmas morning.
• Meeting Paul for lunch and Esther for a movie (Annie) on New Year's Eve.

Books I read: The Look of Love (Sarah Jio), In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (Erik Larson), Leaving Time (Jodi Picoult)

Movies I watched: The Theory of Everything, Annie, It's a Wonderful Life (twice on TV), An Affair to Remember (TV), The Shop Around the Corner (TV), Love Actually (DVD), Elf (TV), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (TV), Bridge to Terabithia (TV), Words and Pictures (DVD)

TV: Castle, Forever, Parenthood, Call the Midwife (Season 3 DVD), Downton Abbey (Season 4 repeats on PBS), figure skating (NHK Trophy, Grand Prix Final), college football, UT basketball

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About My Monthly Round-Ups
At the end of each month, I take a look back and write a post about the month's highlights, as well as what I read and watched. To see all of my round-up posts, visit this page.

Skate America 2014

Back in October, I traveled up to the Chicago area to attend Skate America. This was my fourth time at Skate America — I previously attended the competition in 2006 (Hartford, CT), 2009 (Lake Placid, NY), and 2012 (Kent, WA). Before the new year begins, I wanted to share some of my favorite memories of the competition as well as a few pictures. (If you would like to see more of my pictures, visit my Flickr album.)

What I want to remember...

• The American dance teams finishing one-two in the ice dance competition. Even with Meryl Davis and Charlie White out, Madison Chock and Evan Bates (above) and Alex and Maia Shibutani skated well. I also enjoyed Stepanova and Bukin, the Russian team that finished third. 
• Jeremy Abbott's short program to Sam Smith's "Lay Me Down." Just beautiful.
• Both of Tatsuki Machida's performances in the men's competition.
• Waking up early to attend the practice sessions on Saturday.
• Elena Radionova's joyful skating in both the short and long programs. She was too young to compete in Sochi, but she's making up for lost time now.
• American pair Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier winning the silver medal in the pairs competition after skating an exciting long program to music from The Lion King. It was the highest finish for an American pair in the Grand Prix since 2008.
• Meeting Meryl Davis and Charlie White during the first night of competition. It was the highlight of my trip, if not the year.
• Seeing Gracie Gold, Jason Brown, Elena Radionova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Chock and Bates, and many others skate live for the first time.

And some of my favorite pictures...

Maia and Alex Shibutani 

Jeremy Abbott 

Jason Brown 

Gracie Gold 

Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin 

Madeline Aaron and Max Settlage 

Samantha Cesario 

Elena Radionova

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva

P.S. I wrote about my trip into Chicago here.

November 2014 Round-up

The last third of this year seems to be flying by, and it's hard for me to believe today is the seventh day of December! Before I get too caught up in the Christmas season, I wanted to share some of my highlights from November:

• Hosting Paul and Esther the first full weekend of the month. While they were here, we ate breakfast tacos, visited Mayfield Park and Mount Bonnell, and attended the UT-West Virginia game on Saturday afternoon (the Horns won!).
• Enjoying a pedicure one Sunday afternoon. Always so relaxing! 
• Working on several creative projects, including my Chicago photo book.
• Treating myself to hot chocolate since the weather is a little cooler. Making it at home has been fun after finding some great mixes (red velvet and dark chocolate).
• Performing with my handbell choir in church one Sunday.
• Listening to Serial, one of the best podcasts I've discovered over the last few months. 
• Spending the Thanksgiving holidays at home with my family (our first time in Henderson since 2011). It was so wonderful to have all of us together, and with Dad home from the hospital, we truly had something to be thankful for this year.
• Shopping at Canton with Mom and Esther. We had a fun time, even if we were battling strong winds and crowds of people.

Books I read: The Girl You Left Behind (Jojo Moyes), The Time in Between (Maria Dueñas)

Movies I watched: The Giver, Mockingjay: Part I, The Hunger Games (TV), Julie & Julia (TV)

TV: Dancing with the Stars, Castle, Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, Forever, figure skating (Grand Prix Series), college football

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About My Monthly Round-Ups
At the end of each month, I take a look back and write a post about the month's highlights, as well as what I read and watched. To see all of my round-up posts, visit this page.