Astronauts and Nutcrackers.

This month so far has been pretty fun. I was in Alabama Youth Ballet's production of The Nutcracker: A Yuletide Ballet, I did some Christmas decorating, and I met another astronaut!

I decided to do The Nutcracker with Sarah. We auditioned in August and started rehearsals in early September. She reprised her role as the maid, and I was in Act II, in the Arabian scene. I wasn't really sure what to expect, as it is a children's play, but I was pleasantly surprised to find several adults- including 5 other people older than 23 in my scene! The show was fun and exhausting, and I'm hoping to get a few pictures from Sarah soon. Here are the two that I have.

On opening night, Husband came to our show and

brought me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers!

Tom and Diana came to support Sarah and I the following night

and so graciously gave us these gorgeous flowers!

For real, I got more flowers last weekend than I think I have ever.

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Now here's a photo of the few Christmas decorations I have:

Ornaments displayed on our mantle, a paint-chip Christmas tree

taped up to the wall, and three stockings. The third is for Puppy!

Since we won't be in town for Christmas this year, we decided to not get a tree, real or fake, and I instead decided to get a little crafty. All it took was a trip to Lowe's to pick up a paint chip in every green shade they had (as well as one orange one, for the topper, and a brown one for the trunk). I put out our tree skirt (per Tom's request), and put our gifts under our tree.

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And now: my astronauts. One of the two below I met in November- before Thanksgiving. His name is Owen Garriott and my picture with him was in the Marshall Star weekly newspaper.

Astronaut Owen Garriott is 83 years old! His first space flight was in 1973 on Skylab 3, and set a world record for a duration of about 60 days in space. His second space flight was on the shuttle Columbia in 1983 for Spacelab-3.

My second recent astronaut meeting was Astronaut TJ Creamer. In December 2009, TJ Creamer launched to the International Space Station to start his 6-month duration aboard during Expeditions 22/23. After returning to Earth, he became a Payload Operations Director at the HOSC, where I work. I met him yesterday at the NASA Holiday celebration, and I'll be working real-time with him Monday and Thursday of next week!

Me with Astronaut TJ Creamer. He was busy signing a head shot for me!

Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving this year, Husband and I visited Gatlinburg, TN to visit with my grandmother, great aunt, and several cousins (who all live in various sections of Florida).

In this photo, we're on our way to drop off the Pups at the Puppy Hotel.

Our drive up to Gatlinburg was relatively painless. We got stuck in the obligatory stopped traffic just south of Chattanooga, but otherwise the trip was easy-going. We even got to see some decent snow on the drive through Knoxville!

I swear it's there; use your imagination.

We made record time through Sevierville/Pigeon Forge, about 30 minutes from I-40 to the timeshare just before getting to Gatlinburg. Seriously, record time. Once we arrived, we unloaded the car and I got to work to finish making my cinnamon-raisin bread, and Hubs set out to make his home-made ice cream.

Thursday morning, I got up and baked the bread, and we all watched the Thanksgiving Day parade.

In an attempt to better explain how I am related to the people who were in Gatlinburg, I've made mini-family trees:

Lorraine is my Great-Grandmother (GG). Her two living children,

Jewell (my grandmother, Mommal) and Elaine were in Gatlinburg.

Mommal's children and grandchildren. I was only one, in addition to Mommal,

who was in Gatlinburg.

Aunt Elaine, her daughter Jennifer and Jennifer's daughter Courtney,

as well as another of Aunt Elaine's grandchildren (Alicia) were in Gatlinburg.

My Aunt Charlotte's two grandsons, Brandon and Nickolai,

were also in attendance.

So there were a lot of people. Most of them, I'd seen fairly recently. Mommal came up to visit Hubs and I for Easter with my mom and sister. I saw Aunt Elaine, Jennifer, Courtney (17), Brandon (19) and Nickolai (11) at Thanksgiving in Orlando last year. This was my first time seeing Alicia (13) since she was an infant.

I really enjoyed getting to see all those cousins. And we all had a great time together! The 6 of us "kids" (yes, I include myself with the kids) played card games, board games, and charades, as well as hung out and watched TV together. 

Thanksgiving afternoon, we all, the adults included, walked down to the main activities area and made paracord bracelets. I didn't make one, but I used my elementary school and summer camp knowledge of make best friends bracelets to teach them all how to do it. Here's all of us (and them all posing with their bracelets):

Alicia, Brandon, Aunt Elaine, Husband, Nickolai, Mommal, Jennifer, me, and Courtney.

After bracelet-making, we all headed back to our cabin. The Hubs, my cousins and I all played a few card games while Mommal, Aunt Elaine, and Jennifer worked on finishing up dinner. I would have helped, but the kitchen was way too small, and I think 3 cooks was already too many in the kitchen. When food was ready, the kids cleaned up the table and surrounding areas, Hubsandwich said the blessing, and we ate. After dinner, Mommal and Aunt Elaine relaxed, and us kids did the cleaning.

Early Friday morning, Jennifer, Courtney and Alicia had to leave to get back to Florida in time for Courtney's high school football team to be in the playoffs. The rest of us ate breakfast at the Apple Barn, then rummaged through the gift shop. A few pictures:

Mommal! My favorite grandmother!

The Hubs and I. We sort of match, totally unplanned.

Brandon and Nickolai. Brothers born on the same day, 8 years apart.

Hubs and Mommal

The remaining family: Aunt Elaine, Brandon, Nickolai, me and Mommal.

Hubs offered to take the picture.

Sadly, on Friday night, we needed to pack up the cabin, our clothes, our food and our vacation. Saturday morning was coming quickly, and it would be time to go.

Oh, did I mention the snow? There was plenty to go around. Thanksgiving's high temperature was near 34 degrees. Friday was much warmer, around 46.

Sisters, Mommal and Aunt Elaine

Mommal and I! I just woke up, so I'm jacket-free. Not the way to be.

Aunt Elaine wanted a picture with the snow on her car :) I've been there!

We hit almost no traffic coming back home, not even through Chattanooga, and got home in time to pick up this thing before they closed for the day: 

Puppy was so excited to see me that she literally tackled me to the

ground at the Puppy Hotel and stood on top of me to claim me.

Single Displacement Reactions, Paycheck Mistakes and Store Alarms.

Today has been a day full of wonderful things.

First, I didn't have any difficulty learning the Chemistry material I need for tutoring later.

Second, I received a call from my employer stating that there was a mistake with my base pay, and that I'd be getting a check for back-pay and any overtime I've worked since APRIL!

Third, I finally found the culprit in my setting-off-store-alarms-spree. My mom got my a really nice wallet for my birthday, but it turns out that the store sensor that was in the wallet upon purchase was never removed. It was lodged, nearly impossible for me to see, in one of the tiniest nooks of the wallet. I fished it out today, and finally feel confident that I'm not going to be followed around stores or malls anymore, since I won't set off the alarms.

(Now I'll just be followed because I'm shady :) )

Tuesday is a day for winners, and I'm glad I'm in the Winners' Circle.

Small updates.

Husband's birthday picture, from October:

The two of us at the Nook.

Sarah and Diana with the Birthday Boy!

Hubs and his dad.

Brian and Faiza, our medically-oriented family :)

Sarah, me and Faiza. I'm so lucky to have two sisters-in-law!

A picture from earlier that morning:

Me showing off my medal and trophy from my second mini-triathlon.

I won the trophy for having the best time of both genders and all age groups for the beginner level, and the medal was for having the best time in my age group. (The medal is a bit of a cop-out. The other two girls who were supposed to be in my age group didn't show up, so I competed against myself. But the trophy is totally legit. There were a lot of beginners.)

Then on November 10, I decided to surprise Hubs with a day trip to the Birmingham Zoo! It also happened to be our 2 year and 2 month anniversary, though I didn't plan for that. Too many pictures below.

Self-timer fail.

"Make a giraffe face"

This hen was colored like a giraffe and had a fabulous afro.

"Mobile"? Maybe next time try "Machine"

The most comfortable lioness I've ever seen napping.

Beers at the Tavern in The Summit