Since the New Year is literally hours away, I wanted to be sure to post about our pretty fantastic Christmas Eve.
It was awesome.
And amazing.
And alll sorts of fun spent in the company of my best friend (i.e. Clarkman), and some close friends, too!
Annnnnnd so joyous as we prepared for the celebration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It started out with George Balanchine's The Nutcracker ballet at the Academy of Music in Philly. I behaved and refrained from taking pictures during the ballet.
We then walked around the Christmas Village at Love Park, where Clark purchased himself a well-deserved Christmas gift. We also made sure to step into Macy's to watch the organ's Christmas light show.
Art Museum in the distance.
Clark waiting patiently to view some photography prints...
And one came out the winner! Now, no matter where we live in the world, we can take a super cool image of Philly with us (because this photo would be nearly impossible for us to recreate without 1. professional skills 2. a wide-angled lens and 3. LOTS of patience. I mean, the shutter was open for 20 minutes to capture this image and NO photoshop was used to make it more vibrant that it naturally is. This guy is good).
We then ate a non-traditional Mexican feast at Steven Starr's El Vez with our friends Andrea and Rex. (No pictures). We're excited to try Steven Starr's authentic Mexican restaurant, El Rey in the near future.
After dinner, we attended Christmas Eve mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. (again no pictures, but the basilica was absolutely stunning).
It was a whirlwind of a day, but such a blast to spend the Christmas holiday with my love here in Philly!
But seriously, we feel so much joy on this blessed Christmas day as we remember and reflect upon the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. His sacrifice is and always will be the most amazing gift ever granted unto man.
Do you wanna see an unnecessary amount of photos of waterfalls??! Of course you do!
In addition to many other things, I just love waterfalls. And since I'm a realist and have come to the conclusion that I may not be able to see Iguazu Falls or Victoria Falls in this lifetime (let's be honest, this world is a big place and there are far too many amazing places to visit that are easily accessible), I was thrilled when Clark agreed to take me to Niagra Falls for a celebration of sorts following the conclusion of my program. We met up with my very good friend/classmate Andrea, and her husband Rex. Though the weather wasn't ideal and was a bit drizzly, I am so glad we chose to visit during this time of year. Very few tourists and cheap lodging. Can't beat that!
Awww, these two are basically newlyweds. So cute and still so in love.
And wouldn't you know it, we're still in love, too! So, the bonus of seeing the falls from the Canadian side is that you get a good view of both falls at the same time. Magical, indeed.
Couldn't have gotten through the program without her!
Really, there's not a whole lot to keep one from plummeting to the earth or water below. Just this low, below-the-waist-height railing.
At the Table Rock info center, which is located literally right beside the Horseshoe Falls, we warmed up with hot chocolate and Clark fell in love with this poinsettia Christmas tree.
Whhhhooooaaaaa!
And all that's between me and waterfall is this wimpy railing...
We stayed in what is considered Ripley's area of Niagra Falls. It reminded me of the strip in Las Vegas, but to a much, much smaller degree. Probably just because of the lights and noise. Lots of bright lights, horribly inaccurate wax museums and multiple haunted houses (whaaattt?).
Andrea and Rex were on a bit of a different schedule, so after they departed we were left to explore Niagra Falls alone. Mind you, this is not a geographically vast area. The walk from our hotel to the Horseshoe falls was probably only a half mile. So to spice things up and make our day more interesting, we found alternate routes to get to the falls!
Clark was nervous that he might get raped on this path.
Fortunate for him, his wife can run and hunt down any assailant. Also, there were no other pedestrians actually using this path.
We decided to brave the frigid night air and take some night shots of the falls and surrounding bright lights.
The American Falls, looking quite lovely.
The dreadful Rainbow bridge, aka roadway into and out of America. If you ever travel to Niagra Falls, avoid this bridge at all costs! It took us 50 minutes to cross the bridge on our way in. Needless to say, we found a different route out. I can't even imagine how bad it gets during the summer months.
So beautiful.
We knew we couldn't leave without taking a ride up the Skylon tower, and the view from the top did not disappoint! We also couldn't leave without purchasing the novelty photo (at the top of this post). It cracked us up, anyway.
I love when people ask me to take their photo because then I don't mind asking them to return the favor. Thank you, kind tourist!
We had such a great time and I'm so glad we visited during this time of year. Cold, but not unbearable. No crowds or annoying masses of people acting obnoxious. The sweet company of friends. We were only gone three days but it was well worth the drive.
(Just as an aside: on our way back we stopped at Syracuse's Dinosaur BBQ for some ribs. It. Was. Amazing. I kid you not, the best ribs we've ever had. And I've had bbq in Memphis and St. Louis. This establishment was featured on Man v. Food, and for those of you who know us, you know we still love Adam Richman and will strive to patronize these featured establishments! Here's the video:
Also, I would move to Binghamptom in an instant. Guess how much a gallon of milk costs regardless of type?!!
$1.89. Unbelievable! I could not believe my eyes, and I should have taken a picture of the prices. We stopped at an Aldi to get cash for tolls and some refreshments, and I fell in love with Binghampton based off of milk prices.)
And I'm going alllllll the way back to Thanksgiving, because I never got a chance to showcase the amazing meal I prepared for Clark and myself. I spent Thanksgiving day alone (Clark worked 7am-7pm), which was absolutely delightful. Many of you may believe that a Thanksgiving not spent with family is a wasted and dull holiday. I personally found this not to be the case. It was an entirely stress-free day that consisted of running, cleaning and cooking. Ahhhh, bliss.
Early December arrived a little elf we like to call Candy. At first we didn't know if it was a he or a she but luckily the box clarified her gender identity.
Candy happens to be a preteen elf and in keeping with the average age of maturation, she surprised us with her very first menstrual cycle! Thanks for allowing us to be part of your growth and maturation, Candy!
Truant Minds (Clark's band) played a show in Atlantic City, and it totally rocked! Seriously, they're a lot of fun to watch. I recorded a couple of songs but I can't seem to load them properly...
We were able to see this little cutie for a short period; she has grown so much since we last saw her in October. Georgie loves to be held and is such a snuggle-bug.
And her siblings love her so much!
Our kitchen table got all decorated with this impressively beautiful gingerbread wreath created by my sister-in-law. She also made us ornaments (the round balls) to go on our tree as well. As much as I wanted to eat these decorations, I have refrained from doing so so that I can enjoy them in Christmases to come.
And our house got all decorated, too. Well, our living room did anyway. Next year, we'll get a real tree. Maybe.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! Somehow, we seem to be evading the cold, winter weather that is hitting other parts of the U.S. so hard. I was hoping for a white Christmas but it just may not be in the cards this year...
Wow, it's been nearly a month since my last post!!!??!?!
So much has happened in the past month. Gosh, where do I even begin?
I guess I'll start off by exclaiming that I'm officially done with my master's degree! I just submitted my final paper of graduate school this afternoon, and I am so excited to begin my new life as a stay at home wife for the next few months while I look for employment. Ahhhh, it just feels so good to be done. This program has been nothing short of challenging but I feel prepared (as much as I can be as a new grad) for what the future holds for me as a nurse practitioner.
Unfortunately, I don't graduate until May. Apparently Penn invests so much money on it's graduation ceremony each spring that the school can only really afford one graduation a year. Or at least that's how our course directer explained it to us. Right before she started crying and told us how proud she was of us and that we all better come back for graduation...so, I think I'll have to attend graduation. I was so touched by her heartfelt words and all the support she (and the other faculty) provided us with throughout the program.
I must thank Clark for his unconditional support while I completed this program. There is NO WAY I could have finished this program if I had to work and go to school full-time. He cooked countless meals, provided financial support so that we could live comfortably and listened patiently when I'd have a breakdown every other week. Today when I told him I just submitted my last paper, his response was: many tears, frustrations, and bad words later, you are done!!! Ahhh, the things this man has to put up with. Thank you Clark for working at a job you hate to provide for us. I love you so much and think you are the best. You are forever my favorite.
Welp, I guess it's time to start celebrating!
(I'll post more on recent events later, don't you worry!)
Clark's birthday has come and gone. Another year older, another year wiser.
But take a look at the real cool swag he received:
Hat: courtesy of Mom and Dad Ellison. Can't believe my Mom remembered Clark wanted one of these hats--I didn't even remember! He will be the coolest dude wandering the Southeast Asian beaches and streets for sure. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
Mug: courtesy of Scott and Dagmara. His and Hers mugs in black and white. You guys are so sneaky and we love you for it! They purchased these for us when we all visited the caverns in Virginia together. Thanks so much!
Gosh, I can't get over the hat. He looks so cool in it, not ridiculous at all.
I know that people are innately good. I know this. In spite of how damn awful people act sometimes. The following story is actually not one about what someone has done to upset me, but about what someone has done for me. And it made me so happy.
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Welp, the other day, ELECTION DAY (aka the day my hopes for America all came crashing down...just kidding...kind of...), I woke up all early to get to the polls before heading to the clinic in Murder City, USA . I was all sorts of prepared and organized. I attached my badge to a loophole on my pants as per usual, and headed out the door with my 2 ton book bag and lunchbox. Voting took longer than usual, but I'm in Philly so I should have just assumed that the line would be 40 people deep at 7:30 am. I thought I'd be late to the clinic but I got there right on time. As I was heading into a room to see my first patient of the day, I realized that my badge had fallen out of it's plastic case. Ugghhhh. So much for being prepared. But my day went on without a hitch, and though I couldn't find my ID card in the car or at home, I decided I would just get another one on Wednesday.
But then it started snowing/raining on Wednesday while I was sitting in class and I thought to myself: there is no way I'm walking over to 35th and Walnut for an ID card in this weather.
So I decided I would do it Friday. To my great surprise, our door buzzed just before 8 am Friday morning. I hurried to the door because if you don't answer within 3 buzzes, the UPS dude will just take off. I'm sure he doesn't take into account that most people don't hang out right by their door all day. Anywho, I answered the phone:
Me: Hello.
Dude: Yeah, is this Rachel?
Me: Yes...
Dude: Hey, I found your Penncard in the gutter.
Me: What!? Really? That's awesome, I'll be right down!? I answered him with a question for some reason.
I threw some pants and a sweater on and raced downstairs. And there it was, a glistening hologrammed ID card in the hand of a very nice looking fellow. His name was Kevin. Or Hot Kevin, as I now refer to him. I thanked him profusely. He apologized for stopping by so early. He probably noticed that I had pillow lines in my face.
I don't know why he didn't just bring my card to the facility that distributes cards on campus, but I was so thankful he woke me up at 8 am to personally deliver my ID card to me. Thank you, Hot Kevin. You have restored some of my faith in mankind.
This was the first thing I told Clark when he got home from work that morning. I was so excited about a stranger's kind gesture that I couldn't even fall back to sleep.
