Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!
I love seeing all the tree pictures from people who have put up their
tress, they are all so beautiful. Thank you so much for posting your pictures so that I can share a bit in your experiences. I love seeing everyone's families, husbands, kids, pets ect. The nicest part about blogging is being able to keep up w/ people that I would have no way of staying connected w/ otherwise.

Thanks to a snow storm last week, Michigan will probably have a white
Christmas. Right now I'm sitting at the front desk in the music library
which is a large set of rooms above the music school with lots of
windows overlooking the scenery on North Campus. The snow is covering
everything and it looks so peaceful. I love looking at snow in the
woods and there is a small wooded area with a pond that I can see from
my desk. It's so nice to see it, and so nice to be viewing it from a
well-heated place instead of out there in the below freezing
temperatures! :)

The next two weeks are going to be filled with visiting family, getting
some prep study completed for next semester, and eating deviled eggs
(only once a year and one of my favorite part of Christmas).

Last year my mother gave me a journal for Christmas. She asked me to
record everything that dramatically changed my life this year. The
whole family was experiencing a year of change in 2007, and my changes
were part of that.

1) Leaving Relocation Central Apartment Search after being a senior
agent there for almost four years.

2) Being accepted into the School of Music at U of M after six intense
semesters of 45 hour work weeks with full-time class loads so that my
transfer would go through.

3) Saying good-bye to my parents and sister as they relocated to
Billings, Montana from Michigan.

4) Seeing my brother go back to school in Political Science at WMU.

5) Meeting tons of old friends again on Facebook and Xanga

6) Finally leaving the Metro-Detroit area and relocating to Ann Arbor.
It's been quite interesting, learning to adapt to the life of a
full-time student.

7) Finalizing my divorce and hoping that somehow something good will
come of this.

8) Making the Dean's List at U of M-YEA!

9) Traveling to Texas for the first time and having the honor of being
accepted to two of the top music schools in the country.

10) Learning to let go of the past and let old dreams die. I've had to
let go of many dreams this year. The dreams I once had for my life died multiple times over the last 12 months. Yet moments that I thought would destroy me have not, and hurdles that I thought would be impossible to conquer have turned out to be less intimidating than I thought. Sometimes it's good to let go of old dreams. This year I lost one that I've foolishly held onto for over ten years. I also lost the dream of being Mike's wife forever, and the dream of having his children. So be it. This is life and it has taken turns that I would have never expected. So many positive things have come out of this. I want to quote lyrics from two very different songs:

"Up from the ashes grow the roses of sucess"

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end"

It's been a new beginning in Ann Arbor and I don't think I would trade this experience for anything in the world. Harder than I ever imagined, more frustrating than anything else I've ever face, but also so much more rewarding. I know that I am in the place where I am supposed to be. That makes it all worth it.

So, those are my thoughts from 2007, looking back from last Christmas to this one. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. I can't wait to see everyone's pictures. In the meantime, here are a few of mine:

I took this on my last day of finals, mainly so that I could look back and remind myself that I really did pull off two all-nighters in a row.

With finals over, I can finally relax. First, visiting Mike's place for some much needed Seinfeld.

Mike practicing for his gigs.

Our two cats Tom and Blackie live with Mike now. Tom is the only cat I've ever seen who actually smiles. He has so much facial expression, it's amazing. Here he is sitting on Mike's lap curled up behind Mike's guitar.

Rock on Tom and Mike!

Mike's Christmas tree. I helped him decorate it this year w/ my ornaments too.

Ummm about Mike's ornaments....they mainly consist of food. Perhaps because food is one of the biggest parts of his day. We started collecting food shaped ornaments at Frankenmuth a few years back. These are some of the main ones.

French bread

Little bottles of red and white wine.

A pear.

A turkey.

This is one of my favorites. As an ornament I think it commemorates our relationship. Mike's Jewish background was always something that I felt very proud to be affiliated with. Yea Shiksas! (Yiddish for non-Jewish girl). Christmas and a Torah, the cross-culture world of Messianic Judiasm.

And now for mine. Ballet dancer # 1.

Ballet dancer # 2....

And my favorite: an Irish Dancer (of course).

On Sunday I attempted to go to work.......as you can see this wasn't the best idea.

This is the ramp from  Novi road to I-96 which is the best way back to Ann Arbor. It was covered in 11 inches of fine white snow and it wasn't plowed at all. The good news: all the trucks and suvs made it through. The bad news: I didn't. Thankfully a Subaru Outback had the power to pull me out (how did that little car do that?!).

Christmas shopping in honor of Lindsey Shev who already completed hers (I truly lack that kind of motivation). I went to IKEA for a few of the harder-to-figure-out-what-the-heck-to-give-them gifts. At $5.99 this turtle was the best idea there. It's for my little 1 year old cousin Anika. But the turtle is very addicting....

You can't help hugging it!

Or staring at it......

Ok, so that's it from me! Merry Christmas everyone. Have a wonderful holiday and a wonderful new year!