So I have decided to give up xanga.....because our server at CCC blocks it and I can't post while at work. I know, it's kind of a bummer.

BUT.....drum roll please.....I am going to continue my musings on-line. Please visit me at www.charissaholland.blogspot.com .... I knew you would all miss me too much if I just disappeared completely.

So I came back to the real world and I stopped posting. My apologies.

Chicago is, well, wintery. It was wintery when I got off the plane last Friday, much to my chagrin. But I suppose as there's nothing I can actually do about it, I should not complain. In fact, as of this moment, I resolve to complain about the weather less. I would say I won't complain at all, but I know that won't happen, because winter and I....we don't get along so well.

One night recently I came home to see a possum in our driveway. It got scared by my headlights (which are so ominous and menacing), so it started running for shelter.....unfortunately the only shelter it could find was behind our garbage cans. He looked so terrified and anxious to find a hiding spot....I almost felt sorry for the little guy. This is a huge shift from my last encounter with a possum, in which it was on the front porch and I had to call my roommates to chase it away so that I could get in the house. Note, I did say I almost felt sorry for it. Not quite.

So I am becoming increasingly alarmed that I have not even begun my Christmas shopping. Apparently I was supposed to have started a few weeks ago....according to every store in the greater Naperville area and the city of Yorkville, which already has Christmas decorations adorning their street lamps. It looks quite festive but is beginning to freak me out. JoniKay already has her shopping done. While I find this a bit absurd (she has already begun the wrapping process--who wraps Christmas presents before Thanksgiving?), I must admit that I am a bit jealous. At this stage I don't even have any idea what is on the Christmas lists of those for whom I am buying. (That was kind of an awkward sentence...but you get the idea.) Who decided that we needed to start focusing on Christmas the day after Halloween? Poor Thanksgiving....it gets lost in all the hustle and bustle....

Here's to Thanksgiving--a glorious day involving the consumption of entirely too much food, none of which you get to eat on a typical basis. I love turkey. One week from today, I expect to be enjoying turkey in the company of my family. Here's to the absence of chaos....for once. (I have the greatest Thanksgiving story of all time.....it involves my aunt, a pumpkin pie, and a fiasco....I'll save it for later.)

I have a new cell phone number..... in case I missed you on my email list, my new number is 630.340.1891. Guess I'm officially a "local" now.

And if you think of, please feel bad for Shelley. She has been sick for almost a week now, and she keeps asking us to feel bad for her. Her grace period with me has ended, but if you think of it, let her know that you feel bad for her.

Currently Listening Awaken By Natalie Grant see related

do you believe in magic?.....

So this is what cracks me up about Disney World. It has to be the only place in the world where not only can you look like a complete idiot, you will not be alone in looking like a complete idiot. I mean, OK, it's one thing to see all the little girls walking around in their princess dresses, it's even kind of cute, but then you start getting into the various designs of Mickey Mouse ears, the Mickey wizard's hat, Goofy ears, and any other Disney character you can imagine.....they even sell big white padded gloves now. So it's funny that it's a perfectly normal thing to wear when one is at Disney World. But honestly, are you ever going to wear them again once you have left? Seriously. You're probably not even going to wear them if you come back to Disney World....does anyone really think while they're packing, oh, I have to remember to pack the ridiculous hat I bought last time I was at Disney World? So you of course get to Disney World and think, well, I should probably have some Mickey Mouse ears while I'm here.... and now you're stuck with more than one ridiculous piece of apparel to wear on your head, which you're never going to wear again. And I guarantee that these hats cost anywhere between $20-30. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate anywhere that allows adults to release their inner silliness......but paying $30 to do it once is kind of silly.

So in addition to being at Disney World, billed as the most magical place on earth, I have also been reading Harry Potter--which, in fact, I just finished last night--so it's gotten me thinking about this thing known as magic. I think that even as a 24-year-old, I still have a very strong desire to believe in things like magic......that there are such things as fairies and flying dragons and knights in shining armor and Peter Pan and wizards and flying broomsticks and such.....isn't there something appealing about it all? Which may explain why I have always so easily been able to believe in God. He is the closest thing to magic that I can think of and that my heart and soul can begin to imagine. While I may question the ways in which He chooses to work, I have never doubted His actual existence. Because my heart wants to believe in all of the miraculous, magical things He has done and continues to do.

Anyway, I think that's all the philosophical-ness I can handle for right now.

Tomorrow morning we are having a princess breakfast. I can't wait. :o)

Currently Reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) By J.K. Rowling see related

So I am loving all this free time.

We are in Florida. In a house. I have my own room. We went over house rules a few minutes ago and one house rule is that you don't go in Miss Charissa's room without knocking. I think that's a pretty good rule. I'm not so much accustomed to having 7 other people around all the time, three of whom are small children. It's so very weird. Again, let me say that people who take their children to Florida have to be very special people. May you have a special place in heaven for all your efforts.

So hey, Chicagoland area, my computer tells me that it is 23 degrees up there where you are. That sucks. It's about 68 here. And it was definitely over 80 earlier this afternoon. So I'm not complaining. And I'm not trying to be mean, really, I'm not. I'm just super-happy that I'm not there right now. :o) Please feel free to live vicariously through me. I don't mind, really.

Have I ever mentioned that I have this ridiculous abhorration of alligators? I loathe them. They totally freak me out. And all day today Heather kept trying to tell me that if I go for my morning jog I should watch out for alligators. Which kind of gives me the willies. Because alligators are so gross.

I highly recommend The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. If you're looking for reading material. I started it yesterday and finished it this morning. And it was excellent.

That's all I've got for today. Tomorrow we are hitting Epcot. Look out. We could do some serious damage. I think the next day will have to be spent lying by the pool.....

Oh, and congratulations, Paul Robinson. You just became my 200th friend on myspace. I've been waiting for days and days with only 199 friends, and now I have 200, and it just about makes my life complete. Thank you, Paul.

Currently Reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) By J.K. Rowling see related

I am still convinced that kids ruin everything.

OK, maybe ruin is too harsh.

But they definitely change a lot of things.

And I am convinced that you have to be somewhat insane in order to take your 3 kids on a road trip from Springfield to Orlando. We got in the van at 4:00 this morning, and I basically wanted to punch myself in the face for the next 13 hours. I could be slightly exaggerating, but at this stage in the day, it doesn't feel like it. I have to keep reminding myself how wonderful this will be when we actually get to Florida. Friday will feel like vacation. Today, not so much.

But nothing beats Rose telling me at every meal that I had to sit by her. :o)

So we are in McDonough, Georgia tonight. Thank you Holiday Inn for having free internet. You rock.

Shelley made fun of me for saying that trains are the bomb yesterday. My apologies to anyone else who now thinks that I am no longer hip or cool by my usage of that expression, which, I am informed, was so ten years ago. But you were bound to discover that I am not hip or cool sooner or later....

That's what's happening around the country....what's going on in your neck of the woods?
(I am slightly appalled that I just basically quoted Al Roker. Even for me, that's weird. Obviously I am sleep deprived.)

Currently Reading The Bean Trees: A Novel By Barbara Kingsolver see related