Monday Musings

I put together a Shutterfly calendar for my parents this week and it was so fun looking back through pictures from the year. This family photo, from my trip home to Colorado in September, is one of my faves. That's my dad, mom, husband Jarrod, me, and brother Andy.

Highlight of the week: We headed two hours west to Indiana to hang out with my grandma, uncle, aunt and cousins for Christmas. Since we're moving halfway across the Pacific Ocean in 2016, it might be a couple years before we get to spend Christmas with family again so I made sure to enjoy every moment. I also got some wonderful Christmas presents that I'm so grateful for!

Reading: "The Adventuress" by Tasha Alexander, book 9 in the Lady Emily mystery series, one of my favorites. I've hardly had time to sit down and read this past week, so I haven't really gotten into it yet. But I'm determined to finish it -- and volume 3 of "Saga" -- by New Year's to bring my 2015 reading total to a nice, round 80.

Knitting: Not much. I did get started on the mermaid tail blanket while watching an episode of "Grantchester" the other night, so I've got about half a fin done. Lots more work to do!

Watching: We finally watched season 3, episode 3 of "Sherlock"! I'm so excited to watch the Victorian "Sherlock" special that comes on New Year's Day! Also watching the rain that has been falling incessantly for the past two days. The weather this year has just been crazy -- the summer was colder than normal with lots of rain, and the winter so far has been warmer than normal with lots more rain. It feels more like spring than December; I've only worn my winter coat once!

Listening to: X Ambassadors' album "VHS." (They sing that ubiquitous "Renegade" song that found its way onto the Jeep commercial.)

Eating: Sooooo muuuuuch foooooood! Including this Bailey's cheesecake, which I made for Christmas dinner. Delish!

Following: A couple new-to-me Instagram accounts, woodfolkknits and thewolfandtheblacksmithswife. Both ladies knit, live out in the country, have cute pets and take beautiful photos.

Looking forward to: Not going back to work until Wednesday! I'll be busy cleaning, catching up on letter-writing, knitting, reading and hanging out with Jarrod. Sounds like an awesome start to the week! :) Also, I finally bought a few photo albums so I can get to work organizing the gazillion photos I took this year!