Congrats Jonathan!

As of yesterday, Jon is officially finished with his first semester of graduate school! He gave a wonderful presentation in front of all his peers and the faculty and did an excellent job (I got to watch). Then we went out with two other couples to celebrate the end of the semester. We went to a local brewery here in Pitt, sat around drinking and talking while it snowed outside. It was a great night. Now Jon can relax for a month! We get to spend the whole weekend together as well, before I go back to work. Yay Jonathan!!!

January Travel Plans

Here is our travel information for January.

Thursday 1/1

Pittsburgh to Chicago 9:50-10:34am United 439

Chicago to Austin 12:27-3:12pm United 6079

Saturday 1/10

Austin to Chicago 5:25-8:05pm United 7661

Chicago to Pittsburgh 9:00-11:25pm United 314

Hope to see everyone while we're there!

Christmas Tree!

I am very proud of myself...I'll explain. I was told by Jonathan that he had no time to go with me to get a Christmas tree, until after next week. Well, this was unacceptable, I just couldn't wait that long. So I decided, being all alone today, that I would venture to Home Depot down the street and see what I could find. Jon suggested a FAKE tree, since I would probably be able to handle that easier, being alone and all. I wasn't havin'  that either. All the trees outside were wrapped up, so you couldn't tell what they looked like. That worried me a little, so I went inside (too warm up, it's about 22 degrees) and see what they could offer in the "artificial" variety. Not much. Not only were they all at least 7 ft. (we need a mini tree) but they were all at least $150. Yikes. I had noticed that the noble fir's outside were only $37. So, determined not to spend over $50, I walked my happy butt back out into the arctic temperature to get a REAL tree. I very nice older couple helped me cut the rope off a 5 ft. tree so I could see it. It looked great and they agreed that I should get it. I had the "tree man" cut the end off and re-wrap it. What I'm really proud of, was not only did I do all that on my own, but I also loaded and unloaded that bad boy into our car and got it up to our apartment, all by myself. I then decided Jon couldn't come home to a half-ass effort, so I loaded it into the tree stand and stood it up and decorated it all before he came home. Here is the finished product!