December - Furry Friends

Jim loves dogs, especially greyhounds. Instead of getting a dog right now, we found a national greyhound adoption society, where they need help walking the dogs. They have about 60 dogs in kennels. Volunteers come and take the dogs for about a 20 minute walk, we went a few weeks before Christmas. I got two mild mannered dogs and Jim got the feisty and jumpy ones and we found one of Philly's prisons along the walking route.

Merry Christmas

So here's our first blog post...

We decorated for our first Christmas together, right after Thanksgiving. We had fun with the tree - apparently though, when buying a tree at Target, just because the box says it is a slim tree with white lights doesn't mean that's the tree you are buying :). We got home and opened it up and it was a big, wide tree with colored lights. I took the tree back and asked to buy the display, so that I'd know what we got - the employee looked at me like I asked for the world - but she did open a box so that I could see that it was in fact a slim, cashmere pine with white lights. The other funny part about our tree is the topper. I learned that Jim is not a star fan for tree toppers and since I am not an angel fan for tree toppers - so a fun compromise. We went with a creative moment in Pier One - in the picture you can see our red and silver abstract topper :).

We also celebrated the Christmas season with an adventure taking the commuter train into NYC (about a 3 hr trip) this last weekend to see the infamous Rockefeller Center tree to and go to the Manhattan temple. Seeing the tree in amongst the buildings was a bit like seeing the real Mona Lisa in Paris for the first time - not as "wow" as we expected. The ice skating rink was also way smaller than it looks on TV and in the movies. The movie screens do a good job of making them look wow. It was still a huge tree with colored lights and some blinking lights as well. We had fun with the ambiance and also met up with a friend of mine, Megan, who is studying at Julliard. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant where Jim had the biggest bowl of Mabo ramen we have ever seen - see the photo :).

Lastly, I start work at Johnson and Johnson in Spring House in a week - work a week and then have the week of Christmas off - ease into it :). So, my days of being able to decorate early and get all my Christmas shopping done before December, try new and time consuming recipes, work on projects (long overdue) and watch Oprah are coming to a close. I am excited to start my new job and get back in the swing of things. Also, you may be able to see in the photos, I chopped my hair, got brave and found a new stylist and had her do a new style. Cut in a graduated bob just above the shoulder.

Love, Annie and Jim