| So yes, where was I? Sunday. Right.On Sunday, I spent most of the morning / afternoon working with Samantha again on our paper, so we’ll skip right ahead to where the fun stuff happens (unless you really want to hear about our data analysis…[results available upon request]).
On Sunday afternoon, Javi and I went to Centennial park (after another 3 mile run on the greenway!) to do a photoshoot of my good friend Whitney, her boyfriend Charles and their DARLING baby son Jackson. AH I love that family. Jackson LOVES to smile, loved our pups (so in case we couldn’t get him to smile, Javi would bring Chupete and Choripan up behind me and he’d be smiling again – but really, most of the time it wasn’t necessary) and he’s just such a social baby! Whitney is in my program at Vanderbilt in a cohort 2 years ahead of me. Jackson is a little over a year old and it’s crazy how fast he’s grown!! We had an awesome afternoon strolling around Centennial, fighting the wind and getting some sweet shots by the water. I’ll have photos up on my photography blog soon, but here’s one to hold y’all over…and a couple of me and Javi with Jackson. |
A ver donde estaba? Domingo. Verdad. El Domingo pase la mayor parte de la manana / tarde trabajando con Samantha en nuestro papel, asi que me saltare directo a la parte entretenida del dia ( a menos que en verdad quieran escuchar sobre analisis de datos….{si quieren los resultados me los piden}). El Domingo en la tarde, Javi y yo fuimos a Centennial Park (despues de correr 3 millas en el sendero verde cerca de casa!) para sacarle fotos a mi amiga Whitney, su pololo Charles y su hijo MUY TIERNO Jackson. AH me encanta ese nino. Le ENCANTA sonreir, le encantan nuestros perros (asi en caso que no estuviera sonriendo, Javi traia a Chupete y Choripan atras mio y la sonrisa le volvia de inmediato – pero la verdad la mayoria del tiempo no era necesario) y el es un bebe muy social! Whitney esta en mi programa en Vanderbilt an la clase 2 anos adelante de la mia. Jackson tiene un poco mas de 1 ano y es loco ver como crece!! Lo pasamos muy bien caminando por el parque, peleando con el viento y sacando muy buenas fotos cerca de la laguna. Pondre mas fotos en mi blog de fotografia pronto, pero aqui van unas pocas para que no se enojen….y un par de Javier y yo con Jackson. |
| After Centennial Javi and I took the dogs to my parents house where mom was making one of her famous sunday meals – this time a beef stew (with beef from Emerald Glen Farms of course!). Since I had my camera with me I got some fun shots of mom and gma working together in the kitchen (making compote – not stew) and a few of Javi and Chori hanging out. After the meal Javi and I climbed up into the attic to get down the Christmas decorations…so here’s my official defense of my early Christmas decorating: | Despues del parque, nos fuimos donde mis papas porque mi mama estaba preparando otra de sus famosas cenas dominicales – esta vez fue un guiso de carne (con carne de Emerald Glen Farms por supuesto!) Y como tenia mi maquina conmigo saque unas fotos entretenidas de mi mama y abuela trabajando en la cocina (haciendo ensalada de frutas) y unas cuantas de Javi y Chori jugando. Despues de la cena, Javi y yo subimos al atico para bajar las decoraciones de navidad…..asi que aqui va la razon por la cual quiero decorar muy temprano este ano: |
| I will never, ever forget last year’s Christmas season – I was studying for my statistics final on our first wedding anniversary (Dec. 12). EXTRA lame. My final was on the 15th, and I was so sad because usually I decorate my apartment but I had literally no time to decorate if I planned to pass (scrape by?) statistics. Plus, decorating meant cleaning first which would add on an extra couple of hours, so there was no way it was going to happen til after my stats exam. But see, Javi and I drove to Texas for our good friend Carson’s wedding in Amarillo the day after my stats exam, so there was literally no point in decorating because we would get back on the 20th, the decorations would be up for 5 days and we wouldn’t enjoy them anyway because we spent all our time at my parents’ house anyway over the holidays. So it didn’t make sense to me to get the decorations out of my parents’ attic, haul it all the way to our apt, unpack it all and put it up, then pack it back up the day after Christmas. So I resolved to live in a sad, Christmas-less apartment while I studied. | Nunca me voy a olvidar de la temporada de navidad del ano pasado – estaba estudiando estadistica para mi examen final en nuestro primer aniversario de matrimonio (Diciembre 12) SUPER fome. Mi examen era el 15, y estaba muy triste porque siempre decoro mi ccasa pero esta vez no tenia tiempo para hacerlo, especialmente si planeaba en aprovar estadistica. Aparte, decorar significaba limpiar primero lo que significaria un par de horas extras, asi que no iba a poder hacerlo hasta despues de mi examen. Pero al dia siguiente de mi examen, Javie y yo manejamos a Amarillo, Texas para el matrimonio de mi amigo Carson, asi que no habia razon para decorar si ibamos a volver el 20, las decoraciones iban a quedar ahi por 5 dias y no las ibamos a disfrutar ya que pasamos la mayor parte del tiempo en la casa de mis papas durante las fiestas. Asi que no tenia sentido sacar las decoraciones del atico, llevarlas al departamento, desempacarlas y ponerlas, para tenes que guardarlas de nuevo a los pocos dias. Asi que tuve que optar por un departamento sin decoraciones, aburrido mientras yo estudiaba. |
| Then on the day before my exam, my mom and Javier came to the rescue. While I was despairing over sample and sampling distributions, my mom and Javier locked me in my room to continue studying and proceeded to clean the entire apartment and decorate for me! It was one of the best gifts ever, and I swear it’s what got me through my final hours of studying. Still, I wish I had thought ahead to decorate at the beginning of December so I could have enjoyed Christmas a little longer. But what graduate student has time to decorate the first week of December, which is also likely the last week of the semester?! So this year I planned WAY ahead, and decorated an entire two weeks before Thanksgiving. So sue me. | Pero entonces el dia antes de mi examen, mi mama y Javier vinieron al rescate. Mientras yo me perdia en terminos estadisticos, ellos me encerraron en mi pieza y se pusieron a limpiar el departamento y decorarlo para mi! Fue uno de los mejores regalos, y les juro que eso fue lo que me ayudo a sobrevivir esas utimas horas de estudio. Todavia se me viene a la cabeza que debi haber decorado temprano en Diciembre asi podia haber disfrutado de la navidad por mas tiempo. Pero que estudiante tiene tiempo de decorar la primera semana de Diciembre, ya que casi siempre es la ultima semana del semestre?! Asi que este ano plenee con much anticipacion, y decore 2 semanas antes de Accion de Gracias. |
| Maybe it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: I think Christmas decor will make me happier so I make myself feel happy when I look at the Christmas tree next to my desk, especially during moments like the one I had a few days ago when I realized I still have about 15,000 words at least to write over the next two weeks before it’s all over. Whatever it is, it works pretty well and I’m not going to question it. Also, this is the first year of decorating my very own house, and the first year since our wedding I’ve been able to use the decorations we made for the reception!! We made a TON of different decorations, but the best were the glittery pine cones and candles. We made a couple hundred different sized sparkly candles to save money – buying pre-sparkled candles wasn’t an option ($10 per candle?!). My mom and I used Martha Stewart glitter and spray glue on boxes and boxes of candles and it turned out that we only used about half of them, so we have boxes and boxes of sparkly candles in the attic now. I brought about 20 back to my house – the glass that they are sitting in are glass dishes and bowls we bought from goodwill over the course of 4 months before the wedding. I’m so glad I kept them (and my mom kept my dad from throwing them away) – they look awesome!!! Below are a few photos of me and mom making them before the wedding. | Tal vez es una profecia: creo que las decoraciones de navidad me haran mas feliz asi que me hago mas feliz yo misma mirando al arbolito de navidad al lado de mi escritorio. especialmente en momentos como el que tuve un par de dias atras cuando me di cuenta que todavia me faltan por escribir mas o menos 15,000 palabras en las proximas 2 semanas antes que todo acabe. Sea lo que sea, funciona muy bien y no voy a questionarlo. Tambien, este es el primer ano decorando mi propia casa, y el primer ano que he podido usar las decoraciones que hicimos para nuestro matrimonio! Hicimos una tonelada de distintas decoraciones, pero las mejores fueron las pinas de pino con brillantinas y las velas. Hicimos un par de cientos de velas de distintos tamanos para ahorrar plata – comprar la velas con brillantinas ya puestas no era una buena opcion ($10 por vela??). Mi mama y yo usamos brillantina Martha Stewart y pegamento en spray para cajas y cajas de velas y al final solo usamos la mitad. Asi que tenemos cajas y cajas de velas con brillantina en el atico. Traje como 20 a mi casa – todas las cosas de vidrio que usamos para poner las velas las compramos de segunda mano en Goodwill durante un periodo de 4 meses. Menos mal que mi mama evito que mi papa las tirara a la basura despues del matrimonio. Estoy muy feliz que nos hayamos quedado con las decoraciones! Aqui van algunas fotos de mi mama y yo haciendo manualidades antes de la boda. |
| Anyway, so that’s the end of our lovely weekend. Oh, and I went ahead and decorated as soon as I got home…so yeah. I’ve had my Christmas tree up for a week. Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂 | Pero bueno, ese es el final de nuestro muy feliz fin de semana. Oh y apenas llegue a casa esa noche me puse a decorar….asi que mi arbolito ya ha estado alumbrando hace 1 semana! Feliz dia de accion de gracias a todos!!! |
geez…by the way, my walls really aren’t THAT yellow…it’s amazing how primary color yellow it is in photos.
Wow…por si acaso mis murallas no son TAN amarillas…
again…my walls aren’t orange…ugh
de nuevo…mi muralla no es naranja!
Los Rodriguez Life 
5 responses to “Last Sunday, and why I decorated early”
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