Back in Atlanta

I am back in Atlanta!! My entire family (and sister's boyfriend too) are all here. This is the first time since last Christmas that we are all together; which is quite nice. Its difficult at the same time because we are 7 very opinionated people. Last night we tried to watch LIttle Miss Sunshine and you should of seen it. First it was a hastle of who claimed which seat. Then, when everybody was finally sitting down, we tried to start the movie however it indicated that it wasnt made for the appropriate region. You should of seen our reaction. Apparently there was a problem with our DVD player. Its great to be home again and to be in this environment. I miss hanging out with my sister especially. The other day we baked cookies for an entire evening and we take on really bad crafts project. My mom wanted little tree place tags for Christmas dinner that she had seen in a store. I was stubborn enough to say that that was too simple and we could easily do it ourselves. So tes & i went to michael's arts and crafts store and came back with glue, glitter and paper. We spent the evening geting glue on basically every surface except our Christmas trees. We also wanted fake snow on the tree but then realized that it dragged the paper down too much. It was a blast. Now that we're finished, my dad is determined that those things are not going on his Christmas table. Ha...we'll see about that.
I look back at this year very fondly. The last two weeks were especially great. I went to Michael's mechanical engineering ball, which was fantastic. I loved the dress i got (after quite the episode with a broken zipper in the dress). The ball was a big success, Mike helped organize it, and i was very proud of him for the great evening. My outings to birmingham have always been great. THe last time i was tehre we went to a German fair where we ate bratwurst on the streets and listened to bands. The atmosphere was great and all the stalls had their own crafts/foods/linens for sale. I ended up with lots of German Christmas treats to bring back to my family because my parents grew up on them. The weekend after the engineering ball MIke came to Cardiff. On the Sunday we met his mom and went to a traditional English pub...im going to admit that i'm actually liking these pubs very much. There is good atmosphere and I like the fact that you can sit and chat for hours. That doesnt happen very often anymore in American restaurants. You sit down, 1.5 hrs later they expect you to be gone so the table is free for the next customer. On monday night Mike & i went to my business ball in Cardiff's city hall. The location was absolutely beautiful; and we were greated with champagne coctails. We had a fancy meal and afterwards danced until I was exhausted. The next morning,since it was my last day of uni for the year, i decided i'd get up and bike to my 9am class. Ha-tunred out it was canceled but ofcoarse i didnt know that. So i was pretty exhausted when the next morning at 4.30am a taxi came to pick me up to take me to cardiff central station. From there i was catchign teh train to London Gatwick. My flight was 9.5 hours and just too long. I was squashed into a corner where i was locked in because a big man was sitting in the middle and on the other side of him a lady with an 8 month old baby on her lap! It was a long flight...
The first couple of days back in Atlanta i mainly slept and lounged around the house. I havent done much work (at all) but hopefully that'll come once Tessa, Matt and Dirk leave again. I have to get my act together because i've got a ton of work to do. I'm thinking that ill go to my dads office next week and sit in one of the cubicles.
It is now Christmas Eve and the family is just hanging out. There are way too many dogs in this house because we're taking care of two neighbors's dogs (plus our own.) I'm going on a walk with them later through the forest to tire them out some. For now, my banana bread is in the oven, we're listening to Christmas music and just enjoying being home (and together!). Tommorrow (on Christmas) we'll have a nice breakfast, open pressents and we'll cook up a nice meal.
I hope everybody has a lovely Christmas with their families. I hope the day is merry and filled with warmth and happiness. :) Merry Christmas!!