A Happy Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday...and it was perfect...

• Jonathan surprised me in the morning with breakfast in bed. Not only was I surprised with the breakfast, but just the fact that he was awake before me...and actually acting awake, was in itself quite a surprise. :)
  
• We listened to Christmas music on our way to Chattanooga. It was the new Michael Buble Christmas CD that Jonathan got me especially for my birthday as part of my present.
  
• We went to Barnes and Noble...one of my favorite places. We got some Starbucks coffee and spent about an hour looking at books, and talking about the books we were looking at.
• Next, we went to Panera for lunch. I always get the Pick 2 deal...a sandwich (chicken caesar) and soup (broccoli cheddar--only the best soup ever!). Yummy.
  
• Then...we went to the best movie theater in town and went to see National Treasure. We got a large Dr.Pepper to share, and got lots of refills. I really liked this movie. Although the movie is mostly based on fiction, it makes me want to learn more about our history.
• Right after our movie let out...we hurried and got a refill, and went to see another movie! Haha, we had never seen two movies back to back in a movie theater before...not to mention two premieres in one day...so we went to see Sweeney Todd. I've been very excited about this movie coming out, because I love the Broadway version of it. It was good. Johnny Depp is amazing. I still prefer the stage version, but I thought that Tim Burton did a good job sticking pretty close to the original. It's a gory movie, and many of you may wonder why on earth Tiffany Zajas would like a movie like this. Well, I'd be happy to talk to you about that, if you want. But I'm not going to go on and on about it in this blog, because this post is already lengthy.
• After that, we went to my family's house, and celebrated with them. It was a birthday/Christmas Eve-ish celebration with them. They gave me birthday pie, and gifts. They're all wonderful, and I love spending time with them.
  

All in all, I had a wonderful day. My Jonathan is the best...the best husband...my best friend...and the best at planning fun birthday outings. :)

And thanks to all of you who called and left happy birthday messages on my phone, sent happy birthday texts, the many Facebook and MySpace messages, emails, cards, and gifts. You are all so thoughtful, and I am truly blessed to have you in my life--my family and friends.

Let the celebrating begin!

I'm getting excited, because the next few days are going to be full of fun celebration! First of all, my birthday is tomorrow (the 21st). I don't have to work, so Jonathan and I get to spend the entire day together. I know he's planning something...not sure what...but we'll have fun. Every time I mention to him about my birthday being on Friday, he pretends that he's forgotten and acts surprised...he's a goober. :)

Then, tomorrow night is our "first Christmas Eve." My family is leaving for Maine on Sunday, so we're celebrating Christmas with them early. Tomorrow night we're going to do what the Turpin family normally does on Christmas Eve...eat party foods, read a story, sing carols, and open one gift.

Then, on Saturday...early, early, early in the morning....Jonathan and I are going to go to my family's house to celebrate Christmas. My entire life, we have always gotten up super early on Christmas morning. And when I say early, I mean around 4am. Yeah, it's kinda crazy...but that's what you get when you're the oldest of 5 kids. But this year, we got them to compromise with us and make it 5:30am instead. Jonathan is really excited about this, because he is such a morning person. ;) It's going to be fun though. I'm excited about giving everyone their Christmas gifts. Jonathan and I wrapped them last night, and it made me even more excited to finally give them to everyone!

So, that's what the next few days hold for us. It's going to be pretty great!

I hope that you all are enjoying this Christmas season. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of everything, take the time to relax, spend time with those you love, and remember what this time of year is all about.

Books

Last night I finally got around to organizing the fairly large bookshelf in our apartment. It was fun going through all of Jonathan and my old books. Some of them I have read many times, some only once, others I have read halfway through, and still others are on my "to be read" list. Now our bookshelf is nice and pretty, with all of the genres in basically the same sections. I didn't alphabetize them, however. I figured that would be going a little too far. :)

I love reading. Growing up, it was always a favorite pastime. There were many times where I would finish a book in one day. At the beginning of each summer, I had a list of books I wanted to read, and would always beg my mom to take me to the library. She gladly did so. But she did have to put a limit on how many books me and my siblings could get. The limit was normally 10...sometimes 15.

I miss reading.

Oh, I still read. I still read a lot. But it's not reading for leisure. I read for school...textbooks and plays. That's what my reading mainly consists of. And I still enjoy that, I do. I especially enjoy reading plays and expanding my knowledge in Theatre. But I have to admit that I do miss having the time to sit down with a good novel, or biography, or even a non-fiction book, and read...just because I want to.

It's now been a week since finals...and now that my brain has healed from all of the studying, I'm ready to pick up a good book. There are two books in my currently reading list. One for when I want to read non-fiction and just expand my knowledge in an area, and the other when I want to read a good novel. Here they are:

1. Drama Ministry by Steve Pederson -- I just started reading this book, and it is amazing. This guy's viewpoint and vision for drama ministry is very similar to where my heart is. He is the drama director at Willow Creek in Chicago, and I have always been inspired by their ministry. I love his emphasis on non-cheesy, non-melodramatic, drama for the church and for ministry. I could go on and on about this...
2. Monster by Frank Peretti -- This book is in my bag to read as soon as I get a chance to. I haven't started it yet, but I've been looking forward to reading it for quite some time now. Frank Peretti has always been one of my favorite authors. His book The Oath was the one that got me hooked on his writing. I have read that book several times. So I'm anticipating this one to be a winner as well.

There are quite a few other books on my longer "to be read" list, but I'm going to take it one step at a time and finish these two first. I'll let you know how they are when I've read them cover to cover.

So, what are some of your favorite books? Do you have any good recommendations?

Dreaming of a white Christmas...

Many people down here say that I'm crazy for liking snow, and for missing it. But I am not ashamed to admit that not only do I like snow, I LOVE it at Christmastime. And I miss it.

I love living in Tennessee. It's home. It's great. But I do miss having snow during the holiday season. It's raining like crazy right now...and I was just imagining the rain turning to snow, and how pretty it would be. But it's 63 degrees out right now, so I don't see that happening anytime soon. I was born and raised in Maine, and now that I am transplanted in the south, I realize that I took for granted the fact that we almost always had a snow covered Christmas.

So, whenever I do experience another white Christmas...I will smile and be thankful for it. I'll go out and make a snowman, and possibly a snow angel, and start a snowball fight with Jonathan. I'll find the steepest hill to slide on, and laugh all the way down. And finish it off with plenty of hot chocolate. :) That is what I'll do.

As Hiro Nakamura puts it, "Yatta!"

Yatta! ("I did it!"). Finals are finally over, and Christmas break has officially begun. While you're in the midst of studying like crazy, it seems as though freedom will never come. But now...all the exams have been taken, all the papers have been written, and all the projects have been created and presented. It is now time to take a deep sigh of relief, and start enjoying the Christmas season.

And I plan on doing just that. Right now I'm listening to Nat King Cole singing of good tidings, last night we went to my sister's Christmas band concert, tonight Jonathan and I are going to do some Christmas shopping, and tomorrow we're going to my family's house to make chocolates and possibly watch a Christmas movie.

December has always been my favorite month. There are a lot of good things that happen during this month. Christmas...of course, is "the most wonderful time of the year". There is no school, which is always a plus. When I lived up north, I always enjoyed the snow during this month particularly. And my birthday is on the 21st, which is fun. It's just an all around good month.

So, with that said...I wish you all the very best December. Take some time to relax, drink hot chocolate, and spend time with loved ones.

Finals Week

This week has been extremely busy, because we are in the middle of finals. Finals week always seems almost surreal around here. I think that it may be because of the lack of sleep, and the amount of caffeine we expose ourselves to during our many study sessions. And there's the hope of freedom hanging in the air, which makes it seem as though this whole week is being lived in a dream (or nightmare, depending on how everything works out for you).

I have to admit that I have bittersweet feelings about finals week. On one hand, it frustrates me, because studying seems to consume every free minute of time. But on the other hand...it can be (*gasp*)...fun? Yeah, this really doesn't make any sense...so let me give you an example. This week, Jonathan and I have had a couple of "study parties" at our apartment. Nothing big, just a couple of friends coming over, and we all study in the same room. And that has made the studying more bearable...and even fun. We share our frustrations about whatever subject we're on at that time...make each other laugh with random comments and songs...and take the occasional study break to watch an episode of Heroes.

So, during the craziness that is known as finals week...I smile, and realize that I am blessed. Blessed to have such great friends to share laughter with. Blessed that I get to study something I love. Blessed to be able to go to college. Blessed that I'm almost finished with it. Blessed with a wonderful husband who will bring me coffee when I'm about to pull my hair out, because I'm tired of studying about tools and how they're used in theatre production.

I am blessed. :)

Enchanted

Yesterday afternoon Jonathan and I went with our friend Thorne to see Disney's new movie Enchanted. It's been a while since Disney has made a movie that I've truly loved...but this one, was great! It is now definitely on my list of favorites.

One thing that I love about Enchanted is that it isn't your "typical" Disney flick. Many parts of it satirize other Disney movies (such as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella), which is hysterical. The acting was good...Idina Menzel from Broadway's "Wicked" even makes an appearance in a supporting role. It was just an overall great family film.

I definitely recommend this movie. And, just in case you're not sure that it's something you'd be interested in (I realize that not all of you can take my word for it)...below is the preview! This will give you a pretty good feel and idea of what the movie is like.

Enjoy! :)