Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all from the E's in Florida! I thought it would be fun to post a few pictures from our lives this past week so our friends and family can see how we celebrated.

Below you can see the beautiful live wreath that the ad agency I am working with sent for Christmas...all the way from Washington state. Very nice.


Emily got a nice picture from my step-sister, Cortney, cute!

Yummy Christmas dinner! Thanks to Erin and Steve for our festive placemats!

We didn't have a white Christmas, but we had a hot, wet and humid Christmas, complete with a heavy 10 min. down-pour of rain around noon.

This photo is proof that I cannot multi-task. While wishing my family "Merry Christmas" on the phone, I managed to dump half a bag of powdered sugar on top of my head and was covered in the stuff. I talked to my Dad, step-mom, grandma and grandpa while covered in the white-powdered stuff. Gross!

Toby, my in-laws' cat, gave me naughty underware for Christmas. I was reading what they said :-)

Here is Ryan with some of his stocking stuffers.

Thanks to Dad and Michelle for sending a freezer full of goodness from Omaha Steakhouse!

a little sugar

Tonight Ryan and I decorated Christmas cookies together. Unlike most families, we decorate a wide-assortment of cookies to enjoy; when I say wide-assortment I am referring to Ryan's beloved star-of-David cookie and our Texas cookie. This year Ryan topped his most creative efforts to come up with a manger cookie; it is really quite impressive looking if I do say so.

Here Ryan is holding one of his creative manger cookies and is quite sad because he broke a leg of the manger while preparing to frost it. Very sad.

Here

is a very blurry picture of one of our Star of David cookies. This cookie cutter was a gift from me to Ryan last year and prompted interesting discussion when we took a bunch of them to Allison & Anthony's Christmas party last year...people thought we were the token Jewish couple. (Ryan's manger is to the left of the Star of David.)

sijiqxd

Does anyone else have a problem with the word verifications when they post a comment? Usually it takes me like three times before I get it right.

breakers

This last week was a busy one for the Ryan and I...we both worked long hours this past week for various reasons. Speaking of work, I love my new job and am really enjoying it and all of the little adventures associated with it. A fun story from this past week was going to a Christmas Party at the legendary Breaker's Resort in Palm Beach. While we were there I saw Matt Lauer who was in town for his annual golf tournament....I did not have the boldness to approach him, but it was cool to see him in person. The hotel was really beautifully decorated for Christmas and also had fun getting to know my CEO and his wife better.

This weekend I finished up my Christmas shopping and baked some more Christmas cookies, it was relaxing and got me geared up and rested for another week :-)

a look at our place

I have had many requests over the past month for pictures of our place, so I thought I would start with the living/kitchen/dining areas to show. I found it to be very difficult to try to give perspective of space, so hopefully you can get a good idea of how our place is situated. You can see the front door off to the left in this first picture. The master bedroom & bath is set back down a hall way that is just around that left-hand wall. Enjoy :-)

our tree

touching moments

On my way to work I stopped to get one of my life's greatest vices... known on Wall Street as SBUX. While waiting for my said drink, I spotted the front page of the NYT and started reading their front page story about Atlantic City and its dissaryed nature, particularly issues with prostitution. This story really moved me and I thought about what I had read during my entire drive to the hospital. I really had a hard time grappling with the reality of the lonliness of the women and the hallowness of what is pursued out of the depravity of the world. I couldn't bring myself to turn on the radio or listen to the CDs I had with me. One of my favorite songs titled Save Me by Ben and Robin Pasley has the following lyrics that rang in my head all day:

Save me, Oh, God

For the waters have come up to my neck

And I am sinking to the bottom where I cannot stand

I am calling to You, can You hear my cry?

Save me, Oh, God

I have wandered and I cannot find your hand

I am looking for your Father, but my eyes fail

I am calling to You, can You hear my cry?

People's actions are oftening crying out for something, someone, anything to save them. It made me wonder if I adequately cry out to God to be my daily rescue. I need Him and I need to tell others that they need Him too.

Here is the lede to the story from today's NYT... I wanted to copy it on to the blog b/c you can't access old Times articles.

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI and SERGE F. KOVALESKI
Published: December 5, 2006
ATLANTIC CITY, Dec. 3 — In this seaside resort town where vice has long been a lucrative commodity, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about four crack-addled prostitutes who lost the struggle to survive in the underground economy that flourishes alongside the shimmering casinos.

The depressingly sad story is written with amazing tone and clarity. I plan to write the author, David Kocieniewski, an e-mail telling him how powerful I thought his reporting is in the story.

about that time

I have fallen behind in being a good blogger lately. Maybe my mother-in-law is the only one who has really noticed the lack in my updates, but for the rest of my plethora of readers, get excited.

Last night marked the 2nd annivisary of 1-2-3-4 day for Ryan and I ... the night we got engaged (12-03-04). We celebrated by going to eat at Charley's Crab, just off of Ocean Ave. in Palm Beach...it was a rather fun and swanky place. While we didn't have brandy and cigars with the rest of the crowd, we did enjoy a wonderful meal of shrimp, salmon and chocolate truffle cake...

Work has started in full swing for me. I really, really love my new job. I work with some of the nicest people; salt of the earth if you know what I mean. It's funny because so many people here are from New York and New Jersey. The joke is that West Palm Beach is the southern most suburb of NYC and I have found this to be true. At work I am known as the "Texas belle," which I find very, VERY funny, especially since I'm not even from Texas. Although strangly enough to these people I am a Texan. Ryan is known as a Texan here too, which is really thrilling to him. Then again, there are many people who are very confused by the fact that c28 is from California...so most people think we're from CA too...hum...Texas Californians...

This picture is on here for the sole purpose of showcasing Ryan's photography skills. Notice that I took the one above...