'Tis the Season to be Holly: November 2013

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Finally Feeling Like Fall

Arkansas weather is cray-cray. Ever since the calendar informed us that it is officially Fall, we have had seldom "Fall" days. It seemed like summer was never going to end! But lately? Lately it is chilly & wonderful. Snuggle weather. I love when it gets cold outside. I am cold-natured, which makes for a miserable time most of the time, but I love getting layered up in clothes and turning on my handy electric blanket, courtesy of my Mammaw Jack.

My mom makes this drink mixture when it starts cooling off outside, it's called Mullins Spice. It's a hot apple cider mix. But she adds red hots to the bottom of the "contraption" (we don't really have a name for the machine that heats up the drink mixture). Let's call it an electric hot drink dispenser. But back to the red hots...YUM! I love hot apple cider but it is 10000x better with red hots dissolved in it. I really need to invest in one of those hot drink dispensers. I'm pretty sure I could drink a couple of cups of that sweet nectar of the gods every.single.day. this fall/winter and I would be A-Okay with that. I would probably drink it year-round as well.

Remember, I'm cold-natured. ;)

This morning there is actual frost outside. My pretty mums are sitting on my kitchen counter, I didn't want to lose them! My electric blanket is on HIGH & my Keurig is gurgling in the background. Oh, I also have a roast in the crock pot! My house is about to be smelling gooood! I have Thursdays off from school/clinical this semester. I am trying to take advantage of these days because they won't be around for the next 3 semesters (insert pitiful, sad face)! Also, I "slept in" until 6:15 today. I guess that is when you know that you are officially an old lady. I think Aaron's old soul self is rubbing off on me. We have gotten in bed by 9:30 the past 3 nights. Well, I say that, I really mean Sun-Tues nights, but last night was an exception. We have been nominated, along with another couple, in our SS class to be in charge of social events. So, naturally, I have deemed us "Social Chairs". :) We had dinner last night with another couple and a dinner turned in to a 4 hour conversation. It was fun. I am glad that we are finally connecting with some people in our SS class and that our SS class is starting to get back to a new normal. We had a much needed split a few weeks ago. It was sad to see some of the couples go, but with a class of nearly 25 couples, it needed to happen. So anyways, we didn't get home until almost 11pm. That's late for the Nicholson's.

Well, the washing machine just stopped rumbling, so that's my cue! Thursdays are also catch-up day and I need to make a dent in my large pile laundry!

-Holly

Saturday, November 2, 2013

California Girls...the trip part 4! (last post I promise!)

Part 4...last but not least!

Our last full day in California, we decided to hop in the car and drive over to San Diego. First stop of the San Diego trip, the San Diego Zoo! It was by far the best zoo I have ever been to! Of course, the weather was perfect, again! :) When we got our tickets, we also got a bus pass for the day. The San Diego Zoo has a system of double decker busses that drive through the zoo all day! Yes, it's that big of a zoo. They also have a Skyfari, which has individual cars on a cable that travel high up above the zoo. Don't worry, we did that too ;) We spent the morning and lunch portion of our day at the zoo. We hit the highlights, saw the animals we wanted to see, otherwise we would have been there literally all day long! There was so much!

[San Diego Zoo]

[San Diego Zoo] on the top deck of the bus

[San Diego Zoo]

[San Diego Zoo] Skyfari

[San Diego Zoo]

After the zoo, we drove to downtown San Diego and looked at the cool buildings. We stopped for a bit in Seaport Village to explore & check out all the cute little shops! We even had a little ice cream as an afternoon snack & listened to man playing music in the middle of the shopping area.

[Seaport Village]

[San Diego]

[Seaport Village]

[Seaport Village] ice cream...a reoccurring theme on our trip!

After Seaport Village, we headed across the big bridge that led us to Coronado Island. The sun was slowly setting and the beach wasn't too crowded so it was beautiful. The water was SO cold but I just had to stick my feet in! It was my 2nd time ever to be in the Pacific Ocean.

[Coronado Island]

[Coronado Island] The Hotel Del Coronado

[Coronado Island]

We ended up having dinner at the Sun Deck Grill at the Hotel Del Coronado. It was delicious, probably my favorite meal all week. The sun set and there were two guys singing/playing guitar... it was so relaxing! I wish I was there now, as I sit typing on my couch with my husband yelling at the TV about how horrible the Razorbacks are playing (I totally agree with him, but that's not the point.)

[Coronado Island] The Sun Deck Grill - Shrimp Tacos

[Coronado Island] Hotel Del Coronado "The Crown Room"

[Coronado Island] Hotel Del Coronado

The next day, we got up & around to go have our last Disney breakfast at our resort, packed our bags & made sure our breakables wouldn't get broken during travel (which is important because we got important Christmas ornaments from all of our tourist-y locations ;) ha!) and headed to the airport! We were sad to leave, but ready to get home to our guys! I am so thankful that I was able to have this experience. One of the best trips of my life!

[Disney's Grand Californian Resort] our last Disney meal :(

[sitting at the airport] ready to see our guys!