Turkey Time!

4 months ago to the day, David and I were throwing everything into a moving truck to head to Philly. Tomorrow will mark 1/3 of a year that we've been away from home. I feel like anyone who has been away from home will understand when I say: it seems like forever and only a heartbeat all at the same time. When I think of how much we've done, what we've accomplished, and what we've experienced already, it feels like it's just been a blink of the eye since we left. But when I think of our family, friends, and "home," it feels like it's been SO LONG that we've been gone. Seeing David's adorable nieces and nephews in videos and pictures really puts 4 months in perspective. I can't believe how quickly they're growing! Today also marks exactly one month until Christmas and my parents come to visit for 10 days as well. Saying I'm excited would be an understatement. I think David will kill me if I continue on with my daily reminders of how many days till mamma and dad come to visit. ;-)

Things feels more settled here all the time, which is nice. But not enough to not want to come home, don't worry! I survived an insane week of projects and presentations last week and fee like I'm through the hardest part of the semester now. I only have one more full week of class, then a half week of classes, a few "study days," and then a few days of "finals." However, in my graduate courses, most of my work, projects, presentations and exams will be done by December 7th. I volunteered to do my presentations early so I could be done sooner. The week following that I mostly just have to show up to watch other people's presentations, which will be nice. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for this semester now, and I can't believe I will be a quarter of the way through my masters in just a few weeks. I have also heard from others that have spent more time in the graduate program that this load of classes we're all taking together is by far the hardest load they've experienced and that this has been the hardest semester they've had. I'm really happy to hear this because I feel like if I've survived this semester ok I should be just fine from here on out.

David is also settling into his job. He enjoys working downtown right in the middle of the city. He's right around the corner from the famous "Love Park" and he's discovered all kinds of exciting things happen downtown- like having Occupy Philly around the other corner for the last month or so. Ha ha! For both of us it's been really nice to use the train to get to and from work/school every day. It makes everything so much easier and is so much cheaper than gas for driving, paying for parking, and fighting traffic. It's also really nice to have a few times a week where we ride in or home together. David's work also has him taking on more responsibilities already. He's starting to train some of their new workers and they have him filling in spots in the sales department when needed. It seems like they are recognizing what a hard worker he is and how talented he is, so hopefully he will have opportunities to "climb the ladder" a little soon.

Besides work and school, which really does keep us pretty busy most of the time, we've been enjoying our free time. We got to spend an entire weekend cuddled up at home due to our "freak snowstorm" over Halloween weekend. The picture above is what it looked like when we went on a short little outing down the road to get some wood for the fireplace. We got all bundled up (notice my Phillies hat), and had to use the SCRAPER on the car windows! The snow melted away pretty quickly though and we've had pretty normal weather ever since. We also fill our weekends with watching the Husky football games at our "go to" bar downtown called Cavanaugh's. We've started to become friends with the small group that gathers to watch the games each week and look forward to seeing them, enjoying free wings with each pitcher of beer we order, and cheering our Dawgs on... even if they have been in a tailspin lately.

It was hard to spend Thanksgiving away from home yesterday and away from our families. But we did get the wonderful opportunity to host Thanksgiving dinner at our place for a couple friends I made through grad school. We made our first turkey... and when I say "we," I mean David pretty much did the whole thing himself. And it turned out wonderful! My butternut squash soup was a success and my slow cooker stuffing was pretty good too. We ate lots of wonderful, good food, played games, drank wine and beer, and LOVED having a day off to relax! Unfortunately David has to work today, but we are thankful he has a consistent job to go to, and I am thankful to have a day to work hard on staying on top of my projects before David gets home. And we both are thankful the Huskies have one more opportunity tomorrow to make this season a success by beating those Cougars in the Apple Cup! :-)

Miss everyone so much and think of you all often! Love you all.

Go Dawgs,

David and Haley