Preparing for New Years....

To prepare for New Year's festivities, I'll be going shopping today for a lovely gown. I'll have to look top-notch, with frills and sparkles, as I will be going to a masquerade ball being held in Union Station in downtown Indianapolis. I'm so excited! Especially since I just finished reading "Scarlett," the sequel to "Gone with the Wind." The book describes in great detail all the balls that Scarlett attends, the beautiful dresses she wears, etc. So, I'm ready for some masquerading! More info on the ball: http://www.indynewyears.com/id60.html

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hope all of you have a peaceful, relaxing and enriching Christmas. I'll be hosting at my house. Lotsa baking and cooking. Then, maybe I'll get Terralyn to go Christmas charoling with me.

Love,
Mona

White Elephant Gift Exchanges Rock!

I won the santa hat that I'm wearing in this picture. In this picture from left to right: Mary, Julie, Mona and Angie. The cool women of the Information Resources Department. Awwwww, yeaaaaah!

Get Ready to Party!

Thursday is our departmental Holiday Party! We will have lunch and then a white-elephant gift exchange. After work we are all going to go to a bar and have our own style of holiday party fun! Yeah, baby! Fun co-workers with drinks = a very good time. Only a few more days and then I finally get much needed time off!

Christmas Shopping Tip...

If you want to avoid crowds, go shopping before noon when the weather outside is snowy, icy, windy and gross. It works great! We went to Kohles, Target and DSW. All the stores were empty. Awesome!

Rejoice!

So, last night Tyler and I decided spontaneously to attend Butler University's Chorale and Symphony Orchestra's Christmas celebration called "Rejoice!". It was FANTASTIC! Tyler and I sat in the very front row, so we were able to see the expressions on their faces, see what fingering they needed to use in order to get out the right notes, and see the sweat beads spilling down the sides of the conductor's face. It was amazing. And the highlight of the evening for me was watching one of the conductor's incredible amount of energy as he conducted. It was a bit comicle at first, as he appeared to be dancing and doing head jams. His entire body was feeling the music and projecting the course of the notes to be played to his pupils. His white, fluffy hair would bounce around as his head flailed to the music. It was amazing and I'm really glad I got to go.

First snow of the season!

It snowed about a good 3 inches today. I looked out the window this morning and was surprised to see the snow, as I don't watch the weather channel anymore (my mom is probably gasping in shock right now), so I didn't see it coming. I thought it was maybe 1/2 an inch when I glanced outside, but then I had the pleasure of clearing the snow off of my car. It was definitely 3 inches. I wore innapropriate shoes for snow, so the heel of my socks got all wet. It was not cool. But it's pretty! At least until it gets all brown and mucky after a few days.