merriment

Merry December 27, all! Aren't the few days between Christmas and New Years kind of awkward? You feel like you should be on vacation, but most everyone has to work until the 31st... It's kind of still Christmasy, but not really. No one knows what to do.

I act like I'm bound by some kind of "adult" schedule. I'm not. I'm just getting ready for the big move here in a few days. DAYS.

Anyways, you'll have to pardon my recent absence. If the cleanliness of my room is any indicator of how crazy my life is right now, well... you just don't want to know, but it's clearly inhibited my blogging. But to catch you up, there's been a lot of this going on:

It's not even January yet, and I've seen snow on three occasions. In all my Southern years that's more than I've ever seen in one winter! AND, in all my Southern years, this was my first White Christmas. So I obviously had to watch White Christmas. Twice. And not change out of my PJ's until 5pm. 

Judge me.

There's also been lots of fireside laying, peppermint schnapps drinking, mulled wine drinking, holiday sangria drinking, fireside laying and cookie eating.

Judge me.

What was your favorite Christmas gift? Mine was a Shark Iron. Man, I feel like a woman.

Judge me.

merry christmas!

all the way from africa!

christmas 2010 went down in the books for the gibsons. this morning we (being andrew, phillip and dad) successfully killed a chicken and then by dinner time, cassidy had fried up a batch of the Pioneer Woman's fried chicken and homemade biscuits. you can take the family out of the south, but you can't take the south out of the family, eh?

pardon my absence over the next week (and hollys too--apparently she's still busy), but we're headed off to kenya for a christmas family vacation. on the way back, we're picking up holly from the airport! woohoo. so, the next time i write, my bestest little blonde friend will be here with me. 

so much to look forward to!

i made it

i'm on a bit of sensory overload here. there are monkeys playing in the backyard and the sound of bota-botas all around. it kind of feels like im living at the barracks. except, there is no jack. or sawyer. 

but the gibson are finally back together. more pictures will come soon! 

celebration!

happy birthday to two very special people today...!

Cassidy--how are you 15?  Remember when you were just a small babe? gllllammmmour girl in those khaki pants!

but of course you were glamorous...you learned from the best...

and now your off being the coolest 15 year old in all the land...you are a sweet spirit with heckalota pizzazz and impeccable sense of creativity and fashion. 

you're the best little sister i could dream of and i cannot wait to spend the next 6 months sharing a toilet and hairbrush with you, sweet sweet sweet CASSIDY!

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now, to you who must not be mentioned, i want you to know that...

happy birthday, doc!

Lex + Lauren

I know that lately in this remote corner of the Internet there's a been a lot of talk about love, but do yourself a favor and watch this adorable video save-the-date.

a good friday.

i must note that this is a monumental time in the life of this blog...

I have never been ahead of holly in blog posts until now. her writing and time management skills are a
power couple that puts my blogging capabilities to shame. 

the race is on holls. 

too bad youre too busy falling in love* to blog anymore. in this case, your gain is my gain.

*not with a boy of course

today i am...

...fully immunized. despite my lifelong battles with trypanophobia, i did it. all by myself--i did it!

yesterday morning I was fully susceptible to yellow fever, tetnus, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, and malaria. today, I am not. 

2 lollipops, 1 fainting incident and NO TEARS later, I am alive and ready to go. 

freya

to you

on this rainy monday...

Amy Borrell

do what you love

last week I impulsively joined a yoga studio...for a month. because nothing says "i'm getting ready to move to africa" like a good sun salutation. and how could I not after watching this video*??

it's nothing like the good ole' days, but it sure does feel good.

*from the do what you love series from pacing the panic room which i am lovvvvinnnggg. 

one day...

...when my life becomes a little more stable and I use my own towels and I dont spend 95% of my time in some kind of transportation device, there are many things I would like to do--like collect art. 

danna's work does all kinds of things for the soul. Oh to stand at the foot of a mountain and to sleep under the stars and to be a collector of beautiful art...

I know really cute people

Holly Cook was the reason I decided to go to Auburn.

Holly Cook and her best friend, LeeAnne inspired Holly and I to make a "best friends blog."

Holly Cook is also the most talented designer I know. Everything she touches is gold. Ya'll, pure gold.

But, best of all--Holly Cook isn't Holly Cook anymore, she's Holly Hollen!

I know, even her name is cute. 

spoiler alert

Everyone who has a blog is blogging about Harry Potter, and it just so happens that I am a shameless conformist.

Last year we went roller skating and to Dairy Queen before the midnight showing... and it was awesome. Note the smeared eye-liner drawn scar on my head. It says, I love Harry Potter, but didn't have time to really get a costume together because I was roller skating.


That's dedication folks. And this is the movie we've all been waiting for! **SPOILER ALERT** The one where Christians all over the globe rejoice that Harry turned out to be a Christ-like symbol of sacrificial love and scoff at the dumb librarians everywhere who wanted this book banned. Please. I wrote a paper on that in Freshman English (back when I was young and fiery), and I still think it's dumb.

But REALLY. I can't wait to see the Dark Lord be defeated for all time on the big screen.

*If this is, in fact, a spoiler to you, you have done well at hiding under a rock for three and a half years now. I also have no mercy on you for not knowing how the most famous series in history ends, three and a half years after publication. 

i don't know about you

But this poster from the Rally to Restore Sanity really speaks to my soul,

because, you just always need more.

neighbors

Last weekend was the much-anticipated weekend in sunny Denver, and if I told you some of the things that happened, you wouldn't believe me. That has never stopped me before, and I won't let it now.

1. After hiking in beautiful Evergreen, CO we saw a herd of wild elk on the campus of a high school. Have you ever seen a wild Elk? They look strangely similar to a cross between a horse and a cow, and when I saw them I exclaimed "Look at all those horse-cows!" then thought, I'm not from around here.

2. Saturday night Emily got hit by a tree. Literally, a tree fell out of the sky, landed on her back and bruised her spine.

3. I ate salted maple pecan ice cream, and said it was the best ice cream I'd ever eaten (because it was) even though maple is one of my deepest offenders.

4. I dressed up as a giant breakfast sausage to get a $2 burrito from Chipotle.

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Real life, folks. Now I'm home in Greenville, and normally I'd have the post-vacation blues, but not today. Just the I-don't-live-in-a-neighborhood-with-my-friends blues.

The past months have been months of travel allowing me to sit face-to-face with people I love all over the country. I'm exponentially joyful that I get to do that, but I also can't help but think about how I have to travel the country to spend time with them.

I woke up this morning poignantly reminded of it so I prayed that one day I will live within walking distance of some of those people again. There really is nothing I love more than walking to my friends' houses and them walking to mine, and at some point in the last few months I have come to believe that things like that don't matter as much as I once believed them to.

My friend Katie told me on Sunday night that she prayed for a house with a big front porch and a swing, and God graciously gave it to her. It reminded me that things like porches and neighbors are of great importance, perhaps the most important on some days, and we shouldn't forget to ask for them.

party in uganda!

To the best dad I could ever dream of,

I am sure that the whole country of Uganda is celebrating your life today. But, I wanted you to know that America is celebrating too. Phillip and I partied with a heard of elk in Colorado...in honor of you. I'll show you the pictures later. 

I love you so much and wish that I could be there to celebrate with you today. We will do quite a bit of celebrating come mid-December. Want to go on a safari? Cool, lets do it.

I hope that you feel very loved and celebrated today! 

no, it's RIBBONdancing

just a few more pictures from the weekend of bliss. 

 

up next: weekend in denver with phillip, emily, chris and annie.

my soul is riverdancing

this past weekend, holly, traci, a new friend alvin and I went hiking up at max patch in north carolina. (mom and dad: in all our years of living in north carolina, how did we never find this place?) hands down, the most beautiful spot i've been on the east coast. 

to start the weekend off right, we got lost in the woods on an almost empty tank of gas and passed a small boy walking along the dirt path carrying a gun. he looked freakishly similar to this...hello, backwoods appalachia. ya'll--it's not just in the movies. 

a few indigo girl songs (...or albums) later, we landed in the right spot. the rest is history...!

a few more pictures to come!

today

I don't really know what the climate is like in Paris, but on these rainy melancholy days I imagine myself as a frenchwoman. Today, instead of going to work (probably at a street flower shop or an old bookstore) I would call in sick (on my black old-timey wall-phone). Then I would walk to get a chocolate croissant, carry it to the Orsay and look at impressionist art all morning.

Then for lunch I would go get another chocolate croissant, and it would be the best day ever.

i'm a girl

kissssing, a love blog.

yes!

you know my thoughts on october...live it up before its gone!

good suggestions from lox papers

life themes. life dreams.

thank you, meghan, for providing my daily dose of beauty. 

how we feel

We are going to Denver the last week in October to visit Phillip, Annie and Chris, and this morning we convinced Emily to come too.

Remember this morning when I woke up and wasn't going to Denver? -Emily

This is how we feel about impulsive decisions, hiking on snow mountain peaks and being young and irresponsible:

*It's not every day that every one you reference has a blog. Take note.