A Walsh family Christmas!

Christmas pictures this year were great and plentiful, which is extra good because I think my camera is on its very last leg after being dropped down the mountain at the hot springs..might as well go out with a bang though right? Here are a few:

Decorating the tree is one of my favorite favorites about Christmas. I LOVE it, and I love listening to Mannheim Steamroller while I do it and making my siblings put at least one ornament on the tree with me. It's just so nice to unpack them every year and see all the homemade crafts from first grade that are barely still together, the yearly Aunt Kathleen ornaments with each of our names written on them, and the Micah tin-hole punched ones. My favorite two are a Care Bear from the hospital after I was born and a man made out of beans from my godmother. Em and I used to scour the tree for a prime spot and set up a little town on the branches with all of the house and train and people ornaments we could find. See why I love it so much?!



This was the first Christmas without my Grandma, which was hard in a lot of ways. We lit this candle inside of a wreath and a barrier of ice for her and it sat on our front stoop all night on the windy Christmas Eve without blowing out. It felt like just the right way to honor her. Even though we didn't make it to Iowa for the first time in all my 25 years, I can see how our traditions will change and grow to be centered around our family and the families we will soon create, which is a nice thing to see.



Even though our kitchen is tiny, the six of us make it work more smoothly than would be thought possible. We made Arepas for dinner on Christmas Eve and Em took a break from avocado slicing to grab this shot.



As you can see, Dad is still quite the goof ball and is rubbing off on Mom! And yes, he is in fact on his knees, winter wasn't quite that crazy while we were in town!


Another odd thing about this year was that Lake Superior wasn't frozen! I few years ago mom skated on the lake if you can believe it, and usually there are great sheets of ice that form amazing sculptures on the sand!



One thing that hasn't changed since losing Grandma is our food intake. Man did we EAT. and eat and eat..and everything was so delicious and creative and homey! I love eating at home because my family knows all the things I can and can not eat and are very supportive about finding new recipes to take the place of my old flour-rich favorites. Mmmm it's making me hungry just to think about it!



Mostly it was just really great to be at home with the whole family again. It feels like we are spread out far now, although I recognize that this feeling most likely stems from living away from "home" for the very first time.

a new roomate of sorts

It's been a long week, but today was nice. 50 degrees, mommy and me music class with the babe, lunch outside, books on the porch swing, and an evening delivery! My apartment is now in shambles, but so so worth it:

Hello UPS, I've been waiting for you!

First Peek

There's just no time for bed making when there is a bike to build.

Almost there!

Isn't it gorgeous?!! First test ride was kind of surreal..this is the bike I am going to ride every single day this summer. Across SEVENTEEN states. Through rain and sun and mountains and interesting and boring and all the way to California. I'm so excited, now I can train with the real thing! This trip becomes more real to me every step of the way, and this particular step was a big one.

I guess I should probably clean up..

school: round 5

I've been making plans and making plans lately. Perhaps there is more to this 25 year old business than I previously thought! I've decided to go back to school. Not like "oh I should go back to school someday. someday.", like classes start in less then a week. I know I just reached the fully lit tunnel end only a few short months ago, but it's just two classes and it really feels right. I was thinking forward to the fall semester when I realized that spring semester hasn't even begun yet! What am I waiting for?! Graduate programs and such all require hoop jumping in that I don't have all the necessary prerequisites for what I want to do. Thus the entrance of My Fifth College in my collegiate career. Hopefully they don't penalize for school hopping and state hopping because my transcript reads like a fugitive who zigs and zags instead of running straight on. I'm going to tackle chemistry again. Last time I tried to plow through this class I was drowning in too many credits, too much relationship drama and too little sleep. This time I can eliminate all of those obstacles and just let myself focus. I wonder if school will feel different now that I'm "going back", and I wonder if I can even say "going back" when in reality I only missed one semester's worth of classes..either way I'm excited and nervous. My classes are in the evening for the most part, something that was never my strong suit as an undergrad, but it's all that will fit into my wonky schedule right now and it's only four months right? Phew. In biking related news I've had so many people donate to support me and have surpassed the halfway point already! It's really quite heart warming to sign in and see all these names lined up with such generous donations. What great people are in my life! I found a bike shop here that deals mostly with Giants and got fitted for my new road bike. Yesterday UPS sent a shipping notification putting my receiving date at the 15th! Now that it is 2010 I can already feel the time between now and June starting to fly by. My life is going to change a lot this year, but with so many people supporting me I'm sure it will be great!

Here are the (birthday) shoes that will carry me over 4,000 miles!

a kid adult

My trip home was a whirlwind. I've never had the holiday experience of cramming everything into one week and then hopping back on a plane at the end, but it certainly pushed the important things to the forefront! It was so nice to be with my family for both my birthday and Christmas. I celebrated in Minneapolis with a circle of friends around me, and moved to Duluth for some family time and even a birthday text message from Tanzania! I've never put too much thought into my age, except to correct people when they assumed my sister and I were unaccompanied minors while traveling abroad at the age of 23 and 25.....but 25 is a birthday that people tell me is harder than they thought. It's a quarter of a century, yes, but 25 so far feels like 24 except with a few more pairs of smartwool socks, bike shoes and kitchen knives. My 25th year already has some ambitious plans and great visitors in store, I think it will be a good one! And if I start feeling old Oscar already told me that I don't even look like a real adult, more like a kid adult anyway..

Some pictures..

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Our feast! Centered is the meat plate, chicken, steak and bacon..mmm meaty.

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Skipping rocks, a favorite pastime.

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It was COLD, but we bravely sought out the natural hot springs and jumped in!

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Second night we made chicken skewers and ate them during our ping-pong tournament.

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Hello intimidation.

What a great group of people, and an amazing way to celebrate the holiday. It's so nice to be able to show off my new state, I've never had one before! I'm heading back to Minnesota for my birthday and Christmas, but have a lack of visitors scheduled in the new year...just saying!

back from the dead

PHEW. I've been sick and then sick again, which added up to most of my november just slipping by my window while I barely even got the energy to go outside. Luckily the view from my window was pretty, alternating between snowfall and glorious sun. Yesterday was 8 degrees and today is a nice 35. A girl could get used to this place! Since returning to real life I've been battling with the Colorado DMV, getting out for quick bike rides, and teaching the little one how to sit up and eat solids. In the midst of all this, two of my favorite friends came to celebrate the holiday with me and celebrate we did! I've got pictures to show off, but an internet connection that is tenuous at best and loading anything tends to push it off the edge. Next time. December already feels as though is is going by so fast, which is too bad because it is one of my favorite months of all! I got the Christmas lights my parents thoughtfully snuck into my apartment up in a desperate fit of energy, but my concrete box doesn't take to tape very well and they were down in about an hour. I've been searching for a christmas station on the radio becuase I'm a sucker for the traditionals and it always feels much more enchanting to hear them pop up unexpectedly on the radio waves as opposed to blandly on an itunes mix. I've got tickets home for my birthday and a lot of family fun to anticipate, parties and friends to hug. It's the first year I can ever remember not spending with my Grandma, even the year I was born, so it will be a change for all of us I think. I am so fortunate to have such an amazing, supportive family..is this turning into a belated Thanksgiving post? In any case, I just wanted to reassure you that I'm still alive out here in this mountainous desert that I have love-hatingly been calling home for just about three months now. It seems life is just stressful sometimes no matter where you are, but for now I am very glad I am here.

Halloween and my first visitors!

My mom and dad came for a quick visit to do the traditional parents things; grocery shop for me, build me a bookshelf, cook me great food, help me glue eyeballs on my octopus...you know the drill. It was so great having guests! We walked around my neighborhood (after the two feet of snow melted!) and checked out book stores ad coffee shops. My apartment has been really bare, and they helped spruce things right up. Em will be proud to note that I am in fact hanging my pictures as though they are in a museum, it's the only way! It was a little nerve wrecking though because the radiator was creaky and sway-y and we were attempting to hold a heavy picture up with fishing string, but even as I sit writing this the fishing string holds!




Once they had unpacked, out popped dad's traditional clown costume, fake rat and all to celebrate the occasion! Mom happily climbed into my strawberry costume. She chose to accent the costume with brown pants (mud) and a red sweatshirt (more strawberry) to make it her own. Aren't they cute!?




We had some errands to run, so here they are waiting patiently for my prescription to be filled. Use your imagination to fill in OctoElise sitting next to the strawberry for the full effect.. I think it's my favorite picture of the whole weekend!




JP chose to go as Leonardo, pulling it all together even at the last minute, but it turned out nicely and he was a hit downtown! Jeremy did crack that he was the skinniest ninja turtle he'd ever seen, but JP just used his ninja skills and defeated him.




I was, of course, an octopus. A cozy octopus with eyeballs that lasted for only half the night, but it sure was fun swirling my tentacles around!