Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Christmas as a child is always magical. You wake up Christmas morning to a tree full of colorful handpicked gifts just for you! There is always home-cooked foods and most importantly sprinkles, cookies, icing, chocolate, and all sorts of Christmas sweet deliciousness. Another great thing about Christmas growing up is family. I come from a pretty big family with lots of cousins. The best thing about having lots of cousins is that we were all really close in age - so it is like having extended siblings. Most holidays were spent on our huge acreage in the country playing football, baseball, jumping on the trampoline, or playing house with my sisters. We definitely always got stuck at the kids tables together- my boy cousins would always burp and be disgusting and never let the girls go first in line. We always asked them to be gentlemen, but it wasn't ever going to happened.

Holidays change over time. It is unfortunate that all of us kids are now no longer kids- we are adults. We all moved to different places for school, some of us have gotten married, and some of us are too broke to come home. The transition of growing up is a little wierd. Most holidays are quiet and make me missing the good ol' days of childhood.

This year I felt a little bit of Christmas redemption. This Christmas was my favorite Christmas in years. I had a house full of family for 5 days straight with little kids filling the air with laughter, screaming, and Christmas excitement. This was also the first Christmas that all of my family (parents and sisters) were together in 4 years. The quality time with my extended family was wonderful. I soaked in each moment and understood the beauty and rarity of this Christmas. It makes me get excited for the day when my sisters and I are married and start having our own little kiddoes! But until then.... I am going to treasure the time with family that I do have! God has truly blessed me with awesome family and I am so thankful for the time I had with them this Christmas

My Grown-up cousins (at least half of them)...I guess we still act childish.

Go Spurs Go! My family went to a Spurs game.

I'll be home for Christmas

I have to work on Monday, but then I will be hopping on a plane and flying to Texas for almost 2 full weeks! Glorious. These are the things I am most looking forward to about my time in Texas.

1. Hugging my dad and sitting in his lap.
2. Running with my sister Amber.
3. Shopping with my mom and having some good quality time.
4. Drinking coffee with my daddy while having deep theological and philosophical conversations in his study.
5. Going to the Spurs games the Saturday after Christmas with my WHOLE family.
6. Seeing my cousin Angela's new house.
7. Watching lots of movies with the fam.
8. Holiding my cat and having him sleep with me.
9. Eating Loredo Lasagne with the Alves family.
10. Spending Christmas in San Antonio with my Dad's side of the family from Dallas.
11. Kissing, hugging, and playing with my little cousins.
12. Gazing at the stars in the hill country.
13. Shopping at Super Target and all the other awesome shopping places.
14. Seeing the Riverwalk at Christmastime.
15. kssssssssssssing my sister shanny.
16. Spending quality time with the grandparents.

God Bless Texas!

Running

Today I went for a nice 7.5 mile run. I think one of my favorite things about this past semester has been running. Life this semester has been pretty intense with having a 40 hour a week job and doing full-time classes. My job also seems to steal all of my mental brain power. I struggle to find time for my own thoughts and sometimes for my own life. Running is the only time of the week that I have time to think. I have come to really enjoy my long runs because I get to escape from the busyness of life and actually have time by MYSELF to think. Tonight as I was running everything was so beautiful- my typical running route is a tree-shaded lane that is framed by the classic California palm trees. If you look far into the distance you can see the snow-capped mountains. It is a beautiful run and the weather tonight was PERFECT. I found myself thinking about New Years resolutions, life goals, relationships, and who the Lord is to me right now. I always feel like a new person after running. I feel refreshed and motivated. I have decided it is my favorite introverted thing to do! I used to really like to run with people but now I LOVE running by myself (meaning not talking to anyone) Because, I do run with Becka, but she runs fast than me and is usually about 2 minutes ahead of me. She is my source of encouragement for those long runs...we usually high 5 at lights and stop signs. So we run together but separate which is PERFECT in my Alicia world. So anyways... As I was running to night I was thinking about how much I was enjoying my run and thought out this entire blog entry in my mind. So here it is...

Tagged- 8 Things about Me

My FBC Irving friend Amanda tagged me! Amanda is my college pastor's wife and one of my biggest encouragers. She is a faithful friend and she has a really awesome family. Her husband will be speaking at CBU's chapel in the spring!! I am happy with the thought of having a little bit of Texas in California. So she tagged me and I will oblige her as well.

8 Shows I Watch:

1. Chuck
2. Hero's
3. Prison Break
4. Grey's Anatomy
5. Private Practice
6. Friends
7. Law & Order
8. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Favorite Restaraunts: ( I honestly don't eat out much)

1. Indian Food - Not Just Paranthas
2. Cheesecake Factory
3. Olive Garden
4. Chilli's
5. Thai Food (Thai Bay Cafe is delish)
6. PF Chang
7. Papasitas
8. Cracker Barrel

8 Things that Happened to Me today:

1. The electricity went out at work today ( my co-worker got stuck in the elevator for an hour because of it)
2. I had a 2 hour staff meeting.
3. I ate chinese food with some of my best friends for dinner.
4. I waited in line for like 20 minutes at the bank today to deposit some checks during my lunch break
5. I actually left work promptly at 5 today!
6. I drank delicious sweet tea from Chick-fil-A.
7. I wore polka dotted socks today
8. Took an official break at work today for almost an hour.

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Going home to be in Texas in just 6 days!
2. Going to the Spurs game on December 27th
3. Spending Christmas with my entire family
4. Getting to know my East Asia team and going to East Asia with them.
5. Getting out of debt
6. Having my first kiss
7. Graduating from graduate school
8. Moving overseas

8 Things I wish for:

1. Someone to miraculously pay all my debt- be debt free
2. world peace :)
3. Lifelong free airlines to wherever I want to go- whenever I want to go
4. To spend a week with all my journeyman friend in an exotic country like the old days
5. To spend a week with my college roommates having quality girl time
6. To have my parents and sisters live in the same city as me
7. Be really really awesome at my job and be the queen of details and logistics
8. To be able to drop it like it's hot.

8 People I tag:

1. Roommate- Sarah
2. Roommate - Becks
3. Kim Ji
4. Andrea
5. Emily
6. Amber
7. Shannon
8. Adam Cook

New Year's Resolutions for 2008

I am a New Year's Resolution kind of girl. I think it's because I like goals and I like to challenge myself. Some people say I am intense because of this. I would believe them if I was a little more hard core about actually following through. So I have been thinking through what I want my New Year's Resolutions to be for 2009. But I thought it would be fun to see how I did last year. I had 3 categories: health, spiritual, & personal.

Physical 2008:
1. I wanted to lose weight- COMPLETE. I didn't lose as much as I wanted but i lost some and I like where I am. So that's accomplishment enough.
2. I wanted to run 15-20 miles a week. Ok- first of all... what was I thinking? But I have been training for half marathon...so I am going to say COMPLETE!

Spiritual 2008:
1. Wanted to be more consistent in the Word and in Prayer- LIFE LONG RESOLUTION
2. Fast for South Asia- lame- didn't accomplish this. I wish i would've. I bet my fellow brothers and sisters who are suffering there wish i would've too.

Personal 2009:
1. I want to start cooking in my apartment most nights- Nope...hasn't happened. Wait- when am I home to cook on weeknights? ha ha.
2. I want to be Soda Free in 2008- I made it to May 2008- then I went to Germany and have been soda naughty since then.
3. I want to make my bed daily- COMPLETE.
4. I never want to go to bed without doing the dishes- COMPLETE. I now have Becka- my roommate- and she rocks at doing the dishes!!
5. Less facebook time- NOPE
6. I want to read a book a month at least- NOPE
7. I want to look into graduate programs and figure out where my life is going- COMPLETE.
Full-time job and just completed my first semester of my Masters program.
8. A DATE in 2008! COMPLETE.

It's interesting that I FAILED in the spiritual category. What to do? I would say not too bad on my resolutions. I met some of them! I am having fun brainstorming what I want my resolutions to be for 2009.