Radcliffe Camera in Radcliffe Square, the Bodleian Library.

Seriously, one of my favorite places in the whole world :')

How I feel about waking up to snow =)

So... today was adventurous. I seriously can't remember the last time we got snow-like real snow, not just a flurry-before Thanksgiving.

Let me describe my day to you:

5:30 - alarm goes off. I am wrapped in my usual winter blanket regimen: i'm wearing socks, sweat pants, and a sweatshirt; fleece blanket #1; sheet; electric blanket; comforter; fleece blanket #2. My toes are cold. I hit the snooze.

5:47 - after a few snoozes, I decide I should actually get up.

6:10-ish - I get out of the shower. I took an extra long time in the warm water knowing it would be the warmest I would get today. Now, wrapped in another blanket, it's Jesus time!

7:00 - after some reeeally good time with the Man, I'm up making breakfast, doing my make-up and planning the optimal outfit: two layers of socks (one really warm pair), new rain boots, leggings, jeans, a t-shirt, scarf #1, heavy sweater, scarf #2, pea-coat, and hat.

8:10 - I leave for the bus. My toes are cold.

8:18 - I get on the bus

8:48 - Our bus gets in line for the on-ramp from 405 to 520.

9:12 - Our bus is finally on 520.

9:30 - My Greek art class is supposed to start. I'm still on the bus.

9:38 - I finally reach campus.

9:45 - I finally reach my classroom. They've just announced class has been cancelled. My toes are really cold.

10:00 - Starbucks! By this point, my toes are so frozen that I can't feel them.

11:30 - A very intriguing Communication class

12:30 - lunch and reading in the library. Did I mention my toes are still cold?

1:30 - English class... another lovely class.

3:30 - the wait for the bus begins... it is snowing and cold.

3:35 - I ran into a former co-worker from officemax, David Moneymaker, and we were waiting for the same bus. I may be cold and stranded, but I am no longer alone :)

3:55 - Our bus finally came. The streets are dangerous and everything is slow going.

5:05 - A long bus ride and one new york cross word puzzle later, we are in the kirkland area.

5:35 - My brother picks me up from the bus stop.

5:50 - I am finally home safe and sound :)

7:00 - My toes are finally thawed :)

Whew! Quite an adventurous day... so glad to sleep safely in my warm bed. My dad is literally stranded in his office at work and is sleeping in his office tonight. God bless him.

Tomorrow should be an adventure all in itself :)

Christmas - me and Washington Irving

I was forced to read this in high school and hated it. But for school, I was assigned this passage again and absolutely fell in love with it! Warm feelings of nostalgia and the beauty of all that is Christmas is so perfectly described in his little narrative. This is only a portion, but please enjoy:

There is nothing in England that exercises a more delightful spell over my imagination than the lingerings of the holiday customs and rural games of former times. They recall the pictures my fancy used to draw in the May morning of life, when as yet I only knew the world through books, and believed it to be all that poets had painted it; and they bring with them the flavour of those honest days of yore, in which, perhaps with equal fallacy, I am apt to think the world was more home-bred, social, and joyous than at present. I regret to say that they are daily growing more and more faint, being gradually worn away by time, but still more obliterated by modern fashion. They resemble those picturesque morsels of Gothic architecture which we see crumbling in various parts of the country, partly dilapidated by the waste of ages, and partly lost in the additions and alterations of latter days. Poetry, however, clings with cherishing fondness about the rural game and holiday revel, from which it has derived so many of its themes,--as the ivy winds its rich foliage about the Gothic arch and mouldering tower, gratefully repaying their support by clasping together their tottering remains, and, as it were, embalming them in verdure.

Of all the old festivals, however, that of Christmas awakens the strongest and most heartfelt associations. There is a tone of solemn and sacred feeling that blends with our conviviality, and lifts the spirit to a state of hallowed and elevated enjoyment. The services of the church about this season are extremely tender and inspiring. They dwell on the beautiful story of the origin of our faith, and the pastoral scenes that accompanied its announcement. They gradually increase in fervour and pathos during the season of Advent, until they break forth in full jubilee on the morning that brought peace and good-will to men. I do not know a grander effect of music on the moral feelings than to hear the full choir and the pealing organ performing a Christmas anthem in a cathedral, and filling every part of the vast pile with triumphant harmony.

It is a beautiful arrangement, also derived from days of yore, that this festival, which commemorates the announcement of the religion of peace and love, has been made the season for gathering together of family connections, and drawing closer again those bands of kindred hearts which the cares and pleasures and sorrows of the world are continually operating to cast loose; of calling back the children of a family who have launched forth in life, and wandered widely asunder, once more to assemble about the paternal hearth, that rallying-place of the affections, there to grow young and loving again among the endearing mementoes of childhood.

There is something in the very season of the year that gives a charm to the festivity of Christmas. At other times we derive a great portion of our pleasures from the mere beauties of nature. Our feelings sally forth and dissipate themselves over the sunny landscape, and we "live abroad and everywhere." The song of the bird, the murmur of the stream, the breathing fragrance of spring, the soft voluptuousness of summer, the golden pomp of autumn; earth with its mantle of refreshing green, and heaven with its deep delicious blue and its cloudy magnificence, all fill us with mute but exquisite delight, and we revel in the luxury of mere sensation. But in the depth of winter, when nature lies despoiled of every charm, and wrapped in her shroud of sheeted snow, we turn for our gratifications to moral sources. The dreariness and desolation of the landscape, the short gloomy days and darksome nights, while they circumscribe our wanderings, shut in our feelings also from rambling abroad, and make us more keenly disposed for the pleasures of the social circle. Our thoughts are more concentrated; our friendly sympathies more aroused. we feel more sensibly the charm of each other's society, and are brought more closely together by dependence on each other for enjoyment. Heart calleth unto heart; and we draw our pleasures from the deep wells of living kindness, which lie in the quiet recesses of our bosoms: and which when resorted to, furnish forth the pure element of domestic felicity.

The pitchy gloom without makes the heart dilate on entering the room filled with the glow and warmth of the evening fire. The ruddy blaze diffuses an artificial summer and sunshine through the room, and lights up each countenance into a kindlier welcome. Where does the honest face of hospitality expand into a broader and more cordial smile--where is the shy glance of love more sweetly eloquent--than by the winter fireside?

Merry Christmas!