Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I am done with my end of year letter, so you should be getting it soon.. if you don't get it, it is probably your mailman's fault. Not mine.

So as promised here are some pictures from the Austria trip. I had a fabulous time.

The following pictures are skiing in western Austria in Serfaus. The ski resort was located in a tiny little town, where one night while looking to rent a movie we had to go to the post office to do so. One highlight was the heated lift chair seat. Seriously.

After 2 days of skiing we traveled to Saltzberg, where we spent a chilly day exploring the Kris Kringle market and drinking warm gluvine. It is fabulous how the Germans and Austrians celebrate Christmas. It was festive, and it gave me a warm Christmas feeling.

After Saltzberg Christian and I traveled to his hometown of Schoneau. Which is in north eastern Austria. I was privilaged to celebrate Christmas with the Gradl's. I helped decorate the Christmas tree which entailed me and Christian walking up to the local church and lighting the Christmas candle which was lit in Rome and then carried to the church. We also had a great Christmas dinner, read the Christmas story from the Bible and sang carols around the Christmas tree. It was epic. Way too great to describe in this blog post.

Also on this trip I was able to see Andy and Mathius.

We had a great evening of laughing and catching up. Good times.

I do have to say.. although it was great to spend time with the Gradl's and ski in the Alps.. nothing beats spending Christmas with my sisters and mom and dad. I missed the 'Christmas Story' marathon and red chile on my mashed potatoes.

A little time off.

Hi Friends! Merry Christmas! So..I am currently in Austria eating some good schnitzel and szegediner (sour kraut) goulosh. I have also been playing a bit in the snow. This picture is in Serfaus in the western Austrian Alps. More later, Christian's mama is calling me for lunch.

Snowboard.

Last weekend I went snowboarding. I think I pulled a muscle in my rear-end. I hope it heals fast because it is not so much fun to snowboard in the Alps with a hurt hiney.

Merry Christmas to all of you.. my Christmas letter will be more like a New Year's letter... The combination of school and snowboarding has made writing it a little difficult.

Done and done.

Ok.. I now have 4 semesters under my belt and one to go.. then I will be a Master of Engineering.
Be prepared..

So this weekend we got like 4 feet of fresh power in the mountains.
Yes, I was in the mountains all weekend.
No. I did not have my snowboard.
No. I did not go outside.
Yes, I did study all weekend.
I am a nerd. I am sorry that you have to read this post.
BUT..
I got a new camera.. so pictures to come. Be on the lookout for pictures of my new red cowboy boots, some snow and maybe a friend or two.
(But just so you know.... I didn't buy a new camera because I lost the cord to my other one. I just want to make that clear. I bought a new camera because my other one was gi-normous. )

Happy Birthday to Me.

Thanks to all of my cool friends and family who helped me celebrate my 30th B-day. Thanks especially to S.A.R.A. who got me Guitar Hero 3 for XBOX. Come over and play it friends, I can guarantee a good time on it.

Oh and a special thanks to Zaid who took the pictures because I still cannot find the cord to my camera.

Oh.. and a special Happy Birthday this week goes to:

Kathleen who is a great sister-friend to me.

Rylie and Caera who are both 1 years old this week.

Chrystal who has been a friend for many years.

My mamma who rocks the enchilada.

Sonya.. stud girl.

Brittany and Tom and Ned who are my birthday twins.

Mary who I have not seen in a million years.

Diane who is a bowling queen.

One million years

Wow.. I feel like i have not posted in one million years.

So.. I was in sunny southern California last week, and NO I did not see any fires and NO I did not meet Arnold and NO I did not go to Disneyland. I was at the Annual Technical Conference for petroleum engineers. Being with a bunch of enginerds is a true party. Besides listening to a bunch of technical papers and seeing some good (and bad) presentations I got to meet some new friends and see some old ones. Good times were had (by me atleast).

Hmmm.. What else? I went to the Bronco's game last night. Woot.

In other news..I AM ON VACATION ALL WEEK! I am pretty much going to stay home and chill-ax and mentally prepare for the next 3 weeks of finishing this semester while sitting on my couch or a ski lift...if it would ever snow. This vacation also gives me some good time to mentally prepare to enter my 30's. Dude.

Tag

Katie says I have to tag* 10 peeps to list 10 random things about themselves. I never play these games but I thought this one might be fun. SO here is my list.. read the bottom to see how you play the game.

10 Random Things About Me
1. I can only brush my teeth with warm water.
2. I only like writing with 0.5 mm lead in my mechanical pencil.
3. I don’t like foods to touch each other on my plate.
4. I only like fruit flavoured yogurt if I am also eating fruit.
5. I L*O*V*E going new places but I hate travelling. (You know what I mean.. packing, airport, waiting in line at security.)
6. I have never thrown away a single birthday card given to me.
7. Ever since Johnny Depp was on 21 Jump Street he has been my secret boyfriend.
8. I ate a fried egg for the first time in my life 2 weeks ago.
9. The first time I ever slept over at a friends house was at the age of 18. (Yes, I never as a child was allowed to go to slumber parties.)
10. I am a ninja.

I tag Melli because she is the Master of the Universe. I tag Melinda because her kids sing great songs about beer (they are Irish who can blame them?). I tag Sue because she is a cool librarian. I tag Andy because he has not updated his blog since August 2006. I tag Prudence because she is the oil princess of Louisiana. I tag Micah but since she can now outrun me she will probably tag me back. I tag Chris B. because he is married to Lisa B. I tag Ayoub because he wrote a report on toilet paper.

*Here's how you play....once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with ten random facts, habits, or goals about yourself. At the end, choose ten people to tag, listing their names and why you chose them; don't forget to leave a comment on their page letting them know "tag you're it". You cannot tag the original people/person back that tagged you first, but let them know when you have posted so they can read your blog.