Christmas Vacation

As a little reward for Duncan finishing his first semester of seminary and to serve as a break for the crazy holiday schedule at work for me, we decided to use up the last of my vacation days on a little get-away to Florida for the weekend. One of my Dad's best friends, Tod, let us come stay at his beach house at Shell Point Beach, in the panhandle.

We were sad to leave Moki... but we left her in good hands. She still climbed onto Duncan's travel bag as a protest.


We started our journey at about 6:30. The six hour trip required a Starbucks stop. It was getting to a point of desperation when we finally found one; it always seems like Starbucks is some sweet miracle during our travels.


The sunrise on the way down (I think we were in Macon) was beautiful! It was actually the best sunrise we saw the whole time!

Once we crossed over the state line, we stopped to meet up with Tod at his residence; the neighborhood had a particularly fabulous name...


We also got to meet Tod's three cats, the oldest of which is Casper, who is 15.

Tod was nice enough to take us out to lunch at a local place that sits on the water and had real seafood and funny birds that wait until you have vacated the table to eat your scraps!

When we got to the beach house, we realized that we were pretty lucky to be staying here. We were literally steps from the water and the beach was practically deserted, even though it was 75 degrees out! Here are a couple of shots of how gorgeous it was:

(we took a nap here)


(the house itself with Humphrey parked underneath!)

Our days and nights were filled with DishTV (we don't have cable, we watched hours of crime shows and MTV cribs), laying around on the beach, going for walks, and scrabble. You can see how good my hand was:

The following photos show exactly what Duncan does on walks on the beach. I'd like to point out that in the second one, that seagull totally knew what Duncan was up to. Every time Duncan took a step closer, the bird took two...

The only reminder that it is Christmastime. Thank you, neighbors!

We decided to go out and find some Mexican food on Saturday for lunch. Crawfordville does not have too much to offer the average tourist, but they do have Mexican... loaded down with guacamole. This could be exciting, but it wasn't. But it was still nice to go out, albeit too much non-homemade guac.

(on the way home we saw this sign... how seasonally appropriate!)

Later that afternoon when we decided to patrol the beach for shells, I noticed something in Duncan's hair. After I laughed for about 10 minutes because I thought it was bird poop, Duncan asked me to try to get it out. I refused to use my hands, so he handed me a stick. Upon further inspection, we concluded it was not bird poop, but instead soap. You'll have to ask him how he got soap so strategically placed on the top of his head...


(Ok, so here is what my wife failed to mention: after laughing for her 10 minutes, she begins to continue our walk, as if my hair had no poop in it. As if it were lint or something, and not feces from a dirty seagull. It's like having a baby poop its pants, laughing at it, and then simply putting it in the stroller for a walk. Yuk. Thanks for the help, Whitney :-)

And as for the soap turd? I had washed my hands with a bar of soap that was rather soft, so some residue remained behind on my hand, on my ring or something, and when I ran my wet hand through my hair to flatten down a mocking cowlick, it deposited itself so appropriately on top of my head.

Seriously... not poop...)

On our walk...

Saturday night, we decided to light up the fire pit. It was very sweet to sit out next to water, beside the fire. We had a special treat as someone just down the beach set off some fireworks. Somehow, Duncan was so wise that he knew to pack sparklers, so we joined in the fun. (By the way, the day had also started with a special treat as we saw a dolphin on our first walk that day!)

(Duncan, being male, thought it was a good idea to put a sparkler in the wine bottle...
you be the judge)

This is the view from the living room/kitchen. It's a little hard to see, but that's all water out there. It was amazing!

One last view:

We decided to go ahead and start the trek back home. We missed Moki and thought we'd miss Monday traffic as well as giving us an extra day at home to prepare for Christmas.

So that was our vacation! It was fabulously relaxing and rejuvenating. We are so very thankful to Tod and Fran for opening up their home to us.

Lastly, Moki definitely missed us while we were gone. She was pretty excited to see us and is still hanging out with us as we type the blog.

So, here is a cute picture of Moki to close:

Moki's Trick

Today I was allowed to open my big Christmas present, a new digital camera. Christmas is not ruined! We are leaving for a small holiday this weekend, and we needed one of our new cameras to document our travels (my memory card had "mysteriously disappeared" and Duncan's lens has been messed up since the honeymoon). Lucky for you, as we tested out the camera, we got a very special video of Moki's trick, keep in mind, this was in one take: (sorry it's sideways)



We also have some great Moki pics to add.

The Moki Toilet series:



The Cute Moki series:


and an on-going series, Moki Helps Duncan Do Homework:



A real update to come soon!

So, it looks like we're really doing this thing...

... as in, the blog. I forgot how much fun (or maybe just therapeutic?) it is to type out what's going on in life.

Today was the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Concert at North Avenue. I was a little nervous about how many people were going to be there. We publicized within the church, and I went to a few local business and handed out flyers... and listed it on some websites, but I didn't feel like it was really all that much. However, I had the ingenious idea to e-mail Kevin and Taylor at the Fish and let them know the ASO was giving a free concert, and they announced it twice on the air today; once it was even the teaser for the news! I was so excited they mentioned it. I don't know if anyone even came due to that, but I was proud! Many thanks to them.

The church was all a-buzz this morning... tons of people floating everywhere! Mom even came down on her lunch break. We ended up having more than 500 people, so it was pretty packed. I can't remember the last time I heard the ASO, definitely more than a decade. And they were oh-so-good. The music was just excellent, and I believe I am now officially in the Christmas spirit!

I even got about five things crossed off my to-do list in an hour this afternoon. That is a real gift from God because I often times have trouble crossing anything off my list! AND I was able to leave only 20 minutes late instead of an hour and half+.

In short, today was a good day.

Now, for perhaps the highlight of the day (as if all these good things were not enough). This Sunday will be Lessons & Carols at NAPC (the story of Christmas as told through scripture and song) and I was asked to find a new piece of artwork to put on the cover of the program. I spent about 20 minutes looking for some nativity or adoration of the magi artwork (old of course to avoid copyright laws). I came upon this gem:




I'm sorry, it's creepy and gross. However, I found it so incredibly hilarious, I just had to share it. Turns out that 100% of the artwork I looked at had some weird element, i.e. show-tune hands, baby is actually a small man, miniature people featured, glowing crucifixes in the background, and other generally creepy things lurking somewhere. So, I have yet to find a piece of artwork that I think will work. Suggestions are welcome. More hilarious art is also welcome, though it won't be on the cover of the program. :)


When asked if he had anything to report, Duncan said no. However, I will report for him. He is his last week of the first semester of seminary. Hurrah! AND he is reading scripture as part of the program on Sunday, putting those skills to use from his scripture reading class.

To end this blog entry, I leave you with a photo of holiday Moki... enjoy :)

December Happenings

Happy December!

This is my (Whitney's) most favorite month. Of course I base that on the fact the my "love language" is gifts and December contains the two biggest gift days of the year for me, birthday and Christmas! But who can't love Christmas time?

Duncan and I put up our Christmas tree a little early. We were trying to wait until the day after Thanksgiving, but we were so excited, we just couldn't wait! Not only is it our first Christmas, it's Moki's first Christmas (who is currently pawing her little claws under the door as I type). We were very excited to see how Moki would react to the Christmas tree. To be honest, not too much interest. She has destroyed one Christmas ornament, but for the most part she is easy to train and has already learned how to stay away from the tree. She got her Christmas present early, a little tag with her name on it (which of course makes me think of Lady and the Tramp). We thought in case she gets out, it is better to go ahead and give her the tag (which also has our phone number on it). She now proudly wears it. But don't worry, she has a stocking and a box of toys to open on Christmas day with the rest of us, though we figure her greatest joy will be the mounds of wrapping paper and tissue, her most favorite destructive past-time.

We spent quite a bit of time preparing Christmas cards last night, including a family portrait in front of our first Christmas tree and a Christmas letter to let everyone know how fabulous married life is! We have 40 to send out, and definitely have more people we need to send them too, but were limited by funds and printing capabilities... so if you don't get one, it doesn't mean we didn't mean to send one to you; we just have more friends than we thought! So, let this suffice: MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR from the Meadows!

I am currently battling something I have affectionately deemed the death cough. I have been hacking for more than a week now, and I'm not sure when this unfortunate illness will meet its demise, but I am hoping it is soon. It only added to the gloriousness of my already out-of-whack day. You know how there is always a ton of extra work to reward you for time off at the office? I was prepared to tackle it all today-- I mean, I walked with a killer to-do list and the will to get everything crossed off before 5 p.m. today. However, due to some unforeseen computer issues at work, when I got settled in my cozy new cubicle for the day, it had suddenly become 11:30 and I had gotten nothing crossed off my list. Yikes! For the rest of the day, I just couldn't catch a break... work, work, work, and the things that were prioritized at the top of my list just didn't even get done (though other important things did). Lucky me, I have a FABULOUS husband who was willing to brave the cold on the scooter and come help me get a very important task done: get promotional materials out to the remaining key players for the ASO concert this Wednesday. I had to get it done before these places closed, and I wanted to leave work before midnight (not to mention stupid death cough makes me want to avoid the cold outdoors like it's the plague!). I actually was able to leave work on time and leave the stress of unresolved printing issues there at the office.

If you called, texted, or communicated with me in any other way over Thanksgiving break, I'm sorry for my lack of response. I'm even yet to get back to my bff, so take this as my public apology and know that I blame death cough.

Thanksgiving was a really great time to see family (30 at the Meadows' household!) shop 'til we dropped, and just spend time together. Hope your Thanksgiving had good reports as well.

Now, I will leave you with some pictures :) (duh, most of them are of the cat, our child!)

A blurry picture of Moki's Christmas gift, but you get the idea

Moki helping me write this blog entry!

Moki posing for the camera (how adorable!)

Moki's favorite toy from Grandma Williams... Leopard Mouse. In fact, Moki loves Leopard Mouse so much that she shares her water with him...

...and her food, just about every day.

Christmas time!!! And our excellent $25 pre-lit tree! Not to mention all Christmas shopping done.

Moki pretending to be in jail on our bed. But let's be honest, she loves being allowed to hang out on the bed on occasion.

Precious little girl playing with tissue paper

Moki discovering her love toilet paper (and all things shreddable)

More Moki on youtube...

So, we're rethinking the sentiment that she's a fabulously smart cat...

But Duncan says, "I'm SO glad your mom brought that down."

At least it's great entertainment for us :) These videos don't even do justice the craziness that is currently happening in Moki's Play Palace as I type!

Moki on youtube!

Sorry it's sideways... couldn't fix it! We'll try to film her correctly next time! Moki says, "Thanks, Grandma!"

Moki Video

Coming Soon...