Happy New Year!

We had a great time over Christmas break relaxing at the Latshaws' house in Toledo, Ohio. (I did a lot of practicing too - my audition is on SATURDAY!) We got to see all of Chuck's side of the family, including our 6 nieces and nephews.

Santa came to visit the day before Christmas Eve and brought all sorts of goodies for everyone!
As you can see in the picture, Chuck grew his traditional "Christmas Beard," but a few days after shaving it off, decided to also shave his entire head.


I gave Chuck a remote-controlled airplane for Christmas. He flew/crashed it several times before getting the hang of it. Due to its many repairs, it was named after me - "The Tape Queen!"




On Christmas Day, Chuck's parents left for New York City, so we had the house to ourselves. We just vegged, relaxed, crashed the airplane, and practiced. It was great. I felt really well-rested after it was over, which I needed! I was sick at the beginning of vacation but got over it after about three days. Lenny also had a great time relaxing, as you can see from his grin. I just found him lying on the couch like that, with that expression on his face. It was really funny!



We did miss spending time with the Russells, though. And look how much fun they had without us!! They are all getting ready for the big Buckeye national championship game tonight. Dad is wearing his new Jim Tressel sweater vest, and Walter his new Buckeye shirt. Even the Christmas bear has Buckeye spirit!









For Christmas, my parents gave us a couch! We were thrilled! While we were still in Toledo, we went to the IKEA in Canton, Michigan to see if we could pick one out. We found one we loved, for the right price, but then of course had no way to get it back to Bloomington.



So once we got back to Indiana, we checked every furniture store in town, to make sure the IKEA couch was definitely our favorite - it was. So we rented a mini-van and drove to TWO Chicago IKEA stores, and bought new furniture for our apartment! (Thank you to our respective grandparents, Bubs and Grumpy and Christel, for making the purchase of our entertainment center and coffee table possible!!!)





So our apartment looks completely different now - it looks great! I am going to make some blue pillow covers for the couch, to tie in the light blue on the walls. And of course Lenny has made himself right at home on the couch.



So the new year is off to a good start for us. Today is the first day of school - Chuck's last semester! I am also going to be taking TWO classes this semester - chamber music, playing in a flute duet with my friend Hyun Jung, and another orchestral repertoire class, taught by the other flute teacher at IU.