Exciting!

John's in the kitchen preparing a roast chicken dinner, and it sounds like he and Johnson are going to play a quick game of cribbage.  I'm looking up Fairbanks/Seattle fares on alaskaair.com for a potential visit post-Christmas.  What could be more rejuvenating than a visit to balmy, sunny Seattle in January?  I feel like I've made that joke before.  John's totally like, "Mexico!  Hawaii!  Sand!  Surf!"  And I'm like, "Sand and surf, sure!  But 40 degrees!  Drizzle!"  I'm also looking up (ridiculously expensive for a grad student salary) vacation rentals on the coast and near Mt. Rainier.  John would probably ask, "Why stay in a mountain cabin near Mt. Rainier when we've got all the woodsy, snowy awesomeness up here for free?"  Touché, Mr. Perreault.  Touché.  But that still leaves the coast.  Being landlocked for a mere three months really leaves me missing the water.  And vacation rentals often come with hot tubs!  Maybe something could work out.  Anyone in Seattle interested in joining us for a night or two of Scrabble, cribbage and hot chocolate guaranteed to lift your post-holiday spirits?  Heck, we could do that at your house instead.  Ahem.  Offers to host us for a few days gratefully accepted.  Krista, I'll even let you win at Scrabble.

Lots of newsy news to share.  We bought a 2001 Subaru Outback and finally put winter tires on it last week so we can actually drive through town without fishtailing around corners.  We are closing on a house this Friday.  That's pretty exciting.  More on that after we close––I still feel like talking about how happy I am will somehow jinx things.  I made a recent excursion to Jo Ann Fabrics (the cashier was also named Jo Ann – I don't think I can properly relate how hysterically funny that seemed at the time) so I'm starting to make felt-y doo-dads and stuff (just in time for the holidays!) ... Crafts are pretty exciting.  John's hanging in there with his Differential Equations class.  Man, even I'm have nightmares about that class.  What else, what else ... it's my birthday soon and I'm trying to come up with slightly more exciting ways to celebrate than the hermit-like activities (sleeping, reading, procrastinating on copy editing, avoiding leaving the house) I've been enjoying lately.  A friend is opening up a new café in Fairbanks soon (one that I'm not sure I'm allowed to talk about for fear of spoiling the grand opening surprise) featuring great coffee and lots of raw and veggie food yumminess.  That's exciting.

And then there's the whole pregnancy thing.  Which is definitely exciting but more surreal than anything.  Car!  House!  Baby!  That should keep us occupied for awhile.