a treat for finals week

DM Stith was Sufjan Steven's opener when I saw him live in November - definitely one of the more incredible opening acts I've seen. I mean - he records his voice and harmonizes with himself. live. totes impressed.

things I did around/during Thanksgiving break:

the wednesday before the break, we celebrated my friend Hillary's 21st! she is the first of my close Auburn friends to turn 21, and she was gracious/crazy/risky enough to let me try some of her Hurricane. what a champ. our waiter definitely made some interesting comments about what he assumed was going to go down later that night... we didn't have the heart to tell him we were going to church right after dinner. ha.

And then came the break, and my annual trip to Jackson, TN to visit my lovely best friend who goes to Union University. if I could share but a fraction of the creative genius that comes from this friend and all of her fellow art major friends, this blog would explode with incredibleness. Sadly, I only have six pictures from the trip, so maybe next year you lovely blog readers will have more to awe over... but until then, I leave you with one of their funny refrigerator sentences, and a glimpse of their neighbor's christmas decor.

The weekend I visit every year happens to be the weekend they have their big Christmas party. paper snowflakes are cut out, hot chocolate is made, and a plethora of Christmas cookies crowd the table. It's so wonderful, I can't even stand it. The weekend was also jam packed with local eateries, the discovery of Andrew Peterson, and a little bit of wedding planning :)

So once I arrived home in Birmingham, I worked my high school retail job for a day (Christmas shoppers are psychotic), helped decorate my parent's house for Christmas, and spent Thanksgiving Day at my grandparent's house. I can't even describe how much I love spending Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family. There is only one year that I can remember not doing it, and it almost didn't happen this year - we almost went to Georgia to spend the weekend with my Dad's side. I would be lying if I said I didn't cry when I heard that piece of news. I know, major immaturity points for Jana. But I am so stubborn and set on tradition and have no clue what I am going to do when I get married and have to choose which families to spend holidays with.

so that was Thanksgiving break.

dear blog,

I am sorry I have been so neglectful. Really, there is no excuse. So many blog worthy things have happened in the past month, and I honestly don't know why I haven't shared them with your faithful followers. Therefore, I am submitting to you a catch-up post.

I spent halloween weekend in Birmingham. I made muddy buddies and caught up with a best friend while watching John Hamm host SNL, visited with my adorable trick-or-treating neighbors (if it looks like I'm laughing in that picture, I am. they're so funny), did some shopping and ate at Iguana Grill with my family. weekends at home are the greatest.

My Auburn Tigers have won the SEC west. we're 11-0 going into the Iron Bowl, and will be playing the SEC Championship in Atlanta in two and a half weeks. did I submit my information to the student ticket lottery? absolutely. fingers crossed I get a ticket. war damn eagle.

the first weekend of November, a few friends and I saw Sufjan Stevens in Atlanta. he was wonderful. we also did our typical Atlanta activities. I'm getting a turntable for Christmas, so we went to Criminal Records, where I bought my first vinyl - Mumford and Sons' Sigh No More. we ate dinner at Fellini's Pizza, and we had post-concert dessert at Cafe Intermezzo. perfect saturday in atlanta? check.

and amongst these wonderful events, there have been many weekend bonfires at my friend Gray's house, the most delicious pumpkin bread I've ever tasted (from a box!), getting my hair cut short again, wonderful musical discoveries, and FINALLY gaining some direction and clarity concerning post-graduate plans. fall gets better and better every year. God is so good.

off we go into the wild blue yonder

bottom line: my grandparents rocked the 1940s world war II couple pictures.

happy veteran's day.

procrastination

I have two tests tomorrow. (AAAHHH.) The following is a list of things that are currently distracting me from studying:

1. google reader. what a brilliant yet detrimental tool in the life of a college student
2. I'm going to this concert on Saturday night.
3. triple chocolate m&ms. shame.
4. did I mention I'm going to see this person in the flesh on Saturday night?

5. finding new and interesting ways to organize my closet.

6. looking up craft projects to keep me busy over thanksgiving break.

and now I am blogging. I miss having the time to update this on a regular basis.