Luke took me to see Cirque Holidaze at the Orpheum last month. It was such a sweet surprise and he actually got the tickets free from a woman at his office. We had really good seats and the show was incredible. The talent the performers had was amazing...I wish I had taken some pictures inside the show!

We went to Hueys--a restaurant in Memphis famous for burgers and the toothpicks people shoot into the ceiling tiles, then walked to the Orpheum because it wasn't too far away. It was a lot of fun! Anyway, since we had so much fun at the show we decided to look into other shows in Memphis since its only around an hour away. He found out that the Trans Siberian Orchestra was coming to the FedEx Forum! I had only heard their music before but didn't realize that it was a light/laser show too. The tickets were sold out at the Forum but we looked online and found floor tickets for a good price on EBay. It turned out that it was a better deal to buy 3 tickets than 2, so we bought 3 with the intention of trying to resell one of them.

Well, Luke's roommate, Either Su, is from Taiwan and has only been in the US since February and Luke and I have gotten to know and love him so much. He has an incredibly sweet heart and is really seeking the Lord--reading his Bible a LOT and asking tons of questions. He is so fun to be around and he cooks for us a lot and is so generous with anything he has...anyway, I was looking at his facebook page one day and realized his birthday is December 16, the day of the show! I suggested to Luke that we take Either with us for his birthday instead of trying to resell the ticket and of course Luke agreed. We have only told him that we have a surprise for him on his birthday but he doesn't have any idea what it is, so we are both really excited about going AND about seeing Either's reaction.

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In other news, I have the majority of my Christmas shopping done. Which is a huge accomplishment for me. Normally I wait until the week of Christmas to buy everything- I mean..I do work best under pressure but for some reason I started shopping early this year. I think everyone will really like their presents! (hopefully)

I had a hard time asking for anything this year. I think a lot of it was because I truly realized how blessed & fortunate I am after spending time in Africa and I am fully aware that I don't need a thing and really don't WANT anything that badly. I tried to think of ideas that I would have needed to buy for myself anyway..gloves and a nightstand and work out clothes. I found out through WorldVision you can buy animals for people in poverty in Africa, Asia, etc to help them provide for their families. I think that is so great and I can't wait to do it.

This is the first year that I truly am looking so much more forward to spending time with family and friends and focusing on celebrating Jesus' birth more than all the commercialism. I do love to watch my family and friends open the presents I bought for them because if they like them it makes me so happy.

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I am getting a tiny bit stressed with all the boxes I haven't unpacked. I still havent had the chance to unpack most of my things because I dont have a place for it at my parents house. I planned on moving out in January but its not looking like that will happen as early as I had thought. I basically have unpacked my bathroom stuff and my clothes but everything else has been packed up for a while now. I feel like a nomad kind of.

Kristen,My friend I was planning on moving in with, did buy a house but it doesn't close until Jan 29. And..her cousin is moving in w/ her now. She still wants me to move in too..but I don't know what to do. I have met her cousin once and really liked her but I have no idea what it would be like to live with her. I can see it going really well but I also don't want to get into a situation I regret and I don't want to ruin my friendship with Kristen.

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Tonight is game night at Luke's and I'm really excited! I looove to play games. Lately we have been playing a lot of Pictionary, Sequence, and Nertz.