My Birthday!!

YES! 

Not much else to say about that. Except 

MICAH

the BAKER

at STAMPER COMMONS CAFETERIA

made an amazing cake today.

And it happened to have a giant R on top!

For my reader that asked about the food at Stamper, not only do I have a *killer* post coming up talking all about it, but just know- these people care. And they listen. More on that later :)

MICAH MADE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CAKE I HAVE EVER SEEN!

Also, in other *GREAT* birthday news, Joel was here this weekend. Some of you may think he is my boyfriend- and you are wrong. He's even better than a boyfriend- he's a friend's boyfriend. That means me and Courtney (The BFF) get most of the benefits of a boyfriend without any of the downsides.

Not that my boyfriend has any downsides. He's like, perfect.

But you get my point.

We love seeing Joel, and since he goes to school out of town, it's a wondrous and rare treat to see him! Also (and we love reminding him these days) we hadn't seen him since Halloween so it was a triple treat!

There are other photos from this awesome, frozen-yogurt-getting day, but that's a whole other post (coming soon!) that includes an entire story about dogs with strange and vibrant personalities.

So far my day has been an absolute treasure! And now I'm going to keep enjoying it while eating this giant gingerbread R and watching Modern Family. 

Best show ever, by the way. 

love, rudi

I'm Back!

Hello my lovely readers!!

My lack of posting for this first week back at school should be a strong enough message on its own: I'm going to be one busy Minnie this semester! And I'm super excited about it!!

Last semester my classes were all about design- I had two lab classes (project-based classes) for graphic design, and was always hiding in the design studios late into the night. This semester, though, I'm going to be running around like a mad woman thanks to my new internship! 

I didn't want to let you all in on this until everything was set in stone, but Friday was my first day helping Axiom, a marketing/advertising company in town, re-brand and re-organize their company. (AWESOME, RIGHT?!?!)

I'm a little excited about it. 

Just a little.

Anyway- I promise to start having fun again soon, so you can have fun reading about my fun. Also- good news, my camera isn't broken like I thought it was! I let the battery charge for a solid two days, and it woke right up! I guess it was just tired. We all needed a Christmas break :)

love, rudi

More Festivities!

Every year my family makes a point to drive up to Lexington and see the Southern Lights. The Horse Park sets up this giant light show all around their grounds, and at the end they have Santa, a horse museum, train sets, kettle corn, and an exotic petting zoo! 

This is the "Three French Hens" segment of the Twelve Days of Christmas! So clever!

And the "Four Calling Birds"...

None of my photos came out from the petting zoo- I didn't want to use my flash and startle the zebras or mini-cows. They were super precious, though, I promise you that. Imagine a place where, for a dollar, you can feed a two foot tall kangaroo an ice cream cone filled with oats and pet their furry little ears at the same time. The true beauty of Christmas, folks. 

And today, Sadie and I took up another holiday tradition. Ever since I was a little girl, I would make up a special Christmas list of family members who I wanted to buy presents for. There was always a special "Rudi's List Time" segment of Christmas, and due to my young age and nickle-and-dime piggy bank budget, the gifts were always silly and from dollar stores. I remember one year in particular giving an aunt fake eyelashes, and an uncle an ugly figurine.

When Sadie was born we decided to keep the tradition alive, and I'm pleased to say that she's done a great job of keeping the gifts spontanious and hilarious. I can't tell you who was lucky enough to be on the list this year, or what silly things Sadie decided they "needed" for Christmas because I don't want to spoil any surprises, but I will do my best to show off her finds after we open presents. 

And another tradition? Sadie's got to pay for it all herself- she's gotta learn responsibility somehow!

Do you all have any unique Christmas traditions? We're always on the lookout for new ideas! 

love, rudi