Holiday adventures

Hello friends! I have beautiful photos of Colorado for you. I went snowshoeing with my mum and then we went to our favorite restaurant in Frisco. I will also throw in some photos from Christmas and our trip to Boulder today. They're kind of in reverse order...I'll figure out how to fix that later.



This is me on Christmas morning with my monkey pajamas, my fabulous Harry & The Potters t-shirt that says Save Ginny, and the wolf stuffed animal I got for my mom by donating to Defenders of Wildlife.



Snowshoeing scenery!















My mom and I at my aunt and uncle's house in Castle Rock



Raspberry key lime pie!



New slippers!



Holly's cookies - Gnomes On Vacation.



Lovely pink clouds during sunset in Boulder. I've now changed the setting on my camera from "Standard Color" to "Vivid Color" so it should pick up this sort of thing better in the future.



I'm wearing Fernando's hat...shhhh don't tell.



Mountains!!! With snow!!!!!



Flat Irons! They were actually very pretty.

Going shopping three days before Christmas is SO MUCH FUN!!!

That was sarcasm right there. See, Matt? Sarcasm. You see, retail makes me sad, as does excessive consumerism. But I actually did have fun shopping, because everything was on sale, and I made the very smart decision of not using mall parking and leaving the car across the street, so I didn't have to deal with wretched mall traffic on the way home. Yay!

Today I also made tres leches cake, and watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on la television. I would like to comment that Johnny Depp is amazing and the August Rush kid is just not that good. Nor is August Rush a good movie. The only reason August Rush might be a kind of good movie is that it inspires Jeff to sit cross-legged on the floor, rest his guitar on his knees, and start plucking the strings, and this is kind of amusing to watch.

If any of you reading my blog are not familiar with Jeff, please know that, to put it simply, he is one of my best friends. I often talk about him because he does quite hilarious things, such as buy massive bags of plantain chips, or write puppet shows about sustainability. In the near future, I will be coming out with a line of knit hats resembling various endangered animals, which will be sold in order to raise money for pro-wildlife non-profits. Jeff helped provide much of the inspiration for these hats. And yes, I am seriously making them, and you will seriously be able to buy them...kind of. More info to come later.

Tomorrow I am having a party so that I can see all of my friends before I go to

LANCASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry. Anyway. My party will be wonderful, because we will have tres leches cake and watch Wizard People Dear Reader, and everyone will ooh and aah at our Christmas tree. I may put up some pictures, but I may not, because I've already disappointed all of you who were hoping for pictures of Europe by talking about some silly holiday party I am having in Colorado, and Colorado is probably just not as exciting.

To satisfy all of you who are disappointed, I will be sure to post some photos of the beautiful Colorado landscape so that you understand that it is almost as exciting as Europe.

By the way, do I have any takers on a trip to Iceland...?

Love,
Julia

Four Seasons

I am currently listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I am sorry if this offends certain individuals. I quite like it. I also like the Nutcracker, which is equally overplayed. What can I say? They're beautiful pieces of music.

Scott has requested that I post pictures of myself with hot European men. If you are an attractive European male with good PhotoShop skills, please get in touch with me.

Jeff's parents have given me a wonderful book called Let's Go Europe (thank you, Jeff's parents!!!), which gives suggestions for activities and inexpensive lodgings throughout all of Europe. Even Iceland. So now I want to go to Iceland. Its landscape kind of looks like the lovechild of Ireland and Alaska. I would also like to go to Spain, Greece, Turkey, and most parts of France that I haven't yet seen. And Prague. And Vienna. Any other suggestions?

Furness!!!!!

Why is it that every time I hear "you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need" on the radio, it always seems to describe how I'm feeling at that particular moment? Do I live in a constant state of wanting more and yet being overjoyed at what I have?...That sounds about right.

This blog, however, is not just about what I listen to on the radio (although I'd be open to bringing it up more often). This is about Julia's Almost Famous Tour, which will begin on January 6th, 2009 in Lancaster, England. The tour will move throughout Europe for the first six months, spend two months at home in Colorado, and then begin a second round of travels in Guanajuato, Mexico, finishing up in December just in time for Christmas.

I will be able to take part in all of this exciting travel because of the extraordinary generosity of Dr. and Mrs. P., who donated a scholarship fund to my school to allow nerdy English lit students like me to travel to England at a greatly discounted price. Thanks to them, I will be able to travel to both England and Mexico and enjoy an amazing year of discovery and exploration. And I plan to love every minute of it so that their donation will go to the best possible use. Thank you a thousand times over, Dr. and Mrs. P.

I have found out that I will be living in Furness College while at Lancaster. The college's website tried to convince me that Furness students are eccentric individuals who enjoy drinking wine. I don't know how true this will turn out to be, but I like eccentric individuals, and I like wine, in small amounts, so it sounds promising. I don't have any idea what my room will look like or how many people I will share a kitchen with, but I will post photos soon after I get there.

I think it is about time for me to go to bed tonight. I will try to post entries pretty often, and I will do my best to make them amusing for you to read. Please keep reading.

Much love,
Julia