christmas break

I drove so many miles over the past four weeks.
I felt a lot of things.
talked about everything under the sun
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I didn't take my own pictures, and don't know which stories to share.
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it was completely wonderful. and now I'm back at Whitworth. which is different. and maybe less wonderful. but so goes life.
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highlights (in the order that I think of them):
1. Christmas with so many people whom I love (and I only cried once! thats a new Christmas record for me!) i felt so loved.
2. swimming in our swimming pool. it was so freaking cold, Iveth and I started screaming the second we hit the water, and immediately rushed to get out of the pool. Jouni, on the other hand, swims back and forth a bit before he gets out. oh, and the most hillarious part of that whole escapade was my brothers speedo from 2-3 years ago.... let's just say it didn't cover all that it used to...
3. endless fresh oranges off the tree.
4. Nate's newest way of eating corn flakes
5. moments of complete peace near the ocean
6. jumproping with seaweed at Carmel Beach
7. basking in the light of the full moon and listening to music while sipping red wine
8. New Years Eve. ha. cuddling and sharing stories, poppers at midnight, and then a stumbling laughing journey to look at the sea and the moon.
9. watching my friends find their own things to love about the Central Coast
10. the drive from sacramento to fresno, after staying awake to drive through the night, and not really talking a whole bunch for a while, all the sudden, lots just spilled out. it was so comforting to know that there were still so many more things to say and discuss.
11. disneyland with the boy. nuff said.
12. really good Himalayan cuisine restaurant
13. the whole time we spent in San Diego. Balboa Park then sunset at Coronado. best pizza ever from BJs.
14. mornings when we got back to Fresno
15. Golden Gate Park. and our hostel was pretty cool too.
16. The Beat Museum. the world is a beautiful place to be born into by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
17. perfecting our parallel parking teamwork and our ability to not pay for parking
18. our general ability to never be completely lost, and always have one of us remember the important things the other forgot
19. homemade bread and other delicious food at the Bergmans
20. Finnish sauna and Finnish church