Christmas

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas! I know we did. When we woke up, this is what our tree looked like.


Dave did a good job for me- among other things, I got some awesome books, a Steelers winter coat (yay!), a Steelers mailbox cover, Drum Game stuffed animals, and Reese's peanut butter cups. Dave's boss got him Guitar Hero: World Tour which I already love. (Notice The Christmas Story playing on our tv, lol.)

And even Tigger got a present she loved.

My main gifts for Dave were jerseys. An old NFL Europe jersey from the Scottish Claymores that I have been searching for for about a year, and a gray Steelers jersey.

Dave really likes the Claymores jersey. :) He of course has his Steelers hat on too.

Typical picture of us. :)

Milo opening presents with Daddy (John) and Aunt Nancy.

Bruce and Sara posing.

Aunt Nancy got me a bottle of Patron, my favorite tequila! She drew my name in our gift exchange. (I drew Dave's mom.)

Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bill, outside Beth's house

Heather, Bruce, Hanna, and Sara

Dave, Heather, and Beth

FIRSTthursday Christmas service

Our band, FIRSTthursday, played a Christmas service in Kittanning this past Friday. Here are some pictures that were taken while we were practicing and after the service.

I play the keyboard and sing. This time I was REALLY nervous. I think it had to do with lack of practice since I was in China. On the song O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, I was the only music (Don and Jenny also sang vocals though) and it wasn't an easy song, so I kind of psyched myself out. I kept practicing and was fine with it but as soon as I had to play it for real I screwed up some notes.

Don plays guitar and is the worship leader. He sings the lead vocals.

Dave plays the drums of course. :)

And Jay plays the bass. We were actually playing at his home church this time.

We also have another singer, Jenny, but she sent these pictures and didn't send any of herself. You can see her on the left in the picture below.

And we decided we didn't have a recent picture of the group of us, so we had our picture taken after the service was over. We took some serious pictures but my favorites are the ones where we were goofing around a little bit.

We won an award!

East Winds Symphonic Band won the 2008 Sudler Silver Scroll, a prestigious award given to community bands. We aren't listed there yet, but here is more information on the award:

http://www.sousafoundation.org

Only 1 band a year has won this award since 1987, so it's a great honor. We were nominated based on a concert we played in Corning, NY this past April. If there's an article in the local paper, I'll try to get the link and post it on here.

This was from the note sent to our band director, telling us we won the award.

"What a wonderful band you have. On Thursday we were able to review the materials that you sent in with the application and this certainly made a stronger case for the East Symphonic Winds. You guys do good things around the community AND play extremely well."

Yay for vacation!

Ok I'm posting at lunch at work but I think it's ok.

Today is my last day of the year. Well, I have to make up 4 hours but I don't really count that. It's going to be super quiet in here and I think 4 hours will really fly on Monday or Tuesday. I certainly have work to do, so it won't drag!

Westinghouse requires everyone to use up their vacation by the end of the year. So everyone disappears. Even today it's really quiet. It can get a bit unnerving, actually.

I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away! This year it has really flown. Dave and I have the tree up with ornaments on it, but that's about it. I'm hoping to really decorate the inside of the house tomorrow. It makes it feel more Christmasy.

Christmas day we'll be going to Beth's house and spending time with Dave's family. Then Sunday my parents are coming into town through New Year's Day. I'm not sure what we'll be doing there, but I know Dave has to work most of those days. Maybe we can pelt snowballs at his window at work. :)

Anyway, good luck with your last minute Christmas shopping 'nat! I've been done, I like to do that early. We're waiting for one shipment and we have something small to pick up for someone, but everything is wrapped and under the tree.

I love Christmas!

Elmira Jackals

So I said I would post about Dave and the hockey game over Thanksgiving. We went with my dad and sister (Allison) to an Elmira Jackals game. They are a minor league hockey team, at the same level as the Wheeling Nailers. We'd really like to see them play in Wheeling some day. (Wheeling is affiliated with the Penguins.)

We went early and Dave got a chance to participate in a "game" on the ice between the 2nd and 3rd periods. It was really neat. He shot a puck at the net, where a board was set up that had 3 holes. They were pretty small- the middle one was about the size of the puck, and if Dave got it in, the whole section won ice cream. If he got the puck in the two side holes (which were slightly bigger), the whole row won ice cream. And just for participating, he won free ice cream.

I had my camera phone, and they let me stand right by the ice where the zamboni comes out. I gave him a kiss for good luck and cheered on the side.

He was the first to go, and he shot the puck. It headed right for the net but at the angle I was at, I couldn't really see it hit the board. I was cheering and all of a sudden he was raising his hands in the air. The puck went in the middle hole!!!!! It was amazing. The announcer said he was only the 2nd person to do it.

As we walked away, we also found out it was a year worth of free ice cream! We got coupons for half gallons of Perry's ice cream, which is so yummy.

Dave walked back with the announcer and a grocery cart full of ice cream. They passed it out to our section and he got a rousing cheer when he got back to his seat. It was so exciting!

Now we need to find a place that sells Perry's ice cream here in Pittsburgh. I never realized I haven't seen it in grocery stores here. A search online says it's UniMart here so we have to find one around. I have never heard of that store. Maybe this afternoon sometime, we'll see if we can find one. We told our bowling league we would bring ice cream for the Christmas party tonight. (If we eat a year's worth of ice cream ourselves instead of sharing, we will both get fat, haha!)

Go Dave! I'm so proud of you. :)

Back from China!

Wow, it's been a few weeks since I posted. But I also didn't want to log on while I was in China.

I'll write more about the trip later; right now I'm finally catching up on sleep and back on East Coast time (I think). I can tell you that my trip was an enlightening experience, in many ways. And it ended up being a lot of fun, even though I was really dreading the trip. The plane ride is pretty tedious but once I got there, I got to know some coworkers better and even made a few new friends!

I came back to cold and snow. LOL. In China, most of the days, it was around 60 degrees. And no snow. But snow definitely makes it start to feel like Christmas. I can't believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! My shopping is mostly done but we have almost no decorations up. While I was gone, Dave put up our Christmas tree but we still need to put ornaments up. And I love to decorate but so far haven't been motivated (or awake) enough to do it. Poor Dave, I have barely been able to keep my eyes open to stay awake.

Anyway, hopefully we'll decorate a bit this weekend! But soon we're heading out to an East Winds concert. I'm not playing because I wasn't supposed to get back until late Thursday night (got home 2 days early because our meeting was 2 days shorter) and I figured I wouldn't be in shape to play a concert at that point. So this will be the first time I sit and listen to the group.

Out of the United States

Well, I'm mostly packed and trying to get tired so that I can get a good night's sleep tonight since I have an early plane to catch tomorrow. When I get back, I want to blog about the minor league hockey game we went to in Elmira yesterday with my dad and sister. :)

I will not be making any new posts from China. So look for me back here after December 11th and I'll talk all about the trip!

It is going to be an adventure, whether good or bad. LOL. I just got another email today saying one of the series of meetings will be at a different location. Augh! At least I don't have to worry about the hotel arrangements- I'll just follow the crowd.

I'll miss Dave so much. I think that's the worst part. So I'm already counting down the days until I can see him and get a big bear hug. :) Love you, Dave!!!! And I'll miss you tons!

Happy turkey day!

Just wanted to post and say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

I have been eating all day, and I am stuffed. My mom outdid herself this time.

Football, beer, and good food... and family of course, all a good combination for a relaxing day. I think I'll sleep well tonight.

Various Travels

I will be in China a week from now. As I said before, I’m not really looking forward to the trip for various reasons. One is the fact that I’ll be away from Dave for 12 days. :( I wish he could go with me, although it would be expensive and he would be so bored.

Anyway, I was thinking about the whole thing and realized that Dave and I have had a lot of great adventures together so far. So I reflected on the vacations we’ve taken in the past.

In June of 2005, we went to New York City to see the musical Wicked. We actually planned that before we were dating, as friends and by the time we went on the trip we were dating. That trip was a lot of fun. Wicked was awesome, and we went to the ticket booths near the singing cowboy in underwear, and got cheap tickets to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as well. I also went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island for the first time.

For New Year’s 2005/2006, we traveled with the Woodland Hills High School marching band to Arizona. I went to the Grand Canyon for the first time. It was beautiful! I was also actually considered part of the staff for the band and I had a lot of fun helping them out. I caught a cold on that trip though and was pretty miserable for a few days, but we celebrated New Year’s 3 times (in 3 different time zones) and I met some really nice people (Jen and Rachel), who were my roommates for the trip.

In September of 2006, we went with Dave and Kristy to Disney World in Florida. We stayed in Pop Century, one of the Value Resorts. We were there eight days, so we ended up spending 2 days in each park. I’m still not sure which is my favorite, but we’re planning on going back in 2009 with the Hotecks, so maybe we’ll decide then. (Our goal is to drink around the world in Epcot.) We rode Expedition Everest, the new roller coaster in Animal Kingdom. The first day we were there, we rode in the very first seat, and the lines were short so we went on it three times in a row, literally! Just walked through the line and pretty much got right back on.

Our next trip was to San Diego in March of 2007. I had just put in notice at my last job and it was a bit stressful, so it was nice to get away. Dave had a conference there for work, so I tagged along and had a few days of fun by myself while he was at the conference. (One of those days I got a pedicure, which was so relaxing!) We went to the San Diego zoo and saw the pandas, which was really cool. And the weather was nice and warm, as it always is in San Diego. We wanted to go to Mexico one of the days, but that didn’t work out. We didn’t bring birth certificates and we didn’t want to get to the border and be turned away. Maybe next time…

For New Year’s 2007/2008, we got tickets on New Years day to see the Winter Classic at the Buffalo Bills stadium. The Penguins played the Sabres outside and it was a great game! Ended in a shoot out and we won, so it was perfect. Anyway, Dave and I decided to make a trip of it and went to Niagara Falls the night before. It was VERY cold but we saw fireworks above the falls, which were amazing! The first set we saw on the Canadian side, and we crossed over to the American side just before midnight, to avoid the rush. (It was the first time I got to use my passport!) Anyway, just as we crossed they shot off the 2nd set of fireworks and we saw them as well. I won money again in a casino (oh the first time was in Las Vegas during our trip to Arizona when we were there for a layover) and got a Hard Rock Café glass with it. I didn’t say I won a significant amount of money, just that I won! The ride back to Pittsburgh was pretty bad- it was in a snowstorm and we saw first hand that New York takes much better care of roads in the winter than Pennsylvania does. There were a number of cars and other vehicles off the road on the way back and it took almost twice as long as it would have in good weather.

In March of 2008 I tagged along with Dave again for his annual work conference, which was in Disney World, for a much needed vacation from everything. We stayed in the All Star Music resort, which was really neat. Dave was there all week and I joined him basically for the weekend because I didn’t have a lot of vacation to spare. It was nice to just relax in the sun and hang out at the parks for a little bit.

Dave and I spent our honeymoon in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, at the foot of the Smoky Mountains in April 2008. Again, that was a relaxing vacation. I loved it. We rented a cabin between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The cabin had a Jacuzzi inside, hot tub outside, big screen TV upstairs with a bar next to it, and a game room with a pool table and air hockey table. We had a lot of fun in the cabin, and even caught one of the Penguins Stanley Cup playoff games on the big screen TV. We stopped at a liquor store and stocked the bar a little bit, and grilled out in the backyard a few times. Two of the highlights of the week were a hummer ride in the Smoky Mountains and a trip to Oak Ridge to see the graphite reactor. Yep, real honeymoon activities, right? LOL. Oh and the Smokey Mountains were absolutely beautiful.

Our latest “vacation” was a work trip for me where Dave tagged along. I went to a conference in Portoroz, Slovenia for work in September of 2008. We flew up on Sunday, arrived on Monday, and the conference was Tuesday through Thursday. I gave a poster presentation on Wednesday and attended the sessions all three of the conference days. Met a nice group of Italian guys I ended up sitting next to for a lot of the sessions and we also went on a boat ride along the Adriatic coast of Slovenia. And Dave and I managed to make it to this cute town, Piran, two of the evenings. I thoroughly enjoyed Piran. It reminded me of what I picture of Italy with narrow streets and spectacular views of the sea and town. (I believe Piran used to be part of Italy but it’s now part of Slovenia.) Then we spent the weekend in Venice, Italy, since we were already close. We ended up getting an apartment for those two nights, which made it feel a bit like we actually lived there. We took a gondola ride, which I have ALWAYS wanted to do, and took in some of the sights. I think my favorite was St. Mark’s Basicila actually. And we saw the building that was used to film part of Casino Royale, which was really neat.

I have a lot of good vacation memories with Dave already. And I’m looking forward to more and wishing Dave could go to China with me. But I’m sure we’re going to have a lot more trips in the future and it’s always fun to travel with Dave.

Steelers pictures

Just a few pictures from the game. The Steelers beat the Chargers, 11-10! They dominated the stats, which doesn't show in the score but it was a win and that's all that matters. I posted more on facebook as well, if you have an account there.

Dave and I tailgated for a little bit in a parking lot. It wasn't a bad distance away.


It snowed during the game, this is from our seats.


And one more picture of the two of us, in our seats.

Black and Gold!

We got tickets to the Steelers game tomorrow!!!!!!!

GO STEELERS!

Wisdom teeth fun

Just figured I'd write a quick update- I'll post some pictures from our weekend later. We went to the Carnegie museum and saw the dinosaur bones- pretty cool!!! Dave says they have one of the best collections in the country or the world or something.

I got my top two wisdom teeth removed yesterday, almost 24 hours ago. My mouth is sore but I just ate macaroni and cheese. I was starving and figured it wouldn't get stuck in the holes maybe. All I've had since lunch yesterday was soup and milkshakes. (Thanks, Dave, for the milkshake!!!!) So now I'm not smart at all. The bottom two were impacted and removed my freshman year of college. The top ones continued to grow without the bottom to stop them, so they had to be removed as well.

My China trip is being finalized; I will probably disappear for the first two weeks in December. We're flying into Shanghai but then going to one of the sites for the meetings. I saw some pictures and it is absolutely desolate there. We are working long days, too, which probably won't matter because there isn't much to do where the site is. Just the hotel and lots of barren land. Oh and a hole in the ground where they will pour the concrete. LOL. It looks like we'll get one extra day in Shanghai in the end though. Cross your fingers for me!!!

Going to China...

I found out today that I'm probably (99.9% sure) going to China for work. I've wanted to travel and this will be a great experience. I have to admit, I need to get used to the idea though. Not the actual trip, but I'm going to miss some things here that I wanted to do. But I'm definitely going to take advantage of it.

I don't know the exact dates yet, just early December and maybe part of Thanksgiving weekend (for travel). I don't know how long, and I'm not completely sure where. We fly into Shanghai and what they told me for now is that we're going to Ningbo. I'm just glad I'll be there with a group.

So, family members, when you get Christmas presents, they might have been bought in China. We'll see! :)

Rambling on here...

Work is definitely making life more interesting. I got to go to Europe in September (Slovenia for a conference and then Dave and I spent our weekend in Venice while we were out there). That was the first time I traveled out of the United States, other than to Canada. I got a stamp in my passport! And already within a few months I'll be going to China. At least this will definitely make me preferred on my frequent flyer card. I'll definitely take advantage of that next year.

I actually don't have plans this weekend, which is amazing. Don't worry, I'm sure Dave and I will still keep pretty busy. But it's really nice to have the whole weekend wide open at this point.

Beautiful Fall Weather

I figured I would post some pictures from this weekend on here.

Friday, we handed out candy to the kids who came to our door, and then we dressed up for a party at a local brewery. Dave had his ghostbusters costume from the week before but I hated my $12 costume (something called Vampire Rose and proves sometimes it doesn't pay to be cheap). So I dressed up as Slimer! It was so comfortable and I actually got a lot of compliments. We don't really have a lot of pictures but here is one from my camera phone. We took it before we left our house.

Dave printed out the Slimer picture and we velcroed a small version that you see in the picture, and a bigger version that's on my back.

Saturday we went to the park with Dave's sister, Beth, and her son, Milo. I'll just post a couple of pictures. The weather was gorgeous and the leaves were beautiful!

Here are Milo and Beth, looking at the Allegheny River.

And Dave, Milo, and Beth, walking to the playground.

And Beth took a picture of Dave and me, with the pretty leaves in the background.

Sunday we played a concert with our wind ensemble. I don't have any pictures of that though.

Aaahhh... Friday! And Halloween!

I am so happy it's Friday. I had a week of training, and was doing some work on top of that, and I am just exhausted at this point. Work in general has been picking up. I actually think part of it is simply because I'm learning and I know more, so I'm actually accomplishing more.

I feel a bit like when I first started work. My first week at BPMI, every night when I got home I would collapse on the couch and fall sound asleep. I'm not that bad right now but I'm pretty tired.

Tonight is trick or treating. I love handing out candy to the kids. Then Dave and I are going to a Halloween party at a restaurant near here. He has a Ghostbuster costume (which is currently in the dryer) and I got a green sweatshirt and sweatpants and I will be Slimer. I know, a bit lame because it's so simple. I've never really been big on dressing up.

And the best part is I am sitting on my living room couch with the window wide open. I can hear the wind rustling in the air, a lawn mower, and even some birds chirping. (Tigger has already been running from window to window, trying to get the animals outside.) This is our last bit of warmth I think, before winter really sets in.

I'll post about all the fun we had later! It looks like this will be a busy weekend as usual so I'm just trying to relax for the moment.

What type of fruit?

So, I am in training for work and have managers sitting around me. Yesterday, a director was sitting right next to me, and his blackberry was plugged into his computer, charging.

I have never owned a blackberry and didn't know you could charge through the computer. So I said, "Oh, you can charge a cranberry through your computer?"

Wait a minute, a cranberry? What's that? Der...

So I corrected myself with, "Oh I meant blueberry."

Oh my word. Did I really just say that? What a ditz.

I finally just said, "Whatever, some kind of fruit" to which the director laughed and I finally said correctly, "BLACKBERRY!"

In my defense, I do work in Cranberry. But wow was it a Monday morning yesterday.

And hopefully I later redeemed myself with the director when I helped him with his computer. So much for a good impression though! LOL

First things first

So, why did I name my blog "The 'Thurkins' soap opera"??? One of my high school friends (Jill) used to tease that there was always something going on with our family. In fact, I'm pretty sure my senior year that she referred to the Thurkins soap opera when she signed my yearbook. I may be a Drylie now, but I still have the Thurkins blood in me and I think we're all itching to just be on the go. Which leads to something always happening. So that's the name of my blog- the purpose here is to just let everyone know what's going on.

Next, let me say a few things about myself. Although I made this blog private (I think) to avoid some people from my past to see my internal thoughts, so I think most of you reading this should know me at least to some extent.

I have made a lot of mistakes in my past. Who hasn't? But those mistakes have led me to where I am today and I honestly can say I'm happy. My wedding day was one of the happiest days of my life. It flew by, and I wish it could have lasted longer, but I couldn't have asked for anything more. I married a man I wholeheartedly love, who shares common interests with me, and puts up with my impatience. He complements me, which is the best feeling in the world and is what I really think marriage is about; complementing each other. I work as an engineer, which originally was my fall back plan. My dream was to be a stay at home mom, but that's not what ended up happening and now that I'm an adult I'm not sure it (being a stay at home mom) would have made me happy. Not that it's a bad choice by any means, but I definitely do like working as an engineer. But I ended up making choices where I have a good job, a great husband, and I am where I am. Happy.

I grew up in music; both of my parents majored in music, so of course I play! I started violin and piano in first grade, and picked up percussion in 8th grade, two weeks before the Christmas concert. Percussion was my choice, not my parents, so I started to thrive on it and actually practice. Music is perfect for me; it's a great way to destress and it's just so fun to play. I can't describe it. I play with East Winds Symphonic Band, FIRSTthursday, and fill in for some churches in the Pittsburgh area on piano. I also rule (haha) at Guitar Hero although I guess that's not "real" music but it IS my favorite video game.

My dad's side of the family is originally from the Pittsburgh area. My dad was born in Latrobe and his parents both went to Derry High School. I followed Pittsburgh sports growing up and it was a dream moving to Pittsburgh and seeing the Pirates and Steelers play live!!!! I couldn't believe it. And I have also adopted the Penguins; started watching them when they were still bad but grew to love hockey as much as football and baseball.

Well, that's enough for now but hopefully it's a decent introduction for everybody!

First blog post

Well, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and start a blog. We'll see how this goes. I figure it's an easy way to update people on what's going on and post pictures. Right now, though, the Steelers game is on, and I want to figure out how to make this private, so this will be a short entry. I'll post an about me one later.