President's Day in Pittsburgh

Alex spent his extended holiday weekend in Pittsburgh!  You don't even have to guess what I was doing instead :(  Alex had a great time with Emily and Frank, as usual, and was able to hang out downtown and visit Phipps Conservatory.  It is a long drive over to Pittsburgh, but the end result is always worth it :)

  

  

Pretty flowers downtown

  

Alex and his guitar :)

 

Emily and Frank at Phipps Conservatory

   

   

    

This plant is called the Swiss-Cheese Plant!  Monstera deliciosa... look it up!!

 

He didn't eat the Swiss-Cheese plant :)

Super Bowl XLV

We watched the 2011 Super Bowl at Kia's apartment with some friends from school.  My favorite part was the food :)  Who knew medical students could be such great cooks!?!

       

   Some of the grub which I spent most of the game eating

  

Danielle picked the closest score and won prize money!

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Alex and I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art today!  The first Sunday of every month, the admission fee is whatever you feel like paying (which is really nice when you are not rolling in the dough).  We have lived in Philly a year and a half and we were finally able to visit the museum!!  It was nice spending the morning looking at art :)

       

    

Striking a pose!

   

Short doorway

    

Asian art exhibit

     

  

Strange statue

   

Outside on the steps overlooking the city!

A Snowy Stroll

My walk to school yesterday was very snowy!  The two snow storms the day before dumped almost seventeen inches of snow by the end of the night!!  It was the strangest storm because it was lightening and thundering while snowing.  I just love the snow!

  

 The cars outside of our apartment

  

The park across the street

    

No one shoveled this sidewalk

   

  

The apartments in front of Drexel

    

    

Drexel!!  They have plows that work through the night to make sure the roads and sidewalks are clear.

  

Alumni bench all covered

  

The cold walk home

      
Alex's school was closed for snow so he came to Drexel in the afternoon to do some grading.  It was fun walking home together!  Our car all shoveled out!

PABC 2011

Last night was Drexel's 18th annual Pediatric Aids Benefit Concert.  The PABC helps to finance  many life saving programs and the opportunity to attend summer camp for the children in the Pediatric Aids program at St. Christopher's Hospital. Also, the money raised at the concert helps provide financial support for housing, transportation, and other expenses for the families affected by illness.  I didn't get to go to the concert last year so I was super excited to go this year. 

    

The concert was held at Drexel's main campus.  Dinner was in the lobby and the singing, dancing, and comedy acts were performed in the auditorium. 

  

Me, Emily, and Danielle

     

Dr. Novack's band with Adam and Victor!

Weekend Getaway to the City of Roses

For this Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, Alex and I went to Portland, Oregon!  Alex's dad had to move to Portland to be closer to his job last year, so the whole family decided to go visit his new town over the extended weekend!  We had a great time and can't wait to go visit again:)

         

 Eating out downtown

    

Alex and Emily

    

On Sunday, Emily, Alex and Dave were supposed to go to Mount Hood for some skiing and snowboarding, but it was raining too hard.  Instead, they took a scenic tour of the Oregon and Washington areas with Frank and Michele.  I stayed behind to do a little studying.

  

The rain made the rivers and waterfalls run out of control!!

  

Michele and Dave with a waterfall!

    

Alex and Emily were soaked!

Surprise!

Alex successfully completed the selection process for a position as a french teacher for the School District of Philadelphia this week!  He will be teaching french at Rhodes High School just ten minutes from our apartment.  We are all very proud of Alex so we threw him a surprise congratulations party last night :)  Danielle made brownies with Alex's favorite ingredients: chocolate and raspberry.  Hilary and Shawn made a yummy quiche.  Kia and Emily kept watch for Alex to come back from his voice lessons and we all jumped out from behind the couch when he walked in!

 

He was definitely surprised!!  And I forgot to take a single other picture the whole night :(

Weekend Visitors

Alex and I received a mirror for our bedroom this Christmas, but had no room in our car to bring it back to Philly.  Emily and Frank, being the friendly Pennsylvania neighbors that they are, brought the mirror up to Pittsburgh with them after Christmas break.  The mirror was the perfect excuse for the Schneiders to come for a weekend visit!  We had a lot of fun with Em and Frank!

  

 Our new mirror up on the wall!

  

It is not a Philly visit without a cheese steak :)

Making Whoopie!

Santa knows just how much I like to procrastinate so this year for Christmas, he brought me a whoopie pie pan!  I had never made whoopie pies before so I was super excited to try them.  Santa also brought me a whoopie recipe book so there will be lots of different flavors of whoopie to come :)
   

  My first batch!

They are just chocolate flavored with vanilla frosting so I decided to add a green bow for some color :)

Christmas Cards 2010

Thank you for all the beautiful Christmas cards!  We really enjoyed reading each of them :)

   

Happy New Year!!!

It was fun seeing everybody in North Carolina over break!  We wish everyone a very happy 2011!!

     

    New Years Eve

Christmas Festivities 2010

After returning home from the Dominican Republic, Alex and I dove head first into Christmas madness.  We did not get back to North Carolina until just after midnight on the 24^th.  Being the last minute shopper that I am (or the busy medical student?!), I had to spend the better part of Christmas Eve morning fighting other shoppers at the mall.

 

We had our annual Christmas Eve party at our house later that evening.  This year was a special treat because the Shupes did not have to leave early to get Bay back to Tennessee for work.  Alex and I made off well from the cousin exchange and Uncle Ray won the Last Gift.  While cleaning out a closet, Uncle Ray found a letter that Vincey had written to his brothers and sisters from Santa back when they were all little.  It was fun to hear how proud and fond he was of each of his siblings.  Aunt Lis made her annual charm cake and Aunt Debbie found a charm, just as she does every year :)  Although it always seems like the party flies by, it was great to spend time with our wonderful family.

 

Christmas morning was fantastic as always.  We opened all of our presents and had Grandma’s special Christmas breakfast.  Alex and I got tons of awesome gifts!!  We are super excited to see how our new mirror looks in our room :)  Although we did not wake up to a white Christmas, we certainly went to bed to one!  It was the first time the triangle had snow on Christmas in 67 years and it was my first white Christmas (night)!!

 

After celebrating with my family, Alex and I went over to the Scheer household.  We were not supposed to get presents since the Dominican Republic trip was the big gift, but that Santa does love to spoil us!  With our new shirts from Ellen and Justin, we are now "officially" Sunshine fans (Eric's band).  We had a wonderful dinner complete with the prettiest Christmas place cards :)

   
  Christmas Eve party

       

   
   Some of the cousins

  
   The Last Gift competition!

  
   Lily is ready for Santa!

   
    Christmas morning

     
    My favorite tree :)

      
  Moo got a chirping birdie  

   
  The beautiful Christmas dinner table at the Scheer's!

  Snow the day after Christmas!!

  
  Our backyard winter wonderland