Free At Last

Perhaps that is too dramatic of a blog post title for simply ending the semester, but it accurately reflects our feelings the last few days. Man oh man has it been great to be done! Mostly, we just can't stop sleeping! We'll set the alarm for 8am, but just can't get out of bed until at least 8:45am. Then there is generally be some kind of nap later in the day, either on purpose or by accident. We have also each gone to the gym 4 or 5 times in the last week, cooked lots of good real food, had only 1 cup of coffee per day (!!), and have generally felt very healthy and alive. Hurray for winter break! Here is the start of break captured in a few photos:

Jonathan has gotten very good at making eggs and toast for breakfast. See above, perfect over-easy eggs and toast, along with fresh coffee and morning lounging in a blue fuzzy bathrobe.

After our afternoon nap a few days ago, we had some coffee and freshly made apple-raisin spice cake. YUM!

We also both managed to find time to get our hair cut. Jonathan, as usual, came back looking almost ready for the navy with his freshly shorn curls.

Despite being on break, Jonathan had a few days of hard laboring to grade his students' final exams. While the process started off with high hopes and energy, both quickly fell. Stefanie heard continued groans coming from Jonathan has he used up all the ink in his red grading pens. One student's response to a question stood out: he drew a comic picture of a man holding a phone with the caption, "can i phone a friend." Unfortunately, no points were given. The brutal grading task finally ended, much to both of our relief. Next up on the work docket is Jonathan's preparations for the January term class he'll be teaching, and Stefanie's epic start to an epic studying process for her Step 1 board exams. Go team Kreamer!

Last, but certainly not least, Jonathan got new glasses! After some help from Stefanie, who aided in determining which glasses were "too stylish," "too nerdy," or just right, this was the final result. Jonathan can see, and Stefanie likes what she sees. All is good!

Tomorrow we head off to San Diego for 10 days of Christmas and New Years celebration with Stefanie's family. They are currently having the biggest rain storm of the last 15 years (ie. it is heavily misting and people are contemplating maybe needing to change out of flip flops). But, we are hoping the weather turns around for us chilly east coast students.

Merry Christmas!

Are we there yet??

No. We are not. Jonathan is 1 presentation, 1 final, 2 projects, and countless papers to grade away. Stefanie is 1 quiz and 3 exams away. Only 9 more days until Winter Break!

But, we will refrain from whining too much, since the saying goes, "if you want to score points by whining, join a European soccer team."

We have both been in high study mode and are trying to keep it up for just one more week.

Still, there are a few highlights:
-a great little mini Christmas tree, perfectly sized for our apartment (see below)
-renting a Zip Car to go grocery shopping (yes, this is a highlight)
-putting up some Christmas lights to make our space feel cozy
-drinking lots of coffee with scoopes of hot cocoa mixed in
-accidentally sleeping in twice last week...opps!

With Christmas time brings Christmas music. Stefanie has learned that Jonathan has a HUGE capacity to listen to Christmas music. Literally all day. For his study breaks, Jonathan has taken up the art of "prancing." Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like. Needless to say, Jonathan's raindeer nickname is Prancer. 10 points to anyone who guesses Stefanie's raindeer nickname. Other fun holiday nicknames have included Pumpkin, Squash, and Butternut.

Next blog post to come when we are both DONE with the semester.

Quote of the day, by Jonathan Kreamer, "How come you have to say 'I baked cookies?" They're called COOKies. Don't you cook them? And if not, shouldn't they be called bakies instead of cookies?" This was after Stefanie nervously asked what Jonathan meant when he said he "cooked his bagel." Jonathan reassured her that he did in fact mean that he toasted his bagel, and that he had not put it in the oven or on the stove.