Monday, January 19, 2009

Angela is a Nerd!


It's no surprise to anyone to hear me described as a "nerd" or "geek." I've been that way my entire life, and it's a personality trait I embrace. However, I have soared to new nerdy heights this week.

About five months ago, I heard about TwiCon, a Twilight convention being held in Dallas this coming July/August. I thought it sounded like fun, so I hemmed and hawed over buying a ticket. While reading through the formal programming itinerary, I came across a statement announcing that they were accepting academic papers on various topics to be presented in panels and roundtable discussions while at the convention. Well, delving into my lifelong love of vampires (insert nerd joke here), I decided to do a little research on vampire myths throughout the world. After three months of research and countless hours logged in the NWC library, I finished my paper: 25 pages (not counting a 6 page bibliography) and 6743 words. Now, having been out of college for several years, I consider this quite a feat. I won't go into all the teasing and harrassing I got from my husband...however, I will say that he was very supportive of me through my months of temporary insanity.

To my surprise, yesterday I received an e-mail from the director of formal programming. My paper was accepted, and I will be presenting it in a panel during the convention. Here's where my nerves kick in: they are expecting 2500 people to attend this convention. Now, if only 10% of that goes to the panel, we're still talking 250 people. Heaven knows, I am not one for public speaking (I write out my church talks word for word because I get up there and panic), so I am eternally grateful for the six months of preparation I have ahead of me.

But, that's my great excitement. I know it's nothing grand, but life has been slow at the Richardson household, so any news is big news!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Catching Up: Christmas And A New Addition To The Family

I realized after looking at everybody else's blogs that I am terrible when it comes to tending to our blog. I made it to "D" on the "Grateful ABC's," I didn't report on Kerrigan's encounter with the mall Santa, I haven't updated on Christmas, and I've just been generally lazy when it comes to keeping people updated. Thankfully, we're not that exciting and not much has happened.

For starters, here's a recap of Christmas for the Richardsons.




















Kerrigan and Santa: This year Kerrigan happily went to see Santa. It was nowhere near the fiasco it was last year. She was even a role model for a little girl two years older! It helped that she seemed to remember the stuffed dog from last year.













(Ella and Kerrigan at Marlin & Lisa's ward dinner)
Christmas Eve was spent at our house. We had a semi-traditional Swedish dinner (a huge undertaking in and of itself) with recipes from my great-grandma. We were also able to do a short photo session and take a family portrait since the arrival of our neice, Ella. It was so nice to have a somewhat relaxing (after dinner, that is) Christmas Eve at home. It was, however, short-lived, as Kerrigan got too overexcited and spent the entire night screaming. Needless to say, nobody got any sleep that night, and it wasn't because we were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa. Kerrigan finally fell asleep at 6:00 a.m. and we had to be on the road to Worland at 8:00 a.m. A bit rushed? Yes. Yes, we were.



























































Christmas Day was spent in Worland with the Foulgers. Though we were all exhausted from our horrendous night, it was a pleasant day. Kerrigan was surprisingly well-behaved when her lack of sleep was taken into account. Like last year, she made out like a bandit after all was said and done, having been completely spoiled by both sets of grandparents.

































After a great holiday season, we got a new addition to the family. The company that I work for, Eleutian Technology, has been hosting 30 teachers from South Korea in Cody. They studied for three months at NWC and are now doing 6 weeks of curriculum work in local elementary schools. We were approached a few weeks ago and asked to host one of the teachers. Not wanting to turn our backs on a great opportunity like this, we were assigned to host a teacher by the name of Young Seung Yun, (a.k.a. Angie). She has been a student of mine since September. We picked her up last Sunday, and it has been a great week thus far. Kerrigan is slowly becoming accustomed to a new person living in the house, but you can tell she is enjoying a new face. She will spend hours in Young's room, watching videos of Korean nursery rhymes and singing songs. Tonight Young cooked a Korean meal for us (don't ask me to remember the name of the dish...all I know is that it was delicious). We were also introduced to the Korean staple of kimchi, a spicy cabbage relish-type dish. It is usually allowed to ferment for at least three months, but we had fresh kimchi. Let me say that spicy does not even begin to describe it. If you're ever looking for a new way to clear your sinuses, kimchi may be the stuff for you! We hope to have many more experiences to share over the coming weeks!