"There is no place like home. There is no place like home." This famous line from The Wizard of OZ never felt more true than when we were done with our whirlwind trips this winter break. We both love our family dearly, but the traveling does tend to wear on one's nerves after a bit, especially after 2 and 1/2 weeks.

Mark and I both enjoy driving trips, perhaps I do more since I tend to get nauseous in turbulance. Our way home was smooth with a little snow in Kentucky. We celebrated our 6th month aniversary with a great dinner from the Cracker Barrel near the Illinois/Indiana border, and crashing in our own cozy bed.

Amazingly Mark went to work the next day - I wish I had that kind of stamina - and I rested, relaxed, and put away our many wonderful gifts. Our friend Beth was kind enough to take care of my multitude of plants while we were gone and did a great job! This time before we left we decided to clean the apartment and I hope we can do so every time because it made coming home so much more enjoyable.

Since we're back in town, we had the urge to visit one of our favorite old haunts, the local B&N. This time we had a wonderful gift certificate from Mark's Uncle Ernie and were able to splurge on many new books and our coveted Alias: Season 1 DVD collection. To follow up our spending spree, we went next door to get the first Dido CD - somewhere during our engagement the CD was misplaced- as a belated aniversary present.

With so many new and wonderful books, we purchased another bookcase, bringing the total to 7 now. This week we also made a nice large donation to Goodwill and packed up many of our summer clothing and housewares for storage. Out of all of our trips this last break, I came to the decision to try and collect our families traditions. There are so many wonderful traditions that are passed down from generation to generation that really make the holidays special ... sounds like another blog entry :)