a run through december!

there are a lot of things i could say. but pictures are more exciting, and are a much more succinct way of sharing our life with you so here we go.

hello season of advent. it was BUSY. but this was our tree. a gracious gift of a member in the congregation.

my favorite ornament.

after we put up all our decorations, we hosted an open house for the church so they could see what we have done with the place! it was “milk and cookies” so here were the cookies I made…

my dad, brother, and nick used their handy skills to put together frames to go in all the windows with lights on them, so even the outside of our house was beautiful!

well, then we had a minor setback. i had some pretty intense stomach issues which involved a week of being mis-diagnosed with diverticulitis, and then correctly diagnosed with some pretty yucky intestinal stuff. but after a couple nights in the hospital, i was finally able to start feeling better. it was pretty rough for a patch there though.

we stayed in calypso right through christmas morning. nick did a wonderful job with the christmas eve and christmas morning services and then headed to winston christmas night to be with nick’s family for a couple days. we really enjoyed being with his family!

we made it back to calypso in time for some more fun things, and finally remembered to start taking pictures again… well, and getting this new toy helped

New Year's eve, we did what every person who lives near Mt. Olive is obliged to do...

it was (of course) on the corner of cucumber and vine

where else can you get a scratch and sniff pickle sticker?

It was basically just like being in times square

we even got a picture with Ollie (who happens to be a member at our church!)

from new years eve, to resolution! we ran this race this past saturday. super fun.

afterwards, we walked around wilmington... loved it.

my week days are spent with this guy... mr. jt wolfe. he's a champ

and i think thats about it for now. we are going to be heading to orlando next week which will be great. nick has a conference. and ill get to hang with my parents… so itll be good. although its been a busy past few weeks… we have made it, and we are still so glad to be here in calypso. sending lots of love…

p.s. all of nick’s sermons are online now… i put them on www.calypsopresbyterian.com weekly under the sermons tab. they’re pretty good if i do say so myself!

 

short update.

well… long story, short: beginning of december has been rough health-wise for me. NO FUN. won’t go into details on this bloggy. but did want to update nick’s latest sermon. love from calypso

 

charlie-cat.

so nick and i both grew up with cats. i dont know if you would call us cat people… but we dont mind them.

now, when it comes to getting a domesticated animal. that would be out of the question. you see – pets cost money, and im married to nick nielsen. i dont think i need to explain.

BUT, a couple weeks ago, we were walking home from church and this guy (soon to be discovered.. girl) followed us home.

she was cute, and sweet… but we didnt know if she belonged to someone. so we asked around and she didnt seem to have a home. nick was all about feeding her. and i TOLD him, once we feed her, she’s never leaving! but, he said as long as she keeps any possible rodents away, i dont mind having her around!

so… she has stayed. we’ve named her charlie. my parents have a boy cat named charlie, and nick had a girl cat named charlie, so i guess thats the only name we know for cats!

she likes to sit here…

she just watches us wonder around!

she really is a sweet cat. we’ve been talking, and nick has a no-house rule. but once its 20-degrees outside, we might have to discuss that! we shall see. all around, she’s a great cat, and we’re glad she chose us.

 

 

turkey (trot), and beef.

well… if you know us well you know that instead of turkey on thanksgiving, the tomlinson side of the family likes to eat beef tenderloin instead of turkey! a little blasphemous. i know… but its our tradition. and its YUMMY. but we found other way’s to incorporate “turkey” this year as you’ll see below… my mom and dad, and my brother david, and sister-in-law kathy were all here to celebrate and we had LOTS of fun. all the photos below are thanks to our resident photographer, kathy… thanks!

thanksgiving morning... "TURKEY" trot!!!

sprint!

i run, so i can eat this.... (chocolate pie - i baked on wednesday)

and this... (pecan-pumpkin roll)

and these... TURKEY krispies made by kathy!

and lest we forget.

whew! what a day! LOVED having my family here!!

————————————————–

this is a bit of a transition, but on the sunday after thanksgiving was a special service at calypso presbyterian called the hanging of the greens. it is where the members of the church decorate the sanctuary with poinsettias, evergreens branches, and the children decorate the tree. the choir also sang carols and it was the first sunday of advent.

the final result!

and as a treat if you are interested… nick had to do a short meditation for the sermon so i put it on youtube…

lots of love!

 

Ordination

there will be a few posts coming soon, but before those come i wanted to do one on the ordination!

it was one of the most special things i have ever been apart of. nick’s parents, his maternal grandparents, his aunt, and my parents were all here to share in the big day as well as our new church family.

the service consisted of several neat things… a charge to pastor, and charge to the congregation, laying on of hands for nick as he goes into this calling, and vows which nick took to the church. it was amazing.

it was also neat to have close family friends of nick’s paternal grandparents here as well… it was such a neat a special day for everyone. and to top it all off, the women of the church had a spread that was UNREAL!

nick now offically wears a robe and looks very “pastor-ly”

we’re all so proud of “Reverend Nicholas Nielsen”!

more blog posts coming soon!!! (thanksgiving, a cat, and a christmas tree, oh my!)

 

almost ordained.

so. we are counting down the days (4 to be exact) until nick can do really cool things like baptize babies, and lead a session and serve communion, and say things like, “i now pronounce you husband and wife”. oh also until until he gets to wear his super cool black robe, which will we will most definetaly get a photo of!

BUT, until that day comes, (which on a more serious note – has been a LONG time coming, and we are so thankful for the prayers and support of all of those around us!) i’ll bore you with some random things from our past few weeks.

a few weeks ago i drove north a bit for my first experience with the might wallace wade stadium.

i was able to take in the fsu vs. duke game with nick’s dad, don. although fsu won, we had a great time and i was pretty impressed with the stadium. and the thing that both nick and his dad never fail to remind me of is that wallace wade was the host of the 1942 rose bowl, which was also commemorated by this plaque. if you are interested, believe me, both don and nick would love to tell you more about it.

i’m not sure if i’ve mentioned it on the blog or not, but i love the calypso skies. they are awesome. take a look.

no photo-shopping here. just god, doing his thing.

and one more thing… we had a first halloween in calypso which was rather rainy. this however did not stop the trick-or-treaters! we had a great turn-out. and i even got a picture with one of my favorite’s christopher. i accidently thought he was a storm trooper. he quickly told me he was darth vader. my bad.

 

DEMOLITION.

friday night, we drove to raleigh to check out the NC state fair.... (mainly so nick could see his beloved demolition derby!)

we made it through the midway with people hollering at nick in condescending ways because he had yet to win me an oversized winnie the pooh.

as tempting as the fireball, helter skelter, and kamikaze might have been... we stuck with the ferris wheel.

not a bad view!

our options for dinner were straight out of the biggest loser cookbook! we managed to sneak away with a cheese steak, corn on a stick, and a lemonade.

after our meal, we settled in for the main event. something i had never witnessed before... demolition derby.

 

the all start facing each other backwards, then after that, hilarity ensues. they basically try to drive backwards and hit each other. the crowd goes wild. the last vehicle moving wins. it was amazing.

did i mention there were three rounds... 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder, and 8 cylinder (do no ask me what this means). my conclusion: we will be going back next year.

saturday morning while i watched college gameday (DUH.) and this awesome piece on fsu alum, lee corso…

nick was awesome mr. handyman everything man and planted some rose bushes we received from a member of the congregation.

before.

during.

after!

was a great weekend… and we’re excited about another week here in calypso!

 

welcome home.

this is a tour of house (thus far.) my parents are coming in about two weeks and are bring things to further furnish the kitchen, guest room, family room, and porch! but will update more then, for now… welcome to our house!

218 second street. you KNOW you better come visit!

so you can see where we have come from!

more foyer.

to the right of the entrance way is our living room.

fire place and all!

if you walk straight through the foyer you will walk into the kitchen!

it's HUGE. i love it.

if you go to the left when you walk in the door, you will see books. which means you are in nick's office!

hey nick.

 

to the right of the kitchen is the laundry room.

which is where you'll find my beautiful desk!

staight through the kitchen, if you go outside, you will find the deck!

if you've talked to me on the phone, chances are i've been sitting right here!

down the hallway to the left, past the hallway bathroom and guest bedroom is the beauty. our bedroom.

 

we love it! we hope you’ll come and visit soon!

 

a look back [california]

before we decided calypso is where we were supposed to be and packed up all our stuff, and unpacked all our stuff and started settling. we made a long overdue trip to california. it’s hard to believe but nick and i have many, many relatives all the way across the country, so this in-between time was such a great opportunity to visit them. we only wish we could’ve stay longer!

it started down in L.A. we flew in and saw my dear family friends john and jody dreyer. they took us straight to the rose bowl! nick did some mountain golfing with john… which included seeing some coyotes, road runners, and cactus. i did some shopping with jody. we BOTH went to an angel’s game and aunt jody hooked us up with FRONT ROW seats. which were amazing. it was such a gift to see them!

not a bad view!

we then traveled north to fresno, ca to visit nick’s aunt fay and cousin alice. this was such a fun time! we were able to see where alice goes to school as well as alice in all of her marching band glory. we also got the grand tour of clovis. nick and i met some more relatives in exeter, ca! the nielsen clan was friendly and welcoming to us and it was so great for me to meet them for the first time. our last night with fay and alice was spent in sacramento as we drove up to visit nick’s grandmother, eloise. and we have LOTS of fun pictures to show our excursions up there!

hey alice!

nick with aunt fay

with grandma eloise on our first night in sacramento, ca

on day 2, we ventured to the railroad museum!

hello?

choo-choo

still on the phone...

we then said goodbye to fay and alice… and continued our time in sacramento by heading to the california state fair!

the one ride we went on!

we even saw a cooking show! it was so fun!

we had some great dinners with grandma eloise, and tim and sandy, and they took us to see oliver which was such a fun treat! on our way out of town, nick’s grandma also took us down to the capital building which was beautiful…

in the foyer of the capital building

it was such a lovely visit! we then headed west, where we were met by my grandpa ruano and grandma susan in concord! i will begin by showing you our tentative schedule which was AMAZING, to say the least…

my grandpa certainly wined and dined us! we did enjoy our first EVER wine tasting at the buena vista winery…

nick with my grandfather

the wines!

than came back, turned around and took the BART to the Oakland A’s game!

great seats! we had to watch out for foul balls though...

the next morning we woke up to a GOURMET breakfast…

so lovely.

after a fun little par 3 shoot-out at a local golf course, we went to the beringer ultra classic car collection. take a look!

a cadillac for my dad

a purple car for kathy

i wish i knew what kind of car this is. all i know is i thought it was gorgeous!

a purple jag. probably my favorite! (probably would've been my mom's favorite too!

so schnazzy.

we had such an amazing time with my grandfather and grandma susan! again, the only regret is that i wish it could’ve been longer!

the last place we went was san francisco. my aunt teri and uncle tim live there. grandpa ruano and grandma susan drove us over and we went to a delicious italian restaurant for dinner. it was so fun to be with family! we then headed back to teri and tim’s house for dessert and more fun conversation before turning in.

our last day was a fun one as we tried to conquer on of the “hidden sidewalk stair walks” of san fran. it included walking in what seemed to be people’s back yards, as well in walking up hills that seemed like rock walls they were so steep! but we did it… and it was fun. we did not document this so well but it was a great end to the trip. we loved seeing all of our family, and look forward to doing it again soon.

we’ll leave you with a place we tried to eat at OFTEN!

in-n-out. YUM.

 

settling.

well, we are officially residents of calypso, nc. we have a p.o. box. we have a water bill. we have even gone to the local fire department fundraiser… so we’re pretty official. here are some glimpses at our first few days here…

 

the view driving in... i am going to greatly enjoy looking at these calypso skies.

and some people thought we just made this place up!

 

thankful our ikea beast furniture made it through the doorway

THIS was in the frig...

and THIS was in the pantry!

 

our first night in calypso was spent at the firefighter's fundraiser... a good ol' fashioned auction!

a welcoming plant from my parents!!

and last, but not least, we certainly will not go hungry. on our first sunday, the church had a covered dish lunch after the service that looked a little something like this. it was AMAZING.