Tis the Season

Congress signed off on a measure late last night averting the possibility of a partial government shutdown. This news is a relief although I will admit I wasn't necessarily believing it was actually going to happen this time around if it didn't happen in April. Now we're set until September although budgets are pretty tight everywhere these days. Makes me glad that travel isn't a big part of my job.

We don't have a ton of stuff lined up for this last weekend before Christmas. Our mission tonight is to finish up Chuck Season 4 so that we can start watching the current season from our DVR. The show will be ending after an abbreviated 5th season and I'm curious to see how it wraps up. Tomorrow we are having dinner out with the members of my agency component and their spouses. Should be interesting, this is the first time we've all gotten together outside of the office. We also have a holiday party to drop in on after dinner, fortunately in the same area of town. Sunday morning it'll be brunch at the pub while watching Liverpool's match followed by Manchester City. We also hope to book the last of our activities that need to be pre-booked for New Zealand. This will include a day-long kayaking trip on Milford Sound!

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Looks amazing, no? I'm so excited about it! We might even see some penguins along the way. Here's hoping! We also have to research some of the many crazy activities that Queenstown has to offer. I'm hoping to do some ziplining (called Flying Fox) there. Jake is deciding whether he wants to bungee or not. I think he wants to try it but is afraid of it taking up an entire day. Hopefully we can find one that doesn't involve a long drive and a wait. I have what I call a selective fear of heights and therefore have no desire to bungee but I told him I would gladly record the whole thing if he does it.

Next week I get to have dinner with a friend who will be in from out of town. Very much looking forward to that. The time since Thanksgiving has definitely flown by but I will say I've done a better job of managing my time and really enjoying everything that's been going on. Now I'm deciding if today on my way home I should deviate the course through the mall up to Williams Sonoma for some of this and this. I have a total weakness for their peppermint bark.