Christmas Highlights

Wow, so much to blog about! I'm sure most of you blogged about your Christmases last week, but I'm a little behind. I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. That's bad ladies! It's been one of those weeks, err months.

Let's take it back a few days to Christmas eve. Beau and I went to our Christmas eve church service and it was AMAZING! I seriously thought they had the Trans-Siberian Orchestra there. (On a side, we are now official members of our church as of 12/6/08!! It was a very exciting day for us and we can't wait to get more involved.) It was decorated so beautifully. We had a candle lighting ceremony and it was very emotional. The room was lit up and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. So pretty!

We came back to our house after church and opened up our gifts to each other since we were going to be staying at my parents house that night. We went ahead and got small gifts for each other aside from the elliptical and rifle scope. Here's what I had: a beautiful gold locket and Yoga Toes from my fabulous-ly funny hubby!! Love them!

Jesus' birthday cake!

Next is Christmas day at my parents house!! My mom got me, my sister and herself some new furry Uggs! (Above) And this beautiful Dogeared "daughter" necklace. I teared up pretty good when I got this one. Sweet gift!I have to give a shout-out to my precious parents for celebrating their 28th anniversary this last Saturday!! I love this picture of them. I ran out of chairs since we had the whole fam over so I used some dining room chairs and they sit very low! I like how they are doing the 2&8 with their hands. This, of course, was after a few glasses of the ole' vino :)

Below is the gift that my aunt gave them, Margaritaville Blender. You should have seen my dads face light up when he opened this! I have to admit, I'm a tad jealous :)

Whew that was a long post!! I had a feeling this post was going to be filled with pictures. Thanks for being patient with me through it all :) I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got everything you were wanting! You all deserve nothing but the best!

P.S. We finally got our room fixed from hurricane damages. It has been over 3 months sleeping in the guest room!! We built our house and were in it for maybe 3 months and then BOOM! We had carpet in there, but decided to go with wood floors. So glad we did! I love them!!

Read more...

Christmas Card

Now that I have sent out my last Christmas cards, I figured I would share them with you all! I really like how they turned out. Since we got married in April, I thought we might as well use a wedding pic since we spent all that money!! Next year we will definitely have Miss Daisy on there with us :)

Hope everyone is enjoying their week! Can you believe that Christmas is almost here??? I have so much shopping left to do. However, my fabulous husband gave me my Christmas present on Sunday. He got me an Elliptical!!! You have no idea how excited I was to get this. I have used it every day, even twice on Monday, and I'm loving it!! I can't wait to start seeing changes. I know it will take a couple of months, but I'm patient :)

Read more...

Snow Pics!

I thought I would share a few pics from last nights wintery snow. It wasn't much. Maybe and inch. Still exciting as we haven't seen snow here since 2004 and even then it melted the second it hit the ground! I took around 80 pics. Seriously! I had to document it as it was our first snow as a married couple and Daisy's first snow too. Laugh all you want, but it was so fun!!

Spiral tree in front of our porch

Trees in the backyard

Beau and I :) We were so excited!!

I love this pic. I caught her flying mid air. She doesn't really run, she more jumps in the air really fast. It's cute! And of course she loved the snow!!

Our tree skirt finally came in the mail!! Love it! It matches our stockings!!

And our stocking holders came in also! We're still waiting on Daisy's to come in. It matches ours but instead of it having the velvet dots, it has velvet dog bones. Yay!!

Hope you all are having a fabulous Thursday! We are having our Christmas party/lunch at the office today. I'm on my second Mimosa. And I have eaten so many bad foods. I'm going to make myself sick if I think about it anymore!

Read more...

Ummm....

It's officially snowing here and I feel like I'm 5 years old again!!! This doesn't happen that much in Texas, especially here, so it's pretty exciting! Hope everyone has a wonderful afternoon. I can't wait to go home, start a fire and let miss Daisy out so she can play in her first snow :)

Read more...

Aww for me?

Last night I got home, opened some wine and threw in a pizza for me and the Mr. I thought it was just a regular Thursday night until my handsome Beau came walking in with these! Thanks hun, you're a sweetie!

I was definitely not expecting that! It's funny how flowers can really change a girls mood, isn't it?? He racked up a few more brownie points for that. I wonder if this had anything to do with the fact that he's having a "guy night" tonight???? :) He got a little something too in the mail that he was pretty excited about:

If you ladies aren't sure what this is, it's a scope for his rifle. I ordered it on Thanksgiving and it came in last night. He gets it early because he's going on a hunting trip in a couple of weeks. He was like a kid with this thing. He didn't stop smiling all night! HA

I hope everyone is having an awesome Friday! I had a great lunch with Lauren and we indulged in a little shopping afterwards. So much fun!! Tonight my sister and I are going to dinner and a movie. I can't wait!!

Read more...

S'mores?

I love it when the weather gets cold. Last night it finally got into the 30's. I got to break out my puffy vest and faux Uggs as I sat on the couch and had a beer(s).....classy, right? Every time the weather hits below 55, we have a fire. The Beau is completely obsessed with making fires. I guess it goes back to the whole caveman fire thing. You know the "me caveman, me make fire." Now I love a good fire; feeling the heat, the coziness, smelling the wood burning; but our house smells like a constant burnt s'more and it's starting to make me feel a little nauseous! I smell it in the shower, the bathroom, our closet, everywhere!! I'm not sure how I'm going to get this smell out of my new couch! Oh well. Maybe I'll go buy a couple of candles today :)

Oh and here's some more evidence of us torturing Miss Daisy! I'm convinced she loves the attention though.

Read more...

Turkey Day and Christmas Decorations

Hello Ladies!! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It seemed to go by so fast! This was the Beau and my first Thanksgiving together as a married couple. I'm not used to eating 2 HUGE meals in one day so that was an experience all in itself. We had "lunch" with Beau's family at 3 and then my mom hosted dinner at 6. When the Mr. told me that his family normally ate T-giving at lunch time I was thinking noon. Well, that wasn't the case, so we got to cram in 2 meals in 3 hours. Let me tell you that I hope this never happens again. I felt sick! But it was sooo good :) I really love the food around the holidays. I can't imagine not having the traditional turkey, dressing and pie. I got to spend some time with my Mimi too! I was able to snap a few pics:

Me and my Beau

My momma after a long day of cooking....she's stabbing that roll!!
Me and my sweet Mimi in her "Cowboy orange" (She's a big OSU fan:))

Friday we spent the whole day putting up lights outside. The Mr. did such an awesome job! He was like a pro on his newly purchased ladder, ha! He hung those lights really fast for our first time.

Mr. A on his ladder. He's wearing shorts and a t-shirt b/c it was about 80 degrees outside.

The finished product (sorry for poor picture quality. Guess what's on my wish list....)

We decided to hang garland in our entry way. Now this little green strand of fake pine has caused a couple of arguments in this house. Aaron seems to think it was all his idea to hang it, but for the record, I was the one who first mentioned it and had the idea to make it "swoop" in the middle!

Saturday, we went to cut down our own tree. We got there a little late and it was raining so we had to get a pre-cut tree. No big deal. It's a real tree and that's all we wanted!! It's a fat tree too! We didn't really expect it to take up so much room, but it's perfect. We decorated all night and watched football. Here's a pic of the finished tree and the TV stand. I'll give the Mr. credit for the TV stand because that was his idea. I must say, he's quite the decorator. Should I be worried????

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I can't believe it's already over and it's December!! I have so much more shopping to do. Have a good night!!

Side note: Aaron just informed me that we have more ice cream in our freezer than food. Is that gross or what???? Santa, please bring me a treadmill and a stocking full of self-control, please!

Read more...

Thank you, thank you very much!

Did you get the Elvis impersonation there??? Well, I received the Superior Scribbler Award from Holly over at In My Over Active Head. She is so sweet and I really enjoy reading her blog! She has something new everyday. If you haven't already, go check her out!

Now I wish this didn't limit me to only 5 people!! There's so many blogs that I love, but I'll try to narrow it down.

The rules of the award are as follows:
1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Link me for giving it to you.
3. Link the originating post here.
4. Pass the award on to five more deserving people.
5. Post these rules for your recipients.

I will be passing this award onto:

*Hollie at All Things in Moddy - Hollie is the most hilarious person ever! I love, love her blog. Her little girl, Kate, is so precious and she and M to the Izza always seem to have the best time. And she has an awesome "after baby" body! So jealous!!

*Mandy at House of Rose - Mandy is an adorable momma to little P.....seriously, how do you moms do it??? They have the cutest family ever and are about to break ground on an amazing home! Go check her out!!

*Kari Beth at Living the High Life - Kari is such a sweetie and I love checking up on her blog. She and I have several "commenalities", ha! Both hubbies names are Aaron and we both have doodle dogs. Mine is a labradoodle and hers is a goldendoodle. I say we meet up for a play date someday :)

*Lindsey at Sweet Simplicity - Well being a fellow Okie, I was so excited to come across her blog! She loves Braums and the OSU Cowboys!! Gotta love that!

*Amy at Chapters - Amy is such an inspirational woman. I am addicted to reading her blog so I can see what words of wisdom she has for me each day. She just posted her letter that she wrote to Oprah! How fun is that!

and 1 more....

*Lauren at Team Rudloff - Lauren is a real life bestie! I look forward to her posts about their fun trips and Benny, a lab with a tremendous amount of energy!

Hope you all are having a fabulous Tuesday! I'm heading out of here at 5 and taking tomorrow off to go shopping with my big sis and then spend some time with the fam. I can't wait!!

Read more...

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Christmas! The beau and I went out this weekend and bought our Christmas decorations. You have no idea how excited I was while we were perusing the aisles! He was such a trooper too; especially putting up with my indecisiveness..."should we have gold, silver and red ornaments, or just gold and red, or maybe green and silver, or a combo??" I am dying to do a theme this year, but the ol' budget won't allow for it. So we went with white lights and gold/red ornaments. I am hoping to go back this next weekend for the sales and get some "specialty" ornaments that can go along with the gold/red combo. We also bought our outdoor lights and garland. I can't wait to get it all up! We were both itching to do it yesterday, but thought our neighbors would think we were overdoing it. Friday can't come soon enough!

This weekend is a short one at work and I am so looking forward to spending some time with my family and my grandmother who is coming into town. I can't wait to just hang out with her and talk. She was my inspiration when it came to cooking. I loved baking with her and my mom, especially around the holidays. Unfortunately, in the last couple of years she has come down with Dementia and doesn't really remember much about cooking. She made the most fabulous meals though!

I hope everyone has a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Read more...

Friday food splurge

So, Fridays are normally my splurge days here at the office. One of us brings breakfast and/or coffee and we eat and drink away. Here is what my breakfast consisted of. Forewarning, none of this is by any means healthy:

Sticky Bun (this was delish!)

Cinnamon Dolce Latte (Superb)...non-fat so that saved me a little

And one of the coworkers just went out to get us all lunch from Raising Cane's. So incredibly fattening. Fried chicken and sweet tea (1/2 & 1/2 at least). I'll probably regret this tonight. It may be one a head straight home and jump into my sweats kind of evening :) Hope everyone is having a fabulous Friday!!

Read more...

Does this make me a loser.....

That my parents have more Christmas parties and events to go to than I do?? My mom has called me several times to see if the Beau and I are available to babysit my little sis. We have no plans so of course we're available!! My company is foregoing their Christmas party this year and if the Mr.'s company is having one then I won't find out until the weekend after they've had it. I doubt any of the neighbors will have one since it's a new street and no one has really gotten a chance to meet everyone. I could always host something, but do I really want that pressure? Nah! I just want to show up somewhere and have some fantastic (free) cocktails and delicious food. So I'm just wondering if anyone else is going through this right now or am I the only one.

On a side note. I went shopping today at lunch and got some pretty good Christmas gifts. I also found some stuff for the house and a couple of cute stocking holders. Can't wait to put up all of our Christmas stuff. Hope everyone is having a swell afternoon! Tomorrow's Friday!!

Read more...

Happy 50th Pappa!

Today is my dad's 50th birthday! It has been such an amazing weekend celebrating it. My dad has been such a great inspiration in my life and he is the best dad a girl could ask for! He is incredibly patient......I guess he kind of had to be with all girls in the family :) I am so proud of my dad and look up to him so much. I still remember the seconds before he walked me down the aisle. I was so nervous and we had all been so emotional leading up to the day, but he held it together for me in that moment. I looked up at him before they opened the doors and said "I love you daddy." It was one of the best moments from that day.

Now onto the celebrating. My mom planned a surprise party at Americas. It's one of our favorite places to eat. She invited neighbors, friends and coworkers. He was so surprised and incredibly grateful. It was such a great night! The food was awesome and the wine kept flowing. He got some pretty fun gifts. I thought I would share some pics from the night!

Here he is with his "old geezer" glasses on! I'm sure he'll love that I posted this one!!

The inflatable walker I got for him just in case he couldn't make it out of there on his own ;)

Family picture!

My favorite girls: big sis, momma, lil sis and me

Big sis and me. Isn't she just gorgeous!! Love her!

Read more...

Hello Lover

These little beauties arrived on my doorstep this afternoon. I thought I would share the excitement with you ladies! They were courtesy of my newest shopping addiction, RueLaLa. It's pretty much an incredible online shopping experience. They were having an amazing Gucci sale and these sunnies were at a great price! A girl can't pass up a sale, now can she? Now, these didn't actually come on the best of days as my wonderful (gritting teeth through fake smile) husband decided to sit down with me tonight and twirk our budget a bit. No big deal. I'm actually a little excited to see how much more of my paycheck I can save. Riiiigghht..... It's actually pretty sickening going over my bank statements and seeing where all my $$ has gone. Not a proud moment at all! So let me apologize to you right now, Mr. Economy, because I am no longer allowed to stimulate you :(

Hope you all are having a wonderful night! It's Thursday tomorrow. We are through the worst part of the week. It's all uphill from here!!

Read more...