{part two} The tree is UP!

{part two}

We decorated out little hearts out (well, I did) on Wednesday night and got everything done. The tree, the lights and the other decorations look great! Here it is when it is all starting to come together:

Stephen loves my Minnie Mouse Santa hat...he just does not want to admit it!

The start of the tree...won't be long now before it is up!

Working on putting our Christmas tree up. I bought this tree after Christmas for 75% off years ago, I think I paid 4 dollars and some change for it. It works well and I have definitely gotten my money out of it!

I just love my cute cookie jar and our new stockings for our first Christmas together. Also, my Aunt Mary made the cloth that is in the center of the table, one side is leaves for fall and the other side for Christmas...genus!

My Kitchen Christmas tree...it is normal to have a tree in the kitchen, right?!

The finished tree...beautiful!

Just a shot of the tree and the big comfy reading chair with a adorable Santa pillow :)

Our First Christmas Together ornament courtesy of Hallmark and Mrs. Holly. Thanks so much!

Isn't it beautiful?

Aghh...so cozy and Christmasey!

Putting our feet up after a busy short week and night :)

Now you have gotten tons of pictures of our home and Christmas decorations :) Hope you enjoy decorating as much as we did. Part 3 post coming soon about Thanksgiving and BLACK FRIDAY!!

Weekend Wrap Up :) {part one}

{part one}

If I were to wrap this long Thanksgiving weekend up in one blog post, it would be a very, very long one with LOTS of pictures. You know me, I like my camera and I like pictures...don't hate! So, I have decided to break this down mostly by days. Enjoy!

Even though last week at work was only a three day week, it was trying and tiring. I was SO thankful Wednesday night when I went home to our apartment and knew that I did not have to come back until Monday. 4 glorious days...Praise the Lord! The Mr. and I had planned on decorating for Christmas on SSaturday, but the Christmas bug bit me hard Wednesday afternoon. When I got home I started hauling all the pretty red and green boxes out of the spare bedroom closets. Let me just say that it is so nice to have a closet to store all my holiday decorations in, and since my tubs are all color coordinated it is very easy to determine what is Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Etc.!

While I began putting the Thanksgiving and Halloween decor away, Stephen started cooking a delicious dinner. We had hamburger steaks from the new grocery store by our house and they were seasoned perfectly. I had to document the occasion because we actually sat at our dining room table. Can you believe it? usually we sit on the couch and watch an episode of Friends...I know that is not good, but we can do it now because we can :)

Thumbs up for a yummy dinner with the hubs and Christmas PJ's :)

Oh how I love salads...and cilantro!

Our handsome chef for the evening! Thanks for cooking! :)

Mine is the one with cheese on it...of course!

After cleaning up from dinner the chaos that is Christmas decorating officially began...part 2 coming soon!

Thanksgiving!

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving!!! I personally love Thanksgiving and give it a close second to Christmas as far as my favorite holidays. I just love it when family comes together for these occasions. The food is not bad either you know! And there is also the shopping....but that is a different post for a different time! :) I have realized that I personally have much to be thankful for:

{In no specific order}

• My loving husband who encourages me daily.
• Being able to pay our bills without stress.
• Having food on our table.
• A family who loves me, no matter what!
• A job in a stable company with great benefits.
• A warm coat to keep me warm in IN!
• Photos and memories of our beautiful wedding.
• LIFE! No one is promised to tomorrow, this has been confirmed for me this week...
• Freedom to worship and pray.
• My in-laws, especially the support and encouragement of my brother and sister in law at work :)
• Friends in FL, who make me feel like we still live in the same state!
• Friendships that have grown and deepened...Brooke, this is you!
• Vacations and warm beaches!
• A boss who is respectful and understanding.
• Family in IN that has made me feel like I belong, nothing will replace my FL family but it is nice to have love and support up here too.
• Being able to be with FL family for Christmas and keeping old traditions alive!
• Our cozy apartment that is a great place to start our lives together!
• Again, my husband and my best friend!  Love you hun!

I could keep thinking of things because blessings overflow, but I need to start making some delicious green bean casserole :) Hope that you all have time today to think about your blessings and things you are thankful for. Enjoy time with family and friends and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

*To my family in Florida, Thanksgiving will not be the same this year. I miss you guys and love you all so much! Hopefully someone else signed up to bring green bean casserole, because is it not Thanksgiving without it! I will be thinking about you guys today! Happy Thanksgiving and see you soon for Christmas! YAY!





Prayer Request!

It saddens me to write this post, but the family of this beautiful girl needs all our prayers! On Monday, November 22 the Lord sent his band of angels to take precious Kristin home to be with him forever in glory. (from Kristin's FB page). Kristin was the daughter of my former boss in Florida. She 19 years old and passed away after an unexpected brief illness. She was and always will be a beautiful girl and woman of Christ. Please keep her parents, and brother and sister's in your prayers as they prepare to celebrate her life on Friday and Saturday.

Thank you Kristin for always being a light with a huge smile on your face. You have touched so many people, and we are grateful for you and the life you lived!

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4



Verse of the week!

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 

This verse has appeared in my thoughts a lot this week...just thought I was share. Even when things seem impossible; they aren't! Praise God for his blessings! Have a great Wednesday family and friends :)



We call this the Dining Room

The dining room in our apartment works well with the layout of the apartment, and is totally usable too. At the first few apartments we looked at they either did not have a place for a dining room or kitchen table, or had carpet in the kitchen; which was the only place there was room for a table. It was frustrating to me! When we walked into the apartment we currently live in, I may have done a happy dance because there was a place for the kitchen/dining room table. YIPEE!

 We painted one wall red, which we both really like :) I had a red wall in Florida and this reminds me of it, although it is completely different. The mirror on the wall actually is falling apart and I think it is too small for such a large wall...no worries, it is no longer there! We picked up a replacement at Hobby Lobby on Friday...pictures to come!

 Immediately when you walk in the door to our apartment, the dining room is on the right and it is open with the living room. You can also see into the kitchen as shown in the above picture. I purposely did not photograph the light above the table because, well...it is pretty ugly. Again, I am thankful to have a dining room so that does not really matter. We could change the light, but since it is just an apartment we decided not to put any upgrading into this place. What's the point?

Now you can see our coat closet and heater along the wall. That heater controls all the heaters in the apartment...kinda cool. I also really like having the big closet for our coats and miscellaneous things like games and tools too, it is very handy!

I plan on taking some pictures of the new addition on the red wall sometime this week before we put up the Christmas decorations, and when I do I will write a post about it so you can see. I think it looks much better than the old mirror! Hope you enjoyed this tour of our dining room, stop by next week for more :)



More Pictures :)

That's right, more wedding pictures have made their way to us in Indiana and they are so great :) I am such a picture person in general, so having hundreds thousands of wedding pictures is perfect. This allows me to pick the best ones and print what ones I want for our home and scrapbooks, but also keep the others safely stored on disc!

I was looking at disc one and was gushing over how cute my baby brother was dressed up in a tux. He really is growing up to be such a handsome young man...I cannot believe he is 16! Also on the cuteness scale is our ring bearer Will. He did the BEST job ever, and totally rocked that tux! Here are some pictures of the handsome boys:

I think you will agree that there is no argument over how handsome they are! I really appreciate and miss both of them dearly, can't wait to be home for Christmas shortly! 



Weekend Wrap Up :)

This weekend was another good one! We ventured to Fort Wayne on Friday so I could go to Hobby Lobby. We did not have Hobby Lobby's in Florida, and I have been told I need to go to one by several people...so Friday, I printed the 40% off coupon and off we went. Let me just say that this store is AWESOME. We only had a short time to spend before the store closed for the evening, and I could have spent hours in there! I must go back soon...maybe when all the Christmas stuff is on sale :)

Saturday Stephen and I slept in...aghhhh so nice! We also headed downtown to the library and left with library cards and three books. I am pretty excited about the Nicholas Sparks collection that is calling my name! After lunch 2 of our nieces came over for a couple of hours while their parents did some shopping. We had a blast with them!

Emma was determined that our new mattress was a "Temperpedic" and had to try it out. Then Hadley had to do the same...then this turned into a playing in all the feather pillows game. Hadley loved it!

Seriously, how adorable is this little girl?

Uncle Stephen was freezing outside on the playground, but it did not phase the girls...for a little while. Afterward we came inside and hot hot chocolate!

Hadley in the swing that was just for her :)

This was only the start of the playground photo shoot, it really was too much fun!

Looking at scrapbooks...good times!

Saturday night we had company :) We had cooked mac-n-cheese, chili in the crockpot, cornbread muffins, and chewy brownies *with Emma's help earlier in the afternoon. Tim and and Joy came over Saturday night for a fun night of games with yummy food. We played Uno a couple of time and really enjoyed the fellowship and time spent with friends! Tim and Joy came over for snacks and a fun game night. I forgot to take pictures while they were here, so this is all I have:

Sunday was a day full of driving, laundry, good food, family, friends and some wedding gifts! We had a great time going to church with Stephen's parents, even though we had to get up really early. Actually, I slept through the alarm clock and Stephen had to wake me up...my body does not like getting up before the sun on Sundays EVER. Once we were out of the apartment and on our way it was not bad though. We got all of our laundry done and Stephen got to watch most of the Colt's game, so he was a happy camper!

Hope you all had great weekends as well and are preparing for Thanksgiving!!! :) Have a great Monday!!

FRIDAY!

• It is COLD this morning, 24 degrees was a shock for my body!
• It is finally FRIDAY!!! This week was gone on and on!
• Less than one week until Thanksgiving and Black Friday Shopping :)
• Our Christmas tree is begging to be put up and decorated, and I am looking forward to it!
• The heater in our apartment sounds like a waterfall, it is really kinda neat. It kinda freaks me out though, because I wonder if it is supposed to make that noise?
• We did not get any snow this week, but there was ice on my car today!
• Speaking of ice on my car, the Eddie Bauer ice scrapper mitten works just lovely!
• Maybe I will start decorating for Christmas tomorrow...? Just an idea :)
• I am so thankful for our new mattress, it is so nice to lay down and go to sleep!
• Did I mention that it is Friday!?!?

Well I better finish getting ready and head to work, I have a lot to get done before I can officially start the weekend :) No worries, it will happen! Happy Friday every one, have a great weekend!





:)

We might get lucky and get some snow today :) Of course I am excited, because this is still new to me! I realize in January I will probably be begging to go to the beach and wear flip-flops...but for now I am excited about the snow! We will have to see if Mr. Weather Man is right this time!

Weekend Wrap Up :)

{No pictures in this post, sorry!}

I realize I am a couple days late in posting this, but I already had posts scheduled and just thought I would go with it! As always, we had a very busy weekend. I must say that I am looking forward to a weekend where we can stay home and not have to be anywhere at a specific time...aghh, that sounds lovely! We got TONS accomplished during our busy weekend this time, and if you know me; you know that makes me happy :)

Friday, I came home from work with a horrible migraine. After taking a nap on the couch in the dark and taking a serious dose of some headache medicine I was ready to go. Sadly, our original plans to see a friends band was cancelled (because of the previously mentioned migraine) but we did head to Maria's for some grub, went shopping to fill our Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes and then explored the newest grocery store here. We actually had a good Friday evening, followed with some awesome Friends when we got home. I just LOVE that show!

Saturday morning we were up relatively early to head to our niece Emma's gymnastics meet. We actually made it to our destination early and with some time to spare we headed to Hallmark, which was right near the gym. Oh my! This Hallmark was like my heaven, and it was so huge! We only had 20ish minutes to spend in there, but I think I could have spent over an hour. I am not exaggerating when I say it was huge, it really was. It definitely put Gretchen's in Fleming Island to shame...amazing!

Emma did great in her meet and it was really fun to watch. Not quite the same energy level as a cheerleading competition, but really interesting and exciting. I do believe I was more into the meet than Stephen though, who was playing Solitaire on his phone when I looked over :) After the meet when we got home, I got busy! I was able to put pictures in all of our empty frames...this took awhile! Also, the spare bedroom was rearranged to make room for a bed! WOOHOO!

Sunday morning we took our shoe boxes to church and then drove back to town to look for a new mattress. After laying on a couple in the warehouse, we found one; and for a great deal! Instantly I was looking forward to a better nights sleep on our new mattress. I was thinking we would have to wait until next weekend to pick it up, but no! The store could actually deliver it on Sunday. What a blessing! After running around to finish up things for the day, we beat the delivery man home; thankfully! Lots more happened after that too! At the end of the weekend we had:

• rearranged the spare bedroom
• baked a delicious pumpkin pie
• filled all the photo frames in the apartment
• purchased a new mattress
• had the new mattress delivered
• put the old mattress in the spare room
• bought and put bedding on the spare room bed
• completed a lot of Christmas shopping :)
• got a good night sleep and woke up feeling refreshed!

I almost forgot to tell you that I also did a successful craft project. I got the idea from a blog that I follow and decided to give it a try. It worked! The details and product cannot be revealed because a lot of my friends and family may be getting them for Christmas, but you can share in my excitement!

Sounds like a productive...and tiring weekend to me! We are looking forward to relaxing next weekend and maybe have a game night with some out of town friends :) Should be good! Have a great hump day and rest of the week!

Happy Birthday Mandi!

I wanted to take a few minutes and wish my cousin Amanda a very Happy Birthday! Mandi, I hope you have a great day and enjoy celebrating with family and true friends! I remember getting excited about your birthday as a little girl because you always got your Christmas dress as a gift and that meant Christmas was close by! Miss and love you!

* sorry these are old pictures, but it is fitting since we grew up together.

Also, the recent ones are all from the wedding and I am tired of posting wedding pictures to be honest...

Our Wedding Album!!

Well folks, our wedding album arrived last week via UPS and I am smitten! If it surprises you that I am smitten over a photo album, then you do not know me very well! I actually was "stalking" the UPS man when he delivered the package. Of course I had tracked it, so I knew it was coming that day and so I was watching for him from our living room...the UPS man comes after I get home from work so I was able to so this :) I heard his big brown truck and was waiting for him with our apartment door open. He was surprised to see me when he got up the stairs...little did he know that he was holding something I would treasure forever!

Yes, I do love the photo album. There are only minor changes I would make if I could do it all over again...Here are some sneak peaks, I will try and remember to bring it home to Florida for Christmas so everyone can take a look at it!

It has a lovely black leather cover. I smelled it, so I know it is legit!

Title page with some photo edits I did myself, thank you very much :)

This page is one of my favorites, I really like the full page picture in black and white and then the smaller color one too. I think it looks so nice!

Here is the page with us and our Grandma's who we love!

We also got our honeymoon album that I designed on Shutterfly. I will post about that one soon too. Have a great day everyone!