Christmas 2011

Here's just a random assortment of pictures from our Christmas!!

We had a lot of fun this year hanging out with Blake & my parents,

and, as always, with our nephews & nieces and their families!!

Wow! My mom looks so sassy!!

My sexy husband, preparing some Beijing Beef!

Cooking up a storm!!

Of course, Ellie gets to sit aside while rest of us work!! :)

Awww, my little bro ... this really is a horrible picture of both of us, but it's the only one we got!

Don't ask me what we were doing - this is a silly photo!

A cup of chai in my Polish Pottery from my sister, Jess!

Our favorite give that we gave this year! In case you can't see it, the awesome gold foil letters read 'Bruthas Fo Eva'

Sweet Evangaline in her Christmas Cracker Crown!

Hello!

Lizzie & her hair feathers!! She LOVED them!!

Our Christmas Eve Chinese Dinner! Yumm!!

Ice cream with Omar!!

Donuts with Marisol!!

Carter Fam!!

"Sam, it's a hat ... full of CANDY!"

Silly Sam!

Sweet Sadie Jane!

A Christmas Miracle

Meet Blake - my favorite brother and chef extraordinaire!!

(Don't let the beard and scary evil tat fool you,
he's a softie ... 
AND,
I've NEVER eaten anything he's made that I didn't like)

Blake came home for a short Christmas visit

and wowed us all with his cooking skills for Christmas Dinner!!

For the fam, he made these ribs! 

They looked AMAZING, smelled AMAZING, 

and according to everyone eating them, tasted AMAZING!!

For me (because he loves me, and I'm his FAVORITE sister, 

and I happen to be partial to chicken and turkey,

and I haven't eaten anything other than one of those proteins since the age of 14),

he made this Chicken Madeira.

I have to post two pictures because it was just THAT good! 

The chicken was absolutely AMAZING 

(and it was fun to learn how to cook - the flames over the pan were quite impressive), 

and paired with the AMAZING mashed potatoes and the AMAZING asparagus, 

it was quite a perfect Christmas Dinner.

So there we were, enjoying our dinner, eating like kings on Christmas day ...

Then ...

This happened ...

Blake - my 'favorite' little brother, put a piece of ribs on my plate. 

Right there, next to my AMAZING chicken, my AMAZING potatoes, my AMAZING asparagus.

Of all the ways to ruin my meal ...

For 15 minutes I was told by my brother, 

my parents, 

and my HUSBAND 
(who should support my crazy eating habits NO MATTER WHAT), 

that if I were EVER to try a piece of meat for the REST of my life, 

THIS should be it.

The pleaded, and begged, and promised, 
and cut that tiny piece into an even tinier piece ...

I'm pretty sure that when I picked up the fork, my dad went into some kind of shock.

I handed Nate the camera and told him that if it happened, there had to be proof ...

And I DID it!!

I tasted the ribs!! 
I put them in my mouth, chewed them up, 
savored the AMAZING sauce that Blake covered up the meaty taste with ...

And then I spit it out into that bowl that you see sitting in front of me!!

It was Christmas, after all, and I didn't want to have a sick stomach for the rest of the night!!

But I did it!!

I tried them!!

I enjoyed the way they tasted!!

I tried a piece of the best tasting ribs that Nate had ever tasted,
then I confirmed with myself that I am content eating chicken and turkey!!

And even though my eating habits will remain the same, 
I took a step towards bravery that Christmas Dinner,
I tried a piece of ribs!


It was a Christmas miracle!!

2012

Wow! 2012 already?

It has been a great year for Nate & I! We spent a lot of wonderful time together, with our families, with our friends, and we made some really fun memories!

This new year is going to be a big one for us, with lots of changes that will be coming our way! We are looking forward to the changes as the challenges that we'll conquer together!

We rang in the New Year with our good friends, the Wilkies! We had dinner, played some games, laughed a lot, and counted down to midnight!

If things work out the way we're planning, these are the last holidays we'll be spending so close to our families and best friends, and it has made this year extremely special to us!

Pampered

I literally just got done getting a  massage! There is nothing quite like the feeling of getting all of the stress and tension rubbed out of your body!

If you've never had one, I HIGHLY recommend it ... especially when you've got nothing else going on that day!

Angies

Nate & I took our nephews Sam and Jack to dinner at Angies tonight!
Its been a while since we've hung out with them, and we had a great time!









As a side note, I got a new phone for Christmas, and I'm LOVING it!!
I'm pretty sure that I'll never be smart phone free again!!

What the What?

So I jumped on line this morning to see if any of my final grades were posted ... here's how it went:

- log in to Access

- go to 'Final Grades'

- look down the list

- realize that Stat's grade has posted

- cringe out of fear and worry

- actually look at my grade

- laugh, out loud, and say, 'what the what?'

- text Nate to tell him I pulled a B+

I don't know how I did it, I truly don't. Perhaps a little divine intervention, a good friend to study with, and a really awesome teacher ... I am so relieved that I don't have to take that class over again - I really was worried about it!!  I don't have the grades for my other classes yet, but for some reason, I'm not so worried about those!! :)

Downtown at Christmastime

I am lucky enough to work at a downtown office!
I love working early in the day and later in the afternoons in December because of this:

All Sugared Up

Last Friday, Nate & I hung out with our nieces, Lizzie & Eva, so their parents could go on a date!! We picked up a Gingerbread Kit, some extra candy, and some Peppermint Frosting (*** side note, Peppermint Frosting = YUM!! We were literally dipping our fingers to sneak tastes ***)

The final masterpiece!!

We're quite sure that more candy and frosting went into mouths while decorating the actual house, and the girls were a little sugared up for a bit, but Nate & I enjoyed every minute of our time with them!!

We Are Grateful For ...

Through November we kept a list at the top of our blog listing the things that we were grateful for that day! Here's the list for safe keeping :)

11/1: Panda Express!! A quick and tasty dinner after a very long, long day! 11/2: We are grateful for our jobs, and for the fact that Nate gets paid overtime for crazy hours over the last few weeks. 11/3: C: The Stadium Express! Now that it is getting colder, a bus ride from the stadium to campus is much more enjoyable than the walk! N: A regular, normal 8 hour shift!! 11/4: Today we are grateful for dinner with family and for the tastiness of penny candies!! 11/5: We are grateful that we know how to make each other laugh and to see the humor in every day situations. 11/6: A lazy day & Vampire Diaries to keep us entertained! 11/7: The time to make an awesome dinner together (seriously, it was awesome)!! 11/8: Vitamin C to keep us healthy when we start to feel sick! 11/9: Making time to snuggle up on the couch in spite of our busy schedule! 11/10: Chocolate Oranges! Tis' the Season for this tasty treat!! 11/11: Words can't express how grateful we are for our Veterans and for our freedom! 11/12: C: So excited that she got to photograph a birth at 1:30 in the morning! N: The fact that he didn't have to leave the house at all!! 11/13: Time to spend together! 11/14: C: A 9:30 bedtime after a harrowing Stats test! N: homemade chicken ranch salad!! 11/15: C: Helpful advisers willing to get me into the tough to get into classes so that I can graduate next Spring! N: Netflix to keep me busy while my wife is at meetings! 11/16: Sudafed! We are both extremely grateful for Sudafed today!! Oh, and C is also grateful for the almost hour long chat she had with her little brother!! 11/17: C's successful presentation in her Family & Social Policy Class and the fact that she didn't have to practice on N anymore! 11/18: Impromptu hang outs with some of our best friends!! We love laughing with the Wilkies and we are grateful for their friendship! 11/19: C: the opportunity to capture a sweet new baby with her camera, N: the opportunity to take out some aggression while working on C's parents basement. 11/20: A mid-day viewing of "Breaking Dawn" to entertain us! 11/21: the fact that C was able to sign into her tough to get into classes for next (her last) Semester! 11/22: the chance to get some things crossed off their to do list! 11/23: Relaxing after a long day!! 11/24: Happy Thanksgiving!! We have SO much to be grateful for that we'll dedicate a whole post to it this weekend!! 11/25: C: That she got to go to the Novemberfest with her mom and buy a cute wrap! N: Black Friday is over!! 11/26: The Elf, Christmas Decorations & a clean house! Let the holiday's begin!! 11/27: A rare Sunday afternoon nap together! 11/28: C: Only 4 Stat's classes left! N: a nap on the couch while C was at Stat's class! 11/29: Finishing up our Harry Potter marathon (several weeks in the making) with HP & the Deathly Hallows Part 2. It was just as good at home as it was in the Theater! 11/30: C: Nate did the dishes tonight so that she could finish up some photos, and she is grateful for that! N: grateful for technology so that he can keep in touch with his family easily!!

Christmas Card Holder

Every year since we have been married I have pondered and wondered on the best way to display the Christmas Cards that we get every year!! We love to get Christmas Cards in the mail and we love to display them throughout the Holiday's as a reminder of our family and friends, far and near, that we are blessed to know and love!!

I was browsing the wonderful world of Pinterest (yes, I said it again) and found one that I knew I had to try out:

***DISCLAIMER: The third, small stocking that you are going to see in the following picture is NOT an announcement. It is a stocking for our cat, Rascal. Again, THE SMALL STOCKING IS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT! It is a stocking for our cat that we love! Yes, we are one of THOSE couples!!



As I wandered through Michael's looking for color inspiration, I found the red glitter paint and immediately knew it had to grace our home for the holiday's! I found the frame at DI for $3 (although looking back, I should have sprung for the $8 frame that was two sizes larger), and then I came home and put it all together!!

I decorated our house for Christmas the same night, and then we watched 'The Elf.'

It's officially Christmas Time at our house!!

Thanksgiving Photos

As promised (because I know you are all anxiously awaiting to see these), here are the photos from our Thanksgiving Day!!

Apparently, we were having problems getting it together with the flash, because these are the best three photos of the two of us throughout the WHOLE day!!



And here are my parents, adorable as ever!!

And here are a few more from our time at my parents house:

We also headed over to Joe & Ollie's house to spend time with Nate's family!! Nate thought it was HILARIOUS that he & Jack planned to keep their eyes closed in this picture:

As previously mentioned, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and we have much to be grateful for!!

... A Thankful Heart ...

(graphics from www.silhouetteonlinestore.com)

To be honest, even though I have much to grateful for, I am kind of annoyed with myself for only posting what I am grateful for through the month of November! Growing up, I was taught that 'gratitude is an attitude' and even though I may not always express it outwardly, I try to focus on being positive and make sure that my attitude is in check and remember that I am very blessed! Perhaps one of my goals from now on will be to post more about the small things that I am grateful for! I really enjoy making our list throughout the month of November because even though most of the things on that list are trivial, they make our lives what they are and contribute to our joy!

However, today is Thanksgiving!!

I LOVE Thanksgiving! I LOVE the anticipation, I LOVE walking into a home that smells like turkey and potatoes, I LOVE eating the tasty food - but most of all, I LOVE the tradition that my family has when we go around the table and say what we're thankful for!

Most of the time, what we have to say is obvious and sometimes it's even pretty funny, but the older I get, the more I am grateful for those obvious blessings! Our tradition has changed and evolved a little as we have gotten older, but it is still one of my favorite things about celebrating Thanksgiving!!

Nate & I celebrated the day (feast wise) with my parents today! After we finished eating, we sat around the table and each listed 5 things that we were grateful for - here are mine:

1 - Nate! Words cannot express how grateful I am for Nate! I honestly can't imagine myself in a life different than the one that we have built together. I love that he is funny, I love that he is respectful, I love that he loves me, and I love that I love him! He is my best friend, and every day I can't believe how happy he makes me and how my love for him has grown!

1a - Rascal! She is a part of our little family, and even though she is getting old, she is the best cat anyone will ever have!! She is my something small to snuggle when I get down, and I am grateful for the unconditional love that she gives to me :)

2 - Our families! When I was little, my sister gave me a wall hanging that said, 'God made us sisters, love made us friends.' This quote, to me, applies to our families! I am SO grateful for each and every member of the family that I was born into and the family that I married into. Our nephews and nieces are some of the best things in my life, and I am so grateful that I am an aunt to them and for the relationships that I have with them!

3 - Our friends! Even though we don't get together as often as we like, I am so grateful for my best friends and their families! They always know how to make me feel better and they always know just how to make me laugh! I can't imagine my life without them! (B&B, love you ladies :)

4 - School! I am so grateful that I had a break from school in the Spring, and I am so grateful that I went back to school this Fall! I have blogged about my feelings for my education many times, so I won't get into details, but I am grateful for the opportunity that I've had to go to school!

5 - Free Agency! Over the past year or so I have really taken the time to sort through some of my beliefs and my feelings. I'm grateful for the chance that I have to question, to study, to seek advice and really, truly, decide what I believe in and how I want to live my life. I am grateful that I am an adult and that I can think for myself and make decisions for myself! I feel as though I have really grown as an individual this past year and that I know more about myself than I ever have!

It's late, and I'm tired, so I won't go on, but don't be surprised if you see some random gratitude posts throughout this blog more often - I think it's something that I definitely need to work on!

I really hope that you have all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you have taken the time to ponder and be grateful!!

Until next time!

Oh, and one last thing: I'm grateful that my mom and I conquered our losing streak and finally won a game of hand and foot against Nate & my dad! It's been a long time coming!

Oh, and one more last thing: I'm also really grateful that we were able to skype with Nate's parents and his brother tonight!! We have really missed having them so close and it helps to be able to skype with them!!

Oh, and this is really the last thing! Pics of our Thanksgiving Day to come this weekend!! :)

It's All About the P's

Apparently, a lot of the things that I am digging right now, start with the letter P! To give you all a nice visual, I googled the letter P and it came up with all sorts of adorable graphics, but today I'm feelin' girly, so I chose this one!!

(graffityartamazing.blogspot.com)

Anyway, here are some things that I love that start with the letter P!

- pico de gallo - the homemade stuff! Nate & I have pretty much perfected it! I can't get enough of it!

- pasta salad - specifically the chicken pasta salad that my mother in law introduced me to when I started dating her son

- Panda Express - (yes, I'm aware that so far, it's all about the food, but a girl's gotta eat, right?) On Tuesday's, our local Panda Express gives 10% off to students. We LOVE that!

- Potter - Harry Potter, that is! Since the final movie was just released, we decided to watch them all and build up to a big viewing of 7 & 8! We are going slow, but I am SO enjoying watching all of the movies again!!

- Pinterest - yes, it's true, I still love it! I've been able to cut back from being an addict to checking it for two or three minutes a couple of times a day, but boy oh boy, there are some great ideas to be found out there!!

- PANDORA!! Have you tried Pandora? I am in LOVE with Pandora!! My favorite stations? Glee, of course, Jack Johnson, The Jonas Brothers (don't judge, it's light cheery music) and U2!!

I've got to head to class, but I'm planning on adding more to this list as the day goes on! What things do you love that start with a P?

... Just Because ...

So, I picked up my Graduation Application from the Registrar's Office yesterday!! I was practically giddy as I was walking through Campus, holding Nate's hand, picking up the papers that would declare me 'official' and allow us to end this stage in our lives and begin with a fresh start, maybe in a fresh place ...

I know that I've said it before, but here I am, saying it again - I cannot imagine my life without my educational experiences. I am SO grateful that I decided to 'distract' myself with going to college and I know, without any hesitation, that it was the right thing for me to do and at the right time in my life to do it.

If all goes well, I will be walking across some makeshift stage, wearing an awful gown and receiving a piece of paper that will turn into a diploma at the end of next Spring!! I am SO ready to be done with school and while part of me is super nervous about not knowing where we're going to be 6 months from now, I am definitely ready for the new adventures we will have!!

At the risk of sounding prideful ... Go Me!! :)