...but almost time to take a jump into 2008. I'll have pictures tomorrow because we're still enjoying friends, food, more food, drinks, and games. Big turnout tonight - like eight couples.
Here's to everything in the new year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
This has been one random, up + down, decision-making, creative, in-the-moment, thinking of the future, crazy year. I wouldn't have it any other way. I started to do a year in review, but it's really hard to narrow down the events of this year - so you can go back and read my archives if you're so inclined.
In January, I picked a word that I wanted to focus on in 2007: DECIDE. It was the perfect word and just what I needed to live and learn during the year. I'm still indecisive when it comes to most things, but the DECIDE mentality has caught me in the moment many times when my attitude is poor, or when I just need to make a decision and do something. Here is what I wrote about my word at the beginning of the year...
And it really means so much more than just making decisions in everyday life. I know that's going to be tough! It also includes attitude (Sheri, here's some COM 102 for ya) because deciding to have a better outlook and attitude about things can change your whole perspective. I want to have an awesome 2007, make myself a more positive person, to be more confident, have a better life, have better relationships, enrich my faith, get out and do more, and only I can decide to do those things. To wake up and decide that it's going to be a good day. To look at the mess that's around my apartment and decide that it's okay because we are blessed with food that dirties our dishes, clothes that clutter the bedroom and laundry basket, and kitties so full of life that they fling litter all over the bathroom floor. Just to decide means so much, and I love it.Here are some of the major decisions of the year...
in the month of December. One day left to top my number of posts from 2006 - and this is number FIFTEEN OF SEVENTEEN. One more post and I've totaled my number from last year, two more and I've trumped it. I know 2006 is laughing at me right now, mocking and making faces, saying that I won't reach my goal, but watch when I conquer and kick its butt BACK TO WHERE IT CAME FROM! I'm impressed that I've posted nearly every day for the second half of December. I'm even more impressed that Dan has cheered me on for this feat - he's so supportive of these crazy things I do.
I'd like to say that I'll post nearly every day from now on, because I want to. I'd like to create that habit for myself. We'll see. I think I document a lot more that way, rather than trying to remember things that I did over a weeks' or months' time.
Yesterday - Dan and I went over to a co-worker's house yesterday so they could both change the oil in my car. We also had lunch together, which was really great to get together and chat. This guy has been such a blessing in our lives, and totally helps and motivates us with our financial plans. And IF left to my own devices, my car probably wouldn't have the oil changed for another few thousand miles. Somehow I think when I say, "hey, my oil needs to be changed soon" that some oil changing genie will just pop out of the sky and change it right there - or at least make my appointment for me somewhere reputable. Since no genie has popped out of the sky yet (at least not while I'm watching), and we don't live near a money-sucking Dodge dealer like I used to go to before moving to Kentucky, I'm glad that Dan is looking out for me.
After my car was roaring to go, we ran a few errands. Hobby Lobby was one of our stops, and while we went to return something instead of shop, we ended up finding some note cards and envelopes made of kraft paper. SCORE. I already loved kraft paper before this whole business and packaging thing came along, but now I have a pure obsession.
Speaking of obsession, we also stopped at Starbuck's on the way back from our errands and I tried a gingerbread latte (with soy, half-caff... more adjectives than syllables in the drink). Mmmm, that stuff is like taking a little gingerbread man and drowning him in your coffee. Not that I'm into gingerbread men killing, but if I was that's what I would do. I also heard that Scott and Mary Ellen had their own coffee stop for a peppermint white mocha recently and enjoyed it. ;) Just delivering the good coffee news to the masses, and emptying your wallets, that's what I do.
Last night while I was half-caffed up, I got the idea to clean our office. I took 'before' shots, but I'm not going to show them until the office is finished. It's too embarrassing. I'm a pile-maker who's married a fellow pile-maker, and we make lovely piles together. You really could not see the floor in here, except from the doorway to the computer chairs. After my plow-through last night, we at least know that we have carpet in here and can see almost all of it. Just don't look in the living room because that's where the crap has been moved to until I can get the office in an organized state and start to move things back in.
Today I slept longer than I wanted to - no surprise. I made a quick breakfast (brunch) and we headed out to the older brother's house that couldn't come to dinner with us last week. I have two older brothers. We were there for a few hours and exchanged gifts, and shared a lot of laughs. We totaled my mom and dad, Dan and I, brother + SIL + their three kids, and my other SIL + her two kids. The other older brother that came to dinner with us last week was out of town today. Have I thoroughly confused you now? The younger brother was working today, so he couldn't make it either. We got a gift certificate to BB&B which will come in handy. The monogrammed canvases I made were well received - yay. I also decorated monograms for the two nieces, and may have mentioned them, but never posted pictures. Here are those:
M for Megan.
B for Brittany.
Here's a gift that I made for Dan to go along with the Call of Duty 4 game I gave him for Christmas. I was holding it last night and thought my legs would make a nice shelf to take pictures. It's just a simple jar filled with little sentiments that he can read each day. 
This is the back of the jar, stating that he's only to enjoy one message per day - or else there could be consequences. Dun dun DUNNNN. So far it's been fun to see him so excited to pull out a message every day.
Still tonight - it's already midnight but I'm trucking through to finish up Mandy's invites now that I have my final detail, and they'll be in the mail tomorrow! I might clean the office more, or start making a cover for this project. I got the idea from Elise to make the round Christmas tags for my gifts, and now she's starting a prompted challenge in OH-EIGHT to document your life from week to week. There are so many weekly things I've TRIED to do and failed, and I should probably only document life right here on this blog, but I'm intrigued. We'll see...
Time for a late rock and roll session to get things done - and another night of butchering my sleep schedule. Oy.
...(as I shout over the hills like the Sound of Music.)
Hello post number 100. It's taken me a long time, but I'm glad to finally get here. Two years and a week to be almost exact. I can only hope that in another two years + one week I will be past post number 200 - my goodness. That would be January of 2010 and still in the time frame of my 101 in 1001 list. I sense another crazy goal in my future.
Today wasn't as good as yesterday when it came to the butt-kicking factor, but it still ranked up there to be a pretty good day. Dan took a nap in the afternoon and had to do some web work after that, so we didn't get to run our errands. I did, however, run to Chipotle to get us dinner, and to the store to pick up a few groceries and yum things to drown in chocolate. After dinner we rigged up the fountain and gave it a whirl. Mmmmm, if it wasn't so much work to clean the darn thing afterwards, I would use it after every meal (somehow I don't think that would help in the calorie department, so I'm glad that cleaning is a deterrent for me). But if you're looking to swim in chocolate up to your elbows while you clean off the chocolaty parts, then it's quite fun. Dan suggested we take it to a couple parties we have coming up, so we might have to do that to use the leftover chocolate we have.
While we were melting the chocolate and getting things ready, we thought our new neighbors upstairs might be trapeze artists or dance-dance-revolution masters because their bass and jumping was insane. Dan went up there like the college resident adviser he used to be and got them to quiet down. Now I feel old admitting that. Turns out they were having a party and dancing to that "one hop now, y'all... cha-cha now..." song. Before that song, though, I could tell their beat was the booty call song, so I had that in my head all night.
We also watched the Simpson's movie which was funny. Now I can't get "spider pig, spider pig..." song out of my head. And who knew that, like, five people do all the voices for the characters on that show?
Tomorrow's Saturday and one step closer to going back to work after the new year. That's a yuck in my book. It is a new day and a chance to enjoy it, and get more things done while I have the extra time, though, and that's a big yippee to balance out the yuck.
It's quite late for this night owl, and time to catch some sleep.
Enjoy the heck out of your Saturday.
That's exactly what I did today. Granted, I didn't get my butt out of bed until noon, today didn't stand a chance against my productivity.
A big hello to the 27th as well. We love the 27th over here. Today equals my lucky (or unlucky) post #13 of 16... or 17 I guess I should say. Not many posts left until my goal is completed, and not many days left until it's a new year. I think I have my one little word for 2008 already, too, eeeeeek! Who else is going to pick one?
Here's what went down while I was kicking booty (and Dan was out doing manual labor for some extra money - how I love him): lunch, laundry, cleaned the bathroom - yuck, cleaned the kitchen, more laundry, email and such, read some blogs, a little more laundry, dusted our bedroom and moved a couple things around, listened to Christmas music all day, did I mention there was a boat load of laundry, dinner, halfway put together Mandy's bachelorette invites until I get a final detail, talked to Dan once he got home, folded laundry that just came out of the dryer, and now I'm reading more blogs and posting to my own. Boy it was a full day. Hopefully tomorrow can be just as good.
Yes, the Christmas music is still alive and well here. I don't like that radio stations feel the need to start playing Christmas music at the beginning of November, and cut it off the first second Christmas day is over. I need a little fade-in and fade-out, if you will. I also turned on the tree and kitchen garland lights while I was cleaning today so I could enjoy them a little longer. My favorite Christmas song - Christmas is all in the heart by Steven Curtis Chapman.
Christmas is all in the heart
that's where the feeling starts
and like a fire inside
it touches every part
'cause Christmas is all in the heart...
And even if no white snow falls
that's alright because
the joy can still be found
wherever you are
'cause Christmas is all in the heart.
my 101 in 1001 list in a while, I thought I would talk about it tonight.
I've knocked off a few little goals, edited a couple, and even added some. I also changed the color meanings because orange seemed to stand out more for completed things, while the teal is lighter for things in progress:
COMPLETED (lately)
I'm posting twice today.
I also happened to think about my first posting here at casa de very vicki, and I looked back to find that it was two years ago on December 22nd. I missed it! So I'd like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my blogger. I feel like I should have something to give away, but I don't. Unless you'd like an all-inclusive pass to clean my apartment...
A milestone passed yesterday also - Dan and I have had our kitties for a year. Oh, how time quickly passes.
Tonight we had a good time with Dan's family. I actually fell asleep on the couch before the aunts and uncles showed up. The little one pictured above could NOT WAIT to open gifts. He was walking around the tree saying all the gifts were his. Once we told him that he could open his gifts first, he ripped right through each one and moved onto the next. Who gave that boy so much sugar?
I think the aunts and uncles liked the framed photos we gave them, and I'm sure the cousins liked the cash we gave them. Who doesn't like cash? We received a couple Rachael Ray cookbooks and a restaurant gift certificate - yum. We'll have to take advantage of those soon. Something else I got from his family was a Cricut cutting system. It's the little tool with a keypad and different letters/shapes that you can cut out of paper for scrapping, cards, whatever. It came with a couple cartridges to play around with - now I just have to find a project to use it.
After dinner, gifts, and such, Dan and I were putting together Lego things for his little brothers. They always get Legos for Christmas, and Dan always ends up putting them together, so I took one over this time. That was fun, and we left once we were done.
Tomorrow I have all morning and afternoon free to fill as I please. It's a little intimidating... what do I work on first? I think the first thing on the agenda is Mandy's bachelorette party invitations. Mandy's getting married A MONTH from tomorrow! Anyone good at writing speeches?
Hope you had a holiday full of blessings and cheer - and that you don't have to get out in the shopping madness this week (unless you want to, then I don't know what to tell you).
Welcome to the double digits - number 10. Yesterday we went to my parents' house, had dinner together and exchanged gifts. Among all the other good food we had, Dan and I made some brown sugar weenies because my dad liked them so much when Sheri made them at my shower (back in the day). Dad also made some kind of bacon-wrapped water chestnuts that were really good. We took almost 100 pictures, but here are the ones I chose to use this morning... 
Mmm...who is that handsome guy sitting at the table?
Brother, Rob, making faces as usual.
Meet April the cat. You can see by the look on her face that we're invading her territory. Better look out.
Meet Amber the kitty cat.
My parents got Dan a ladder since we borrowed theirs when we moved in here last year and kept it for a while. Hehe.
Mom and dad looking at the wedding album we made for them.
Rob the GAP model, fashioning his new scarf. 
Me rubbing some new Victoria's Secret lotion on my hands.
My mom got me cute jammies along with the purple diva hat.
Amber was assisting us with the ribbons, what a big help she was.
We had a good time and everyone received great things. We watched Christmas Vacation while we were there, too. Dad got my mom an ipod this year, and we got it from him Friday night at the Christmas show to put some music on it for her - until we can teach her how to use itunes. She's all about music, so hopefully she can get a lot of use from it.
Besides the lotion, hat, and jammies, I also got a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN and the chocolate to go with it. I can't wait to use that for the first time. One of my aunts sent over a cute little ready-made Christmas scrapbook that we'll have to stick our holiday photos into. Dan and I also got a new memory card for our camera, so that will come in handy.
Today we're going back over to visit Dan's parents, and his mom's sisters + their families will come over to exchange. We had a couple 8x10's printed and framed for them, so hopefully they enjoy those. And with that said, it's time to get moving. Maybe I'll have enough time to post again tonight.
Merry Christmas.
Going for simple today, even though the simple has taken me a couple hours already to round up. Here are some of the details I'm enjoying lately, in no particular order.
Sleeping in was wonderful today. Our church doesn't have services the last two weekends in December so volunteers can have some time off with their families, meaning there was no need to get up this morning. I have a few things to get ready for tomorrow's visit with my parents and younger brother, so I'm off to see what I can get done today... in between blowing my nose.
Here's to Sunday lovin'.
...because I'm still sick and today has been a long day for me. Scratchy throat, congested then runny nose, wanting to cough all the time, and just not fun. This is #8, though, and I'm still rolling along.
Today at noon we went to the annual Christmas party for my father-in-law's side of the family. I don't think we've seen most of them since our wedding, so that was nice. The pot luck lunch was also delicious with all sorts of food. We were able to pass out more of our greeting cards, and received a nice stack as well.
Afterwards we went to Dan's parents' house to exchange gifts with them and his grandparents. Dan got a free trampoline for his little brothers, so they had to be distracted while he put it together in the yard. When he was done, the boys had to close their eyes and walk out in the yard - they opened their eyes and saw the surprise. They loved it and we all took a turn jumping.
While we were going back inside, Dan told me to take his brothers into his mom's office and keep them there until he got all the gifts inside. Once placed, we walked out of the office to see a surprise for ME instead of them. While Dan had gone out to his parents without me lately, he had been making us a custom headboard and floor mirror. Boy was I surprised! They look awesome, and Dan has already given them a home in our bedroom. I'll have to show pictures when I'm not so tired.
Dan's parents and grandparents loved their gifts from us. We gave his parents one of the wedding albums I designed and his mom got chills from it. His grandparents cried upon opening the 20x30 custom framed picture of the cabin Dan put together for them. The matting and framing he had done yesterday looked amazing with the picture, and I'm really glad we could give such a touching gift.
There were other gifts exchanged also, but I may talk about those later. Right now we have Dan's little brothers spending the night at our apartment (playing video games) and I'm going to get ready for bed. I'll be sleeping with a cool new headboard above me tonight, and sleeping in as long as I want tomorrow.
Nobody wake me. I need to sleep off this plague.
Goodnight.
I REPEAT - THE PRINTER HAS LANDED.
We picked up three packages from the office today. When we're not here, UPS drops them off there instead. One was some more printable DVD's we ordered, another was our print order (finally), and the last was OUR PRINTER! It's so flipping HUGE that the office couldn't even put it in their package closet, they had it sitting out when we went to pick it up at lunch. If I worked in the office I might be so inclined to take something like that home with me... and say it never arrived. Hehe. Dan started putting it together and setting it up at lunch while I had to go back to work. He stayed home the rest of the afternoon so he could get our 20x30 matted at Hobby Lobby, and run a couple other errands.
Tonight we went to see a show/play at church called Awaited. Both sets of parents + my younger brother + Dan's grandparents came to see it. The show was PACKED. It was different than Dan and I thought it was going to be, and shorter, but still pretty good. Something like 25,000 people are going to see this show across the multiple times it's scheduled. Our auditorium sits 3,500 people on three levels, so there's a math problem for you.
Here's our lineup of holiday visits starting tomorrow... remember I said that I would have SO MUCH TIME during my time off to do whatever I wanted? Now that everyone's pulling us in 10 different directions, that was all an illusion.
Not the best picture, but I finally got a bunch of these gift tags (slash) ornaments done last night. I think I have something like 16 of them, all dangling from my witchy fingers. Mama always said I had piano fingers. These little things weren't hard to make at all, though I started out trying different gluing methods - liquid glue, tape runner, and glue stick - to find that the glue stick was the best. Quicker to put on than a tape runner, faster drying and not quite as messy as liquid glue.
Today was pig out day #2 at work, but I learned my lesson from the first pig out day and ate a lot less. I took in some magic layer bars and they went pretty quickly. I took three for myself throughout the day, but let's not share that information with anyone else.
Tonight has been quite unproductive for the ONE night we were supposed to get a lot done. I came home from work to find Dan in a cleaning mood so I joined in for a while and the place looks half decent. Then, one of his friends was in town so we all had dinner together, and ever since Dan's been working on our wedding video. Yay for editing wedding video! We have video files from two different cameras at two different angles, and he's such a trooper trying to match them together for changing angles throughout the video. I was supposed to finish up my crafty things tonight, but somehow the time has slipped right by. I thought I had plenty of time tonight after posting to finish things, but then I remembered that it's Thursday, after 11p, and time to get in bed... not Friday with plenty of time to stay up. Ooops!
I will leave you with one last picture - my canvases. They haven't been coated with sealant yet, that's the next and final step. They do look a little shiny because of the iron-on, though, where it was not flat and hard to iron. These are for my two brothers and their families. I hope they like them.
Oh, and because I am supposed to spill the awesome news I found out yesterday... Dan's grandparents are getting us the LASER PRINTER we want for Christmas! AND it's estimated to be here by UPS TOMORROW! We're going to be printing some rockin' business documents soon enough. YIPPEE I'm so excited!
It's late, I'm just under the deadline for posting today, and I'm going to sleep!
Goodnight.
Our little Merry has been playing with this remaining piece of lighted garland. She likes to use it as a little fort for jumping out and tackling Urple, and I just happened to see her happily wrapped in it last night. Her nickname is little face because we've always noticed her face (and nose/mouth in particular) are smaller than her sister's. She just has the CUTEST little face. Everytime we hear that Old Navy commercial with the new song that says "All it takes... is a little faith..." we are sure it says little face (not faith). Merry's most recent cute thing to do is call me from around the apartment. She's called me "mama" for a while now, but she'll be moseying through the apartment while I'm in the office and she'll call out ma-MA! She'll do it a few times until I answer back... and she comes right into the office and looks at me like we're having a conversation. I wish I could get it on tape/camera/something. There have also been a couple times when I've left and Dan is here with the kitties - Merry has laid in the middle of the living room floor and said "ma-MA?" When Dan says, "Mama's not here, Merry" she'll let out a crying meow. Too precious.
Am I really only at five of sixteen? Goodness. Here's a random useless fact - in pulling these pictures for today, I noticed that our camera has taken ALMOST 4,000 PICTURES! We've only had it since mid-September, so three months. That's a crazy amount in that amount of time.
My five-day work week has turned into four after I took off sick today. The reason for my grumpiness the other night was partly because I wasn't feeling 100%, and it just got worse with my throat and congestion, so I got into the doctor first thing today. In fact, the same doctor that I wasn't too sure about the first time - and this time she wasn't bad at all. It was quite an interesting appointment, too, because the power went out for most of the main road here. Our power at home didn't go out, but it was back on everywhere else by the time I got back from getting my drugs at Walgreens anyway. At least the traffic lights were working again, so I assumed the power was back. There's some work being done for a new little shopping center, so that could've been the cause of the black-out, not sure.
The only bad thing about my appointment was waiting beforehand. A man and his wife walked in, checked in, and sat right across from me. No big deal, except that the woman looked terribly sick and was holding one of those little plastic puke buckets. Ugh, for anyone that knows me you can imagine that I was on the edge of my seat just eying that woman hoping she wasn't going to use that little plastic thing. At one point, she sat up and I thought she might get sick, so I just walked out the front door to get some air and wait for things to be all clear. Really... would she have used it in front of other people, or would she have walked 20 feet to the bathroom? Thank goodness I'll never know. Yuck. I was singing my praises with my raspy voice when my name was called. 
Since I've been talking about packaging so much, I thought I would post a couple shots. Above are the two deliveries we made last week, with one of the card orders sitting out. Those were Christmas cards for one of my brothers and his family. I created the wrap for our gift bags - which house some white tissue paper - along with the wrap that goes around the products. I don't know about you, but I love getting and giving gifts, so this packaging is really cool to me. It's like opening a gift. We're sticking with the brown kraft bags and other kraft products for a natural look, then the white labels and wraps. Very simple and clean.
Below is the order of DVD slideshows I mentioned at some point. We happened to have these little AOL CD boxes around that they used to mail out (one thing that has been positive from Dan's pack-rattiness). We pulled the labels off of them to expose this awesome wooden box that we sanded and labeled. If anyone remembers when I did Rhonna Farrer's 21-day challenge to create a habit, I used one of these little boxes for my mini album. I don't know if we can find anymore of them because I haven't looked - I know you can get the metal ones and those may be easier for us in the end. I do like the way these match our kraft packaging, though, so I might have to look around. 
Tonight - my energy is up since I've drugged up and relaxed today. I made my canvases last night and I need to take a picture of them. They turned out okay, but not as good as I imagined because the canvas wasn't supported with wood in the middle and was hard to iron. I need to decorate some monogram letters I got for the two nieces, and continue making those little gift tags. Busy, busy, and crafty. We found out that our print order is shipping today and will be here on Friday. We apparently misunderstood how backed up the print house was. Wowsers, so we'll have to work quick to get that 20x30 matted and framed once it comes in. Still pretty calm over here, though...I think. :)
I also found out some AWESOME news today, but I'll leave that for tomorrow's post.
Dan's home now and it's time to giddy-up.
Yep - I skipped a day. Now I can only skip one more day. Actually, if I want to beat my posts for last year instead of just tying them, then I have no days left to skip and should add one to my total. I'll figure it out later, but if I'm a grumpy pants who runs out of time again like last night, then I might be looking at a some two-poster days. This is #4 of 16.
One week until Christmas day. WOW. It feels like just last month Dan and I got married. Now that was almost seven months ago. 
Yesterday - was the big WEIGH-IN DAY. As I suspected, I ate too much and had one too many Starbuck's coffees to lose any weight. I went up by 1.5 pounds, yikes. Dan, however, went down something like .2 pounds, so he won again for the week. I guess that's what happens when you actually go grocery shopping and have food in the house, even if it is decently healthy food (and when your Kroger's puts in a Starbuck's kiosk near the front door - doh!). Now we're starting to enforce weekly treats for whoever wins. Maybe I'll try to hold back my peppermint white mocha cravings for the next time I win a week. Though I do feel somewhat validated when I say my drinks are made with soy and no whip. The hundreds of calories seem much better that way.
After work yesterday Dan and I finally ended the chase of all chases for our illusive picture frame. There were a couple of options at Hobby Lobby with the sales they have going on, so we decided on a larger one that won't put us too far out of budget with matting and everything. But since we don't have the printed picture in our hands yet, we have to go back later in the week to get a mat matched and made. In case you're wondering what we're framing, it's a variation of the cabin anniversary invitation I made. Dan wanted to take the cabin photo (where his grandma grew up) and the poem his great-grandma wrote about the cabin, then add a photo of her...situate them all on a 20x30 layout for large viewing and hanging. I'm hoping our order ships today so we can have this thing and a couple other printed gifts in time to frame them. Two day shipping doesn't help when the stuff isn't shipped yet.
When we got back home last night, I went to work on printing the envelopes for our Christmas cards and putting them all together. I'm pretty happy with the cards, but I could be happier... maybe if we had the cats cooperating for their photo together, instead of putting two separate photos on the card, it would look better. But we all know how the old "herding cats" saying goes. Oh well, they're still cute - the cats and the cards. And as of today, most of the cards are off in snail mail land. The rest will be hand delivered at Dan's holiday party this weekend. Yippee.
Today - was pig out day #1 at work, and the girls also had a party this afternoon with lunch. Too bad I didn't find out about the party until I had already gone home and eaten lunch. I've eaten more food today than I care to admit... maybe a couple days' worth. Bleh.
Dan is doing some shopping tonight and helping his mom decorate... and I should be out searching for his gift, but I'm clueless for what to get him. Sure he gave me a couple ideas, but I'd really like to get something different or more original. I thought we had already spent enough on each other this year (you know that monster camera, business stuff, and all), but he already got me something without talking about exchanging. Sneaky move #826 in our relationship - I don't know how he does it.
I better get a move-on if I want to get some things done - there's shopping if I can come up with any good ideas, getting out the iron to make my canvases, folding/gluing lots of little circles into gift tags, and whatever else I can KICK OFF MY TO DO LIST!
Photos shown include...
1. our Christmas tree of red and gold
2. a teddy bear ornament that I painted in college (along with one for each of my roommates - Mizzle, Lizzle, and Sizzle I think)
3. an ornament that Sheri and Adam got us last year for our tree trimming party
FOUR DAYS IN A ROW - I'm on a roll at three of sixteen.
We finally got the tree decorated last night along with the little things here and there. My favorite things are the cinnamon pine cones that I have randomly placed on shelves. As long as little kitties don't try to run off with them, then we're good. Oh, my other favorite thing - candy canes. I'll post some pictures next time. I'm definitely feeling the Christmas spirit and loving the details all around me.
I'm posting from my big, comfy couch after a day of shopping and running around. After church today Dan and I made our delivery and hung out for a while until we were hungry for lunch. Potbelly was the choice today, and a good choice it was. Then started our WILD GOOSE CHASE for something that doesn't exist - a 20x30 picture frame (or larger frame with a mat) for el cheapo. We hopped around to multiple places looking for a frame that would work - without a whole lot of success. We did find a couple other things for gifts and a couple things that we needed, but aren't done with our Christmas shopping just yet.
This week we still need to check Hobby Lobby for our frame since they were closed today, and also find the remaining things before time is up. I'm still cool and collected, but could've started shoving random shoppers if we were out for too much longer in the craziness today. Geesh.
Dan and I have five days of work left before we're off for the rest of the year and New Year's. Those five days will certainly be busy for me, but there will be pig out day where everyone brings in some munchies. I can't wait for the food and time off. Dan's excited to work on our website more during our time off, and I'm looking forward to whatever I want. Cuddling, relaxing, business stuff, catching up on scrapping (if I can remember how), you name it and I've got the time for it.
That's about all of my boring chatter tonight. I'm going to play a game of LIFE with Dan before heading off to bed.
Good weekend overall - laundry done, decorating done, shopping almost done, and time together. Yep, sounds successful to me.
Get up and enjoy your Monday.
Two of sixteen.
A short one tonight. No questionnaires to ramble at you, and I need to finish decorating. You'd think we'd have that finished by now, but last night I spent some time on the couch with Dan after posting, then we decided to do the dishes and go to bed. Party animals over here.
Tonight we were supposed to go to a Christmas party with my family, until it snowed more this morning and nobody wanted to get out in the nastiness. Bummed about that - won't get to see a lot of family until who knows when. Instead we did some laundry, got an order of DVD slideshows finished and packaged up to deliver tomorrow, went out to dinner, hit up the Wendy's drive-through for frosties (yummy), and now we're going to actually decorate. And eat our frosties.
Hope you're enjoying your weekend. If not, go buy a frosty - they make everything good.
Okay, so I'm one of sixteen on my final 16 posts for the year. Yippee! This is Mandy and me after her shower in November. Man my hair has gotten long. Reminds me that I'm due for a trim and re-highlighting. If you want to read more about Mandy's shower, read a few posts down on her blog. There's a photo of me and my car on there with a funny story. Never a dull moment over there. Her wedding is a month and a half away... time and to-do lists are ticking!
Speaking of Mandy, here is a little question-tag thing that she had on her blog also... a good way to use up some posting space.
1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
Hmmm... December of 1997 I was newly 16 years old. I was probably ready for Christmas break and anticipating my driver's test on the day after Christmas - which I passed on the first time. My parents bought me a used car after I passed and got my license. I wore baggy/alternative clothes, had a fetish with the color black, was into hanging out in an alley behind a coffee shop (that provided us a couch), and watching the skater boys and band guys do their thang.
2. What were you doing 5 years ago?
December of 2002 I was in my third year of college and 21 years old. I was living with Tiffani and Dawn for the second year, along with a new girl named Wendy that was assigned to our quad apartment. Not the wisest decision to live with Tiffani another year (or Wendy for that matter), but I digress. Mandy only lived two apartments down from me, so we would hang out all the time and watch The Kangs, and eat at B-dubs where we would have one drink and walk out tipsy. She was able to help me through a lot that school year, and I was able to throw her a surprise 21st party. I was also working at the bagel place, and enjoying lots of money while working the month-long Christmas break.
3. What were you doing 1 year ago?
December of 2006 I was 25 years old, engaged to Dan, and planning a wedding. We moved into our new apartment in October, and had a tree-trimming apartment warming party at the beginning of December. The save-the-dates were already out, I had already found my dress, and we were getting ready for a nice week off of work and juggling the families for the holiday. Dan also adopted our kitty babies around this time as my Christmas present - awwwwww.
4. What did you do yesterday?
Yesterday I worked my full time job during the day, and came home to work on business stuff. Dan wasn't home so I made an easy dinner for myself, read some blogs, added to my own blog, and worked on some packaging and branding. Oh, and printed my iron-ons for a gift.
5. Snack I enjoy.
Am I only limited to one here? I love snacks - hence the weight loss challenge Dan and I have going right now. Anything chocolate is good in my book, those new flavored rice crisps are good, and every now and then I like some cashews or honey roasted peanuts (or mixed nuts).
6. Things I would do with $100 Billion Dollars.
I would probably give some to my parents/family and in-laws, build our dream house and buy a new car, buy whatever Dan wants/needs, see who/what else needs to be blessed, start college fund for future kid(s) because it'll cost multiple body parts by the time that rolls around, save the rest in a nice interest yielding account and play it by ear. Although, there are some restaurants Dan and I would like to have around... maybe we'd start a franchise, ha!
7. Locations I would run to:
Starbucks? Not sure about this question... don't think I would run anywhere, though. Maybe a brisk walk, but not a run.
8. Bad habit I have:
Taking too long to analyze things, and inability to make decisions - these pretty much go together. I also like to have certain things certain ways. That just makes me sound like a bucket of fun.
9. Things I like to do:
Make lists, be creative, take photos, have date nights with Dan, play with our kitties, sit on a comfy couch at church and read, etc., etc.
10. Biggest joy of the moment:
That I really don't have much to do tonight other than spend time with Dan, clean, and decorate. And we just ordered a couple 8x10 photos for Christmas presents - easy peasy and cheap.
With that said... in true BOOYAH style, if you've read this and want to do it too then you are tagged. I'm off to spend some time with my awesome hubby and get some things cleaned.
YEE HAW! I woke up last week Wednesday morning to a nice little blanket of snow outside. It was still dark, but I managed to get a few good shots. I could have waited until lunch to come home and take photos, but I wasn't sure if the snow would last that long - looks like I was right since it turned into a mixture with rain before noon. BOO! At least we had snow for a little bit.
Christmas status - well, there's only something like 11 more shopping days after today and I'm surprisingly calm about that. The wedding albums should be arriving tomorrow from the trusty folks at UPS. We already had one made and shipped to us to check out the final product, and as soon as that happened we ordered two more for both sets of parents. I hope they like them. Another online gift was delivered today, and I'm also making a couple iron-onto canvas gifts this year that have already been designed (and printed as of five minutes ago) and just need to be put together. Once they're made I'll take a picture. Other than that, there are small things to buy for my nieces and nephews (who are old enough to gladly accept cash anyway), and an enlarged print to order for Dan's grandparents that will be sent off tomorrow probably. Plus any last minute things we decide to throw into the mix, there are always some of those. Yep, calm and collected...for now. I'm glad that it's about the thought and heart this year, rather than the money - small gifts that will hopefully make a big impact. Dan may disagree since he's the one keeping track of the money, but we're definitely within budget, hehe.
I still need to make those little thing-a-ma-bobs that I mentioned in the last post for gift tags, but those should be pretty easy considering all the supplies are at hand and the process is simple. Since I'm a pack rat when it comes to paper scraps (you never know when you'll need a little slip of something!), I have a stack of all the circle punch-outs from our wedding programs and thank you cards, and they're a perfect size to use. YAY for me! I would use our leftover purple ribbon too, but that probably doesn't scream Christmas - or match with our wrapping paper.
Last weekend we put up our Christmas tree and got out the decorations. Now they're sitting in the middle of the living room floor waiting for placement. Throughout the week Dan started to put the lights on the tree, and put garland on top of our kitchen cabinets, and I put out the nativity set. We're getting there...maybe by Christmas it'll all be done and the place will be clean. We'll have to leave the decor out until February to enjoy it for a little bit, ha.
Business status - things are just too fun right now. It's been a lot of work to get to where we are, and there's still a lot of work ahead of us, but we're enjoying each step. We've shown the photos to our three photo families already - a very rewarding part of the process, had a few greeting card orders, are looking forward to some print orders, and have started on our packaging design. We delivered two packages last night and were able to use the new packaging. IN LOVE with it so far. It's cool to see that Dan is just as interested and excited about packaging (and seeing the final products in print that go into the packaging). The best part has been feedback from our photo families and others with experience. Love the feedback and always ready for more.
One suggestion I'm following is to streamline our branding. If you noticed, we were going color with the [insert dreams here] stuff and black & white with the [photography collection] stuff. No longer - it was getting to be a hassle. We liked the division and the black and white scheme, but sometimes there was a fine line between the "is this stationery or is this photography?" debate, especially in greeting cards. After I change the photo stuff to have the same branding as stationery, then you will only see color. Some of the changes were easy and already done, but I still need to tackle the gallery.
Weight status - besides the fact that I'm eating a kitkat right now (sshhhhh...), Dan and I had our first weigh-in this past Monday. Somehow Dan lost SEVEN POUNDS in a week, and I lost three. Four pounds sounds like a good difference, but percentage-wise it's almost the same. GO US! He beat me by a tiny percentage, though, so go Dan! I was proud he lost so much the first week. I'm back down to my wedding weight, which is odd because I don't feel (or look) as thin as I did then. I don't think you could get me into a swimsuit right now, even if you drugged me and sent me back to Jamaica. I'm happy with my start anyway. The only thing I hate about losing weight is the loose dress pants and jeans. Most people would be happy about that, but I like my clothes to fit without having to buy new ones. If I go down about 10 more pounds I have a ton of jeans and dress pants waiting for me from before I started dating Dan, so I guess that's an incentive. Skinny jeans!
Mental status - I think I'm going crazy, but I have this idea to top my amount of posts from last year. Crazy? Yeah I thought so. Anyway, I posted 50 times last year, and this year I'm only at 34 including this post. Just a measly 16 MORE POSTS during the month of December and I can deem it A goal accomplished. Not sure if I can BS my way through 16 posts, but maybe you guys can ask me questions to answer here, or challenge me to take a photo with my mouth full of marshmallows or something. I do have discretion, remember, and not a lot of extra time. Maybe that'll give those anonymous guests a chance to comment - I know they visit multiple times a day, I see all.
Tonight - Dan is visiting his parents and I'm trying to knock out some things on my list. We finally got our Christmas cards to the printer yesterday (better late than never I guess), I have some packaging and branding to work on, and I wish I had a peppermint white mocha in my hands. The kitkats will have to do, though, 'cuz it's time to roll!
OH - and our friend Craig has a Christmas song up on his myspace - We Three Kings. Go check it out!
Hello Tuesday and a forecast calling for SNOW. I love the snow. Dan is not too fond of the white stuff, but I'm ready for it. I do need to find my scarves, though, haven't seen them in a while.
I've seen some really cool projects online lately - not that I want to stuff anything else onto my to-do list, but they're drool-worthy anyway.
It's Sunday night after a VERY productive (yet relaxing) weekend. Sounds like the best kind of weekend to me. Pictured is one of the album spreads I did for our wedding album during the last few days - love all of those pretty details. Reminds me of all the fun designing time and effort we put into the wedding, and how it all turned out better than we imagined. The final album will be 8.5x11 and I can't wait to put the final touches on these spreads and send them off to the print house.
Last weekend - after two days of family and food we took Saturday and Sunday to watch a couple movies, eat leftovers, and give our couch lots of attention. Such a nice change of pace.
Wednesday - Sheri was rolling through town on her way back to Columbus and stopped to have dinner with us at Dewey's Pizza. Seems like we only get to see her for an hour at a time, so I'm looking forward to her birthday or sometime that we can hang out more. She had a chance to get her photographer feet wet this weekend with her aunt's wedding and I want to hear ALL about it! We also got to meet with the Ricketts crew to give them their photos and I'm glad they finally have those and other goodies to go through.
Thursday night we got out with another couple from work for a night at Shadowbox. Except for the guy sitting next to me who apparently slipped into a vat of his cologne before leaving the house, we had a great time. It was a hilarious show! They're doing their holiday stuff now, so the Christmas songs from the band were awesome.
This weekend - yesterday I worked on our wedding album while Dan took a domestic role in the house. He did all of the laundry AND dishes, vacuumed a little, and even PUT THE CLOTHES AWAY. What a great guy, I love that he did so much while I was working on things. Today I finished up the album pages except for a few last details, got some other things accomplished, and I'm ready to rock and roll on some more things throughout the week.
December looks mighty promising - I've pulled out my Christmas music (though we haven't pulled out the decorations yet) and I've been trying to think of those perfect gifts for everyone. Parents will be getting a wedding album and HOPEFULLY a wedding video - they don't read this so I should be safe saying that. Not sure yet for the siblings and other relatives. Maybe we should figure that out pronto.
Okay, I'm BORING myself here, let's move onto something a tad more interesting - a weight loss challenge between the hubby and I. For the record, I'm all fine and dandy with myself and I've only gained three pounds since my wedding weight loss (yay!)... but I would like to lose those pounds that have collected right at my stomach and also start exercising before those three pounds turn into THIRTEEN. Dan also wants to lose weight since he gained a lot back after the wedding, and have someone to make him exercise (and he thinks that I'm going to be an exercise motivator - HA!)
So here's the scoop - at the end of two months (maybe three) we're going to see who's lost the biggest percentage of weight. THAT PERSON will win a prize of their liking, yet to be determined. So far we can only come up with things that the other would want too, so that doesn't help. I lost weight pretty easily before the wedding, but my biggest downfall is SWEETS! You can take away all of my food and stick me with rice cakes and water, but take away my chocolate and someone will get hurt. Call me crazy - I do.
Hopefully tomorrow we'll make a trip to the grocery store and get some yummy healthy foods (not that we eat horribly now) in this place and begin this thing! More to come as we nail down some details.
Oh - notice a change in the old blogger? While I'm planning on losing some weight, it's gaining some girth. I want my photos to be larger so you don't have to squint to see what I post, and hopefully I'll get the look I'm going for. Happy for all sides.
Time to get some sleep!
...equals good times.
Happy Thanksgiving my american amigos. Hope yours is full of good food, good people, and good things to be thankful for. This is my first turkey day as a wife... our first turkey day as a married duo. There's a lot to be thankful for right there.
Tonight we're visiting with my family. Tomorrow we visit with Dan's family. Two big ole' days of goodness. Dan and my little brother are playing Wii as we speak. Meet Rob - who likes to eat - his birthday is today. The big 2-0. Boy do I feel OLD. Where does the time go? He sure has grown up to be one cool dude.
Since NO ONE played along to my invitation design guessing game last time (and Mandy couldn't participate because she already knew the answer), here's the dish. I made the swirls to look like half of Mickey's head. Do you see it? It's apparently a hidden Mickey, and that makes me a genius right? Although, it was so hidden the bride herself (the ultimate Disney fanatic) didn't even see it. So what does that make me? Maybe that little secret needs to be a part of my big Matron of Honor speech...
In older news - the surprise 50th anniversary party for Dan's grandparents last weekend was a success. In true hillbilly style, everyone was dressed up in their overalls, bandanas, and whatever else they could find. We even had a shotgun wedding for his grandparents to "renew their vows." They were so surprised showing up - even after they helped setup the night before with false impressions that the party was for someone else - that his grandma cried. There was a bluegrass band, and Rob rocked on the soundboard. Here are some photos right out of the camera. Life looks GRAND in 50mm...
Me with my parents - the numbers were for the "best dressed hillbilly" contest...
Dan with the "newlyweds"...
I realize that my striped sweater doesn't exactly scream HILLBILLY, but it was the closest I had. At least I threw in some pigtails for good measure. His grandparents won the best-dressed contest - as they should.
That's about it for tonight - relaxing and watching the boys play video games. I tried a few new recipes today that didn't all turn out as planned, but that's okay. Cook and learn. Tomorrow's another day to stuff my face.
Enjoy the turkey and blessings.
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