It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...well, outside anyways!

Good morning, readers! I'm glad you stopped by...
This past weekend, Preston and I did a few different things, but our main focus was getting the lights put on our house outside because we knew that cold/bad weather was predicted for this week. We are excited to decorate the outside of our home this year because it is our first year getting to do so. Before, we've either been in an apartment or town house, so we didn't have outside decorations, but this year we are in a house and we knew we wanted lights... white lights, that is. I like colored lights in some places, but Preston and I both wanted all white lights on our house.
We started with the front door, and then the icicle lights, and the trees and deer. We put the candy canes up towards the end and they look so cute by our walkway. We planned on putting lights on the side of our house, too... but it was too dark and too cold by the time we got to that part. We plugged everything up and were happy with the results, except for one part where the lights decided not to work. We are going to change out the set, but haven't been able to just yet. Oh, I should also mention we have 2 posts on the sides of our driveway. We covered them in white plastic and added garland and sparkly bows, I love them! I also want to add that it was cold outside, but miss Chloe would not stay inside. She would rather be outside with us, shivering in her sweater, than inside on a blanket. Of course, she didn't mind when we went inside to warm up with some hot chocolate!
This weekend we are decorating inside, I'm excited to see our new home all decorated for Christmas...now for pictures!

Do you decorate outside for Christmas?

Chloe girl

Last Thursday, Chloe starting itching and scratching... however there weren't any fleas and we hadn't changed her food so it should have been a reaction. Her skin was really dry and flaky in spots. Normally Chloe runs to the door when I get home and she's usually pretty active with her toys. Friends kept her over the weekend while we were in Pigeon Forge. She laid around all weekend and seemed pretty miserable. We had done the vet's recommendation of children's benadryl 1/2 teaspoon twice a day, but it wasn't helping anything. On Sunday when she still had no energy and it was obvious that she didn't feel good, we decided for Preston to take her to the vet the next morning.
She got a shot, cream for the raw places she had scratched at (one on her back is really bad, but starting to heal now), and an antibiotic for her to take for 7 days. Since going to the vet, she has been doing better, but still wasn't herself. She started playing more, but not like usual...
Well, that changed this morning! She must be feeling better and had a good night's sleep because as soon as we woke up, she was ready to play with her chicken. I am so glad my little furbaby is feeling better!

Wonderful Weekends: Pigeon Forge

Hello there, readers! I'm glad you have stopped back by my little spot in the blog world. This past weekend was the much awaited trip to Pigeon Forge, TN. While it was a quick trip, it was still wonderful and was some much needed time spent with friends.
On Friday, after work, Preston and I put our bags in the car and we were on the road to Pigeon Forge.  We had about a 3 hour drive, not too bad.  We met our friends, Adam and Renee at Mel's Diner for a quick dinner.  Being a diner, we all insisted on trying their delicious looking desserts, I had a chocolate malt and it was so good.  After dinner it was getting late (we didn't even arrive until around 9) so then we headed to our hotel.  We went to sleep around midnight and we had a full day planned for the next day.
On Saturday, we woke up early to get the day started.  We didn't want to waste our day asleep when we aren't in PF often and we don't get to see each other much.  After getting ready, we all headed to a place called Mama's Farmhouse for breakfast. If you can imagine endless pancakes, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, sausage, breaded chicken, cheesy grits, cooked apples, and fruit coming in large bowls and served family style and constantly being replenished, you can get an idea of what this place was like.  It was a delicious breakfast and we had the sweetest waitress ever.  After breakfast we headed to the Dixie Stampede box office to pick up or pre ordered tickets so that we wouldn't have to wait in line later in the day.  At Dixie, there was a huge Christmas tree outside that I knew about so I took my SLR camera so that Preston and I could take pictures for our Christmas cards.  After multiple shots, we got some pictures that I loved and then we were back in the car.  We headed to Tanger outlets for a little bit of shopping.  We purchased a few Christmas gifts as well as P some new tennis shoes.  We stopped for some Starbucks and Dunkin' for drinks and then shopped a bit more at another location.  We finished up our shopping and headed to Dixie Stampede for our dinner and Christmas show.  We were early but didn't really have anything else we wanted to do, so we went by the horse stalls and looked at/talked to some of the beautiful horses that were out before getting ready for the show.  We also took advantage of the gift shop being empty because I wanted some of the soup mix, I loved being able to get what I wanted without having to fight a crowd (we'll save that for black Friday).
When 6:00 hit, it was time for the show to start.  The pre show was good, like usual, but I was ready for the much anticipated Christmas show... and the soup that I love.  We got to our seats, which were great might I add, and met our wonderful server/elf, Danielle. The battle was between the north and the south poles, we were on the south.  From the soup, to the Cornish hen, potato, pork, corn, and apple turn over, the dinner was fantastic.  The show had the stunt horse riding and competition races like normal, which is always entertaining....but I loved the nativity scene, it was just amazing.  I am not sure why, but those camels were just so awesome to me.  I don't want to share too much in case there are readers who haven't been to the show, I don't want to spoil it.  But, I will say, if you ever get the chance to go to the Dixie Stampede Christmas show, go... I believe it is totally worth it!
After the show we headed to the car and then dropped Renee and Adam off at the hotel so that we could get on the road back home.  We got home at midnight and went straight to bed.
After church Sunday morning, we went to get Chloe, she had been staying at our friends' house who were so kind to watch and take care of her. We did some laundry and made a grocery trip and that wrapped up our weekend.
Now, for a few pictures:

This tree was SO tall

friend time!

during pre show of DS, sorry for bad quality

during pre show of DS, sorry for bad quality

loved these Christmas lights

Long Weekend Recap

Hello, Everyone... I feel like sometimes I just get in a rut of only posting weekend recaps because I don't have much to say throughout the week. This week has been a pretty low key week so far, but we are adding some fun tomorrow evening, we are having friends over and then Friday and Saturday we'll be in Pigeon Forge. Remember me telling you I was looking forward to the Dixie Stampede Christmas show? Well, we are going this Saturday and I cannot wait! Be sure to check back for detail from that adventure, but for now, this is a post about our previous weekend, one in which I had an extra day off.
Friday evening Preston and I headed to Lowe's to get some an enormous amount of soil so that we could plant our fall bulbs. We had a successful trip and came home with 13 bags of soil, 2 flower pots, and a clearanced halloween garden flag that I will use next year. After getting the soil unloaded at home, we visited with friends and their adorable new puppy, Cujo.
Saturday we had some breakfast and shortly after that Nana and PawPaw arrived and we got started on yard work. We cleared out weeds, planted our flower bulbs, pressure washed the sidewalk, etc. I couldn't believe the difference, I wish I would have taken before and after pictures because it seriously looks SO much better! For dinner, I tried a new recipe and made baked spaghetti, it was different than normal spaghetti because you use cream cheese in it, it was pretty yummy, thanks Pinterest! I made brownies so that we could have brownies and ice cream, but we were all too full. Nana and Pawpaw took theirs to go and then they were on their way back home. We are very thankful for their help and as usual, it was a great visit with them. Saturday evening we ended up getting to go see our friends Cujo again. We enjoyed the rest of the brownies and ice cream and then went back home.
Sunday we went to church and then after a quick lunch we washed my car inside and out. I don't know about you guys, but I love a freshly clean car, I didn't want to drive it anywhere because I wanted it to stay clean, but of course, the purpose of a car is to go, not to just sit in the drive way.
Monday I was off for Veteran's day and I really enjoyed the extra day off. I planned to sleep in, but my internal clock got me up as usual, I did a few things around the house, snuggled and napped with Chloe girl, and got all the laundry caught up. Preston only had to work until around noon on Monday, so we enjoyed the afternoon together. I also went for my car inspection and got my sticker for my car, I'm officially a Virginian now. After a workout at Curves, I made breakfast casserole that we had for dinner and it was so yummy, if I do say so myself!
We had a good weekend and are excited for the next one. How are you guys? Any fun weekend plans coming up?

Wonderful weekends: game night, new hair, and home improvements

Happy Monday, everyone... just thought I would recap our weekend, while it wasn't very relaxing, it sure was productive!
Friday I left work early because I needed to head to the DMV for my.Virginia driver's license... I was not a happy camper, I had guests coming over for dinner and needed be home at 5:30, plenty of time, right? Wrong! We didn't leave the dmv until 10 til 6.... after finally getting out of there, we got home and I started making the soup for.dinner. Even though the evening started rough, see enjoyed having friends over for dinner and game night, we played clue.
On Saturday, Preston and I both went to our hometowns, but not together. Preston went home to work on his car, fixed the problem and gave it a wash. I went to Kentucky because Chloe girl and I had hair appointments, after dropping her off at the groomers, I went to my appointment. I knew I wanted to go brown and ditch the blonde.  After looking at some colors, we (my hair dresser that I've known since birth and I) picked a brown with a tint of red... yes you read that correctly, RED! I wasn't sure about it, but now I love it. In this visit I also bought the flat iron I've been wanting and I was super excited to get it for 25% off! After mine and chloe's appointments, we went to my parents house and I helped my mom organize her sewing room and install a new cabinet and counter top. After a visit to my grandparents, it was back on the road and an hour later I was back home.
Sunday we went to church, then walked back home for lunch. After a quick lunch we started laundry and then went outside to work on our flower bed project. The bed is now ready for planting, which is this coming Saturday's project. We also got the new medicine cabinet put on the wall in our master bathroom and we love it! After that we headed back to church. We've started working in the kids Christmas musical and it's going to be great! We enjoyed Mexican for dinner and ended the night with straightening up the house a little bit. It was a great weekend and we got lots accomplished! Already looking forward to next weekend!

Welcome to our new home!

Woohoo for Friday! Hope everyone has had a great week. Preston and I have settled into our new house which is now beginning to feel like home! Even though we still have lots if work to do, I decided to take some pics (sorry for the poor cell phone pic quality) to let you see a glimpse of our home....

Wreath on our front door



Living Room



We still need to get/make a t.v. stand, but this works for now

I love this little table for some reason :)

Chloe's pile of toys, spoiled much?

What will be a game room, table is in there for a puzzle right now

walking into the kitchen

Still need to add a table runner and the window curtain

back hall/mudroom area

My mom got me these cute little pumpkins

utility closet

Guest bathroom

Guest bedroom that we haven't done anything with

master bedroom, yes, those are Chloe's stairs to get on the bed

Our stain glass window on the front of the house

Hope you enjoyed the walk through of part of our house, I left a little out until we get it finished :)