Thanksgiving 2014

How has Thanksgiving already came and gone?  Is it me, or is the end of this year flying by?  Thanksgiving was wonderful and I certainly enjoyed 6 days off of work, what a treat! Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but sometimes you just need a break!  I worked extra Monday and Tuesday so that I didn't have to work the half day scheduled for Wednesday.  So we'll start this recap there on my first day off.

 

Wednesday, the first thing I did was sleep in (of course). I didn't even set a clock Tuesday night which was awesome. This girl loves her sleep.  After sleeping in and then having breakfast, I got ready and went to my parents house to make a few things with my mom and then brought my sister back to my house.  After making a few errands and dropping Brinley off at cheer practice, I spend most of the afternoon/evening at home.  Later we had a Thanksgiving service at church, which was also really good.  After church we went to my grandparents house and visited with my family for a while.

 

Thursday morning we were up and on the road.  We headed to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Preston's side of the family. We really enjoyed family time and the meal was delicious (thanks again, Nana!).  After eating and visiting, we rested a little while and then Preston and I got ready to do some shopping.  Our first stop was Kohls, getting there right when they opened.  Surprisingly, lines weren't bad at all and it went so much smoother than previous years.  We continued our shopping through the night and got home around 1am. 

 

Friday (my birthday!) we were back up and at Lowes for a few things around 8:00am.  We went to a few other stores, got breakfast, and then headed back for a quick nap.  After napping we got ready and went to the Barter Theatre and saw a Christmas play with Nana and Pawpaw. The show was really good and definitely a great birthday treat.  After the play we were back on the road again and Asheville bound.  One of my best friends had her baby girl this week so we went to visit.  We got to their house and had lots of baby snuggles.  Baby Zoe is absolutely precious and so so tiny! We headed to our hotel for the rest of the night.

 

Saturday most of the day was spent continuing baby snuggles and visiting with friends before it was time to head back home to KY.  We stopped for a birthday dinner at Bonefish grill and then were on the road again.  Once back in KY, we went to my parent's house to get Chloe girl who had been staying there while we were away.  Brinley and Brice decided to stay with us Saturday evening.

 

Sunday we went to church, had lunch at my parents' house and then had a pretty easy afternoon.  These few days off of work was just what I needed and I'm looking forward to an even longer break for Christmas in just a few weeks!

 

What did you spend your Thanksgiving weekend doing?

 

Hope all of you are having a good week- only 22 days until Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

So I'm a day late... oh well, hope everyone had a safe Halloween!

Weekend Recap: Labor Day 2014

Ahhh, 3 day weekends are great! Here's what went down for our Labor Day weekend...

Friday after work, I was trying to make it to Bradley and Brice's (my brothers) football game without being late. Well, the game was actually delayed for heat because it was above 100* on the field. When I got there, it was about 15 minutes until kick off, perfect! The game was a good one- we ended up winning and it was a great time. Here are some pictures from the game...

Bradley

Brice

Brinley

Saturday morning we got ready and headed to another football game, however because of heat, they were only able to play 1 quarter. We had Brice, Brinley, and 2 friends and we headed to camp to visit at Teen Retreat. We enjoyed seeing friends there and even got to witness one of them propose to his girlfriend after camp fire. We got home pretty late and all crashed in bed as soon as we got there.

Sunday we went to church and then Preston and I stopped at our new house to see what progress had been made. I was so excited to see that the walls are ready for paint. Post this week coming with house progress and pictures! Preston and I stopped on the way home and had Chinese for lunch. The restaurant we went to has recently changed up their selections and it was quite possibly the best Chinese Preston and I have ever had, we will definitely go back! After lunch I enjoyed a Sunday nap with my Chloe girl and then headed back to church that evening. After we got home, we watched some Parenthood on Hulu to get caught up before the 6th (and final) season starts this month.

Monday morning we slept it (cue choir angels) and it was wonderful. After getting ready, I went to get the oil changed in my car. I had planned on walking over to the nail salon for a pedicure while waiting on my car, only to find that they were closed. After getting a couple things in Walmart and getting my car, I headed back home to get Preston and then we met my parents at the campground they were at. We grilled hotdogs and got our fishing poles and headed out on the lake for a couple of hours, it was great. After we got back from the water, we played a few rounds of cards, which is always fun for us. We then went home and called it a night... good, relaxing, day off if you ask me!
Now it's already Wednesday this week and Friday is just 2 days away. Stay tuned for the house post!

Thanksgiving weekend continued/Christmas decorations

Happy Wednesday! Woohoo for half way to Friday! I am picking up where I left off with my last post and telling about the rest of our Thanksgiving break weekend.
On Saturday, we enjoyed sleeping in a while, it was SO nice! Our friends were going out of town and we were keeping their teenage daughters for the weekend, they came to our house around noon and that's when our Saturday fun began. I knew I wanted to decorate... and decorate we did! The past couple of years, Preston and I have only had space for a small tree since our town house did not have a lot of extra room for a large tree. Last year on Black Friday, we went to home depot and snagged up one of the artificial Christmas trees that are pre lit and can be either white or color lights. I was excited to purchase the 7.5 foot tree, but wasn't able to use it last year... so that was the first box of our Christmas "stuff" that I opened. This tree sits in our living room, right in front of our big window (which I love). The tree was incredibly easy to put together, much easier than other trees I have seen. Last year after Christmas I was also about to get a good deal on LED lights the day after Christmas, which was the perfect amount for our new tree. We debated for a while whether we wanted color or white lights on our big tree. The ornaments on this tree don't have a theme, it's more of a random tree with different ornaments that we've collected. This tree reminds me of the big Christmas tree my family had when I was younger, big, colorful, and full of random ornaments. While some people may think color lights are tacky, that's what we chose and I am glad we did! Our other two trees have white lights so the colors just make this tree fun! In our entry way, we have a tree as soon as you come in our front door. This is a new to us tree that Preston got at a church auction for just $15. We didn't have everything we needed for this tree, so the girls and I headed to Wal-mart to get a few things while Preston got the tree put together. This tree is quirky and a tad girly, but we thought it turned out really cute, especially Gabby (who helped me decorate everything). I love the bright colors it has. In our kitchen is where our 3rd and final tree is. This tree is small and is in a corner of the kitchen. It has a set of white lights, as well as a strand of s'more snowmen lights. Have you seen the s'more snowmen? I had got a nightlight that I thought was so cute and Preston's Nana happened to have a set of lights that were Preston's moms that were not used that matched it perfectly. These lights are special, which makes this little tree special. Right now there is only one ornament, a little skiing s'more snowman. While it may look funny with only one ornament, we are looking forward to collecting S'mores ornaments over the years and having this tree as our special little s'mores tree. After hours of decorating, we had some pizza for dinner and called it a night.
On Sunday, we went to church and then went to the theater to watch "Catching Fire". Whew, I don't do suspenseful movies and this was about all I could handle! It was a good movie and then we had church in the evening. We cooked spaghetti for dinner at home and watched another movie, this time, "Pitch Perfect".... crushed it [anybody recognize that line?]. We had a great weekend having the Bostic girls and their dog, Cujo, staying with us.
Now, a dump of pictures of a small glimpse of our decorations...

Need to put our wrapped presents under there!

Entry way tree that still needs a tree skirt

Our little S'mores tree

Aren't they too cute?

Because I was feeling festive... glitter finger nails :)

Thanksgiving, my birthday, and Black Friday

I don't know about you all... but the break from work last week was much needed and SO nice, especially since my break started a day earlier than expected. You see, Wednesday I was supposed to work half a day, however when I woke up and picked my phone to turn off an alarm I noticed a text message from my company. The first message said we were on a 2 hour delay due to snow... then another message followed saying that we were closed for the day! It was a great day off, especially since I saw the closing message before getting ready for the day. I used to hate when I would get up early, get ready, and then find out I was on a delay or no school... anyone know the feeling I'm talking about? Anyways, I decided to sleep a little, make some breakfast, and then took the afternoon easy, it was so nice! Then, Preston and I cleaned our house so that it would be ready for Christmas decorating after Thanksgiving. I used to have a routine on Saturdays of cleaning, but now I usually do it throughout the week. After some cleaning, I got in a work out at Curves, then came home to shower and get ready for the Thanksgiving service at church. After the great service, we had dinner at El Sombrero with some friends. The waiters found out it was my birthday the next day, so I was the lucky lady in the Mexican restaurant dancing with a huge sombrero on my head while everyone sang to me. So, my break really got started with a great Wednesday off.

Thursday-Thanksgiving Day
Preston and I got up early and headed to KY to have Thanksgiving with my family. We got there early to help cook and get everything ready for Thanksgiving at Grandmama and Popaw's house. After spending time preparing things at my parents' house, we drove to my grandparents where tons of my cousins, aunts, and uncles were with my grandparents. There are so many of us! We had a late lunch Thanksgiving meal. My family usually has our meal mid afternoon. I was given a birthday cake and was sang to, again! Thanksgiving was my actual birthday... the big 2-4. After eating and chatting a while, my mom, sister, and I hit the road for Huntington to start shopping. Black Friday is a tradition my mom and I have done together every year since I was in the 7th grade. Last year was Brinley's (my sister)first year at it. We didn't have any really hot items to get this year... but there were a couple of things we had in mind. Our first stop was Wal-mart and when we got there... we had a problem. My mom took her Civic, as it has a trunk that closes instead of a hatch that you can see inside of. For some reason, the trunk would NOT open. Not with the key, not with the lever, nothing. It was stuck, and stuck good. How in the world were three of us going to fit all of our shopping bags into a civic? We went on in Wal-mart and got a few things, including a set of Rachael Ray cookware that my mom and I wanted, we were happy that we were both able to get a set... such a great deal! Our back seat began to fill quickly, though. We headed to Target where I got my new steam mop I had been wanting and a few other things.... and the back seat continued to cramp, poor Brinley. Kohl's was our next destination. Usually we wait forrrreevvver in Kohl's... but this year, mom stood in line while I shopped, and then we switched places. We were in and out of the store in 45 minutes, not bad! We loaded our stuff in the car and went to the mall. We hit up several different stores and ended our shopping at Old Navy. I had some ON cash to use, so I was able to get tons of stuff. I love Old Navy jeans, so I got me a regular pair, a skinny pair, Preston a pair, and a pair for our angel tree child for Christmas. I got us some tops too...I just love ON! We had no room left in the car, literally. Brinley got in and got buckled and we piled it on top of her, then I got in and it was the same for me. We all cracked up and Brinley must not have mind too much because she was asleep within minutes of leaving the mall. We got home from our shopping trip about 5:30am. We unloaded our stuff and crashed for a few hours.

Can you see her eyes in there??

Friday I slept a while, recovering from the shopping madness the night before. Then my mom and I made some letters for my office door (post with a pic coming soon). After sorting through our bags and loading my car, I made another visit to my grandparents. After seeing them for a while, I got back on the road and was at home in an hour. I am thankful that I live close enough to my family to make a quick trip whenever I want. In fact, Brinley has a cheer competition this Wednesday and I am going to watch after work... I love that! After getting home, Preston and went to dinner and then I wrapped Christmas presents.
Well, that's about half of my break... come back to read about the rest of our weekend, you know you'll want to... we decorated for Christmas!!

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?

Hello, Fall!

Since my last post, it has really started looking, and feeling, like Fall here in Grayson.  We all know that Fall reminds us of Thanksgiving and this past week, Preston and I have been blessed with countless things to be thankful for.  Last week went by pretty quickly and we were off to Pikeville, Abingdon, and Elizabethton for a long weekend.  However, all of that excitement is in another upcoming post.  Today, I am sharing a couple of my  fall projects that I have been working on...my first attempt at wreath making and some outdoor decorating, warning: lots of pictures!  

Making my wreath was wonderful, who knew some fake leaves and a glue gun could be so much fun?  I loved every minute of it!  I had looked on Google images for a few ideas but didn't really find anything so I just went with my own idea.  After getting my supplies at... you guessed it, Hobby Lobby, I couldn't wait to get started.  I first applied the leaves and berries and followed with the bigger items, the last being the beautiful bow (which my fantastic Mom assisted with).  Enough words, here are the pictures! 

Love this!

I just love that sparkley corn!

As mentioned before, I loved making this wreath and really love how it turned out, I can't wait to make one for Christmas, Winter in general, and any other time I can make one!  

Outside, thanks to Nana and P-Paw, we have a lovely bale of straw with some pumpkins and gourds to spruce things up a bit. We really enjoyed picking out our pumpkins and gourds, even had to make a second trip back to get more!  Here is our or hanging wreath and outdoor decor!

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of our fall projects, come back to read about our future home! 

Brooke