Miscellany Monday

{one}
I have checked out.

I do not want to be at work anymore until after New Years.  It's not that I don't like my job, I'm just done.  My motivation for all things work just left me one day last week and I can't find it.  I really think we should have a "holiday" like they do in some places in Europe.  Businesses shut down.  People do fun things.  It's for the good of the people...and their mental health.  Who's with me?!

{two}

5 days til Christmas.

Already?!  It seems crazy Christmas is almost here.  Almost done shopping, but not quite...

{three}
Lunar Eclipse.

So, tonight, you should check out the lunar eclipse going on.  First of all, it's pretty cool that this is happening  because the last one on the winter solstice was 372 years ago and secondly, you may never see another one of these in your life time...at least according to the scientist who say the next one is in 2094...I'll be 110 years old, so I'm pretty sure I won't be making that one.  I'll be setting my alarm to watch.

Check it out more info here.

{four}

A Festivus for the rest of us.

Every year, John's college buddies have a party in honor of Festivus...the Seinfeld holiday.  If you're a fan of the show, I'm sure you know about it.  There's the airing of grievances, the pole and feats of strength challenges.  This year, the party was in town, so we went up to a friend's house to enjoy the evening.  The feats of strength challenge this year was wrestling in sumo suits.  We had a good time and it was fun seeing friends we don't see too often.  It was a very late night and after a few small precious hours of sleep, we were up for John to go row...I'm exhausted.

{five}
Row, Row, Row your boat...

So, in high school and college, John and his brother were rowers (as was Robin, John's SIL).  The men's team that they rowed with in high school decided to get together and face off with alumni of an old rival for fun.  Sunday morning, we went in the cold rain to watch the boys.  Robin ended up steering the boat since they didn't have anyone to do it.  After I couldn't see them anymore, I went and slept in the car...

{six}

Happy Monday.

I don't have much energy to think of anything else fun, so I'm signing off.  Have a great day friends :)

Finally Friday!!

Happy Friday my bloggy friends!  Is it just me, or has this felt like the looongest week ever?!

1. Do you regift...and if so, do you have a regifting horror story?

I can't remember a time that I have regifted, but I've been at parties where I've noticed that things have been regifted from others from the year before.  It's a funny thing to notice, and I always hope the person I knew brought it doesn't notice, but then again, how could you not?!  

2. Do you know what you are getting for Christmas this year?

No, I really don't.  Sometimes I can figure out something, but this year, not so much.  I guess I'll be surprised!

3. Who brings the most gifts in your family, you or Santa?

It's a joint effort really.  I mean, who doesn't love getting gifts from Santa?!  "SANTAAAAAA!!! OMG! Santa, here?!...I know him! I know him!"-One of my favorite clips from Elf.  I tried to embed it, but it's disabled, so here's a link for those of you who would like to enjoy! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jyCfRHumHU

4. What store do you love to by jeans from?

I love, love, LOVE, my Buckle jeans!  Last year, John and I had gone out of town and we needed to grab some clothes, and we found Buckle...and ever since then, my life hasn't been quite the same.  I mean, I just didn't know jeans could make your butt look that good.  Haha, jk jk, but I do love them.  I got 2 pairs that day and they're definitely my go-to pairs.  They always look good and they're comfy.  I also have an 8 year old pair of Abercrombie jeans that I like a lot...they've withstood the sands of time...

5. Christmas meal: Big, All Out Meal or Snacks and Apps?

Ha!  Over the holidays, all we do is eat!  Starting with Thanksgiving and rolling (literally) on through the month of December, we eat...LOTS of big meals.  But today, let's just take a snapshot of Christmas:

Christmas Eve: Candlelight service, then, Christmas Eve dinner.with a spread of ham, rolls, potatoes, potato salad, pasta salad, veggies, desserts galore + much more that I probably don't remember.

Christmas Day: We start the day out with breakfast at my parent's house.  When I say breakfast, I mean a big, full, southern-style breakfast.  You name it, we most likely have it. Then, roll on over to lunch where we have a huge spread at John's grandparents.  Then, we end the day by snacking a little more and falling into a sugar coma for the next few days.  Oh the glory of Christmas eating...

That about wraps it up for today, folks!  Only one week left to finish up that Christmas shopping!  I have almost finished!  We will have completed everything for J's parents this weekend (I hope) as well as a couple other family members...we're getting there!!  I hope you can all enjoy this next week, even though it's going to be super busy for us all I'm sure.  Take time to remember what Christmas is all about!  

Spending time with Family...

& Friends!

& JESUS!!!

Why I Run & A Warm Glow

This is why I run, do Insanity workouts, and go to the gym:

This doesn't really do justice to the cookies we made last night.  This is just a fraction.  The table you can kind of see in the top left corner...yea...that too was covered in cookies being decorated.  We had a great time last night!  After next week, I will be banned from sweets for a couple months.  Until our snowboard trip I've decided.  I can't handle all the sugar anymore!!  But, Christmas to me isn't quite complete without decorating some sugar cookies :)

The Warm Glow:

So...

I'm tired of my white, white winter legs.  Most of the year, I carry a decent tan, but when it gets cold the jeans come out and bye bye tan.  I want to look into getting some type of self tanner that adds a nice glow of color to my skin.  Especially since it will just be warming up when the wedding gets here.  I'm just nervous about the orange look I've heard about and the streaks.  Any advice on a good brand to buy or how to avoid the orange skin and streaks??  Any advice would be appreciated!!

Oh, yea, and...

100 days until the wedding!!!  

Tomorrow we will be in DOUBLE DIGITS! What?! 

Happy Thursday Bloggy Friends!  We're almost to FRIDAY!!

Wedding Wednesday

So...we finally started looking for John's wedding band!  

Yay!!  He found a few he really likes, so we have them ordered and they are coming in for him to take a look at them, in his size, and in person.  Hopefully we'll have one picked out soon, but I'm so excited!  It's a big deal to me...the picking out of his ring.  I can't wait to see which one gets picked!


When we were ring shopping, I got to thinking...the guys kind of get the lousy end of the deal (minus getting to spend their life with fabulous creatures such as ourselves, ladies!  Ha!) not really lousy per se, but their rings don't even come close what ours do, plus, we get two...


I know it's not about that, but I've been thinking about maybe getting an extra special wedding present.  You know, the kind that a guy really wants for a long, long time, but hasn't managed to getting it for himself quite yet...I have a really good one in mind!


I guess, I'm wondering:


Have any of you ladies thought this way before, or am I alone in this?  


Did you exchange wedding gifts with your husband on your wedding day?

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

So, I'm going to go ahead and brag a little on my guy here :)  I've been talking about wanting to go to Disney to see the Osborne Christmas light display for years now and John made it happen!!  He has family in town that just so happened to be out at Hollywood Studios last night and his parents, a neighbor that just happens to work for Disney...yay!  So...we joined them!  It was amazing!!  This is what over ONE MILLION LIGHTS looks like...Whoa!

 It was literally freezing outside last night, so I had to break out the snowboard jacket and gloves!

Video of the lights :)

After we enjoyed some hot chocolate and the lights, we went and rode some rides.  John's cousins have three boys under the age of 13 and they are hilarious!  We had a great time with them!  I did get schooled by a 9 year old on the Toy Story ride...geez...

Miscellany Monday

{one}

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have had many dinners over the past few weeks, as well as a few Christmas parties as well.  This weekend was full of them!  Friday, we had John's work party at Bella Collina...beautiful.  It's amazing!  The inside matched the outside beautifully.  It felt like you were in Tuscany...or at least what I feel like Tuscany would be like!

Saturday night, we had another party.  Here are a couple pictures:

Our tree!

and

Thanks to Ashley for the rest of the pics!

Group shot!

The lovely ladies

And these, are our fellas :)

I can't tell you how happy this picture makes me!  It was after the gift exchange and the boys had new toys to play with! Ha!  Yes, they do have sling shots and Nerf guns!

{two}

Relaxing is so good...

This weekend was surprisingly relaxing, despite how busy we actually were.  I actually got to lay in bed after I woke up and watch a movie...Saturday AND Sunday!!  Lily enjoyed the relaxing weekend as well.  She even got to sleep in bed with me so she was happy.  

See...

{three}

Christmas cookies galore!

This week, I'm getting together with some friends and we are baking and decorating Christmas cookies!  Yay!  I'm so excited!  It's one of my favorite Christmas-y things to do!

{four}

Working off those Christmas calories ain't easy!  

Especially if you knew what, exactly, I was eating.  Ha!  Let's just say I feel like an Oompa Loompa...

...just not so orange. 

You know that gross feelings when you've been eating entirely too much sugar and other bad things...boo.  Thankfully, I've been keeping up with my workouts.  I've completed 2 weeks of my Insanity workouts...only 7 weeks more to go!  Ha!

I've also decided to run another 1/2 marathon in the spring.  I've got my sights set on one that I'm super excited about, but it's also on a very important day...ahem!  Robin's (future SIL) birthday!  So, I'm not sure if that's going to be the race, or another, but I'm starting to train again tomorrow...well, more like maintain the training I just finished...Woo!

{five}

Christmas shopping is almost done!

Almost!  Usually we do a Christmas Eve shopping expedition and breakfast with my dad...it's tradition!  We get up at 5am, hit the mall around 6, shop, shop, shop and are at breakfast by 9am when the crazies come out!  It's been something my brother and I have done with my dad since we were elementary school age.  Why stop the tradition now?!   How's your shopping going?

{six}

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

That's right, it's cold again in Florida.  We had a lovely weekend of weather in the 70's and then...we're back to freeze warnings!  After a warm start, the temp dropped over 20 degrees in minutes as the front blew through.  It was crazy!  If I only had a fire place...*sigh* wishlist for the next house :)

{seven}

Wedding Wednesday will return this week!  

We did something special yesterday for the wedding and I need opinions for something important!  More on that Wednesday! :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday, bloggy friends!  Keep warm, it looks like most of the country is covered with icy temperatures!!!

Five Question Friday

1. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

Christmas Day.  Although, last year, John and I got each other Garmin watches for Christmas, and a few other little goodies, he cheated and got me these beautiful earrings and had me open them on Christmas Eve.  That's really the only present I've opened Christmas Eve.

2. What is your favorite Christmas cookie (or candy)?

I love sugar cookies, just because they're so cheery and fun to decorate.  My favorite thing to eat though, is double decker fudge.  You can find another post about it here, as well as the recipe!

3. What's the worst Christmas gift you've ever received?

Umm...I've gotten a couple of really bad gift sets of the soaps and other smelly stuff from some distant family members.  Their smell not only brings on an instant headache, but it's not me...at all.  It's not that I don't like good smelling soaps or lotions, I'm just very picky and get headaches from stuff like that pretty easily, so unless you know the exact ones, you're better off buying me a football or a case of bottled water :)  

4. Christmas song that you love?

I can't pick just one, so here are a few for you to enjoy!

5. How many trees do you put up?
Just one.  I promise to post pictures of it soon!  We (and when I say "we", I mean "I", since John is not a fan of decorating the tree) went with a more blue and silver theme this year, but I still added in our special ornaments from vacations or that were gifts in the past :)