Anddddddddddd its over!

Does anyone else feel kinda depressed after Christmas is over like I do? We do all the crazy shopping, decorating, preparation and then its gone in a wink! I have to say though this was a pretty awesome Christmas. Besides being sick with an upper respiratory infection! YUCK.

My Christmas vacation started Friday December 20th!

After work Friday I met up with my Ma and we headed to the mall to finish up some Christmas shopping. It took us an hour to get there! The traffic was ridiculous. The mall was nuts of course. But we had a lot of fun like we always do! Saturday we did some MORE shopping... and we said were done Friday night haha. Shopaholics for sure. (I blame my Nana, she started it!)

Sunday morning I had the privilege to sing with some friends of mine that I used to sing with at my parents church. I just love when we all get together! Its like we never quit singing together.

Sorry for the poor picture quality

 Laree's church is in a movie theater! How cool is that? They don't currently have a building right now. So they rent out the theater room. Any money they receive from the congregation they use to put back into projects to reach the community. Rather than paying a large mortgage payment on a building. Check it out here.

Later Sunday afternoon Andrew & I went to my Papa & Memas for Christmas. All the family got together ate yummy food & exchanged gifts.

These are my custom made bullet earrings my cousin Sheanice gave me! How cool are they?! I see these online all the time I just haven't bought any because they are kind of expensive. So I was super surprised when she gave me these for Christmas!

Monday I was off work! High five for me! Except that I spent all day at the house waiting on the cable guy to come. Finally around 4:30 I got out of the house to take my little brother shopping. He was looking for a certain phone case that Best Buy ended up not having. BOO! But I did get a last minute gift card & grabbed a couple of other things I needed for our new place. Again.. thought I was done with the Christmas shopping, NOT!
I started coughing Monday night but I felt ok. Little did I know I would wake up Tuesday morning with a horrible fever! I went straight to the doctor, found out I had a stupid upper respiratory infection. So I was sick through out Christmas but I still got to see all my fam & do the Christmas festivities with them! I wasn't letting the sickness take over!
Anyways.. Later Monday night I cooked "Christmas Fettucini" for my parents, the hubs & my little brother at my parents house. (you will know about the Christmas Fettucini if you have seen the movie The Holiday) After dinner we exchanged gifts with my parents. I love giving my family gifts. Especially because I know my whole life my parents have worked so hard to give me everything I ever wanted for Christmas, birthdays, anything! I made my parents both an album of pictures this year. They both loved them. Of course they got a little teary eyed. Thats when you know you did good. :)

My parents tree

Here are all the goodies from my parents! My Ma did good as usual. These were all things on my list! :) I definitely needed those plates. I have broke 3 of my 4 nice dinner plates since we've been married. Thanks Ma:) & yes thats right you see a Naked pallet! SO EXCITED! I absolutely love it!

Tuesday after I went to the doc as I mentioned before and got some rest, my fever finally wore off. I got ready for round 3 of Christmas! Yes 3! We headed over to the hubs Aunt & Uncles house. We ate some good food again & watched the kiddies open their gifts!

My sweet Mom in law :)

Me & the Hubs. Wearing my new tribal print leggings!

My in laws & Little Delaney. She is precious!

I started to feel bad again later that night. But we had to go to my Nanas too! Its tradition! On my moms side of the family all the little kids get multiple presents but the adults all draw a name to be a secret santa. But me and my cousin Tiff always cheat! haha! We make sure we get each others names or just don't put our names in the bag! Sneaky we are ;) I got Tiff a really nice Simply Vera Wang purse from Kohls! & some make up from Ulta. She got me a gift certificate from a little boutique right outside my hometown that I absolutely love! & some make up from Ulta! We know what we like :) After all the commotion at Nanas I went straight home to my bed. My fever had started kicking in again. So I took some tylenol and passed out.

Wednesday morning, Christmas Day! I crawled out of bed when my sweet hubs woke me up. Still feeling pretty crappy. But I had to get up its Christmas Day of course! The hubs and I exchanged gifts. We both loved all of our gifts of course. One of the things he got me was a massage gift certificate! CANNOT wait to use that thing! Another gift he had for me hasn't come in the mail yet! USPS SUCKS. Obviously.
After we finished exchanging gifts we headed over to the in laws. My Mom in Law had cooked us all a huge breakfast! It was delicious!  After breakfast we exchanged gifts with my Mom and Pa in law and my 2 sisters in laws. Andrews parents really spoiled us this year. My Mom in Law gave us 4 sets of Fiesta dishes! They are gorgeous dishes. Thats what happens when you get married. You get excited about dishes! Ha!
I also made my Mom in Law an album of our wedding pictures and pictures from my bridal showers. She loved it. :)

The in laws pretty tree! Told you they spoiled us!

After we were done at their house we headed over to my Nanas again and had some Christmas lunch. Her turkey & dressing is amazing! Like I needed anything else to eat but you can't pass it up!
We ended Christmas Day lounging around our house. I still wasn't feeling the best. But no fever at least. I was enjoying my pretty Christmas tree....

the top hat is my favorite!

My parents came over for a little while. My mom brought me my stocking & I gave her the stuff that was suppose to be in here stocking that morning. But I forgot to give it to my Dad! I do all the Christmas shopping for him. He's just a little clueless on what to buy. lol. Its ok though. We love him anyways. :)

We had an amazing first married Christmas with all of our family. I loved spending time with them. That is the best part of the holidays to me.

Thats what happens when you get older. You stop caring so much about the gifts and care more about just being with family. I love it. :) We are so blessed! I hope you had an awesome Christmas like I did!

Christmas is here!

I'm back! I know I have been slacking the past couple of weeks! I have been insanely busy. Between my sister in laws wedding, doctor appointments & moving into our new place this past weekend, I am pooped y'all! Seriously I am ready for things to slow down a little. But it will still be crazy until after Christmas I am sure. But I can't say I hate it though. I like the business of the Christmas season. I know call me crazy!

Like I said we finally moved last weekend. We were living in a TINY one room apartment. Now we are living on my parents rental property until we build or buy a house in a couple of years. To say we are blessed is an understatement! Mine & Andrews family helped us move everything Saturday. My poor hubs was so sick, he had a really bad cold & cough, and he had to work from 12 Saturday afternoon until 3:30 AM Sunday! Crazy!  So having all the fam help was a blessing! & you'd think not much stuff would come out of a 1 room apartment! LIES! I don't know where it all came from!

After I got some of the house in order Andrew & I started putting up our Christmas tree Sunday night. I absolutely love it!

The burlap top hat & red burlap ribbon came from Kirklands. The berry & gold leaf twigs came from Michaels. All of the ornaments were Andrews ornaments that my Mom in law used to put on a little tree for him at their house. They are all country themed so they went perfectly with our tree! I also bought some pine cones from Michaels and spray painted them last night with gold glitter spray to add to the tree. I am getting real crafty these days I tell ya! :)

This is my fancy garland me & my Ma made! She had some extra plain garland. So I went to Michaels and got the berrys, gold leaves & pine cones for a total of $6! You can't beat $6 Christmas garland!

A Pinterest inspired decoration! I had these glass jars from my wedding, bought the little ornaments from the dollar store and the battery tealight candles from Michaels. & the fake snow.... is Epsom Salt! How cool is that?!

I have an obsession with baskets or platters.... anything I can make a centerpiece out of! I got this pretty red basket from a antique/thrifty store in my hometown for super cheap & the potpourri from Ross. The potpourri doesn't smell that great but its pretty anyways!

I also have an obsession with bird cages. I used a bunch in my wedding ,but then sold most of them because I knew I wouldn't use them all. I found this gold bird cage at Ross a few months ago on sale! Ross is the place to go for home decor. & the gold vine from Michaels.

Besides my tree this is probably my favorite Christmas decor! The burlap runner is from Etsy, all the floral stuff is from Michaels. The candle holders were also from my wedding. They were hot pink but my Mom in law used them in my sister in laws wedding and painted them red. Which matched my kitchen perfectly! Now I just need some pretty sparkly candles. The gold platter is also from a antique/thrifty store in my hometown.

So there you have what Christmas looks like at my house! I was so excited to have my own decorations to put up. It is Andrews & I first married Christmas so its really special. I can't wait for next week! I am like a little kid around Christmas. Christmas music, the decorations, the lights,cool weather, I love it all!

Colie's Holiday Giveaway!

Happy Monday folks! I wanted to share a little holiday giveaway with you!

My friend Ashley is the owner of Colies in Fernandina Beach, FL. She always has the cutest clothes, jewelry & handbags. Check her out here! You won't be disappointed :)

Here is a list of the items you can win:

• 1 Alice and Olivia Starbucks TuTu Mug
• FREE COLIE'S SHIPPING FOR 1 WHOLE YEAR
• $25 Colie's Credit
• $25 Chloe + Isabel credit toward a $75 purchase
• 1 Starstruck clutch in Golden Starlight from Colie's
• 1 pair of Colie's gold square pave crystal earrings
• 1 Golden Chevron bow handmade by Colie

 Go here to sign up for the giveaway!

Randoms on Thursday

Its almost Friday folks! I have a very busy weekend ahead of me. In fact I will probably be busy every weekend now until Christmas! I love this time of year! Here are some randoms for you today since I am not feeling any kind of big inspiration for a post! I know.. slacker!

1. Guess who doesn't have to work December 23rd?! This girl right here!!!! Which means I get 5 WHOLE DAYS OFF! I am ecstatic! I haven't had a legit vacation day (besides holidays) since January when we went on our honeymoon. I can't wait!

2. I do not have a Christmas tree up yet :( I am ashamed of myself! No but really its not my fault. We are in the process of moving so I haven't put one up in our apartment. But you can bet your pretty little tush that by next weekend I will have one up! I did however create my first Christmas decoration last night!

 Isn't it the cutest?! I bought this box from Bealls Outlet awhile back. It has a lid on top that was suppose to have glass in it but it was broke. So I got a little discount on it! Then I came up with this idea for Christmas. & I can even put different flowers year round in it. I am so proud of myself when I come up with creative things. It doesn't happen very often!

3. I am DONE with my Christmas shopping except a few gift cards! Pretty excited about that!

4. I really want to watch my favorite Christmas movie. The Holiday. I can't tell you how many times I have watched that movie. It has Jack Black, Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz & Jude Law in it. If you haven't seen it watch it! You will love it.

5. Have you heard the song "Oceans" by Hillsong? If you haven't you're missing out. Its seriously amazing.

6. I have actually been putting on some eyeshadow & such lately. Well not for work. I do the basics for work. But last week for all the Thanksgiving festivities I did. I used to wear eyeshadow all the time. But I got lazy. I love makeup. & have a ton of it ,but I just quit taking the time to play with it.

7. There is literally only 20 DAYS until Christmas! How did that happen?! Madness I tell ya.

8. I screwed up our dinner last night. I made a chicken & rice casserole. Well apparently I didn't cook the rice long enough. Oops. So the rice was crunchy. EW. But in my defense this is only like the 2nd meal I have messed up since we've been married. Which is surprising! I'll do better next time. :)

9. My lips get SO chapped & dry! I've been using some ole' Blistex chapstick ,but it doesn't seem to help. Have any suggestions?

10. I've got my office decorated at work for Christmas! No one else does though. These people are such downers! Wheres the Christmas spirit?

Just noticed most of these are about Christmas. Oh well. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! :)

Thanksgiving Shenanigans

I don't know about y'all but I feel like I am still recuperating from my 4 day weekend! It went by entirely too fast! It was a blast though!

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, the hubs & I went to my Nanas around 1pm for lunch. Nana never disappoints with her amazing dinner! Dressing, turkey, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, broccoli & cheese, rolls, pumpkin shiffon pie! (best pie ever!) DELICIOUS. & it was actually pretty calm at her house. Usually its a crazy place! With all the childrens running around! After Nanas we went on to my hubs Grannys house. Me & my mom in law started looking through all the Black Friday ads. We were going shopping later that night so we had to be prepared!

Our attempt at a family photo. Kinda blurry.

Me & Ma at my Nanas

After all the family time, me, my mom, my cousin tiffany, my mom in law & sis in law all met up to go out shopping! We got to Wal Mart & it was INSANE! We had to park in a dirt lot across from the Wal Mart parking lot! It was packed inside too! You could barely get around in the store. I got a Rubbermaid 30 piece set of tupperware for about $7! I was super excited. LOL. Thats when you know you're married! The rest of the girls got a lot of other good deals too. I guess if you don't like the crowds shopping for Black Friday isn't fun but I love it! I go just for the fun of it! I am usually not looking for anything particular , its just a tradition we have started. We always have the best time!

My crazy Ma! Haha! We were about to walk into the madness of Wal Mart!

Me & Hannah my sis in law trying to stay warm outside waiting to get in Target!

My Mom's! My favorite ladies <3 br="">

We ended up getting home about 11:30 Thursday night, which wasn't too bad. Round #2 shopping trip started at 8:30am Friday morning. Me, my Ma & my Nana headed out to the mall! I have to be honest I was exhausted by lunch time! LOL. My back and my feet were killing me! But I kept on truckin! The lines in the stores were insane this year! Kohls was THE WORST. I have never seen them this bad. Seriously. Kohls has got to figure something out because there line was just awful. People were walking in and turning right around and walking out because of the line on Thursday evening. It was a little better on Friday ,but not by much! We waited in line for about 30 minutes in Kohls and Old Navy. My philosophy for shopping on Black Friday is you just have to go with it! You know its going to be busy, there will be crazy people running around & you're going to have to wait in line at some point. Just go in with a positive attitude and have fun!

Me waiting in line with Ma at Kohls. I was seriously considering sitting on the floor my feet were hurting so bad!

I'd say we had a successful shopping trip! & this is actually pretty small for us! We usually have way more stuff!

Round #3 shopping trip was an early one Saturday morning! Yes round 3! I had to get to Target when they opened Saturday morning to get a Christmas Tree 1/2 off! This year is Andrew & I's first married Christmas! I got the tree I wanted & I was so excited! I will hopefully post pictures soon of it decorated.

On a side note.. all of the hype/complaining about people shopping on Thanksgiving gets on my nerves! If you are taking time away from your family to go snag a good deal then yes I think thats pretty selfish of you. But my family has made Thursday night & Black Friday shopping a tradition. & this year my Mom in law & Sis in law got to go too! & we had such a good time! I do think the stores are getting a little ridiculous with how early they are opening. They don't need to be open mid afternoon of Thanksgiving! ANYWAYS... I'll get off my soap box now :)


I hope you had a fun Thanksgiving! I spent a lot of time with my family & got some good shopping in! I love the holidays! NOW its officially the Christmas season! I can't believe its only 3 weeks away. CRAZY. My mom puts up 3 trees (yes I said 3) in her house so last night I helped her decorate one of them. This is probably my favorite tree she has. I love the gold! & I love skinny trees!

Its leaning a little in this pic. We gotta work on that!

& just a little office selfie! I was bored in the office Wednesday afternoon waiting to go home! Thank God they let us off early for the holiday! :)

What did you do for Thanksgiving? Do you have any traditions? Do you brave the crowds on Black Friday?