Still Recovering

I have pictures to post from our holiday celebrations and promise to post them soon. I also need to get my hands on some other cameras that belong to family members so I can make sure to include everything.

I am still in recovery mode and getting ready to get back into the swing of things with a little house decorating. We are working on a new living room complete with paint, a wall mounted tv, new flooring, and new furniture. It's going to be quite fabulous.

Hoping you all had a great Christmas!

Stay tuned ....

Hello, 26.

Yep ... today is my birthday!! It's hard to believe sometimes that I am 26. Sometimes I still feel slightly immature and childish. But I think we should all have those moments. Just not everyday.

And let me go ahead and tell you ... today has already been a great day!! Andrew made me breakfast, Louie cuddled in the bed with us, we finally finished our Christmas shopping and we had a fabulous lunch at Osaka. Now we are just patiently waiting for UPS to deliver a package and we will be on our way to Mocksville for continued birthday celebration and Christmas.

I am also finally finished with all of the cookies for this year! Well, sort of. I have one more batch of pecan tarts to make at my parents and then I will be done. Whew ... it's worn me out this year. But let me tell you ... they are fantastic!!

Okay ... need to finish packing up a few more things and get them loaded in the car so we can head out as soon as UPS swings by.

Have a fabulous day and a very Merry Christmas! I'll be posting birthday pictures and Christmas pictures after the holidays.

10 Reasons I Love Christmas Cards

10. I love to send them to everyone I know.

9. I love to receive them from everyone I know.

8. I get to show them off on my kitchen wall.

7. I love the picture cards so I can see how cute the little ones are. I just got one from my bff, Holly, and her little ones are ADORABLE.

6. You get them through "snail" mail. I love getting cards in the mail.

5. I think the sender's sentiment is written all over the card whether it's a card with angels, a Bible verse, believing in the season, or simply about loving one another.

4. When you get one in the mail you know the sender thought about YOU during their busy holiday schedule. I love the feeling of knowing we were thought about.

3. I love to buy them on clearance after Christmas. You all know my passion about bargain shopping. It's simply one of the best feelings.

2. I reeeeaaaallllly love to use holiday return address stickers and Christmas stamps. Oh, the little things.

1. I am starting to reuse them and it's so much fun!!! No, I don't resend them the next year. But I do cut the front of the card off and use them as Christmas tags on everyone's gifts. And don't worry, I don't use the picture cards for anyone's gifts ... that would just be creepy. But it would be kind of funny.

Christmas Treats and My Very First Tree House!

Short post ... but some awesome pictures!

What do you get with all of these ingredients ...

plus yours truly?

All of these! And that's not all of them.

Don't you wish you could just grab one? Excuse me, I think I need a sugar cookie ... be right back.

nom nom nom nom nom

And now moving on to something quite spectacular!

So, when you were younger did you ever have a tree house? I never did ... but I did have fun playing in the bamboo when I was little. Yes, bamboo. We had a small forest of it in our backyard and I use to play in it a lot. But I stayed clear of the compost pile. haha. Okay ... back to the tree house. Remember a few posts ago I told you about the Hallmark Dollhouses I get every year at Christmas? Well, I decided to put up a tree (mucho thanks to Mom and Dad!!) in our dining room and put alllllll of my houses on it. So now I have my very first tree house and it's every little girls dream come true. I love it. And it looks fabulous in my dining room. I think this has to be my most favorite decoration this year.

Have a great weekend!

In a tizzy

Oh my goodness I feel like I have so much to do! Between being house manager, financial advisor, personal shopper, and professional baker I have so many 'to do' lists to accomplish before Christmas. So what that I am house manager of my own house, financial advisor to only my accounts, personal shopper for only my family, and professional baker for only the people who know me ... they are all very demanding jobs. But you know what? I.LOVE.IT. This time of year is my most favorite and I don't mind all of the last minute shopping or baking. It's all worth it because it's for my loved ones.

I'm trying to sort out everything that needs to be done leading up to Christmas. I've decided this week is the week for baking. And I might as well say that I'll be baking up a storm next week too.

Cookie List 2009:

sugar cookies - everyone's number one go to cookie

wedding cookies

ritz peanut butter cookies

pecan tarts - finally! Andrew has been begging for these for the past few years and I am finally making them again.

I also have a few maybes on the list ... it really depends if I have a meltdown or not when it comes time to make them. Baking is hard work believe it or not ... I'm just thankful to have a window in my kitchen so I don't get as hot as I did last year in our little one bedroom apartment. No worries though. I tend to be an over achiever when it comes to baking so I am sure I'll be making them. Maybe my oven will fall apart on me (once all the baking is complete of course) and then I can get one of these:

Isn't she lovely? That means next Christmas I can make even more treats! Cross your fingers.

Okay ... gotta finish those lists and get to shopping.

Much love to you and yours this holiday season!

It's not Grandma's, but I like it.

So, I've been wanting chicken pot pie for the past few years. And I say years because I haven't had one since my grandmother passed away. I have always had the ones that my grandmother and her lady friends made for their church bazaars. They were all chicken pot pie queens. And let me go ahead and tell you that I am a chicken pot pie snob. So, don't tell me to get one from the grocery store because you think it's good. Yuck. And I do not like dark meat or tons of vegetables in mine. And the consistency ... it can't be too thick or too runny. Double yuck. I'm not so concerned with the crust ... homemade or store bought ... honestly, it is all the same to me. Andrew would disagree with me but whatever. I guarantee you that I could tell him it was homemade and he wouldn't know the difference. He would argue with me about that too. But the inside?? It's gotta be the way I want it or I won't eat it. So please don't take offense if I don't eat your chicken pot pie.

Well I wanted to try my hand at it and found a recipe that is pretty darn tasty and close to what I remember of my Grandma's. Minus the homemade crust. And I can tell you that I am 100% certain the recipe I followed isn't really close to what my Grandma and her girlfriends went by but the taste is there.

A few changes I made along the way .... I used cream of chicken soup instead of cream of potato. I didn't use a cookie sheet either. I didn't use the full amount of vegetables because I don't like a lot in the pie itself. I know two cups doesn't sound like a lot but it was to me and I am set in my ways. If you want your vegetables make them on the side ... not in the pie. And don't forget to make a pot of white rice to go with it. Not brown rice ... white rice. Trust me.

My newest hobby

Make sure to click all the red words ... takes you to some super fun sites!!

****Update**** Our local news station was there to report on the goal of First Book-Charlotte. So, yes ... I am now famous. ;-) You see my wrapping skills a few times throughout the clip and the stack at the very end was wrapped by yours truly.

Well, tonight I am beginning my first day of many volunteer opportunities. And let me tell you, I am so excited! Let me back up. I have volunteered before. And I've had fun. But I am just now starting to get passionate about it.

I found this great little website, volunteermatch.org. You sign up, type in your zip code, and voila! Hundreds of opportunities in your area pop up for you to choose from.

I chose First Book Charlotte. This organization collects and distributes books to parts of the community where literacy is low and many families can't afford to buy books for their children. I am meeting a group of people tonight at the YMCA to wrap books for the holidays. Can it get any better? I want to volunteer, I love to read, I love the holidays, and I love to wrap presents. That's what is so awesome about volunteermatch.org ... you find what you will be passionate about and sign up!

Off to make my smoothie and get on the road.

But before I go ... what's your all time favorite book?

Two of my many favorites -

On my list to read -

Happy Birthday to my Mister!

Why didn't I think of this?

You have to head over to this blog ...

I am soooo doing this. I've just added ornaments to my list to buy after Christmas cause I'm all about the bargains. And a homemade bargain wreath will be awesome compared to making it for full price. And I don't need this right now ... even though I really want it.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, it is at our house!!! The wreaths are up, the tree is lit, and the stockings are hung. This is our first Christmas in our first home together and I am so excited. I kind of felt behind with all of the decorating because our neighbors were all done with their decorating the day after Thanksgiving. You would have thought the Grinch or Scrooge lived at our house. I don't think I have ever seen so many lights in my life except for our visits through the Festival of Lights or our Christmas Eve drives in Cooleemee. It kind of made me want to compete with them but we're just not into the blow up figures, candy cane lights, or lit up reindeer. Now, don't get me wrong I love to look at it all ... just not in my yard.

Enough about that ... look at all of my pictures!

My Christmas flag.

My $4 wreaths and handmade bows!!

At night. I love it ... even though our house looks kinda sad compared to the rest of the homes in our cul de sac.

Andrew with his birthday drill.

Andrew, Lou, and our tree!

Sweet Lou

Our tree with lots and lots and lots of colorful lights and tinsel ... I love going all out on our Christmas tree. The more the better ... I guess I let the child out when it comes to decorating it. I'm glad Andrew is the same way. I think we will put the big colorful bulbs on it next year.

Our mantel. I think this is my favorite part. I used old milk jugs, my grandparent's vintage ornaments, and cedar branches from one of my trees outside. Love it!!

Dining Room

My Doll houses ... all 26 of them ... well, they all couldn't fit in the picture.

My Charlie Brown Christmas tree with blue lights and one of my favorite snowmen.

Happy Holidays!!!!! Hope you enjoyed the mini tour. Quite honestly, you should just drive on in and see it for yourself. I'll even make you sugar cookies.

December Celebrations

This past weekend, Andrew and I went to my sister's house to celebrate Andrew's birthday with the Raynor family. Leah supplied yummy appetizers, I made Sadie Mae's pot roast, and Mom made a red velvet cake. Can you say delicious! DELICIOUS!!!
Andrew's birthday isn't until Wednesday but he has had quite the celebration between his birthday gift from his parents and this past weekend. Wanna see what he got?!?!

Andrew would like to thank his parents and my family for the birthday dough that sent him running to Lowe's for his new toy. We also got our Christmas tree this weekend without the hole drilled in the bottom so Andrew had his first drill session. He felt so manly. Pictures of that to come later ...

Mom and Dad also gave Leah and I our traditional pre-Christmas gifts. I have always collected Hallmark Nostalgic Dollhouse ornaments ... they started the collection the year I was born. This year they made the police station.

Leah collected the Hallmark Rocking Horse ornaments but they have since been retired. Well, she never had the very first one so my Mom went on Ebay and found it for her this year. What a surprise!

Here are a few family shots that I love ....

Next up ... Christmas house photos!

What the Grit?!

A little back history regarding my love for grits -
Being a Southern girl, born and raised, grits have always been a staple in my home. Plain grits, buttered grits, red eye gravy grits, sausage grits, cheese grits .... you get the idea. Well, when I started dating my Yankee of a husband (I say this with much love) I knew I had to convert him over or this relationship just wouldn't work. I told him he couldn't try anyone else's grits first except for my Dad's because, well, he simply makes the best in the state of North Carolina. And it's true ... if you try the wrong person's grits you may never like them. That's why I never order grits if we go out to breakfast. I'm afraid it may damage our relationship with one another. (with the grits, not the mister). After a few attempts, the mister slowly started to enjoy this fine southern food. It's a good thing because I didn't want to have to end things with him. I really liked him.

Back to the point of my post -

So, the mister and I came up with a new way to serve breakfast a few weeks ago and I have to admit ... it's pretty awesome. I say that because the main ingredient is .... drum roll please ... grits! Check out this delicious grit bowl. It's like a tiny slice of southern heaven. I love to add random things to my bowl of grits (please refer to my back history above) but I never thought about throwing it all together. Here is what you do ... make some grits, cook up some bacon (we prefer turkey bacon), fry up an egg for each bowl, and top it off with a little shredded cheese. You might want to salt and pepper to taste. I love a lot of pepper on mine. Pretty darn simple.

Holy Grit, this is good!

Prepping for Christmas

I am so excited! It's our first Christmas in our new house and we are pulling everything down from the attic so we can decorate. I've got a little bit done so far but there is still so much to do! I cannot wait to have the tree up, the lights turned on, the smell of homemade cookies from my kitchen, and the sound of Josh Groban in the background. Andrew is just ready for the cookies. Maybe the tree too ... but mostly cookies.

You all know I love me some Christmas and I love me some bargains and when I get to put the two together my heart melts a little. I went out yesterday to pick up our Christmas wreaths for the windows and was trying to think of the best place to go. I knew WalMart had them for $10 a piece which I didn't think was terrible but thought I could do better. So, I headed over to Big Lots and to my surprise I found them for $7 each. Not bad, huh? Well ... it gets better. I bought the wreaths and headed over to Michael's to pick up a few crafty items and noticed all of their wreaths were 50%. Well, I didn't think it would be much of a difference but when I checked out the price I almost did a cartwheel. They were only $2.99 each! Wahooo! So, I grabbed what I needed, checked out, and headed back to Big Lots to return the $7 ones. Man, was I pumped! Then I headed over to Dollar General and pick up some of the most beautiful wired ribbon for $1 per roll to make my own bows for the wreaths. Each roll is just enough for one wreath ... so I only spent $4.00 for each wreath.

Well, it's time to finish decorating the inside of my house. Andrew and I are picking out our Christmas tree Friday night and putting up all of the outside decorations on Saturday morning before heading into my parents to help decorate their house. I'll do a post followup with pictures this weekend.

But here are a few teasers until then ...

Wordless Wednesday - Thanksgiving Week in Photos