happy new year!

photo credit: Jenna @ sweet fine day + whimsy & spice

I saw this photo on Jenna's blog recently and thought it perfectly summed up how I've been feeling lately. The spirit of giving really overtakes me this time of year and I so want it to continue into the new year. I'd hoped to post it on Christmas as 2009's last "words to live by" post but was too busy enjoying time with family to get it done [so sorry!] Since I didn't share it with you then I figured tonight is an even more appropriate time since we're about to begin a fresh new year.

2009 was good to me but that doesn't mean I don't have many things in which I find myself struggling with. I've made some strides this year but hope to make many more come 2010. I'm still working on my list of goals for the new year [resolutions never stick] and hope to post them very soon. I'm hoping that by posting them here for everyone to see I'll do a better job of actually accomplishing them, especially if I know you'll hold me accountable. Deal? If so, expect to see a list very soon.

I'm not a big fan of New Year's Eve [never have been, really] so I won't be out partaking in glitzy parties, dressed to the nines. Instead I'll be in my pj's spending a cozy evening with just me and the kitties as my sweet hubby has to work [as is the story of my life...past, present, future...when you're married to a casino executive]. There have been many NYE's in the past where I, too, found myself working to ensure everyone around me was having a good time. This year even though I'll be ringing in the new year solo, I'm going to embrace it and reflect on just how blessed I am. I'll be making a recipe from one of my favorite Christmas gifts [recipe here], drinking bubbly from one of my fun new champagne flutes [a gift from my bubbly-loving sister], cuddling with Panther + Maggie, and enjoying a marathon of either Gilmore Girls, Friends, or Sex and the City. Definitely not the way Lee would have chosen to spend it if he was home!

There are so many thoughts running through my head but what I find myself coming back to time and time again is just how blessed + thankful I am. I have an incredible family who loves me + would do anything they can to support me, awesome friends, and a sweet + patient husband who puts up with me. I love them, I love you, and I so look forward to continuing this journey next year. Thank you for reading and following this little blog of mine and I so appreciate any + all comments you leave. Please know you've all touched my heart + life in a very special way.

Happy New Year to each and every one of you! I hope it's filled with love, peace, joy, laughter, hugs, and lots of smiles + good memories. Here's to a safe + healthy new year.

xoxo

christmas '09

The past nine days have been a whirlwind, but in a good way. Jordan & Natalie arrived on the 19th and lots of fun ensued. One of my favorite activities stemmed from a gift we gave them. This year we wanted to instill the importance of giving back so we chose two kids for each of them off the Angel Tree at Lee's work. We wrapped up the cards detailing their Christmas hopes and included a $50 bill (there was a $25 maximum for each child) for the girls to use to buy gifts for the kids. We let them open this gift the night they arrived and spent the next day after church running around trying to find the perfect gift. They both loved doing this and Jordan asked that we give them this gift each and every year. Those words definitely warmed my heart.

The next few days included time at the basketball gym doing drills (Coach Lee & the girls), last minute errands and gift wrapping, a trip to the doctor (for me & my silly cold), yummy food, cribbage games, a second viewing of The Blind Side (Natalie hadn't seen it yet), spreading holiday cheer at the hospital, and a Christmas movie each and every night. It was such a fun couple of days, well, minus the icky chest cold and medicine that makes me sleepy. It was so good to just be together and hang out. Very nice indeed.

Christmas Eve day was extra fun. We started by sleeping in a little and then heading to one of our new favorite family lunch spots...the tearoom. The girls were thrilled to be back and graciously posed for the first photo of the visit...


And then offered to take one of us...


After lunch we headed over to Santa's Workshop at the children's hospital to help wrap gifts for all the kids that would be spending Christmas morning there. It was such an honor to help get the gifts ready and it really warmed each of our hearts. As a bonus the girls had a blast! Here they are working together to wrap...

From there we headed to the candlelight service at church and then home to find ice forming on our dining room window...

I'm embarrassed to admit that I fell asleep during our traditional Christmas Eve viewing of A Miracle on 34th Street but continue to maintain it was only because of my medicine. Luckily I hear a good time was had by all and that's all that matters.

Christmas morning dawned and the stockings that had been hung by the chimney with care were now so loaded with goodies that they had to be laid out on the coffee table because they were too heavy for their stocking hangers!

Everyone dug into their stockings and I think Jordan's favorite thing was the pack of Oreos that wouldn't fit into her stocking. That girl loves her Oreos!

Speaking of Jordan, here she is getting ready to start in on her stack of gifts. I had to laugh when she came downstairs on Christmas morning with such a gorgeous looking head of hair. After going to bed Christmas Eve late she stayed up to flat iron her hair because she knew I'd have the camera out. Clearly a teenager after my own heart (I'm sure I would have done the same thing if we'd had flat irons way back in the day!)

And here's Natalie getting ready to dive into her stack as well. Don't mind her sleepy look as it was really early (we started at 6:30!)

One of the things Jordan really wanted this year were rain boots. The request was given to her Nana & Pop (Lee's parents) and she was so incredibly happy when this was the first gift she opened...

She immediately put them on and skipped/danced around the living room. Connie, the were clearly a hit!

Another hit was one of the gifts my mom & step-dad gave Lee. This clearly had his name ALL over it and he immediately began to read it as soon as it was opened...

Natalie being her cute + funny self...


And Jordan posing for one more Christmas morning picture...

A great morning was had by all and we loved each and every thing we received. One of my favorite gifts was from the girls because of the treasure hunt they put me through in order to get it...

The hunt led me from the box that had the red piece of construction paper folded up in it to a spatula in the kitchen...

...to a book we have on Rosemary Beach to a note taped on the inside of a picture we had taken at Heavenly several years ago. The final hint led me to find a new book stacked among others I'd already read. They were so clever that it took me a minute to see there was a new one among the old. Yes, they all had a good laugh at that!

Christmas morning wouldn't be complete without the breakfast casserole I grew up eating on Christmas, along with some cinnamon rolls we picked up at a local bakery. So, so good! The rest of the day was spent relaxing in our pj's and just hanging out. Naps were taken by each of us, games were played, dinner was made, and another movie was watched. The only way the day could have been better was if all of our family could have been together.

The next day we decided to go see Did You Hear About the Morgans and had a quick lunch at a cute Italian place in town. On our way into the restaurant I decided it was a good time to snap a photo of Lee and the girls given they were all decked out in some new things they received for Christmas...

Thankfully Lee snapped a fairly good one of me with the girls but I seem to be hiding the stunning bag that Santa placed under the tree for me. Boo.

Looks like the next time I see Jordan she could be taller than me!! Not so sure how I feel about that. After the movie we headed home and the girls & Lee worked on their thank you notes while I made one more batch of the most amazing gingerbread.

It was a great visit and we were sad to see them go yesterday. The good news is that they'll be spending their Spring Break with us this year so they'll be back in three months - yay!!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas whether you were partying it up or spending a nice + quiet one at home.

our tree

We have many Christmas traditions but one that seems to have formed without any help from us is Panther "posing" for a picture under the tree shortly after we bring it in & get it situated. It never fails, as soon as the skirt is on she immediately cuddles up to it. She reluctantly lets us get the lights on and then takes over her spot. Needless to say, she's not very happy once packages start going under it and she has to move.

Panther's favorite part of Christmas may be cuddling underneath it but mine is taking out our ornaments and reliving the memory each one brings. What a joy it is to think about the love that went into picking out the perfect ornament for that year [thank you Mom!] and to remember the meaning behind each ornament. Yep, that's right, every ornament on our tree has a story.

The s'mores one to the left of the candle? I love s'mores and on our first Christmas together Lee found this for me at the place we bought our tree. The palmetto tree covered in little ornaments on the bottom left? We bought that on our vacation to Savannah to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. The Winnie the Pooh ornament? That was a gift from a friend/co-worker from back in my Lake Tahoe days. The bear dressed up in blue next to the palmetto tree? That's from my solo trip to London back in 2000. The cute owl? That was a gift to myself last year to celebrate my new crush on owls.

The ice cream cone was my mom's yearly ornament to me in '07 after she saw me literally drop everything and run out to the ice cream truck that cruised around the neighborhood where we'd rented a house. The sand dollar one came from our trip to St. Lucia where I turned the big 3-0. The snowman with the black hat and pink scarf is from my childhood.

The teacup is from my dear friend Sarah who used to meet me for tea and scones when she lived here. The mitten is actually a gift card holder from my favorite store and it celebrated my love of mittens. The teddy bear with wings is another favorite from my mom.

The Santa & Mrs. Claus toward the top of the tree was given to us by my mom on our first Christmas as a married couple. He's putting a pearl necklace around Mrs. Claus's neck and Lee gave me beautiful pearl earrings as my wedding gift. Pretty symbolic, don't you think? The angel at the top of the tree was my mom's offering the year a very special friend of mine passed away. There's meaning on each and every one of our branches and I absolutely LOVE it!

As a bonus this year my mom and step-dad found something that reminded them of me and just had to share it with me. First, the back story...when I was in high school we traveled to Indiana one Christmas and my mom forgot to pack my stocking. My step-dad went out to get me a stocking and came back with a very large one [much to my delight!] That became my stocking for the next decade or so and I loved it! After a couple years my mom caught on and began filling it up with larger/boxier items so she didn't have to buy so darn much. While I was in college I often found a case of Top Ramen waiting for me each Christmas morning.

This year they stumbled upon the biggest stocking they've ever seen and David said they absolutely must buy it for me. I got a good laugh out of it when I opened the box and found this...

It really is as big as it looks! As a joke I took a picture of me in it to send them as a "thank you" and it came up to my waist. I can't even imagine what it would take to fill it up!

So, what are your favorite parts and/or stories of Christmas? I'd love to hear!

words to live by

I love everything about this - the words, the colors, and the way it makes me feel. It's certainly something we should do year round but I find it really resonates with how I'm feeling now with the festiveness of the holidays swirling around.

This is my wish for you today, tomorrow, next week, and next year!

more whimsy

I drooled over this set last year and was thrilled when one made its way to our house this year [thank you Mom + David!]. While the above picture doesn't do it justice, I'm fairly happy with how some of the detail shots turned out...




The colors make me a very happy girl and definitely add to the touch of whimsy we have going on. This is something I'll look forward to pulling out year after year and, most likely, will be the first decoration out [just like this year!]

[Land of Nod also has an adorable set for the same price.]

rustic whimsy

I don't think the term "rustic whimsy" is truly a term but it's one that came to mind when I was trying to figure out what my Christmas style is. I have a little bit of this and a little bit of that saved up from years past. All of it was loved at one time or another and as I collected holiday decorations over the years it seems my style has gone from one extreme to another. This year in trying to only pull out things I love I struggled to find a cohesive look. I love pine cones, the smell of fresh pine, reindeer, and the thought of snowy mountains but I also love bright colors and a fresh spin on holiday decorating. As I stood in our living room trying to pull a look together I became overwhelmingly frustrated. I decided to take a break and warm my belly with a mug full of hot apple cider that had been warming on the stove. As I sipped it I tried to define what I love about Christmas and came up with "rustic" and "whimsy." Hmmmm...rustic whimsy? I threw some pine cones in a bowl and brightened it up with some mini ball ornaments in bright colors (see above) and it was love at first sight. To me it sums up my style perfectly and each time I look at its display on the coffee table I smile. So simple and yet it's one of my favorite decorations this year.


The picture above was taken prior to getting our tree so imagine the green chair in the background replaced with a live Christmas tree. Another thing I'm loving this year is the hurricane filled with assorted sizes of jingle bells.


The following picture didn't come out great but it will give you a feel for how our entry way looks. This is probably the most "rustic" of all the areas but think our "For Like Ever" gives it a great punch of color + whimsy.


Here's a picture of our mantle before adding the fresh pine branches [it looks so much better now]...


More mixtures of pine cones and brightly colored glass ornaments. The way the light shines off them makes me very happy...


And there you have it...rustic whimsy.

What do you think, does my made up term seem to fit?

words to live by

Sometimes all it takes to turn my sour mood into a smile is a little treat. During this crazy season I've found myself turning to Starbucks for my "sweet treat" (in the form of Gingerbread Latte or Peppermint Mocha) more often than not. Most times it works like magic and my anxious, overwhelmed, and stressed feelings melt away. Granted, if I'm out dealing with crowds much longer the effect does wear off but in the moment it is a true lifesaver.

During the mad rush to finish your shopping and make everything perfect for your family don't forget to take care of yourself and treat yourself every now and again. I promise...a little treat goes a long way!

::adorable print found here

so proud

See this gorgeous gal?

This is my friend, Tracy, and she's running her first ever marathon today in CA. I can't begin to express how proud I am of her! She set a goal and saw it through...regardless of how hard it was. Although I can't be there to cheer her on in person, you can bet Lee & I are rooting for her like crazy from here.

Tracy - I hope you know what an inspiration you are to so many. You are such a blessing and I'm incredibly lucky to have you in my life. Love ya!

words to live by

I believe this is something we should do all year long but find it even more important this time of year. So many people let the craziness and stress of the holidays put them in a bad mood. Already this season I've seen my fair share of impatient drivers, grumpy shoppers, and just plain rude people. I do my best to not allow them to affect my mood but I'd be lying if I said I was always successful in my attempt. I've found that kind words from someone else or speaking kindly to shoppers experiencing the same feelings I am works wonders. It allows me to put the holiday pep back into my step and takes me from feeling lost in the shuffle & cranky to having a huge smile on my face. Hopefully it does the same for others. Just think how awesome this time of year could really be if we all realized we're in it together?

::print available here

small steps {holiday decorating}

The same day we got home from North Carolina we had to turn around and drive to New Orleans for a meeting Lee needed to attend early Monday morning. Needless to say, that put a crimp in my decorating plans. I'd hoped to have our house all decked out and feeling like Christmas by Dec. 1 but that just didn't happen. However, I couldn't let the first day of December pass without putting out some of our favorite things and since they've all been acquired recently it made it easy to do [they were all waiting in the 'office' for their chance to shine].

Welcome to a few of my favorite holiday things...

Winter Forest Hand Soap

I found this last year and absolutely love its scent. It reminds me of how Lake Tahoe smells and allows me to enjoy the scent without having to shovel snow...perfect!

Peppermint Bark

This has become a holiday favorite of ours over the past several years and we look forward to seeing the gorgeous tin make its appearance in the stores each November. It wouldn't be the holidays for us without this yummy treat. We always stock up as it makes an excellent hostess gift and strongly encourage you to treat yourself if you've never tasted it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Each year I get a new holiday candle and for years that candle came from The Gap. Surprisingly they sold candles with the most lovely pine scent and I couldn't get enough of it! They stopped selling the one I love a couple of years ago and I've yet to find a replacement. Until this year, that is. I found this [in the balsam fir scent] on our trip to Dallas but didn't purchase it. I regretted it the instant we got to the car and began our 3-hour drive home. I continued to think about it but refused to pay the shipping charges. Lucky for me I found myself in an Anthropologie last week in NC and promptly bought it. [I love it!]

12 Days of Christmas Ornaments

I drooled over these last year but didn't buy them. Thanks to my mom + step-dad the ornaments and the ornament tree you see above are now gracing us with their presence and I must say...they are gorgeous! They definitely add a touch of fun + festiveness to our house and I love it how they make me smile each time I pass by them.

While I couldn't get everything up by the 1st I'm happy to at least have gotten these favorites out. Hopefully by tomorrow the house will be decorated and by the weekend we will have found the prefect tree. Fingers crossed....

How are your decorations coming? Are you halfway done, completely finished, or just getting started?

thanksgiving pictures

We had a great time with Lee's family in North Carolina. Thanksgiving may not ever be the same unless there's a pond out the back door where the kids and kids-at-heart can sneak off to do a little family bonding [aka fishing]. I didn't partake but it was fun to snap away [that's my not so subtle hint that this is a picture heavy post!]

The picture above is one of my favorites. I mean, come on, you gotta love a guy that can rock a girly apron from Anthropologie, don't you think? Here is Lee carving the turkey wearing his sister, Chapel's, apron we got her several years ago. I'd probably be embarrassed if I didn't think he looked so darn cute!

Here is Jordan with Lee's grandmother who we call Mama Jane. She's been in declining health for several years now and it was good to spend some time with her. She began battling high blood pressure while we were all there and I'm hoping now that all six greatchildren and their families are gone she'll get back to normal. Hopefully Jordan finds this picture to be as special as I think it is in the years to come.

Not sure if this was taken before or after we ate [although my guess is before since Roger has on his apron] but here is part of the group getting a little fishing time in [Roger is a huge fisherman]. In the picture above is David [my brother-in-law], Jordan & Natalie, Lee, Roger [my father-in-law], and Kaitlyn & Daniel [niece and nephew].

Yep, she's pretty darn cute!

While everyone was down by the pond [which is literally steps away from Rich & Chapel's back door] a dog came by and wanted to play. Rich tried to find where he lived but wasn't successful in his search. The dog [Rich named him Scout] came back and hung out on the porch for the rest of the evening. Here is Daniel talking to him through the door later that night. Rich & Chapel have been talking about getting a chocolate lab so they decided if he was still there in the morning, they'd take the steps needed to make him theirs. It was a bittersweet morning the next day when Rich got up to find "Scout" gone. Bittersweet because our hope is he went home to be with his family.

Rich & Daniel on Saturday as we goofed around outside. And, yes, there was plenty more fishing involved.

Natalie & Jordan don't get to see their cousins very much so it was fun to see them get to know each other again and have fun hanging out. Lee and I took them all to see New Moon the day before and we all loved it!

Chapel [my sister-in-law] fishing with cutie patootie, Daniel.

Hello, isn't he ADORABLE?!

It was fun to see Justin & Phillip hang out with their Uncle Lee.

I adore all the kids but I must admit, I have a soft spot in my heart for Phillip. He always has a smile on his face, mischief in his eyes, and a heart of gold...the perfect combination!

This is, by far, my favorite picture of the trip. In case you're wondering why everyone is sporting UNC shirts and why Natalie has a temporary UNC tattoo on her face, it's because it was game day. The Tarheels played NC State that day [in football] and I'm sorry to say that they lost. Everyone was bummed but when you're surrounded by so much family + fun it's hard to stay upset for long.

Here I am with Phillip & Justin right before they headed back to Connie & Roger's [their grandparents]. Lee & I had an extremely early flight the next day so this was us saying good-bye. Thank goodness Lee snapped this or there would be no evidence that I was actually on this trip.

Here are Natalie, Jordan, and David. Oh how they love their Uncle David!

Last but not least here are Lee & his dad, Roger, saying their good-byes. Can you see a family resemblance?

Our trip was a great one and it was so much fun hanging out with family members we don't get to see very often. There was a lot of laughing and I so enjoyed bonding with Chapel & Rich again. Family time is special and while there may have been a few tears shed on Thanksgiving after talking to my family in CA, I was happy to be surrounded by a family that has taken me in as their own. Yep, I'm a lucky and very blessed girl to have two families that love her so much and you can bet that was at the top of my "thankful" list this year.