(One of) my favorite days of the year...

CHRISTMAS DECORATING!

Today Nick and I got up and went out to the cutest tree farm to cut down our little tree! It was a dream! We have officially decided it will be our ongoing Christmas tradition to get our tree from them (AND...it is WAY cheaper to cut the tree down yourself vs. getting it pre-cut here in town.

I Fa La La La La'd the day away and our little house is offically "Christmasy"...with delicious pine smells filling each room. My heart is happy!

This is from last year but my camera died so I couldn't capture any pics during the day...just wishing my hair was still this long....sigh*

THANKFUL Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving in Texas was honestly just...perfect! I am so happy that we were able to spend the holiday with my relatives from my dad's side of the family, and especially happy that my grandparents were finally able to meet Nicholas (they aren't able to travel any longer so couldn't come up for the wedding.)

We ate BBQ brisket, played some soccer, chatted with Grandpa, devoured deep dish pecan pie, sang many a Rock Band song, said some prayers, cried some tears, ate craw-fish etouffee, lots of hugs, played some Hearts, ate some oatmeal, went on some runs, learned about life as a freshman at LSU, cheered on the Franklin Lions in triple overtime playoff football game, ate some shrimp creole, missed dad, listened to old stories, and just completely enjoyed ourselves (while eating a LOT as you can tell...)

I just came back from this little get-a-way so completely thankful for my amazing family. They are a breath of fresh air...these incredible people who seem to do so much for other people...it is always such a reminder for me being around them how much more I could do to help others. My cousins are honestly the sweetest of sweet people I've ever met... pure sugar is what I call them. I love them all so much....

Okay...is it just me?....

Or sometimes when you are trying to leave a comment on someone's page and you enter in the Word Verfication...does it ever make you keep trying new words when YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TYPED IT CORRECTLY?! I just tried to leave a message on Michelle's blog and, not kidding, it took me about 8 tries at different words until it accepted it?! And it wasn't even a cool comment!! Grrrr.

Amazing Uncle...

My incredible uncle finished his first IronMan race tonight!! And did awesome...well under the time he was expecting. It is amazing...they swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then, to cool down, run a marathon! It is crazy talk if you ask me...I don't know how a body can do it.

It was fun checking in throughout the day on the IronMan tracker page where you can follow where your athlete is by their GPS unit attached to their ankles.

So way to go Uncle Kyle...YOU are an IronMan!! (that's what they say to everyone as they cross the finish line)

Bad blogger...

So I don't know what it is lately, but I just haven't been a very good blogger....I have to assume it is just for lack of time, because it certainly hasn't been for lack of fun activities:

-Thursday I went here with some of the girls...
-Friday went on a fun double date to see this...
-Saturday enjoyed having friends over to watch a victory win for the Cougs!

Unfortunately, I have no pictures to document from these fun events. I have also been horrible about that. Perhaps it's because I am just dreaming of the day until I own this beauty....
Some day, hopefully soon...

Two Reasons Why I'm SUPER Happy....

1. Our wedding book that I made on blurb.com has finally arrived and I am so delighted with the outcome!! The quality is fantastic...all 2oo pages of it. Oops, I just couldn't decide which pictures to cut...

2. I just got tickets for Nick, Rothie, Mike and I for this Friday to go see Twilight!!!! AAAAH! I can hardly wait...I plan to finish book 3 tonight, and book 4 by Friday....

Oh hey Edward and Bella....

Productive Weekend!

Whew...I love weekends where I feel like we really checked some things off the ever evolving "list" of to-do's.
-Got tons of yard work done: cleaned roof, cleaned out the gutters, raked leaves, cleaned out the flower/plant beds, mowed
-Got more stuff ready for little Max
-Friend time
-Family time
-Probably most exciting: traded in Nick's car and jumped on the Mercury Mariner bandwagon!! We feel very happy and fortunate with the deal we got on it. Now we'll have room for Max, and be able to take trips over the pass in months other than May, June, July, August.

All in all, very successfull weekend. Even though I didn't get to read nearly as much as I wanted about my beloved vampires.

Melt my Heart!

Oh my word....Max is even cuter than I ever imagined! He is the most laid-back, sweet little puppy ever! Some favorite pics from today....AND we found out we get to bring him home a week earlier than we thought. Merry Christmas!

Can't wait to meet this little bugger...

Tomorrow we are going up to Bellingham to meet little Max for the first time! This is the latest picture that the breeder has posted of him....I can hardly resist that little face!!

I've jumped on the Vampire bandwagon....

And am officially OBSESSED with the Twilight series....finished the first book in about 2 days, and just got the second book which I am planning to start tonight. They are seriously so good!!
I love having a good book to read. There is nothing better. For me, when I have a good book it is pretty much all encompassing. I get completely and totally obsessed. Mom always talks about getting lots of "summer reading" done, but I seem to be the opposite. In the summer, there is always something else it seems to be doing....yardwork, BBQ's, meeting up with friends....anything to take advantage of the weather. But now that it's dark at 5 p.m., it seems my evenings have slowed down, and I must say, I am really enjoying it. Curling up and reading next to Nicholas almost every night is such a cozy, comfortable and safe feeling. Even if I am reading about teenage vampires.

Coolest cookie ever

YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY!

Oh hello Mr. President!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Voted!

Is it just me, or is voting one of the most exciting things ever?! Honestly, I just got back from the polls and I am practically giddy I'm so excited. What an awesome country that we live in that we get to decide who to elect to lead us...our voices are heard on issues regarding government, taxation, environment, transportation, social issues, etc. etc....we are SO fortunate!

So, if you haven't already...get out there and vote! Also, as a sidenote, I was worried about super long lines and waiting for an hour or more to cast vote...but it only took me a total of about 15 minutes...hooray!

P.S. I love my little sticker too!

One of my favorite sounds...

Concert Pitch A.

Concert pitch A440 (A above middle C vibrating at 440 times per second) has been universally accepted as the pitch to which all instruments should be tuned. It ensures that when instruments play together, they will all be in tune with one another.

This is the sound that starts pretty much all classical music concerts. The first chair violinist typically comes out, and all instruments in order start playing this note, on one key signature or another. I love the sound of it. So familiar, yet so exciting. It marks the beginning of another concert. Tonight as I sat on stage at our concert, waiting for George to come out to conduct us...listening to the orchestra tune up together to this note, I realized how happy that simple sound makes me.
It was a great concert. I think Bach would have been proud.

Baby Schnitzel!

Baby Schnitzel's little face just cracks me up in this picture! I swear...I didn't smell bad!