December, lately.

Lately, we have been ...

... ordering kitchen cabinets. and kitchen appliances. and trying to finalize what seems like a million other design decisions. i am beginning to realize that i am WAY out of my league on this one - this whole kitchen renovation is big, and involves things like contractors and custom cabinets, and i do not know the first real thing about a renovation process that isn't completely do-it-yourself, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants and make-a-million-trips-to-home-depot.  but i did update my idea board from August to try and get a better handle on what i might like the floors to look like. thoughts?

PS Mark is planning to start demo this week, so if you have an opinion, now is the time to voice it!

... squealing over every picture of Baby Levi. and over how very adorable and tiny the Christmas jammies are that we bought for him. its kind of hard to believe that he is really real and on the outside, even after spending all day Christmas just snuggling his perfect little self. so excited to see him again (along with the rest of the fam!) in just a couple weeks

... crafting Christmas presents. i have most of them done and wrapped, but believe it or not i still have three half-done at home, and i just thought up two more today to add to my list. that's the upside of celebrating Christmas late this year - a couple extra weeks to get everything done!

... wrapping Christmas presents. i spent an entire Sunday with wrapping paper and the Gilmore Girls. it was a good day, indeed.

... visiting Gram and Pap. we got our first tin of candy when we visited at Thanksgiving, and i left that one at Stasi's house. we got a second! tin of candy on this trip, but unfortunately forgot it on Gram's kitchen counter. major sadface. we are going back in a couple weeks, but i am not holding out hope that there will even be much candy left, let alone even the slimmest of chances that our tin will still be there waiting for us.

... wearing Christmas jammies.  i dont even care that they are mainstream and cliche and i am probably at least four years behind the trend, but i got myself and my husband (non-matching) holiday sleepwear this year and it was downright festive.

... celebrating Julie's wedding! everything was absolutely GORGEOUS - the bride, the venue, the weather (50 degrees and sunny in late December, what!) and i think the only real crises involved the bridesmaids earrings.  there were zero casualties and only minor bloodshed. Julie and Nate are currently on their honeymoon, and i honestly could not be more happy for them.  SO thankful that i got to be a part of their big day.

not dead. just not feeling wordy lately.

so. sorry about the radio silence around these parts. i'm still here. still living life, eating regularly, going to work, doing all of the important things like laundry and dishes and i think i might have even cleaned the bathroom recently so yeah, i'm pretty much a rockstar. *brushes off shoulder* but as far as writing anything? sharing my stories? documenting the life i am living right now? eh, not so much. *shrugs* and i'm kind of ok with that.

winter is tough - it is cold and lonely and dark and lasts way too long after Christmas and i'm just now realizing that i'm really only about halfway through the season. gross. but what i'm trying to say is that i feel like as long as i am surviving, i'm doing ok - even if the documentation side of things is slipping.

so just in case you've been wondering, this is what i've been up to lately:
(and i even made my list alliterative! just because i can! Cope would be so proud!)

Sister Christmas. we travelled to Pennsylvania the weekend between Christmas and New Year's to celebrate with my family. i took zero pictures of our extended family celebration at Aunt Sara's house - i figured cousin Sarah had it covered - but did manage some pictures of our mini-Christmas with the sisters and our families.

we even had a tiny tree to put our presents under!

 

 Mark's present came in a Victoria's Secret bag...

 

  don't you love my sister's new hat?

Skiing. for the second year in a row, i survived the Shifflett family ski trip. and i liked it! we went to a different mountain this year - Showshoe, WV. the trails were tougher, and it took me a while to re-remember how to make it down the mountain upright (i ended the weekend with a grand total of 12 wipeouts and one giant hip bruise...apparently i always land on the same spot) but we had a really good time. my camera spent the weekend in my purse so i don't have any pictures, but my FIL took some good ones (and at least one terrible one that i couldn't convince him to delete) so if those ever actually make it off of their camera i might share a few.

Studying. the day we got back from our long skiing weekend, we also started an online review course for the PE Exam we're taking in April. ever since then, literally all of my free time has been spent with my giant review books; either reading theory, listening to lectures, working problems, or weeping in despair because right now it feels like there is no way i will ever re-learn all of this stuff in the next 79 days.

(not) Sewing. so i got that great sewing machine for Christmas. and i have some good ideas for sewing projects. and i have created a "sew fun!" pinerest board. and because of the aforementioned skiing and studying, i have had zero time to actually sew anything. sigh.

Shopping. mostly for groceries and other necessary but not necessarily fun things.  i feel like i have spent a lot of time at the grocery store, which probably isn't even true because Mark's new job is right across the street from the grocery store so he has been doing a lot of the shopping for me. but, it started with an S so it made the list. i have been to Walmart twice in the past week to buy exciting things like lint filters for my utility sink and mini saltines and a dishpan. and ok i also impulse bought the movie Tangled just because i wanted to watch it. maybe i'll watch it again tomorrow...

Singing. the Frozen soundtrack. constantly. all the time. obsessed. have you seen this movie? is it even still in theaters? we saw it on a date night on New Years, and you need to see it too. trust me.

Sparkles. ok so this isn't really a thing i've been doing, but it snowed yesterday and it's a little windy today and all of the blowing snow outside my office window looks like one massive glitter party and it makes me smile.

blessed holiday.

back at work today.

 

blessed with the sight of surprise snow falling outside my window.

 

blessed with a little time off work this week to spend with family.

 

 

blessed with a loving and encouraging husband.

 

 

blessed with a lazy Christmas morning at home.

 

 

blessed with a rare Santa sighting in Maryland.

 

 

blessed with so much.

 

 

consider them decked.

the halls, that is. my house has been decorated for Christmas since the weekend after Thanksgiving - its just taken me until Christmas Eve to take any pictures of it. i blame the lack of sunlight and an overabundance of craziness this holiday season. today was the first day all month i had time and sunlight on my side.

please note that all of these pictures are carefully framed because i have yet to actually clean the house today, and i figured if i waited until everything was clean i would have ran out of sunlight. again.

let's start this little tour in the dining room:

the dining room decor can mostly be attributed to my mom: she picked up the awesome oversize ornaments at a yardsale this summer, and then sent these three home with us in our carry-ons because they didn't match her color scheme. she also mailed us our advent wreath for our first married Christmas.

i decided to display Christmas cards on the big mirror this year. they are hung with command hooks, fishing line, and binder clips. because nothing says festive quite like office supplies. in years past, cards were displayed in the kitchen, or in a basket on the dining room table. if you don't see your card here, its probably because you didn't send us one. (or we haven't gotten it yet. haven't checked the mail today)

on the not-a-credenza in the front room, we have these happy snowmen. they are a cookie jar, but sadly there are no cookies inside. i did very little baking this year and gave most all of the cookies away, and the few that were deemed not good enough to gift didn't stick around long enough to make it into the jar. they were delicious.

you've already met Harold the Third, but he's just so good looking i had to show him to you again. plus: presents!

the clear glass lamps in the fireplace room are filled with ornaments, and our santa tray is patiently waiting for his big moment to shine tonight.

i love our nativity set, another gift from my parents. it lives on the mantel and did i mention how much i love it?

one thing we overlooked last year in the design and construction of our mantel was the matter of stockings. the old nails were removed from the brick, and a new solution was never implemented. we bought cup hooks this year, but ran out of time to install them, so for this year our stockings are hung on the empty firewood holder.

i am really bummed that i'm not going home to spend Christmas with my parents this year, but with so much sentimentality in my decor, (seriously, my mom either made or gifted us everything in these pictures) its almost like being home for Christmas. almost.

Merry Christmas!

of trees and gifts.

'twas the weekend after thanksgiving, and barely december,

when the hubs and i made some memories to remember.

the trees were all leaned in the lot with great care,

knowing that lazy tree shoppers would be there.

 

you know the ones, like the hubs and me,

who can't muster the energy to chop their own tree.

we wandered just briefly, then to our delight -

Harold the Third was right there in our sights!

 

Mark paid the nice man and in no time flat,

Harold was tied up on the roof - just like that!

back at home, after lunch, and with our four hands,

we expertly secured Harold upright in his stand.

we strung twinkle lights: green, pink, yellow, and blue,

then followed with snowflakes and ornaments too!

and i sat in the dark just admiring the glow,

so thankful for Christmas and  the love that God shows.

 

He sent us his Son, in a way quite provincial

to die in our place because we are sinful.

and i celebrate that with all of my might,

so Merry Christmas to all! May your season be bright!

 

 

merry day after.

i have a story to share with all y'all, but its kind of gross. so i figured it would be more appropriate on the day after Christmas to post something a little more cheerful. so here! look at some of the pictures i remembered to take of our Christmas, and look forward to the gross story tomorrow!

 

we were fortunate on Christmas Eve to have some surprise snow! not so much that we were snowed in or unable to make it to the Christmas Eve service, but just enough to make everything outside extra beautiful, festive, slippy, and dangerous. the good news is that everybody made it to and from our house safely for dinner, games, and fun after church. 

 

 in the past, Mark and I have gifted each other three gifts: because if it was good enough for Jesus, its good enough for us. this year we gifted ourselves one BIG present that came in the mail last week, and then kept it pretty low key for Christmas morning: one small present each, and whatever we could stuff in each others stockings.

 

this is exactly how i want to remember our Christmas mornings: 'you gotta get up' blasting through the house, pajamas, bedhead, excitement, and the joy of being together for another year. who needs perfectly styled christmas morning pictures when you can have sleepy eyes and fuzzy hats?

 

 

we eventually got dressed and headed over to Mark's parents house for stockings, brunch, presents, snacks, more presents, pictures, even MORE presents, dinner, and games with the whole fam-damily. i ate too much chocolate, stuffed myself full of good food, and enjoyed every single minute. (but i am NOT looking forward to my first workout post holiday food binge)

 

 

we made out like bandits this year. seriously, i think we recieved three presents for every one we gave this year. we are super duper spoiled and we know it. this was our tree on Christmas morning. now just imagine this same tree piled so high with boxes there's no room to spare underneath it, and thats basically what its looking like right about now.

 



all in all, we had a wonderful day full of family, food, lounging, laughter, and giving thanks for the most precious gift we have ever been given in the person of Jesus Christ our Savior. we're back to work today, watching the snow fall through the office windows and praying that the roads will be clear by the time we get to head home at the end of the day.

hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

my other christmas card.

i'm pretty sure that in the past i have claimed that every weekend i spend with my BFITW is the best. weekend. ever. some people might think that i'm exaggerating. but i'm not even.

the highlight of our most recent weekend together was our mostly-annual tradition of picture day! one of these days i'm going to get my act together enough to scan in all of our mostly-yearly pictures (dating all the way back to freshman year!) and write up an attempt to explain this kind of insane tradition, but for now, since i'm knee-deep in holiday crafting madness of the very best kind, you'll have to settle for pictures of our pictures since our online album is not playing nice.

aren't we cute?! 

in the past, we have always gone to the picture place at walmart for picture day, since they usually run some pretty sweet deals. but since the walmart closest to my house doesnt have a picture place, we booked an appointment at a legit photo studio at the mall. (ps i think i have had more professional pictures taken with my BFITW than i have with my own family)

we took full advantage of their offer of holiday backgrounds and even an outfit change, and walked out of there not only with a fantastic picture of us in our cute matching sweaters, but also 15 free christmas cards featuring our tacky holiday sweaters. and heck yes we totally mailed them to some of the most wonderful people people in our lives who completely understand and appreciate our particular brand of awesome.

its a wonderful thing to have a best friend in the world, and i'm so blessed to have found the very very best.

meal plan tuesday: dec 18.

i am currently stuck in the most wonderful kind of survival mode i have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. the sink is overflowing with dishes. the mountain of dirty laundry has taken over my entire bedroom floor and pretty well emptied my closet. what little bit of clean laundry i have managed to do remains unfolded. the dining room table is so covered in stuff we can't even sit at it to eat. the table in the nook is the same way. every horizontal surface is cluttered with an assortment of mail, christmas cards, projects, and randomness that will take forever to sort through. the fireplace room is an explosion of various christmas present wrappings.

and i love it.

for the past two weeks, instead of spending my time stressing about having everything neat and clean and orderly and doing the things i feel i have to do, i have been doing the things that i want to do. i have been crafting dozens of homemade christmas presents. i have been watching movies on weeknights. i have been going out to the movies. i have been getting my nails done. i have been laughing so so hard. i have been going out to eat. i have been hanging out with friends. and it is awesome.

so what if my christmas cards aren't adorably displayed this year and the dinners i've been making have been far from elaborate? we are having a ton of fun this christmas season and i wouldnt have it any other way.

so on the menu this week we've got another bunch of low-key meals to make more time for merriment, crafting, and hopefully finding a little bit of time to actually clean up the house a little before our community group christmas party!

Monday: crock pot roast and veggies.
Tuesday: tilapia with rice.
Wednesday: taco night.
Thursday: crock pot beef burgundy. (recipe)
Friday: leftovers.
Saturday: family Christmas party!
Sunday: soup from a can.

our christmas card.

i have a love-hate relationship with christmas cards. i love that they give me an excuse to dig back through a year's worth of pictures and blog posts and reminisce on the past 12 months to determine what all we did that year that might be worth sharing. i love getting cards from friends and family and hanging them around my house for way longer than is probably seasonally appropriate. and i love having a unique record of each year. (see our cards from 2010 and 2011)

 

but i hate how more often than not, it's more difficult than it seems it should be to find that one card-worthy picture to share. i hate how pricey it all can be, what with the cards, and the stamps, and the time it takes to lick all those envelopes. i hate licking those envelopes.  and i hate having to split my address list into 'card' and 'no card' categories  because as much as i want to send everyone all of the cards, i'm just not made of stamps.

 

so for those of you who fell on the 'no card' list this year, i'm really sorry about that. please dont hate me. you are not forgotten. you are just the lucky recipient of the eco-friendly virtual version of  our card: no muss, no fuss, and no extra trash to take out after Christmas:



 

via shutterfly

trim up the tree with christmas stuff, like bingle balls and whofoo fluff.

i have been trying to share these photos all week, and blogger/picasa has not been playing nice. but finallyfinally i get to introduce you to my most favorite of Christmas decorations - our tree!  



 

Mark is apparently less than enthused.

 

kidding! Mark was actually very excited to help pick out Harold the Second, he just thought that he was not going to be in the picture with Harold (the second). see? much better. 

 

we drove home from the super festive parking lot/tree lot with Harold (the second) securely secured to the roof, feeling very Christmassey and festive and excited. at home, Mark set up Harold (the second) in his tree stand while i napped. and then he sat there just like that for an entire week. (Harold, not Mark) just a plain ol' pine tree, chillin in the living room. and let me just tell you, an undecorated Christmas tree is not very Christmassey - its really just kind of sad. i didnt even take any pictures of it, thats how sad it is.

 

so a week later, after i gave Harold (the second) plenty of time to settle and adjust to his new holiday home, (and also because i finally found 20 minutes of free time all in a row) it was time to decorate! our tree decorating routine is pretty standard: just colored lights, and our eclectic mish-mash of yearly ornaments that we have collected over the years. i accidentally bucked a tradition of opening our Christmas ornaments for the year on Christmas Eve - i was just so excited about putting them on the tree! we picked up this years' ornaments on our European travels. a mini-Eiffel Tower from France... 

...and a Venetian mask from Italy. neither of these were technically designed to be ornaments, but they were easily modified with a little bit of fishing line and sparkly silver cord. i love these because i think they're some of the best souveniers i have ever brought back from a trip. instead of being packed away forever in storage or lost and forgotten somewhere, these will get to be displayed every year and remind us of the awesome trip we took this year.

another super exciting thing on our tree this year: snowflakes! my mom crocheted me a set of my very own snowflakes, AND an angel tree topper. apparently i hinted last year that i might like some - i totally forgot that i ever said that, and was super surprised and excited when Mom pulled them out of her suitcase at Thanksgiving! they are wonderful and beautiful and they make my tree look fantastic and i love them and i know my sisters are super jealous so i'm not going to rave about them anymore. but just look how pretty!

 

wanna see Harold (the second) all decked out? of course you do. here he is in the daytime:

 

 

and here he is at nighttime:  

 

 

yup, its official: 'tis definitely the season for sitting in the dark living room just reveling in all of the magic and joy by the light of the tree.

 



meal plan monday: dec 10.

i love a good weekend. i really love a great weekend. and this was a really great weekend.

reason the first: my BFITW. she called me a couple weeks ago and said "it has been too long since we have been together. i am coming to your house." and it was awesome. we hung out, we shopped, we got our nails done, we ate Chipotle with friends, we continued our picture day tradition, we mailed Christmas cards, we watched Despicable Me, we laughed A LOT. because apart from my sisters, there's no one who understands me like this girl. she is the best.

reason the second: Christmas decorations. we've had our tree for a week, and it sat undecorated in our living room, just being a plain-ol' pine tree for a full seven days. but now it is finally decorated and beautiful. also: lights on the porch, nativity on the mantle, christmas dishes in the cupboard, sparkly ornaments in the lamps, and a big bow on the door. its beginning to look a lot like Christmas all over my house.

reason the third: zero obligations. no bathrooms to work on. no deadlines to meet. no schedule, no stress, no nothing. just whatever we wanted to do, whenever we wanted to do it. this was the first weekend we've had in a while that was just easy breezy go with the flow and i absolutely loved it!

it was fun, it was productive, it was relaxing. pretty much perfection.
(insert clever transition here)
so this is what we're going to be eating this week:

Monday: soup from a can.
Tuesday: grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Wednesday: crock pot roast, potatoes, veggies.
Thursday: tilapia with rice and a veggie.
Friday: dinner out before the Christmas play.
Saturday: Christmas party at Dutcher's.
Sunday: Cynthia's birthday party.

a song for you this christmas.

**to the tune of "Nuttin' for Christmas"**

you're gettin' nuttin' for Christmas,

me and my husband are mad.

we can buy nuttin' for Christmas,

'cause cars are expensive and sad.

the tires on my car are dead -

that's a lot of money.

i'd rather buy presents instead -

but winter roads are slippy.

i'd like to buy you all nice things -

fast sports cars and diamond rings -

but how about some water wings,

or samples i got for free?

OH you're gettin' nuttin' for Christmas,

me and my husband are mad.

we can buy nuttin' for Christmas,

'cause cars are expensive and sad.

mark got new tires on his car too -

woot! even more money!

then he nearly hit a stopping queue,

which is really not funny.

he almost smashed up his car's hood -

side mirror lost swerving into the woods* -

at least we know his brakes are good -

so we'll fix that too, honey.

 

SO you're gettin' nuttin' for Christmas,

we hope that you aren't really mad.

we're buyin' you nuttin' for Christmas,

'cause our cars are expensive and sad.

 

(ok so maybe this isnt all entirely true. yes, we've had to put new tires on both our cars and Mark did knock off his side mirror avoiding a rear-end collision, but we are still giving Christmas presents this year. just dont hold your breath for that fancy fur hat you love, or be disappointed that we didnt get you a new iPhone7.)

*it was actually a wooden sign post, but i took a little artistic license with the story for the sake of rhyming.  

better late than never.

this week, Mark hung another thing on the wall. in the basement this time. does anyone recognize it or know what it is?

no idea why everything looks crooked. its like a fun house!  

my amazing brother-in-law Micah built this dart board cabinet for Mark, to class up the dart board that we inherited with the house. isnt it beautiful? he's one talented guy, that Micah.

and just in case you cant see the details from far away, check out these way cool door pulls - those are actual darts that were welded onto threaded posts to attach them to the doors. love them!

so... did i mention that Micah gave this to Mark as a present two Christmases ago? yeah. we feel a little bad that it took us so long to get it together... but now its all hung and level and ready to play! we're probably going to need a bit of practice though... Mark has put one hole in the cabinet already.

come (yard)sail away.

on my sister's way back from visiting her new house over the weekend, she and her family stopped at our house to visit with her favorite sister! (ok so maybe they also wanted to break up their long drive and have a free place to sleep for the night, but the main reason was to see me i'm sure) 

since she was coming on a Saturday, i invited her to come yardsailing with me and my friend Nadine. it was a rainy morning, which meant that there weren't a lot of people venturing out, which made for pushy sellers who were willing to negotiate to make a deal. check out what i got:

- a little white side table for the basement - $15  $7

- an awesome rolling bar cart to refinish - $10  $7

- blue train case - $10  $5

- angel food cake pan - $1  incl. w/train case

- scrabble game - $2  incl. w/train case

- 'made from scratch' rubber stamp - $0.50

- new years cookie cutters w/sprinkles - $0.50

- snowflake cookie cutters - $2  $1

   Grand Total: $41  $21

admittedly, not the greatest deals ever in the history of yardsailing, but not too shabby for my first yardsale outing of the year either, especially since i'm not usually someone who really likes to barter.  i think the bar cart is my favorite, and i can't wait to paint it!

the scrabble game turned out to be missing a dozen or so letters, which in the grand scheme of old board games is not too bad, and really a non-issue for me since i didnt buy the game intending to play it. thanks to Pinterest, i've got plans for those old scrabble tiles...

... but i'm going to need more tiles if i'm going to finish this thing by Christmas, (only 159 days!) especially since just one name managed to use up half of my A tiles. so i know its starting to get late in the yardsailing season, but if you see any scrabble games, or if you happen to have one that is missing a few pieces that you would be willing to part with, just know that i'm on the hunt... because i'm going to need approximately a zillion more A's to make this particular project happen.