NYE.

Can you believe 2010 is almost gone? Done. Kaputs. Outta here. Yea, I cannot either. 2011 begins on Saturday and I couldn't be more elated.
Last year E and I spent NYE together with a nice dinner and too many martinis. This year most of our friends and us don't have the energy or the money to go crazy. spend. lots. of. money. at. overcrowded. bars. so about 10 of us are going to a nice dinner and then head to a sweet friend's house to have cocktails.
Short recap of 2010:
Jan-E quit his stable home building career.
Feb-Valentine's. Marley's first pancreatitis sickness.
March-K's annual birthday crawfish boil. March madness. Began dreaming of a vacation. Rita's construction began.
April-Our FIVE year wedding anniversary! Nuff said.
May-My office construction began. Stress was elevated.
June-Rita's opened.
July-I began working 60 hour weeks facilitating a huge construction project. Surprised my mom for her birthday.
August-My Pops had hip replacement surgery. He walked the next day.
September-E's birthday. Marley lost his first eye.
October-Moved into my office's new building. Gave up the Facility role. Was in awe of my accomplishments in 2010.
November-Went on vacation to St Kitts. Had both families at our house for Thanksgiving. Decorated. Began remodeling our kitchen.
December-Hosted an Ornament exchange. Realized our Texas Longhorns weren't going to a bowl game. Put down Travertine floors in our kitchen. Spent a wonderful Christmas with both families.
2011:
You are going to be an awesome year, I can feel it!

Come and Gone.

O.m.g. I cannot believe Christmas has come and gone and New Year's is only a few days away. The past month has been so hectic (as written in a previous post), so I didn't get to finish my last days of Christmas. I will wrap it up:

Here is our living room. I don't have pictures of our dining room, but it's gorgi-porgi. My mom decorated it and I love it!
Note to self: Our dog is perfect. :)
We will be taking down our Christmas stuff on Saturday, New Year's Day whilst watching football and drinking festies. It's always sad and makes me a little dreary when everything goes away because the house looks so empty. I am not a cluttered person, so cleanliness and non-clutter will make me happy.
The last post was to be what Oprah favorites would I want for Christmas. Well, I have no clue what was on her list this year, but I did receive a ToyWatch a couple of years ago and that was a favorite of hers at the that time.
The Days of Christmas are done. Sad. Tear. Moving on.
We had a splendid Christmas this year! For some reason, it wasn't as stressful. My in-laws moved back to Austin, so we didn't have to travel far for Christmas Eve. We went to their house, drank, ate and were Merry! Christmas morning we woke to coffee, salmon and lochs, opened presents, chatted and were sent off by Noon. We drove to F-town to my parents house where my brother and parents were awaiting us. We had a second Christmas, ate, drank, opened gobs of presents and were Merry! We are so very blessed to have families that love, adore and share joy with us each and every day!

Hectic Holidays.

I have said over and over how much I love the Holidays, but this Holiday Season has been very hectic and a tad bit frustrating!
I am going to vent a bit:
It started with Thanksgiving. We were going to have it at the in-laws, but that fell through because they had just moved into their new home and we didn't want to put that pressure on them. We decided to have it at our house. This is great and all, but our house doesn't fit 8 people and 3 dogs very well. I love our house, but it's not huge by any means, so organizing and planning for such events is a must. Thanksgiving turned out wonderful, but as stated above it was a quite a bit of work. It was hectic.
E and I used to have people over to our house all the time, but for some reason (probably because I am scared our carpet will get ruined, ha...hate carpet) we stopped. This year I wanted to have a small Christmas party at the house. We sent invites. Bought a lot of alcohol. Bought a lot of food. Cleaned. Prepped. Cleaned. Prepped. Yelled at each other. Cleaned. It was a blast! We had all of our dear friends sign our concrete floors. Drank a lot. Ate a bit. Exchanged ornaments. Said Merry Christmas. Said Good-Bye. Joyful times. But, it was hectic.
We have been in our home for a tad over 4 years. We did a ton of work to the house. Upgraded a lot of the house, but didn't have the money to do everything we wanted in those four years. We are blessed and have been given the opportunity to re-do our kitchen. Let me just say. I. will. never. ever. ever. never. ever re-do a part of my home while living in it. Especially when there is only one of them. There is only one kitchen in the house. It's not like a bathroom where you can shut the door until it's done and use the master. Our fridge has been posted up in our living room for um 2 weeks. Our bar armoire is in the living room posted up as well. It's been odd. We got our Travertine floors installed and we went to seal them last night when we noticed three of the tiles are cracked. seriously. cracked. E put in the five inch base, but it took a lot longer than we thought because of the specific and special cuts. I love the floors, I love my limestone bar tops, I love my five inch base, but goodness gracious I am ready for this to be done. To think, it's not even close makes me nauseated. It's been hectic.
Our precious pup, Marley, lost his right eye about three months ago due to a lenses issue. We were treating the left eye with meds and hoping we wouldn't have to deal with a lenses issue in that eye. Last Thursday, E woke up and noticed Marley was acting very odd. Long story short...I had to take Marley into the vet (who was off that day) and we made the decision to remove the lenses in hope to save the vision. He had emergency surgery at 9am ON MY STINKIN' BIRTHDAY. He is recovering, however, we are not 100% that we have saved the vision. Seriously. Could this happen at a worse time? The house is in shambles, poor dog cannot see, had to spend a ton of money and I have only bought 2 Christmas gifts. Seriously, it's been hectic.
Yea, as stated: I HAVE ONLY BOUGHT 2 CHRISTMAS GIFTS!!! Our lives have been so hectic and stressful...emotionally I have had it with 2010. I am ready to relax and celebrate CHRISTmas with our loved ones...good-bye hectic life.

Day 11: New Year's Resolutions

2010 is almost over, crazy! I am ready for a new year. It's always refreshing to start anew, have new goals and a new mindset.
I am not one to set New Year's Resolutions. I prefer to set "focus" areas. I like to realize there are many things I need to change and focus on those changes, but not necessarily set a resolution. Does that make sense? I think people tend to set resolutions and most are pretty bummed by the end of the year when those resolutions aren't fulfilled. I don't want to be bummed come December 2011!
Here are some of my Focus Areas for 2011:
-Appreciate and give Thanks. I love my E and I love everything he does for me, but I know for a fact there are many occasions I am a brat and don't show it. I need to work on that.
-Be proud, stand tall and begin having a positive outlook on who I am. Being a woman is tough. In the future, we want to have children (yea, I know I finally said it) and I feel one must love themselves 100% in order to love their spouse\partner and children. This will be a big task, but something I will focus throughout 2011.
--Stop NAGGING! I think this is just a woman thing...I don't know, but I think I nag too much.
-Don't worry, be happy! I worry about dumb things. Seriously. I worry about my duvet cover being wrinkled. I worry about the little tiny stains on our carpet. I worry about money. I worry about stuff that I shouldn't worry about. GET REAL, JULEZ. Add it to the list...
-Love. Love everyone around me and show it.
These are the main focuses for 2011 and I am sure the list will grow, but acknowledging is the first step. Conquering is the last.

Day 10: Favorite Christmas Songs\Caroles

I love Christmas music! I started listening to Pandora and Slacker Christmas stations the week of Thanksgiving. I listen to Christmas music in my car. This will continue until after Christmas. We keep our tree up until the BCS National Championship Game, so most likely I will listen to Christmas music until that date.
My all time favorite Christmas song is "First Noel." My favorite song that I typically only hear during Christmas is "The Prayer" by Josh Groban and Celine Dion. Tears. come. out. of. my. eyes. This was sung at our wedding and the meaning and words are so powerful. Love both of these!
"Rudolph the red nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose...." Yup, that's playing on Slacker right now. Cheers.

Day 9: Favorite Holiday Recipe

Oh food, my 2nd most favorite thing in the whole wide world! My favorite holiday recipe comes in the form of alcohol! Festies or Champagne Cocktails.
Festie:
Egg Nog.
Vodka.
Coffee liqueur.
Mix.
Serve over ice.
Delish!
Champagne Cocktail:
One sugar cube.
Drop two drips of bitters on the cube.
Cover said cube with Brandy.
Pour champagne to rim of glass.
Voile.
Heaven!
I would rather drink than eat calories, so...kidding, kidding, kidding, but we don't have "special" holiday food, so I don't have a favorite food recipe. Try the above cocktails and do tell what you think of them!

Day 8: Least favorite thing about the Holidays

Well, when you love the Holidays as much as me it's hard to find something you dislike, but there are a couple of things that get to me during this Season.
The traffic! Traffic here in the ATX is typically bad, but you throw in people drunk on shopping, the stores open later, vacation days being taken and bonuses being handed out...THE TRAFFIC IS AWFUL! Everywhere one goes it feels like it takes an extra 15-20 minutes. It typically takes me all of 12 minutes to get home from work, but last week I went a route that was dumb. I went a route that took me through shopping central and it took me 30 minutes to get home. It's crazy, but glad to see people are out spending their money and helping boost our economy, right? :)
2nd-The desserts and the festies! I love dessert. I love festies. Do you know what a Festie is? It's an alcoholic beverage that will knock your socks off, seriously. These two have two things in common: Mucho calories and they make me smile. With being someone that struggles with weight gain and weight loss, the Holiday Season seems to get me every year. I tend to only eat\drink these things on the weekends, so I can catch up on my low-calorie-make-me-depressed-greek yogurt during the week. I tend to visit the gym less because it's cold and I just want to drink said festies. It's a whirlwind, but hey, it's worth it because it makes me smile. Yea, that sounds good...I will stick with that one.

Day 7: Holiday Craft

I am the least crafty person UNLESS I see something that I really like or want. I don't make any gifts to give because of said lack of talent. If I could make a craft, it would be arrangements, Christmas tree skirts and paintings. It seems like so much fun and meaningful to use your own tow hands to make a creative, special gift. Perhaps, I need to do this since I haven't bought one stinkin' Christmas present this year! (Holy, eeks!!!!)

Day 6: Gift Wishes

This year I am all about home goods! We are in the process of redecorating, painting, redoing our kitchen, cleaning carpets, getting rid of junk and organizing. It's been a really hectic time because E and I want different things and have different ideas, but all in all it's been fun the past few weeks. My mom as a great eye for decorating, so that helped Thanksgiving week. :) Here are a few things I have asked for from our family members:
Dish Towels
Goblet style red wine glasses (we are down to our last Waterford wine glass, tear)
Spatulas
Bath towels
Coffee Mugs
Photo frames (i am adding a photo wall and have 40 photos...yea, i need frames)
Bath robe
Home Goods gift card
4 Plates to hang in my crate
Real Simple & Southern Living magazine subscriptions
New faucet
Travertine floors
Granite counter tops
New couch
A chocolate brown ottoman slipcover
That's the start of the list...I am sure it will grow in the next few days. We are trying to spend less this year since we have so many gifts to buy, so we are hoping our families do the same.

Day 5: Favorite Holiday Movie/TV Show Special

Ick. Mondays are my least favorite day of the week, but at least it's one day closer to our Ornament party and Christmas!
My favorite Holiday Movies (because I cannot pick one) are "Home Alone" and "A Christmas Carol (the old one)." I am dying to watch these two movies, but it's a tad early still. I love to have a fire, drink wine and watch Christmas movies. Another reason, I love this time of year!

Day 4: Tips and Tricks for a Budget Friendly Holiday Season

I am good, but not great at budget friendly holidays because I typically wait until the last minute, however, I have become a huge fan of coupons. I have a Droid X phone, so I downloaded the coupon app. I check it periodically to see what new coupons are out there. There are ALWAYS coupons that I can use for various stores. With the app, you checkout and show the cashier the coupon...they ring up the coupon code...the discount appears. It's marvelous! I will be using my Old Navy and Academy coupons this Holiday Season. Also, I have begun giving my email address to stores I frequent often. I never did this before, but started and am so glad I did because you really do get GREAT deals. I get a weekly NY&CO coupon, Old Navy coupons, Groupon, LiveSocial, etc. You get the drift! With the internet becoming the #1 scene for coupons, it's totally worth two minutes to give your email or download an app.
As for decorations for the holiday season, I read an article about using fruit, Oak tree branches, leaves, pinecones, rosemary and thyme for holiday decorations. What a cheap, fabulous way to decorate! I really would like to string cranberries and put them on our Christmas tree...we'll see.

Day 3: Best Gift\Most Memorable Gift

Oh, how I love gifts anytime of the year, but of course with my Birthday and Christmas being neck and neck I typically get double the gifts, BLESSED.
I would have to say the best gift I ever received was the Barbie Doll Play House with Pool. I received this gift when I was probably 8 or nine years old. I loved this thing. I mean, who wouldn't? It had a stinkin' pool. I remember taking the "pool" to the sink in our bathroom and filling it up just to have it filled up. I would sit for about five minutes and play with the dollhouse and of course, get bored and move on to the next thing. A close runner up, would be my orange and teal 10 speed bike...you know the ones with the curled handle bars? Do people even buy these things anymore? Living in Austin, it seems like kids ride those trick bikes or race bikes or perhaps even beach cruisers. I loved that bike and rode it forever!
The most memorable gift I have received was actually last Christmas. My parents went on a LONG Mediterranean cruise. They visited Italy, Spain, etc. They went to a "cameo-maker's" museum in Italy. My father picked out a special cameo necklace and watched it be carved. I will cherish this piece of jewelry forever! It's beautiful! I will have to take a picture of it, but that will wait since it's hanging in my jewelry box. (I am afraid to wear it all the time because of the delicacy.)

Day 2: Black Friday Shopping Tips and Tricks

This one is a tad difficult for me because as a child and an adult we didn't do much shopping on Black Friday. My mom and I typically did our manic-crazy-i-want-everything shopping the day after Christmas. However, this year my parents wanted to buy us something for our house for Christmas, so we did shopping on Black Friday. The feeling this year was a tad bit depressing because you could see how the recession truly has effected the lives and pocket books of Americans. We went to quite a few stores and they seemed pretty empty. I was a tad bummed that we weren't out the door by 8am, but this year it didn't seem to matter. I guess my tip and trick would be to save and spend! Hit the stores early because most stores did have larger discounts earlier in the day. I love to shop, but will save my energy for the "Dillard" tradition of shopping the day after Christmas.