Christmas Vacation...Not the Movie :)

Christmas was wonderful. There is no better way to describe it than that. Wonderful.

We headed down to my parents house and had a delicious turkey dinner on Christmas Eve.

This was followed by Trivial Pursuit and another game I can't remember the name of.

We played boys against girls and there was some serious "I wanna win" attitudes going on.

There was tons of yelling and laughing.

Hands down, best Christmas Eve EVER!

We can't forget about Twas the Night Before Christmas, as that was read too!

We all retired to the living room and relaxed.

My brother took his girlfriend home.

He got back and realized he lost his wallet.

Then began our journey to find it.

I rode with him to the gas station,

where we witnessed a Christmas Miracle :)

Two guys found it and brought it inside to the clerk.

All money and cards were still inside!

We woke up Christmas morning and went to church.

We came home and had roast for lunch. It was AMAZING!

At one point I think all of us were napping on the couch, the floor, a chair, where ever we could.

Jessica (my brother's gf) came over.

Poppa got home from his sisters.

The opening of presents started!

Boy did we all rack up :)

We must have all been extra good this year because there were tons of goodies under the tree.

Just to name a few:

This girl got TWO, not one, but TWO pairs of diamond earrings from my honey

a pink sapphire and diamond ring from my momma

two charms for my pandora bracelet

$100 to TARGET

$100 cash

a 31 bag I've been dying for

and plenty of other things :)

I know Christmas isn't about the presents, but hey I'm just thankful for what I got!

We then headed to my grandmas for a little bit and then made the trip home.

All in all it was so wonderful.

I did a little post-Christmas shopping and scored some pretty cute Christmas decorations.

I also found this gorgeous purple and teal pandora-esqe bracelet watch for $12.99 on Zulilly!

I am now headed to spend a few days with my family since they are still off from Christmas!

Christmas Presents

I get paid every other Friday. The month of December brought five total Fridays, three of which fell on a pay week. Therefore there was basically an entire paycheck that no bills would be coming out of. Therefore I decided to get Justin a new, bigger TV. He was having some serious "TV envy" as we like to call it. However, Justin ruined the surprise by insisting on us buying one together around Thanksgiving "since theere were such great deals". I finally had to come out and tell him that I was already planning on getting him a TV. I may have even made him feel guilty about ruining the surprise ;)

So we've been enjoying a new 42-inch TV for about a month now.

However, I still felt awful that he would be presentless (at least from me) on Christmas morning so I still bought more.

I also received a nice Christmas bonus from my wonderful boss and decided to do a little spoiling on my parents, brother, his girlfriend and my grandpa who lives with my parents.

I decided to wrap presents seperately, or mostly seperate so that there would be more to open. Under my tree looks ridiculous! With the way it looks you'd think we have a few kids....and we do not!

I told Justin last night that I am going to have to be the mom who starts buying Christmas presents in June so that we aren't poor!

I just enjoy giving to those I love, so what if I am doing a little spoiling this year ;) God knows my parents spoiled my brother and I for so many years, and still do to this day!

I am just very thankful and blessed that I am able to do this. While presents are not the meaning of the season it still makes me happy to give presents!

Christmas Traditions

Merry Christmas Ya'll :)

So first of all it has been FOREVER since I have posted anything. I have honestly been to busy at work to post and when I get home the last thing I want to do is get on my computer. Sorry! However, with Christmas in 5 days work has begun to slow down quite a bit and I can take a break to post.

Christmas is in 5 days! I can't believe it either...I mean it seems like just yesterday it was Christmas and here it is again. I decorated fairly early on and have added to what decorations I had. I plan on adding every year. Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year and I love having as many decorations as possible! Our tree turned out pretty. However, I think I have convinced myself that next year I want to buy a real tree. I feel like ours looks fake because of the way the branches are and I do not have the patience to sit there and play with every branch to make it look perfect.

We had Christmas with my mom's side of the family this past weekend. With everyone getting older, its hard for everyone to get together at the same time. Only two people were missing which for us is a great accomplishment! We decided to cater in Smithfield's Chicken & BBQ and it was delicious! We had tons of desserts and had a wonderful time.

Now on to more traditions :)

1. Christmas music - I could really listen to Christmas music all year long, but I wait until it starts playing on the radio :) So I've been listening to Christmas music in my car and on Pandora at work since before Thanksgiving! Justin however is not the Christmas music lover that I am. We have come to the agreement that beginning the week of Christmas he has to listen too when I'm in the car :)

2. Decorations  - So I said a little about our decorations up top, but I have some other festive things to share as well! I love coming home to a decorated house with Christmas smells. It feels so home-y and Christmas-y! Here are a few more pictures of our decorations!

Our front door :) 

"The stockings were hung on the mantle with care"

PS - please notice Justin's new TV - yes a Christmas present that I did NOT want to give a month early...he ruined the surprise! 

One of my favorites! Got this at Kirklands for $19.99 I think! It's on the kitchen table 

Another favorite! I got this at Ross for $7.99! 

Our Christmas Wreath :) I definitely can't take the credit on this! I got the wreath pre-made at Target for $25.00 and the bow at Michael's for $6.99.

3. Baking - I like baking any time of year, but especially at Christmas! Maybe I'm a little more like Santa than I thought with my addiction to cookies ;) I think I've probably baked chocolate chip cookies at least once a week this month!

4. Christmas Movies - I adore Christmas movies! The Grinch (the cartoon version), A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Elf, & Christmas with the Kranks just to name a few are some of my favorites! TBS shows A Christmas Story for 24 hours beginning at 8PM on Christmas Eve. It stays on my TV pretty much the whole time. As a kid if I couldn't fall asleep on Christmas Eve, I'd watch A Christmas Story :)

5. Twas' the Night Before Christmas - This is and probably will always be my favorite tradition. My grandma (my mom's mom) read this story to all the grandkids every Christmas Eve. My uncle gets a conference call thing set up and everyone calls in. She read the story to her kids beginning when my mom was born and we have incorporated all the additions to our family since then. My grandma found out she had cancer in May of 2006. By Christmas of that year her voice was pretty raspy due to the radiation (she had throat cancer) but she still read the story. The next year she was pretty much at a whisper anytime she spoke so my grandpa read the story. She passed away in March of 2008. Christmas of 2008 my cousin Elizabeth read the story. The next year would have been my turn but I knew I wouldn't make it thru without crying so I passed it on to the next person, my cousin Justin. Last Christmas my mom read the story and will read it again this year. I just love this part of Christmas!

Lastly, Justin and I travel to my parents house on Christmas Eve. We spend the night playing card games, eating goodies and watching Christmas movies. This year we will wake up and go to Church with my parents. We will then come home and have lunch. Around 4, Jessica (my brother's girlfriend) will come over and we will all open presents.

This is the first year we haven't opened presents as soon as we woke up and my brother is not exactly thrilled :)

I am so happy Christmas is almost here :) I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas with your families and friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

My Best Friend's Wedding!

It's finally here folks! Tomorrow my oldest friend will be saying "I DO" :) The past year has flown by. I still remember it like it was yesterday that I was driving down I-40 checking Facebook and saw that she was engaged. I think I let out a scream to my empty car and immediately called her! The months of planning, parties, and events are over and tonight is the rehearsal. Justin and I have to be there at 6PM, followed by a catered dinner in the church's fellowship hall. Tomorrow the festivities start at 10:30AM with my hair appointment.

I have been one busy little bee this week. I started Sunday night looking for a dress to wear. While I have a few in my closet that I could wear, this is a special occasion and I can definitely justify spending money on a new dress. However, I'm about to the point where I am over online shopping, at least for clothes anyways! I found this gorgeous green satin dress that I wanted to wear with black heels. I recently dyed my hair back to its natural "darkest brown/light black" and I figured the green would absoultely pop! I get the dress Wednesday and it was made for a girl with absolutely no hips and no butt. This girl here has both, and plenty of it!

Frustrated me headed to Old Navy to return it and frantically search for something else. Of course, most of the dresses were made the same way. I find this very odd because normally I have no problem buying clothes from Old Navy. I scurried over to Belk and found a more flowy, comfortable number that was originally $98.00, but on sale for $30.00 :) My kinda deal!

I did finally buy some leggins and I tried those out with a tunic and books yesterday and I am in L.O.V.E. I will most definitely be buying a few more pairs.

Off the wedding subject for a bit and on to the Breaking Dawn, Part One subject :) I was one of the crazies out at midnight last night seeing it! While I have a little headache today, the people were rude leaving the parking lot, not to mention it was FUHREEZING, I am so glad I did it! BEST.MOVIE.EVER! Not kidding.
My favorite line of the movie is as follows:

"No measure of time with you will be long enough, but we'll start with forever" - Edward Cullen

How amazingly sweet is that?

Now I'm off to fix this bushy unibrow problem that I've been putting off way too long, and to get a few last minute things. Then to do a little cleaning and packing!

I am so very happy for Morgan and Blake! :)

ECU Game

First off, this extra hour thing isn't helping. I woke up at 7:15 (which I guess was really 8:15) but still, I could have slept longer. I woke up all because the sun was shining brightly thru my windows.

Mental note to self: I need curtians ASAP :)

Back to the real reason for the post: The ECU Game I went to yesterday with my family! We had such a wonderful day! This was the first time that my parents, Justin and I and my brother and his girlfriend have spent an extended amount of time with each other and it was fun!

The day started with Justin and I getting to Greenville about 11. We all decided to start drinking. BAD IDEA. This girl hear was Ms. Drunko for a good part of the afternoon. In front of my parents. First time ever for that! Oh well, at least I did it legally :)

We headed to the game which started at 4PM and were 3 rows from the VERY top of the stadium. However, the seats were really good and it we were pretty much at the 50 yard line. ECU started off great with a touchdown right away, but Southern Miss got away with a touchdown and took it from there.

We decided to leave around halftime and go be fat asses and get our grub on. We headed to Texas Roadhouse and the steak I had melted in my mouth it was so good!

By the time we got done eating it was pretty late so we all headed home. Overall though it was such a fun day :)

Now for some pictures, as I was a good blogger and took lots!

 {Momma & Daddy}

 {Daddy & I}

 {Justin and I

 {Jessica, Me and Momma}

 {Jessica & I}

 {Justin and I again, heading to the game}

 {Me and Momma outside the stadium}

 {Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium}

 {Daniel & Jess}

 {Justin, George, & Daniel}

 {All of Us}

{Momma & Justin}

Some Recaps

Here it is folks, November. For one I can't believe we are all ready here! It seems like just yesterday it was November and we're already back to it. Although, I can't complain. I love November, not as much as a love December, but its my second favorite. I am a Christmas fanatic! I could start listening to Christmas music now and be just fine all the way thru Christmas! The only reason I haven't started chaning from my fall decorations to Christmas decorations is because Justin would probably shoot me ;)

So much is planned for this month! Justin and I are headed to Greenville this weekend to enjoy some tailgating and Pirate Football with my parents, brother and his girlfriend. I haven't been tailgating since my freshman year of college, 5 years ago.

Then Sunday is Morgan's last bridal shower, given by our church. I am so happy for her, but so ready for all the showers to be over :)

Then next weekend her grandma is throwing a bridesmaids brunch which will be fun, followed by her bachelorette party in Myrtle Beach. Her wedding is the following weekend, I am so excited for her!

However I can't leave out that this week I purchased my midnight showing ticket for Breaking Dawn Part 1. It turns out that I will be off the Friday that it comes out for Morgan's wedding, so Carrie and I will be going to see it Thursday/Friday morning at 12:01AM. I am SO stoked!

Then comes Thanksgiving.  Don't get me wrong I'm excited for three days of work, turkey and time with my family. However, I'm not excited for the fact that Justin and I will not be togther on Thanksgiving. He only has Thursday off and therefore has opted to not go to West Virginia for Thanksgiving, but spend it with his grandparents here. While that's fine, I can't go another year without seeing my grandparents on Thanksgiving or Christmas. So I will be headed to my momma's this year.

After Thanksgiving I can finally start decorating for Christmas! I think this is what I am 100% the most excited for. It may sound lame but I can't wait. This will be the first time I can truly decorate for Christmas, tree, stockings, the whole nine yards! Justin and I already figured out how to arrange the living room so that the tree will fit. Right now, I am looking for some inexpensive glass cylinder hurricane type things (I think that's what they are called) to fill with ornaments for the mantle. Kind of like this:



However, now I better get back to work :)

Happy Wednesday Ya'll!

Random Rants

We are back from the Outer Banks. Lets just say the trip did not go the way I wanted it to and from now on, Justin and I will be taking solo trips to OBX :) Unfortunately his grandpa and sister DO not get along.

However it was nice to wake up to the sound of the ocean and beautiful sunsets every morning and the weather was to die for!

As soon as I got back Monday I headed down to Fayetteville. My dad's aunt passed away from cancer and we had the family night. I couldn't make the funeral the next day, so I definitely wanted to make this one.

The rest of the week has been busy and has flown by! I know it has alot to do with being a short week, but I'll take it. Justin seems to think its went slow.

I've made dinner every night this week. I made tacos Tuesday night and Hamburger Helper last night. Ok so maybe not the hardest things, but I cooked and cleaned up. Therefore we saved money by not going out to eat, not paying someone to serve us and its probably healthier :)

Tonight is Boneless Thursdays at Buffalo Wild Wings and I have seriously been CRAVING some wings. So J is going to pick them up on the way home. Hey at least its $0.50 boneless night right...

This weekend is going to be a crazy one. Morgan (the friend getting married next month) is having yet another bridal shower. Unfortunately after talking to my momma this morning I think she needs me a little more, so I may not be attending. I have to work Saturday all the way in Wilson, but I do get a phone road trip with Cara & Melissa :)

Now on to the "ranting" part of my post.

The summer before my senior year of high school so almost 7 years ago, my family and I moved into a new home. One we had custom built to include an "in-law" suite for my grandpa (my dad's dad). The problem was that the house was WAY to big for just the three of them (mom, dad & grandpa) and Daniel and I would be out in a few short years.

The other problem is that my grandpa is set in his ways. He is so peculiar about the way he does things that it can seriously stress you out. Let me start by saying that I love him to death, but he is driving my momma nuts!

I've always believed that the smallest things can drive you the craziest. The way someone smacks their gum, the way someone moans while they eat. The routines that people develop can really be unnerving. My grandpa falls into that category.

Some things that REALLY get on my nerves, as well as my mommas:

1. Getting ice from the ice maker when someone is sleeping in the next room or in the middle of the night.
2. Making all kinds of noise while people are sleeping, but expecting them to be quiet while you're sleeping.
3. Asking questions/making conversations while someone is CLEARLY trying to watch TV. Thank goodness for DVR!
4. Waiting until bedtime to ask questions about things that could have been asked hours ago.
5. Asking a question, only to get an answer you don't like, followed by doing what you wanted in the first place.
6. Asking a question, that someone answers "I don't know", then asking "why don't you know"?

My list could seriously go one for pages but this is just a few things. I know this is coming off as rude or inconsiderate, but when my momma calls and talks to me for a full 30 minutes about how stressed she is, crying and cussing (which my momma doesn't do, the cussing not the crying) and just sounds about as helpless as can be I get aggravated.

There is so much more I could say about this subject, but I'll stop. Just like I told my momma sometimes you need to be able to just let it out, and that's what I'm doing here.

Beach Bound :)

I worked late last night, therefore my boss gave me the whole day off :)

We woke up early this morning to have breakfast with everyone before we left.

We're still waiting...

However, Becky, Cheri and I are going to "shop our way there". First stop... Target :)

Post when I get home! Have a great weekend!

Stud Finder/Picture Hanger Expert :)

So last night I finally got to hang some pictures that I bought a few weekends ago. What's worse is that we've lived in our home for six months now and these were the FIRST things to go up on the wall! How sad is that? I already feel like we need more, however my home decor budget is a little tight these days with the upcoming beach trip!

I bought a stud finder a week ago, but didn't think about picking up nails or checking to see if Justin had a hammer (He didn't). He picked those pieces up last night and after dinner he directed me oh how to use the stud finder, where to hang the pictures and if they looked straight. I was actually pretty good at it too, everything came out straight, or at least it looked that way to me!

{this is in the kitchen}

{this is in the entryway I created by moving the couch up, not sure if the lamp is going to work there though}

{on another wall in the living room}

I promise everything is straight, it was just early this morning when I took pictures.

Tonight, I plan on going home and knocking out all if not most of the cleaning that needs to be done for his mom coming in on Thursday. It's already Tuesday, and tomorrow I believe we have a dinner date with his aunt who is also visiting, so honestly tonight's the night.

I'm gonna get back to work and enjoy my wonderful hot chocolate I picked up from Starbucks on the way in on this chilly morning :) I'm sad that it's going to be in the mid 70s today, but at least its not going to be 100. I'm SO ready for chilly, long-sleeves, scarf weather!

Happy Tuesday Ya'll :)

Happy Monday!

So once again, my weekend was WAY too short for my liking. As usual I got off at 12PM on Friday, but by the time I ran errands (went to three banks - two for work, one for J) and got home and moved around the entire living room (pictures soon!) I was too tired to do anything else. However, I got my tush up and got ready for date night! It started storming and while I was in the mood for Outback or Olive Garden, we ended up at Applebee's and it was actually better than I expected!

All dolled up for date night :)

My iPhone has been taking AWFUL pictures lately!

After dinner, we came back and watched a movie called Love, Wedding, Marriage with Mandy Moore. It wasn't the greatest of her movies, but it did put the proposal bug in J's ear once again ;)

I had an early night, since I had a VERY early morning Saturday. We worked in Fayetteville and I headed back for a low key pizza night in with Justin. We watched football (ugh) and my Pirates lost (boo).

Sunday, I woke up early to make brownies and straighten up a little and we spent the rest of the day at Justin's grandparents having family dinner. We played corn hole, drank beer, ate ribs and homemade ice cream. Sounds perfect to me :)

Justin and his cousin Paxton, SUCH a cute little girl :)

Now for another week with the Outer Banks at the end of it :)

Happy Monday Ya'll!

Fall Weather

I'm getting ready to leave in a few minutes for the day :) Oh how I absolutely adore getting off at 12PM on Fridays! Even though I have to wake up earlier tomorrow morning than I do during the week, it somehow balances out. Normally I would go shopping or grab lunch with a girlfriend, but today I am going to go home and clean! Working on Saturdays and late during the week doesn't give me much time to clean. Besides, lets be honest, who wants to spend ALL their free time cleaning?! Not this girl.

However, Justin's mom gets in on Thursday, which is only 6 days a week. I've never been this deep into a relationship where the one day future MIL comes to visit, but I'm not a dumb girl. My house needs to look clean, not like a bunch of animals live in. Plus, what better time to clean than when I am moving the living room around? I have OCD/ADHD when it comes to furniture being set up one way for too long. Hopefully, I don't move everything around all.by.myself and it not fit and/or not look good. I'll be pissed!


More on how that works out later.

Now on to the "Fall Weather" part of my post. The weather forecast is low 60s all weekend, with lows in the LOW 40s!  Holy crap! What are we gonna do? I am so excited :) While the mid-high 70s and low 80s is a lot better than the 100s we had this summer, I'm so ready for fall weather. I'm ready for scarves, long sleeves, oranges, browns, greens, and of course lots of Hot Chocolate from Starbucks! It just doesn't seem right to get Hot Chocolate when its 80 degrees outside!

I do work tomorrow morning. Afterwards Justin and I will probably go to his grandparents' house as his Aunt Lana is coming with her adorable daughter Paxton! She'll be here for two weeks I think, and of course his mom comes in Thursday for a week...Talk about family overload :)


We are having Sunday dinner with the entire family and its ribs. EW. I hate ribs, but I'll pretend to like them I guess!

Okay, now I'm off to the bank, to grab some lunch and then home to clean/rearrange my living room. I'll let you know/post pictures soon!

Oh and I can't forget about date night tonight :) STOKED ABOUT THAT FOR SURE!!!


Happy Friday Ya'll & Have a GREAT WEEKEND! :)

Beach Getaway :) 10 Days & Counting!

Not this weekend, but next weekend I will be headed to the Outer Banks with Justin and his mom for a long weekend :) The Outer Banks hold a special place in my heart because it was the very first vacation Justin and I went on. In fact, it was the same time last year that we went. It's just so peaceful there. It's not so commercialized like some beaches, but its got enough to do that you don't get bored.

We are renting a house, at a darn good price too, that is right on the beach. I can't wait to wake up right on the ocean and spend countless hours just relaxing there.

Not to mention, his mom will be coming back to our house for a few days. I NEED TO CLEAN :) Can't let his Momma think I'm a horrible girlfriend ;)

Honestly though, I adore his mom. She is so sweet and isn't one of those MIL's that want to give their input on EVERYTHING. Now granted we aren't married...YET, but I don't think it's going to change.

Hopefully my parents can come up for dinner one night to meet her!

Everything's going great ya'll, hopefully the same goes for your lives!

Happy Tuesday :)

Hobby Lobby & The Christmas Tree Shoppe :)

My weekend was very full. I got off at 12PM on Friday and endulged in a little retail therapy :) I stopped by Home Goods. I found two tall metal candle stands/potpurri holders that I'm not sure that I want to keep yet. I also grabbed a few other odds and ends and then stopped by TJ Maxx. However, once you've been to Home Goods, TJ Maxx is about the same, maybe even less appealing.

I had to hurry over to my uncles house to catch up with my cousin Jayme. I ordered some Thirty-One products from another cousin and my uncle picked it up from her house and brought it to his. We walked to the bus stop to pick up my cousin Forrest. He had to be the CUTEST kindergartener ever with his Spiderman bookbag and lunch box!

I swung by Target and probably did the fastest shopping job ever. I grabbed a cute new shirt, some earrings to go along, a scarf that was on sale, some cute Halloween things from the dollar section and of course Bridesmaids!

I hurried home and changed to head to dinner with Justin's grandparents. We talked about my favorite subject lately, when is Justin going to propose. It was almost over kill though and I hope it isn't making him feel pressured. We left really late and I had to get up early for work so I headed to be right when we got home.

Saturday was filled with a little work and A LOT of play :) One of my co-workers and I headed to Hobby Lobby and The Christmas Tree Shoppe afterwards. We spent like 3 and 1/2 hours total in the stores and I got so much great stuff! I'm so glad I don't have either of these stores closer than an hour away to me, because I could seriously do some damage if I did.

I got home really late and slept in this morning. I decorated with some new home decor things I picked up and of course the Halloween stuff and then relaxed the rest of the day. J and I watched Bridesmaids and the episode of Extreme Home Makeover that came to Fayetteville.

Now for some pictures of the goodies I picked up. Hope everyone has a good week :)

Sorry for the picture overload. =)