A White Christmas

We survived the rush that is the holidays! I love Christmas with my whole heart. I hate when it's over because, in my opinion, after the holidays we don't have much to look forward to. I find myself longing for January and February to scoot on by and for warm weather to ease back in.

I think I can safely say that everyone in my family had a wonderful Christmas. We had a few folks fighting colds, but other than that it was splendid!

Not that Christmas is about presents, but I got some great ones!

Ryan went over the budget we established and hooked me up with this:

A Nikon D3000. I am in heaven. I have been day dreaming about actually learning how to use it and becoming a part time photographer. Maybe in due time...

My parents hooked me up with a NOOK (Barnes & Noble's take on the kindle). It's touch screen and bad ass. I have already downloaded several books. The Help will be the first one I take on. So long real books... I'm saving the forest!

I also got lots of other fun prizes... i.e. several things of OPI nail polishes, PJs, a Hobo wallet, perfume, a gift card to my favorite restaurant, MAC make-up...

The only thing I can conclude is that I was really, really nice over the past year!

But don't worry... Ryan was apparently nice too!

He got a Sirius Radio, a new iPod Shuffle, clothes, a new watch, PJ's, a Brita Water Filter, and a Wii Gaming System!

Let's just say we have tore down on the Wii. I am so sore from all the games we've played (which is a lame thing to admit... but I like to keep it real).

He also got some great Auburn memorabilia:

An autograph copy of Pat Dye's latest book.

As well as an autographed photo by Auburn's Heisman winner, Cam Newton!

Ryan and I are so blessed to have families that love us so much! I couldn't ask for a better family or for a better set of  In-Laws.

To make this year's Christmas even more magical, a rare and unusual thing (at least in the south) occurred. It actually snowed on Christmas Day in good ole Alabama. It was the first white Christmas in these parts since 1930 (or so said the news). I don't have any great pictures of this event because I was too busy with the video camera capturing the moment. I have plenty of shaky video of me saying, "Oh, look at the snow falling. It's a white Christmas. So pretty! Look at the house covered in snow. Look at Maggie running in the snow on Christmas Day."

This is the only still shot I have.. this was around 3:00 Christmas Day.

I'm always so sad for the Christmas season to come to an end... it's just so magical. Christmas music, family, food, surprises for all... it just makes my heart swell!

And for those of you who are wondering... Yes, Maggie had a lovely Christmas too!



It was so much fun it wiped her out!



Dirty Santa & Tacky Christmas

On the eve before Christmas Eve our friend Whitney hosted a fun little dirty santa/tacky Christmas party!

It's so great when a holiday arrives and long time friends are able to get together before all the family time kicks in to high gear.

Only a few people actually participated in the Tacky Christmas concept.

I had several comments regarding the striking similarity I shared with Ellen Griswold. I took it as a huge compliment.

The Dirty Santa got awfully dirty, which I love! I can't stand to play dirty santa and everyone act as though they are above stealing a gift... the dirtier the better in my opinion (just like a martini).

Then it got late and things got weird... 

...so we called it a night.

It was the perfect way to lead in to the holiday weekend!

Mr. Officer, Mr. Officer... Take your dirty hands off a'her

How did I start my morning you ask? Oh... Well, I got ready to go and actually left the house in a timely enough manner to actually arrive at my work on time. (this is huge for me).

Not even two miles down the road, what did I see? Ahhh... I saw blue lights.

My first thought was I must need to pull over so that the police officer can go around me in order to arrive at whatever emergency he is to responding to. However, when I pulled over... so did he.

I thought to myself. I'm not speeding, I have my seat belt on, my brake lights are working properly.... What could it be????

As the policeman approached my window I had my license and insurance card ready for him. When I rolled down my window I couldn't help but ask, "What in the world are you pulling me over for?"

The rest of the conversation played out like this:

Policeman: "Your tag is out of date, ma'am."
I retorted: "Oh no it is not! I bought my new sticker back in September when I was supposed to."
Policeman: "Well, it says August 2010."
Me: "Well, I don't know why. I waited in line on the last day of September to purchase my new tag."
Policeman: "If it isn't expired then let's see your registration."
Me: "By all means." (fumbles with glove compartment- realize I have registrations from years gone by)
I hand him one and ask if it's the correct year. He says no. I hand him another without checking it and he says that it's the wrong year as well. Finally I grab the last one and hand it to him in a haste without looking at it.
Policeman: Well, ma'am this looks like your problem. 

He then turns the registration back to me... and lo and behold the sticker is still attached to the registration. I never put the updated 2011 sticker on my car tag.

I felt like and idiot and followed up with, "Well, at least you know I was not lying about purchasing it."

The cop then takes my license to run for warrants... (which I told him I didn't have anything like that). When he came back to my car he told me I would have to get out of my vehicle and put the sticker on my tag so that he wouldn't have to write me a ticket.

I politely asked him why he couldn't do it for me... he said it was against policy. (I don't know if I believe that)

Needless to say, I put the sticker on my tag and off I drove... LATE FOR WORK!

O.T.W- Part 3- Candy Day

***This should have been posted last week... I just didn't get it up. Let's pretend shall we?***

After the long weekend of football, traveling, and parties I had one more event on Sunday before I could call it a day.

Every December my family gets together (on my mom's side) and has what we call Candy Day. Everyone meets at my grandmother's house and we make all sorts of goodies to snack on as well as give away.

This year we had every member of the family in attendance (except Ryan who does not yet realize the importance that is Candy Day).

Please brace yourself for the amount of treats we whipped up:

Peanut Butter Balls, Oreo Truffles, Reindeer Food, chocolate fudge, white fudge, peanut butter fudge, crock pot candy, red velvet cake balls, German chocolate cake balls, sand tarts, divinity, pralines, no bake cookies, cheese straws, cereal mix... and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

Ryan has tasted several of the treats that I brought home, and so far he really loves my Oreo Truffles and the sand tarts the best.
It is such a fun family tradition... everyone together during this holiday season. We laugh, talk, sip wine and make treats to spread Christmas joy... I don't think it gets any better.

I am SO RANDOM!

It is known that I am random among my friends. Well, not so much that I'm random, more so that random things happen to me and I attract random people.

For instance, if we are all at a bar sipping drinks and dancing the most random person in that bar will inevitably approach me or single me out to have the most random conversation.

In today's random event... I have won something!

When I called, Lacey to tell her she said, "You better not tell me you won an iPad." Because that is a normal thing to enter to win.

I am constantly entering contest for cameras, iPads, cookware, and whatever else is up for grabs in the blog world.

However, none of those things are even close to what I've won...

I commented on a post over on Perks of Being a JAP and didn't think another thing about it.

When I got to work this morning (on my breaks, of course) I started my rounds of the daily blogs I read. When I got to Perks of Being a JAP I realized I was the person she was announcing as the winner!

Let's cut to the chase, shall we? I have won.....
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A ONE YEAR SUPPLY OF LEAN POCKETS!!



This is comment I left on Perks of Being a JAP that won it all for me!!

I called Ryan to tell him and he was all... I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU. We have laughed so hard this morning. Good thing we actually enjoy the Pepperoni Pizza Lean Pockets because that's what were eating for dinner every night for one whole entire year!!

Note: The final installment of OTDub (part 3) will be posted this afternoon!

O.T.W.- Part 2 E-Town Stay Down

After returning from our quick road trip to Nashville for the Colts game, we quickly unpacked our warm clothes and I repacked for an engagement party for my friend Katie Beth.

However, before I could hit the road to Eufaula, where Katie happens to be from, I had an art show to attend.

My friend, Whitney, who happens to be a free spirit put together an art show. Local as well as out of town artist came together to sell anything from paintings, to photographs, to vintage jewelry! It was really neat.
 

That's Whit on the left

I went with the intention of buying gifts for others (since it is the season to give) but ended up buying a really cool handmade key chain and some vintage ear rings for myself. Merry Christmas to me!

My cool new earrings.

After the art show I scooped up Deidra and headed to Eufaula for Katie's Engagement Party. Ryan wasn't able to go to Eufaula with me because he had a party to attend for his friends Chase and Brittany, who are getting married this summer.

Deidra and I were supposed to be in a hurry to get to Eufaula but we had to drive through Auburn which caused us to pull over at Amsterdam's Cafe for a late lunch and a glass of wine. Deidra and I laughed that we need to learn that being on a tight schedule did not mean wine and sit down lunch! It all worked out. We were in Eufaula by 5:30, so we had to time to get checked into the hotel and ready for the party.

The party was held at the Shorter Mansion, which was built in 1884. You may recall the front shot of the mansion was used in the movie Sweet Home Alabama. (I love that movie, btw).

People say the mansion might be haunted (or maybe we just decided that because it's a big old house that was built 126 years ago). The mansion was decorated for Christmas and looked beautiful! The upstairs was set up kind of like a museum... Very cool/creepy stuff in glass cases.

This is a mourning dress. After someone's husband passed away a lady was required to wear head to toe black for a year.

I took this picture of my friend Bess looking the mirror... when I looked at the picture on my camera there was a little blond head that was not in the room when I took the picture.


Note the little blond head in the bottom of this picture. Who is that? Why is her reflection not in the mirror?

Hmmmm... what does it all mean? It must be a ghost baby in the mirror...

We also found a secret door. I was scared of it, but I knew one person who wouldn't be... so I told Lacey to investigate. She went in the door and up the stairs... I won't even say what was up there.

 What blurred this picture? A spirit perhaps?

After the party at the Shorter Mansion we decided to do some small town bar hopping, which landed us at a place known as the Airport Lounge. Let just say this place known as the Airport Lounge... was a karaoke bar.

The girls belted out Fancy, Baby Got Back, and the likes... while the boys sang Dinosaur.

Brandon, Katie Beth's fiancee, kept referring to the people at the Airport Lounge as the 'salt of the earth'.

It was a good night in Eufaula... if I'm not mistake at one point while I had the mic in my hand I may have mentioned relocating to this little town on the Georgia line with my husband.

Good Times were had by all!  Sunday we hit the road and once again Auburn sucked us in for a good ole Cracker Barrel breakfast. When I got home I was full tot he brim and smelled of the Airport Lounge... after a good shower I was ready for what will be OTW- Part 3- Candy Day... coming up!