In honor of the holiday I wanted to put down somethings I'm thankful for. I did this last year and it was nice to look back and see what I had mentioned. First, I'm thankful to God because all the things I'm about to mention were only possible through him.
Matt - my new house - safe, reliable cars to get me home - a fun, new, challenging job - my fun coworkers - my parents - Andrea - The Burns Family - The Willinghams - My in-laws - Marg, Martin and Michael - Stevie and Wil, who make my day brighter - Warm blankets - trips to DisneyWorld - Ikea - safe neighborhoods - backyards with fire pits - HD TV when Alabama is playing - Warm Comforters and comfortable beds - hot water - being able to do graphic design - the beach - the mountains - nature - my kitchen - the strong support group I have - my friends in Florence and other friends I don't get to see much at all - Facebook so I can easily get in touch with these friends - Music - my health and the health of my family.
Blessings to all of you and Happy Thanksgiving!!
Baby B
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Deck the Halls a little early....
Our Tree 
This tree is covered with ornaments we've bought on our travels or ones that specifically mean something. It's a tradition that my mom has always done. Soon we're going to need a bigger tree...my parent's tree is 12 feet and it's full.
Our entertainment center. Matt bought the Santa hat for the fish.
Nativity Set. I've gotten all these pieces from my mom-in-law. Just like hers. :-) The figurines are so detailed. It's a beautiful set.
My, Matt, Steve and Wil's stockings. Matt cross-stiched the names and images for the stockings. I got a snowman and he got Santa.
Our nutcracker collection, we have a chef, a football player, a drummer and a golfer.
Our kitchen tree. LOVE this tree.
My pink girly tree for my craft/guest room.
The halloween tree that doubles as a "masculine" tree for Matt's study.I haven't put out the outdoor decorations yet. I'll wait until after Thanksgiving for that so my neighbors won't think we're too weird (we ARE new to the neighborhood). Of course I'll post pictures of those once it's finished. My vision is to make our house look like a gingerbread house. Wish us luck!
My parents are probably coming down this weekend! I'm really excited!!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Christmas in November...
For those of you who are sticklers for the seasons, don't hate me...I've started decorating for Christmas...
I know, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! But y'all have to understand something: Matt and I LOVE Christmas. We started dating seriously during the Christmas holidays. We got married 5 days before Christmas. We had Christmas trees and candy canes at our wedding reception. We love it.
Since we've moved down here, we are out of town almost 3 weeks during the holidays (Thanksgiving to the New Year). Because of that, if we wait until December, we only have a few weeks to enjoy the decorations. And we have a LOT of decorations. We have 2 full size trees and tons of garland and lights. It's a lot of work to put them out. If they're only going to be out a few weeks it's almost not worth it. So I put them out early, so I can enjoy them longer. Matt did suggest leaving our Christmas decorations up year round because he loves the way they look, but I thinks that's going a bit overboard. I like the special, distinctive, once a year look of Christmas decor. It's homey and warm and comforting. Our little house looks like a little Christmas cottage from the inside.
So I admit that it sounds crazy. But I have reasons for my madness. When I take down the tree in January I'll be glad I got to enjoy the festive look as long as possible.
I'm glad for the extra time to embrace the early holiday season, get ahead on my shopping, sing a few more carols and just enjoy this time of year
I know, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! But y'all have to understand something: Matt and I LOVE Christmas. We started dating seriously during the Christmas holidays. We got married 5 days before Christmas. We had Christmas trees and candy canes at our wedding reception. We love it.
Since we've moved down here, we are out of town almost 3 weeks during the holidays (Thanksgiving to the New Year). Because of that, if we wait until December, we only have a few weeks to enjoy the decorations. And we have a LOT of decorations. We have 2 full size trees and tons of garland and lights. It's a lot of work to put them out. If they're only going to be out a few weeks it's almost not worth it. So I put them out early, so I can enjoy them longer. Matt did suggest leaving our Christmas decorations up year round because he loves the way they look, but I thinks that's going a bit overboard. I like the special, distinctive, once a year look of Christmas decor. It's homey and warm and comforting. Our little house looks like a little Christmas cottage from the inside.
So I admit that it sounds crazy. But I have reasons for my madness. When I take down the tree in January I'll be glad I got to enjoy the festive look as long as possible.
I'm glad for the extra time to embrace the early holiday season, get ahead on my shopping, sing a few more carols and just enjoy this time of year
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Cell Phones
Matt and I just got back from a much needed weekend getaway to Orlando. We went to Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom with a ballgame and a rock concert squeezed into the middle on Saturday. This morning we shopped in IKEA, one of my favorite stores. We bought some great and useful stuff for the house. Including a new chandelier for the dining room. We were quite proud of ourselves when we installed it today. It was a little intimidating, but we pulled it off and couldn't be prouder. It's like we hung our first-born in there. We leave the light on and go in the room occasionally just to gaze at the splendor.
The rock concert I mentioned was a little trip to the Orlando House of Blues to see Metro Station. After being at the concert, if you know a 14-20-year-old person, chances are pretty good they'll know who Metro Station is.I say this because that is the average age of the concert goers Saturday night. (Most people my age do not know this band when I mention it) Matt and I stood in the back by the bar, I had my cell phone out, constantly clicking refresh for Bama-LSU updates and Matt was trying not to wince too obviously when the 14-year-old girls next to us squealed whenever it seemed like the band was about to start, (if we thought their squealing was bad NOW, we had no idea what was coming when the concert actually started. We are both deaf in one ear.) Anyways, the band comes out, very high energy, lots of jumping up and down from the crowd on the floor and I saw something that bothered me...TONS of cell phones up in the air, bobbing with the music....These cell phones were grasped in the hands of the kids, I guess they were recording the show and taking pictures to show their friends later. It was kind of sad to watch, I remember before cell phone cameras, when I went to a concert we actually watched the performers with our eyes, not through our teeny cell phone cameras...it was like they were missing this really cool thing of their youth because, although they would have the memory of it on their cell phone (which they'll probably lose in a few months when they upgrade to a newer, cooler model cell phone), they wouldn't have the memory of the concert in their brains, the memory of what they saw with their own eyes.
I guess it's just a personal thing. I love to have pictures of stuff, but I also like to take the time to look around and establish a memory in my brain. I always loved on the original Parent Trap movie when one of the twins met her grandfather for the first time after they had switched. She looked at him and smelled him and told him she was "making a memory". I've got a lot of good memories from the weekend and I know it's because those cell phones made me stop and think and actually look around me.
The rock concert I mentioned was a little trip to the Orlando House of Blues to see Metro Station. After being at the concert, if you know a 14-20-year-old person, chances are pretty good they'll know who Metro Station is.I say this because that is the average age of the concert goers Saturday night. (Most people my age do not know this band when I mention it) Matt and I stood in the back by the bar, I had my cell phone out, constantly clicking refresh for Bama-LSU updates and Matt was trying not to wince too obviously when the 14-year-old girls next to us squealed whenever it seemed like the band was about to start, (if we thought their squealing was bad NOW, we had no idea what was coming when the concert actually started. We are both deaf in one ear.) Anyways, the band comes out, very high energy, lots of jumping up and down from the crowd on the floor and I saw something that bothered me...TONS of cell phones up in the air, bobbing with the music....These cell phones were grasped in the hands of the kids, I guess they were recording the show and taking pictures to show their friends later. It was kind of sad to watch, I remember before cell phone cameras, when I went to a concert we actually watched the performers with our eyes, not through our teeny cell phone cameras...it was like they were missing this really cool thing of their youth because, although they would have the memory of it on their cell phone (which they'll probably lose in a few months when they upgrade to a newer, cooler model cell phone), they wouldn't have the memory of the concert in their brains, the memory of what they saw with their own eyes.
I guess it's just a personal thing. I love to have pictures of stuff, but I also like to take the time to look around and establish a memory in my brain. I always loved on the original Parent Trap movie when one of the twins met her grandfather for the first time after they had switched. She looked at him and smelled him and told him she was "making a memory". I've got a lot of good memories from the weekend and I know it's because those cell phones made me stop and think and actually look around me.
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