Pitiful Guy & Precious Twins

Just as I suspected, my weekend was really chill and easy. Here's what happened...

Jeff had surgery on Friday night, so I spent the majority of my night in the OR waiting room, reading a really good book, and then in his recovery room. Then Saturday morning I went over to his house and played with the boys and watched some Spiderman cartoons, and packed the car, and then I rode with Jeff's mama to take the boys back to their mom. We spent the night halfway there, at Jeff's brothers house, and watched Ratatouille with the twins' little cousin Libby. Sunday morning we got Dunkin Donuts and went the rest of the way to meet their mom. Then we drove back the 5+ hours and got back around 7:30. I got Jeff some dinner, and helped make his foot more comfy, and then we watched "Free Willy." (Which is quite good if you don't remember!)

So that's that. Easy peasy, sort of. Jeff's still not feeling good at all. His foot is in a lot of pain, and the pain meds don't seem to be offering much relief. He already had to go back on Saturday and get them to re-wrap it, because it just wasn't quite right, and was making it all worse. He has to take off work and be laying down with his foot propped up for two full weeks! And then for two weeks after that, he still can't walk or put any pressure on it. And then it will be another month or two before he can run or ride a bike or anything like that... :( Holy moly. This is a big deal folks. He's usually so active and just going all the time, so this will be a huge adjustment for him. Pray for his healing and recovery, but also for his sanity!

Friday night - reading "Room" and waiting on this pitiful guy to wake up more from his anesthesia.

Saturday & Sunday - traveling with these precious little sillies.

For tomorrow, I've got a fun post planned all about Goodbye's to 2012 and Hello's to 2013. That one should be a bit more exciting than this one, or at least more interesting to read! Sorry there's not much else happening here today...

However, I would like to say Welcome to quite a few new followers that joined over the weekend! I'm so glad to have you here! Won't you take of your shoes and stay a while? :) And make sure you say Hi, so that I can say hi back to you! Love to all my followers though - new and "old." I'm so glad all of you are here!

Happy New Year's Eve my friends!!

Pandemonium

Last Friday of the year, last Friday's Letters of the year, last full day of work for the year - holy moly! 2013 will be here in just a few more days! And I don't know about you, but I'm excited and ready for it. Oh, and that is a completely pointless title - I just couldn't think of anything that actually made any sense, so I just went with a random, fun word. So just go with it, OK?! :)

Dear Boyfriend: It really really sucks that you broke you foot. I hate this just about as much as you do. I'm praying that surgery today will go smoothly, and that you will be relieved of the pain and recover very quickly! Until then though, I will do whatever I can to take care of you and help make you comfy!

Dear Surgeon: Please be extra super careful and do everything perfectly, and just be an awesome surgeon for my boy today. Take good care of him please. And get his foot all fixed up!

Dear Twins: We're so glad ya'll could come down to Florida to visit for a few days! We of course wish it could be longer, but we're already looking forward to the next time you come, for your spring break! Y'all are just seriously the cutest, and have been so sweet and cuddly these past few days. We love you so much!

Dear Christmas: You came and went so fast! Now we've got to take down all the decorations, and put away our presents, and get ready to move on with our regular lives. But January holds something exciting - and that's my 25th birthday!! Now if only I can accomplish some more of my 25 Before 25 goals, I'll be ready!

Dear 2012: You've been fun and all, but it's time to skedattle. We've got a big year coming up in 2013, so let's get a move on! I'm of course anxious and excited to see what a new year will bring. So let's get this new year rollin'!

Dear 30-Day Shred: We're starting over again on Monday morning. So get ready. I am so ready to get shredded! And dear Jillian - I know you're going to try to kill me, but I'm determined not to let you and your spunky back-up exercisers get the best of me this time. We. Will. Finish!

And here's a totally unnecessary "selfie" for you today from this past week -- because it's really the only picture I've got that you haven't already seen...

Hope y'all have had a great week, and that you have an even better weekend! Mine will be pretty chill, due to the boyfriend having surgery later today, and then I'm riding with Jeff's mama to take the boys back to their mom. That will be sad to see them go so quickly, but we are so glad they could come at least for a bit! Then I go to work on Monday for a little bit, and then I get another day off for New Year's Day! Hooray! Happy Friday my friends :)

Presents, Puppies & Podiatry

BLOG FRIENDS! I feel like I've been away for sooo long. And I've really missed blogging!  A LOT has happened since I last wrote a post almost a week ago last Friday (although there was also a Christmas-themed scheduled post in there), so there's no way I can do a good old fashioned recap post. I am however going to attempt a quick catch-up of sorts, since there has definitely been some news to share over the last 6 days or so...

OK - first of all, we went to see The Hobbit on Friday night, and it was sooo good! I've seriously been sucked into the world of The Lord of the Rings, and I'm actually loving it. I've now watched all of LOTR, and am also reading a ton about the characters and their worlds online. Nerd alert right?! Whatever, it's fascinating.

Then Saturday morning I went to praise band practice for about three hours, had lunch with my fam, went home and started wrapping presents, only to get a text from my boyfriend saying he just got out of the ambulance and was at the ER!! WHAT?! After a few phone calls to his parents, I found out what happened and headed up there as well. Here's a brief synopsis: he was cleaning the roof, and had just finished up and was heading down the ladder. He had just put his second foot on the ladder, when it slid out from under him. He landed mainly on his right foot, then bounced onto his tailbone - all of this happened on his stone driveway. Ouch.

Long story short - he's been in severe pain since then, with only a temporary splint from the ER. Since it was Christmas, the foot doctor was closed, and we just went yesterday. Now he has pre-op today, and surgery tomorrow evening, around 5 pm. He has two broken bones, one of which will get a pin in it, and then he can't put any pressure on it for at least 4 weeks. Sheesh. It has been a rough couple of days for him, and I'm sure it's only going to be a little rougher after surgery. Please keep him in your prayers, so that he can recover quickly!

Then there were some adorable puppies visiting at his house when we got home, because his Granny is getting a precious little Yorkie puppy! We're just waiting until the puppy is old enough to leave her mama, and then this little girl comes home to Jeff's house!

Partridge in a Pear Tree

Happy Christmas Eve, my bloggy friends! I wasn't really sure what to write about for today, so I'm just going with a random list of some of my favorite parts about Christmas. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite things about Christmastime and this holiday season...

Christmas Carols. I actually really love all kinds of Christmas music, and have tons of CD's full of Christmas music. I start listening to my Christmas music in November, and will carry it over into the new year for about a week or two. And I seriously just never get tired of it. No matter how many stores play it over and over again, or how many times I repeat N'Sync Christmas in my car - it seriously never gets old. From hymns, to carols, to the new, "modern" stuff - I like it all! I just love Christmas music :) And "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is always a fun , especially repeating "and a partridge in a pear tree," over and over and over again!

Candle light Christmas Eve service at my church, Christmas 2010

Parents, Presents & Letters

Dear Christmas Presents: I'm going to need y'all to just wrap yourselves. I've wrapped not even a single one of you, so I've got a lot to do before Tuesday. So for real here, can you just hop in a gift bag or get a hand from a friend to tape up some wrapping paper? Great.Thank you.

Dear Parents: You guys freaking got us a LIMO for family dinner last night! What an amazing surprise for our entire family! The eleven of us had such a great time riding around town looking at pretty Christmas lights! Seriously, you parents of mine rock. And there will be a whole post about this awesome limo ride one day next week... Probably not until Wednesday or Thursday, but it will eventually be there :)

Dear Florida: Thanks for finally getting a little bit cold! It feels pretty nice outside today. Let's try to stay this way at least for the next five days. Christmas is always more fun when you're not sweating...

Dear Friends (those in real life and in blog-land): Thank you so so much for all of your love and support and encouragement after my slightly depressing and super serious blog post from Tuesday. It really warmed my heart how many of you checked in with me and made sure I was really OK. And I promise I still am OK. There are definitely times I still get sad, but I know that's just a part of working through all of this. I love you all so very much!

Dear Fingernails: We're going to attempt to create some Santa inspired nails this weekend! Hopefully my hand is steady enough to create something like this cute little design...otherwise, we'll just end up with a red and green version of our tried-and-true polka dot creations.

Found on my Pinterest board HERE

Dear Boyfriend: You were totally right about "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy  It rocked my socks off. I got sucked into it so quickly, and I just couldn't quit until we finished the whole thing! It was epic and amazing, and now I'm so psyched to see "The Hobbit" too!! Wanna go this weekend?! Please say yes...

I'm not actually officially linking up today with Adventures in Newlyweds, because she's taking a blog breather, but I am linking up with Oh So Amelia and Let Them Eat Cake.

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend, and and even more lovely Christmas! Enjoy the time with your friends and family, and make sure we remember that Christmas is about wayyy more than presents and cookies and pretty twinkle lights. It's about the coming of our Savior to this earth, so that we might be saved!! I encourage you to read Luke 2 in order to get the full story of Christmas, and spend some time reflecting on the beautiful gift our Father gave to us, so many thousands of years ago! What an incredible gift.

I may or may not share a few quick posts over the next few days, but I'll be back in full-swing after Christmas either on Wednesday or Thursday. Until then, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I can't wait to hear and see all about your Christmases as well!

Pursonal Belongings

I've wanted to do one of those "what's in your bag" kind of posts for a while. I actually have it written down on a list I keep of posts/things to do in the future, and for some reason just never got around to it, despite how simple it is to do! Well today I've finally decided to jump on it, because one of my bloggy friends, Ricci from A Beautiful Mess, was doing a link-up! So I decided I definitely needed to join today :)

Soooo, here's my purse. It's my favorite kind - a cross-body bag. I've been obsessed with this style of purse for about two years, and really I never use anything but this style. I have about four or five that I rotate, but this one is the newest, and the one I'm using right now. I got this baby at Ross for about 20 bucks I believe. What-a-steal.

And here's the contents of my purse. And this is downsized. I used to carry some giant purses around. In fact, my dad always referred to them as my "American Tourister," after the luggage company - as if I was carrying around a purse the size of a suitcase. Puh-lease. Now though, after Jeff started making fun of me too, I carry a more reasonable size purse, and therefore can severely limit the amount of hoopla I lug around with me all the time...

And then I went to much more trouble than was probably worth it, by putting little shapes and numbers all over everything, just so I could easily list out what things were. Because obviously I keep some confusing stuff in my purse...not. I'm pretty sure you could have figured it all out on your own, but too late now because I've already done it, so I'm going for it! If you're confused by anything in the following picture, please direct your attention to the explanations below, as I'm sure that will adequately clear anything up...

1. Christmas cards from friends, so I can hang them up in my office

2. Sunglasses

3. Lotion from my sister as part of a tiny bridesmaid present

4. Makeup essentials - Maybeline mascara, Bare Minerals black eyeliner, Sephora gold eyeliner, E.L.F. eye shadow,           Bare Minerals eye shadow and Cover Girl powder

5. Cute wallet from Charming Charlie

6. Pouch full of lip glosses and lip sticks, that gets exchanged for lady products once a month...

7. Favorite pen (that has purple ink!), and keys

8. Random movie ticket from "Wreck It Ralph"

9. Favorite chapstick = Burt's Bees = my obsession, and my favorite lip gloss, C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint

10. Staff ID badge to get in my building at work

11. just one single earring...

12. Cute pink pocketknife 

OH! And my iPhone can usually be found in there too. But I was taking these pictures with it, so it's not pictured... And that's all I've got in there, today at least. On other days, you can find additional items like a bottle or two of nail polish, maybe some chocolate, a pack of gum, too many crumpled receipts, and sometimes I'll even cram in a small book! So, those are my Pursonal Belongings! What's in your purse? Write your own post and you can link-up with Ricci too. Or just leave me a comment below if you keep something weird, random or funny in your purse! It's always fun "peeking in the windows" of other girls lives/purses! ;)

P.S. - One of my favorites, Aunie Sauce is also doing a "What's in my bag" link-up too, and so you can go check out her awesome blog too!

Pilot, Venus, Ghiradelli and B&BW

A couple of months ago, I signed up to be a part of the Influenster team, and now I finally got my first VoxBox! Just so I don't confuse any of y'all who may not know what it is, this is directly off their website:

"Influenster is a free-to-join community of invited trendsetters who live to give opinions of products and experiences. Influenster creates links between brands and members to reward participation and influence future products."

The awesome thing about their program? You receive these boxes for free! That's right - they give you awesome products to test and review, all complimentary. There are similar companies out there for reviewing new products and stuff, but some of those can cost $10 a box. But Influenster boxes are always free! They send you a box of complimentary products to test and review, and you get to reap the rewards :)

I waited for my turn to come around, and was so psyched when I found out I was going to finally get one! The first box I received was a good one for me. I got the Cosmo VoxBox, and there were some excellent goodies in there. Here's a rundown of what I received:

Venus Embrace Razor

Venus Olay refill cartridge

Pilot FriXion pens (red & black)

Forever Red perfume from Bath & Body Works

Ghiradelli Sea Salt Escape chocolate bar

And here's what I thought about these products...

Peppermint Mocha

If we were to sit down today for a coffee date, I'd start off saying, "Hi! How are you?! How are you doing this morning?!" I'd be pretty chipper and cheerful and we'd chat for a minute or two about easy things and maybe the weather, but then when you'd ask me how I'm doing, and then we'd probably get a little more serious.

I'd have to tell you that the past week has been a little rough, and that life is just too hard sometimes. I'd probably definitely tear up as I told you a little bit about the struggles that I've been dealing with this past week. As I sipped my warm Peppermint Mocha, I'd try to pull myself together so that I didn't start crying too much in the middle of this cute little shop.

I would want to be real though, and tell you what was truly going on, without getting too crazy and involved of course. But I'd want you to know the truth about my other job and the sadness this is all causing me. The sadness comes in waves though, and there are times I can ignore it and be happy; but then there are times in my car or talking on the phone with my Mama or boyfriend, that it gets the best of me and I start crying.

Life is just hard sometimes. Coffee sometimes makes it a little better though. And coffee dates with friends definitely make life better. I'd thank you for letting me vent a little bit, and for lending a listening ear today. I'd say thank you for being my friend and for your support and encouragement in this situation.

I do know that God always knows what He's doing, and we rarely do. But that doesn't make it any easier. I know God has a plan for me and He alone knows what comes next, but it's hard not knowing myself. But for now, as I make it through this, I'll try to wait as patiently as I can for whatever He is preparing myself and my heart for.

Know, my friends, that I'm OK through all of this craziness. Don't let this super serious post worry you too much. Yes, life is a little rough for me right now, but we all have to endure trials like this. I know I'll get through it and that I'll be just fine! Here's what I know I can hold on to during this:

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." James 1:2-3

God is just working on my perseverance. For now, I just have to trust Him, and Him alone. In the mean time though, maybe I'll have to sit down for coffee or lunch with a few more friends and family members, so I can work through this with some of the people I love the most. Thanks for listening today though, blog friends. I really do appreciate the opportunity to get real on here sometimes (even though it's very rare that I'm so serious), and use this little space as an emotional outlet from time to time.

Peppadews, Parties & Pippin

Guys, I'm not really feeling much like writing yet today. I think my brain isn't turned on quite yet this morning, due to the fact that I've had zero coffee. This is going to be an interesting day if I don't get some sort of caffeine pumping through these veins sometime soon. But now that I'm typing a little bit, my brain is waking up and you just might get a "real" blog post out of me. Well, a real weekend recap that is...

Friday
We started the night by picking up my Jeep from Costco, after getting new tires, only to find a piece that should have been attached, sitting in my front seat. Luckily my man is great at not only baking cookies but also working on my car! After it was all fixed, we headed up to Thomasville for the Victorian Christmas celebration. When we first walked up we saw these pretty gourds that had been carved out, and little nativity sets put inside them. So lovely! We grabbed a couple of cupcakes from Lucy & Leo's and then walked around but there wasn't too much to do, so we decided to head on back to town, and get dinner in Tallahassee.

Penguin Teapot & Friday's Letters

Dear Life: Why do you have to be so hard sometimes? I mean for real...I think I've dealt with enough in my life and I simply don't want it right now. Any of it. So back off, would ya? Because I could use a break right now.

Dear Family & Boyfriend: Thanks for being the bestest and for supporting me through all the craziness this week. You guys really have helped me feel better when I've needed it, and I thank you for your love and support.

Thank you again for this sweet card, boyfriend :)

Dear Bank Account: We're so happy right now! We reached our goal of $_,000 before my 25th birthday, in both my checking and my savings account! Woohoo! Now let's not get crazy and spend too much money around the holidays, OK? I like it where you're at now, so let's keep it that way for a while.

Dear Boyfriend: You looked so cute making homemade cookies the other night :) And they tasted delicious as well! Also, tonight we're going to the Victorian Christmas in Thomasville right after work, and I'm so excited. It should be lots of fun, and just the kind of activity I love doing with you! I can't wait to see what it's like this year!

Dear Readers: I just realized that in past two shorts months, you lovelies have tripled in size. Holy moly. In the beginning of October, I had 50 followers, and now I have almost 160. This is amazing to me, and I'm truly so glad you're here! If you're new around here, which most of you are, then welcome! Glad to have you! If you've been around for a while now, I'm still thankful to you peeps as well :)

Dear Dani-Pants: Thank you so much for sending my a little package in the mail. That was so sweet of you, and it was a great week to get it, since things haven't been so great this week. I had already painted my nails pink on Wednesday, so as soon as I got this on Thursday, I found some little pink flowers that went perfect! Thanks again so much for my random surprise :) You're the bestest!

Dear Sister: I had fun planning some wedding stuff with you last night! Things are coming along nicely, and I'm sure it's going to all be so pretty. Oh, and of course we're so excited about our bridesmaids dresses coming in early!!!

Dear Hallie: I'm so excited and looking forward to our upcoming link-up collaboration! It's going to be so much fun, and I hope we get a lot of participation from both of our readers. I am also looking forward to making some new friends too! So peeps, be on the lookout next week for a fun link-up with me and Hallie from Life: Oceanside! :)

Dear Mama: Thank you so much for my tiny, new penguin teapot! It is adorable and I love it, and I can't wait to use it more. It's just precious, and was such a cute surprise gift this week :)

Dear Instagram: I love you. I am obsessed with you. Thanks for all the entertainment you provide. And thanks for all the pictures in this post today. You can follow me here if you want, or my username is HalieRenee88

Friends, this week has indeed been a little rough. I can't yet say on this blog what all is going on, but I will say that if you're the praying type, I would definitely appreciate some prayers to be sent my way. There's some hoopla going on with one of my two jobs, and it's breaking my heart. We'll leave it at that for now, but just know that I'm OK, but could definitely use some extra prayers around here.

Oh a happier note though - I have a fun weekend ahead of me, and I'm really looking forward to that! Like I mentioned earlier, we're going up to Thomasville, GA, tonight, tomorrow we have two graduation parties, I'll get to spend some time with friends and hopefully get some rest as well. I hope y'all have a lovely Friday today, but an even lovelier weekend!

Present for High School Graduation

I have just one more post from my walk down memory lane and all of my old high school pictures... For my graduation present, me and my Mama went on a cruise to the Bahamas, and had so much fun. It was just us two, and we got to do whatever we wanted. But mostly we just wanted to relax and take it easy. Which we certainly did. It was a great time, and I wish I could go back and do it all over again! 

If you wanna see my other memory lane posts, check them out at the links I've provided below!

Cheerleading // Prom // Senior Girl Presentation // Senior Trip

New Year's Eve // Homecoming // Graduation

Plot Discussions

Jeff and I tend to watch a lot of movies. Each of us already had a love for movies before we started dating, and so it was always an easy go-to date idea in the beginning of our relationship, when we were still trying to figure each other out. We liked movie date nights because: it was easy to pick ones we would both like, it was generally a simple date to plan, and it was a good excuse to hold hands for two hours ;)

Now that we've been together for quite a while, we still love watching movies together! I'd say we watch 1-2 movies a week at home (via Netflix, Redbox or from both of ours or our families DVD collections), and go out to a movie at least 2-3 times a month. We just love movies! So lately I've kept a little list of some of the good ones, so that I can share them here with y'all, and give tiny little reviews of each one. So....

A Thousand Words: Eddie Murphy plays a big-shot literary agent, who blabbers on and on without much regard for anyone else in his life. Until, one day he finds a special tree in his yard, with each leaf representing words he speaks. And as he speaks, the leaves fall off the tree, until there are only about 1,000 left, and then when the last leaf falls, he will die. It is a pretty funny movie for the first half, but then it gets real, and it gets serious. And it gets good. I actually cried people, at an Eddie Murphy film! I won't say how it ends, but it's good. Definitely watch this one. I'd give it at least 4 out of 5 stars, but maybe more like 4.5.

 

Skyfall: This is the third James Bond movie starring Daniel Craig, and hello - of course it's good. I had seen the first one, Casino Royale, but that was about two years ago. I hadn't seen the second one, Quantum of Solace, at all. But we still went to see it, and it was incredible. I was literally on the edge of my seat practically the whole time. I was so into it. I was gasping and jumping and biting my nails for most of the movie. This was some good stuff people. Lots of action and explosions and drama and intrigue and twists. Just good stuff. This one is getting 5 out of 5 stars. I mean, it IS James Bond here folks...

Wreck It Ralph: This was a really cute movie. Yes technically, it's a children s movie, but it has a great story. The characters are all really adorable and lovable (well, except the bad guys of course), and you really end up rooting for Vanellope and Ralph. I would recommend this movie to anyone with smaller children, but also for those of us who are just young at heart! (Was that too cheesy?!) Whatever, it's really cute, and we really enjoyed it. Plus, if you played with any of these games when you were younger, you get to take a fun, quick trip down memory lane with this one :) And this one gets 4 out of 5 stars as well.

Then these are a few others we've watched recently. But for these, I'll just list them with a one-line opinion, and the rating I'm giving them, without going into a full-out synopsis...

Brave - 4 stars (really cute kids movie, but good for adults too)
The Perks of Being A Wallflower - 3.5 stars (intense story line, but it's not for everyone...)
Looper - 4 stars (lots of intense action and drama, with an interesting plot)
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring - 4 stars (actually, I've only seen the first half, but it's really interesting so far)

So if you're looking for a new movie to go see or rent, check out one of these, and then let me know what you think of it! And also, I want y'all to leave some ideas and suggestions as well, because we're always looking for something new and different! Let me know what some of your all-time favorites are, or maybe a brand new one you've just seen that was great. I'd love to hear from you lovely ladies!



(All photos found via Google images search)

Piccata & Perks

All I really want to do today is just share a couple of photos from last night, and brag about my sweet boy :) Last night he took me out for date night to celebrate 1 year and 4 months together, and also it's kind of our Christmas date too. He picked me up at my house after work, and took me to Georgio's. And oh man that place is delicious! I hadn't been there before, so that's new restaurant #4 of my goal of 6 before my 25th birthday. Four down and two to go. I can totally finish this goal :)

But anyways, back to Georgio's -- I had Chicken Piccata, which was super nummy-nummy. It came first with a salad, then also yummy green beans, and some great angel hair alfredo  Ohhhh so good. Jeff got a steak that had been stuffed and grilled with garlic cloves, and sitting on top of caramelized red onions, and it was amazing! Easily the best steak I've ever tasted. We were both stuffed at the end of dinner, but we both agreed it was well worth it to go out for something fancy for a change!

But this is the best we could do, picture-wise, since there were literally no other people around we could have asked to take it for us. We rested my camera on a brick pillar to use the timer feature, but it's still lookin' a bit funky...

After dinner, we decided to go the economical route, and went to the cheap theater to see "Perks of Being A Wallflower." First though, we decided we needed to stop at the Dollar Tree in order to pick up some of those travel toothbrushes, a pack of gum, and a candy for each of us to sneak into the movie. I had heard good things about the movie beforehand, but I didn't realize that it was going to be so intense! It was a good movie, but man, it was also some serious stuff. Either way, we still enjoyed the movie, and I'm glad we saw it, but it is definitely not for everyone...

We had ourselves a great date night, and I always loving spending time with this sweet man of mine. Glad that he's a part of my life! Love you babes :)

Poinsettia, Sushi, Nail Art & More...

Hello there my lovely friends and readers! What's not so lovely is this stupid Monday morning. I'm super tired and I can't stop yawning, and I'm ready to bust out of this office, and it's only barely 11 a.m... Sooo, I've still got a quite a few more hours to make it through. I had an exhausting weekend being a part of the Singing Christmas Tree -- it was definitely good, but I'm glad it's over with since we've been working on it since the beginning of September! Now I just need to get some rest! My weekend was pretty much just jam-packed with that, but I did squeeze in a little bit of other stuff!

Also, last Thursday I decided that my Christmas-inspired mani needed a special touch for the Singing Christmas Tree this weekend, so I made a cute little music note on my accent nail! It's not perfect, but it's pretty dang cute, and I love it! And this is nail art #10 of my goal of 10 before my birthday! So that's another goal I get to cross off my list!

And now, here's what my weekend looked like...

Friday
Stopped by Kohl's really quick to pick up some stuff I had put on hold the other day so I could buy it with a coupon!
Had some Chick-fil-A with my parents
Sang in the Singing Christmas Tree!
Went over to my friend Lacey's house for a game or two of Pictionary

Saturday
Went with Mama & Megan to meet a friend & her cute daughter to pick out her flower girl dress for Meg's wedding
Went with Jeff to visit his Granny, cuz she's pretty sick right now :( Pray for her!
Got treated rudely by the tire department at Sam's so we peaced outta there...
Got treated great by the tire department at Costco, so I ordered some new tires for my Jeep
Enjoyed some delicious sushi for lunch!
Rested and watched a movie at Jeff's house (MIB 3)
Went home for some dinner and to pick up my Mama
Sang in the Singing Christmas Tree!
Hung out with Jeff afterwards

Sunday
Went to church as usual, and saw a pretty poinsettia, still covered in morning dew drops
Had lunch at Genghis Grill with my friends Sara and Kristen
Watched last week's episode of The Walking Dead with my parents
Hung out at Jeff's house for a little bit
Got some Taco Bell
Sang in the Singing Christmas Tree!
Went back to Jeff's house and watched re-runs of "Freaks & Geeks" on Netflix
Came home and passed out immediately...

Jeff's view from his seat on Saturday night...

During dress rehearsal last Wednesday night. Can you find me?! Haha :)

I'm hoping that later this week I can get some better pictures of the Singing Christmas Tree, but for now this is all I've got. So we'll just have to appreciate these! How were y'all's weekends? Were they busy like mine? Or slow and relaxing? Hopefully they were good either way!

Tonight is date night for me and the boy, and I'm looking forward to that. We're going fancy tonight and using this to celebrate our Christmas date, and it's also our 1 year and 4 months anniversary :) I'm planning to wear that outfit above I got from Kohl's the other day, so I hope I look cute! But I mean, why wouldn't I?! I'm sure we'll take some pictures tonight and so I'll share later this week!

Linking up today with all of the lovely ladies from: Covered in Grace, Glitter & Gloss, Pink of Perfection, Sami's Shenanigans, and Synfully Delicious.

Paper Snowflakes & More

Dear Boyfriend: Thanks so much for being excited about the activity calendar I made for us for this month, and being so great about participating in the things I planned for us! I had such a great time cutting out paper snowflakes with you the other night while we drank hot tea and watched a movie. It was such a lovely at-home date night :)

Dear Tallahassee: If you'd like to come hear me sing in our church's Singing Christmas Tree, it will be happening at 7 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, at Bradfordville FBC. It's free, so just show up! It's a great night of Christmas music, and I think you should come :)

Dear Throat/Voice: We've got a lot of singing to do over the next three days, so let's keep it together and not freak out. I'll be drinking copious amounts of hot tea, and I bought a brand new bag of cough drops yesterday. We gotta stay healthy!

Dear Fingernails: You looks so much better now that I finally got around to painting you! Sorry it took so long. But you're adorable and Christmasy, with a special twist for the Singing Christmas Tree! :) {And I'll have to share pictures on Monday because I don't have any right now, and I actually need to do a quick touch-up on one of them!}

Dear Housegirl Haley: Thank you so much for sending me those cute ornaments, for our swap Living In Yellow hosted! I'm sorry I forgot to post about them earlier this week like we were "supposed" to, but I do like them! I'll be putting them up on the tree this weekend :) And isn't it so funny and ironic we got matched since we have the same name, and live in the same state only a few hours apart?! Such a small world we live in :) Oh, and the teal box and burlap ribbon was just the cutest, it made so so happy when I pulled it out of the brown shipping box!

Dear Office: Breakfast this morning was super delicious.... BUT we're gonna have to slow down and chill out on the holiday snacks and parties, or else we're all gonna weigh a bajillion pounds by the new year...

Dear Pinterest: Thanks for yet another successful and delicious meal for me and my family. Yesterday's Crockpot Angel Chicken was so yummy, and I'll definitely be sharing the recipe with y'all one day next week! (My picture below doesn't look like anything fancy, but believe me, it's tasty for sure.)

Dear Influenster: I'm sooo excited I finally got my first box, and I'm so excited to start trying everything out! I am wearing the tiny new perfume today, and it really does smell great. Can't wait to see how the other products all work out as well! (Although apparently you're having some serious website issues today...?)

I'm off now to force myself to do some work for the rest of  the day...however I don't wanna overdo it or anything, so I'll still try to take it easy. And then I'll be singing for the rest of the weekend, with of course some fun and relaxation thrown in there as well! Oh, and a holiday craft show tomorrow!

Linking up today with Ashley at Adventures of Newlyweds for our usual Friday's Letters!

Peak of High School

OK, this will  be the second-to-last one of these memory lane walks - with the final one next Thursday, with pictures of my graduation present! This is the seventh one, so if you missed the first six, check them out at the following links...

Cheerleading // Prom // Senior Girl Presentation // Senior Trip // New Year's Eve // Homecoming

The Peak of High School is definitely graduation - I mean honestly, what else could it be? So here are all the pictures from my high school graduation, and the festivities and events surrounding it! (The ones I could find at least...) There are some from Senior Sunday at my church, and also when we went on a little mother-daughter lunch date the day before graduation! 

Pinteresting Choices

Today will be my first link up with Michelle from The Vintage Apple, for "Oh, How Pinteresting!" Today, and yesterday as well for that matter, I'm feeling completely inspired by delicious food and recipes!

I have about a bajillion food pins on my Pinterest, and it's sometimes overwhelming knowing which one I actually feel like making. For one thing, I don't even keep it all on one central food board (the way some others, like my Mama do), I separate it all into a couple of categorized boards so it's easier to find a specific kind of thing later. For example, some of my food boards are: Pasta Is My Favorite, Breakfast at Halie's, Crockpot Craze, Yummies To Try, Healthy Yummies, Sweet Tooth and Cupcakes. And each of them have tons of pins. But at least I know I'll never be lacking in recipe inspiration!

So tomorrow night (Thursday) I'm cooking dinner for just my Mama, sister and myself, and so I'm looking for something relatively easy (well, that's kind of always my motto), and something that's not intended for an entire army. Here are a few of the things I'm considering, and I want your opinions - what do you think sounds/looks the best, and which one should I make?! Let me know below, and then I'll share later this week how it all turns out!

P.S. - I'm really feeling a crockpot meal, so that's what most of these are.

Crockpot Swiss Chicken Casserole

Originally from These Four No More, found on Pinterest here

Crockpot Cheesy Chicken

Originally from Food.com, found on Pinterest here

Buffalo Chicken Chili

Originally from ClosetCooking.com, found on Pinterest here

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

Originally from Heather's Bytes, found on Pinterest here

Crockpot "Gourmet" Angel Chicken

Originally from Loved & Lovely, on Pinterest here

So I'm thinking five recipes is plenty to choose from. We love chicken in our family (well I mean, who doesn't love chicken?!), so that's why there are so many chicken options here. I think each one of these sounds absolutely amazingly delicious, and I'll be excited to try whichever one of these I end up choosing. It's just such a hard choice! What do y'all think? Ever had any of these before, or made something similar yourselves? How did it turn out? Was it a repeater? Should I try it too?! Was that too many questions? ;)

For more Pinteresting blog posts, of all shapes, sizes and varieties, head over to The Vintage Apple to check out tons more links! And don't forget to tell me which option you think I should make for our little girls night dinner!