Rest of Winter Checklist

Here's how we did on our Christmas checklist:

Get all of our Christmas Shopping done under budget

Make my way to the cemetery to put some poinsettias on Dad's marker

Have our 2nd annual Gingerbread House night

Make an ornament for 2016

(2014)(2015)

Mail out Christmas Cards

Buy stockings

I still can't quite manage to make myself get out to the cemetery, so no flowers were placed.  We were so busy, that Gingerbread house didn't happen, either. I also cheated a little in making our ornament for this year. I made it on Shutterfly instead of making a cute globe one like years past; it says "Joy! It's a Boy!" and has his name on the back of it:

It's so easy for us to forget about the rest of Winter after Christmas, but we have much to be done before Remington gets here!! 

Finish the nursery

Start purging clothes we don't wear or don't fit

Hang a bird feeder

Throw/attend a superbowl party

Make plans for a super fun (non-traveling) 3rd anniversary

Get all Thank You notes done no more than 2 weeks following each baby shower!

Spend lots of time snuggling

Rest-Of-Winter Checklist

This Christmas was wonderful. We had lots of time with family and friends, lots of love, and lots of yummy food. Most importantly, we had lots of time to celebrate our Savior's birth. Christmas/December Checklists are a-plenty in December... I sometimes forget there is winter after Christmas is gone.  I think our December Checklist is the first time I have ever crossed off everything on a checklist!
Put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving

Go see the Opryland Lights

Build a Gingerbread house

Make an ornament

 Get new jammies for Christmas

(hers)(his)

Watch The Snowman

So here are our goals for the rest of the winter:

Drink lots of hot cocoa

Purge our unworn clothing from 2015

Rework our filing system to decrease clutter

Plan our 2nd Anniversary trip 

Organize the tops of our closet

Make the man cave more manly.

Friday!!

Our week has been a little bit of a roller coaster! Parts of it have been really awesome, parts of it have really not been awesome. Jackson's been in Memphis for work, so I've been a little antsy and missing him.  But hey, that's life, right? So at the risk of sounding too "TGIF"-ish, here are the best parts of our week!  1. We got to spend quality time with our sister-in-love, Jackson's parents, and this sweet gal.

2. We scored $35 in free groceries for using our credit card for rewards! 

3. It snowed. Again. But we got some pretty adorable visitors. Well, what I assume were adorable visitors. All they left were these raccoon-y footprints.

4. While at Dad's this week, I found my label maker in my sister's room. Win. Everything may now have been labeled in our home thanks to my snow day off. 

5. I say I should have a day off of work every week. All of the laundry is done, meals are planned for two weeks, the bathroom sparkles, the kitchen smells like lemony heaven, and I watched all of the Harry Potters... again...! :) 

Weekending!

Our weekend was one for the books for sure, mostly thanks to the weather I hated so much last week!  I got off work early on Friday because of the incoming snow. It didn't look bad, so I decided to go to Dad's.  Bad call. I got most of the way there before I started sliding on the ice that hadn't melted.  The traction control in my new car (and this being the first winter I've had it) scared me to death.  It starting beeping and flashing and my car came to a complete stop. I finally found the clear road again and got all the way to Dad's before getting stuck in the ice on their street. My car wouldn't drive, it wouldn't reverse, and it was awful. I finally found the yard and was able to park there. I was there for an hour or so and for some reason I decided to look out the window. I couldn't tell where there was street and where the ice was, so I went ahead and came home before it got worse. Jackson's best man came over and we decided to sled down our awesome hills in our apartment complex. 

You can see our tracks from our sledding.
Look how small the jungle gym is for reference on how high up we were.

 Aside from the awesome bruise on my hip and hitting a bump that made me flip and fall on my head (and Jackson's awful back pain), it was the coolest thing I've ever done! Jackson and Byron got some pretty awesome air, too.  Byron got stuck here because of the ice and snow, so he stayed over! Can we just talk about how much more fun sleepovers are when you're adults and it's your best friend? They're the bomb, in case you've never tried it.  Saturday, I got up early because it was Byron's birthday and made bacon, omelettes, and cinnamon rolls! He stayed long enough to watch the Vanderbilt basketball game which was enough time for the rain to turn the ice to sludge.  I ventured out to the grocery after he left because we were out of everything (milk, eggs, bread... snow essentials, you know!). I also ran into my first set of Girl Scouts and scored some Trefoils. After being caught in a tsunami, I made it home to watch Despicable Me and Wreck It Ralph. 

Sunday, church was delayed because the parking lot was still an ice rink. We went to church at 11, went to Jackson's parents' house, then came home. We scored free pizza for dinner, and let's be real, that's the best kind of pizza. We settled in to watch The Walking Dead and The Oscars and then turned in early. 
Schools are out again today, so I'm rolling into work late (because it's our company policy... not because I have little'ns). Here's to kicking this week in the butt! 

Friday!

Our week has been less than eventful. Being iced in for two days straight didn't help anything. But hey, there were enough perks to make a well-rounded week 1.  As mentioned, I may have done a lot of online shopping while cooped up.  1-5 were ThredUP gold; 6 and 7 were Target finds!! 

2. A little Baby Step 1 and 2 win: After using our tax return to pay a huge chunk of Jackson's tools, We paid off the credit card and were finally able to sock back some money for our savings!! There's no better feeling than seeing more than $26 in your savings account. 3. My most favorite part of this week was getting to spend some quality time with my groom.  He took Monday and Tuesday and we stayed home, watched movies, and had fun. It was good for our marriag to have a staycation away from the busy work week

  4. I've been making an effort to meet some new bloggers lately. I love networking and have found some great blogs recently. Check out the "Blogs I Love" for updates! 5. Can we talk about How to get Away With Murder? It's like my blood pressure is sky high through the whole episode. If you haven't watched it, you're missing out.  
 

20 Things to do When You're Iced in for Days

I'm sure those of you who live in the south-ish have felt the woes of Icemageddon that hit early
 Monday morning.  I was already out for Presidents' Day, but was stuck home on Tuesday. Jackson was stuck home on Monday (without pay! Yay!) and Tuesday.  How in the world did we pass time in 631 square feet for days?!   Here, let me tell you. Watched Horns on Netflix (totally weird, but great movie) Pretended we're figure skaters on the ice outside Did all of our laundry Painted my fingernails and toenails. Twice. Scraped all the ice off of both of our cars.

Went through clothes and gave away what I didn't wear Did a lot of online shopping Painted with my Valentines watercolors Organized every drawer in our home Uploaded the rest of all of my pictures to Shutterfly Cleaned out the pantry Fed the birds bread from our balcony

Took pictures of all of the ice around our complex Caught up on all of our shows like How to get Away With Murder and Better Call Saul Cooked dinner together Searched for haircuts on Pinterest and decided on one Ordered the cutest ankle boots ... and a really cute dress Cleaned every appliance in the kitchen Made a list of things to put in a care box for my best friend.  All in all, I realized being stuck is what you make it.  How have you all fared this winter weather?! 

Rainy Days and Mondays

Our weekend was so busy. Like, it's Monday and my head is on my desk because I'm in a state of exhaustion I've never been in before. I think.   Friday, we worked and came home to a date night. Penn Station and a little Breaking Bad... great date night if I do say so myself.   Saturday, I spent my day at my Daddy's house playing with all of my pets that I left behind.

  Meanwhile, Jackson was sitting in a field with a gun doing what he loves to do.

  Saturday evening, we had a date with one of my best friends from high school at Rosepepper. 

 

  Sunday, we churched, we ate, we grocery shopped, we ate some more, we watched the Golden Globes, and we slept. Now it is Monday, it's raining, and I feel like everyone is ready to rip everyone's head off.  Welcome back, eh?  

Meet Our Tree

I had been looking forward to the day after Thanksgiving for months. I got our little 6-foot cashmere tree on sale for $12 after Christmas at Walgreens last year. Our little tree had been stored in my room at my parents' house for almost a whole year before we brought him to our little abode.  We have such little space and so many pieces of furniture, we had no idea where we'd put him.  After shuffling furniture, we found the perfect spot for him.   We couldn't decide on a theme for our ornaments, so I had to make an executive decision one day while "killing time" in Hobby Lobby.  Black and Gold for Vandy, it was! In between the black and gold, there are sentimental ornaments.  Dad and I cleared out all of the family Christmas ornaments last year, and my sister and I went through to pick ones we wanted to keep.  I picked my first Christmas ornament, and some odds and ends that were my favorites to put on the tree every year.     I also added the ornament that Jackson and I acquired in Savannah on our Honeymoon   (Forgive the awful-ness that is the webcam photo quality)   We added the Alumni ornament his mama bought him last year
(The back of this one is signed by Phil Ponder!) 

 

There is another ornament from his mama last year to the both of us   And then there's this guy... our newest addition:

  I posted this picture on Instagram on Thursday night and got a ton of questions about it.  It was so so simple, and totally Pinspired.    All you need is sand, a clear glass ornament, some shells, and a piece of paper for a funnel (I guess you could use an actual funnel...).  I bought a metal, hand-stamped tag (etsy) to use as the explanation (you know, so when I'm 90, I'll remember why there's sand on our tree). I used hot glue to plug the metal hanger so no sand falls out while it's in storage.    Note to self: get a bigger tree. There are too many ornament ideas out there for our little baby tree to hold!!

Coming Togetherness and Traditions

One of my favorite things about being married so far is combining our family's traditions.  Christmas has given us the perfect opportunity to explore what things are special to us that we want to keep, what we want to do new, and what we can compromise on. 

 

We were raised differently in many aspects, but our Christmas traditions were different, too.  My family didn't have a specific tradition for putting up the tree, but his family likes to do it the day after Thanksgiving.  My family loves things like pajamas and cookies (and carrots for reindeer!) served on a specific Santa plate.  I had never seen the Polar Express, and now, after seeing it (and then watching it four more times in three days) we have decided to make it a tradition in our family.

 

I love this "coming togetherness" that is marriage. 

I love combining our two families into one as we develop traditions and habits we will pass onto our children someday. 

 

Winter Checklist!

Fall is usually our busiest time of year, so we hardly got to anything on our checklist.  It didn't help that Nashville turned to Arendelle in early November (thank you to all of the tiny children dressed as Elsa for Halloween... Thank you...) and then warmed back up.  It was way too hard to plan outdoorsy things.    Go camping Decorate!! Go to a pumpkin patch Carve Pumpkins Take fall pictures Make soup or chili every week Go to the zoo Bonfires Friendsgiving     Don't get me wrong... I love Fall, but Winter may be my numero uno... I love the cold. I love vests and scarves and coats... I love hot chocolate and staying inside. So...Since it's now December....Here's our Winter Checklist (With a couple already crossed off):   Put up our tree and decorate it the day after Thanksgiving My family always got very busy right around Christmas, and some years, our tree wasn't up until two days before Christmas.  I want to start traditions like this that will carry into our family when kids are here.    Make our Traditions Lists Since we were on the topic of traditions... It would be so much fun to make a list of our traditions growing up to see which ones we want to keep a part of our family!!   Go see the Opryland Christmas lights on December 23rd December 23 is the day Jackson and I got engaged.  Opryland is our favorite, most memorable place to go at Christmas time.  It's where we had our first date, where took prom pictures as the Nashville flood was happening, it's where we got engaged, and it's our tradition   Build a Gingerbread House  This is something I don't think I've ever done!!   Get Matching Pajamas for Christmas Eve wearing! I know. This is probably going to really embarrass Jackson, but I want to carry on this tradition from my childhood.  We used to get new, matching PJs Christmas Eve so we would wake up all cute on Christmas morning.   Go to the Jellystone Christmas Drive-Through Light Show We say, every year, this is something we will do.  It's been going for over five years, so it is definitely time to go!   Slow Down and Enjoy It's so so so easy to get wrapped up in all of the things that have to get done that I forget how much fun everything really is.   Take More Pictures I'm always so so busy in the middle of everything that I forget to take pictures, then I'm kicking my tail for not taking more pictures! I'll find that balance soon. :)   Invest in Christmas Decor This being our first Christmas on our own, married, in our own home... we realized we have zero Christmas decorations.  We still need stockings and a tree skirt! And little knick-knacks to sit around. :)    

Friday!

This week has been the bomb dot com!    1. We decided that our Christmas present to each other would be tickets to the Linkin Park concert in January. We. Are. Stoked. Like it's 2006.

 

  2. I had a wonderful time painting on Tuesday with some ladies from church.  This one will take the place of my pumpkin come November 28!

    3.   This week, I have been able to take time to spend in my happy place.  I've sewn a tablecloth with bows for our upcoming friendsgiving, I have monogrammed three pullovers for my best friend to give for Christmas, and I have sewed yards of leaf garland.  

4. Finally decided on ornaments for our tree.  It was very spur of the moment when I was killing time in Hobby Lobby. (FYI: Killing time in Hobby Lobby is not a thing. You will be late wherever you're going...) We are huge Vandy fans, so it just made sense to do our tree in black and gold to go with our white lights! Now all we need is a tree topper and we're set!

5. I came home yesterday to a note saying we had a package in the office.  I knew I hadn't ordered anything, but figured maybe Jackson had.  When I picked it up, I automatically recognized the handwriting.  My best friend from high school sent me a care box.  This, friends, is what ten years of friendship are made of.

 

Linking up with Karli and Amy and Lauren and 5 on Friday