Weekend Wrap-Up

The last weekend before Christmas was definitely a busy one filled with lots of joy.

 

On Friday some of our 'crew' of friends journeyed up to Birmingham to catch Moon Taxi. Moon Taxi is one of those bands that probably appears to anyone. We have 40-somethings in our crew who love them, and a five-year-old who sees these guys (Trevor especially) as I did with NKOTB when I was eight.

 

 It was a fan'flippin'tastic show!

 

After the show these clowns and myself journeyed around Birmingham. One of the places we stopped by had a photobooth. You know the kind in the mall made for two people? Well, try five. $3 of Ashley's money well spent thanks to the laughs this experience brought on.

 

Michael. Rhonda. Chris. Ashley. Me.

 

::Insert typical photobooth comment here::

 

The next day we headed the one of my favorite restaurants - The Cheesecake Factory. The only thing missing was my 'dear' friend Stephanie. I think I ate enough for her.

 

The shepher's pie was amazing.

 

As was the vanilla bean cheesecake.

 

 

After we ate more than we should have I ran in a favorite store or two there at The Summit. Friends who I knew were ready to get home and long lines were my saving grace against spending money that I didn't need to on things I didn't need.  If a certain Stephanie were there with me, I'm sure I wouldn't have left Anthroplogie empty-handed.

 

Once we got home Saturday we had about an hour to get ready to head to the Saenger for the Charlie Brown Jazz Christmas. We had a very merry time, as always.

 

 

Sunday was nice to have an open agenda. Christmas shopping - check. Grocery shopping - check. Rain - double check.

 

I had almost forgot to make some of my Christmas goodies. This year was vanilla bean infused sugar. After slicing open and scraping out the beans from two pods, I was covered in little black, amazing smelling specks. Fragrance companies can try to replicate the smell of vanilla, but nothing compares to the real thing.

My cinnamon toast this morning was excellent!

Tour of my Tree

I love Christmas. Everything about it! The smells, decorations, shopping and getting to bring a tree into your living room to hang out for a month or so. Every year my favorite part about Christmas is getting my tree.

 

However, my MOST favorite part is getting out my box of ornaments to hang on said tree.

 

 

Unwrapping each ornament is like unwrapping a present. You have no idea which one you are opening. I like to take a moment when I open each one to think about the memories from when I purchased it. I buy a new ornament every time I go on vacation. I will nearly miss the boat because I'm still shopping for one. Once I had to end up buying a keychain to convert to an ornament because there was no time left to find one.

I like to keep the 'filler' ornaments on my tree to a minimum. If I only had my special ones hanging my tree would be pretty naked.

These are some of my most special ornaments hanging on my tree:

 

 

 

From Chelsea Market (home of Food Network Studios) in NYC

 

 

My first visit to St. Thomas in 2012

 

 

My first visit to the Cayman Islands, 2010

 

 

This is a friendship dove from the movie Home Alone. I gave the other one to my DEAR friend Stephanie. (Just FYI, there is a big difference in a dear friend and a dead friend. I'm very glad Stephanie is not dead, as I originally mentioned in this post. Major typo right there. She is very much alive!)

 

 

I've been to Atlantis in Nassau twice, and both times we were so rushed to get back to the ground transportation to return the ship. I missed out on my ornament twice! Thankfully Stephanie went back and snatched this guy (and three others) up for me.

 

 

Michael's first cruise, and my first visit to Jamaica; January 2013

 

I love pickles. Like the commercial for Pier 1, 'find what speaks to you.' Well, this guy in there spoke to me.

 

 

Boston trip for the Francis/Darcus wedding, November 2011. Enjoyed ourselves at the Sam Adams Brewery.

 

 

Self explanatory.

 

 

McGuire's, Pensacola.

 

 

New York City trip so long ago. 2006 maybe?

 

I am remaining a W last namer, but this guy has represented the Wilkins/Williams household for a few years. Next year it will just be Williams :)

 

 

Second visit to Grand Cayman.

 

 

I have one of each of these ships; the Oasis and the Allure of the Seas. Just like the ships, these ornaments are huge...and require a very sturdy branch to hang from.

 

 

This was my favorite ornament growing up. My mom gave him to me a few years ago to enjoy from my tree.

 

 

St. Maarten

 

Cozumel

 

Costa Maya, Mexico

Wordless Wednesday

Marathon Blogging

Ready. Set. Blog. 

In the two years since my last blog post  life has changed in oh so many ways!

The big news that is definitely the most exciting - Michael proposed! On July 11th, 2013 he finally worked up the courage to ask me.

I was totally surprised! Random Thursday night at home - just how I always wanted it. Unexpected! We're getting married this spring, so there will definitely be some updates to come on that.

In the meantime we're just getting ready for Christmas. I held my third-annual Christmas cookie exchange party Saturday night and it was a hit. Everyone always bakes the best cookies!

I made cranberry pistachio cookies. Way too good, I must say. 

Christmas shopping is almost wrapped up. Maybe two or three more things to pick up in the next week, but far more progress this year than previous years.

I will miss this guy hanging out in my living room once the new year rolls around. I'll just have to put it out in my backyard to enjoy for a bit longer :)

Love the holidays, not a fan of the cold temps. Leaving my house this week it looked like it had snowed. I got this picture as I drove away pretending it was snow.

We have two new (to the blog) cats (that's four total). Yes, we are the crazy cat people. All four have been homeless strays in our neighborhood that have latched on to us and our home. Here we have Mr. Black Cat. We have had him for about six months.

This is Neighbor. He acquired us about a year ago.

Here's to hoping it doesn't take me another two years to update this thing.