Smores & WW2

Last night our evening was filled with a yummy meal prepared at Taylor and Jacob's house. We all sat by the fire pit for s'mores and some belly laughs too. It was a great time and I wish I had taken a picture of that fire pit! Taylor's dad made it to give to them for Christmas. Time flew by and it was after 1:30 in the morning when we got home. Who knew a fire pit could be so fun?!
Lee has been interviewing a WW2 Veteran for a paper he has to present at his next drill. It's been neat to hear the stories and checkout the material he has been able to borrow. Lee has since made 3 return visits to talk to the vet. Lee and I have talked about how the man is in his nineties and probably not unlike any of the other WW2 vets; it's important that we spend time with these men and hear their history. After all, doesn't history repeat itself or something???
O-We're going to dinner and to see a movie with our buddies tonight. Happy New Year's Eve! See ya next year. Wink Wink.

Swatch Is Here

I finally received THIS swatch and it's perfect. I will be ordering a few yards of this baby soon. Very soon. Yeehaw for new curtains!

New Pillow

I have stumbled across a new pillow for our living room. I found this gem in Dillard's the other day. I couldn't resist the raised ikat embroidery. Additionally, it was marked down. Marked way down.

Louie

If you're wondering what was in THIS box. Lee got me this!

He had stuck a couple of 5 pound weights into the box to throw me off. I noticed they were missing the other day and defensively he argued, "How do you know something is missing that you never use!" Ha!

Surprise Face

After Jan turned the corner for the room reveal she couldn't say anything. We thought that she didn't like it maybe??? 

But she loved it and waterworks soon followed.

Jan has always wanted the two paintings behind her in this picture to be displayed prominently somewhere in her home. These were the first paintings that she painted on her own years ago. I'm glad we found the perfect place for them both.

Christmas Makeover

Lee and I went into this holiday season with every intention to treat this Christmas like it was our last. We triple checked to make sure the video camera had a full battery and our lists were checked twice to ensure nothing was forgotten before we headed South for my parent's home and then back waaaaay North for his family's home. It was a busy 4 days.
A definite highlight of our trip was the feeling we both had when Jan; my MIL turned the corner to see her bedroom makeover that Lee and I did for her. Jan does so much for everyone around her. Jan's actions always put others before herself. She has to be one of the most selfless women I know. In fact, I would say that she is the very glue that provides the strength for Lee's family.
Her house sits down the hill from Lee's 93 year old Nana. Jan's house has been in the family for years and her bedroom was in desperate need of a makeover. My challenges were the size of the space, 2 doors, and a full wall of closet space. See below for the Before pictures and click the video to see the transformation:

Merry Christmas

This is our nativity scene. It's by Willow Tree and it was a wedding gift. How awesome is that?!
'Tis the Reason for the Season!

I Wish

I  wish this to be for me. A girl can wish, right?!

Elf

Spotted. Airplane Elf on Shelf!

You can read more about this tradition HERE!
Our elf sits here:

Found in Closet

I've got sequined shoes yes I do, I've got sequined shoes how about you?!

$3 Swatch

If you have been following my blog then you know that I have been obsessing over trellis fabric for quite sometime. I told you HERE that I'm adding some orange to our master suite. I would love to add Kelly Wearstler's mandarin trellis, but it's not happening. For over $150/yd I can spend that mu$la elsewhere, right?! 

However, I did find something similar. The tone of the orange is a bit different so I ordered a $3 swatch to see it in person before ordering several yards. To be cont'd!

OFF

I'm off work today and the next day and the next day and the next day. OK. I'm off on holiday and not returning to work  until Jan. 3, 2011! Can I get a whoot whoot!

Driving Me Nuts

I still really want to know what is in THIS box!

B Talks Fashion

My dear little sister cousin has gone to market to help boutique owners in our hometown buy the latest trends for years now. B says that rose gold jewelry, anything lace and sequined ballet flats are big and will be bigger. Don't say I didn't tell you.

Pittsburgh, Boston, Ft. Worth & Back

Last week was cr-cr-crazzzy. Midweek, I flew to Boston to tour a customer's facility. I really enjoyed seeing the "guts" of the operation. We did lunch and talked bzzzness. It was great. What wasn't so great was the fact that my suitcase got lost in transition! I went round and round with the airline's customer service department. It took them over 24 hours to deliver my bag! It was like Survivor-Erin Style at Walgreens in the middle of the night (3am) when I discovered that my bag would not be delivered before my meeting the following day. I took a cab to Walgreens around the corner from my hotel to stock up on drugstore granny panties and cheap-o makeup. I got creative with the layers I had in my possession and bought a few things at a clothing boutique 1st thing the next morning.  Whew!

If you ever go to Boston (and you really should) you def need to checkout Faneuil Hall Marketplace. It's a fun space with old architecture, my favorite stores, and so much more.  I experienced the best crabcake of my life at Kingfish Hall. Faneuil also has many fabulous pubs with live bands to adore. In Boston-I felt very much at home, but with better food.

When I got back home-home (not hotel) Lee and I darted for Ft. Worth to see one of my gal pals from college get married. Her reception was at The Ashton so Lee and I stayed the night there. It was nice to get away and not feel rushed to get back home. We had many belly laughs with Mo, Mal, and their significant others. I'm hoping the wedding photographer took some good shots of us all because we were all very lame and didn't bother much with the camera. When I say lame, I mean having too much fun to care!

We got back home-home (again, not hotel) late in the afternoon. I hurried into my jammies and remained horizontal on the couch until bedtime.

Brrrr

I'm in Pittsburgh again for work. And it's cold. Here's my welcome view when I landed:



Originally, I was scheduled to get here on Sunday, but my flight was canceled due to bad weather. I woke up at 3am to catch my 6am flight yesterday and after being delayed for four hours, I got my hotel room around 4pm. I ordered room service for dinner and tried to look alive so that I could take my final online since I will have no time the rest of the week before it is due. I took a shower and dried my hair last night because I had to get up at 5:30am (4:30am where I'm from) and be in the hotel lobby by 6:15am. I grabbed my coworker and darted for Panera to pick up 3 variety boxes of bagels, 20 muffins, and 20 pastries. We then went in separate directions as I headed to the location of one of our customers to drop off breakfast. After breakfast, I headed to WV to meet a caterer at another customer location for lunch. 'Tis the Season! I'm now back in our Pittsburgh office winding down. Whew. Everyone is grabbing dinner together later. A girl has to eat, but I would much rather go in my jammies.

Holiday Decor

Touches of Christmas from the living room to the guest bathroom all around our house!



Call Me, Mrs. Christmas

Project Elf went great! I only had 15 lists unaccounted for when my deadline for employees passed. Which meant, I took my company card and went shopping to fulfill 15 Dear Santa Letters! This week I have been receiving toys from employees and preparing them for delivery. My week has gone something like this:

I took many carts out to the car.

I unloaded in the middle of my living room floor.

Every toy needed to be organized by each child's list.

All toys were then bagged and prepared for pickup by taping each list to its bag.

All toys are marked with the children's name to prevent the potential return of gifts for store credit. You would love to think that all foster parents are honest, but unfortunately some aren't. Bikes, keyboards, scooters, dolls, clothes, and Leapfrogs oh my! It's so rewarding to be an elf. I like seeing the child's list because it seems more personal to place a name and age with the toy you choose. Love Love Love this part of my job.

Leader of the Pack

I battled a head cold all of last week and the yucky-ness settled in my chest just in time for the weekend. Mom and dad spent the night at my house Friday evening and she brought me a Benadryl to dry me up. I was able to sleep like a rock that night. Note to self: Keep stock of Benadryl in the house.

I MENTIONED Lee being the Platoon Leader this month.  Since the conclusion of last month's drill, he has been carrying out his duties all month and he acted them out this past weekend. He also led the OCS holiday luncheon. My MIL, nephew, mom, and dad accompanied me to have lunch with Lee. It was nice to finally meet the people Lee tells me about each month. Putting faces with names makes everything seem more real, ya know? We played Dirty Santa and ate a stereotypical holiday catered meal. It was a brief 1 hr 1/2  visit. We were then given a boot out the door so the soldiers could carry out the remainder of their agenda for the weekend!

After pretending my cold didn't exist all day, I was ready for a nap when my guests departed. I did wake up to watch my boys beat Nebraska to win the Big 12 Championship. Boomer Sooner!

The remainder of my weekend consisted of homework, homework, and more homework. When Lee got home he seemed like a completely different person since his evaluation passed him with flying colors. I could totally tell his stress bomb had been released. Cheers!

Gift Wrap

I always enjoy selecting our Christmas wrapping paper each year. To me, it marks the first event of the Christmas decorating season. Growing up, my mom always made a big deal about not squishing her pretty bows that coordinate with her perfectly aligned paper on each wrapped gift. She would even make sure the cutoff edges matched the connecting edge of paper when she wrapped her gifts. 
Our paper this year:

O' Christmas Tree 2010

Up On The Rooftop...

...out jumps good old Santa Clause Lee!

The day after Thanksgiving is a busy day for us. We buzz around the house to get into the Christmas spirit. On my way to the store for replacement bulbs, I snapped this pic of Lee:

Bedlam 2010

This past weekend was my Alma Mater's big BEDLAM game. Lee and I were lucky enough to attend. It was a crazy good game. I'm talking edge of your seat intense. Actually, we didn't sit down through the entire game other than for a brief timeout. By the time you squeeze your booty into your designated space on the bench, it was time to stand and cheer. The game was held on our rival's turf this year.  I get really into the football games and Lee couldn't believe that I would yell so loud all the while we were surrounded by orange people. We did manage to smile through our rival's ugly frowns after our team scored!