MIA...

I know...I know... I have been a horrible blogger these days!

I just have so many things going on right now with the holidays and our vacation that is approaching in 2 short days. We are headed to the mountains for a whole week and I've been busy cleaning my house, getting packed, and cleaning my car. I am also planning a Christmas party at our house the week after we get back. For the past two years my friends and I have gotten together and sent out invitations and helped with the party, but this year I am doing it by myself. Please pray for me! I mailed out the invitations today so that's out of the way. We will be playing Chinese Christmas! I am so excited and I hope it turns out great. Anyways I just wanted to let all my followers know that I will probably be MIA for a week or so. I'm not sure that we will have internet access while at our cabin, I am taking my laptop just in case!

Until then I hope everyone has a great week/weekend!!

I will return with TONS of pictures!

A Little Thanksgiving Day Shopping

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I sure did. We spent Thanksgiving with my family here in our hometown. We had lunch at my granny's and then after sending the guys home...us girls shopped until we dropped. No joke my feet feel like they are about to FALL OFF, but I got some GREAT deals.

How cute are these salt & pepper shakers?

(this is a bell wreath that matches the colors I will use on my tree inside, and also matches the wreath on my front door)

(this candle tray with the ornaments was only $10, how could you pass that up?)

(I fell in LOVE with this wreath when I saw it, I actually had another one in the buggy, but ended up getting this one, so glad I did! It was $12)

(this arrangement cost me a whole $10, garland, ornaments, vases, and lights. I love it!)

We still have to get some stockings, I am having the hardest time finding some without spending a arm and a leg, I want them to be monogrammed & go with my 'theme'...any suggestions?

I also got some more ornaments and a tree skirt today! Now all we are missing is our tree!! HA! Usually that is the first thing you put up at Christmas, but this year it will be the last!

We have also decided NOT to go tackle the crowd on Black Friday. We got some great steals today so we are going to pass it up!

So...as I gear myself up for another (short) work day...I can't help but to think about how blessed I am! I have an amazing family who are always there for me. I have an amazing man in my life who would bend over backwards for me. And great friends! Oh..and a sweet sweet puppy! What more could I ask for?

I hope everyone has a safe & happy holiday!

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Man, I sure do wish the weather would cool down some for the holidays! I want it to get cold so I can wear some of my cute fall clothes! :)

Today I'm liking up with Jamie for WILW...



I'm Loving...that Thanksgiving is just 1 whole day away! I'm ready to spend time with my amazing family and give thanks to everything and everyone I am thankful for.

I'm Loving...that my mom agreed to get up at 4:00am Friday morning to go shopping with me! I love my mom! :)

I'm Loving...that this Saturday is 1 week until we leave for vacation to the mountains! I absolutely cannot wait! We found out today that we get our bonus next Friday which is a HUGE PLUS!!!



I'm Loving...decorating my home for Christmas. I've been buying things here and there and racking up on some great deals. I bought the ribbon last week for my mom to make a bow for my tree, we've always had a huge bow as our Christmas tree topper. I can't wait to see what it looks like...I know it will be beautiful!

(a few ormaments Eric's mom got me for our tree)
I'm Loving...that me and Eric decided to have our pictures taken by a friend of mine. She does an amazing job and I figured it would be a good gift for his mom and my mom for Christmas. And since we haven't really taken any professional pictures together I thought it would be cute. And of course the pup has to be in there! :)

I'm Loving...my sweet sweet man who is so good to me...

AND

I'm Loving...this pup, who will be getting groomed VERY soon! She is a little shaggy!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving Holiday. Please be safe out there.

There was a young mother (22 years old) who was in a car accident yesterday morning about 15 minutes from my house. Her 2 year old daughter was in the car as well, but survived, but the mother did not. She had been dead for several hours before someone found her car & the baby in a creek. Please keep this family in your prayers as it's right here before the holidays.

PLEASE BE SAFE!



Weekend Recap...

Is it really only 2 days until Thanksgiving? I feel like this year has flown by! I love it though!

This past weekend was pretty busy, although I thought we were just going to chill out the entire time. That's OK, because you can't pass up a good time with good friends and the one you are so madly in love with! :)

{FRIDAY}

After getting off work I went home to change and to wait on Eric to get home from hunting, just to see him for about 10 minutes before he left to go play in a softball tournament in town. I really just wanted to curl up in the bed with my sweet Emmie and go to bed SUPER early, but a girl friend of mine that I've just gotten to know and spend time with asked me to have dinner and a few drinks with her at Chilli's. I couldn't pass it up ! I love my girl time and I don't get enough of it. We had a great time and great laughs!! She is so sweet. After leaving the restaurant I headed to the ballpark to watch a few innings of Eric's game. After leaving there I went straight home and went to sleep since I had to work till lunch the next day.

{SATURDAY}

Oh how I wanted to nap when I got home, but my love had other plans. We headed to Wal mart to fight the crowd. We decided to grill steaks and order the UFC fight and invite some friends over. While the guys grilled and played football I cooked some Parmesan angel hair pasta, and some ranch potatoes, with dinner rolls. Everything was GREAT! After dinner we played cards until the fight started. In my opinion it was NOT worth the money. I've seen a lot better fights. But that's okay because we had a great time with some wonderful friends. We started drinking around 4:00 so by the time the fight was over just about everyone was ready to go to sleep, and I was defiantly one of them.

{SUNDAY}

I slept as late at possible, and didn't care how lazy I seemed. ha! I usually get up around 9:30, but I didn't wake until 11:30 today! It was mainly because I didn't feel well, but once I got up and took a shower and ate a little something I was fine. After getting ready we headed to Eric's aunts new house(which was really nice) for a early Thanksgiving dinner with everyone. I love his family so much and I'm so tthankful for them! I can't wait to spend a week with them in the mountains, It's going to be so fun! We left there and headed to the mall. Eric insisted on getting ME some jeans with HIS gift card that my mom got him for his birthday. I told him that it was his and he needed to find him something, but he said he didn't need any clothes and that he wanted to get me some jeans. So I finally gave in and found 2 pair of jeans that I loved! We left there and went home and as soon as my head hit the couch pillow I was out for about an hour and 1/2. I got up and did a few things around the house while we waited on his cousin, and his girlfriend to come over. We ended up building a fire in the fire pit and just had a good time before getting ready for another work week!

{MONDAY}

I know it's Thanksgiving week and you are suppose to be thankful and I am. I love my job and what I do, but I just really have a issue with some of the people that I work with. Our office has only 9 employees(at our branch), 8 of those being women! And 2 of those being the ones that I have a problem with. I can't bring myself to talk with my boss about my issues because I don't want to cause anymore troubles. I just keep biting my tongue and dealing with it. I AM thankful to have a job that I love though! Yesterday was just one of those days. So after I got home I took it out on my house and went to town with my OCDness. I even got out the carpet cleaner! haha! I love going to bed with a spotless house and knowing that when I get home the next day I can just relax!

This week and weekend  is a busy one for us! Our plans are...

Thursday we go to my granny's and eat lunch. I will probably send Eric home in my car after we eat because my mom, aunt, cousin and myself always go shopping around town after lunch. They always have great deals on Thanksgiving day! That night, our town usually has a designated place that everyone goes to that is in town from college or from wherever they are living now to hang out and see everyone again.

Friday my mom and I are going to hit up some black Friday deals about 4:00am! Am I in my right mind being that I have to be at work at 8:00 and work until 2:00?? The FDIC requires us to be open 4 days a week, which is crazy if you ask me!! Friday afternoon we don't have any plans as of yet!

Saturday I AM OFF!! We are taking Saturday off as our holiday since we already have Thursdays off usually. That night we have a birthday to celebrate...we plan on going back to AJ's seafood and then possibly to a club for the remainder of the night.

Sunday=  RELAX!!!! ha!

Sorry there are no pictures in this post, I am at work and do not have my camera cord.

I hope everyone has a great day!

A Birthday Celebration...

Well Eric is another year older, and I am tired. We had a blast the past two nights.

Tuesday night I decided to plan a romantic dinner just for the two of us. I asked him what his favorite meal that I cooked was and he said my stuff shells, which is almost just like lasagna but just stuffed into jumbo macaroni shells and baked. Well, I couldn't find the jumbo shells at the grocery store, so I decided to try lasagna for the first time. It turned out wonderful ! It will be a dish that I will be making again and again.

So as soon as I got home from work I rushed to get everything together since I only had about 2 hours before he would be home. Luckily I got everything in order just in time! Here is a sneak peek...

(his mom had him a cake made for Wednesday night so I didn't want to steal her thunder so I just made him his favorite brownies and put candles in them)

After supper we settled in for a movie. We decided to watch Grown ups...we had yet to see it and now I wish I had not waited so long. It was a hilarious movie! After the movie we watched Eric's 'show' SOA(Sons of Anarchy), I lasted through the first 20 minutes before I was passed out!

On to Wednesday...after we got off work we headed to Aj's Seafood & Oyster Bar. WOW!! That place was amazing! Neither one of us had ever eaten there before, but we will be going back! We had so much fun with everyone!

Eric & his mom

first shot of the night, but not the last!

aftermath

 after leaving Aj's we went to Kohl's to do a little shopping while the boys went to Mellow Mushroom right beside Kohl's, we just HAD to park in this spot for Eric.

Eric had a great birthday and I am so thankful that I could be a special part in it. He kept telling me last night now happy and lucky he was to have me! AHHHH..I love that guy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIC-- I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

What I'm Loving Wednesday...

Happy Wednesday!

I'm liking up with Jamie today for What I'm Loving Wednesday...

I'm Loving...that today is Eric's birthday, he turns 28 today! He is getting old. haha!

I'm Loving...that tonight we are going out with friends and his mom to celebrate at a oyster bar in a town about 45 minutes from where we live!

I'm Loving...that last night I made lasagna for the first time(with deer meat) and it turned out amazing!! We both loved it so much! I did a romantic dinner for two with the rose pedals, candles, the whole nie yards! haha He was so funny about it when he got home. That's another post!

I'm Loving...that in less than 3 weeks we will be headed north to the Great Smoky Mountians for 7 days and 6 nights!! This will be our first trip to the mountains together and we are both so ready to go.





I'm Loving...that I have tomorrow off, and a SHORT week for Thanksgiving!





I'm Loving...that I keep getting Black Friday Ads on my e-mail. There are some great sales this year! I can't wait to go shopping!





I'm Loving...this sweet sweet man and everything he does for me...

And of course I'm Loving...this sweet pup and her sassy attitude...

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

What are you loving on this Wednesday?!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Happy Tuesday everyone!

So since yesterday was a rather slow day at work and I had a lot of time to think, I thought I might start putting up some of my Christmas decorations when I got home. That's exactly what I did, once I put all my fall/Thanksgiving decorations away. I usually don't start getting in Christmas mood until after Thanksgiving, but this year I figure since we would be gone a whole week in December that I wanted to get everything up so I could enjoy it!

I honestly thought I had bought/owned more decorations for Christmas, but I was wrong. I still need to shop!! YAY! Most the things you will see in this post came from our family yard sale that we had a month or so back and you can read more about that here . I really did get some great deals on all this stuff, so take a peek....

(Yard sale find, decorative throw pillow)

 (yard sale find, decorative throw pillows)

(since we do not have a fireplace I found this stocking holder/gift bag holder here, a lot of the stuff in my home is from this website)

(table runner, I have place mats that match, but my table was too small for them)

(mistletoe hanging above the hallway entrance)

(a plague on a easel)

(reindeer basket)

(yard sale find, plate rack)

(snowman cookie jar, yard sale find)

(lighted snowman picture)

I plan on getting a lot more things in the next few weeks and when we make our week trip to the mountains. They always have the best Christmas stores. Also, we are waiting until next weekend to get our tree. Eric insist on getting a real tree. This will be my first real tree EVER. My parents always had a artificial tree. I hope I enjoy it, which I'm sure I will. As we all know Christmas isn't just about the Christmas tree.

I would love for y'all to share your decorations!

Tonight I am planning a special dinner for Eric that includes lasagna, brownies, and a sweet card. His 28th birthday is tomorrow and we are going out with his mom and friends to a oyster bar, his choice!

I hope everyone has a great Tuesday!