merry christmas 2013

Christmas cards are in my top 5 favorite things about Christmas. How can you not love them? It probably explains why I love Instagram so much, but I just LOVE looking at all the pictures. We displayed them on our stairwell this year and I love looking at them every time I come and go.

Saying all of that, it's no surprise that I could spend HOURS looking for just the right card for us to send out. And I'm also extremely picky. And I also think paying over $2.00 per card is just downright insane. Last year I found a good deal on pre-made cards, but this year I decided to branch out and make my own. I found an amazing deal on Overnightprints.com and got 80 for $30.00 shipped to me in 3 days. Can't beat that!!

I apologize that these pictures still have the print lines on them, but I took fancy pictures with my fancy camera…and then left the memory card at home. Also the back cuts off on the left side, I couldn't get it to show the whole thing. But you get the idea!!

I still want to look at them all the time because I LOVE how they turned out. When I found the tinsel tutorial on Pinterest, it all just fell into place and I knew what I had to do. 

I hope you and your family have an amazing Christmas this year! 

bow socks | blogger christmas swap

When your love language is gift giving, Christmas Swaps make you jump for JOY. So when I saw that Kasey was hosting one, I quickly signed up - after I finished jumping for JOY, that is. 

And you know what made me jump even higher? When she emailed me and told me that I was matched up with Jordan! First off, she lives in Nashville and that alone just makes me insanely jealous. Wellllll, I've never been, but it just LOOKS so amazing. And then, have you seen her hair?! My ugly brown just walked away in shame. Also she's sweet and funny and just had an incredibly gorgeous wedding. So yea, I was excited. 

I totally forgot to take a picture of what I sent her, but you can check out her post for that. Spoiler alert - I sent her a bottle of TJ's Almond Champagne and that is totally illegal but I like to be a rebel. Also, TN doesn't sell wine in the TJ's there - I KNOW - so she needed it. And if you have never tried it, YOU NEED IT. 

Moving on with what she sent me. 

Obviously I loved it. How could I not when the first thing I saw was BOW SOCKS?! She knocked it out of the park with those. And the Kelly Clarkson CD has been in my car since the day this arrived. A even likes it, too!! 

Those adorable sparkly headbands are from Old Navy (they are seriously on point this season!) and I actually grabbed them a few weeks ago but later put them back to "be good." So this was perfect! 

I also have already used all of the OPI colors…I like change…and they are perfect for Christmas. And I needed a new Rapidry bottle so it's even MORE perfect.

Can you tell that she somehow had the ability to read my mind with this gift? Even Bowden loved it!!

Kasey - thank you so much for hosting such a fun swap!

Jordan - thank you so much for all of my goodies! I hope to FINALLY make it to Nashville this year and we will have to drink some champs together :)

year in review | 2013

I'm just going to say what everyone else has said - where has the year gone?? When I sat down to write this post, I got to go through my blog completely and it made me realize what a fantastic year it was. It also made me realize that I used to sit down and WRITE and I enjoyed it. There were some pretty good posts this year!

So, here's a look back at the year. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

January:
This isn't really noteworthy per se, but I posted (in a linkup) the facts of me. I have more readers now than I did then, so if you are just itching to find out more about me, that's a good place to start!

We celebrated my 25th birthday in style at a Mardi Gras ball. And then with a strawberry pie! Fun fun fun.

February:

We went out to eat for Valentine's Day (even though I did not want to!) and ended the night with desserts from Target and puppy cuddles. The best.

March:

I completely embarrassed myself and made a blog with A - maybe we should have learned how to use iMovie prior to posting it. 

I met Ashley for the very first time! It was the most perfect blate that let to the most perfect friendship. Just four short months later we would even take a trip together!

April:
We found out that we were moving to Houston! This also happened on the same weekend of ANOTHER blate with Ashley. Perfection all around.

May:

We bought a house while I was at Jazz Fest! I recommend it highly - you get to celebrate while drinking the yummiest drinks ever. 

June:

I went to Galveston for a weekend of fun with Ashley. But got way too sunburned!

July:

This is my favorite month. Ashley, A and I flew to Charlotte to surprise Alexa for her birthday. It was the greatest ever. 

August:

A and I celebrated our first year of marriage. 

September:

We bought me a new car! I still love my little Ford Edge so much.

October: 

Oh, funny thing, life happened and I did not blog a single time. I spent October in Louisiana a lot and then watching some good football. 

November:

I got a new job! Working in an office again is different, but I love it so much more than working from home. I know, I am insane.

And that brings us to December. December brings lots of time with family and friends. Lots of love and laughter and really good food. 

I was blessed with an amazing 2013 - I can only hope that 2014 will be just as amazing. I have some great plans for it and I'll be sharing some of those tomorrow. 

copy cat

Thanks to an amazing weekend visit with a certain adorable EDB of mine, Ashley, and a phone call with another certain adorable EDB of mine, Alexa, I am re-inspired and ready to get back to writing in this little space. I have lots of great posts lined up (some even started/completed as drafts!) and I am excited to share.

The fun (and content full) things will start tomorrow, so until then I am being a copy cat and doing the Blogmopolitan quiz that has been making the rounds thanks to the ever so creative Erin. Also I know that you can easily insert text onto the document, but I'm having a particularly good handwriting day, so I did it that way. Yes, I am vain about my handwriting.