The Most Magical Time of Year

Bonjour! I have not died! I am alive and well, though rather exhausted. The past few days have been non-stop go go go and while I've loved seeing everyone and exchanging gifts and eat way too much yummy food, I'm ready to take a break! How about you?

The short little break from the blog felt nice, I won't lie. And it might extend just a wee bit more [or at least be a little lighter] due to the fact I have to drop my trusty ol' MBP off at the Apple store tomorrow to have a new keyboard installed. The traffic will be a nightmare... I know. Hopefully it'll just take a few days though. Please let me have it by the new year! I'll be working anyhow, so it might not matter, but still. I'll have Mike's macbook but I can't do too much on it!

I have so many blogs to catch up on! I don't know when I'll ever find the time! Don't worry, I'll be dropping around you're little slice of the blogosphere soon! Hohenwald doesn't even have 3G phone service so I didn't read much Twitter or post anything via Instagram. Sheesh! I felt so disconnected!



Excuse the crazy lighting. Even Photoshop couldn't help the bright yellow cast lighting from my Nana's house! Haha I really love the Christmas season. I love the hustle and bustle, the endless pondering of thoughtful presents, the hot chocolate and full breakfasts, the family you can't really stand any other time of the year [kidding! Sort of!], etc. It's a great way to cap off the year. Then a week later you get to vow to never drink soda again or never run through the drive-thru, etc... Perfect timing!

I spent Friday baking and crafting, so when Mike got home from work around 5 we could load up the car and girls then head to my parents'. Of course we didn't leave until 6:30 but that was fine. We snuggled in, watched Love Actually, slept and woke up to presents. We had breakfast, opened our goodies, and then went back to sleep for two hours. Then we woke up, went to my Nana's, stayed for quite some time, ate a late lunch, opened presents, went home, Mom cooked, stepdad's family came over, ate again, exchanged presents! Phew! Oh did I mention we had a white Christmas for the first time in 17 years?! Yes! That never happens in Tennessee! Well it was great until Christmas night when we were supposed to drive the 2 hours north to pick up Toby. The interstate was shut down, parties being a little less than cooperative, etc. Luckily at 8:30pm we had the "OK" to go. The roads were okay until the Franklin area. Then they were awful. We managed to pick up Toby and head back south for the 2 hour drive [again] when we got stuck on an overpass while asking if a stuck car needed our help [but we worked our way out], then in front of our house in Spring Hill we hit ice on a bridge and went all over the road. Luckily Mike regained control and we managed home without incident. But it was scary!

We put Toby to bed and we slept. Then we woke up this morning, opened his presents with my parents, had breakfast and headed south to Mike's parents'. We opened presents there then ate a late lunch, rested around, and finally headed home. Here we are! I hate throwing so much into just one little post but honestly, I wouldn't have time otherwise to even update about it!

We're keeping Toby for a few days and I'm so excited! Lots of toys to play with! I love having him around!

Now a ton of photos! [I'll put most after the jump!]

Me & my little cousin Kaylie

Lacey Lou Anne

Toby and Grammy Terri

Pip and Baby G

My two favorite boys ever!

Tuckered out. Presents take a lot out of a kid!

We got Mike's dad an assortment of Bulldog presents this year

Terri and Mike's sister Laine

Miss Abby

Toby and Mike's dad

Overall, Christmas 2010 was a success! I'll definitely share more about what I snagged for Mike this year and what I got, too. But for now, we'll focus on what the holidays are all about: family! xo

How was your holiday?!

A Recap of the Past Few Days...

This weekend, we had Toby and it was Mike's Dad's birthday so we loaded up and headed down to Lawrenceburg Saturday morning. We had a lovely little lunch with his immediate family and grandparents, etc. We spent the day blowing bubbles (or at least watching the kids blow bubbles) and eating cake. We lazed around and then Mike's brother Ryan, sister Lanie, her friend, Mike's neice Kaitlyn, Mike, Toby and myself went for dinner at the Brass Lantern (if you're at all familiar with Lawrenceburg you'll know it's one of the only places to eat and it's pretty much a staple there). Mike and I ordered Pasta Primavera and I asked for marinara on top of mine but much to my dismay, they brought it to the table and it was a little bit of red sauce mixed with SO MUCH beef! Ugh! I was 30 minutes late for work because we had to wait for them to bring me another dish :( Either way, the food was good and the company, too.

(my roots are SO bad! ugh!)

I rushed to work (it's about a 45 minute drive) and it was just work, ya know? Not too busy but not dead either. It was my last night so they wrote things on the glass and Rick, the DJ, kept announcing it and yadda yadda yadda. I didnt leave until after 2am so I didn't walk into his parents' house until 3am. phew! I was exhausted. We woke up at 10am for breakfast and then at 11:30 we were sneaky and went back to bed for 2 hours. DREAMY! Our room had no windows so it was pitch black. So so good! Mike did some housework for his parents before we left and then at 3pm, we headed towards Franklin with Toby in tow. We grabbed some lunch at Blue Coast and ran some errands. Sarah was a bit late picking him up but we didn't mind spending more time with him.

We came home and watched Knocked Up before bed. Much to Mike's surprise, he didn't have to work Monday so we had to go BACK to Franklin to meet with the FEMA inspector for his claim. Here are some photos of the house...

After that, in typical Franklin fashion, we went for lunch at Genghis Grill and then ran a lot of errands. We spent a good portion of the day just shopping around for stuff and getting me things for NYC. I can't believe I leave next week! I'm not ready! Gah! We worked up an appetite before leaving that night so we went to Blue Coast Burrito (its one of the only places we can eat 100% vegan so we eat there a lot haha). On our way home we stopped in Spring Hill and went to several stores and got Mike new shoes and all that jazz.

We came home and watched Cirque Du Soleil (Mike had never seen a performance, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cirque!) We watched "Dralion" and then went to bed.

Yesterday I woke up as he left for work and I stayed in my jammies all day. But I was SO productive! I wrote out schedule for myself and I stuck to it! For two hours, between 1 and 3pm, I did nothing but crafts for my new Etsy (more about that later). From 3pm til 5pm I worked on some freelance designs for Knitcole.com, and then from 5pm until 8pm (but really 11pm), I crafted yet again and worked on penpal packages.

(yes, Charlie, the Bichon, DOES have a mohawk. Ha, I know)

Mike came home and made some yummy dinner (Whole Wheat Pasta + Squash & Broccoli!). It was so so good! He's a dreamy cook! And we caught up on some Community and Office before heading to bed. Phew!

So here I am once more... going to try to be productive today. I'm going to try and maybe dye my hair (with a YouTube video since I get asked exactly *how* I do it) and I'm going to take photos of new Etsy things to sell. 100% of my Etsy earnings will go directly to Georgia's double-eye surgery which she's about to have. It's going to be super expensive thanks to the anesthesia but she needs it so we'll make it happen. If you're interested in buying a headband, barrette, pin or brooch, stay tuned!

xoxo

Friday Friday!

Here's a quick recap of the happenings from Thursday and Friday (I'm about to have to leave for work!)...

Thursday: Woke up early and got ready to go to Franklin. Loaded Georgia up in the car because she needed to go to the vet and I high-tailed it to Franklin (a grueling 1.5 hour drive basically). I had to meet the FEMA inspector at the house at 11am and I was falling asleep the whole way. I finally got to the house and there was a Disaster Relief group from a church in Florida working on the house... 3 women and 2 men. The FEMA guy shows up and we go through the paperwork and he starts to inspect the house. I wish I would've taken photos because you would NOT believe what was happening. All the walls had been torn out, all of the flooring (like 7 layers) had been torn up, and the entire place was just gutted. Nothing remained. As we walked through the house to asses what I had lost, I started crying. I just bawled like a baby. The church group was so kind and sincere, but I just lost it. After the inspector took photos and toured the house, he went around to get the square footage and the church group asked if they could pray for/with me. I was touched at their kindness but I still couldn't help but cry.

I feel like I've done a decent job of holding it all together throughout this whole ordeal, but when you're forced to really really LOOK at it and relive it once more, it hurts. Some days are better than others, but I'm just happy that there are people willing to help. (So thank you so so much to everyone who has reached out to me, be it wonderful and heartfelt packages, cards, letters, emails or words. They mean so incredibly much to me, you can't even begin to understand.)

After that, I headed up to the vet in Brentwood and had G checked out. Two things were wrong... she had all sorts of tummy problems and her hairloss has gotten progressively worse. After many tests and thoughts it was her thyroid, we ruled that out with a good test result. Turns out she just had a tummy bug and the hairloss is a result of a really awful allergy. A lot of bulldogs have skin allergies so it's nothing out of the ordinary, but it still sucks. Not to mention she has to have surgery on each of her eyes again (for a separate reason). Her eyelids roll as she grows and they roll inward so her hair scratches her corneas... thus resulting in constant wet eyes. Another thing that is just common in a lot of breeds. Caitlin said her sister's lab just had surgery for this. I'm more than positive everything will go well.

Someone made mention in my formspring about the possibility that she is from a store or a pet mill basically, but I can assure you that she's not. Georgia came from a single-family that had the momma and this was their first and only litter. They aren't breeders of any sort so I'm not worried about anything like that. However, that is something that I think EVERYONE should take into consideration when adopting a pet. So many animals are being generated out of pet mills... cats, dogs, etc. Breeders who aren't worried about incest and possible genetic deformities as a result. It's heartbreaking because the people who adopt have no idea what kind of medical future these animals face. And the poor poor animals suffer. So please, research before you adopt! A lot of people want a purebred, but you may be surprised at how many problems that animal has down the line. I knew going into this with Georgia that English Bulldogs have a plethora of medical problems... there are so many things that could, and usually do, go wrong with them and they are very high-maintenance.... but my love for Georgia outweighs any of it and I'm just blessed to have her in my life.

Speaking of adorable G... here are a few photos from yesterday in the car...

Afterwards we headed to REI to meet up with Mike and go for lunch at Q'doba (nothing beats Blue Coast... gah!). Then G and I went back to Franklin after switching cars and ran some errands. Then it was the long drive home. I sang along to NFG's "Sticks and Stones" album to keep me awake.

Mike brought Toby down for the weekend. We had some yummy pizza for dinner and we watched Because I Said So before bed.

Today: We woke up and cleaned for a while and played with Toby. We made cinnamon rolls and before long it was 4pm. Mike and I put Toby down for a nap and we crawled into bed for one of our own. We slept for a glorious 1 hour and 45 minutes. Win!

Now I'm getting ready for work and I hope tonight flies.

Tomorrow we have to be in Lawrenceburg by noon for Mike's Dad's birthday lunch. We're going to stay the night so I'll drive to work from there and then drive back at like 3am. It'll be a nice change of pace staying with his parents. It'll be nice.

Off to work I go now! I'm totally going to be late!

I'll leave you with a funny screencap of a text from my best friend Casey (he put extensions in his hair to freak out his girlfriend hahahaha).

xoxo

PS; for anyone who didn't see this on twitter yesterday... Sorry if this is taste-less of me, but I just had to post this. Absolutely ludicrous what people think they can say! Apparently I have an Anon-Accountant. What the crap?! haha

Photo Recap

No word from Mac Authority about my dear baby Francois yet. I'm hoping they call today and say it's the logic board. Everyone thus far has put their weight behind that theory and all I said was "I don't care WHAT it is... don't care... as long as it is NOT my harddrive!" Luckily I'm under AppleCare so it will be taken care of, I just can't afford to lose that much work this late in the game. Anywho, I have a few pictures from my iPhone from this weekend and yesterday that I thought I should post. I'm still on Mike's computer so bear with me here :D

One thing Toby loved this weekend was our new hammock. We laid him in it and he just stayed still. He'd just rock back and forth and he loved it when Daddy laid down with him. So precious!


We came inside Sunday night to make dinner and Toby was a little restless. He walked over to the floor by the stove and just laid down. He was ready for bed (this was at 10pm) but his mom hadn't shown up yet.


Georgia and Toby absolutely adore each other. It's so sweet to see G follow him and vice versa. They just hug and kiss all day long.


When Toby saw that G had gone to lay down in the floor of the kitchen, he walked over and did the exact same thing. Our hearts were melting.. and then he scooted over to her and laid his head on her back like a pillow! They both just laid there for a minute or two. The photo I have is a bit of an ~action shot so I apologize for that but it's SO adorable!




Anywhoo, I received an awesome little Sea World gift in the mail from Miss Jamie C! It's an adorable shark keychain that has now found a new home! It was such a perfect little present and I couldn't be more excited! Thanks Jamie!


Also in the mail was a lovely little package from Miss Britt! She sent over 2 lovely little headbands for me to ring in my 22nd year of life with! They're darling! These are crappy quality Photobooth pictures but since I'm sans computer, I didn't want to wait to show y'all!



Yesterday after class (I didn't stay long since I didn't have a project to present during critique), Mike and I went to Nashville and here and there. We ended the evening with some time at the Puppy Park, as per usual. Georgia made a new friend named Wallace... He just so happened to be a 135lb Great Dane! They were precious together though! The iPhone photos are a bit crap because I zoomed in and cropped.. but whatever!




We made veggie stirfry last night and watched The Informant. It was pretty good, I think haha. The inner monologues were my favorite.

We woke up fairly early today and Mike's dad came to look at his car. He's about to have it towed so we're just waiting. We went outside and took outfit photos for today but I can't post them until I have my computer (soon, I hope!). We also went and played in the creek with Georgia (Mike just gave her a shower haha). It's only 11:30! Wahoo! I have class at 1 and then who knows what!

I hope you're all having a marvelous Hump Day!

ps; To the Anon that commented on the last post (I think)... I responded! I'm not sure if you've seen it or not but either way, please email me! I definitely would love the chance to make this right and I'm so sorry I missed your email! New friends are always awesome!