my winter wonderland

 Happy December, y'all!

I know I've been promising to post pictures from all my summer activities, but that's not going to happen for a while. It's almost Christmas, and right now it just seems appropriate to talk about Christmas-y things.
{ After the holidays I will be in summer-mode again and will most likely need to post things about summer (maybe it will make summer be here sooner?!) }

I may have mentioned earlier how much I hate cold weather, which is a completely true statement. But, I won't say that I hate winter, because that's not really true. In fact, these are some things I enjoy about winter.....   - Buying holiday-flavored coffee drinks - Decorating for the holidays
- Spending extra time with family and friends - Cooking and baking for holiday meals
- Christmas movies - Looking at Christmas lights - Cuddling - Skiing  - Holiday parties
- Christmas break (yea, teachers get 2-3 weeks off!) - Shopping  - Making a Winter To-Do list

Speaking of to-do lists, B and I made an epic list this year. It's been pretty fun completing it. Here are some pictures of the things we've done so far.... (I haven't figured out how to make my pictures look artsy and cool yet because I hate figuring out technology).

* Making dinner together. PW style, duh.

       

                                                                  * Drinking hot cocoa.  

* Decorating B's two trees



* Making a homemade gingerbread house. FYI, gingerbread is not easy to make from scratch. It was quite the fiasco...

* Royal icing for the gingerbread house.... perfect for sticking candies to the house!

* The gingerbread house.... notice the chimney with Santa!

* With the tree  *Hot cocoa

 * I can't take credit for the lights on his house, but I DID help light the tree in his front yard! We are proud, not gonna lie. 

As I figure out how to put the pictures in order and make them look cool (I'm sure it's really easy), I'll post more of our winter activities. I know you're on the edge of your seat waiting with excitement.

Being a cold-weather-hater, I find it much more enjoyable to have fun things like this to look forward to. In case you need inspiration, some other things on our list include- watch Christmas movies, volunteer, buy Angel Tree gifts, go Caroling, bake, play in the snow, make peppermint bark, wrap gifts, make ornaments, hot tub, go to a parade, etc.....

I found my gingerbread house recipe and pattern here: 

http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/11/gingerbread-houses-pattern-and-recipe.html

 Somehow, mine ended up looking like this...

 

... not at all like "Oopsey Daisy's" beautiful house below. I'll be working on mine all year in order to prepare for next year's houses. ;)

Some of my pieces cracked, so I used "sugar glue" (burn sugar in a sauce pan until it's liquid- careful it's piping hot!) to paste it back together. It looks awful, but the pieces stayed together and the house is solid!I definitely burned two fingers...

[[ See above for our final project. Although the pieces look disgusting, the outside of the house 

looks absolutely magical! ]]

Speaking of "magical", I went to the PAC today to watch the Nutcracker Ballet with mom, grandma, and Aunt P. Mom and I have been going since I was about 6 years old, bringing along special guests almost every time. It's so fun for us- getting dressed up, going downtown, watching the ballerinas in amazement,  the music, the scenes, the ballet outfits, the Nutcracker.... I just love it! I don't know why I never took ballet as a child, but I should have. I'm sure I'd be a great ballerina...?

 How do they do it?! I really wish I could dance like this, but we all know my dancing skills are lacking.

Countdown to Christmas: 14 days!

Enough said.

Thanksgiving

Ok, I'll admit it... I'm not a very good blogger. Sorry. I'm just too busy to blog everyday (or maybe I just forget/fill my time with other things). Either way, here I am again. I'm sad to say that I do not have pictures  ready to post- I hate reading blogs that don't have pictures, I think they're so boring! So, no worries, you'll see some great pics soon! ;)

Since it's THANKSgiving week, I thought I would reflect on all I have to be thankful from this past year of crazyness...

• God's love and forgiveness every day.
• The chance to have my first real teaching job.
• Family and friends who supported me when I decided to quit my job and go to culinary school.
• ... and then supported me again when I realized culinary school wasn't the best decision of my life. 
• Teachers who call in sick so I can have a substitute job everyday.
• My boyfriend who is simply the best! (I'll refrain from getting mooshy-gooshy).
• Wonderful friends who are supportive, encouraging, and love me for who I am.
• "Friends" being on Nick@ Nite every night (even though I own the DVDs!).
• A car that works, has heat and air, and hasn't broken down yet!
• The opportunity to take trips to visit family and friends in Colorado, Texas, and Wyoming.
• The chance to go on my first Caribbean Cruise- best time ever!
• Food, shelter, clothing- so many people don't have these simple luxuries.
• My soft, fluffy, evil kitty.
• Life Church & Life Group
• Knowing how to cook, bake, sew and craft- it's so fun! If you want to learn/be a grandma like me, I'll teach you.
• Becoming an aunt :)
• Hot weather over the summer.
• Ways to stay warm during the cold months.

I'm so excited for the holidays to start (they really help me get through my hate of cold weather)! My favorite part of Thanksgiving is cooking and baking all the food, as well as spending time with family and friends. No matter how many people we have over, there always ends up being too much food, which is excellent because left-overs are the best. This year, I'm going to B-ville for an early dinner Wednesday, then we're having people over to my parent's house Thursday. Then, B, J, and AM are coming on Friday for a few days. And my college friends will be in town! Lots of excitement all around.

This holiday season, I encourage you to.... spend quality time with friends and family. Open your home to someone who may not have anyone to spend the holidays with. Volunteer at a food shelter or donate to those in need. Buy gifts for an Angel Tree child/family. Watch holiday movies. Make a fun "Winter To-Do list". Relax. Don't get caught up in the hustle and bustle of shopping, buying gifts, and spending too much money (people will still love you even if you don't buy them $1000 worth of gifts). Remember the reason we celebrate Christmas.

What are you thankful for this year? How do you plan to spend the holidays?

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

change... again?

Hello to all my followers (all 5 of you)! I've been pretty busy since June, which is why I haven't posted... but, I said I was going to keep up with this and I plan to do so. Now that summer is over and fall/winter is setting in, I think I have more time to blog (since I'll be hibernating inside due to colder weather- boo).

In case you were wondering, some of the things that took over my life the past few months include: helping plan/craft/prepare for my bf's wedding- showers, parties, baking, etc., deciding to un-enroll from pastry school, going through the process of un-enrollment, and deciding what to do next with my life, going to Colorado and Wyoming to visit family, hanging out with the rest of my family from Texas, substitute teaching, applying for jobs, throwing a baby shower for my other bf, attending tailgates/football games in Stillwater, transitioning from summer to fall... {pictures to come soon of these glorious events.}

For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, I am no longer attending Pastry Arts School.... unfortunately, that just didn't work out like I had planned, and I realized teaching in the classroom is where I want to be. I guess it took me being away from it to actually miss it. Even though I had to give up my full-time job, I lost quite a bit of money, and I don't currently have a full-time job because of it, I don't regret my decision. I would have never known if I didn't give it a try, and I would have always wondered about it. I'm glad did, and I'm also so glad I realized it wasn't for me. I am still going to bake on the side, and hopefully get a home-business started. Over the summer, I made cakes for my friend's bachelorette party and wedding-- it was a lot of work, but so much fun! I am currently subbing full-time, hoping to get my own classroom soon! It's kind of a scary time of uncertainty, but I know God has a plan for me.

In other news, my best friend's wedding extravaganza has come and gone.... which doesn't seem quite possible. It seems like just yesterday she got engaged and we began planning her wedding. It's crazy how fast it went by once the day actually came. The wedding turned out to be such a beautiful, fun, and special day for everyone! I'm still in shock at how amazing everything looked- all who were involved were able to make C & B's wedding dreams come true! I hope my wedding day is just as great.

Wonderful World.

So, since my culinary program doesn't start until June 27, I am just enjoying myself a little summer break! It's glorious. I've had time to catch up on sleep, read, watch my tivo shows, get sno-cones, hang out with friends, go shopping, do some cleaning/organizing, and craft! As I've said before, I really like to craft - does that make me sound like a grandma? Maybe.... but it's ok. The wedding crafts for my BF's wedding are coming together.

 Summer-time = wedding-time! I absolutely love weddings! I love everything about them... It's rare for me to go to a wedding and NOT cry. Cathey is lucky that I love weddings so much, because I'm more than happy to help her prepare for her wedding. I wanted to include some of their invitations for upcoming events because I think they're so cute and fun.

I found these mason jars and glasses at an Estate Sale- a box of 35 for $7! Did I bargain down from $10? Of course I did! For those of you who don't care about mason jars, I got quite the deal! I am pretty stoked about it! We will use these jars for Cathey's bridal shower, as well as for the wedding. I plan on keeping them to use for other showers, weddings, etc. If you want to borrow them, let me know!

 

Here are some of the craft pictures I promised.....

These B's will hang on every other chair during the ceremony, and will then be moved to the reception chairs. They were so simple to make.

To make: 1) go to your local craft store and buy a plain wooden letter- around $1-2 each. 2) collect some old paper sacks (or tissue paper, wrapping paper, or newspaper), 3) tear the sacks into strips 4) apply mod-podge on the letter, apply the strips in rows (or however you want), 5) then apply more mod-podge. We made the flowers out of material (instructions to come later), glued them on, and then added a ribbon at the top.

I found this HUGE picture frame at River City Trading Post in Jenks, OK for $10- it was worth it though... pretty sturdy, had a hanging wire, and it's detailed, which makes it even better. (I love huge empty picture frames!) Cathey is having a photo-booth at the reception with a lot of picture frames for people to use as props or just to hang on the walls. We will either paint this white, yellow, green, purple or orange (her wedding colors).  Suggestions?!

 We also found these window panes at River City for $5 each!

Here is the before (with blue tape on the glass) ......

 ....and the after (painted yellow). We had to do quite a bit of sanding and scrubbing before painting these, but it was worth it. These will  hang on the walls of  the reception barn with pictures or a menu for the night.

More craft pictures to come as we get them done! It's crunch time- the wedding will be here before we know it!

On another note, I have an awesome pair of SANUK flip-flops I got last year at Flynnagin's in Stillwater. Sadly, I wore them too much and they got a few tears in the sole, but whatevs because SANUK is awesome and they are replacing my pair for FREE! I don't even have the receipt still, but they were so nice and willing to replace them. SCORE! Go to the website to get your own

pair- http://www.sanuk.com/yoga-mat

 Have a good weekend everybody!

Philippians 1:3 "I thank my God every time I remember you."

change.

Hello again, and happy summer! Well, it might not be "officially" summer yet, but in my mind, summer starts on the last day of school..... which was May 20!

** Big News ** I'm going to be taking some time off from teaching to attend Culinary School at Platt College! It's exciting/scary/awesome all at the same time! I've wanted to go to culinary school for a while now, so I'm going for it! Although it seems crazy to give up my full-time job/salary/security, I can't let fear keep me from doing something I'm passionate about. Thankfully, my parents are still letting me live with them, and all my friends and family are very supportive and encouraging! I start at the end of the month and will be done in 9 short months! I know God has a plan for my life, I just have to be patient. I'll be blogging about my experience.

In other news, I met my nephew, A.M.J. for the first time last month. He's the most adorable, sweet baby ever! I can't wait to see him again. It was great to hang out with him, Beau, and Jodi!

I've been gathering all my pictures of wedding crafts for my BF's wedding, and will be posting them soon. It's a process.... but tons of fun! I can't wait for her wedding- I might even be more excited than they are! ;) We're currently working on sanding and painting window panes that we found for $5 at the most amazing antique store ever- River City Trading Post in downtown Jenks, OK. I'm also supposed to be sewing yellow flowers and mod-podging wooden "B"'s for the chairs. For now, I need to get together decorations for the wedding shower! I included asneak peak of the material flowers I've been sewing.



Who loves summer? I DO! It's my all-time favorite season! I seriously thrive during the summer months. So far this summer, I have..... done a lot of shopping, layed out at the pool/yard, eaten at fun downtown restaurants such as El Guapo on the patio, been to a few cookouts, went to the lake for some country concerts, gotten Josh's Sno-cones, been on night-time runs, and just relaxed! Call me crazy, but I kind of enjoy the Oklahoma heat.
P.S. I just downloaded some fun music from iTunes:
Jewel's Sweet & Wild album- it's country and girly and I really like it so far!
The "Country Strong" soundtrack- if you haven't seen the movie, go see it! Garrett Hedlund is my favorite for sure, and he has a great raspy/country voice! Go check them out, y'all!



love.

Have I been busy this month? Why, yes, actually I have! However, unless I want the creation of this blog to be a complete waste of time (it took me a while to make it look "cute"), I figured I better keep posting. Hoping to become as famous as the PW one day; that would be bomb.

First of all... Happy 60th Birthday, Dad! I'm glad you like Hideaway pizza, fried mushrooms, and homeade double-layer maple cake as much as I do! The celebration doesn't end today though. We'll continue celebrating all month... dinner tomorrow with Mom, Grandma M, and Aunt P. Then Wednesday, my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew will be here! We're so excited for them to come because a) they live in NYC, so we don't get to see them very often, and b) they're bringing their new 1 month old baby A.M.J, whom we haven't met yet!! I CANNOT wait to meet him and show him the newest article of clothing I bought for him - "My aunt is the greatest". It's pretty awesome. He's super spoiled already at the young age of one month.

Quite a few things have happened since I posted last... Bret turned 24 (that just sounds old). I survived my first week of end of the year state tests at school. The weather got really hot, really cold, then really hot again, and we had a tornado warning. I went shopping a few times. I got a pedicure.  I contemplated what I should do with the rest of my life. And of course, I baked cookies, cakes and other wonderful things like that. But those are just the "highlights".

I also went to Dallas with Kristin and Bret. We stayed with our roommate from college and her husband. This is one of our obligatory pictures I made us take before our good friend from high school's wedding. Even though it was a short trip, we had a great time!

 Here is a picture of my sister-in-law Diana, brother Cody, grandma, myself and Aunt P from last month when C & D visited from Wyoming...

I'll post pictures of my other siblings and NEW nephew later. Get excited, y'all!

I know I promised to post pictures and instructions of some of the wedding crafts I've been working on, but that's hard to do when I haven't done any crafting in a while! Sad times. But, school is over in about a month, which means I'll have more free time to craft/sew/blog/etc.!

Maybe next time I post, I'll be doing so with a new computer.

That's all, folks!



first.

Hello blogging world! This is my very first blog post. EVER. I have been reading a lot of blogs lately, and thus, was inspired to create my own blog. I love reading blogs... craft blogs, wedding blogs, cooking blogs, friend's blogs, etc. Not so surprisingly, I love to craft, I love weddings, and I really love to cook/bake. So, my blog will feature my craft ideas and projects, thoughts and ideas on weddings, and the many recipes I try and find.
Amongst my busy life as a NEW middle school teacher, I hope to find time to blog at least once a week. Believe me, I have lots of crazy-awesome ideas that you guy will want to check out! .....

FYI, my latest crafts I've been working on involve decorations for my best friend's wedding (which is this September!!!). The two of us have been crafting together since we were about 14, so, naturally, we are excited to be crafting for her upcoming wedding. Her outdoor "classy country" wedding is going to be beautiful (duh, we're making most of the decorations), and I can't wait to post some pictures of our decorating progress. Coming soon... painted window panes and material flowers! Cutesy.

In the mean time, my brother and sister-in-law (who live in Wyoming) are here for a quick visit, so I will be hanging out with them and the rest of my family during this lovely Spring Break! They brought their dog/child with them, Libby, who my kitty Pete has shockingly befriended- it's pretty comical.
------> Hey-O! Yes, as a teacher, I get a full week off for Spring Break. Not to mention the two week Christmas break and two week "snow-cation". No big deal. I guess I can't really complain.

Happy Spring Break/St. Patrick's Day everyone!