Saying Goodbye to the tree....

I'm always so sad when the day comes to take down the Christmas tree. But then when it was down, I realized how muchspace we had been missing in our small apartment... which reminds me, we are moving into a larger apartment. Our goal was to be in a house by now, but we've relished our first 6 months together and our freedom a little too much to be ready to move into a new house. We decided to save a little more, become a little more responsible before taking on that big step. Good idea... but our apartment now was just WAY too small (even with the tree down), so we just switched to a larger one bedroom. The floorplan is great, and I will get my very own walk-in closet and my very own bathroom sink... and a FIREPLACE! I know it won't be cold too much longer (in fact it's been quite warm now... yesterday was in the 60's), but at least next year we will have a real place to hang our stockings!

Yesterday was a 'getting started' day. The first day of the year was our 'lazy' day. I had to work yesterday because we had to close all of the business for the year, but as soon as I was finished they let me leave a little early. Adam picked me up and took me home. When I came home, the WHOLE APARTMENT was spotless! Don't get me wrong... Adam helps out around the house, but I also know he loves to relax on his days off... not clean. I have a sweet husband. He even organized all the kitchen cabinets and took out the garbage! Our bed was made too, with two of my stuffed elephants sitting side by side. (this made me smile) The first thing I usually do when I get home is clean, and I had NOTHING to clean yesterday. After watching the Ms. Fitness competition on TV (if that doesn't motivate you to get in shape I don't know what will) we went to go see about moving into a larger apartment. We move into our new place on February 1st. I am really excited! I keep on looking at the floorplan to decide where everything is going to go. I guess the interior designer in me...

Then we took down the tree. Adam's guitar now fills the place where the tree once was. I got him a guitar stand for Christmas so he had a place to put it and display it. I hope it will encourage him to play it more... I love hearing him play the guitar and and I love it when he sings... especially the songs he has written for me. He is very talented. My parents were so sweet and bought him a guitar tuner as well... the exact one he wanted... and he was so excited about that.

Well, back to work today. I don't go in until 12:00 so I had time this morning to do some things. I got to read all my favorite blogs and discover some new ones I would like to start reading everyday. There are so many talented people, and I would love to get started on some things of my own soon.

My goals for this year:

1. Not that I am fat, but I certainly need to lean up. That I will do... and I will change my diet!! More vegetables, more fruit, less sugar... even on holidays... I will not let food run my life and I will have more self control!!
2. I will be more consistant in going to the gym and I will work hard!! May be I can get myself to go to the gym twice a day... I LOVE going to the gym, so it SHOULDN'T BE HARD!
3. Be more patient... with my sweet husband who puts up with me so much... with my coworkers, and with drivers on the road... I make mistakes driving too!!!
4. Do a daily act of kindness, big or small.
5. Be more dedicated to reading the scriptures and learning about Jesus Christ, because by learning about him I will better know what I need to become.
6. Pray more... a lot more!
7. Spend more time with my family... make sure they know I love them. Know what's going on in their lives... both my immediate and in-laws.
8. Be better with my money... don't be an impulsive buyer like I sometimes am... even though it DOES make me feel better. Actually balance my checkbooks! Maybe I could take a money-management course?
9. Take some time out of every week to do something I love... paint, scrapbook, watch a movie, go on a date with Adam, make things, go on a hike... whatever!
10. Keep a better journal

Bringing Blessings to others

"Brothers and sisters, boys and girls, we can all be a little kinder,a little more patient, a little more helpful. We can all reach out to the very many who are in distress for any number of reasons. We can replace anger with love. We can put selfishness out of our lives. We can get on our knees and pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, and then stand on our feet and reach out to bless the destitute, the poor, the oppressed, and those in trouble. . . .

"May each of you have some selfless, long-to-be-remembered experience in bringing blessings to others."

-Gordon B. Hinckley

What a wonderful Christmas!

This Christmas was so wonderful... on top of all the thoughtful gifts I recieved, I loved every moment spent with my family and friends... and the sweet peace I felt in my heart as I pondered on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. The following is what I received from my sweet husband:

1. Sony mp3 player (mine is pink) with an arm band. This will be PERFECT for when I go work out! I can also go running with Solomon (my little brother) who is training for football.
2. J. Lo Glow lotion
3. The most comfortable sweater from the Gap... light blue sherpa.
4. Pajama pants from American Eagle. (cute cute cute!!!) One is red plaid and the other is white with little penguins all over it. Love it!
5. Lots of cute earrings!
6. Neat little stocking stuffers...including facials, lotions and other little goodies

From my family:

1. Victoria Secret PJ's from my mother in law
2. A new knife set from my brothers (much needed)
3. Pots and Pans from Chelsea and Shawn (also much needed)
4. Beautiful sterling silver large hoop earrings from my mother and father
5. Cool software for my computer
6. A new Lexmark printer/scanner/copier from my parents. Woo hoo!
7. A Play With Your Food 2006 calander from Chelsea... a tradition.
8. Some money from my thoughtful Grandparents.
9. Other small things.... my mom thought it would be funny to put a pregnancy test in my stocking! Silly woman... she really wants us to have a baby.

It was such a happy Christmas for me and I am so thankful for my many blessings.

Merry Christmas!!!

I love this painting by Greg Olsen. I always have a sweet feeling in my heart as I think about Jesus Christ as a tiny baby... and I always wonder how it must have felt to be His mother. To me, this picture just portrays a beautiful feeling of peace and love. The look of adoration is on the faces of baby Jesus' parents. I am so grateful for the many blessings that have come to me through Jesus Christ and His Gospel. This Christmas, I just want to ponder on the miracle that happened long ago, when our Savior was born in a humble stable.

I haven't written anything in a few days... for obvious reasons considering the time of the year. But lots of fun and exciting things coming up!! Tonight my family will have a small get together, and then tomorrow I will (eek!) start and finish my Christmas shopping. In the evening we will go to Adam's parents house and open presnets and eat dinner. On Christmas Day, we will spend the day at my parents except for when Steven, Adam's brother, calls from Chicago. (he is a missionary there). I am very much enjoying the season although I wish that there was snow on the ground! It IS supposed to snow on Sunday, but we'll see... I have pretty much all of my shopping to do. I say this every year but next year I will try and get it all done early! Traffic in Lexington, KY is the worst. Seriously. I have bought all of Adam's stocking stuffers. I'm excited to open mine :^) I did convince him to give me a few of the things though... (I'm sneaky) He got me some earrings, a facial, and my favorite.... a small Franklin Covey monthly planner. I love it! He is so sweet... that little planner will help me out a ton!!!

My life

Explanations...

I don't even really want all of those things for Christmas, but they are just things that I've been wishing for for a long time. Most of all, I wish to see smiles on all my loved ones' faces, softened hearts, and a WHITE Christmas!

1. DVD Camcorder... I want to record things that go on in my life, special moments or just everyday moments.
2. Jeans from the Buckle... these BKE jeans are the best in the world and are so comfortable and fit me perfectly.
3. Jonathan Adler stationery from seejanework.com. I love cute stationery!
4. MP3 player... I love listening to music while I work out at the gym... I would love to have this so I don't have to borrow Adam's everytime.
5. THIS Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT 8.0-Megapixel SLR Digital Camera... I could FINALLY start fulfilling my dream to do photograhy!! I may have to save up myself for this one.
6. Silk Quilt from Anthropologie.
7. These red plaid pajamas from Victoria's Secret. SO soft!!
8. Jewelry from the Buckle.
9. Necklaces from smallthingsdesigns.com.

My Wish List This Year

A little lesson about chemistry

Okay... so I did something REALLY stupid just now... I'll explain. Adam had gone to the gym and I didn't really have much to do so I decided to clean up the place a little. I haven't had much time lately, so things at home were getting a little out of hand. I am a really clean person, and the mess was just driving me insane and making me in a bad mood. SO I decided to clean the bathtub. I decided to use some dishwashing liquid because I didn't have anything else and I had heard that it worked well for cleaning bathtubs. But I didn't have a lot, so my next thought was Cascade would work great! I mean, they both clean dishes, right? So I started scrubbing with the two soaps together and all of the sudden the fumes were overwhelming and my nose was tingling and my eyes stinging. I quickly got out of the bathroom and read the back of the Cascade and it says "CAUTION: DANGEROUS FUMES FORM WHEN MIXED WITH OTHER PRODUCTS. Do not mix with dishwashing liquids, ammonia...etc." So I did what most inexperienced newlyweds do... I called my mother. She had a few suggestions, but wasn't very sure either... so I called this poison hotline, and felt a little silly. But this really sweet lady named Mary reassured me that I wasn't going to die and helped me out and told me what to do (Open all the windows to air out the fumes and run the water to wash the soaps down the drain). She was so very sweet and understanding. After a while, everything was OK, and I finished cleaning the bathtub and it's cleaner than I've ever seen it. Mary even called me back later to make sure everything turned out OK! Sweet, huh? But I sure did learn a lesson... don't mix ANY chemicals, even the ones you thought were pretty much the same. :^P

Chronicles of Narnia and other happenings this weekend

Adam and I were supposed to go to a Christmas party at our church last Friday but decided against it because we had so much Christmas shopping and stuff to do. So we went to Target, one of my most favorite stores in the world, and bought eachother stocking stuffers. It was so much fun!! We just split up and went our separate ways and met eachother outside. After that we decided to go watch Chronicles of Narnia, which had just opened. What an impressive movie that is!! There were so many parallels to the Gospel... good and evil, and Christ's life. So it really made me think... when you're little, you don't think about stuff like that. You just think about the story and not the deeper things.

Then, on Saturday, we took a little trip to Louisville and went to the Cheescake Factory for lunch. Expensive, but delicious. I was in the mood for something a little home-cookedish (if that's a word), so I got the meat loaf with mashed potatoes and vegtables. It was a meal for THREE PEOPLE! I am NOT kidding! I ate about 1/8th of it and took the rest of it home. I had to leave room for desert... which was a combination of two favorites... Pumpkin Pie and Cheesecake! A Pumpkin Cheesecake! And I am telling you... it was to DIE for!!

One Cute Kid

My friend Kristi brought in her son for the last few minutes before she went home from work today. He is SUCH a cutie!!! I asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he said "Roses that I can give to my mommy" Then he pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from the back pocket of his overalls and handed it to me. He said "This is my wist" (list) Wanna know what was on the list? NOTHING!! It was just so cute. Then I told him he was really cute and asked him if I could have an autograph... but he said he didn't have one... what a cutie. This is a picture that Kristi took with her camera phone... I am sitting at my desk at work showing him some Hoops and Yoyo cartoons. You can see some roses peaking out from the corner... those are the roses that Adam brought for me!!

It's a Wonderful Life

Last night I had a girls night with my friends Amy and Sierra. We all went to Amy's house and watched "It's a Wonderful Life" Amy made us some quiche and corn casserole. Both were delicious considering Amy is a great cook and is in the midst of starting a catering business. We also had some hot chocolate and cookies. We had so much fun! The movie made me cry... of course, I am pretty emotional... but it's such a wonderfully made movie. I hope that they have this movie on DVD. I would love to own it. It's a movie I would watch over and over every year.

Beautiful stuff from Anthropologie

I didn't come into work today until 11:00 so I had some time to browse some of my favorite places online today... I found a bunch of things that I like at anthropologie.com. I love the lace cardigan and the two sweaters. The red one is especially beautiful. I love the necklace and the stocking is adorable!!! I bet I could make a stocking like that easily though.

I won!

Okay, so I didn't win the big screen TV... but I did win a manicure... and I really need one. So that's good. The guy who DID win the TV really deserved it... in fact he got a standing ovation. He's this little black man in his 50's who works in the pre-delivery department who is just the sweetest guy in the world. He is so friendly and sweet to everyone. In fact, he even hooks me up with hot chocolate when I am craving some! He always has a smile on his face, ALWAYS holds open the door for women, and ALWAYS says hi to me. He doesn't get paid much although he's been with the dealership for YEARS, and I know struggles financially... probably would have never bought himself a big screen TV. SO I'm actually happy for him that he won it, and no one would have deserved it more. I felt so good inside seeing him win it. That's really what Christmas is all about... seeing other people happy when they recieve a well-deserved gift. He sat by that TV after he won it like he was the happiest man alive... probably excited to show his wife, children and maybe grandchildren? I loved seeing him happy and so did not leave the party dissappointed that I didn't win anything. In fact, my ticket number wasn't even called out... I won the manicure because it was thrown to me by the General Manager. But I still won!

Hoops and Yoyo

I love Hoops and Yoyo!! A few months ago I discovered them while browsing Hallmark.com for some e-cards to send to friends. They know how to bring a smile to my face. Anyone reading this should definitely check out their personal website by clicking right here! If they don't at least make you smile, then you must be a very grumpy insensitive person!!On their website they have a bunch of cool stuff... like you can print out a cute checkerboard and cute little cards!

My sweet and thoughtful husband!

It just started out as a bad day today. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed I guess... I was impatient with Adam and I'm sure it didn't help him at all to be in a good mood. When I got to work and restarted my computer, there were 5 viruses on my computer!!! GRRRRRRR!!!! THe good thing was that Tim, our computer expert helped me fix all the glitches. But projects started getting piled on top of me... "Train this person, will ya?" and "Will you please do this for me? Oh... and also this..." and "You're so good at typing... will you type this up for me?"... and my computer WAS NOT WORKING TO DO THESE THINGS AND THINGS WERE JUST PILING UP!!! And THEN to make things worse, Adam wrote me an e-mail to tell me that the thing I wanted most for Christmas (this really cute jewelry holder from Pottery Barn) was no longer available. :^(. I was really sad... I tried my best to have a good attitude because I know my attitude is up to me, but it just didn't work. I must add that today is our Annual Company Christmas Party for all the employees. They always give away some great prizes including a big screen TV. Adam had written me an e-mail that said "I hope you win the big screen TV!!!" and I had replied "I doubt it by the way things are going today".Then I got this phone call from Adam. He wanted to know if my day had gotten any better. I told him no and he said some sweet things that made me a least want to try harder to have a better day. Then, if that wasn't enough, he asked if I had some time to come downstairs. "You're here?" I asked him, and he said he was! I put on my coat, ran downstairs and through the doors where he was waiting in the parking lot in his truck. I climbed in and noticed he was holding a dozen red roses for me!! He said "I know they're cheap... they're from Kroger, but it was the closest place to buy them. I just wanted to do something to cheer you up." I was so touched. And you know... it really helped me see the bright side of things.... like how I have a wonderful husband who loves me and wants me to be happy. As I got out of the car, I said to him.. "Maybe I'll win that TV afterall!" Afterall, I am now having a great day, and have a beautiful vase of red roses to look at and smell on my desk.

I'm really in the Christmas Spirit now!!

Some lovely things happened yesterday! First of all I got to spend some time with Autumn. My mom and I went to Bath and Body works and took her along... you wouldn't believe the attention I got! Out of the billions of people who were crowded into the little shop, I believe almost all of them wanted to see her. She fell asleep on my shoulder as I carried her through the store and I felt incredibly special. Of course, I had to tell everyone that she wasn't mine... which made me want one of my own... my time will come.

Second of all... we got a new couch from Adam's mother! It's a lovely thing and looks great in our very small living room. Beats the $100 Futon couch that we bought at Target. Adam is actually kind of sad that both won't fit. But I told him we didn't have to throw the futon away... we could store it at my parents until we got a bigger place. We loved pulling it out when we watched TV because it was like watching TV in bed! They don't go together though, and would have looked awful in the same room as far as I was concerned... me being the perfectionist that I am I wasn't going to have mis-matched furniture!!

Later in the evening we met my family at Bangkok House (Thai food... yum yum) and ate together. The owners love me and love to come speak Thai with me. It's so much fun, and I love the Thai people. Sweet people... and although I don't go eat there as much as I want to, (every few months) they always remember my name. I had my favorite massamun curry. I crave that stuff all of the time. The sad thing about going to a Thai restaurant and speaking Thai is that I realize I am getting really rusty. I need to practice speaking/reading/writing the language more. I need to add that to the list of things I would do if I had more time. Actually, I need to MAKE the time to do that.

After the delicious Thai food we went to the Christmas Collage Concert at UK... the best concert of the year (or so I've decided). My big little brother Seth (He is about 6'6") is in the UK choir and so he was part of the splendor. There was also a bell choir. I used to be in one of those when I was in elementary school!!! Brought back memories... Also part of the concert was a children't chorus, a steel band, a saxaphone quartet (which I really loved), a woodwind quartet, and others. It was a wonderful concert. It didn't put me to sleep. I stayed wide awake! Beautiful music. Nothing puts me in the mood more than music does. The last number was appropriate... they all sang Silent Night. As the song approached closing, the lights were dimmed to darkness and a few of the choir members held up lights. (either a candle or lighter) It made it look like stars twinkling in a dark sky and it made me think of the night so long ago when Christ was born. What a silent and holy night that must have been.

Pick a place...

My friend Amy at work was just telling me about a group of old ladies who go on a trip together once a year. How do they pick the place to go? They close their eyes, spin a globe of the world and stop it with their finger. Where their finger lands is where they go!! I thought that was so neat. They've been to places such as China and South Africa... this year they will go to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Neato. What a concept :^)

Cute Pics of my neice, Autumn

1. One of the first smiles seen by the world by my cute neice Autumn. 2. I guess Chelsea was having an extra bad day with Autumn and decided that she would punish her by putting her in a "little devil" outfit. CUTE! 3.The last one is when Autumn fell asleep while I was baby-sitting her. She looked like a little angel. I actually drew a picture of her.

Cool Clouds

This was a very interesting picture that I took using the camera on my cell phone. I've never seen the sky look like this before...
One half of the sky had no clouds and the other was JUST clouds. I wonder what causes that to happen? Interesting...

List of things to do with someone you love

I was going through some boxes the other day to try and find Christmas stuff when I found a box containing the letters that Adam and I wrote to eachother during my year and a half in Thailand. I of course pulled them out to read them and it filled me with so many memories. I loved getting letters from Adam. One of the things that we did was write out a list of all of the things that we wanted to do together when I got back from Thailand. I love that list and wanted to list some of my favorites here. Sadly, hardly any of these have been accomplished yet...

• Go to the Newport Aqarium
• Hike up to Natural Bridge
• Cuddle up by a fire and drink hot chocolate
• Ice skating (we did this on our first date)
• Cuddle up in the Kentucky Theater and watch a movie (they have stars lit up on the ceiling... very nice)
• GO to an observatory and look at "Marissa Lea" (A star that Adam named for me)
• Take walks in the Arboretum at UK
• Listen to Adam play the guitar (he has written me many songs)
• Go out into the country to look at stars
• Cuddle underneath the stars
• Take a walk in my parents' neighborhood park at sunset, sit on the edge of one of the bridges, watch the fireflies and listen to the bullfrogs.
• Have our infinity fights (I love you times infinity anything you say...)
• Go to a drive-in movie
• Work out together
• Go horseback riding
• Go back and read the letters that we wrote to eachother
• Plant a garden together
• Watch "Trading Spaces"
• Make eachother CD's
• Go to Thailand together, take tuk-tuk's and shop shop shop because everything is so inexpensive there!
• Hang out at the mall and shop (we actually do this a little too much...)
• Go to New Jersey, sit by the Ocean and watch the Sun Rise
• Take naps
• Decorate our Christmas Tree together (CHECK!! WE just did that one)
• Make a snowman and snowwoman
• Make ornaments together
• Have a snowball fight!
• Surprise eachother by visiting eachother at work
• Have cake fights on our Birthdays
• Sing a duet
• Write eachother love letters even though we are married and see eachother everyday
• Make lunches for eachother
• Have water fights
• Buy a kereoke machine and sing together
• Have a puppy
• Go window shopping
• Go to a fancy restaurant and dress up for it
• Ride in a Limo
• Go to a park and have a picnic and play frisbee
• Go to Kings Island (amusement park) adn ride in the front of all the roller coasters (Adam actually doesn't like roller coasters... although I did get him to like it one time we went and we DID ride the front of all the roller coasters... but now he doesn't like it again)
• Rent a cabin somewhere
• Have Adam teach me how to drive a stick shift (he did this last year! I can do it now! Yay!)
• Sing eachother to sleep
• Make eachother breakfast in bed
• Go to a zoo and feed the animals
• Go fishing
• Go to Oita Japan where I lived for 4 years
• Visit Italy (I have a lot of Italian in me)
• Go to California!
• Ride an elephant in Thailand
• Write a book together about out love story and give it to our children
• Football games
• When we have children, take our babies on walks
• Design our dream house together
• Drive around and look at the Autumn leaves
• Play in the leaves together
• Cook for eachother
• Go to my dad's softball games
• Read to eachother
• Go to Cumberland Falls together
• Learn to dance
• (This has always been one of Adam's dreams) Make me furniture
• Wrestle
• Go on an air balloon ride (although I think this would be very scary!)
• Take a horse-drawn carriage ride in downtown Louisville or Lexington
• Paint together
• Start a good collection a good books, DVD's and videos
• Go to Niagra Falls
• Go to Joseph Beth's and read books together (This is the coolest place! It's a bookstore/cafe/gift shop)
• Go backpacking or caving
• Go to Thunder Over Louisville (on of the biggest firework displays in the US?)
• Eat at the Burger Bar in Utah
• Camp in the mountains
• (Adam) Teach me to rollerblade
• Go rollerblading in a park and hold hands
• Go to Florida on Vacation (did this.... for our Honeymoon! we went to Longboat Key Island)
• Take care of each other when sick
• Wash our truck together
• Go on business trips together
• Play arcade games at Ghatti Town
• Make cookies together
• Get to know out neighbors wherever we live (haven't been good at this one)
• Pranks!
• Have pillow fights! (this has to be one of my most favorite things to do with Adam... I always lose of course, but I have never laughed harder!)
• Make time for great conversations
• Make a webpage together
• Go on a cruise
• Send eachother packages even though we live together
• Have a Christmas in July
• Buy a Love Sac (it's like a big bean bag)
• Go on bike rides together
• Make a picture book out of pictures that our children draw
• Go to Wal Mart at midnight in our P.J.'s
• Visit Gatlinburg TN in the fall
• Go on the Alpine Slide
• Go see a show on Broadway
• Make up our own secret language
• Give our mothers Thank you notes and Happy Mother's day cards on OUR birthdays
• Go feed the fish at Joseph Beth cafe
• Run through sprinklers
• Watch a meteor shower out in the country
• Go golfing together (learn how to golf first for me)
• Go-cart races
• Go to Disneyland
• Go to 4 corners and stand in 4 states all at the same time!
• Go visit a castle in france

Well, that is a long list, but those are only a few of my favorite from the real list. Of course, I could probably come up with a lot more now. Making lists are so much fun!!!!