Decorating the Charlie Brown Tree & My PRESENT!

When I was in Fredericksburg this weekend, Kim and I went to Costco and I came across these non-breakable ornaments. They are AWESOME! And, so pretty in person.

So, in order for me to open my present from Steve, I told him that we needed to at least put up the shabby looking Christmas tree that we have used for the past three or four years. This tree came from when Steve was a "bachelor" and I have not wanted to buy a nicer tree until we are in a more permanent place.

You put it together in sections and through the years, more and more "needles" have fallen off and it looks shabbier and shabbier by the year...

It's our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree...


Lights are always a challenge but I don't mind doing them. I can't wrap my head around why we ran out of white lights but we had THOUSANDS of colored lights??? I don't even like colored lights!

Our finished product! Not too bad! (Notice my presents under the tree!!)

Onyx had to pose with the tree also. We make her EVERY year.

Shaking it!

So excited!!! Finally!

I LOVE IT!!!


Now, stay tuned for some better quality pictures.

Our Thanksgiving Feast!

**All pictures in this post were taken with my completely out-dated point and shoot camera. Had they been taken with my new Canon Rebel T1i, they would be of MUCH better quality!**

Thanksgiving morning marked the first time that I was "hosting" the Thanksgiving feast at our house. I like to call it a "semi-homemade" feast. We ordered an already cooked turkey from Giant and some sides for pretty cheap. I have to say that I wouldn't do it that way again because I made a lot of extra sides that were much better and the only thing that I thought turned out really well that came from Giant was the turkey. The stuffing looked so gross that we didn't even cook it and just threw it in the trash and I made Stove Top instead which is always a hit.

We started preparing the night before. Steve added the leaves to the dining room table to make it longer and we brought down a table to do it buffet style. I thought it would be best doing it that way with all the people.


And, as I mentioned previously...we got to use our new CHINA! And, I realized that I'm really glad that I registered for it and that I picked the pattern that I did. It looks really nice.


This was the buffet section that we set up the night before also. I couldn't believe that I had that many serving dishes!


And, this is what the whole area looked like...


Each place setting looked like this. I even had chargers! What??! Am I 50?? I don't care, I still thought it looked great...


I have to give myself props for cooking/reheating the whole feast in a teeny tiny kitchen too. It was NOT easy. Steve's one chore the whole day was to take the bird out of the oven...


And, even though it was pre-cooked, we still had to heat it up in the oven for two hours. AND, I put a rub that I made up in my head on the turkey and it turned out pretty good!


Here's some of the food, keeping warm, almost ready to go on the buffet...


Oh, and did I mention that we had QUITE the appetizer spread for our guests before dinner was served?? I loved that part too. Who doesn't love appetizers??


Onyx kept watch over the appetizers to make sure none fell...
(Note: It's hard to see in the picture but you'll notice the maroon skirt on the table that matches our place mats, table runner and curtain? Yes...that's a bed skirt that I used since we didn't have enough table cloths! No one ever even guessed and it looked fantastic!)


The final spread all ready for people to dig in...


The ONLY picture I got of the whole table WITH people. I was too busy sweating and getting everything on the table.


The one part of the day that sucked? Cleaning. I can't tell you how much longer it took than I thought it would. Tiffany was a GREAT help though. I don't think I could have done it without her.

So, it was a great day and I'd love to do it again. I feel like I learned a lot about some things to change for next time! Like, needing a much bigger kitchen!

Gift to Myself

I couldn't resist and on my way home from work last night and bought myself another present. To give my seld SOME credit, it saves $198 on a class I wanted to enroll in so I only spent $29 on the book.

Christmas Came Early!

(Please excuse the quality of the pictures in this post. They were taken from my cell phone.)

I haven't posted in awhile. I haven't really had anything interesting going on. Thanksgiving was fun and I do have some pictures from our digital camera that I will post soon. I made dinner at our townhouse for me and Steve, Tiffany and Steve's sisters family. Part of it was a pre-made dinneer from Giant. But, we made other sides in addition to that meal so we had a lot of food. AND, we got to use our NEW china!! That was the best part. I think our spread looked great. I'll post those pictures soon.

However, I forgot to bring my camera to my mom's house for the weekend that we spent there. So, I didn't have pictures of the babies and my family and the yard sale that we helped my mom with.

But! When we got home on Sunday night, Steve couldn't contain his excitement and made me open my Christmas present early. He's such a sucker when it comes to keeping secrets. He absolutely can't stand to wait until Christmas to see how I react to whatever he got me. And, I love it!

So, I made us first put up our sad looking fake tree so it would at least feel like Christmas...

And, I made us hang our stockings. And, since we don't have a mantle in our stupid townhouse, they were hung on our TV stand knobs....ghetto. And, please excuse the mess. We hadn't. cleaned up yet...

So, once we had partially decorated, Steve let me open my gifts! He got me the Canon Rebel XTi. At first, I thought he had gotten me the wrong model cause I hadn't heard of that one but he told me that he did his research and this one was the next step up from the one I asked for. Go Steve!! So, needless to say, I was very happy and I should have some much better quality pictures coming soon!

Go Away Ida!

Hurricane Ida has made her way up the east coast. It has been non-stop DREARY here for the past at least 3 whole days (I've lost count though so maybe it's been more). It hasn't been hurricane weather for us...just a lot of rain.

This is a view from outside my office window of how it has looked all week. I feel like I live in Seattle and I've realized that I wouldn't survive there. I get too depressed if I didn't see a lot of sun.

Oh, and having a dog in the rain = not fun

Wine Night with Tiff!

Tiffany called me up yesterday about coming over for wine last night. And, then when she mentioned making dinner I was sold. I think I was supposed to be helping but she's a pro and just took it on by herself for me and Steve.

She ended up making up this recipe and it was really good. She made baked chicken stuffed with jalepeno cheese and bacon and rolled in cheddar cheese soaked with buffalo sauce and then rolled in crushed up buffalo pretzels. We had broccoli and fench onion potatoes as the sides. So good.

Slaving away...


Onyx is ALWAYS right under our feet whenever anyone is in the kitchen. But, she's such a love that it doesn't bother me most of the time!


Chicken in the oven almost finished!


Table almost ready...


The FINISHED product! Deelish!!

Halloween Weekend in Atlanta

Okay, so Halloween was about 2 weeks ago so I feel like before I forget about our fun weekend in Atlanta, I should post about it.

Steve, Sam and I left work early and met at our townhouse to leave for the airport. We found out before we left the house that our flight was delayed an hour. Awesome. So, we hung around for an hour and arrived at Dulles , checked our bags and headed to the nearest bar to our gate for food and drinks. We got on the plane finally and found out that the fog was pretty bad in Atlanta so we sat on the RUNWAY for another HOUR. Travelling is just not as fun as it used to be.

Quick Letter to the Airline:

Dear Airline,

I appreciate you looking our for our safety on our way to Atlanta where there was expreme fog. However, your airline check-in lady was very rude and made jokes about the delay to people who were not in the mood to joke. If you are delaying flights (granted it was for safety) at least pass the drink cart around so I can start my vacation. Or, offer us free WiFi while we wait so I can post nasty Status messages about the delay and your check in lady on my Facebook account. Is that too much to ask??

Sincerely,

Your Impatient Flyer

So, we finally took off and had an uneventful flight. Adam and Danielle picked us up from the Atlanta Airport and we went to their neighborhood bar called Crabapple Tavern. Steve and I had been there before. It's like our Brion's Grille to them. They are regulars and know all the staff so it's convenient and fun.

We ended up going back to their house and having a danceparty in their basement before we all headed to bed.

Matt and Danielle dancing...

Their basement bar (post flood where they had to rip up the floors...and Matt still dancing his "Fancy Dance"...


Sam, Adam and Steve...

Matt and Danielle again...


The next day we we woke up and ran some errands, saw Adam's sister (Sarah), her husband (Phil), new nephew (Ian), his mom and his other sister (Rachel).

Then, we went to Adam and Matt's new office that they leased. It was very cool. I was surprised at how well decorated it was for two boys to have designed it...

Matt, Sam and Adam in the foyer of the office. (Check out the artwork too, sorry it's blurry)


Sam admiring the artwork

Adam and Danielle (yes, they have a nice tv in the foyer and couch and XBox)

Steve and Matt's dog Lola (and the cool clock display)...

Lola's Halloween costume in the car on our way home from seeing the office and dinner at the restaurant below their office...

After checking out the office and eating, we headed back home to finish setting up for their annual Halloween Party. Everyone's costumes were hilarious and the party was a lot of fun. The weather was not as much fun but we lived and didn't let it bring us down. It was rainy and COLD!

Steve and I were Double Dare contestants...


Batgirl and Mario...

Sam was d*ck in a pumpkin...(And, there was a lifelike...ehem...in the pumpkin! Sick!)


The BEST costume of the night...(it was Rachel)


David Letterman (who bartended once he arrived)

Steve and Khalid (Kahild surprised us and showed up at the party...all the way from NYC!!)


And, he even had a costume change!


Awww...

Steve helping Matt play bartender towards the beginning of the night...


Some of the people just hanging around the bar area...

On Sunday, we all decided to just recover and watch football. Everyone looks a little sluggish don't they?

Matt and Rachel actually looking good!

So, overall it was a really fun weekend. I can't wait to go back. Maybe if we move to Charlotte we can see them more often seeing that it's only 4 or 5 hours drive away!