Friday, December 31, 2010

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Last post of 2010!

At least I'm guessing it'll be the last post of 2010.

Christmas was wonderful! :) I had a whole thing described out here but blogger decided to randomly delete it... so, it was a great time spent w/family & my new husband! My hubby got me a Wii Fit & a digital picture frame!!! :) But yea, great Christmas! Not posting a bunch of pics here, but you can see them on my Facebook!





Looking back, here are some of my favorite parts of

* Mine & Brew's trip to Thailand for Stefani's wedding in January. It was a hellish plane trip but it was an awesome vacation & an awesome opportunity, it was soooo worth it & I was so glad that I had the chance to go & be with Stef on her big day!

* Wedding Planning! I got engaged last year on Christmas Day so the first half of 2010 I spent planning my wedding. It was only a little stressful at times, I have my mom to thank for most of that because she did a lot of worrying for me LOL. It of course turned out perfectly!

* My 24th Birthday, was on Easter this year, Brew's gift to me was taking me down to Charleston Mall to shop (I ended up buying books lol) and taking me to dinner. It was great, cause I got to "get away" and spent time w/him :)

* Having the opportunity to get the house we are living in! (Basically for next to nothing we can live here until we are able to get our own place!) Annnnd all the remodeling/sprucing up we did. It was a lot of hard and sometimes frustrating work, but I have that sense of pride that we made a filthy unkept house into a nice welcoming home :)

* Of course--- My wedding!!! As corny as it may sound it has definitely been the best day of my life so far. Everything turned out wonderfully and I got the best husband EVER, and he just so happened to have come with awesome parents who think of me as their own, a sister who has become one of my closest friends, and some adorable little nieces. :) I truly married my best friend and it's been wonderful!

* Our honeymoon! It may not've been a "dream vacation getaway" on some tropical island, but it was an awesome time we spent together. We got to experience some of the most beautiful parts of our state, and we stayed at the cutest bed & breakfast owned by some really nice people! I found out later that my grandparents, who married two days before 45 years before us (does that make sense? lol their wedding was 6-24-1955, ours was 6-26-2010) they spent their honeymoon in the same area. :)

* My brother's wedding, was only a couple months after ours, and he married one of my childhood best friends. It was really neat how it all worked out :) It's fun having someone who you grew up with now be your sister-in-law!

* Getting our puppy, Duke. He's rambunctious, and at times a handful, but he's exactly the type of dog I wanted. He's super sweet and loves everyone. :) He's been an awesome addition to our little family.

* Thanksgiving! I managaed to pull off hosting Brew's family get together here at our house. Thankfully his Aunt Laura prepared most of the food, but I was happy we got to have everyone out. Who knows, maybe it'll be a tradition...and maybe in a year or two I'll take over most of the cooking!

* My hubby's college graduation. It was a long time coming for him, he struggled through a couple years, mostly because his papaw had been paying his way and encouraging him passed away in 2008, and it was hard for him to have any motivation to go to class. He's not sure if he'll ever do anything in the criminal justice field, but I'm proud that he stuck it out and finished it and now has a college degree. :)

and lastly,

* Our first Christmas together, as described above, was perfect :)



I have lots to look forward to in 2011, look for a new post with the new year!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas!


And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

~Luke 2:1-14


Merry Christmas from the Deans!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Trimming the tree

So I thought I'd share my Christmas decorations (what few I have lol) and where I got them and such :)

I'll start w/the outside of our house!





Our Christmas lights (at night of course!)
They all came from Wal-Mart, they are "Holiday Time" LED lights, blue icicles, multicolored, and white. The white ones around the window are actually set to "twinkle" so they blink a little :)



The wreath hanging on my door. It's an LED pre-lit wreath from Big Lots, it was like $12. The bow came from Big Lots too, I think it was like 99 cents :) The only thing I don't like about this wreath is the lights are totally random as to when they are on and off... I'm sure there's a way to adjust it but I haven't figured it out. It's cordless though (operates on 2 D batteries)



Now the living room!

Our stockings are hung up on the inside of the door. The santa one is Brew's and the reindeer one is mine :) I just loved these, they came from walmart! They had some other cute ones too, I might pick up a few more after Christmas if they still have them... you know for future other additions to our family :)



The stand by the front door, the nativity is a cheapo $5 one from Walmart, and the picture is of Brew & I last Christmas (when we got engaged!)



The top of our tv stand/entertainment center. The little reindeer & bear figurines came from my mother in law, and the pine scented candle is something I bought because I wanted a real tree & didn't get one lol.



Our Christmas tree! Complete w/presents :)
The tree was given to us, but it originally came from Walmart. The lights were in the box w/the tree as well. :) The tinsel garland came from Big Lots, and the ornaments came from my parents and Brew's parents mostly.



This is one ornament I did purchase. From Hallmark- It says "Our First Christmas Together" and the charm says "2010" :)




We did this at my parents' house too, I put all the Christmas cards we got up around the doorway to the kitchen :)


The top of my hope chest, I have another nativity set, this one from my mother in law :)


And now for the kitchen...



My table :)
Table Runner is from Dollar General ($5 woo hoo!), and the candle & wreath is from my mother in law!



Window clings from walmart ($1), they are on the china cabinet because I originally bought them with the intention of putting them on our front window so you could see them from the outside, but they are designed to be put on the outside and I didn't think it'd stand up to the weather and such, so they Christmased up my grandma's china cabinet lol.



And lastly, these potholders, they are Better Homes & Gardens brand. I won them (plus a candle) at my cousin's baby shower :)



Now I'm hoping to hit the after-Christmas sales and maybe get some more ornaments and things of my own. :)


For now I'm definitely ready for Christmas!!!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Pomp & Circumstance...

Yay Brew graduated college!!! :-D




The graduate :)




Brew & his mom




Brew, his granny and aunt Laura



Me, Brew, and his Granny



Love you & I'm proud of you Brew!!!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

good news, bad news

Hey everyone! Well today was a 2hr delay, which means... my job for half a day was cancelled :-p Oh well. Gives me another day to stay home and get something done. I'm much more productive than yesterday. Yesterday the only thing I got done was two loads of laundry. That's what snowdays are for though, right? lol. So far today I've started on dishes (which got wayyy out of control last week when I was sooo busy) So I'm catching up now, they are about 1/2 done. I also need to fold some laundry, go to the post office, and do some cleaning around the house.

Well we got some bad news, and that's Brew didn't get the job w/the railroad. He's pretty bummed about it. Which is understandable, but something about him that drives me crazy is when he's in this "down" mood, there is like nothing I can do that'll make it better, I just have to give him time to mull around and pout and when he's done, then he's back to normal. This drives me NUTS because when I am upset/depressed about something, I WANT him to make me laugh and make me feel better (which he is good at) but he just wants to be left alone. That's super hard for me to do. Does anyone else's husband/boyfriend do this? Just wondering if it was a "male" thing. I find it extremely frustrating lol. I am a little bummed too, but then again I've been praying not just for him to get the job but for God's will do be done, so I have kind of resolved that it must not be the right job or the right time for him to get that job.

The silver lining to this however is that because he isn't starting a new job, he gets two weeks vacation beginning January 1st which means we can go visit Stefani, Bas, and our new little God daughter! So I'm looking forward to that. :) I will be purchasing our plane tickets very soon. (Thank you Visa! lol)

Speaking of money, I'm now feeling the stress Christmas has put on. Brew got paid Friday, and we have 125 dollars left in our account. I get paid tomorrow (not a super great check, only 5 days) and with our mid-month scheduled bill payments, my paycheck is pretty much GONE and then some. Blah. I am sooo looking forward to the day when I can get a full time job. If that day ever comes... I'm beginning to wonder!

Well I'm going to go get back to work! Adios!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Snowday!



First snowday of the year!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

December already!

Holy cow it's December already! I haven't been updating as frequently because I've been busy! This week is especially so. Tonight is the only night I don't have to be somewhere. Yesterday I had Symphony Chorus rehearsal (which I'm singing w/a group of ppl from Parkersburg that are going to be singing w/the WV Symphony Orchestra for their Christmas concert). Tonight is nothing, but I do need to go back out to the dollar tree & get some things for the upcoming week. Wednesday we have chorus rehearsal this time in Charleston w/the acutal orchestra, Thursday evening I have the clogging students' Christmas party, Friday night is the first symphony performance in Charleston, and Saturday I have Sunday School program practice in the morning, we're clogging in the Parkersburg Parade in the afternoon and then we have our second performance in Charleston that evening, and Sunday is church and the sunday school program, then the last performance in Parkersburg! *WHEW* Not to mention I also have jobs scheduled (full days) every day except Friday (which as I'm thinking about it, I may not take a job for Friday, depending on how dead I am by that point! lol)

Next week should be much milder though. And then the following week is CHRISTMAS! I'm actually on top of things for once. My Christmas shopping is done, I wrapped my last gift that came shipped to my house yesterday. Thankfully with my extended family and Brew's extended family we do gift exchanges, and we just don't exchange gifts w/Mandy & AJ (Brew's sis & her husband) we just buy for their girls. We didn't have to buy for very many this year so it didn't break the bank ;). We bought for my parents, Brew's parents, my brothers, my sis in law Amanda (my brother Matthew's wife), my grandparents, and our nieces. All others were covered in various gift exhanges/secret santas :) Oh and we bought and wrapped a couple toys for Duke of course ;)

It has been freeeeeeeeeeeeeezing here! And we've had snow, which is nice. It hasn't been super bad on the roads but enough to cover the grass and just make it prettier :) I'm hoping that it holds out and snows for Christmas too. We haven't had a real white Christmas in a while, it's usually just cold and dreary.

Allllllrighty well unfortunately my plan is almost over. I've been enjoying some peace and quiet. I have a really noisy group today. They aren't bad, just loud so I have a feeling I'll be leaving here in an hour w/a headache since I can feel the beginnings of one now. Fun stuff.

I don't know if I'll get to write again before Christmas, so if I don't, Merry Christmas from the Deans!!!