New Year's Resolutions

This past year I made some resolutions. This is worth noting because I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions...but this year I had some goals I thought would be fun to see if I could keep.
I made my resolutions simple and attainable. I had two goals...

1. Make a greater effort to wear my jewelry and not buy any new jewelry

2. Send out cards to people in my family for their birthday's

I picked wearing my jewelry because I have a lot of fun jewelry I like but wasn't in a good habit of putting it on before I would leave. I also wanted to make sure I am using what I have and not just continually buying new stuff. I did get new jewelry this year but it was either from my husband or I had a gift card that I used (which means I got them from someone else). It was interesting for me to discover what kind of jewelry I wear the most and which pieces are the easiest to wear with what I have.

The reason I picked sending cards to people in my family was wanting to stay better connected to my nieces and nephews. I remember my own Aunts and Uncles sending me cards for my birthday and thinking back on how much it meant to me. So I gathered up birthday's for my siblings, in-laws, and nieces and nephews and made an effort every month to get cards and send out birthday wishes. It was fun to do but I am not sure if I will continue it next year. I might do it just for my nieces and nephews, but I will wait and see.

For this new year I am still deciding what I want to do, but I am considering and excited about trying to "make before buying"...just not sure yet how I want to set it up. This would include things like making my own pizza sauce, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, etc....a bit of "going green" but I like earth so I want to do my hand to help, plus I am hoping it is a way for us to save more money and use what we have first.

Christmas in Michigan

This Christmas Dan and I headed up to Michigan to spend the holiday with my family. We got there on Saturday (after exchanging our gifts at home). The night we arrived we decided to open gifts so the kids wouldn't have to wait the whole weekend...and they kept asking when we could do it. Here are some pictures of the kids opening their gifts.

Records we framed for the kid's rooms

Stephen's new art work

Glad we are finally opening presents!

Figuring out the new car

 The kids both got slippers that move when you walk...the monster's opened their mouths and the zebra's ear's pop up. The kids LOVED them...I had never heard of them before.

We had fun the rest of the weekend watching movies, staying up late teaching Dan Cities and Knights for Catan, and eating lots of good snacks and sweets, and swaping YouTube video's. Stephen and Michelle left on the 24th and that night we went to my parent's Christmas Eve service and then out to dinner with two other couples from church. We then spent Christmas morning opening gifts and went to see Les Miserable with my parents before heading home.

We finished the evening off by Skyping with Dan's family in Texas and then watching some Scrubs and Elf before going to bed. It was a good Christmas and the only down side was not having any snow...which showed up on the 26th :) of course.

Merry Christmas!!

 

From our hearts and home to yours...Merry Christmas

Cookies!

Dan and I decided to make Christmas cookies this year. We were going to be taking some to Michigan, have a Christmas party with a few friends, and make up plates of cookies for Dan to give to his co-workers. In 2 hours we made 6 different cookies and I finished making a couple more things the next day. Here are pictures of our labor :)

Everything out and ready



Chocolate Mint cookies

Butterscotch Haystacks and Chocolate Ball cookies

Molasses and modified Church Window cookies

Filling up the plates

Hungry yet :) If only this was a scratch and sniff blog

Weekend with Friends

After my office party on Friday we went and spent time with Jason and Angie at their place. We ended up staying really late and crashed in their spare room, but we had to leave early in the morning to get home for our other friend coming to visit. Jen drove up from Indy and we had a chance to spend the day hanging out. We watched a movie, played a couple games, and had time to grab dinner before parting ways.

I am always reminded how grateful I am for Jen when we hang out. It is so easy for us to slip into our friendship again even after not getting to see each other for a while. Usually I go up in December to Chicago to spend time with her and a couple other friends from college but this year I was really stressed out and we had a funeral on Friday in Ohio the weekend of the hangout.

After parting ways with Jen, Dan and I headed back to Marion to attend a surprise birthday party for Jason. His birthday was 12.12.12 this year so the theme was 12...we were encouraged to dress like we were 12, write 12 on our faces, etc. Most people dressed the way they did when they were 12, which was fantastic, one person even put on 12 shirts. We had fun watching Saved by the Bell and then playing 90's trivial pursuit...which I am not good at but we had a good time. Dan and I didn't get home till around 1am but it was worth the time spent with friends.

Office Party

This past Friday Dan and I had my office Christmas party. I can't remember why we couldn't go last year but this year worked out. It was in Wabash, IN at the Honeywell House...they are the family who sells Honeywell Thermostat's, I think my parents use to have one in our house. Anyways, this was a beautiful house that the wife bought and lived in after her husband died. I got a few pictures from inside (it was too dark to get pictures of the back yard).

Front sitting room

Formal Dinning room

Stair Way

Main living room/ were we ate (this is Jason and Angie)

 We had a great time at our table. Jason and Angie also were there because Angie works for the same place I do. It was fun getting to spend time with them as well as some of my fellow co-workers. We all set our own schedules so I don't always get to see or talk with the people at my office. We had a nice dinner and live Christmas music (a talented pianist). And Dan and I got our picture taken by the beautiful Christmas tree.

Done

The semester is finally over! No more getting up early to drive to Marion, grading papers, preparing for lectures....now what to do with all my time! :) I plan on taking some time next week to hopefully clean the house and begin to study for my exam. I also have a couple quilt projects that I am working on and a couple books that have been waiting for me.

And best of all...I am going to soak up and enjoy this Christmas season. I have been drinking hot chocolate, listening to Christmas music, Dan and I have an advent devotional we have been doing, I have been wrapping gifts, watching Christmas movies, and simply enjoying our house being decorated and watching the lights twinkle on our tree. I want these next few weeks to be slow and to allow myself time to remember the gift that Christ is...the amazing story of His birth and contemplate the puzzle of how God picked Joseph and Mary to be the parents to His Son. If you haven't watched The Nativity...rent it!

A baby....He came as a baby. He came to show His love, to give His grace, and to free us. He came so He could relate to us. He came, and for that I am forever grateful.

This past week

This past week has been crazy. I am finishing up my classes and they turned in their huge end of the year paper on Monday. So my week has been grading, with more, grading, and more grading! I am thankful for the job but VERY ready to be done with waking up early and dealing with freshman. In the middle of all my grading and still seeing my regular clients at work I started to get the itch to cut my hair. Finally on Thursday as I was washing my hair I had enough...it had to go! So I didn't even bother drying my hair and simply went to get it cut.

Here are the before pictures:

 And after....

They cut about 5 inches off....It feels so nice! Plus I can still put it up and it will be much more manageable :)