Lovely long weekend

Today I worked on sewing projects for 8 hours...8 HOURS!!! I wish so badly I could share with you what I've been working on today, but that would take the fun out of the surprises of gift giving! Even with how productive I was today I still feel like I have a TON of things left to make! That's basically because I DO have a ton of things left to make! Deep breath.

Aside from gift making I have to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new computer. It is SOOO much better than the old one I've been using. And I can actually DO things on my computer, like upload photos, edit photos, listen to music, burn cds/dvds. What a concept!!! Not to mention the picture quality on the screen is phenomenal. Ohhh it's just amazing.

The long weekend flew by way to fast and I'm sad to see it leave already. These next 2 weeks before Ryan leaves and then the next 2 weeks until Christmas are going to be so full and be gone before I know it! Hopefully I am able to breathe each day, sit, relax, and enjoy the hustle and bustle of this spectacular season!

Gratitude Friday

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope everyone found lots to be thankful this year and had a blessed day! Ryan and I decided to stay home and spend some quality time together ~ and not overeat {what a concept!} In fact, we didn't even have a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. He has already made turkey twice this year and we're having a Thanksgiving dinner in a few days with his parents. Plus when we stopped by to wish his parents a Happy Thanksgiving they gave us a little turkey to eat...so I'm convinced we weren't missing out. We were too busy getting amazing deals on things to worry about it though. I'll just give you a rundown on our day because I know you all care so much. Our day started out with {after tea in bed while watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade and checking out the adds} a trip to Radio Shack to get me a new phone and then we headed to Old Navy. We got there an hour before they opened but had nothing better to do so we chose to just wait for them to open....plus we knew that the first 15 people in line would get a FREE Rock Band guitar. Well, we were first in line so not only did we get 2 free guitars but we also got interviewed by the news and were on TV that night! Ok so after getting some great deals at Old Navy we headed home to play with our toys some, chill, and eat some dinner before we headed to Office Depot to wait in line for this lovely new laptop that I'm using RIGHT NOW! We waited ALL night but it was SOOO worth it. It's an amazing laptop that he got for such a great deal {and the best part? I get to keep it cause it's my Christmas/late birthday present!!} While he was waiting at Office Depot I made the TREK over to Walmart and Target to fight the crowd to pick up a few more great deals. And then we headed home to bed after being up for 24 hrs. PHEW!!! Now on to what I'm thankful for this week:

• being blessed with such wonderful family and friends {Ryan included}
  
• my health and the health of the ones I love
• my sister and her husband and the fact that I'm going to be an AUNTIE!!!! wahoo, SOOO excited for this! {I hope I'm allowed to say this now}
• my job and the amazing family I work for
• having a roof over my head and good food to eat
  

And you know what? I think that's enough to be thankful for...because it's definitely the creme of the crop!!

Wahoo!!

Keep comin off pounds ~ I hate you anyway!!! It's a great thing Ryan and I decided to do our own Thanksgiving so I don't overeat!!

I ate an orange today

And made my house smell yummy!!! Years and years ago when I was at my Aunt's house one year for Christmas she made this wonderful concoction on the stove and it filled her house with delicious smells of the holidays. I'm not entirely sure what was in it but I know it consisted of cinnamon sticks and orange peels {I think?}. So after I ate my orange today I made my own little version consisting of about a cup of water, my orange peels, some cinnamon {I didn't have sticks so I just used the powder}, and a little nutmeg. I threw it on the stove and let it just simmer for hours while I played around my house and it was just delightful!!

Gratitude Friday

But it's Saturday? Ya well I forgot to do this yesterday. Oops. It's probably a good thing I'm doing it today though because I'm a happier girl today. Why? Because it's Saturday!! Ohh how I love Saturdays!! Right now I'm drinking my tea, catching up on Oprah, and waiting for Lexi do be done getting groomed {how wonderful is it that there's a traveling groomer that comes to my complex?! I got to walk her over to the groomer's this morning in my pjs!}. I'm hoping to get some Christmas presents made today and then I'm off to a concert with my sis!! Alright so on to what I'm thankful for this week:

• New craft ideas for Christmas presents {although I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not because it just makes my list longer of things to make....and yet I'm still stumped on what to make a few certain people}
• Weight loss....or better yet, a healthier me {trust me, it's not much but every little bit counts, right?}
• Ryan getting his orders to head to VA for more training (thankful he's leaving? you might say...but yes, because it's what he wants, what is best for him and what he needs at this time in his life)
• And at that I'm thankful I get to spend some good quality time with him before he leaves
• The Ellen show! Oh if you've never watched it you must squeeze in an hour and catch one of her shows because they are absolutely hilarious!! Oh my gosh I just laugh my pants of watching her. Sometimes Ryan will even watch it with me and laugh right along! (ok he probably doesn't want the world knowing he watches Ellen occasionally but oh well)
• oooohhhh how can I not be thankful for the Christmas lights that are starting to be put on on houses, buildings, shopping complexes, trees, etc ~ LOVE IT!!
• ...and Christmas music {yay for Mannheim Steamroller}, Ryan and I were at the bx last night and there was holiday music playing throughout the store - it was delicious!
  
• ...and Christmas decorations!!
• Drinking my tea and coffee out of lovely little mugs, I have a fetish for mugs and love to find unique ones to collect {especially Starbucks ones.....the mug section is usually the first place I walk to when I go in Starbucks, yes sometimes even before the counter to order my drink if it's been a while since I've been in}
• Well I just took a quick break from this post to go get Lexi from the mobile grooming center and now I have something else to be thankful for....it's taken me about 2 years to find a groomer I actually like down here - I've tried many groomers as well as doing it myself (which works fine but is def quite the task to take on, and at that she won't let me do her toenails or her ears). Recently I'd found a good one that's only about 2 minutes away and I thought it was great....but it's even more great that this groomer comes to me!!

Ok I need to get on with my day and get off the couch ~ hope you all have a good Saturday!

AHH!!!

Did I bite off too much for myself when I decided to make everyone's Christmas gifts this year? I'm sort of starting to think so.....somehow my weekends just keep ending up to be not as productive as I had wanted them to be ~ Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which also means Christmas is just around the corner TOO. I'm going to try my best to get everything done, wish me luck!!

Gratitude Friday

Friday the 13th!!! So far nothing bad has happened in my neck of the woods, thank God. I'm glad it's Friday because I have so many projects to work on this weekend. I'm continually saying I'm going to get things done over the weekend but then I get distracted doing something different {although last weekend I did manage to get some great things done, but I can't discuss them on there because I wouldn't want to give away any gifts}. Hopefully this weekend is different because I will be alone all weekend as Ryan is headed to help out with a Boy Scout camping trip. As always, many things to be thankful for this week:

• My sister and her husband :)
• One day this week I was sitting in my car waiting for someone and they were running a little late. I happened to be sitting in front of a Starbucks {in a no parking zone} and there was a man outside of the Bucks with his harp. He wasn't playing when I first pulled up. I thought to myself that it would be absolutely joyous if he played Pachelbel's Cannon because it is a song that always makes my heart calm and brings a smile to my face; how beautiful would it be on a harp?! It reminds me of growing up and listening to it during the holidays on George Winston's December album. The man with the harp gets up, stretches a bit, drinks some of his coffee, sits down and starts playing music. My window was up and I couldn't really hear what he had started to play but it sounded very familiar to me. I roll down my window and what do you know? He was playing the song I had just requested in my mind!! How amazing is that? I was able to sit there in my car and listen to the whole song played beautifully on his harp. Had I not been there at that particular moment, parked in that no parking zone I never would have been able to experience such a random and amazing moment!! I'm quite thankful for this little stepping stone into the holiday season that I received from the man with the harp.
• Finding that blog I mentioned in an earlier post about the J.Crew refashionings that can be done to our clothing....LOVE it!!
• Another turkey dinner that Ryan made ~ this one was amazing, with all the great yummy things that go along with a great turkey {he's becoming quite good at this turkey cooking thing!!}
• Feeling great from the gym
• A full night's sleep that I got one night this week ~ I slept so hard that I didn't move the entire night, woke up in the same position I went to sleep in {I know this because it was a very random position sprawled across the bed}
• The holiday tidings appearing all over ~ this is by far my favorite time of the year, and I am one who could {and sometimes do} start listening to Christmas music before Halloween and put up my Christmas lights before Thanksgiving. I'm holding off this year a little bit though, but I think the festive music and lights will be making their appearance sometime in the very near future.
• Michael's having GREAT sales on their yarn

What are you thankful for this week?