In 2012, I resolve to...

Every year, I do a big, well-thought-out post about whether I met my resolutions from the previous year and my resolutions for the coming year. Welp, this year, I just plain don't feel like boring either you or myself with any of that. That said, I think resolutions are fantastic. They're goals. And this A-type-lawyer-blogger sitting here loves goals. But, I just kinda thought about the past year's ups and downs and what I want for myself in 2012. I compiled a sort of list instead of my typical resolutions...and decided these should just be my resolutions. :) So... without further adieu, my resolutions for 2012...

Blog more

Sleep more

Work out more

Relax more

Smell the roses more

Take more vacation time

Save more

Listen more

Read more

Love more 

Volunteer more

Experience more

Accessorize more

Question more 

Travel more 

DIY more

Dream more

Pray more 

Take more risks

Take more photos

Hug more

Cook more

Cheers more

Laugh more

Dance more

Reflect more 

Learn more

Happy New Year!

Via weheartit.com 

In 2011...

Okay, so I meant for this to have like 6 photos. But then I kept seeing ones from the year and thinking "well, I HAVE to include that one!" I can't be trusted with pictures..

2011 was one of those "Who am I? Wait, who are you? Wait, who are WE? Wait... what am I talking about?" kind of years.. haha.. It was a very good year, but I think I was kinda wrapped up in the "ohemgee I'm turning 30" thing for some of the year so that impacted some thinkingness (I make up words. I can; it's my blog). 2011 was a great year and a year to be thankful for in many, many regards. I'll shutup and get to the photos now... ;) 

In 2011...

Oklahoma got some INTENSE weather! 

Record snowfall in February. And yes, this is a self timed photo. It is what it is. 

Crazy hail storm in spring

Even almost took cover in the super-creepy basement from tornados this year!

Also had the hottest summer ever recorded in Oklahoma. 

It makes me sweat a little just thinking about it. 

Okay, what else? 2011 was a big hair year.. okay not "big hair" but hair changes..haha..

I got bangs (above). I know.. you're thinking "she's seriously blogging about bangs?" But, getting the bangs led to me to realize they were a stupid move b/c I really wanted to just go dark. So the next week, I did! (And then I had some stupid bangs I hated for AWHILE). (And I also wore glowstick sunglasses, but that's for another blog story sometime).  2011 lesson: When in doubt, don't get bangs. 

And then I went blonde again, got bored again, and cut off my hair early fall...haha.. 

2011 was a year of CELEBRATIONS! 

In March, Gracie dog celebrated her 4th birthday! (She looks so thrilled)

I really just wanted a reason to post this photo again. 

And in July, I celebrated my 30th birthday!

 And had the best birthday I've ever had thanks to this guy. :) 

(awww) :)

Eric turned 29 this year, so he can still check the "in my 20s" box for another year. Whatever. ;) 

And my mom turned the big six-oh this year! 

Celebrated lots of showers, bachelorette parties, weddings and babies in 2011, too! (Didn't blog them all b/c the photos would have been more overwhelming than they already are in this post..haha).

Mary tied the knot in April! 

Cohosted a shower in Tulsa for Alove! 

Laura's bachelorette in Dallas!

(Which is where I learned about planking)

Traveled to LA to see Alove tie the knot in August! 

 And got to see many friends' adorable kiddos celebrate birthdays! 

Cooper's first birthday! Don't you wish you were half this cute trying to shovel cake in your mouth shirtless? :) 

AND a last- but definitely not least-note of celebration: In 2011, Eric got sworn in to be a CPA! A little over 12 months of studying almost every night and taking series of tests paid off early this year! :) 

Did a little volunteering in 2011...

Rebuilding Together Tulsa

Alums + students got together to give back 

And did a little traveling in 2011, too. :) 

Girls trip 2011!

LA, San Francisco, Sonoma, and Sausalito in August :)

So there you have it...A little recount of just some of the happenings over the past year in photos. :) I hope 2011 was good to you and I hope 2012 is even better! Cheers, friends!

Merry Tuesday! :)

I hope you had a great weekend with family, friends, and many blessings. :) I'm the idiot that has a week of vacation left, but decided to work on Tuesday to get some stuff done so this is pre-scheduled... Whether you're at home or at work, I hope you're still feeling the holiday spirit and enjoying the last few days of 2011! 

On Saturday, headed out to Eric's aunt's for some annual Christmas Eve festivities with the whole fam. :) It's my 3rd year to be able to spend Christmas Eve with his family and it's so fun to have a big family Christmas feel (20ish people)...and also to finally feel like I know everyone... haha.. ;) Stayed with my mom on Christmas Eve and spent much of Christmas there enjoying some time together. I'm so bummed b/c I didn't get a single photo of us! Usually, I'll use the self timer, but we spent the bulk of the day in our pjs and therefore I kept the camera in its case. Being able to do what we want, wear what we want, etc, is definitely an advantage of it being just the two of us. :) We also had a great Christmas lunch together. Sunday night, I headed out to dinner with Eric's family-fantastic homemade Mexican food! (We'd had Christmas dinner at his aunt's the night before). Sunday night, Eric and I had our Christmas together and stayed up til 3am watching Jericho. 

The weekend was pretty fantastic as far as Christmas weekends go! :) I received some extremely thoughtful gifts and had an outstanding weekend with the ones I love... So, now that I've rambled a little, I thought I'd share some pics from Christmas weekend!

Lunch at Stonehorse with Sara and Timbo on Friday! (No, we were not going back to work..hence the wine). 

At Eric's aunt's on Christmas Eve

From Christmas night- Eric's dad got an XBox Kinect for Christmas..
The dance game was a hilariously big hit! (and I totally kicked Eric's butt at it). 

Self timer, anyone?

Lauren's in town from Chicago! Had a great dinner with her on Monday night at the new Mi Cocina! :) 

ANNNNND Alove is in town from LA! (center)! Stopped by to say hi to her after dinner. :)

Gratuitous photo of Gracie dog and me from some Christmas celebrations with friends last week. This pup got bones, treats, toys, a new collar, and more. Santa kinda spoiled her. 

I am so blessed to have so many great people in my life and to be able to spend Christmas surrounded by so much love. Cheesy, but true.

I look forward to reading all your holiday recaps, friends!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Just wanted to take a moment and wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 

Have a fantastic holiday weekend, friends!

It's OK Thursday!

I've been a blog slacker this week.. mostly b/c I've come over here and been like "Hmm.. I don't know what to talk about today...." Maybe I'm holiday brain dead? Possibly. I'm also possibly on sugar overload...and totally okay with that. 
But, I'm SURE I've got some "It's OK's" I can talk about today, so let's see what kinds of things fall out of my sugar-high brain and onto the page, eh? :)
It's OK... 
To think you're done with Christmas shopping only to realize you forgot this or that or had a sudden burst of a GREAT idea for "that one thing" last minute.
To want to wear everything sparkly, shimmery, festive, etc. in your closet this week. 
To LOVE Christmas, but also sometimes entertain the daydream of spending the holidays (with family..duh) on a tropical island while sipping a cocktail. Palm trees can have Christmas ornaments on them, right? 
To be really bad at wrapping presents and attempt to dress them up with pretty bows, ornaments, etc, so no one notices the haphazard tape in awkward places. 
To NOT buy a dress for New Years Eve this year! I have dresses. Saving money = winning. :) 
To be overwhelmed by thoughtful friends and well-wishes around the holidays... from sweet cards to holiday treats to little thoughtful surprises... So blessed. Next year, I WILL send Christmas cards. Maybe. Hopefully. 
To get a little excited about all the "best images of 2011" and "most memorable moments of 2011" segments on tv. I dig that stuff! 
To have plans to take a half day off with two girl friends tomorrow and drink mimosas, eat, and be merry...all afternoon. 
To never get tired of "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. Never. Ever. And possibly beat your steering wheel like a drum every.single.time. to the "buh-bum-bah-bum-bah-bum" that kicks off the "I don't want a lot for Christmas..." part. I'm such a good singer in my car. *sarcasm* 
Hope everyone is having a great pre-Christmas week! 

Merry Newsinator

I saw this on Katie's blog and thought it was too funny and fabulous! I had to do one... She also had to tell me how to save the darn thing so I could blog it, so yeah.. Katie, you rock all around. :) (even though I cut off the left edge. Oops. Oh well). :)

Wanna make one? Go to merry newsinator, plug in the info it asks for, and there you have it!

Hope everyone is having a great pre-Christmas work week!

Weekend Recap!

This weekend was fun-filled but unfortunately not photo-filled. (I know.. who am I to not force people into taking pictures like I usually do? *le sigh*) 

Thursday, Ashley, Sarah, Jenny, Brooke and I got together for some festive celebrations. :) We did a secret Santa exchange and lookie what Ashley got me! It's the Give Me Some Lip set from Sephora! Makeup makes me happy. On that note, I've officially decided to try to find a fun table I can re-do to make into a vanity for myself. TBD on this random project. 

Friday, I'd taken the day off to finish some shopping. The mall was ridiculous... even at noon on Friday. I guess I wasn't the only one with the bright idea to take the day off. Anyhoo, look at these I found at Dillards...  

 I didn't buy them but I miiiiiight have showed the Dillards worker a photo of Gracie, exclaiming "They really do look like her!" He was like "Uh huh.. sure do..." and likely thinking 'get this crazy dog lady away from me.'

Friday night, Eric and I had some Mexican food and margaritas and took it easy. :)

Saturday night, we headed to two Christmas parties- one for a local org he's in and another for some mutual friends. :) Good stuff, people. Good stuff. Alas, no photos b/c apparently I've started slacking off. Blerg.

It really was a great weekend, though! I think I've finished almost all my shopping. I need to get one more hostess gift and then dunzo! What about you guys?

You taking any time off this week? I'm thinking I'll probably take a half day Friday or something, but plan to take some time the week between Christmas and New Years. Have fun stuff Monday night, Tuesday night and Wednesday night night this week! Can't believe it's the week of Christmas already! Bananas!

Okay this post was kinda boring. Sorry about that. I blame sleepiness and lack of photos to go along with my ramblings. Hope you had a fantastic weekend!

Weekend Recap (better late than never!)

You ever have those weeks where you're kinda just not feeling social media? That's been my week. I think I've been focused on dedicating any personal online time to getting Christmas gifts here in time! Anyhoo, I had a great weekend so I thought I'd talk...er....blog about it. ;)

First, I got to go to my first Tulsa blog girls get-together on Friday night! This group of girls has gotten together before, but I've never been able to make it.. until now! I was able to stop by for a little bit, see some familiar friends, AND meet some of these fabulous ladies in person that I've never met before! Many thanks to Jane, our fabulous hostess, for the fun event! Sorry I was a slacker in posting the photo. 

Not bad for a self timed photo.. whatwhat! (yup, just said whatwhat). 

 (back row)-Katie, Lynn, Lindsey, Jessica, Chesley, (front row)-Ashley, Katie, Jane, me. 

Then, I headed to one of my best friend's birthday dinner at In the Raw. :)

One side of the table!

The other side of the table with the birthday girl, Timberly, (far right). 

Saturday was my mom's 60th birthday! She's been excited about it, but also kinda weird about it, so I wanted to try to give her a good bday. While she's happy and appreciative of so many blessings, I'm sure it's hard to not have my dad around (he passed away when I was younger) and to be getting older, etc. Anyhoo, we had a fun-filled day of lunch, shopping, movie (My Week With Marilyn), dinner, and Christmas light looking! We had SUCH a fun day together!

I just noticed all these photos have wine in them? Whatever. 

Then, Eric and I might have stayed up til 2am again watching Jericho. We're both hooked. It's kinda hilarious actually...especially because it got canceled before it probably revealed anything. Eh well.. whatever. I want to finish it out anyway b/c it's so good!

Sunday was errand running and cleaning the casa. Exciting, right? ;) I'm taking off this Friday to knock out Christmas shopping. My plan is to be completely done by Friday with absolutely everything. TBD...haha.... Are you done? If so, I'm so jealous!

Has anyone seen that Charlize Theron movie? Thoughts? I think it looks like it might be really dry comedy/funny and want to see it! I'm also wanting to see We Bought a Zoo, but I want to see anything with Matt Damon so there's that.. haha.. ;)

Operation WANA from MODG

Do you read MODG's blog? If not, you should for many reasons- she's witty, candid, honest, entertaining, intelligent and kinda kicks blog butt if you ask me. But, she's also doing something on her blog right now that's improving Christmas for lots of readers in need... just by connecting them to one another. I just went over there to read what it was all about and and am truly inspired by what's going on in her comment section right now. Brought tears to my eyes.

I'd explain it here, but she does a much better job than I could, so go check it out. Whether you're in need or can offer help to a fellow blogger who is, it's an excellent thing taking place in MODG's little corner of blog land.

Happy Friday, friends!

Holiday Blog Challenge: Wish List!

It's Day 8 of the Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge.. and I'm pretty sure I haven't participated since day 2 or 3. Oops. *cringe* But, I'm having a chillax night so wanted to hop on the bloggidy and give it some love. :)

Today's topic: Christmas Wish List! 

I don't really neeeeed anything, but some things that I'd be okay with filling my stocking are...

** TOMS in Teal Pop! I also love the gilded herringbone ones. :)

** VS PJS! Or really any cute PJ set with long sleeves that's somewhat fitted, not baggy flannel. :) Last winter was COLD, people. And you should have seen some of the combos I lounged around in b/c I never buy coordinating pjs for some reason. 

via VS

** Preeeeettty much any jewelry from Banana Republic, especially these earrings I just found when looking for an example of banana republic jewelry for my blog... haha... ;) 

** Workout wear! I really want some more workout tanks (with built in bra...duh) and workout pants. :) I LOVE lulu lemon, but it's so pricey! yikes! I don't work out enough to get the value out of their stuff.. haha.. Just being honest... :) 

Who stands like this in workout wear? (Via VS)

**Slippers! I freaking LOVE these from Loft! Wood floors + drafty house = cold tootsies!

 ** MAC Snowglobe eyeshadows in warm. Or really any makeup. Or maybe just Sephora's whole store. Ya know...whatever. #guiltypleasure

** A long sleeve TU shirt in TU blue (of course) :) 

What about you? What are some things on your list this year?! :) 

Oh and Gracie would like to add the following to her list:

* rawhide bone

* new stuffed toy

* new harness

(I think Santa will be visiting Miss Gracie with these items, but shhhh, don't tell her). ;) 

Weekend Recap!

Yowza how is it SUNDAY already? Sheez! 

Desperate Housewives is officially paused, so let's dig right on in... (I love my dvr). 

Friday night, my friend, Beth, had her very first exhibit featuring her photography! It was at a local downtown spa. So proud of her! 

With the featured photographer extraordinaire and our friend, Beth (center)! :) 

Saturday, I had a hair appointment to have my roots dyed back to the color I'm pretty sure God intended me to be. ;) Then, I surprised Eric with making dinner! He just got a promotion of sorts (what-what!) and our normal celebratory thing is to go to dinner.. so I thought I'd switch it up a little and throw some personalized effort into the mix. :) I probably should have picked at least ONE thing I'd made before, buuuuut whatever. It all turned out edible so that's all that matters, right?

I made caesar salad, lasagna, and brownies for dessert. I turned on all the Christmas lights, lit some fabulous Bath n Body candles in my fav holiday scent (Winter) and played holiday tunes on the good old macbook. Er... well.. that's what I did while we ate. After we were done, we turned up the lights and hit the sofa to watch the bedlam game.

Gracie found her perfect football-watching spot and was so happy, she let me put the hat on her...haha..

Now that's doggie bliss... 

Sunday, I lost my sanity and decided to go to the mall for some Christmas shopping. In all my years of Christmas shopping, you'd think I'd learn to ONLY go to the mall at Christmas if I have a pretty good idea what I'm going for. But, no. I left empty-handed and came home to order some stuff online in the peace and quiet of my casa. 

Then, Eric and I headed to look at Christmas lights at Rhema Bible College. :) Every year, they have a FABULOUS display of lights that you can drive through or get out and walk around. Driving in a warm car is for slackers, so we always bundle up and walk around until we can't feel our face/fingers/etc. ;) 

 The lights are all timed to Christmas music... kiiiiinda cool. :)

The next couple weekends are Christmas party palooza for us both annnnnnd you never know what Oklahoma weather will do, so I'm glad we got to check out the lights! :)

All in all, a fabulous winter weekend. (I still can't believe it's WINTER)!

Oooh one thing. Okay, soooo the other night, Eric and I ordered Jericho on Netflix... ya know.. the show that aired back in like 2006 or something? Right. We randomly ordered the first ep and ended up watching like 3 more. Saturday night, we ended up watching FIVE more.. until 2:30 am. haha.. The crappy thing is that I think it was canceled before anything was REALLY revealed. I don't want to do too much digging and ruin it for me, but I have a suspicion. Did you ever watch it? My conversations with Eric now include things like "So, if there WAS a massive nuclear attack, where would we go?" And then we proceed to plot out a plan. Yes, this is our dinner conversation. (And now I'm kinda nervous that someone googling massive nuclear attack is going to find my blog. Super cool..haha... sheez).

Does Netflix suck you in like that, too? Sheez.

So yup! That was my weekend! How was yours, friends?