Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge: Day 2

Hi y'all! So, I thought I'd join in Neely and Amber's blog challenge fun as much as possible b/c blogging about what makes me happy, etc, over the holidays could never be a bad thing for the ho ho ho mojo, right?! :) Anyway, yesterday's topic was favorite Christmas gift EVER and well.. I couldn't think of one specific gift. I'm lame. I've been very blessed, but couldn't decide on one thing or one moment that surpassed all the rest. I got all psychology(my degree) and lawyer (my other degree) like "I mean, that all depends on the year, right?" haha.. Sheez, Jackie. Anyway... 
Okay, so today is Favorite Holiday Tradition- New or Old. 
I have a lot of these and it's hard to choose some favs, but let's see... 
Some old ones: * As a kid, my parents let me open one present on Christmas Eve. I would examine each gift put under the tree as Christmas Eve approached, trying to decide which one I wanted to open that night before I headed to bed to await Christmas morning. My mom would usually lead me towards one she knew I would like, but also wouldn't ruin any big gifts.. haha.. 
* We never really did "theme" Christmas tree stuff. I liked lots of colors and my parents were all about going with it. But, we did have a few regular Christmas tree toppers that we alternated every year. I used to get the honor of choosing the topper and putting it on the tree (with help, duh). I used to LOVE that! I almost always picked a light up angel my grandma had given me. 
* My dad had a thing with tinsel.. the kind that you like randomly place to look like icicles. My mom hated it and called it messy.. It ended up everywhere! ha! But, it was a tradition to get it every year and I got to help throw strategically place the tinsel to look like balls of sparkly crazyness icicles. So yeah, I'm sure our tree looked a hot mess some years, but it was always so fun. And I only have memories of it looking gorgeous. :) 
Some new ones: * Going to look at Christmas lights with Eric. I'd never really been to look at Christmas lights with a boyfriend-or even friends-before Eric (as weird as that is). The past three years, we've gone out to Rhema Bible College here (they do it up big), walk around, take some silly pics, and go for coffee afterwards. Even when it's freezing, I just love it. :)
* Watching It's a Wonderful Life with my mom. I don't really know when we started doing this.. or even if it's a tradition in either one of our minds, but we've done it on Christmas the past few years and I dig it. :) Say it with me.. "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings..." Doesn't that just make you feel warm inside? (If not, your new name is Scrooge. Kidding Kidding) ;) 
Wanna play? Go link up! 

Oh.my.Gosling. (and other holiday weekend movies)

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend! I'll blog more about my weekend later when I quit being lazy and upload my photos, but wanted to post about the movies I saw over the weekend for now instead. :)

So, last Wed, I stayed home and vegged out with my doggie in my pjs. NOTHING was on tv, so I opted to rent Crazy, Stupid, Love. 

I thought it was really good...and it wasn't just b/c I was drinking wine while I watched it. It was genuinely good. :) Have y'all seen it? Did you dig it? Tells the story of a marriage that's failing (Steve Carell and Julianne Moore) for many reasons, but mostly b/c he got lazy and kinda quit trying in some regards. He meets Ryan Gosling, a total playboy who helps him kinda revamp his image and get back in his groove. 

If you haven't seen it, I'll give you four reasons you should think about it.... 

While I'm talking about movies... I have a couple others I saw this weekend.. Aren't holidays the best for movie-watching?! Just me? *shrugs* 

Saw Hugo with Eric's familia. It was good stuff. A leetle slow at first, but good. I liked it more when I found out it was based on a true story (at least some parts). Have you seen it? What'd ya think? 

Also saw Arthur Christmas, a story about Santa's son who takes action into his own hands when a little girl is accidentally overlooked by Santa's elves. Cute stuff, people. That said, it had a lot of technology references (like a transportation craft instead of reindeer and a sleigh). This girl prefers the reindeer and the sleigh, so there's that. Call me old school...or just old...but whatevs. :)

Did you see any good movies this weekend? 

Thankful.

Warning: mushy post ahead. haha.. ;)

I have many blessings and am thankful for more things than I could even list in a single blog post.. I am truly and deeply blessed with family, friends, love, health, life... I would love to list everything, but I wanted to dedicate this post to how thankful I am for YOU and for this blog!

A few years ago, I started this blog as a place to rant, whine, ramble record my feelings, photos, thoughts, etc. I also wanted to continue connections with friends that have moved away and started their own blogs. This little place of mine on the internet has become that and SO much more to me.

This blog has given me some GREAT friends across the country...and across the ocean in some cases! You all have given me such a great gift through our paths crossing in this fabulous blogoverse. When I have a bad day, I can rant about it and am repeatedly humbled by comments with uplifting words or even comments saying "Girl, I SO get it!" When something exciting happens or something goes really well, you're there, too. I'm perpetually eager to read about what's going on in your lives. I get so mad when life gets too busy for me to connect with you over the interwebs b/c it feels like that phone call you REALLY want to make to someone but can't seem to reach them. There are nights when my eyelids are heavy and I still boot up my laptop b/c I want to read what ended up happening with this or that. :)

I've even noticed that subconsciously I refer to you as "friends" in everyday conversation. Things like "One of my friends just had a baby!" or "One of my friends went through something really similar..." I guess somewhere in the past few years, the phrase "blog friend" changed to "friend" and it is such a true depiction of how I feel. :)

I might not always respond to comments via e-mail at the rate I WANT to or feel like I should (stupid gmail blocked at work.. blah), but I read every single one and am humbled by every single person who cares enough to stop by my little corner on the interwebs.

I'll quit rambling and just say I am so very thankful for YOU, friends. Happy Thanksgiving and happy holiday weekend! :) I'm thinking I might actually venture out for Black Friday for an item I really want to get someone. It depends how much wine I have on Thanksgiving, I suppose.. ha.. ;)

I just saw this on Pinterest and had to add it. Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Weekend Recap!

Hi friends! This blog is brought to you courtesy of my new/Eric's old wireless router. Apparently ours has seen better days so he came to my rescue tonight. 

My fav convo today:

Eric: "What did you need to do online tonight? We can do this tomorrow maybe...?"

Me: "I WANT TO BLOG! I ALWAYS READ BLOGS ON SUNDAY NIGHTS!"

Him: "Okay, okay *laughing* calm down. We'll get it fixed."

haha... #blogpanic  ;)

So, how was the weekend? Mine? Purdy good. :) Got some things done, some things didn't get done... but have a long weekend coming up, so whatevs! 

Friday included Breaking Dawn with some girl friends, including fellow Twilight fanatic, Ashley! :) We may have gotten there two hours before the movie a little early to make sure we got good seats. I think the high schoolers must have gone to another theater b/c we were the second people in line....and yeah, I'm admitting that out loud.. er.. in writing.

No, that is not personal-sized box wine. How could you even ask such a thing?! 

 (As an aside, I'm totally watching Twilight on tv as I type this).

Remember when I took a few pics (the masquerade themed ones) with the local org, OkStrobist back in April? Well, they had another fun shoot themed "collegiate life" and I got to participate in the fun! We had band members, football players, fans, cheerleaders, etc! (I was a fan). :) Anyway, here's a cute one that Sherman took! He and I met at the last shoot and I dig his chili. He's super talented! :) If anyone needs a photog in the Tulsa area, please let me know b/c I've met some great, very talented up-and-comers through this fantastic org! And if anyone is a photog looking for some great training and techniques, follow Okstrobist for sure!

Saturday afternoon, I already had on some TU fan wear so it seemed pretty appropriate to head directly to the TU v. UTEP watch party. :) Eric and I cheered on TU from a local restaurant/bar with other alums and students annnnd TU WON! WOOHOO!

Saturday night, Eric and I did some random errands and ended up at his casa hanging out. And guess what.. a certain pup got to come play! Just as he was saying "Don't get up on the.... (couch)," she jumped up, crawled over to him and laid on him. I mean.. how can you resist this face?

Ya think she's happy? haha! :) 

The Route 66 Marathon went right by Eric's neighborhood, so we opted to head out with cowbells and cheer on some runners. :) We were actually waiting on a couple of friends, but ended up having a great time cheering on lots of people til we saw them. :) We were perched in the bed of his truck, wrapped in blankets, in the last 6 miles or so of the race. In other words, some people were really struggling when they ran past us. It was also much colder than it was supposed to be. 

It felt good to cheer and wave and see some people smile at us as they ran by. :) One guy yelled "thank you so much for being here." It was really cute. 

Oh and finally (as if I haven't rambled enough, I saw someone spray paint a mason jar and use it for makeup brushes on pinterest. Soooo I did it! Great idea, me thinks! I sprayed it a color called 'cinnamon' and put some bead things in the bottom to stick the brushes in. I saw someone use coffee beans, but I didn't have those soooo yeah. 

Turned out pretty good, right? 

Bring on the short week, friends! 

It's OK Thursday!

Linking up with Amber and Neely for for Hey It's OK Thursday!





Soooo...

It's OK...

...to have been looking forward to seeing Breaking Dawn on opening night (Friday, not the midnight show) ALL WEEK!

(Even my alarm says "Wake up! Breaking Dawn and the weekend await!" I'm lame).

...to never be able to wear tan, white or winter white without getting something on it. (Staring at a pen mark on my pant leg).

...to have an actual Christmas list this year. You've been more nice than naughty, so why not?! :)

...to HATE checking voicemail. All voicemail. (But then probably be offended if you never had ANY).

...to have at least three pairs of shoes at work and/or in your car at all times. Whatever.

...to be SUPER excited about BOGO at Starbucks today-this weekend! (2-5pm, holiday beverages only...but really.. why would you order anything else?)

...to finally have an iPhone and be a little late to the angry birds party, but totally addicted regardless.

...to put your dog on your Christmas cards...possibly in a Santa hat.

...to let bygones by bygones.

...to have weather in Maui, St. Lucia, or any other tropical destination saved on your cell phone's weather application when you need to daydream for a minute.

...to apply bronzer your face til you realize you just made it a slightly different color than your neck...and then apply it to your neck. #notfoolinganyone. (In denial that I'm about to turn into a nice winter shade commonly called 'Casper').

...to always put your winter hats/gloves in a 'safe storage place' in the spring...and then be unable to find them when it gets cold. (I live in a small, cottage-style house where I have to find 'creative' places for storage).

...to carry approximately 12 lip glosses in your handbag at all times.

...to think of ideas for great holiday hostess gifts all year... until you actually need a holiday hostess gift. Then, you go brain dead.

...to already be listening to Christmas music! :)

Holy Hunger Games Excitement!

Three words:

 I.

CAN'T.

WAIT. :)

 

 AGH! If you haven't read the books, put them on your Christmas list.. like rightfreakingnow. I was SO sad when I finished this series in like one week but who's counting b/c I wanted MORE of them. Excellent story.

Holiday Gift Sets Galore!

So, I love the holidays for a lot of reasons.

...Family and friends. :)

...Twinkly lights. 

...Hot cocoa on cold nights (or eggnog latte from Starbucks...whatever).

...Christmas music (namely the Glee Christmas soundtrack and Straight, No Chaser).

...Holiday beauty palettes/gift sets.... Yeah, thats what I said. holiday.beauty.palettes. :) Gawd I love them! They're like the best little guilty pleasure EVER for this chick. I know I've said it before but when I have a bad day, I want to buy beauty things. Even a new little nailpolish can bring a smile to my face after a crappy day. (A glass of wine works too. But that's not what we're talking about here). 

And this year, beauty companies are not disappointing! Check out just a few of the gems available this season: 

Just $18 dollars for all of these eye shadows via. I saw the larger one at Sephora for $39 and the smaller one (pictured) at Ulta for $18. Even the smaller one is the size of a man's palm or a little larger. It's pretty substantial for the price. 

$30 for two full sizes and four travel sizes!  And the travel sizes aren't tiny.
I mean, they're travel sizes, but they're not like one-use-wonders at all. 

AWESOME deal - $29 for all three- eyeliner, plumping lash primer and mascara. They're full sized, people! And the mascara itself sells for $25. I don't use the Hypnose, but I use the Definicils and can say Lancome makes an excellent mascara. 

To view other awesome gift sets at Sephora, click here.

AND Sephora is having a sale for their beauty insiders for 20% off your purchase through Monday the 14th aka TOMORROW! If you want to get 20% off, enter VIBDREAM at checkout online. :)

I was going to schedule this post for tomorrow, but I didn't want anyone to miss out on the 20% off!

What about you? Go crazy for coco-puffs on any holiday special offers like beauty palettes? (Say yes so I feel more normal). :) 

Weekend Recap+

Hi friends! How was the weekend? Mine was good. Remember how I said I was taking Thursday and Friday off? Well, I already had Friday off (holiday), but ended up working all day Thursday after all. Blerg. But, even though the weekend wasn't as long as I'd hoped, it was still pretty good. :) 

I have 70 hours of vacation time to use before the end of the year and am going to be sad when I lose some of it b/c there is no way I can take that much before year-end. Busy busy! Eh, it's my fault for not taking more time off earlier in the year.. *le sigh* 

Okay, moving on to the weekend! 

Thursday, Eric and I got to attend an event sponsored by TU featuring the Pioneer Woman! :) What a fabulous lady! And she was totally cool with posing for a photo...which gets her even more points in my book. :) 

Friday, I took my favorite pooch to Woodward Park for some frolicking in the fall foliage. :)

Okay, so this next photo was inspired by Pinterest. See what that website is doing to me?! Anyone seen this photo with the dog and the wreath? A few of my friends have pinned it recently. Okay, well.. Gracie was looking adorable and I saw my fall wreath and thought "Worth a shot!" She hates me. Or really loves me. Or somewhere in between. ;)

Skipping ahead to Saturday night, a few awesome girl friends and I got together for a long overdue sushi date! :) We used to go all the time and well.. life kinda gets in the way of sushi sometimes. :) It's been a busy fall, right?! Anyway, we had a really good time. :)

Since I kinda forgot to blog pics from last weekend, I didn't get to blog Mary's birthday. Here she is (center) with Dennis and me! Love these people! Our friendship is the best thing that came out of my time at the law firm for sure. :)

Oh and I finally got this! Annnnnnd I did it! (a victory in itself.. haha). And um.. holy moly it's tough! I like it a lot! I've done it twice now. :) I'll have to keep you updated. I intend to do it three times a week for at least a couple months. We'll see if the reviews are true before I go buying the whole set. :) I have to say.. I DONT LIKE workout dvds. At all. But, this one is really easy to follow and is broken up into 5 10-minute segments. I dig that. Much more attainable than one, solid hour long workout if you ask me. It's all mental, right?

Here's to Monday! Let's make it a good week!

Open Letters

Saw this idea on Neely's blog ... :)

Dear Microsoft Outlook's "scheduled delivery" function for email- I tested you FIVE times last week. FIVE. And you worked. So, when I pre-scheduled a very important email to be sent to a large group of employees this morning at 6am, I expected you to work. You disappointed me and left me flying up to the office sans makeup at 6:10 a.m.on a Monday to manually send said email. Thanks for not delivering... both literally and figuratively. :)

Dear grocery store- Why are you out of bananas? I like eating bananas for breakfast every day. Please figure out your shortage before next weekend. Thanks. 

Dear Thursday and Friday- I am so glad I've taken you as vacation days. Now please hurry up and get here. 

Dear Gossip Girl- Thanks for returning tonight. I missed you last week. The GG gang's drama makes me feel more normal.... It also makes me feel like I want to live in a Manhattan penthouse. But whatever... 

Dear big meeting tomorrow- Please please please go as well as last week's meeting went. (I'll be back to blogging normalcy after tomorrow's meeting. Wish me luck!) 

Dear Pres of the US- Thanks to you, my student loans will likely be more manageable next year. High five from the interwebs. I don't care what side of politics you're on... Helping with student loans gets ya points from -->this girl<--

Dear Target Christmas section- Thanks for adding some cheer to my life the other day. :) Just walking through your aisles and listening to Christmas music made me jolly. (I like saying the word "jolly.") When a little boy ran up and turned the Christmas music to cartoon Christmas music, I wasn't as jolly, but whatever.. thanks for giving me my moment. ;)

Dear Core Fusion- I'm very excited for my dvd to arrive so I can try you!

Dear Oklahoma earthquakes- Stopit. For reals. You're freakingmeout.  We've already got tornados...and even had some today WITH more earthquakes. Just give this heartland state a rest! :)

**
And another random Monday thing, check out Chelsea's Make it My Own Monday post today. She and another blogger, Holly, find an outfit on pinterest and let it inspire them each week. They take a pic and post it on Mondays. :) And she's making it a link-up! Totally gonna do it! You should too! Check it out, friends!

This week...

....I started off the week a little sick (from my last blog post)
....Gracie got really sick and we spent an evening at the vet. :( (She's getting better)
....I played a larger part in planning a large meeting for my company. It was well attended and everything went great! (Phew). :)
....Our team had a presentation to another group within the company.
....Our team found out we have a new boss!
....Our toilet stopped working at home. It was special. (It's fine now).

It's been a tinge of a whirlwind week. Despite a little stress this week, I'm so glad everything is winding down on a very positive note! I miss blogland! (I really wish there was a place called Blogland where we could all hang out. That place would also have about 10 wine bars and a few chocolate factories. It is what it is).

Have a great weekend, friends. :)

Do you ever...

....wanna go all Grey's Anatomy and "dance it out?" Sometimes I wanna. (And sometimes I may or may not do it.) Just saying. :)