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?

Being "too" nice?

I smile a lot.

I like to make others happy b/c it makes ME happy. 

I don't really enjoy confrontation unless it's really worth it. 

I genuinely have a positive outlook on most things. 

I feel pretty blessed 99% of the time. 

So, why have I been told that I'm "too nice" sometimes? 

There's a difference between being nice and being a pushover...and I am not the latter, so I think that's why I get frustrated if people assume I'm a pushover just b/c I'm nice. What's that famous quote... "Don't mistake my kindness for weakness..." Yup...that's a great saying and so accurate. 

Anyway, it can be frustrating to be told or treated as though I'm "too nice." I mean.. sure... I can probably come across as nicer than some people would be in a situation but maybe it's because I only get riled up at things that really get under my skin or things that I believe in. And I do often attempt to be a peacekeeper in stressful situations. And also.. I THRIVE in stress oftentimes, unlike some people. So I function pretty well in crazytown situations. I know it's not always meant to be an insult that I'm "nice" but it doesn't make it less frustrating sometimes. 

Honestly, I don't like the person I become when I let myself get really bitchy and I wouldn't like looking myself in the mirror if I was viewed as a bitch. I stand up for myself when merited, but it also takes me a lot longer to get to the point that I'm frustrated enough to vocalize it. And I know when I get there, I don't come down easily from it. Maybe that's it. *shrugs* 

I bet if you asked Eric if he thinks I'm "too nice" when I'm a crappy mood, he'd fall over laughing. So, I think it just comes from people that don't know me as well. 

I was telling my friend, Sara (a fellow attorney) about this random rant and she replied with the funniest thing ever: "Maybe just remind people more that you have an (expletive here) law degree. They don't give JDs to nice people." hahahaha... I love her... :)

End rant. Thanks for listening...er...reading. What about you? Have people commented that you're "too nice" or "too aggressive" or "too ____(fill in the blank)?" I'm curious. Personally, I just think we're all just "too fabulous." ;) Happy Friday, loves. 

Thanksgiving Weekend (Finally!)

This is me... finally getting around to doing a Thanksgiving weekend post a week late.. haha.. Sheez. 

Anyhoodle... 

Thanksgiving itself was great! I am so bummed that I didn't take a single photo, though. This was a big year b/c my mom and Eric's familia finally met! (I know I know...you're saying what all of our friends said to us face to face.."They haven't met yet and you've been dating HOW long?!" haha). Anyway, my mom and I went out to Eric's parent's house for some fabulous food and festivities. Although I probably took a year off my life worrying about how it was going to go, everything went totally fine. I'm such a worry wart about dumb things sometimes. I also had wine. That helps. I talk a lot about wine on here, don't I? haha... Whatever. Anyway, many blessings and things to be thankful for, especially the company. :)

Friday, TU had an early (11am) game, so we opted to have a breakfast tailgate. Eggs, sausage, pancakes, bacon, biscuits, gravy, you name it... Good stuff, people. :) It was a little windy and cold, but we had a good time nonetheless. :)

And Blaze was in town from Dallas! I miss this chick! :)

Maddox was very excited about his first TU game.. future alumni in the making. ;) 

Sadly, TU was not victorious. :(

Friday night, Lauren and I had a girls night of wine and sushi! She was in town from the Chi. :)

We didn't mean to color coordinate. 

Saturday night, Eric and I headed out to have dinner for our three year dating anniversary! :) It's actually kinda weird b/c we went on our first DATE on July 26. Soooo we've technically been dating 3.5 years. But, he was kinda loosely dating some other unimportant hussy girl and I went on a couple dates with someone else, so we called it "official" the weekend of Thanksgiving. Silly, right? We're both very stubborn people who were afraid to fall for each other...or at least admit we were falling...haha... I remember it being something like "I don't want you to date anyone else." And then "Well, I dont want YOU to date anyone else." And then "Okay, well... let's just agree that we're dating only each other.".... "Okay, I'm okay with that." haha...

Soooo, we had a good time at a new, local restaurant, Juniper, and then we talked about it and decided we kinda both want to celebrate our anniversary in July... haha. Yeah, I'm serious. So, we celebrated, had a great time, and then made an executive relationship decision to celebrate 4 years this July and officially make the switch over to Julyiversary. We're dumb. I know.

My roomie and I put our tree up on Monday! :) It's small (just about 6 feet) but it's the first time I've had a tree up in my OWN house that's bigger than just a little mini tree. :) The star has some issues staying upright. We just think it's quirky-cute and leave it. Our whole living room has gone festive-garland, candles, etc. I love it!

We may have listened to Ludachristmas while decorating. Yeah. We did.  I highly recommend if you're looking for hilarious randomness.

So, that was Thanksgiving plus some! :) Happy almost weekend, friends!

It's OK Thursday!

One of these days, I'll sit down and do a post about Thanksgiving weekend, but this week has been busy and I'm digging blogging about pre-assigned topics of sorts. So, with that said, It's OK Thursday, friends!
It's OK...
...to have still not filled in the "about me" section of my blog. I'll get to it and it will be fabulous! 
...to feel like it's mid-December, even though today's only the 1st. But then also be shocked that it's already the end of the year!
...to not want to get all dressed up for NYE this year, even though it's usually one of my FAVORITE things to do. (I'm craving something like a lodge/cabin with a fire and board games. And wine. Duh. Must have wine). 
...to be so busy with stuff that you become unmotivated to do any of it. (Does that ever happen to you?)
...to bake it...using the box/pre-mix. 
...to want to take a day off work just to watch Christmas movies all day in my pajamas...and possibly do it. 
...to eat while watching the VS Fashion Show.
...to mentally have an issue buying a fashion magazine when the person on the cover is still in her teens. 
...to really want an elf on a shelf even though you don't have kids. (C'mon.. It'd be really funny for my roomie and I to scare each other with the little elf man in strange places..haha).
...to get teared up at any of the cute, cheesy Hallmark or Folgers holiday commercials. (I mean.. her brother comes home from WAR in one of them... )

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). :)