Another year older (*sigh*)...

Well I'm officially 24. There was no turning back -- no stopping it. I have decided to face the fact that I can't change how old I am & to deal with it (at least till next year...25 is gonna be a tough one!)

Overall, this Christmas was a pretty good one. We made all our rounds visiting family & friends, but I'm so sad that Will is back to work already. I enjoyed having him home for a long 4 day weekend, though.

So anyway here is how we spent our holiday weekend...

Tuesday the 22nd:

After Will got off work, we had our little Christmas -- just the four of us. We stayed at home, exchanged gifts, and watched Elf together by our Christmas tree.

This UGA shirt was in my stocking. It is the softest t-shirt ever! I also got two Jillian Michael's exercise DVDs, underwear, a Starbucks coffee mug, & Reese's Christmas trees in my stocking. My big Christmas gift, though, was that Will paid off my credit card in full! Best gift ever! =)

Will going through his stocking! He got socks, underwear, an oven mitt & brownie mix (he loves to cook!), a new lunch box (he lost his in the wreck), a razor & razor blades, a "manly" Starbucks coffee mug, & candy.

I also ordered a bottle of wine from the winery we went to in Savannah & a quarter collecting book for the next series of quarters coming out in 2010. He loved them!

Santa also brought Missy & Tini gifts. They each got a bone & a reindeer Bo-Bo.

Tini does NOT want to share her bone with Missy!

Wednesday the 23rd:

We had to planned to go to El Sombrero to eat with my friends for my birthday and then head over to the Monkey Barrel to hear Mary Susan sing.

There was the most beautiful sunset on the drive from Athens to Gainesville!!! I knew it was gonna be a good night! =)

Two of my high school friends, Alayna & Brittany, with me at El Som.

Blythe, one of my friends from North Georgia, stopped by to say hey! It's been TOO long since I've seen her!

At midnight, Mary Susan sang Happy Birthday to me at The Monkey Barrel! Oh how I love her!!!

Mary's "audience": Molly, Erin, Me, & Brittany

With my sweet Will!

I had so much fun getting to see all my friends! I even got to see people from high school that I hadn't seen in forever. It was a good night!

Thursday the 24th (Birthday!):

The next day for my birthday Will brought me breakfast in bed. We just lounged around the entire day & watched movies. We also ordered Golden Buddha, my favorite, for dinner. The weekend before, Will took me shopping for my birthday to Dress Up Boutique (an adorable Dahlonega store that one of my sorority sisters owns) & I bought three dresses, leggings, a hat, jewelry, a scarf, and boots. He also bought me two pairs of jeans that I DESPERATELY needed! He also let me get a birthday massage! =) I got a monogrammed blanket for our bedroom, too. (I also saw Gramma earlier this week & she gave me a water lily picture that she painted herself for my birthday.) Later that night we went over to my parents house to have cake (red velvet from Green's Grocery...mmm!) My mom gave me a monogrammed market tote from Cozy Corner (the FIRST thing I have with my new initials on it) & a gift card to Pier 1. After that, we went back to Kathy's house & played games with Erin & Daniel. We also had Christmas with Kathy that night. I got a Wal-Mart gift card & a Pier 1 wallet. Kathy also gave me a brown & teal hot chocolate gift set for my birthday. Will got a Wal-Mart gift card, too, bottled Cokes & Root Beer, a NY Yankees puzzle, & the last bottle of wine in the Braves charity wine collection.

Friday the 25th (Christmas!):

On Christmas morning, we woke up & headed over to my parents house to exchange gifts. In my stocking we got marinades (Will is OBSESSED with marinades!) and a bunch of other edible treats and candies. We also got a new knife set, an Olive Garden gift card (our favorite!), a hand painted ornament, a hot chocolate gift set & mugs, and Night at the Museum II. For brunch we went over to my Grandmother's house in Gainesville. Will & I got even MORE snacks & treats, another Olive Garden gift card, a Target gift card, an ornament, & two wooden wine boxes. After heading back to Kathy's for nap time, we went over to Erin & Daniel's house. We ate dinner with them, played games, & watched a movie. We had a great Christmas!

Christmas brunch at Gramma's

Saturday the 26th:

We woke up & went shopping to take advantage of the after Christmas sale. We went to Pier 1 where I bought 21 BEAUTIFUL Christmas balls for our tree next year! They are soooooo pretty! (Thanks, Mom!) We also went to Target & bought Will a new travel coffee tumbler. That night we had two parties to go to...

Missy & Me were twins!

Party #1 was at Erin & Daniel's house. It was for Ryan's birthday (a guy that Will works with & one of Daniel's best friends).

Here's Will, Ryan, & Daniel -- "Cause they're the 3 best friends that anybody could have..."

The next party was at Brett Fowler's house (one of our good friends from high school). It was just a Christmas party for a bunch of Gainesville High School folks. There were people there from the class of 2000 all the way down to the class of 2007. Craziness!

Sunday the 27th:

We went up to Sky Valley to meet the Williams side of the family for lunch. We ate at the Dillard house! It was so good to see Will's grandparents...we haven't seen them in so long! For my birthday, Oma handmade me a quilt -- such a special gift! For Christmas she also gave me a beautiful scarf, gloves, & a Wal-Mart gift card. She also put together a little gift bag of goodies to celebrate New Years! She always gives the most thoughtful gifts!

I wanted to take a picture with little Tini since we matched, but she is scared of cameras & wanted down. She's scared of everything!

That night we headed back to Athens, unpacked & put away everything, ordered Olive Garden to go & watched The Holiday. It felt soooooooo wonderful to be back home! =)

Here are just some of the Christmas treats we got from our families! We are gonna bring in the New Year with a few extra pounds!!!

The Not-So Magical Nights of Lights

The Magical Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier Islands has been a yearly tradition for us ever since we started dating. We have made it to the lights ALMOST every single year over the past 10 Christmases that we have been together. Every year they seem to add new displays to make it even better than the year before. This year, they rerouted the driving course to expand the mileage. I'm guessing this was to make it seem even longer & even better...but it wasn't. You would think since they made it into a longer course they would add a whole lot more lights to make it bigger & brighter. Nope! It ended up being just a bunch of empty stretches of darkness instead. Some of my favorite things they have done every year were missing. It seemed as though they hadn't even finished putting everything up. Not to mention the price of the lights was almost DOUBLE what it has been the past years. I'm not sure what they were thinking this year in this horrible economy, but we tried to enjoy OUR LAST TIME EVER at the Magical Nights of Lights...

On our way...pre-disappointment.

This was one thing they added...a giant carousel. It was cool, but not worth the jacked-up price and quarter miles of darkness amidst the course.

One of my favorites over the years past...The Wizard of Oz.

Cute little ginger bread house

Long time tradition:

Will & his turkey leg; Me & my spiced apple cider

You will be missed...

Deck the halls!

Well, we are all decorated for our last Christmas in our little condo! Our first home will officially be on the market in January. It's a bit bittersweet...

Our cute little guest bathroom...

I'm obsessed with these little Christmas trees & hand towel that I found at Target last year. My favorite colors!

Our bathroom...this glass vase is filled with vintage ornaments from both of our families.

Our bedroom...we move this end table from the living room to our bedroom at Christmas to make room for the tree. This year we added this glass vase filled with jingle bells (brown & blue, of course!)

Our dining room table...this is our favorite Christmas decoration. A cute little sleigh that I found at Kirkland's (one of my all time favorite stores!)

Our kitchen...a towel that I stole from my mom. It was a teacher gift from one of her students last year.

I love my new little garland on our mantle. I bought it last year after Christmas on sale.

The candlescape on our coffee table. This candle smells like a Christmas tree since ours is artificial. It is surrounded by little gold ornaments! =)

Our tree! It has come a long way since our first Christmas!

I added bows to the tree this year...reminds me of my grandmother's tree in Toccoa.

I put jingle bells on the tree this year, too. (They're my new Christmas obsession!)

Our nutcracker collection! This year we added a pirate nutcracker to the bunch in honor of our Savannah trip that we took in August.

Little Missy...loving the Christmas blanket, of course!

On your mark, get set, Shred!

This is the 1st time in my life that I have not had free access to a gym...EVER! And for the past 6 months my body has been paying for it. So I have been having to come up with creative ways to stay fit. Don't get me wrong - I am a FIRM believer that you don't need an expensive gym membership to stay in shape! But being creative & keeping with it is a bit more challenging.

So, starting today, this is one of the creative things that I'm going to try...

I have been obsessed with Jillian Michaels ever since I watched the Biggest Loser for the first time! I love her intensity & her motivational techniques are insane! Not to mention she actually knows what she's talking about. I heard about this 30 Day Shred "deal" from a friend. You do this DVD every single day for 30 days. It claims you can lose 20 pounds in 30 days...now I don't buy that (at least not without some major eating changes - which by the way I'm not really willing to do) but I am hoping for some toning results. In reality, you don't usually see muscular differences until at least 8 weeks & you don't see significant changes in body fat until about 12 weeks...so, 30 days? We'll see! Let the Shred begin!

Simple gifts

This year Will & I celebrated Thanksgiving three times!

The first one we had was the Saturday before Thanksgiving with our friends. Emily Conner, one of my close friends from college, hosted it at her parents lake house in Gainesville. Everyone brought their favorite dish. Will & I brought macaroni & cheese and cheese apples - two of my mom's best recipes! The dinner was beautiful & so yummy. It was so great getting to hang out with everyone, too!

Thanksgiving #2 was at our house in Athens with my parents & brothers. My mom came down & spent the night with us the night before Thanksgiving. The next morning we made blueberry muffins for breakfast & then began cooking lunch.

My beautiful table with the dishes we got when we got married (we really do use them ALL the time!)
My little centerpiece with my Publix pilgrim salt & pepper shakers! =)

Mom helping out with the turkey!

Dad carving the finished product!

And the final spread:

Seasoned baked turkey breast

Sweet potato souffle (Mom's specialty)

Macaroni & cheese

Squash caserole

Stuffing

Fried ocra

& Apple pie for dessert!

Thanksgiving #3 was at Erin's house in Gainesville with Will's mom's side of the famliy this past Sunday. This was the first time in a very long time that every single member of the family was together. Everyone pitched in to make a dish. Will & I made my grandmother's squash casserole...yum!

At last!!!

The traditional two-year anniversary gift is cotton! For our anniversary (way back in August) Will told me that he wanted to have a "cotton" quilt made, but he wanted me to pick out the colors and patterns. We found this place online, based out of Southern California, that makes handmade custom quilts:

http://www.cadencecustomquilts.com/

I wanted the quilt to reflect our wedding colors - brown, teal, & ivory. I also found this really adorable double wedding ring design that was popular in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. "They consisted of rings that could be interlocked (www.womenfolk.com/quilt_pattern_history/wedring.htm)."

Here is the beautiful finished product that just came in today...

The patterns used are some of my favorites - toile & paisley! They spent about 250 hours of careful labor to construct this work of art! All of the arches hand-appliqued and the entire quilt was built to my custom specifications. Kona cotton was used for the background fabric, which is an extremely high quality material & makes for the perfect traditional two-year anniversary gift! I still plan on taking it to be embroidered with our initials and wedding date to give it the perfect finishing touch.

It has been a long 3 months waiting on this gift, but it was well worth the wait! Coincidentally, it came in on the three-year anniversary of the day Will proposed to me! So special!

Take whatcha get!

Will with his little rental car.

He said it was "a piece" but I guess that's what you get when you only have a $30 a day allotment from the insurance company...

(I made him take this picture...if you couldn't already tell!)

It's raining, again...& it poured!

Well...Will totaled HIS car today.

Poor little guy...today was just not his day. He started off today with a wake-up call from a guy at work wondering where he was. He had overslept about an hour & a half (only the 2nd time in 3 years...I think that's pretty good!)

About 45 minutes later I got a call from a number that I didn't recognize (I don't usually answer if I don't know the number.) A few minutes later the same number called back. I thought it was UGA calling about an appointment I had later in the day. It was 8:00 in the morning...I was just going to call them back later. Then they called a THIRD time! I had thoughts running through my head that it might be the police!!! They would never leave me a message saying that my husband had been in a car accident. They would want to talk to me - not my voicemail. So I answered it!

Yep! My husband had been in an accident.

I was relieved to hear that it was Will, himself, calling me & not someone else saying that he was unable to talk or something terrible like that. He told me that he hydroplaned & flipped his car & that he needed me to come get him. I through on my shoes & headed out the door.

When I got there his car looked horrible. Thank God he was wearing his seat belt & that He was looking after Will!!! He could have been seriously hurt. He hydroplaned all the way across the other side of the road, into a ditch, and flipped. He has a black eye from hitting his head on the steering wheel & a scratched up hand & arm. (But when I got there he was covered in blood & dirt & looked a lot worse...it was scary!)

So ontop of being late, the rain, hyroplaneing, & totaling the car...the cop wrote him a ticket for "slick tires". Not to mention the warning for "failure to maintain lane".

Jerk!

Ready ready ready...ready to run!

Got my running shoes today!! A little tacky...but that's what makes runners cool! =)

I got them from the coolest little store in Braselton:

http://www.runnersfit.com/

The guy thats owns this store will watch you walk and determine what your gait is. Then he pulls some shoes according to what you need. Today, Michael & I ran a mile, walked one, ran one, & walked the fourth. I think they still need some breaking in but MUCH better than my other ones! Thanks Dad!

Determined to become a runner...

I have always had a love-hate relationship with running, but honestly it truly is the best exercise! On Monday, I ran 4 miles with Brittany (well...ran 2, walked 1, ran 1). It felt great getting back into it. And surprisingly it was easier than I thought it would be. Brittany is training for a 1/2 marathon on Thanksgiving & I could definitely use her motivation to help me stay consistent.

The only problem was that I ran with the same shoes I bought 3 years ago when Brittany & I trained for the March 1/2 marathon that we never ran! My ankles were hurting the entire run & my left hip flexor was in serious pain for the rest of the day...I mean I had a limp! So before I continue on with my quest to become a runner I'm gonna need some new shoes. Thanks to Daddy-Dearest...he's gonna help me out!

And the holiday season begins...

I love Halloween because it's the holiday that kicks off the entire holiday season. Once it arrives, Thanksgiving & Christmas are never far behind.

This year for Halloween, little Missy was a monster.

And little Tini was a pumpkin!

Will & I started having a pumpkin carving contest back in 2004. Each year it has gotten bigger and bigger. The first year it started out just the two of us. Then we challenged Erin & Daniel in 2005. The following year we had more people over to Kathy's house & even had a pizza man deliver a pizza to judge the pumpkins. The past two years we have been doing it at Erin's house. There are now prizes & lots of fun Halloween snacks. We still have a pizza man judge but this year dressing up was added. Above are the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd place winners. Will, Mary Susan, & I came in 3rd with our Frankenstein pumpkin.

Trying to get the girls to cooperate for a family picture. They had just spotted an orange kitty and were ready to go get it!

Still watching that darn cat...just wasn't our night!