Thursday, December 22, 2011

Tail waggin Tuesday... i mean Thursday :(

I love the Tail Waggin Tuesday link up that CMae has and i missed this Tuesday so i am linking up today!

So here is Macy's Christmas picture, she is such a sweet girl and loves her sweaters! I can't wait to show you her Christmas presents! But you have to wait until after Christmas! :)

We will also be celebrating her 3rd (21st) Birthday on 26th, so make sure you stop back to wish our sweet fur baby a Happy Birthday!

Macy says Merry Christmas!!

Until Next time,
<3

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I am linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm Loving:  I have only 1 day of work left and then i am off until January 3rd! WooHoo!! Looking forward to the break! On top of relaxing and deep cleaning my house, i get to help my brother and sister in law move into their new house in suburbia Chicago :)

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I'm Loving:  That i get to spend time with my family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, some people are not as lucky, so i am loving that my family lives so close and we can spend time together!
Here is a picture of my side of our family. We are spendign Christmas Eve with my side and Christmas Day with Joe's side, it will be a great time!What are your plans for the Holidays?


Looking forward to seeing these 3! That little girl is going to love Christmas! She is just too funny!

I'm Loving:  This chap stick, i LOVE chap stick and can never have enough (might have a problem:)) and when i saw Candy Cane chap stick, i thought it will be great and it is!! I was looking everywhere in town for extras and bought 4 last night :)

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I'm Loving:  That i am slowly putting together my New Year's Resolutions, but i am not sharing yet! I will next week :) What are your resolutions? I still need some inspiration for mine :)
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I'm Loving:  Of course my sweet husband and furbaby Macy, Macy's birthday is coming up on Monday and i can't wait to give her Birthday bone :)


I am keeping my list short this week, because next week i will have lots to blog about and share!

 I am also looking for some great appetizer recipes for a New Years Party, please share them with me if you will email me and share! I love new recipes, or if you have a favorite dessert recipe you would like to share. :)

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday! If i am not back before Saturday have a Merry Christmas!

Until next time,
<3

Monday, December 12, 2011

Christmas Decorating & 101 in 1001 things

I finally got a few Christmas pictures of the house loaded onto the computer, i have added a few things and changed a few things around since these were taken, so i apologize for it not being complete :) I will take those when all the gifts are wrapped and we are closer to Christmas! I can't believe there is only 12 days of shopping left! Crazy how fast the time has gone, here in Iowa we do not have any snow yet and I am hopeful we will have some before Christmas, we are getting rain on Monday and Tuesday and hopeful that next week the snow will come, i really do enjoy having a White Christmas :) Do you have snow yet?



 Of course Macy has her own stocking at our house and it will be filled from Santa with her favorite treats :)


 I asked for the Willow tree Nativity for Christmas one year and was very lucky to get almost all the pieces to it and then for my Anniversary the following year i was able to buy the 2 missing pieces to complete the set, i am so happy with it and just love it! I think it looks great!
I saw this idea on a blog last year and thought i would try it out this year, i just put ribbon on the door and then went to Hancock Fabric to buy mini clothes pins and that is how i have attached the cards, i have 2 doors with the ribbon in case we get too many cards :) How do you display your Christmas cards?


I had extra bows and didn't want them to go to waste, so i decided to add them to our light fixture above our kitchen table :)

Another thing off my 101 in 1001 days list :) 

A week ago my friend Janelle and I decided to take a Holiday Appetizer cooking class, it was fun and i got lots of really great recipes and i am excited to try a few of them on my own this Holiday season! We are hoping to take another couple cooking classes when the new class schedule comes out after the new year. Have you taken a cooking class? Did you learn a lot? I did learn a lot from this cooking class it just shows that sometimes things can be a lot easier then what you think and i need easy and good recipes :) What is your favorite Holiday Appetizer? If you would like to share the recipe, i would love to have it :) Below are some pictures of our class. (please excuse how terrible i look haha)

As a class we made all the stuff you see on the table, we all picked one recipe to make so we had time to taste everything.

I wanted t leave you with a our sweet Macy's Christmas picture, i know you just love it :) I dont' think she can get any cuter :) She says Merry Christmas :)

Until next time,
<3


Friday, December 9, 2011

Happy Friday! Do you coupon? :)


TGIF!! I have been so busy this week, the week has flown by! But i am really really looking forward to the weekend, i want to catch up on sleep, catch up on cuddling with my little Macy girl and catching up with my husband, he has been busy studying for finals, finishing up end of semester projects and working overtime, he is a busy man, but i am so proud of him for everything he is doing. I also need to do laundry and clean our house, but who wants to do those things :)

I have finished all my Christmas shopping, but now all those bags and presents sit in the guest bedroom in need of wrapping, i am hopeful that task can also get completed this weekend! Do you have your wrapping done, or do you like to wait until the last minute to wrap? I LOVE to wrap presents, but i am the person that usually likes to wrap a few here and there so i can enjoy all that wrapping fun :)

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I am also going to be doing some shopping with coupons at Target, if you have not heard about the gift card sale, please go here and check it out. http://coupons.target.com/target-holiday-elves-coupons I need some ink cartridges for home and with any purchase of ink cartridges you get another $5 target gift card, so i have about 5 things i need to pick up which total over 65 dollars so with coupons and the savings of the gift cards, i am hoping to walk out of Target with my purchases and paying about $20!! So wish me luck! I will of course blog about my savings!! :) Do you coupon? If so what sites do you use to get the best deals? I really like to use http://www.krazycouponlady.com/ she has scenarios to get the best deals with store coupons and also manufacturing coupons. Last week i had a $2 off Maybelline lip color coupon and got the new Baby Lips, lip gloss for .97 cents!! I was so happy and love the baby lips, if you have not tried them you can get the coupon here http://coupons.target.com/beauty-coupons and it is good until the end of December! I really like the peppermint one, which one is your favorite?

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I hope everyone has a great weekend! Can't wait to hear about your plans and to see if you coupon! :)

Until next time,
<3

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I am back for my What I'm Loving Wednesday link up with Jamie! I have missed doing this! So i am excited to be back!
I'm Loving:  That today is November 30th and tomorrow starts one of my favorite months! December is filled with family, traditions, snow, snuggling with blankets and hot chocolate while watching Christmas movies, love and time off work from December 22nd until January 3rd! I also love how nice people seem to be in the month of December, we all seem to have smiles on our faces and love in our eyes! I wish everyone was that happy all year round!
I'm Loving:  That i am almost done with my Christmas shopping! Let the wrapping begin! I still have a few things left to get and then stocking stuffers for the hubby and furbaby!  How is your shopping coming? Are you done, have you not started?
I'm Loving: That i am almost ready to send my Christmas cards out in the mail, hopefully by this weekend, i will be making a delivery to the post office! Have you sent yours yet?  

I'm Loving: This coat, i have a pink pea coat that is my favorite but it has seen better years :( so i am looking for something new that is pink :)

I'm Loving:  That our sweet niece turned 2 and she is so funny and i just love watching her grow! I am excited to see her at Christmas and watch her really open her presents!
I'm Loving:  Of course i am loving my sweet and hard working husband and our adorable, spoiled furbaby Macy!!
Hope everyone is having a great week! Can't wait to see what you are loving!

Until next time,
<3

Monday, November 28, 2011

Hello! Updates!

I have been a terrible blogger lately, i guess life is getting in the way, busy busy!

I have been really trying to get through some things on my 101 things 1001 days list, but i have not done a very good job, but within the last 2 weeks i have knocked a few things off my list which is great! I will get to those things in a bit.

We celebrated our nieces 2nd birthday on Friday November 11th, her actually birthday was not until the 23rd, but they were back, so we got her a Dora cake, gifts and balloons! She had a ball and she is talking so much more! She is such a little person and i just love to watch her grow and change it is the best! Here she is saying my name on video, well she says Mel, but i will take it! Please excuse my annoying voice and i repeat the wrong thing back that she said, but i must have been too excited about it catching it on video! :) 
We got Lily and Dora and Boots blanket and some ribbit pajamas, she loves to jump like a frog!
She also loves cake! My mom got her a Boots, Dorey(as she calls Dora) and a Go Go (as she calls Diego) cake :)


One of my things on my  101 things in 1001 days  list was to make a wish on November 11, 2011 at 11:11. My office made it very easy that day for me to get my wish in, we were having a staff retreat and we got to stop the meeting so everyone could make a wish at 11:11! I thought that was so cool, that is why i love my JOB! :)

I also have never been to a Midnight Premiere of a movie and wanted to do that, so when my sister said she wanted to get tickets to Breaking Dawn Part 1 for the midnight showing i was all over it! So we ordered 3 tickets and a friend/coworker Janelle went with us as well. I thought the movie was good and i am anxious for part 2 to come out next November, some people were not thrilled with it, but i enjoyed it. A couple scenes in the movie i didn't like and they kind of made me uncomfortable, but other than that it was good! Did you see it? What did you think?

My sister, Janelle and I waiting in line



Janelle and I after the movie, we were tired :)
And last but not least, i have never been shopping on Black Friday, for some of you i am sure you are gasping :). I worked many Black Fridays when i worked retail in college and always told myself i would never do it, it was too early and no deal was that good to stand in the freezing cold, well i fooled myself and decided to hit the sales this Black Friday. My co-shopper partner in crime my sister and I got on the road at 10:00 p.m. on Thursday and headed out, i wanted to drive by one of our Targets and Best Buy to see the lines, they were crazy! I guess there were some fights at Best Buy, we tried to take a few pictures, but they didn't turn out too well (as you will see below). So we started our shopping at Kohls and bought 125 dollars worth of stuff and saved over 205! So it was well worth it, then we headed to Younkers (which might be Bon Ton or Boston's in your areas) then Target, Wal-mart and Sears, we were home at 5 a.m. and ready for bed! I went to Best Buy later in the day and actually got a better deal then the door buster sale they had that morning, so i was happy about that! All in all, it was a great experience and we shall see, if i do it again! Are you a Black Friday Shopper? If so what is the best deal you got?

My sister and I ready to SHOP :)


As you can see Best Buy was getting rowdy at 10.



I know this blog was picture over loaded! I hope you guys stick with me and keep reading! :)  A giveaway is coming soon, so tell your friends to come over and become a follower! I will be catching up on your blogs this week! Can't wait to see what you have been up to!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and has kicked off the Holiday shopping season! My tree is up and most of my presents have been bought. Next blog post will be holiday decor at my house, stay tuned!!

Until next time,
<3

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Happy Halloween, Happy Birthday & What I'm Loving Wednesday!

  I hope everyone had a great Halloween! We had a great day and i just love handing out candy to all the kids, plus they all love Macy :) We also got to see Lily and she was the cutest lady bug i have ever seen :) (of course i am not biased at all :))We went to my parents house to Lily all dressed up and i have been waiting for about 4 months for her to say my name and she gave me THE BEST early birthday present and said my name on Halloween! I was so happy!!! As you can tell she loves her Aunt Mel :) This is also my link up for What I'm Loving Wednesday it is all about my niece and Macy :)

She loves her aunt Mel :)
Macy's pumpkin, it is so cute, just like her!!
I just love this picture!
So sweet!!
She likes to "walk" with her hands :)
My little pumpkin and me, she doesn't like the flash on the camera :(
Joe's pumpkin :)

Yesterday November 1st was my birthday, so it is always fun to have Halloween and then a birthday! But as you get older birthday's are just another day, but my wonderful husband got me a yummy cake and we had dinner and then just hung out with Macy. Joe was headed to Vegas today so we were busy getting things together for him, but i had a wonderful weekend and a wonderful Monday and Tuesday! Here is to enjoying my last year of being in my twenties!! :) Crazy huh? Below is the picture from my in-laws house on Sunday.
Until next time,
<3