More Christmas Decorations

Since I've already showed my tree, I wanted to put up a few more pics of my other decorations. This one I'm very proud of! I made this latch hook piece probably 15+ years ago. I'm so glad my mom saved it, so now I can use it as part of my yearly decorations. I remember it taking forever for me to finish this - but it turned out pretty good. And I'm glad it's something I will actually use - not like most of the other random latch hook stuff you see in Wal-mart.



These are vases I just got as a free gift from Ulta for buying perfume. Of course I already had the brightly colored decorations to throw in there. But I'm excited because I can use these all year round =)


This, of course, is my cute cat! But that's not why I took this picture. The Christmas tree thing is something my mom quilted for me last year. It's supposed to go in the center of a coffee table, but since I don't have one I thought it would go perfectly here. It matches the khaki color perfectly! My mom also made the papasan cushion cover - thank God for moms!!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

I had just gotten off the phone with my parents - telling them how I wasn't going to put my normal (good) ornaments on the tree this year. Since it's Callie's first year and she's still a kitten, I didn't want to risk her breaking my semi-good ornaments. Some of them I've had since I was a kid that my mom gave me when I moved out. I keep having these nightmares that I wake up & the tree will be laying in the floor. So I was telling them how I wanted to make a JMU tree and just get cheap purple & gold ornaments at Walmart or something. In the meantime I was pulling into the Family Dollar (F.D.) parking lot to get a string of white lights. I put my tree up last night & strung all the lights & realized once I was done that the large string wasn't working. It wasn't worth trying to figure out which light was broken so I decided to buy a whole new strand. I walk into F.D. and would you believe they had this big purple garland with gold accents. I was SUPER excited! And then I looked around some more and found purple & gold ornaments to match. I think I only spent $25 and decorated my whole tree. I'm really impressed with how it turned out, although the pictures below don't do it justice. My camera doesn't take the best pictures with the mini lights on the tree. I think I'm going to make a Duke Dog tree topper - gotta find a good picture & maybe cut it into the shape of a star. I know I'm a dork - but this really made my night! Another thing crossed off the list - now it's time to wrap presents!



Close-up of the pretty purple & gold colors - GO DUKES!!!!

New Furniture

I got my new bedroom furniture a few weeks ago & I LOVE it! My bedroom finally looks like a real bedroom. I already had most of the accessories - just stored in the basement waiting for nightstands, etc. The photo in the background was created by my cousin in Cali. And of course my devil-eyed cat loves the new bed too. My mom made the beautiful quilt in the picture - she's gotten so good at quilting. Of course I love all the colors in the quilt and it goes great with my brown/orange curtains. This is my semi-safari room, so I have a lot of my giraffe stuff in here, even though you can't tell from the pictures.


And here is my new dresser. The thing towards the right with all my clothes on it I already had. It's a bookshelf from Ikea that I absolutely love. Of course I have too many clothes...but at least they are organized by color ;) I didn't say neatly organized...just organized!


And I'm very thankful that my furniture came with no problems. My parents have friends that have been screwed twice now with ordering furniture. The furniture companies are going out of business or the delivery people are and they paid for their furniture and never got it. It happened twice - so they are raising hell trying to get their money back. And of course my mom read in the paper that the store where I got my furniture (Haverty's) is now closing. So thank God I got it when I did!

Goodbye for now - the next post will have pictures of my Christmas decorations. I haven't fully decorated the tree yet - I'm waiting to see how Callie does just with a bare tree. I hope I don't have to kill her ;)

Recent events...

I know I haven't written in awhile. I've been super busy & I'm sure things will get busier with the holiday season coming up. Here are some pictures from the last month. Most of you have probably seen them on Facebook - but incase you haven't here they are...

Some of my co-workers on Halloween. The entire office dressed up as characters from the Wizard of Oz. It was by far the best year for our costumes. I wish we could have gone out to a bar like this - we could have won some money!


Celebrated BJ's birthday at Bailey's in Central Park. Of course I had to get him a cookie cake - just like old times in High School. I have always been the one to bring goodies for my friend's birthdays. Some things never change! And I got that cake at Potomac Mills. Because that same day Sarah & I took our annual Christmas shopping trip. Of course I didn't have too many things on my list, but came home with a trunk full! And most of the gifts were for me =) Whoops!


I'm so excited about Christmas this year. I can't wait to put up my tree. I'm just praying that Callie will be good & not tear up my tree or ornaments. I've got my squirt bottle ready to cover her in water...if necessary! Below is a sneak peek of my Christmas card. I found a good deal online at Snapfish so decided to order personalized cards. This one one picture from Callie's Christmas photo shoot. She didn't even mind the little collar. In this picture she is singing Christmas carols - hahaha!

Callie is a Gymnast

I have another drying rack set-up to dry my clothes (I know that's probably a sign you have too many, but that's besides the point). Every time Callie is in my bedroom she tries to climb to the top to get the strings on the clothes. So today I decided to take a video of her - she's still so cute & gets into all sorts of trouble - guess that's what kittens do!



*Excuse the mess - I'm cleaning my bedroom and trying to prepare for my new furniture delivery on 10/29 =) I can't wait!!!

Perspective is...

"The way I think about weight loss now. At first I thought the process would have an end point. Now I realize it will always be part of my life."

"Realizing that this is a one-day-at-a-time change,. I know that each small step will lead to a big victory."

"Understanding that even though weight loss is hard work, my health is worth all the tough moments I'm bound to encounter."

(These are quotes from my Weight Watcher magazine)

Laura's Wedding

Laura got married on my birthday (August 29, 2009). It was awesome to have a Hoffman Hall reunion with Holly & Nedda =) I don't think I'd seen them since we graduated. Below is a picture of us with the beautiful bride.



Me & my awesome date - BJ or John - whatever you want to call him.


Me & Ambo! She was a bridesmaid. Doesn't she look GREAT after having a baby four weeks ago?


And me & Becky at the dinner table.

New Addition

Meet my new addition to my sea creature family. Sarah B sent me the awesome seahorse from her vacation in Hatteras. I have these hanging in the first room you see when you walk in my house. The curtains I bought matched the fish perfectly and then I decided that I wanted to collect other painted metal creatures to hang on that wall. I got the crab in a little boutique in Tappahannock, VA.

Here is a close-up of the pretty seahorse. She fits in perfectly!

Meet Delia

This is Delia Reese Bauckman. My good friend since Kindergarten, Amber, had a beautiful baby girl a few weeks ago. She's one of the prettiest babies I've seen. My first visit was Sunday before field hockey - hence the tacky red Field House shirt. Mom & baby are doing great! I visited them again yesterday and got to see Delia in her first bathing suit. We took her too the pool for a little bit - she was not happy about the cold water - it was hilarious!



Posing for Vogue!


I'm not sure if you can tell, but I've lost some weight. I'm excited to see some pictures that don't have triple chins =) So far I've lost 12.2 lbs. I started Weight Watchers about 6 weeks ago and it's going great. I'm actually very motivated to work out & I've been doing well with watching what I eat too. Hopefully the pics of me on this blog will just get skinnier & skinnier!

More Pics of Callie

Of course since I don't have any kids...I've got all the time in the world to take pictures of my cute kitten. I especially want to get lots of pictures when she is still tiny - I know she'll grow up and be a mean ol' cat sooner or later ;) Nothing too exciting has been going on. Work is super stressful & I just finished a week of Vacation Bible School teaching the 3-5 year olds. There were 20+ kids in my class each night and the majority of them were boys! Needless to say it was a LONG week!

I got fresh peaches from the Berry Farm last weekend. They were so delicious! And Callie decided to recycle the box and use it as a toy.


Here is another new toy. I found two awesome cat trees on eBay and they arrived this week. I put the monster one in the basement and this smaller blue one in the living room. I know she likes this one...and I'm hoping she plays with the cool orange one in the basement while I'm at work. This is what my hard earned grass cutting money went to!


She's so cute!


Here is the monster orange one. These trees were a lot cooler than I expected and they were pretty easy to put together.


Just chillin'


She's my little gymnast.

Pirate Party

Me neighbor had an awesome Pirate Party this past weekend. I couldn't believe that everyone actually came decked out in pirate attire. They even had pirate games, treasures, cannon balls, and a pirate ship! And of course it was nice being able to walk across the street to get to it. Thanks to Chris & Josh who let me borrow some pirate garb - I think my outfit turned out pretty well.


Picture of the people waiting in line for the costume contest. My other friend (and neighbor) Melanie won that contest - she's the one in the red & black.


Arrrgh Matey!

My New Little Friend...

Callie is her name & playing is her game. She's a calico kitten who is about 2 months old and she is an awesome new addition to my house. As I'm typing this blog she is standing on the computer table chasing my fingers as I type. I've had her since Saturday and she's provided many moments of entertainment. Below are some of my favorite pics...and even a video of her new toy I got her at Wal-mart.

This is her chilling under the chair on the deck. I was laying out catching some sun rays, but she prefers to lay in the shade and play with her cool toy from the clearance rack ;)


No...she's not trying to escape. She's actually climbing back over the gate to get to the kitty litter - what a smart one! I borrowed the baby gate from Sarah to keep her enclosed in a small area until I knew she would use the litter box. Since she was living outside until I got her I had no clue what she would do. Thank God she took to it right away and we haven't had any problems yet. As you can see from the picture she was making a big effort to get BACK to the potty.


This is another new toy I just got her. She just figured out how to use it tonight...hopefully she'll claw on this and not my furniture.


Here is a cute little video clip of Callie playing with her new favorite toy. I love this one because she can keep herself entertained.



Goodbye until the next cute picture....

4th of July

I had a great 4th of July with my parents & g-ma. It was very low key but we had some DELICIOUS food! Since I've started Weight Watchers again I had to save almost all my points for our dinner: bbq ribs, corn on the cob, fresh fruit, 1 biscuit and the best for last....HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM =) My parents only make it once a year and you wouldn't believe the calories in that thing...but I enjoyed my 1 cup portion down to the last drop. And after dinner I got the family to play ladder ball...even my 93 year old grandma.



As she shrinks, I think I get taller. Makes me look like a giant next to my g-ma.

S'mores

Yummy! One of my favorite things to eat - s'mores. Ooey-gooey marshmallows with melted chocolate =) I had BJ & Jason over one night for these delicious treats. They picked me up and we went to visit Ricky's grave, then to dinner at King's and then back to my house for dessert. Only I would have a personal/indoor s'more maker!

Long Post

I should have posted these pictures a few weeks ago...especially before the Memorial Day one - but oh well. But I still wanted to share what an awesome weekend I had on May 15/16th. Friday - I left work a little early and drove to Richmond to see my best friend & roommate from college, Sarah. She was in town because her sister was graduating from nursing school - I'm so proud of Steph! So I took it as an opportunity to go visit with Sarah & her family. She lives in New Jersey so whenever she comes back home to visit I always try to make a trip up there.

We had a photo shoot before we went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings - reminds me of Harrisonburg...yummy! We got 50 wings between four people and I think we got 5-7 different flavors.



Before we went to dinner Stephanie decided to wear her hair curly like her sister. Don't they look cute?? And TOTALLY like sisters...or even twins?



After I spent the night in Richmond I got up the next day and drove back home to attend the Relay for Life event at King George High School. I always go to support my mom. It was a beautiful day with lots of sun! I did manage to remember sunblock this time and only got a little burnt. I was very excited that Sarah & Addy stopped by to check out the fun!

Addy earned some pink beads and did not want me to take them from her ;) Look at that face - hahahaha! Actually she wasn't mad about anything, I think I just took the picture at a funny time.

"Back away from my necklace Auntie Shell!"


"Ahhhhhh-choooooooo! These are some strange smelling flowers."



Addy found someone's boa and we told her they were flowers. Bless her heart - she believed us and started smelling them. Evidently, anything she thinks is a flower she will bend down and smell it. Every time she sniffed in the feathers would tickle her nose & she would sneeze. I just had to put this picture up! It won't be long before I can't fool her anymore.

Memorial Day Weekend

This has been a great weekend of chilling with my friends and family. I didn't have too many things planned because I really wanted to focus on getting my house ready for my Housewarming party. It's only two weeks away! Plus I've got to get everything ready for Amber's baby shower...the list is always a mile long =)



I've been meaning to take a picture of my new front porch chair set, but always think about it at the wrong time. I searched for awhile before I found these at Walmart. They were running low on stock in Fredericksburg so I drove to La Plata and got them there. Of course the box wouldn't fit in the back of my Honda Civic so we took everything out of the box and literally shoved it in my back seat! They didn't take me too long to put together which was a good thing! And I really like how the red matches my shutters =) As you can also see my windows are open. I really love having the fresh air flow through the house, but unfortunately this weekend it got a little too hot & I had to turn on the AC. I was really loving my last two electric bills...but oh well - I can't fry in my own house!



Yesterday I walked to a cookout at my high school friend's house, Jason (who is also my neighbor). Well actually I didn't walk...I drove my John Deere lawn mower with the cart attached. I know it sounds funny but it was practical - I packed up my Bocce ball set, chair, cooler & food and drove right across the other neighbor's yard =)

One of the things I decided to bring to the cookout was a fruit tray. When you are dealing with boys they only think about having the meats (hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages, shrimp, etc). I was able to use my new Pampered Chef Pineapple Wedger. It's just like the smaller apple one. I bought it because my mom's Relay for Life team was doing a fundraiser through PC so I decided to order a few things. I was a little skeptical, but I was really impressed with how it worked! Yummm...fresh pineapple!



Hope you had a good LONG weekend =)

Becky's Baby

I should have posted this picture a few weeks ago because now Charlie looks so different. My good friend, Becky, had her precious baby boy a few weeks early. We were scheduled to have our normal monthly girl's dinner so we decided to go to Richmond instead to visit Beck & the new baby. Charlie had jaundice when he was born so he was hooked up to a bili light when we were there. We could hold him, but we had to stay near the light station. Of course other people got to hold the lil man for a bit...but you know me - will take whatever chance I get to hold a baby. I just love snuggling with them - and look how perfect he fit on my chest.



Congrats Beck! I'm so happy for you & Jacob =)

Purse Shelf

This one definitely tops the purse shelf I had in college in our apartment. These new shelves span one whole wall in my guest bedroom. I'm so excited they are finally finished! My dad came over on Sunday and got them up & I immediately hung all of my purses. I know I have a lot...but at least now I have a really cool way to display them (and hopefully it will go with the theme once the guest room is complete). You can't really see the hooks, but they are cool little metal hooks I got from Lowe's. When I was imagining what to use I could not have dreamed up a better hook for hanging multiple purses =)



Since my housewarming party is Sunday, June 7th I've created a to-do list of things I want to get done before everyone sees my house for the first time. I don't HAVE to get them done, but it would be really nice. Getting the purse shelf hung was close to the top - now it's time to move onto the next thing.

This is another piece of 'art' that I got for the guest room. As you can tell it matches the other 4 pieces perfectly. I hung this on a smaller wall & I'm going to hang the 4 pictures on one of the longer walls. I'll take more pics as the room gets closer to being finished (which probably won't be for awhile). In order to finish the guest room I have to buy new bedroom furniture for the main bedroom (which I already have picked out). I'm probably going to wait until Christmas & then I'll move my old furniture into the guest bedroom.



Last picture on this topic. I got this lamp at Family Dollar (of all places!) and then sewed the pink stuff around the edges. I'm really happy with how it turned out - this will go on the nightstand. Oh-la-la!

Guest Room

As most of you know I'm super excited about the 'theme' of my guest room. My visions are extreme, but I think we can make it happen. And by we, I really mean my dad (and some of me) First of all, it's where I'm going to house all of my purses. I'm not even sure how many I have - when I hang them up I will take an inventory. But that is what my guest room will be based around. I'll be putting up this awesome shelf to hang & store all of my purses - just above the window. The shelf will span one entire wall. It's hard to explain on here, but I will definitely be taking pictures as it's in progress. My dad & I got the shelving last night at Lowe's [my goal will be to get him to hang the shelves before my Housewarming Party on June 7th]. But also to go with my theme I bought some cool art on Art.com & framed them myself. Each picture cost me about $10 - can't go wrong with that! I'm doing the black, pink & white pics and then I'll have bedding to match. I haven't really found a comforter that I like that has those three colors, so I'm debating whether to have my crafty mom make me a quilt. Then I can pick out all the fabrics and it will match perfectly - which everyone know I LOVE to match ;) Here are the four pictures. I haven't decided whether I'm going to hang them like this or one side by side across the longest wall. I'll have to figure that out once the room is more put together. That will probably be awhile...

Clean Sweep

I'm so excited to finally post a blog about this. I ordered Addy (my best friend's daughter) an awesome gift over the internet; a child's cleaning trolley. Sarah was telling me that Addy has been really interested in carrying around the adult broom and doing everything her momma is doing. Since I know Sarah always keeps a tidy house - I thought it would be perfect to get Addy a little cleaning set of her own. I was also hoping that it will help eliminate her fear of her mother's real vacuum. I was so excited the day it was going to be delivered at my house - I was telling everyone at work about it. I hadn't even told Sarah what I got her, I wanted it to be a surprise for both of them. Here is what the box looks like:



And I wanted to meet up with Sarah & Addy after work the day of delivery but it was Thursday. And Thursdays are her normal day to go to grandma & grandpa's house. I was super bummed...but then I got a text message later in the day saying that grandma wasn't feeling well & that they would be staying home. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't happy that g-ma was sick - but I was selfishly excited that I got to give Addy her awesome gift.

Here we are putting together the cart and Addy's taking an inventory of all the pieces.


And here is her first time using her big girl vacuum. She was a little unsure at first, because you can actually turn the vacuum on and it makes real vacuum noises.


And this is my favorite picture of all - Addy cleaning the floors with her bucket & mop. What a cute girl!


P.S. I don't normally splurge on my friend's kids...my normal rule is no gifts - but I really couldn't pass this one up. So I told Addy the next gift she got would be at graduation :)

I did get a text from Sarah a few days later that Addy was scared at first of her momma's vacuum but then she wanted to get down & play with her own cleaning set. So that was a success too!!!!

Finished Bookcases

This past weekend I finished putting together three bookcases for my entrance/office room. I'm sooo excited about them. I'm sure you're wondering why I chose a dark wood - I have a good reason! I plan to paint this room and also add white wainscoting around the bottom. Normally I'm into lighter woods, but I'm hoping this will work with the color scheme I have in my mind. Now I just need to get the courage to paint!

These are the first two I did - they were SOOOO awesome and super easy to put together. I got them from Target and they were extremely heavy, but really not expensive at all. I think the taller one was only $31 - you can't beat that!



This one was more of a pain to put together (and was more expensive) but I like it the best. I love the nine different cubbies; and of course I've already found little baskets to match the curtains. [I actually had those before I even found the shelves.]



Slowly, but surely, my house is coming together...and I LOVE it! Sometimes I sit and think "I can't believe I actually own a house...what an accomplishment!" 2009 has definitely been a year of changes.

Easter Sunday...

came with a lot of firsts!

1. First Easter in my new house =)

2. First crabs of the season - yummmy! Mom decided she didn't want to cook a traditional Easter dinner, so I offered to buy crabs (esp since I just got my tax refund) But also because they are my ultimate favorite thing to eat & once I found out that Roy's had crabs - I just knew that's what we'd be eating for Easter dinner. So my parents came over to MY house and we covered my table with vinyl tablecloths & newspaper and ate until our bellies were full. Then we went for a walk around the neighborhood to burn off some calories!



Finished product (the pile of shells). And a container full of fresh lump crabmeat to freeze. I think I'm going to make a crab/vegetable soup.


3. First time using my lawn mower - I mowed my neighbor/friend, Melanie's, yard. I have to wait to mow mine because my dad wants to kill the dandelions first =) Who know there was an order of doing that!?!

4. First time I potted my own house plant. I know it sounds silly, but I was very excited about this one. I've had this awesome flower pot for almost a year & when Evelyn, George & the kids came to visit this weekend they brought me an inside plant that needed replanting. So I went and bought some potting soil & proceeded to plant it. Now I hope I can just keep it alive & green!



5. Lastly, Zuri's first Easter basket. I just had to add this hilarious picture of Zuri, Felicia's daughter. Her husband loaded this picture on Facebook and I about died laughing when I saw it. I guess she takes after her Auntie Shell with her love of chocolate. Evidently, they were riding in the car and all the sudden Zuri got real quiet. They looked back and she had a Cadbury Cream Egg oozing out of her mouth - double PEW!