R.I.P. Ruth E. McDaniel

June 16, 1916 - January 29, 2010

We lost my dear Grandma Ruth 1+ week ago after 93 years of life. We just had her funeral this past Thursday. It was very tough for me - cried a lot, but she is definitely in a better place. The past year had been rough for us seeing her health & mind go significantly down hill. I have a LOT of great memories with her that I will cherish forever. I still really can't believe she's gone. But it is ironic that the day of her funeral it was 40 degrees and very sunny. We've been in between snow storms the past 2 weekends, but the clouds moved away and God brought out the sun. He knows grandma always hated being cold! And now I'm snowed in with 12-18 inches of snow.

This picture was from Christmas 2008. It was one of her first times playing the Wii bowling - as you can see she was very excited about it. And she actually did good for a 90 year old.


<3 you G-ma

New Year's Resolution(s)

Normally I don't like to make a habit of making New Year's resolutions...it's just something else to not do & then be mad at yourself. But this year I've created a few that I think will be easy to accomplish:

1. Make one new recipe a week (considering I don't cook much, this should be attainable for me)

2. Start to run more - I don't think I will do this until it gets warmer outside, but I'd like to 'enjoy' running more. I've been working out, but I think if I start running it will really pick up my game!

3. Make a quilt

4. Lose another 10 lbs (this past year I probably lost about 25 lbs total. I'm starting to feel great, but I could stand to lose another few - esp for Lins' wedding in May 2010)

Hope everyone had a great holiday & a Happy New Year :)

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!!!