houston recap...

We spent Christmas with my family in Houston this year... and as always... it did not disappoint.

Here's what we were up to...

...we had an engagement party...

...we toasted champagne...

...we tried on wedding dresses...

...we voted on our favorite wedding dress...

...we ate the best shrimp avocado salad ever...

...we then ate the best grilled salmon ever...

...we lounged around...

...we ate lunch outside in tank tops and short sleeves...

...we got mani/pedis...

...we hung out with some blue swans...

...we got the Lily Pulitzer planner we wanted...

...we made an awesome gingerbread house...

...we took engagement pictures...

...we ate kolaches...

...we took crazy family photos with my camera remote...

Told you. Awesome Houston trip.

thankful thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

1) My family. It was so, so fabulous to be able to spend Christmas in Houston with my family. I am coming to realize that having a close-knit family is sometimes a rare thing. This year we hung out with my dad's side of the family in Houston... and I miss them already.

2) Christmas extensions. Isn't December 26th one of the most depressing days ever?? Okay, so it's not really depressing... but it definitely sucks that you have to wait another 365 days for next Christmas. And that is why I love Christmas extensions:) We will have a little post-Christmas celebration with Lance's side of the family and our twin nieces tomorrow... love Christmas extensions!

3) New beginnings. I love new year's resolutions. I love that you get a clean slate... that all of a sudden it doesn't matter how you did on last year's resolutions... just pick some new ones and start over:) This year I'm planning on keeping my list short and sweet... much more manageable.

thankful thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

1) Christmas countdown. Can you believe Christmas Eve is TOMORROW?!?! December has literally flown by this year. Many of our family traditions kick off on the 24th, so Christmas is in full-swing over here... and I love it!

2) Wedded bliss. Even though Christmas is just around the corner, there has been lots of wedding talk happening around this house... wedding colors, engagement pictures, venues, dates... and of course the dress. We went dress shopping for Jenna this week, and found the one:)

3) Warmer weather. And I mean much warmer. Before we left Kentucky, we hadn't seen anything above freezing in almost 3 weeks... with snow still on the ground. Then we were welcomed to Georgia with weather in the 40s and 50s. But now we are in Texas... trading out our sweaters for tank tops and shorts... enjoying the 70s and 80s. I mean seriously... it was 82 degrees here on Tuesday... no lie.

double trouble...

This is what we've been up to...

{the girls & aunt juwa...}

{the girls & uncle lann...}

Aren't my twin nieces just the cutest darn things you've ever seen? Love these girls.

gooooo trojans!!

Today friends, my alma mater, Troy University, is taking on the Ohio Bobcats in the R+L Carriers New Orleans bowl game... therefore, tonight you will find me in front of the TV cheering on those Troy Trojans.

And as an added bonus... I get to see my adorable twin nieces today as well (Lance and I are kicking off our whirlwind travels today)... I will be teaching them to say GOOOOO TROOOOOJANS!!!!

christmas card montage

You might remember me talking about this brilliant idea last year over in this post. I wish I could take credit for this... but I can't. This is another genius idea from Ali Edwards. Maybe one day I'll come up with my own brilliant ideas, but until then... I'm perfectly okay with playing copy cat. As a good friend always reminds me, "All great ideas are meant to be recycled."

Ali basically takes all of the Christmas cards and photos she receives for the year and creates a simple photo montage with all of them. I love it. I have always been one of those people that keeps cards (Christmas, birthday, thank yous, valentines... you name it, I keep it), but really they just sit in a box somewhere stored away. I am in love with this idea. At first, I was a little tentative about cutting and cropping my family and friends with a square paper punch... but I must say, it was kind of liberating. Nice to let my Type A personality live on the wild side a little. I just put the photo or card in my square punch, found my favorite part, and punched away. Here's the basic process...

I ordered this awesome square punch, the Marvy Uchida. I totally copied Ali again here, and purchased the same square punch she recommended on her blog. This punch was the perfect size, and for the most part allowed me to crop everyone inside the square. There were a few families who apparently don't like to stand very close to one another during Christmas photos... and for them, I'm sad to say I had to either separate them into two squares, or cut off some ears...

After punching out all the cards, I had to decide on some type of layout. I tried not to be too OCD about this, and really just tried to mix up the colors. You'll notice that I tried to select a good mix of both pictures and good old fashioned Christmas cards. I like the variation of it all.

Then I just used my favorite adhesive to paste the squares on some red 8x11 paper. I knew I would be using 8x11 sheets, so I let that determine how many squares would go on each page. I changed my layout ever-so-slightly (I guess the OCD did get the best of me) and called it finished. I ended up with 4 pages with 12 squares each.

Last year, I put these in the back of my December Daily book... which I think I will do again. I'm a huge fan. I wonder if this process would work for all of the other zillions of cards I have stored away?

thankful thursday

This Thursday I am thankful for:

1) Christmas cards. I love Christmas cards. I mean who doesn't? I love getting all the pictures of friends and family. It's so fun to see what everyone is up to, even if it's just once a year for some. I'm even more excited this year, seeing as I finally figured out what to do with all of my holiday cards after Christmas... more on this later.

2) Upcoming travels. We have whirlwind travels scheduled for the next few weeks, but we couldn't be more excited. We will drive to Georgia first... then fly to Houston... then fly back... hang out in Habersham... work in Atlanta... then drive back to Louisville. I am so pumped about the 70 degree weather in Houston... especially after all of this snow and ice. I am, however, not as excited about packing...

3) Holiday treats. As in Texas Trash, Puppy Chow, Peppermint Bark, White Trash... you get the picture. (Not sure why so many of my favorite snacks have the word "trash" in them...) Lance and I already made a big batch of Texas Trash for all of our new Louisville friends, but I'm really hoping we'll get to munch on some sweets when we are in Houston.

blogspirations... winter edition

So much awesomeness out there in Blogland right now... a few things I am really loving...

These adorable little paper Christmas trees over at Elle's Studio. Seriously... how cute are they? They seem pretty easy to make too. Seeing as we leave in just 4 days for the holidays, this little craft will have to wait for next year... but I still think they are adorable, and totally blog-worthy. You can view the step-by-step instructions here.

A Christmas planning binder... compliments of Marta Writes. I am so all over this. Anything that combines Christmas + Organization + Planning... I'm totally in. I have already started piling up magazine clippings, recipes, gift lists, etc that will be compiled into my very own Christmas Planning Binder. You can see how Marta organizes hers right here.

I'm totally in love with the mini-calendar by Blog Guidebook. It is gorgeous. I love the design... but even more-so, I love that it is FREE. You can download your own copy directly from this post. They even give you some great ideas about how to display your tiny miniature calendar. What a perfect little 2011 desk calendar.

How great are these snow drift candles by Living With Lindsay? Aren't they beautiful? I love the hint of sparkle. They sound super easy to make... Lindsay made hers with her 4 year old. A perfect kid-friendly craft to pull out once school is finished...

I love these super simple wine tags by Red Star Ink. What a perfect hostess gift. They have some great holiday cards as well. I love that they will personalize almost anything and it's all eco-friendly if you're into that... beautiful.

So many blogspirations... so little time...

top 2 tuesday

This week's Top 2 Tuesday is your favorite games... To be quite honest, I have never been much of a game person... I used to cringe when friends in college wanted to have "game night." I was a closet game-hater. However, this all changed when I discovered game #1...

1) THINGS. Best game ever. Hands down. It is hilarious. Straight laced people come up with the most outragous things. If you haven't played THINGS before, you really must try it... even if you're a game-hater. You will not be disappointed... but you might pee in your pants.

2) OPERATION. Second best game ever. I realize this game is meant for 7 year olds... but whatever. It still scares the crap out of me when that dang buzzer goes off. We typically pull this bad boy out on New Year's Eve (right before we play THINGS)... I'm pretty confident that I could perform surgery on any one of you in an emergency situation... I've been well-trained.

Head over to The Undomestic Momma to link up and share your own top 2 favorite games.

it's all very christmasy...

I do realize that it is December 13th... and only 12 more days until Christmas. Which for some of you might seem like an eternity away, but for those of us that are packing up the car for holiday travels in just 6 days... Christmas is literally just around the corner...

I wish it were completely normal to leave your Christmas decorations out until Valentines Day. I just found my nativity set yesterday... and my little 3 foot trees are still pretty bare. I always find myself yearning to extend this season. There is something so magical about the twinkling lights and fresh pine.

We kept pretty simple this year... as most of our Christmas decor is still packed away in boxes and bins either in our garage or my mother-in-law's basement. I did however try to dig up a few special pieces...

...like our nativity set. I found the manger part about 2 weeks ago, and set it up on top of the bookshelf... just waiting for Joseph and Mary to arrive. Well, they finally made it yesterday... along with baby Jesus of course.

The shepherds and wisemen made the trip as well.

This is probably my all-time favorite Christmas decoration ever. It is a beautiful piece that belonged to my grandparents and plays "Here Comes Santa Claus." I used to carefully turn the tree and wait for the music to start... then I would just sit and stare... I got lost in the little scene playing out before me. Apparently, I turned that little tree so much that one day I snapped the star right off. Oops. That's me in that little picture... pre-star-snappage. After my grandma passed away a few years ago, my mom gave me the beautiful piece, along with the photo. I love it.

I'm quite fond of this little Santa too. For mine and Lance's first Christmas together, my Aunt Sally mailed me a huge box of Christmas decorations. Seeing as Lance and I didn't really have any decorations of our own yet, this box was like hitting the lottery! This Santa was one of my favorites. I stacked him on a few of my Christmas reads, so he can have a better view of things. Remember when I snagged that awesome ragged copy of A Christmas Carol from the Corner Bookstore? (PS, how regal does Little Cat look in this picture?)

I also made this awesome vintage book wreath after my visit to the Corner Bookstore. My initial plan was to make 3 of these bad boys... but my ambition quickly faded after some hot glue gun injuries. Either way, I'm in love with this one.

I bought 2 of these little twig stars a couple of years ago for just a few dollars at Michaels. I love the simplicity of them. I wish I would have bought a cart full... or maybe at least another strand of garland, mine looks a little sad, huh?

Christmas cards. Definitely a favorite part of this holiday season. You all know about my love affair with real mail... so you can imagine my enthusiasm when checking our little PO box during December. As for the awesome wire display stand... I found that at Pier One a few years ago for $10. I love it!

Then of course there's our little 3 foot tree... it may not look like much, but those sparkling white lights and simple red balls pack in a lot of Christmas cheer. Never underestimate the power of Christmas lights:) The only thing missing was that fresh pine smell...

Did someone say fresh pine?? Once Lance and I decided to forego the the real Christmas tree this year, I begged my friend to pick up a wreath for us when her family picked up their Christmas tree... and she did not disappoint. I can still smell the fragrant wreath when I open and close the front door.

This was probably my favorite project this year... some simple glass ornaments hanging from my little candle chandelier in my office. I think that might be why it is my favorite... it hangs right over my desk, so I can see a little glimmer of the season while I work.

Here's a closer look... I added a few branches of fresh greenery that a friend gave to me... which I think makes the whole thing a lot more Christmasy (totally a word).

A perfect little reminder. (Do you like these ornaments? They are super easy to make and are perfect gifts... maybe another post, for another day...)

Kelly's Korner :: Show Us Your Life Christmas Tour