Friday's Letters

I'm back on this link-up again - Happy Friday, y'all!



Dear Alex: I love our life together. I love that you can bring a voice of reason when I get too stressed. I love that you can keep things fun and light when I get too serious. I love that you complement every part of me.
Dear brother: I am so proud of you for starting a new job and taking the plunge into adulthood. I hope you're loving your boat captaining gig and your new place!
Dear Christmas: you're getting close! I need to get down to business and really prepare for your arrival.
Dear Hemoglobin level: why so low? You're freaking me out. An iron transfusion doesn't sound like fun, so thanks a lot!
Dear weather: could you possibly get a little more Christmas-y? 70 degrees in December sounds nice in theory, but I would love some chilly temps so I can bust out the heavy coats.
Dear Christmas Bonus: Heck yes! You are my first Christmas bonus ever and I am very excited to meet you!


This weekend, we've got lots to look forward to! Tonight is my office's holiday party. Since this is my first Christmas at my job, this will be my first holiday party with my company, and I'm super excited. I work with some fun peeps and it's at a great restaurant downtown. I love any reason to get all dressed up and festive!

Tomorrow will be a day to get things done! Penny is in desperate need of a haircut, so she is going to the groomer in the morning. I need to make a dash around town to grab a few Christmas gifts, then I plan on doing some wrapping. In the evening, Alex and I have a very fun, very Christmas date night planned: we are going to High Cotton, our favorite restaurant, and then we have tickets for the Nutcracker ballet!

On Sunday, we'll go to church (it's the second Sunday in Advent), and probably try to get a few more Christmas errands done. We need to figure out what to get both of our dads - shopping for men is so hard! And then maybe we'll watch some Christmas movies. We haven't really had time yet to watch any of the usual suspects, like Home Alone, Elf and my all-time fave, Love Actually. Those 3 are musts!

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Have a fantastic weekend, loves!

An update on my 28 things to do while I'm 28

Monday, Dec. 3 was my Quarter Birthday. Which means I have already been 28 for 3 months and only have 9 months until I'm 29. I thought this would be a good time to give an update on my list of 28 things I want to do while I'm 28. Here goes!

1. Go apple picking for the first time ever - DONE!
2. Start baking for fun on a regular basis again  - and share with my neighbors and work peeps - some success - but I need to do it more!
3. Discover a new TV show that Alex and I both love - Done! We've gotten into Revolution and Nashville
4. Send at least one "just because" snail mail note per month - hmmmm - I've sent a few but not sure if it's been one a month or more...
5. Make my goal weight in time for my reunion (Oct. 27!!) ...and maintain it - Done! I was at my goal weight for my reunion! And as of now, I am 2 pounds below it! :)
6. Have a great time at my 10 Year High School Reunion :) - DONE!
7. Start planning and saving for a big vacation with Alex (we're thinking Italy in 2013!) - we're definitely thinking about it, but actual saving has not really commenced...
8. Go on a weekend getaway to a place we've never been - we went to DC in September - even though we'd both been, we'd never been together.
9. Start and finish our engagement and wedding showers/parties/bach party/etc scrapbook - haven't even started it yet. I need to get on it!
10. Send out more Christmas cards than last year - Done! We're definitely doing this!
11. Create a Household Budget and stick to it - a Budget has been drafted. Sticking to it has been hard, mostly due to all of my medical bills. But we're making progress.
12. Plan a surprise party for someone - Not yet!
13. Update my Passport with my married name - and then USE IT! - This is literally on my To-Do list every. single. week. Can't use it until it's updated.
14. Paint the Study and attach the bookcases to the wall (safety first) - Not yet.
15. Have a Pinterest Party - Not yet but I really want to do this!
16. Plant bulbs in the winter and watch them bloom in spring - I need to go buy bulbs - winter is here!
17. Host more than one dinner party throughout the year - need to get to planning.
18. Get rid of one piece of clothing for every one new piece purchased - Sort of doing this. Technically I haven't gotten rid of anything yet, but I have a huge pile of stuff to give away or consign!
19. Use our wedding china - not yet. Sad, because it's so pretty! Maybe at Christmas.
20. Organize the Golf/Work-out room and make it more usable - this project has not started, not even a little bit.
21. Run a 5K (scary - I hate running) - nope. I need to start training (i.e. get back on the treadmill more than once a month...)
22. Get serious about our savings - we have been paying more attention our savings. But we're also trying to pay down a little debt, too.
23. Host a big, old-fashioned summer cook-out - will do this when the weather gets warm!
24. Learn how to play golf - Alex has promised to teach me!
25. Attend a dressy/fancy event with the hubs and get all gussied up - will do this in February at the Junior League gala
26. Have a true girls' weekend - need to plan one!
27. Build regularly scheduled massages into the budget (it's for my health, I swear. I SWEAR.) - I need to do this. For so many reasons.
28. Be more spontaneous and try not to sweat the small stuff. Life is too short! - I'm trying! I'm such a planner that this is a hard one for me :)

So there you have it. I'm making some progress and even crossed a few things off the list! Bring on the next 9 months of 28!

Royal baby on the way: sound the trumpets

Can we talk about the fact that the Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant??

This is the most anticipated baby since...well, probably THE most anticipated baby in our lifetime. Because, let's face it, Americans love their Royal Family (er, I mean Americans love the Brits' Royal Family).

Let's think for a moment about the fashionable maternity clothes Kate will wear. Alexander McQueen will probably make her hospital gown. How can we common folk even attempt to compete with that?

And although I hear she is suffering from acute morning sickness right now (sorry girl!), I am betting she is still one put-together and gorgeous sick woman. 

Seriously, though - this is huge. And now with the new royal heir laws (or whatever they're called), this baby will be the King or Queen one day even if it's a girl (it used to be that a woman could  become Queen only if no male was born: take Queen Elizabeth for example - she had no brothers). But now the first born, regardless of gender, will have the throne.

Although I am not as crazy as some about the Royal Family, I definitely get into it. I was ecstatic when I found out Kate and Wills were engaged, although I have to admit I had a moment of panic. You see, they got engaged just a few weeks after Alex and I did. And I was freaking out that they would choose the same date for their wedding as ours. And then no one would care about our wedding day when the Royal Wedding was on TV....anyway, we dodged a bullet there.

Want to know how I found out Kate was expecting? I was sitting at my desk at work yesterday when I got a text from my Mom, and I quote: "Willie & Kate r preggers! They beat u to the bump - and that's fine! Tell me again what kind of candy Alex likes for his stocking..."

Way to cover a lot of ground in one short text, Mom! ;) And I'm glad to know that it's okay with you that the Royals are having a baby before Alex and I (and no, we are not trying, attempting, even thinking about that right now!).

All this to say: congratulations to the Duke and Duchess, and best wishes for a smooth and healthy pregnancy. I for one cannot wait to find out the gender and hear the baby's name. This poor child had better get used to attention very early in life!

Ornament swap!

I recently participated in a ornament swap that was organized by Living in Yellow and Dreaming of Dimples. This is my second bloggie swap ever, and who doesn't love Christmas ornaments?! You can never have enough!

This swap was a daisy-chain style: I sent an ornament to Kristin at  Husband, Wife, Blessed Life and my ornament came from Kristen at This Radiant Life. (Yes, there were a lot of Kristin/ens involved in this transaction! Ha!)

I was pumped when I got Kristen's package in the mail. It was officially my first Christmas gift of the year! I told her that I liked traditional Christmas styles and my favorite thing about the Christmas season is just the tradition of it all! She totally hit the nail on the head with this ornament - a 2012 "Bless this Home" ornament. I love it!

Thanks so much, Kristen!

I can't wait to read about all the other ornaments everyone received. This was a mega-huge swap with lots of bloggers involved. It's so neat how it connects us during this festive time of year!

Thursday, Nov. 29
Today I'm thankful that I feel good enough to cook dinner for Alex and I (for the first time in weeks), and for the food that nourishes our bodies every day. It's such a blessing to be able to pop into Publix and buy fresh, safe and tasty food. So many people around the world and even here at home don't have access to or the ability to buy safe food or plentiful food. We're blessed as Americans to grow much of our food right here. And as a daughter of agriculturalists, I'm a huge proponent of American-grown food! :)

Friday, Nov. 30
On this Friday I am thankful for the Christmas season - which is officially HERE! And yes, it is CHRISTmas! I don't have a "Holiday tree" in my living room, I don't give "Holiday gifts," and our Christmas cards will say "Merry Christmas." I am a Christian and Christ is the reason for the season. I am thankful that we have the freedom to celebrate Christ's birth each year and rejoice in it the whole year through!

This & that

This week was full of some kind of random stuff. It hasn't been a bad week, but let's just say I am ready for the weekend!

My week began with a Capsule Endoscopy on my seemingly-endless quest to figure out what is causing the wackiness in my GI tract. For the Capsule Endoscopy, I had to arrive early Monday morning at my doc's office after enjoying a lovely clear-liquid diet on Sunday and fasting that morning. My breakfast that day was a camera. Yes, for real. I swallowed a camera the size of a horse pill. So down it went, and this is what I had to wear all day:

Super sexy, I know. The little pouch over my clothes wasn't so bad (a little strange maybe), but all the wires under my clothes were a little uncomfortable. And did I mention I had to wear this all day at work?

Now I'm just waiting up to 2 weeks for my doc to examine the color pics and video (video!) that the camera took while gliding through my small intestine. It should help identify if I have Crohn's or not.

In the meantime, I have been feeling a little better this week. Most importantly, my appetite is back and I'm not even feeling a tiny bit guilty for eating whatever I want. For 10+ days, I could barely eat and lost 10 pounds as a result, so I think I can eat a little guilt-free pizza or Zaxby's. (Note: losing weight this way really sucked and is SO not healthy).

On Wednesday, we had dinner with my mom and stepdad. It's so fun to have them only 45 minutes away when they're at the cabin versus 10 hours when they're at home in Florida. They drove down to Greenville to take us out, and had a little surprise for us: annual passes to the Biltmore!!! Yesssssss!!

I've been to the Biltmore twice, but never at Christmas and it's supposed to be ahhhhhhhmazing at Christmas. It was such a great surprise because Alex and I have been wanting to go, but it can be a little pricey. Now we can go as much as we want for the next year (Asheville is only an hour from us)! Thanks, Mom!!

Throughout this week, I've been verrrrrrrrrrrry slowwwwwwwwwly decorating our house for Christmas. We bought our tree last weekend at a choose-and-cut tree farm, but it was just standing there in our living room, naked, for a few days. Now it has lights and burlap trim. Still needs the skirt and ornaments. Baby steps. Everything else is down from the attic but strewn across our upstairs landing. It's driving me insane! This weekend, I've got to get it all put away and get busy decking my halls.

I hope you've all had a fantastic week. Cheers to the weekend!

It's Thursday and It's OK

This is another link-up that I love and I've missed out on for a few weeks. Happy Thursday, everyone - the weekend is in sight! Yahoooooooo!

It's OK...

• that I have no motivation to get my house decorated for Christmas. I love the festive feel the decor gives our home, but we're not having a party this year and honestly, Alex and I might be the only ones who even see it. I need to dig deep and find the Christmas spirit! 
• that Ellie thinks it's OK to sleep on our bed with us at night (it's not). But she knows enough that she has to wait until we're both asleep before she makes her move. Smart puppy. 
• that we still have Halloween candy leftover and I'm over it. But the not-wasteful part of me can't throw it away. 
• that Alex's golf gear is taking over our house (and he's not even playing professionally any more!). We're planning to sell some of it, but in the meantime, it's everywhere. 
• to eat whatever I want now that my appetite is back since I could hardly eat for 10 days straight. 
• that I have been thinking about our Christmas cards for weeks and weeks, attempting to get them done early - but just now ordered them this week.