The Most Magical Time of Year

Bonjour! I have not died! I am alive and well, though rather exhausted. The past few days have been non-stop go go go and while I've loved seeing everyone and exchanging gifts and eat way too much yummy food, I'm ready to take a break! How about you?

The short little break from the blog felt nice, I won't lie. And it might extend just a wee bit more [or at least be a little lighter] due to the fact I have to drop my trusty ol' MBP off at the Apple store tomorrow to have a new keyboard installed. The traffic will be a nightmare... I know. Hopefully it'll just take a few days though. Please let me have it by the new year! I'll be working anyhow, so it might not matter, but still. I'll have Mike's macbook but I can't do too much on it!

I have so many blogs to catch up on! I don't know when I'll ever find the time! Don't worry, I'll be dropping around you're little slice of the blogosphere soon! Hohenwald doesn't even have 3G phone service so I didn't read much Twitter or post anything via Instagram. Sheesh! I felt so disconnected!



Excuse the crazy lighting. Even Photoshop couldn't help the bright yellow cast lighting from my Nana's house! Haha I really love the Christmas season. I love the hustle and bustle, the endless pondering of thoughtful presents, the hot chocolate and full breakfasts, the family you can't really stand any other time of the year [kidding! Sort of!], etc. It's a great way to cap off the year. Then a week later you get to vow to never drink soda again or never run through the drive-thru, etc... Perfect timing!

I spent Friday baking and crafting, so when Mike got home from work around 5 we could load up the car and girls then head to my parents'. Of course we didn't leave until 6:30 but that was fine. We snuggled in, watched Love Actually, slept and woke up to presents. We had breakfast, opened our goodies, and then went back to sleep for two hours. Then we woke up, went to my Nana's, stayed for quite some time, ate a late lunch, opened presents, went home, Mom cooked, stepdad's family came over, ate again, exchanged presents! Phew! Oh did I mention we had a white Christmas for the first time in 17 years?! Yes! That never happens in Tennessee! Well it was great until Christmas night when we were supposed to drive the 2 hours north to pick up Toby. The interstate was shut down, parties being a little less than cooperative, etc. Luckily at 8:30pm we had the "OK" to go. The roads were okay until the Franklin area. Then they were awful. We managed to pick up Toby and head back south for the 2 hour drive [again] when we got stuck on an overpass while asking if a stuck car needed our help [but we worked our way out], then in front of our house in Spring Hill we hit ice on a bridge and went all over the road. Luckily Mike regained control and we managed home without incident. But it was scary!

We put Toby to bed and we slept. Then we woke up this morning, opened his presents with my parents, had breakfast and headed south to Mike's parents'. We opened presents there then ate a late lunch, rested around, and finally headed home. Here we are! I hate throwing so much into just one little post but honestly, I wouldn't have time otherwise to even update about it!

We're keeping Toby for a few days and I'm so excited! Lots of toys to play with! I love having him around!

Now a ton of photos! [I'll put most after the jump!]

Me & my little cousin Kaylie

Lacey Lou Anne

Toby and Grammy Terri

Pip and Baby G

My two favorite boys ever!

Tuckered out. Presents take a lot out of a kid!

We got Mike's dad an assortment of Bulldog presents this year

Terri and Mike's sister Laine

Miss Abby

Toby and Mike's dad

Overall, Christmas 2010 was a success! I'll definitely share more about what I snagged for Mike this year and what I got, too. But for now, we'll focus on what the holidays are all about: family! xo

How was your holiday?!

Way Back When Picture Post

Before I had my mom's portrait tattooed on my inner upper arm, I went through some old photo albums at my Nana's house. While I didn't take them out and take them to be scanned, I nabbed a few low-quality photos with my iPhone. They're not great, but they get the job done. And I thought I'd share them today!

This is my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother, my Nana's parents. They were immigrants from Poland. They came over via Ellis Island in the earlier quarter of the century. (My Nana [grandmother.. not great grandmother!] was born in 1932 in Michigan.) I would really really love to travel to Poland one day soon.

This is my Nana and Papa back when they were first married in 1949. Weren't they gorgeous?! Brownie Franklin and Patricia Genevieve. My Papa passed away when I was 8, in 1996, but my Nana is alive and kicking! I already have a tattoo for her on my calf, and my Papa's will be in August once I return to Nashville.

This is my late Aunt Kay, who everyone says I favor.

My late Aunt Kay again with her daughter Stephanie. Both passed away after a horrific car crash in 1974 when my aunt was only 22 and my cousin only 2. I was named after both of them. Valerie Kay (Kaelah) and Stephanie Dawn (Kaelah Dawn). I've always said if I could have dinner with anyone in the world, alive or otherwise, I'd probably choose my aunt. I'd really like to know what she was like.

My sweet Mama! I used to love looking through her old yearbooks and stuff. The last photo is her senior portrait from 1978 which I had tattooed on the inside of my full sleeve.

As a baby, in 1988.

I always felt like I was channeling Pretty Woman in this photo, just you know, sans the prostitute thing.

Sophomore Year of High School, I believe. Well 10th/11th grade? I will never have short hair again!

Sophomore Year Softball. I'm not even sure I wore makeup haha

Sophomore Year Volleyball, I think. All I know is that hair thing I've got going on was NOT working for me!

Senior Year. Bad haircut, no eyelashes, no eyebrows, lined my eyes with dark black eyeliner. Man oh man!

I'm going to try to find more pictures this week! I'll definitely post them if I happen across them.

Do you have any old photos of your family or yourself? Post them! I want to see! Leave links to your posts if you do!

xoxo

A Recap of the Past Few Days...

This weekend, we had Toby and it was Mike's Dad's birthday so we loaded up and headed down to Lawrenceburg Saturday morning. We had a lovely little lunch with his immediate family and grandparents, etc. We spent the day blowing bubbles (or at least watching the kids blow bubbles) and eating cake. We lazed around and then Mike's brother Ryan, sister Lanie, her friend, Mike's neice Kaitlyn, Mike, Toby and myself went for dinner at the Brass Lantern (if you're at all familiar with Lawrenceburg you'll know it's one of the only places to eat and it's pretty much a staple there). Mike and I ordered Pasta Primavera and I asked for marinara on top of mine but much to my dismay, they brought it to the table and it was a little bit of red sauce mixed with SO MUCH beef! Ugh! I was 30 minutes late for work because we had to wait for them to bring me another dish :( Either way, the food was good and the company, too.

(my roots are SO bad! ugh!)

I rushed to work (it's about a 45 minute drive) and it was just work, ya know? Not too busy but not dead either. It was my last night so they wrote things on the glass and Rick, the DJ, kept announcing it and yadda yadda yadda. I didnt leave until after 2am so I didn't walk into his parents' house until 3am. phew! I was exhausted. We woke up at 10am for breakfast and then at 11:30 we were sneaky and went back to bed for 2 hours. DREAMY! Our room had no windows so it was pitch black. So so good! Mike did some housework for his parents before we left and then at 3pm, we headed towards Franklin with Toby in tow. We grabbed some lunch at Blue Coast and ran some errands. Sarah was a bit late picking him up but we didn't mind spending more time with him.

We came home and watched Knocked Up before bed. Much to Mike's surprise, he didn't have to work Monday so we had to go BACK to Franklin to meet with the FEMA inspector for his claim. Here are some photos of the house...

After that, in typical Franklin fashion, we went for lunch at Genghis Grill and then ran a lot of errands. We spent a good portion of the day just shopping around for stuff and getting me things for NYC. I can't believe I leave next week! I'm not ready! Gah! We worked up an appetite before leaving that night so we went to Blue Coast Burrito (its one of the only places we can eat 100% vegan so we eat there a lot haha). On our way home we stopped in Spring Hill and went to several stores and got Mike new shoes and all that jazz.

We came home and watched Cirque Du Soleil (Mike had never seen a performance, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cirque!) We watched "Dralion" and then went to bed.

Yesterday I woke up as he left for work and I stayed in my jammies all day. But I was SO productive! I wrote out schedule for myself and I stuck to it! For two hours, between 1 and 3pm, I did nothing but crafts for my new Etsy (more about that later). From 3pm til 5pm I worked on some freelance designs for Knitcole.com, and then from 5pm until 8pm (but really 11pm), I crafted yet again and worked on penpal packages.

(yes, Charlie, the Bichon, DOES have a mohawk. Ha, I know)

Mike came home and made some yummy dinner (Whole Wheat Pasta + Squash & Broccoli!). It was so so good! He's a dreamy cook! And we caught up on some Community and Office before heading to bed. Phew!

So here I am once more... going to try to be productive today. I'm going to try and maybe dye my hair (with a YouTube video since I get asked exactly *how* I do it) and I'm going to take photos of new Etsy things to sell. 100% of my Etsy earnings will go directly to Georgia's double-eye surgery which she's about to have. It's going to be super expensive thanks to the anesthesia but she needs it so we'll make it happen. If you're interested in buying a headband, barrette, pin or brooch, stay tuned!

xoxo