Be My Valentine

The past week flew by! I love having different things to do during the week, but man, it makes it go by fast!

Tuesday was one of my most favorite holidays! I love everything about Valentine's Day...the colors, the meaning, having the excuse to eat a few treats. :o)

We had a pretty low key V-Day. After I got off work, I picked up some cupcakes from Carly & headed home to make our favorite meal that I have blogged about recently, Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta!

{These cupcakes were divine}

We ate supper, exchanged our gifts for each other & just hung out. It was a perfect night! I am so incredibly blessed with an amazing, wonderful husband!

{I found this idea on Pinterest & just had to do it! Rolos, red paper, black pipe cleaner & gold ribbon}

Wednesday night, we went to watch the Vols & the Hogs play. It was a great game!

FINAL SCORE!

GO BIG ORANGE!!

Our weekend has been pretty low key...church this morning, lunch, coupon clipping/printing this afternoon, & I have Cupcake Wars playing in the background! 

Two side notes: can I just say that YouTube has been my friend lately?! For a while now, I have been wanting to change my eye make-up routine. I have been seeing tweets about this make-up artist's videos being life changing in the make-up area, and, wow...I learned that just a few simple tricks can transform what my eye make-up looks like! I typically use all Clinique products, give or take a few, and I dug out some of my old eye shadows this morning, followed along with the tutorial with what I had on hand, and I was pleasantly surprised! I will definitely remember her tricks from now on! 

And...this afternoon, while I was printing coupons from Target, my printer kept jamming. Paper jam, then carriage jam...drove me nuts!! I tried everything (I thought) to fix it, but I finally broke down & googled my problem. With the help of YouTube, I realized my camera memory card (that I left sitting on top of the  printer) fell & was stuck inside the printer. I had to open a little door on the bottom of the printer to retrieve it! You have no idea how excited I was that it was a simple fix. We just bought the printer a month ago! ha! Thank you, YouTube!

I hope everyone has a great week!

I want to leave you with a picture I found yesterday on a blog that really spoke to my heart. This is awesome, so true & I so needed to see it!

Source: thepresuttis.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

This is another one I loved that I saw on Pinterest recently...

Source: littlebgcg.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Happy New Year!

I feel like all I talk about on this blog is working, ha!, but John T. & I both worked New Year's Eve/Day, so we didn't have much excitement at our house. :o)

I did pick up some cupcakes & sparkling grape juice to celebrate on New Year's Eve, and then we were in bed by 9:30!

After we got off work on New Year's Day, we headed to Minnie's for our traditional NY's Day meal: hog jowl, black eyed peas, cabbage, fried potatoes & cornbread. I always look forward to this meal!

{notice my one black eyed pea...that's all I can stomach!}

Afterwards, John T.'s little sister, Jayden spent the night with us. We played for a little while & then went to bed.

{Jayden got this Justin Bieber game for Christmas, & it was super hard! We had to answer all sorts of questions about his songs to get to meet him backstage :o) }

I definitely had my first experience with motherhood during the night...Jayden had an awful cough & kept us both up for a few hours during the night. She was so pitiful. :o( I gave her cough medicine, tablespoons of honey, oranges, lozenges (scared to death she would choke because she was coughing so much, but John T. suggested it, & it helped the most, I think!). After waking up at 1a.m. & again from 5-6 a.m., she finally fell asleep, and we all ended up sleeping until around 10 a.m.! 

After we got up, we headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast & then went to Wal-Mart to pick out some nail polish & coloring book/crayons. :o) 

I am really looking forward to what 2012 is going to bring! So many exciting possibilities!

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2011

This year, Christmas started on Saturday, December 17, when we exchanged gifts with John T.'s granny.

We had yummy snacks, and she spoiled us with lots of gifts!

I made these cuties, and they were so good! A little time consuming...but fun!

Here's what you need:

Melt candiquik. Dip Oreos in candiquik. Decorate.

I melted my chocolate chips & poured them into a plastic bag, cut a small hole in the corner & piped the eyes & mouth on.


When we left Minnie's, we headed to John T.'s mom & dad's to exchange presents with them. We did it a little earlier than normal this year because of John T.'s work schedule, but it worked out great!

Jayden got some Justice outfits from us & the game Operation

Taleah...the Kentucky fan of the family with her Tervis Tumbler :o)

{The picture of John T.'s kindergarten graduation on the wall cracks me up!}

Christmas Eve morning, John T. & I exchanged presents with each other when he got home from work. My favorite gift was my new Pandora bracelet & charm to add to my collection!

 Later, we went to my aunt & uncle's house to celebrate with my family. My aunt Sharon always buys the best gifts, and I got my first pair of Toms! I love them!

This yule log is one of my favorite things about Christmas at Sharon's! It is so good!

We had burgers & baked potatoes...

and salads

Me, mom, Sharon & Ashley

The whole gang: Dad, Mom, Antione, Ashley, Daryl, Sharon, me & John T.


John T. had to work on Christmas Eve, so I spent the night with my mom & dad. When he got off work Christmas morning, he came to my mom & dad's, & we had breakfast & exchanged presents with them. This was the first time we have done this, and it was so fun!

The yummy breakfast my mom fixed!

John T. was excited about his bike from my mom & dad!

We had a wonderful Christmas!

Week of Parties

This past week/weekend has been full of Christmas parties/get-togethers! On Wednesday night, my crew from work met at Brazeiros in Knoxville for dinner. Their food was amazing! It is a Brazillian steakhouse, and they have all different kinds of meat from chicken to lamb. Their salad bar, sides & desserts were great, too!

On Thursday, we met with a few of my high school girlfriends and ate at Texas Roadhouse. I'm sad that I didn't take one picture! It was fun to see everyone & play with Brayden & love on Addy. :o)

Then, finally on Saturday, we went the hospital Christmas party at the Tellico Village Yacht club. I was super excited to get to wear this dress from Riffraff!

{back of dress}

I saw it when we went to Fayetteville last month and couldn't decided whether I needed it or not, but I ended up ordering it through their facebook page when we got home, and I am so glad I did. It was perfect!



It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

In keeping with tradition, I started decorating and put up our Christmas tree this past Saturday (we always start decorating the Saturday after Thanksgiving).

I bought a little tree a couple of years ago at an after Christmas sale & last year, I gave it a Colts theme. This year, I did an SEC theme, since the SEC rocked this past football season. I found the idea for the fabric scrap lights from, you guessed it, Pinterest! It was so fun to make, but by the end, I was ready to be done tying fabric on a string of lights! I got the football ornament at Target & John T. had the idea of printing the SEC logo from Google & attaching it to the top. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

SEC Tree

 Our big tree 

 Love this chevron ornament from ella minnow pea!

 Fabric scrap wreath...another idea from Pinterest

I bought this sign last year from etsy {You're That Girl Designs}

Thanksgiving 2011

This year, we spent Thanksgiving with John T.'s mom's side of the family. We had lunch, & afterwards, the girls went for a little hike. It was a very low key day with lots of yummy food!

Me & the sis-in-law, Taleah

I made these cupcakes, and they were yummy! I got the recipe from Pinterest.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

 

John T. had to work Thanksgiving night, so I spent the night with my mom & dad and worked today. No black Friday shopping for us this year, but I didn't really miss it. Most of our shopping is done, and my goal is to finish everything by December 1st!