busygirl

wordless wednesday: oh christmas tree.

 

(I love my mom's tree) 

a year in review.

January - the apartment lost heat for five days.  And the pipes burst and flooded everything.  In conclusion, the house hunting began.

February - we found THE house, the only we loved so so so much!  Received an eviction notice from our landlord because she hated us for complaining when they refused to fix our heat for five days...in JANUARY (hey Crawford Communities, if you're reading this, PLEASE FIRE ROCHELLE FROM OLENTANGY COMMONS!), we put down an offer on the house...and GOT IT!!!  Ellie had a build-a-bear birthday which was loads of fun!

March - signed the papers for the house, said goodbye to dealing with our horrible landlord and moved across town to our new address!  My little sister celebrated her 22nd birthday and my girlfriend-in-law celebrated her later twenties birthday :).  And it was my nephew's first birthday! We painted the kitchen and Ricki discovered that sticking his nose in the paint can is not a good idea.  I pretty much took a blogging sabatical in order to force myself to unpack.

April - Celebrated my 24th birthday with getting in a car accident, then Adam getting in a car accident, then Adam's car dying.  Yup, those were all on the same night.  There were finally signs of spring.  Our friends came down to visit and planted a beer garden in our backyard.  The weeping willow in the front yard was no more.

May - My crockpot suffered a horrific death when a bottle of whiskey fell on it.  Ricki celebrated his 8th birthday with ice cream cake.  My mom got the stove-of-her-dream's for hers.  My baby sister graduated from college and promptly moved all her crap into my house.  We painted her room green and my room blue. 

June - was spent BBQing and enjoying the outdoors.  We love our house in the summertime.  Adam proposed to me on June 6th.  We went on vacation with his family and friends at the Outer Banks (best week ever).  I spent a gazillion hours at work.  Ricki learned that he's not quite as fast as the rabbits are.  Adam tried sushi for the first time ever...I wish I had my camera at that meal.  We found out that there was going to be an addition to the family in December, that Adam and I would have a new niece/nephew!

July - One year till wedding time!  We decided on a date, a venue, a church and most importantly, I picked out my dress!  Many more birthday parties and I worked another gazillion hours.

August - Repainted the kitchen, the yellow was driving me crazy.  Went on vacation with my family at the Jersey Shore.  Went to the Atlantic City Food & Wine festival, Adam fell in love with a wine called The Juggler, Amy fell in love with gambling.  Amy got a job as a middle school history teacher (yay!).  I booked the DJ for the wedding and decided on colors.  Gracie Girl's Bday at the end of August and we joined a local gym in an effort to get wedding-fit for next year.

September - back to school time, I always miss school this time of year.  Amy and I started personal training sessions.  There was lost of complaining and very little movement afterwards.  There were birthdays GALORE to celebrate, too many to list.  I went to Switzerland with my friend Megan to visit our other friends and went to Germany for the real Oktoberfest.  I drank a lot of beer.  And ate pretzels.  The pretzels were delicious. 

October - Adam celebrated his 25th birthday.  GenNext celebrated its 1st birthday (YAYYY).  We stopped doing wedding stuff for a while.  Several trips to Cleveland.

November - Roadtrip to Kalahari water resort with my siblings.  Thanksgiving in Cleveland with Adam's family.  Chris just keeps getting older.  Save the dates were sent.  Bridesmaid dresses were selected.  And wedding stuff put on hold till after the holidays.  We went to the midnight showing of New Moon but I wasn't impressed.  Ricki threw a fit at the vets, wonderful.  Lots of time was spent revamping volunteering schedules.  Lots of time.

December - Super busy month.  Holiday parties and shopping.  Mom came down to visit for a weekend.  Chris and Megan came to visit.  We had a baby shower for Adam's sister.  I struggled at work, it was a long month with too much going on.  Got terribly sick the day before Christmas Eve and barely made it home.  Glad I did though because my new nephew was born on Christmas morning.  The rest of December was spent dodging nerf darts and eating an obscene amount of cookies.

There better be cookies next year too :)

the christmas baby.

Don't worry.  I'm not going to tell you the story of a guy with his pregnant wife and their love of sleeping in hay and giving birth under the stars with the cows mooing in the background.

I actually have some EXCITING news to share about a different Christmas baby.

Adam received a phone call at 6:45am on Christmas morning because...we have a new NEPHEW!!!!  Adam's sister gave birth at 6:25am on Christmas morning to healthy baby boy, 5 lbs 15 oz, 17 3/4 inches and 100% adorable.

Introducing baby Tommy:

 

With tiny little fingers

 

I love those tiny fingers
 
  

And little feet

 

Getting to meet his Uncle Adam for the first time

 

Welcome to the world little buddy, we love you!

   
 

merry christmas everyone!

 

one2go: the perfect gift for your mother.

Get off your butt and do the dishes.

(Merry Christmas Eve)

all i want for christmas is...

...to not be sick.  I knew it was going to happen.  Every year it does.  It's always at the last minute too.

I woke up this morning feeling like death...or what I imagine death feels like.  Sore throat, aches, headache, the works.  Chugged some Dayquil and headed into work.  Made it about two hours before I realized that I might have strep throat (crap) and since girlymama's lugging the childrens to Ohio tomorrow, that it'd be pretty unfortunate if I had strep and decided it would be everyone's gift from me to them this year.  I couldn't run out of work fast enough.  Oh no sore throat, you are not ruining my Gracie cuddles.

(love)

So, I went to the minute clinic and WHEW, the initial diagnosis is that it is NOT strep, but just a terrible cold.  And so here I am.  Stuck in Columbus on the couch with the dog until further notice.  I'm hoping I wake up tomorrow feeling better, better enough to make the trek up to Cleveland.

Oh Santa, all I want for Christmas is to feel better...and for my Blackberry to work.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL THE BLACKBERRYS THIS WEEK?!?!

two2go: gifts for anyone!

Alright, you're down to the wire.  I admit it, I hit up Target last night in a desperate attempt to get that last gift for the hard-to-buy person in my life.  Talk about about a bad shopping experience.  Not in the store, actually Target was relatively efficient at handling their shoppers/lines.  But the parking lot, insane!  It was everyone for themselves, brutal, I swear there were some close to fistfights over parking spots.

Oy.

Anyway, here's some ideas in case you are about to head out for one last attempt.  These gifts can go to anyone!

1. Hat/scarf sets - Target has some ADORABLE sets right now, but you can find these virtually anywhere!  And everyone needs a new scarf or hat.

2. These luggage tags are hilarious...and kid/adult/gender friendly!

3. Candles - I'm in love with this Home for the Holidays candle from Yankee candle, even boys love them.  Adam's current favorite is Christmas Cookie though.

4. Fun coffee mugs  - my brother-in-law would get a kick out of this one, don't forget to fill it with M&M's or the recipient's favorite candy.

5. Personalized playing cards - a simple gift with a fun twist.

disclosure: some of the above links are affiliate links which means i will be receiving a penny or two if you click on them and purchase something.  i'd love ya for it.  seriously. (did I mention that it all gets donated to charity?) 

wordless wednesday: christmas' past.

   

three2go: spoil her pretty.

Every girl loves a little glitz and glam.  Especially my sisters, they're so fun to buy little accessories for!  So here's some ideas of what to get that girly girl in your life!

1. Pearl bracelet set- I recently 'gifted' myself with this $4 set and loveeeee it!  There's two sizes of pearls and four bracelets to mix and match or wear alone.

2. Classy Cambridge cloche hat - I'd love a hat like this to wear to work in the morning, not only is it cute, but it wouldn't mess up my hair like a knit hat will.

3. You cannot go wrong with scarves - lately I've been drawn to ruffle scarves, they keep the versatility of a scarf but add a little flair.

4. Headbands, headbands, galore!  My new recent obsession.  I love anything with flowers, feathers and over-exaggerated bows.  Um Santa? YES PLEASE!!

5. If your girly girl isn't the headband wearing type, she can get the same affect with these adorable rose bud pins for your hair.

disclosure: some of the above links are affiliate links which means i will be receiving a penny or two if you click on them and purchase something.  i'd love ya for it.  seriously. (did I mention that it all gets donated to charity?) 

why nature and i are at odds this week.

You may have noticed that I've been complaining of sleep deprivation lately.  Yes, part of it is due to a little pup who refuses to sleep through the night.

But, I can ignore him.  Or at least give in, take him out, then go right back to sleep.  So my inability to sleep more than two hours at time is not really due to him.

In reality, it's due to a recent development in our house.  A new enemy of the night.  Behold:

Cute, huh?  I'd say so.  I am nature lover.  I think little furry animals are cute, provided that they cannot make me part of their meal.  But this little bugger is FAR from cute.  He actually looks more like this:

Still looks cute you say?  You try sleeping through the night when there is a SQUIRREL RAVE being thrown in your attic!! That's right...we have houseguests and they are not quiet.

Apparently before we moved in our house, the seller found a family of squirrels living in the attic.  He took the proper measures to get rid of them and fill in any holes, but he must have missed one because voila!  The return of the squirrels.

Don't let their size fool you, they actually have feet of lead and exercise religiously.  I spend half the night listening to them scambering across the attic floor over my bed and the other half praying that we have a really strong ceiling.

Because if one of them pokes his head through the ceiling, I'm moving.