So it hit me today...

I was driving into work today and I started thinking about the Holidays coming up. I always look foward to this time of year. Every aspect of it I love. It allows me to show God how thankful I am for everything and celebrate the birth of Christ my Savior. While thinking about this I thought about all of the traditions my family has. Decorating, Watching Christmas movies, attending the Christmas Program at church and shopping with mom, Jenn and Honey:) All wonderful traditions. The one that brings a big smile to my face is thinking about my family picking out a tree. This is an act of Congress for my family. It has gotten better over the years but I wish that I had a video of some of the earlier years...Pure comedy.

I tell you all of this to say it hit me today that I have my own home to decorate this year and my own tree to buy. Please know that I am so excited to do all of this with Chad for the first time this year but it does not come without a little bit of sadness. Tears actually came to my eyes this morning driving in realizing I wouldnt not be waking up at the home I grew up in. I will not be the first one waking up my entire family to open presents. Yes even as a 24 year old the excitement of Christmas is more than I can handle. I literally have to take a Tylenol pm to help me sleep on Christmas eve. Don't judge! :) I won't be sitting in the floor while my dad videotapes the family opening presents. I won't have my Precious ( my dog) to distract me inbetween gifts. I have tears in my eyes once again just thinking about it. For those of you who do not know I am very close to my family so this will be weird for me.

However, I am so looking forward to waking up next to my wonderful husband on Christmas morning for the very first time. Chad and I have our very own traditions to start up and I am truly looking forward to them. Chad has no clue what he is in for when it comes to decorating...:) (Evil laugh) haha!!

I'm acutally hoping that TBS will not be playing A Christmas Story all day long...What on earth is that about?

Cherish each and every moment with your family while you are at home; even if your mom wants to play Kenny G while you open Christmas presents every year. Believe it or not; You will miss it one day:)

Halloween/Fall Decorations so far...

We had a carved pumpkin but it went bad. We are planning to get another one this week:) We also have spider webs to put up along with some other things:) I'll post more pics mid-week:)

No Flour Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
1. Position two oven racks in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.
3. Divide the dough into 24 portions, about 1 heaping tablespoon each. Roll each portion between your hands to form a smooth ball. Place the balls of dough on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart. You should get about 12 cookies per sheet. Using a fork, press on the dough in two directions to form a crosshatch pattern.
4. Bake for 10 minutes.

YUM!

Truly Blessed

This weekend was wonderful. Saturday morning I received my first ever professional massage and I must say it will not be the last time:) It was amazing! I was able to experience a complete salt scrub as well as a Swedish massage:) Both were awesome! It was wonderful being able to do this with my mom and sister. I don't think they realize how much getting to do things with them means to me. We followed that by lunch at the only restaurant I think my family knows of, the one and only; La Parilla:) We met my dad, Honey and Aunt Cathy. After that it was a day with the ladies. I was on a mission to find a fall work wardrobe. It has been a mission. When did clothing companies quit making brown work skirts? Did I not receive the memo? Silly of me to think that brown was a fall/winter color...After traveling for the past month near and far to find this amazing brown skirt that does not exist we ended up at Macy's. When I had lost all hope and it just seemed inevitable that I was going to have to do without a brown skirt; I see Jennifer (my sister) sprint to the right out of the corner of my eye. That's when I saw it, like a beam of light came out of the sky and landed on a brown skirt! There were two left and they were both on the mannequins. I had my fingers and toes crossed that one of them was my size! Praise Jesus one of them was!! Finding this skirt has been an act of congress. Finally, a brown skirt with no jacket...Almost there!

On Sunday, Chad had to work so I went completely domestic. I went to the grocery store for the week. Got home and unloaded. Started the laundry. Got a pot of homemade chili and baked peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies:) Both homemade! I wanted to have both ready for when Chad got home so we could enjoy them during the Falcons game. Falcons rocked that stadium on Sunday! After the game we went to WalMart to purchase extension cords and a pumpkin. We needed both to start the decorating process for Halloween on the outside of the house:) It looks so good! We carved the pumpkin Tuesday night and put up the decorations outside:) Pictures soon to come as well as the recipe for the chili and cookies!

Next Monday I will be in the new building Chick-fil-A is moving Marketing and Operations too, Oakmont. I will be the back desk Receptionist and I am really excited about moving to that building. It's not permanent but I am so excited about being able to be familiar with both buildings:) I am so thankful and blessed to work for such a wonderful Christ Driven company. Blessed to work for a corporate company that offers devotions to their staff every Monday. Blessed to work with the amazing women on my team. Blessed to be meeting all of the wonderful people that work here. Blessed to have lunch provided everyday. Blessed that God has given the opportunity for work for a company that I believe in. I am learning so much and meeting wonderful people. Our department has our outing next Friday and I am so excited! I'll be able to do an update on that next weekend:) I'll post pictures and recipes tonight:) Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

New Bachelor?

Jake Pavelka is the name rumored to be the next bachelor... They are going to officially announce it on Dancing with the Stars on October 13'th... I find this choice to be very interesting to say the least... Let me explain: I like Jake and he seems to show that chivalry is not dead however I almost find him to be too nice and perfect...I think he is going to have a hard time being on this show. After last season though anything is better than Jillian...She was so naive...I have a feeling Mr. Jake is going to be the same way... I wish I were a little more excited about this choice but I am indifferent... I will still be a fan of the show and watch to see what happens and keep my fingers crossed that it will be a good season...

What do you think about Mr. Jake as the next Bachelor????

Group Training/Those awful resistance bands/Easy Potato Soup

Today was my first group training session after work with Louis. I get off work at 5:30 so I was hustling to get down there in time. We worked our legs first with various exercises. We used the BOSU Balance Trainer and that was a first for me. Difficult starting out but then I caught my rythym and got the hang of it. We then worked the upper body. I thought I could get away from the resistance bands but I don't think that is going to happen with Louis:) I think he enjoys bringing them out!! I used a medicine ball for the first time which consisted of lunging and lifting. We finished with abs and lets just say my stomach was burning...

Let me provide an illustration for you:

For dinner tonight: I fixed it Sunday evening in the crock pot:)

Easy Potato Soup from 5 ingredients or less:

4-5 Yukon potatoes (Peeled and cubed)

1 can cream of celery

1 can cream of chicken

milk

7.6 oz Mashed potato flakes

After getting the potatoes ready place them in the crock pot with both cream of celery and cream of chicken. After adding fill one can with water and add to crock pot. Cook on high 2-3 hours until potatoes are tender. Then add 1 can of milk and 7.6 oz of mashed potato flakes. Add salt and pepper. Cook another 2-3 hours on low.

Wonderful soup!!

However: In the future I will not add 7.6 oz of the flakes. I will do less. These make the soup very thick so I will just add until I have the desired consistency. And if I have time next time I will probably cook 2-3 slices of bacon and add that as well.

Brandy's Wedding

One of my girlfriend's, Brandy Walker, tied the knot September 19'th. I was up at 6:15 am for our 8:00 am hair appointment...I was basically comatose...
I absolutely LOVED my hair! We had our makeup done as well:)
It rained all day but instead of fighting the rain we worked with it. We could tell Brandy's heart was set on having her wedding outside in the backyard. We made it happen. We had the idea of getting umbrellas to match the flowers and dresses; black, orange, and green. The guys escorted us down carrying the umbrellas over us. The rain had stopped by that point but we already had the umbrellas, might as well use them. Brandy looked absolutely amazing and so did Chris. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception. I was happy to be a part of it. They went to Mexico for their Honeymoon and I'm sure it was amazing. The website alone was gorgeous. I'm sure they had a wonderful time!!