MERRY CHRISTMAS!

"for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"

-Luke 2:11

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas!

Waxhaw

A few weeks ago, Adrienne and I decided to visit Historic Waxhaw for the afternoon.

It was a rather amusing trip to say the least and we saw the longest train ever!

It was a bit chilly so we went to the Dairy Barn for some Hot Chocolate. It was kind of like Cracker Barrel on the inside...they even had a cd player on the floor that filled the place with the sounds of crickets.

Sadly, we didn't ride Quick Silver ha ha

We found the coolest bookstore!!!!

And the man working told us everything we needed to know about books and Waxhaw. I think he may be the mayor...and if he's not, he should be! He even offered to take some pictures. I think our visit was the highlight of his day!

We walked across this bridge and as we walked you could her the birds chirping/tweeting.

They must live under the bridge.

The moon!

Thought this was cool

Yea, all the black specks by the water tower are the birds that live under the bridge...

And the massive train...

Overall it was a fun, random, trip!

I think everyone should visit "historic" places every now and then.

Monks

Adrienne's Dad spent the week at the Gethsemani Trappist Monastery in Kentucky.

He brought back this fudge that the monks make (and wow can you taste the Bourbon) and the prayer below the picture has become my new favorite.

In fact, I'm going to type it in a fancy font and frame it and hang it somewhere.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

-Thomas Merton

-Thoughts in Solitude

Christmas Cheer is Here!

Yesterday I was in quite the holiday funk, but today....I snapped out of it!

We all know that God works in mysterious ways and when I came home from work yesterday, I went to check my mail and I got my first Christmas card of the year! It made me happy!

Now I just need to find somewhere to display Christmas cards!

Anyway, here's what I've done so far to get ready for Christmas.

It's kind of random, but for now, it'll work!

As soon as you walk in the front door, this is what you'll see.

I just love this mat! I found it in Hobby Lobby for 50% off and it reminded me of home.

I really liked the wording of this sign. So I hung it on the coat closet door.

It's the first thing you see when the front door opens.

I had this sign on the closet door until I found the one above. I thought this one was funny, and it was also another Hob Lob 50% off find! I just need to find somewhere to hang it.

The side table contains the ornaments that didn't make it on the tree and some snowmen that I didn't have anywhere else to put!

Here's an aerial view of the ornament tub/snowman. Please disregard all of the bags around the table...I sort of drop everything by the door when I get home!

My tree! Lit and decorated! I found an "M" made out of jingle bells to act as the Star/Angel topper. And yes, to the right of my tree is a bookcase which is really a picture case since it doesn't have any books on it and to the left of the tree is the boardum....it's a bulletin board that contains index cards with funny moments/sayings. It's kind of like a happy board of memories.

Just a close up of the ornaments I found...

Since I haven't bought/wrapped any presents, I decided to put some Carolina under my tree! I've collected a fair amount of sports related ornaments over the years and generally have a sports tree. However, this year I forgot to bring all of my Christmas ornaments from home to NC, so I had to buy new ornaments. Instead of mixing the basketballs with the green/pink/blue balls, I just kept them in the box and put them under the tree. I also don't have a tree skirt so I took some fabric that I've had for awhile and just bunched it under the tree. I was going to make a memory board but never did. Oh well!

This is the tiny tree I bought last Christmas and I added some glitter ornaments to it this year and put it on the counter. I also found a nativity scene in walmart that I really like.

Last year, Stephanie made everyone stockings and we hung them in the apartment. Well, this year I decided to tape mine to the counter.

I found this plate in Marshall's for $2.00 and just knew it would be cute for the kitchen! It's also a great reminder for when I start to bake Christmas Cookies! :)

I found these angels in Hobby Lobby (for 50% off) and thought they were cute. They are currently next to my tv stand.

And the random gifts I've acquired.

So that's that! Nothing too exciting but still some holiday cheer!

Bring on the snow!

overwhelmed

Sometimes I'm sitting in my car at a red light, and I look to the right and left and see the decorated houses and the nicely lit Christmas tree front and center in the window and I think "how do they do it?"

I'm a very organized person.

Those that I work with would probably say I'm a bit OCD

(in a moment of tiredness this week, I did convince a customer to purchase an extra something they had chosen so that when packaged, their box would look symmetrical...presentation people!)

about things because I often nicely lecture them on the importance of putting things back where they found them and completing tasks as they are assigned. I mean really though, it's a great system because during the rare occasion when I'm not at work, I can walk them through what they need to do/where they need to go to find something and everyone is happy! Or maybe it's just me. :)

However, this week I've been in a bah humbug mood.

It could be because for 4 straight days I came to work at 8:00am or 8:30am and didn't leave until 8:00pm. I even had the oh so glamorous moment of working in the office for a few hours one day this week and I tend to "Pebbles" my hair when I spend a lot of time looking at the computer/print outs (ya know how Pebbles from the Flintstones would have a pony tail on the top of her head) and I walked out of the office to assist a customer with their order and the gal that was working the counter was giving me these looks and I couldn't figure it out until after the fact that I had just spent 15 minutes assisting a customer with a large holiday order, answering all of her questions, planning everything out and the whole time, I had Pebbles hair. Don't let the black dress and heels fool you people!

Perhaps the bah humbug comes from the fact that I receive e-mails throughout the day about "Holiday Gift Giving" sales/deals/items/specials and I realize that I have not purchased a single gift. Christmas is exactly 3 weeks from today. THREE WEEKS! Granted, I have a few stocking stuffer type items that I've found and think "so and so would get a kick out of this" so I buy it but I have a small collection of nothing in the corner of my dining room aka storage room. But I have yet to step foot in a mall or store that would have what I'm looking for.

I have a green blob in the corner of my living room that should be a nicely decorated Christmas tree. Yep, took that thing out of the box 10 days ago, put it together and that's as far as I got. I was so excited when I purchased my 1st ever fake Christmas tree. It's pre-lit which adds to the excitement. I had all these ideas about the theme of the tree and I have yet to purchase a single ornament. Now I'm not complaining, though it may sound that way, but I'm mad at myself for not taking the time to do what makes me happy. I realized that I've spent the last few weeks helping everyone else make their holiday gathering awesome that I haven't taken the time to enjoy the Christmas Cheer as well.

I did enjoy a Peppermint Mocha so I guess that counts as holiday spirit!

However, when I finally left work BEFORE 8:00 yesterday...I left at 6:00 thankyouverymuch. I had all these plans to Griswold Family my apartment in a classy way and I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30.
Yep, 8:30 on a Friday night. I'm a party animal!

That's all going to change today! I'm going to leave work before dark and DECORATE!

Awhile ago I purchased clear glass ornaments, ribbon and feathers and somehow, I'm going to make it work. I have no idea how, but I'm going to add some flair to my tree. I'm going to purchase green, pink and silver ornaments and hang those along with the blue ones I picked up a few weeks ago.

And when I am all done, I will finally get back on the blog train and post more often and post my holiday decor. But for now, we should all take a lesson from Santa and head to the beach/relax!

Thank you Hob Lob for providing cute doormats for 50% off! WOO HOO!

Hope everyone else is in the Christmas Spirit!!!!

I'll be joining you soon!

Non Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner

On Saturday, Adrienne cooked her very first turkey!

We named Saturday dinner "Non Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner" and it was AMAZING!

However, first I must report our Black Friday Craziness because it was memorable!

On Thursday, we walked over to Starbucks and noticed that 5 people were already in line at

Best Buy.

AT NOON.

ON THANKSGIVING DAY.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!!

In line. 18 hours BEFORE the store even opens! On Thanksgiving.

Now, I decided I would've be impressed had someone had a grill/turkey fryer/tent in the parking lot and treated their insanity like they were tailgating, but not so much.

So, at 9:30pm that night, we decided to drive by Best Buy to track the line.

We counted maybe 20 people.

Well, Adrienne and I decided that we would get up and go shopping at 6:00am but we didn't really have much of a plan. I had to work at 9:00am so I didn't want to do anything crazy, but we didn't want to miss out on anything either. It turned out that we had been up since 2:30am and since we were still awake, we decided to go to Target for the fun of it, but first we drove through the Best Buy parking lot and the line had tripled! It was crazy!

So, we drove to Target and decided that the line outside was too long so we were going to go to the next target (which is literally 5 minutes down the road if that). We got there and the line wrapped around behind the building. It took 10 minutes for the last person in line to enter the store. Needless to say, by the time we made it in, men were already at the register with their massive tvs. Target employees handed us store maps as we entered and it was just funny!

4:00AM....ready to embrace Target...for the FUN of it!

So at 4:45am, when we noticed the line wrapped around the entire store and we found "normal" items, we decided to hide our loot and come back for it later, ya know after the sun came up! We hid some DVDs, Catch Phrase, Flannel Sheets and whatever else we fit in the "ribbon bin". Clearly, we found important high dollar items! :)
We left Target, headed back down the road, hung out at Starbucks and were 1st in line at Jos A Banks when they opened. Adrienne had a blast and completed all of her shopping for her bro and husband. I however, almost fell asleep amongst the color coordinated ties but was in attendance for moral support! As we left, the sun made an appearance and I realized that I needed to shower and head to work (I did take a 3 hour nap from 11:00-2:00). I took a 45 minute cat nap and had a great day at work.

However, after work Adrienne and I headed back to Target....18 hours later...and found this:

ALL of our hidden loot!!!!! It was a Christmas miracle! And it was all still on sale! Woo hoo!

SATURDAY:

It was time for Non Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner! Here's A with her AWESOME turkey! Seriously, for never cooking a turkey, it was DELICIOUS!!!!!
5 side items. 1 oven. Skill!

She was really proud of how it turned out.
"WOW! It really does look like a turkey!"

Overall, as much as I missed not being home with my family for Thanksgiving, I had a GREAT and certainly memorable Thanksgiving. I am so thankful for the friendship I found in Adrienne and Jeff and thankful for the crazy shenanigans. And I'm thankful that Jeff understands that Adrienne and I are 1 dance move short of a musical comedy. :)

Oh....I also learned to hoola hoop after Non Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner!

More on that later....

Halloween 2010

I am fully aware that this post is almost an entire month late. But, better late than never, right?!

Today, I bring you Halloween 2010

My inside "decorations" complete with an Apple Cinnamon Candle burning!

The hilarious card my mother sent me

It's funny because I called her about sheets!

As you know, I mentioned that I really wanted to have a Pumpkin Carving Party!
Well, since I live in an apartment and don't really have a whole lot of space for a group of people and their pumpkins (and don't really want pumpkin guts on my carpet/my apartment to smell like fresh pumpkin), we had a party at Adrienne's.

My mother sent me a recipe for "Melting Witch Puddles"....the photo attached to the recipe was awesome, mine, not so much.

Adrienne was supposed to make Nutter Butter ghosts, but somehow she handed me a bag containing white chocolate and Nutter Butters with a look of disgust and made me dip them for her :)

Since I was handing out candy at Adrienne's, I didn't want to be the mean neighbor so this is what I left:

I took my candy to A&J's the night before, but at 3:30 in the afternoon Buzz Lightyear knocked on my door....so I gave him Oreo 100 calorie packs, fruit snacks and Coconut M&Ms. I decided to take what I mini bagged item I had in my pantry but wasn't in love with and use it as my Halloween treat. The way I see it, it's better than giving out canned veggies and salsa.

In case you 're wondering, I carved the Panther logo in my pumpkin but wrote "Panthers" with a Sharpie underneath the logo instead of carving the letters. The carving contest was getting cold and dark (we carved in the driveway) and I couldn't feel my fingers to continue gutting and carving. Needless to say, I was not crowned the winner of the "1st Annual Carving Contest" Boo!

Hope you're Halloween (last month) was great!

Hello World!

So yesterday was the 1st Birthday of my blog.

Funny, I haven't updated in 2 weeks.

I'll work on that.

Hope all is well!

Megan

Please, put baby in the corner!

SERIOUSLY!

We all know I'm a huge DWTS fan and I want to be a contestant

(the whole not a star and not a professional dancer gets in the way of that dream....not to mention I took dance when I was in kindergarten and I think I finished in 1st or 2nd grade)!

Anyway, Jennifer Grey (yep, "Baby" from Dirty Dancing) is such a whiny diva and I just want her gone! I feel bad for her partner Derek because he is AWESOME. Though, I don't feel as bad for Derek as I did for Tony last season because Kate Gosselin is just obnoxious and rude. I'm sad Rick Fox and his partner Cheryl Burke were voted off last night, and I'm really proud of Bristol Palin and Mark because she has really come out of her shell and I'm sure this whole "performing in front of a bunch of people live each week and having a high profile mom is stressful", I also think Kurt Warner and Anna have done an awesome job! I love wholesome, fun shows!

Kick off your shoes

First off, you should probably know that I am very organized and I like to plan things in advance. I love my color coded agenda book.

However, what I'm about to type will shock you.

I received a text message from my friend April while I was at work Saturday.

At 2:30pm she asked me what time I got off of work and if I had plans.

Well, let me tell you...I had the most random yet exciting weekend that I've had in a long time!

I left work, went home, threw random clothes in a bag and hit the road!

90 minutes later I was in A & K's driveway

and we were on our way here:

Keith and April waiting for the fun to begin!

April and I!

Now April and I have been friends since my freshman year of college, her senior year. We've had a ton of fun times together. I mean, I was her MOH when she and Keith got married, so clearly, the 3 of us get along great! However, we learned that things don't change as we age which is great! April and I dance and have a grand ol time and Keith hangs out watching and shaking his head!

Sunday for lunch we went to one of the fine dining establishments I miss the most...

Tokyo Express

and I enjoyed Teriyaki Chicken with Fried Rice, Broccoli and Carrots. Sweet Tea to wash it down.

April and I went grocery shopping, home to bake some cookies and just lounge and then I went to visit the kids I used to babysit.

We watched the Panthers win, ate dinner and then Susan and I decided to be creative and make Tyler's Halloween costume. He's going to be an Indian (MJ's going to be a Cowgirl). Well, we stopped in the gas station for the Sunday paper since it always has a 50% off coupon for ACMoore and my college suite mate Katrina (who I saw at Steph's wedding) happened to be in the same gas station on her way to Chapel Hill! however, I saw her car, looked around the store, couldn't find her, checked out, called her and she had already hit the highway so we missed one another...but how random!
Anyway, next to ACMoore is a massive Halloween store so we bought Tyler a costume (he's only 22 months old) and found this:

Overall, it was a random but amazingly exciting/fun weekend!

It's kind of nice to not have a schedule.