Blogging about nothing

I have realized this task, you know, the one that has me sit down to write about "nothing" is harder than it once was. But today I am going to do just that.



I have the winter blues or am allergic to winter. Walking in a Winter Wonderland is only fun if and when it is done at Christmas. Thought about going tanning to let the "sun" shine on my face but I haven't done this in years because I don't want my skin to be leather by the time I am 35. It may be anyway considering all the time I USED to spend in those things and the fact that I didn't start wearing sunscreen until...umm...last year?! So I can't undo what is already done but I don't want to do more...but I was thinking it would help. We just got word from Mr. Weatherman that we should expect 8 INCHES of snow this weekend. Stupid groundhog.



I have been working out consistently for over a year...part of which I even had a personal trainer. Due to this fact alone, I think I should be skinnier. Just sayin...not freaking out...just sayin...oh and that my lovely prego stretch marks...yeah wishing those would have magically dissapeared too. Just sayin.


I have been pretty diligently looking for a job as of late. I was even offered a job in early December. I didn't take it, wasn't right for me and the fam. Trying to figure out what is right for all of us that accomplishes what I really want to do is not an easy task. I never would have thought I could have or would have enjoyed this stay at home gig as much as I have. But this momma needs an outlet. Its what I am good at...working. Everything is organized in our home, and JD is so so so ready for an outlet himself that doesn't include his momma.



P-Daddy and I are going on a cruise to the Greek Isles this spring. He won this big trip through work. We will fly into Venice, Italy and then go from there. I have never been abroad and kind of hate flying but the closer this trip comes the more excited I get.



GranBeck's is moving here very soon. I couldn't be more excited! WE couldn't be more excited! You never know how nice it would be to have your parents close until you have a child. I haven't lived in the same city as my mother since I was in high school. Long time...can't wait!



Volunteering for my former sorority keeps me young. Or makes me feel young again. Something like that...but I enjoy it none-the-less. Going back to our former campus floods memories, good ones in my head. College students don't know how good they have it. I sure didn't.



JD is talking up a storm and I love it! He is able to communicate what he wants or needs and I couldn't be happier. A lot of women get frustrated with the repatativeness of their toddler's words. I revel in it (most of the time) because I realize he is just so excited to be able to say whatever he is saying. Kind of like I get excited to say whatever I am sayin and Lord knows I have been sayin lots of words a lot of the time for a long time. Just sayin.


I recently bought these amazing shoes from WHBM and have still never worn them. They are those fabulous shoes that I fear may sit in my closet for a few years before I am ever brave enough to wear them. *GASP*...I think I bought shoes that are more fashionable than me! HA! They are gorgeous though and when I do bust them out everyone will be talking don't you worry. Now...to find that perfect outfit to go with them...


Speaking of clothes...I recently dove into the deep end of the pool and purchased skinny jeans. I said I would NEVER do this but I have enough tall boots that I really wanted to wear over jeans that I caved. I rock them. They are basically denim spandex. They are so comfortable I want to sleep in them. I still feel like they are "tight rolled" at the bottom (if you were in middle/high school in the nineties you know what I am talking about) but I am not going to lie, I wish I had 20 pairs. It is scaring me though that COLORED jeans are coming back in? I hated fashion in the 80's and colored jeans feels very 80's. But so does spandex jeans I guess...damnit if that means I will be rocking electric blue dyed denim next season!



Side note: I still stand by only wearing my skinny jeans with boots that hide the fact that they are skinny. Can't rock high heels with them. I am pretty sure (no-POSITIVE) I would look ridiculous.



I have been leaving church sort of angry lately. Mostly because the sermon's are just ludacris (if you ask me of course). A few Sunday's ago we went, they read the verses of that week, I really liked said verses (and was excited to hear how Mr. Priest was going to relate to them to the real world), and then the priest stood up and discussed the fact that people should treat church like they would a wedding and dress up because it is distracting to him if people show up in Colts jersey's.
REALLY?
We are really going to focus an entire sermon on what people wear?
Do you not realize Mr. Priest that your church is PACKED this and every Sunday?
That these people come to listen to the word of God and to have you make sense of it all?
So that day, everyone left feeling shamed if they were wearing or had ever chosen to wear a jersey to church and heard nothing about how much God LOVED THEM? PS-don't think I am angry about this because P-Daddy and I were one of those people...we aren't the jersey type personally...but we were wearing jeans and apparently that is also not good enough either. Don't get me started. Maybe I wouldn't have been as angry if we hadn't already sat through an entire sermon on how birth control of any form is abortion. UGH! We need a new church.

Interesting that church talk was the longest paragraph...I guess we really do need to find a new place of worship.

I am making Rachel Ray's Shepherds Pie tonight for dinner...30 minutes my ass. But I don't care, I love to cook and if it takes me two hours I will be fine with it. Just sayin...no way its 30 minutes. Maybe if its pretty and delicious I will take a picture and share the recipe. I should do that more often...because people like looking at pretty food.

Thats all I got. Happy Hump Day!

Traveling with a Toddler 101

Lake Tahoe Christmas was our destination and surviving it (and finding time to enjoy it somewhere in there too) was our plan.

Here are the trip details...the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Left via US Airways Christmas Eve. Had two flights that day and an hour drive to final destination once we landed in Reno. The first flight was the longest. I would highly recommend this if you are traveling with a toddler and have to do two flights. US Airways was not accommodating to senior citizens or people traveling with children. I would not recommend. JD cried (rather screamed), I cried, it was the definite UGLY part of our trip. Side note: who knew SO MANY PEOPLE traveled on Christmas Eve? Every flight was jam packed!

"Not amused by the length of this flight mom"

Arrived in Lake Tahoe where GranBeck and Tracey were waiting for us at the airport. This was the first highlight of JD's trip as he loves GranBeck. We also arrived to beautiful snow capped mountains and a clear crisp day.

Drove through the beautiful mountains (and very safe roads I might add, which I appreciated) to get to our home that GranBeck's rented for the week. We arrived to a whole new world for JD and a lot of new family for all of us (JD's favorite being 4 year old cousin Alex who he is still talking about daily). Everyone was excited to be together, that was clear. We were excited we survived the first leg of travel safe and sound. We also asked and received for a rather stiff cocktail and appreciated our new family even more when they gave it to us! :)

Christmas was filled with lots of eating, presents, stockings, family, laughs...and a new one for us...gambling. HA! After JD went to sleep on Christmas night...mama and P-Daddy (and Uncle VP) could be found at one of the local Casinos. It was weird but fun at the same time. I think what I found most odd was how many people were there. I don't know...I just kind of felt like we were the odd ones for going to a casino on Christmas. Apparently my logic was off because everyone in Nevada seemed to be joining us.

The entire crew at Christmas dinner

GranBeck and JD Christmas morning

In the remaining time there we shared more laughs, decorated sweatshirts (in true GranBeck fashion), relaxed, sledded and gambled a bit more. Oh and JD slept like a CHAMPION. Call it baby stress from all the traveling, call it being 6300 feet above sea level, or being worn out by his new cousin Alex...we aren't sure but it was AWESOME! People we are talking 3 hour naps and 14-15 hours of sleep every night!

Uncle VP and JD chillin in the snow

We flew home on Southwest Airlines. JD has a peanut allergy and they are one of the few airlines that still serve peanuts as their free snack so this was an obvious worry of mine going into it. BUT I have to tell you they could not have been more accommodating and nice to us. We filled out the appropriate paperwork online when we booked our flight and when we checked in reminded them of this and were treated like royalty... not like we were putting them out. Which is interesting because we kind of were a pain in their rear because once you fill out that information they are flagged to take all peanuts off that plane and ask all passengers to not open anything containing peanuts that they may have brought onto the plane. They never once made us feel like this was an inconvenience.

Our first leg of the flight was again the longest and this time we went scream free. WOOHOO! We made several trips to the airline bathroom (as JD decided right before we left that going potty in a real potty was super fun), ate lots and lots of snacks, and listened to lots and lots of songs on mommies ipod which as a combination all worked! It was no less stressful because I was on edge that he was going to scream but he didn't and that made it one successful 4 hour flight.

We arrived in Chicago, Midway wayyyy past JD's bed time and had a stupidly long layover. Note to parents: when traveling with a toddler DO NOT FLY THROUGH CHICAGO MIDWAY. It seriously is one of the worst airports I have ever flown through. Way too crowded and the gates are not large enough to accommodate the amount of people.

In general it was a wonderful trip filled with lots of firsts and great fun. But I don't think we will be traveling with OUR toddler on a plane anytime soon. :)

Here are a few other items we found helpful...just in case you decide to travel with yours...


1. Children's Benadryl (specifically the "perfect measures")=does not make our son drowsy AT ALL. But as a side note (and before I get baraded about giving my 2 year old benadryl) this was mostly due to JD's peanut allergy and we were taking precautions before getting on an airplane that sold snacks with peanuts in them. Oh and I do hear that OTHER parents use Children's Benadryl for the purposes of drowsiness when they fly and I would have been TOTALLY okay with this happening to us too but, alas JD loves to defy all odds and so awake he was! :)

2. Lots of favorite snacks. For us this includes cheez-its, fruit snacks and dried fruit. We threw in some snack sized oreo's which were a HUGE hit because JD doesn't get sugary snacks that often and he loves "cookies."

3. Antibacterial wipes. This is especially important if you are traveling with a baby/toddler with a peanut allergy because you can wipe down the seats, windows, etc just in case there was anyone sitting there before that had peanuts. We were given this advice before we left and were grateful for it! And really, in the Swine Flu world we live in, this isn't a bad thing to do anyway I guess.

4. While in an airport, anything that moves such as the "people movers" (shown below) can keep a toddlers attention for quite some time. Would highly recommend. Helps pass the time for parents and toddlers very well. :)

5. IPOD with non children music. Yep, thats right our son loves rap music (Timbaland is his favorite) and this held his attention for a good 45 minutes on one of the legs of the flight.

6. Once at destination, if car travel is required of any distance other than 15 minutes, must stop at the nearest fast food place and pick up fries for cranky toddler who has already been traveling for too many hours to mention. This will buy you some time before a meltdown.

7. After arriving be sure to have another toddler or child there available to play with at all times. This one is HUGE and highly important if you would like to also get to enjoy yourself on said vacation.

JD, P-Daddy and Alex on Christmas Day

A Big Thank you to GranBecks for organizing this special trip...one we will remember forever!

TIVO TALK

A few things before I begin...
I agree that it is absolutely ridiculous that I haven't posted anything of substance since my New Years post.
I am having serious writers block when it comes to the recap of Lake Tahoe Christmas Vacation but promise its a blog in the backlog
I would be remiss if I didn't plug Shallow Thoughts here because she is not only a rock star in my eyes because she read a book a DAY in '09 AND blogged about that book EVERYDAY but now she has continued her blog but has added her thoughts on television. LOVE IT...and we are getting ready to talk about my Tivo, so this plug works!

Now onto the good stuff...

Notable items on my TIVO (and listed in order of importance...of course!):
How I Met Your Mother (Can you tell this one is still winning in my book?)
Modern Family
Desperate Housewives
Project Runway
The Good Wife
60 Minutes
Cougar Town
Shark Tank
Iron Chef America
American Idol

Its hard to believe that American Idol has fallen as low as it has...but its true. I would skip AI to view any of the other shows above it, any day! And you know why? I JUST don't think they are ever going to find another Carrie Underwood. Nope. Don't think they can do it. But THIS guy...well he is brilliant...



If you aren't watching Modern Family you are seriously missing out. And here is a PERFECT example:



The Good Wife was one I wasn't so sure about when it first started but now P-Daddy and I find ourselves glued to the TV when its on. Its nice because there is a different story line every week but on the back side there is an on going story line. And its based in Chicago...which I think I already mentioned in the last Tivo Talk...but apparently I find it that appealing. Just sick of every show being based in NYC.

60 Minutes, if you aren't already aware is (in our humble opinoin) one of the best news shows on television. I really don't watch a lot of news nor do I read a lot of news online or in print. I don't need a daily dose of depressing stories and lets be honest, the news thrives on it. But every Sunday I am sucked into every story on this amazing news show. Whether they are talking about elephants, the 2009 campaign, or the United States border patrol I am way into it! You can't beat Andy Rooney's take on life at the end either:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Shark Tank, if you don't know is a show where 5 unique investors (including but not limited to the guy who owns FUBU) sit on a panel and people bring their products to them. In bringing their products they are also asking for a certain dollar amount in exchange of giving up a portion of their company. Its sort of like a lame show that was on television a few summers back that was called "American Inventors" (that I am sad to say we watched), but because it involves investors its a bit different. All of the investors have HUGE ego's which makes the show (of course) that much more interesting...and lets be honest some people and their "inventions" are for sure TV worthy. This was my favorite company...and the video doesn't explain it but these guys invented a website where college students can upload (and sell) their notes from a class (within their College/University), the notes are proofed to make sure they are "worthy" and then other students can go and purchase those notes. Why didn't I think of this??



What is my TIVO missing?
LIFE, we Loved this show and frankly I am pissed that I will never know what happened.
Friday Night Lights, although I hear that this one will be returning this summer I was ready for it to come back now!
Alias...I know, I know this show as done years ago...but I still miss it

What my TIVO is adding?
The Deep End, begins this Thursday 1/21...below is the preview



I would be kidding you and you and YOU if I didn't also mention JD's TIVO list (in order of importance of course) because most days I feel like I watch more of whats on his TIVO list than whats on mine (within the half an hour he is allowed per day of course-HA!)
Handy Manny
Sesame Street
Imagination Movers (which used to creep me out because there are grown men in jumpsuits but now I know every song by heart...crap)
My Friends Tigger and Pooh



PS-If you were over my videos and didn't click on one of them, please appease me and go back and watch the Modern Family one...its worth your time I promise!!

New Year, New Name..

Yes that is right, we have a new name! The header is currently my work in progress...but it was time for Rhyme and Reason (which equals I never liked it to begin with) to go and for something fresh and new! If you have read this blog long...you can tell I kind of love change. And not to worry its not just on the internets...I have been known to rearrange in the whole house while P-Daddy is at work (I have freakishly weird woman strength). The blog name is no exception apparently. However...I didn't change our blog address this time...cause that was just silly before. :)

And yes, we do heart The Boss in this hood. And yes, we are totally naming our blog from his song Glory Days...cause you don't want to let em pass you by...Glory Days...in the wink of a young girls eye...okay I will stop. But now how fun is it that every time you visit this here blog you will sing that there song. Its awesome, we know.

Decade

Ahhh New Years Eve...the worlds most over-rated holiday (if I do say so myself). Don't get me wrong...I have had myself a jolly great time on New Year's before, but lets be serious...its HARD work to actually get to have fun on this day. The best New Year's I have ever had were when all of our friends headed to the hills of Indiana and rented a cabin for the weekend. I cannot explain to you how easy this is to do, and HOW MUCH FUN IT IS!! And even though we chose not to have plans this year...I still would pay serious dollars if someone called me today and told me that they had it all planned for me (babysitter and all) and could go there tonight with everyone I love.

But this blog is dedicated to the last decade as I thought it would be fun to review where we were and where we are now.

In the Years 1999/2000...
we both were a sophomores in college
I was a fair queen
P-Daddy drove a 1991 Honda Accord
I drove a car named Tyrone

Our favorite party of the year was called "Derby Days" (and in general our parties had names)
Both smoked too many cigarettes to mention...daily
We were both young and "in love"...with other people
We were not 21 (although P-Daddy was closer than I was)
I had a millennium party at my dad's house that ended with china broken, carpet ruined, and police. Wasn't even at all a little bit fun. And my dads basement still has a hint of keg smell in it...
P-Daddy went to see Mellencamp in brand new Conseco Fieldhouse with his friends and had the time of his life.
We both lived on Hampton Drive

P-Daddy traveled to Scotland for a family golf trip
Our favorite place to go was called Broadripple

In the years 2001/2002...
9/11 happened as I was sleeping comfortably in my bed in Indiana
I lived in a house we called "The Front Door"
P-Daddy and I started dating
I planned my first major event as an intern
P-Daddy interned for the local NBC news station
We Graduated college
both had our first jobs...and I had my second squeezed in there too
first big kid apartments...then I had my second (it was a rough go for a while-ha!)
I was FINALLY 21
P-Daddy and I played match-maker and it worked!

I spent New Years Eve with two of my greatest friends in Times Square
We went on Spring Break to a place we like to call "South Party Island" because everything is bigger in Texass (and I took the road trip of a lifetime while P-Daddy took the high road and flew).

In the years 2003/2004...
We were engaged and married
We traveled to the Dominican Republic, went on our first cruise, Martha's Vineyard and Las Vegas
P-Daddy changed careers

We got our first (and probably only) dog and named him Charlie
We built our first home
My mom got re-married
We attended countless weddings of amazing friends
P-Daddy was a best man
We bought 2 cars
the tradition of Friendsgiving was born

In the years 2005/2006...
We watched some of our best friends get married on a beach in Florida
I was a maid of honor for the first time
I was promoted to a job I loved
We celebrated our first year anniversary in Las Vegas
We traveled to Florida, went on a cruise, Puerto Vallarta twice, southern California, and Kansas City
We became Colts season ticket holders
We discovered yagerbombs
We built our second home
I bought my first pair of spanx

In the years 2007/2008...
We found out I was prego in early 2007 (and coincidentally our best friends found out the same day they were prego too...and then a few months later some of our other best friends found out THEY were prego...2007 was the year of the baby!)
We had the most beautiful and healthy baby boy
I trained for a half marathon and didn't run it
We traveled to Wisconsin and Florida (all by car...with our baby...do not recommend)
The Colts won the Superbowl

I started this here blog

We lost a LOT of sleep and I became a wee bit crazy for a bit because of it
Uncle Badgeman met his future wife (Aunt Ricky)
I left the job I once loved to tackle staying at home with our little JD

10 year high school reunions happened. P-Daddy skipped his, we celebrated like high schoolers at mine

We gave our dog away to my Papa President

And finally in 2009...
We celebrated 5 years of marriage by traveling on a cruise to the Bahamas (and having our first long period away from our son)

JD started pre-school
P-Daddy won his work incentive trip (which means if all the stars align we will be traveling to Italy in 2010!)
Uncle Badgeman married Aunt Ricky

P-Daddy joined his first golf league
JD was in his first wedding

I interviewed for, and was offered a great job with a great company...and I turned it down for greener pastures
P-Daddy was a best man

JD went trick-or-treating for the first time dressed as Donald Trump
I was a maid of honor again to another best friend

P-Daddy turned the big 3-0
We spent an exciting Christmas in Lake Tahoe, which included JD's first airplane flight (a whole blog will be dedicated to this later)
ALL of our friends that we watched walk down the aisle (or celebrated with after) are still happily married!

JD said his first words
We gave up yagerbombs

But as fun as that was to remember and write down...there aren't words to describe how awesome these last 10 years have been. "To God be the glory great things he hath done!" I hadn't really thought about the fact that we are ending a decade until I signed onto the internets the other day and MSN's ad was about the drama of the last decade. Which, lets be honest, there has been a lot of that for the rich and famous and the not so famous too. While we are on the subject I should mention that I don't believe the most notable is the death of Michael Jackson or the "indiscretions" of Tiger Woods. I think I am going with the innocent lives that were lost on 9/11 and how that affected the way our country is and will be forever.

I don't believe in New Years Resolutions because if you want to change anything about yourself or your surroundings, you will. So raise whatever glass you have in front of you and lets cheers to this New Year, this past decade, and the many decades to come! Cheers!

Oh and LETS GO BULLDOGS!

Fa La La La...

This is a fun post that Amy over at Our Happy Married Life did and I thought I would join in...feel free to do the same! Of course I added a few because it wouldn't be right if I didn't now would it?! And for all of you only following this to keep up with JD, I included some fun photos of him too!

Oh and "Deck the Halls with bows of Holly...Fa La La La Laaaa, La La La Laaaa." Loving myself some Christmas music! (you know you were already singing this...and if not-you are now!! HEHE!)

1. Wrapping Paper or Gift Bags? wrapping paper, with ribbons and bows all the way. I personally think that is just part of the fun of the season!

2. Real Tree or Artificial? We have a 9 foot artificial tree that I LOVE, BUT I grew up having a mixture of both. I am fine with real but I do think they can be a beast to take care of. But I heard today via the blog world that this equals that I don't love Jesus...not having a real tree and all, and am perplexed cause I sure do love myself some Jesus (and just because this quote is in my head I will follow it up with...) "I like the baby version best"...NAME THAT MOVIE!

JD "helping" put out the christmas lights

3. When do you put your tree up? The day after Thanksgiving is normally our tradition.

4. When do you take the tree down? Normally the weekend that follows New Years but this year our halls will be decked until the third weekend in January as we are hosting "friendsgiving" which isn't happening until January 9th and it just wouldn't be the same if the tree wasn't up...

"Uncle VP, let me show you how this is done"

5. Favorite Childhood Christmas Memory? I wrote an entire 8 page paper on this my freshmen year of college for a creative writing class...wish I still had it actually! Anywho I LOVED Christmas growing up. For everything it was...dad getting out the Christmas lights and stringing them all over the house to make sure they worked, and inevitably one wouldn't so we would have to use our electrical skills to try and figure out which one caused the problem...flip to him up on a ladder putting out the lights and yelling at us, to helping my mom bake cookies (and the house smelling like baked goods for a whole month, Christmas programs at school and then Madrigals in high school, to the dysfunction of our extended family's poker game on Christmas night, to dad's obsession with being in the living room, coffee in hand before we could go in and see what Santa brought us...it wasn't perfect but it is what made me love Christmas. I cannot WAIT until we can create our own traditions with JD!

Final Product...

6. Do you like eggnog? That is a negative.

7. Favorite gift you received as a child? My first real Cabbage Patch kid! Why did I say REAL you ask? Oh because my grandma was FAMOUS for trying to make fake Cabbage Patch dolls out of cotton stuffed women's nylons. Funny now...yep it sure is...but not so funny then!

8. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes I sure do...Jesus is the reason for the season you know. :)

JD doing some "work" on the Christmas tree...noticing a trend here anyone??

9. Favorite Christmas Movie Quote? "Santa-I KNOW HIM!" or "The best way to spend Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!"-Elf


10. Hardest person to buy for? P-Daddy's Dad, Papa Lawyer. He asks (jokingly) for boxers every year and that's all we get from him. He better watch out cause one of these years he is going to be getting a fresh crisp pair of boxers from us to him. HA!

11. Easiest Person to buy for? P-Daddy AND JD. I could buy gifts for them all year long if we could afford it! But really in general I love giving to everyone!

12. Worst Christmas Gift Ever Received? It wasn't a gift for me, it was for my brother but still somewhat counts...golf themed toilet paper. And yes he sure does love golf, but really? And no this was not a joke.

13. Mail or e-Christmas card? Mail...except for you, right here and right now it will be a blogochristmas card :)

14. Favorite Christmas Movie? I really do love them all so this is hard to choose. But Miracle on 34th street is my fav. Elf comes in at a close second though...

15. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Normally around December 1st...but I kind of like to drag it out because I love malls around Christmas time...I know they are crowded as heck but they are part of what makes it Christmas!

JD February 2007 JD December 2009

16. Have you ever recycled a Christmas Present? No and never plan to. I don't recycle gifts at all actually but sometimes I think I should because the ones that we don't use just end up in our garage sale...

17. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Peppermint Bark...fun to eat and fun to make! And really it would feel weird eating this at any other time in the year!

18. Colored or Clear Lights? Grew up with colored lights but I kind of hate them now so we are a clear lighted family

19. Favorite Christmas Song? Me: Carol of the Bells P-Daddy: Santa Claus is coming to town (but only the Neil Diamond version) JD: (coincidentally) Deck the Halls (because he can sing the Fa La La part). But I must add that Christmas wouldn't be right without Amy Grant's Greatest hits Christmas CD playing over and over and over again! :)

20. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Well, this is something I am rather passionate about so I am glad you asked! We currently travel here there and everywhere BUT Santa always came to OUR house growing up, and I really liked that every year we got to wake up in our own bed at Christmas so that is the tradition that we are going to have once JD is old enough to understand. If we travel at all it will be to a driveable place for Christmas dinner. Pray for me though...family can be rough on that subject!

21. Name Santa's Reindeer=Dasher, Dancer Donner and Blitzen, Comet and Cupid and Blank and Blank...but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?? Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose...

22. Angel or Star on top of your tree? Sparkly Gold Star

Arts and Crafts time at playgroup

23. Favorite Adult Christmas Memory? First Christmas in our first home with P-daddy. I just knew I would always remember every thing about it. Although what I think is really fun about P-Daddy and I in general is that EVERY.SINGLE.CHRISTMAS we have spent together (going on year 8) we always get each other the same thing. Seriously, no joke and no we NEVER plan it. We've done watches and not just any watch but the EXACT same watch, mine was the girl version, his was the boy...we have done robes and we both had them embroidered, last year we both got each other North Face jackets...its pretty hysterical really because we never make lists for each other and we seriously end up with the same thing! I kind of (no really) love this.

24. Presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning: My family tradition equals Christmas morning...P-Daddy's family equals Christmas Eve. I kind of love Christmas eve because we like to drink a lot after Christmas Eve Mass so Christmas morning can be a rough one...but for JD's sake we will do Christmas morning (that is until he is old enough to drink-HA!)

25. Most annoying thing about this season? In the moment, being dragged a million different directions by family. But really, in the end I would be sad not to have that family so its kind of dumb to be annoyed by this.

26. Ugliest Christmas Decoration ever invented? Anything that blows up to giant size that is placed in people's front yards. Hideous. Should be banned by all neighborhood associations EVERYWHERE!

27. Themed trees or traditional/homey ones? I am a fan of "homey" in general so a homey tree it is and will always be.

28. Gingerbread Cookies or Sugar Cookies? Sugar Cookies with Buttercream icing please.

29. Do you like fruitcake? Never had it but I am thinking it would be awful. Brick of dense bread doesn't even sound good.

30. Are you a stocking stuffer? Absolutely yes! I love stockings...I think the most thoughtful gifts are normally in the stocking!

31. Any Christmas Song make you a bit emotional? Yes...Silent Night. Especially when sung in church on Christmas Eve, lights out, candles of the congregation lit. Gets me every time!

Now that was fun! Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did typing! Now off to do some Christmas baking and wrapping! YAY!

Tis the Season...

if you have read my blog for a while, you knew this one was coming! This Christmas is a wee bit different for us because we are celebrating in Lake Tahoe. Our tree is up, the house is decorated, we even made our first attempt at putting lights out in our yard, but the spirit of Christmas (baby Jesus and all) hasn't hit me yet... I don't have any wrapped presents under the tree, actually I haven't really shopped at all. We are sooo excited to go to Lake Tahoe (and yes we do realize how fortunate we are to be able to even have the opportunity to go there), but it just feels a wee bit different (as stated earlier).

This, however, has officially put me in the Christmas spirit! This and making peppermint bark *yummy*

I won't keep this from you any longer...introducing the Rhyme and Reason elves HIP HOP Christmas!

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