Should I stay or should I go?

Considering it has been over two months since my last blog post, I am struggling with the inevitable question of whether or not I should just give up blogging all together?  Deep down, I know that I do not want to do that.  But with our wedding now over and moving on into a new year, I have decided that it would be good for me to journal about what's been going on in my life on at least a weekly basis.  So for now, I am going to try to start again by committing to weekly posts...regardless of whether anyone reads them or not.

In the past years, I have often loved going back and reading journals I wrote out to see what was going on and how I felt at that point of my life.  It is really encouraging and causes you to re-evaluate yourself internally.

Anyway, for now, here's a recap of what's been going on with us Beevers during the last several months...some good, some bad...but life nonetheless.

OCTOBER

We travelled up north to Redding, CA to visit Mr Fix It's brother and his in-laws for the celebration of a family member's 60th birthday party.  It was a quick, pop in/pop out weekend trip but it was super fun to see Mr Fix It's parents and the other family members that live up in Northern Cali.  The party was a costume event and so being the weekend before Halloween, it was the perfect opportunity for us to test out our costumes:

(I apologize for the quality as most of these photos were taken on my cell phone camera)
Oh and did I mention that Mr Fix It won best costume?!?

We finished out October at a Halloween party at a neighbor's house.  This was the first time for me to really hang out and get to know all the neighbors on our cul de sac since I had just moved into Mr Fix It's home 5 months earlier.  Needless to say, I was a bit concerned when I was served the following Deviled eggs:

After that, I took a tour of their house since Mr Fix It had done a lot of work on it for them.  I really flipped out when I walked into the bathroom to find this waiting for me:



In their defense, our neighbors are HUGE holiday freaks.  They love to decorate and go all out in their yard and their house.  It was actually quite fun to see all that they did around the entire place.

NOVEMBER

Of course November ushered in the holidays.  And as you may remember from one of my last posts, I had my first Thanksgiving ever (without my hubby with me) in our home.  We had about 20 family members there and I mostly did everything myself.  I forgot to take pictures when everything was first set out so here are a few I snapped after people had started chowing down.  The lighting's not great cuz I took them on my cell phone:

I was so excited to use all of our brand new serving platters and casserole dishes.

All of these items were wedding gifts!!!

My brother-in-law did a fabulous job of carving up the 20 lb bird!

Again, I got to use a new wedding gift:  a 3 pot crock pot/slow cooker!  This thing was so cool!

DECEMBER

December of course meant Christmas.  Christmas was a little hard for me since I was usually really into it the day after Thanksgiving.  I would put all of my decorations out and get so excited to decorate my fake tree.  Had to be fake because I liked to leave it up from the day after Thanksgiving until the day after New Year's and we all know real trees don't last that long. 

But Mr Fix It is all about a real tree so I opted to wait until about 2 weeks before Christmas to put out all the decorations.  Especially because with our new puppy in the house I was petrified he was going to destroy everything!  Surprisingly, he did well and didn't really go after anything at all...not even the stockings that I hung from our fireplace mantle. 

In early December, I got together with the six girls I had led in a bible study for almost 5 years.  We don't meet regularly anymore since I got married because almost all of us are now married and we don't live as close anymore.  So we make it a point to get together once a month instead.  In December, one of the girls hosted a fabulous tea party and she was excited to use all of her brand new tea set.  I absolutely loved this mad hatter style table setting but with a Christmas feel to it.  She went so far as to put pictures of us girls at each place setting!  I loved it.

One of our favorite memories of our first Christmas together was driving to my sister's house on Christmas morning.  We decided to get up early to go see my niece and nephew open all of their gifts.  On our way down to South County we happened to come across this guy driving in a station wagon full of gifts on the 405 freeway!

I mean, come on!  Does it get any better than seeing Santa on Christmas day driving with a car full of presents?!?  We honked at him and he waved and gave us the peace sign with a big smile on his face.

JANUARY

January meant a new year.  As much as I was so thrilled with all of the exciting things that went on in 2010 (like oh, our wedding and honeymoon), I was really excited to say hello to 2011 and begin what will hopefully be a great start to our lives together.  But in January, Mr Fix It left me yet again for about 2 weeks to go up north to his parent's house to work on a rental property for them.  This picture of our puppy, Brody sums up how I felt during that time: 

We missed the man of the house and Brody is looking out our front window waiting for him to come home like me!  Thankfully, I had my daughter, Little Miss with me to keep me and Brody occupied.

We finished up January with me, Little Miss and my mom taking a quick flight up to Seattle for the last weekend to see my cousin star in a little musical play he wrote.  He attends college at Cornish school for the performing arts and I know he'll make it big some day.  It was so fun to see him act.

While we were there, we took in some of the sights...like the very first Starbucks ever!

My mom, Little Miss, my cousin (the future star), my aunt and me

We checked out this silly wall of grafiti near Pike's Market (a popular outdoor market).  While we were there, we went and had lunch at the restaurant where Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner filmed a scene for the movie Sleepless in Seattle.

We walked on the waterfront



They made us check out this stupid wall of gum. 

A dumb tourist site in my opinion where people stick their chewed gum. 

And of course we saw the Space Needle (as well as Qwest & Safeco Fields)

FEBRUARY

Of course, I don't have photos for February yet since today is the first day.  But this will be a super fun month.  And here's why:

Sunday is Super Bowl day.  Though I am not thrilled with the teams that are playing at all :( I do love me some good football!

The following Wednesday is my daughter's actual birthday and then that Friday Mr Fix It is taking me to Vegas for the weekend to celebrate Valentine's Day.

The weekend after that, an old friend from high school (who just happens to be the President of the World Poker Tour) got us tickets to a celebrity invitation reception and event that they are holding near our house.  Mr Fix It is a huge poker fan so we are super excited about that.

The last Friday of February, I am throwing yet ANOTHER surprise party for Mr Fix It's birthday!  His brother is flying in from Sacramento to surprise him along with 20 other friends who will be waiting for him at our local Lucky Strike Bowling Alley and Lounge.

Oh and Little Miss is taking her driving test in the middle of the month as well.  We bought her a car from a family member and she is dying to be able to have her own car and drive herself to and from school finally.  Scary stuff to see my little one growing up but I am excited about all the new changes coming.

Thus I am so thankful for February and all the celebration it is going to bring.  On the downside, Mr Fix It and I lost a very dear close friend of ours about a week and a half ago.  She went to Hawaii after our wedding (in July) and came back with a nasty cough that wouldn't go away.  The doctors soon found out it was lung cancer and once treatment began, it soon spread to her brain.  We were devastated when we found out they only gave her a month to live when it was determined that the treatment was not working whatsoever.  She lost her battle on Wednesday January 26th.  Mr Fix It and I cried and are trying to make sense of why someone so loving and genuine and beautiful was taken so soon.  But her boyfriend (our dear friend) summed it up best when he said "I guess God just wanted her back sooner than we had all hoped."

Audrey, you will be dearly missed and we love you so much!  Rest in peace lovely lady.

On the menu tomorrow!

So, I am a HUGE Food Network fan.  Especially of Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa and Giada DeLaurentis).  Most of their recipes have become big favorites of Mr Fix It and Little Miss.  So of course I hit the Food Network web site for ideas for my Thanksgiving Day menu.  (Oh, and I also have a subscription to Martha Stewart's Everyday Food and Food & Wine magazine which has some great recipes in them as well!)

For the 20 aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, inlaws, etc that are heading to my place tomorrow morning, this is what we have on the menu:

*  Turkey: For the first time ever, our family will be having a FRESH (not frozen) BRINED turkey.  I have heard great things about how brining helps make a turkey moister and also infuses great flavor into it.  Tonight as soon as I get home from work, I am sticking our 21 pound turkey into a 5 gallon bucket filled with a brine including molasses, honey, garlic, soy sauce, lemon, thyme, safe and of course, salt!  We'll see how this thing works.

*  Citrus Marinated Green Olives (appetizer):  Along with traditional chips, salsa and onion dip that my family munches on before the big meal, I decided to try this new recipe instead of just sitting out plain black olives and pickles.  I made it Monday night and it marinates for 2 to 3 days...smelled yummy.  The marinade included olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, curry, tarragon, lemon zest and juice and red pepper flakes.

*  Wine Simmered Fruit Dressing:  Did you know the difference between a stuffing and a dressing is that one gets put in the turkey and the other gets put in a casserole dish?  That's the only difference!  :)  And I've read that putting stuffings in turkey make the turkey dry out because you have to cook them longer plus it is not the safest way to cook veggies and such.  So I am making a homemade dressing this year instead of Stove Top stuffing (which is what I think we always had at Grandma's house).  My dressing includes toasted oat & honey bread cubes, white wine, apples, golden raisins, butter, onion, celery, pecans and chicken broth.  I never eat the stuffing at Thanksgiving (don't like it) but I am thinking I may enjoy my own dressing concoction :)

*  Traditional things:
        Mashed Potatoes (gotta have 'em)
        Corn (I would opt out of this but the guys in my family like plain old canned corn)
        Carrots (this is a simple new recipe I am making for the family which is baby carrots in a honey glaze with butter, lemon juice and parsley)

*  Green Bean Casserole:  We used to have the traditional canned Campbell soup green bean casserole...and again, I never ate it.  It was gross to me and I LOVE green beans.  So last year I made a simpler green bean dish with homemade onion rings and marinated in a mushroom brandy sauce.  This year I am returning to the traditional casserole dish but making a homemade version with onion rings coated in panko crumbs and flour, and a sauce made up of mushrooms, half and half, butter, chicken broth, nutmeg and garlic. 

*  Whipped Sweet Potatoes & Bananas:  This is also a new dish for the family that seemed surprisingly easy to make.  You just roast the potatoes and bananas and scoop out the flesh into a bowl.  Mix them up with some butter, dark brown sugar, butter, honey and pecans and bake with a crumbly topping.  Hoping this is a family hit :)

*  Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce:  Again, not a fan of the cranberry sauce but decided I am going to make something worthy of being served along with the turkey this year.  The guys again insist on that can of crap that you think is sauce so this year I am making more of a relish with sweetened dried cranberries, gala apples, cinnamon, and sugar.  I made this last night and stuck it in the fridge since it will keep for a day or two so I don't have to worry about making it the day of. 

*  And for dessert, I made a couple of my famous Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tarts from the amazing Ina Garten:  These things have replaced pumpkin pies as a homemade favorite of our family since I brought one to Thanksgiving about 2 years ago.  Super yummy!

Ok, so I have taken on a huge task!  But I have an organized to-do list with time schedule and mom is spending the night to help me prep vegetables, peel potatoes, and set everything up tonight.

Can't wait to snap some shots and share with everyone this weekend.  Have a great Thanksgiving and please do share your favorite dish item from Turkey Day or your favorite ingredients! 

All by myself...at Thanksgiving!

Well, not really.  Sort of. 

As you may remember, this past July, my wonderful 95 year old grandmother went home to be with our Lord.  Thanksgiving has *ALWAYS* been a tradition that took place with our entire extended family at my grandma's house in Hemet every year for as many decades as I can remember.  We have anywhere from 20 to 40 people each year and it has been a solid family get together forever.

But with Grandma now gone and most of the family traveling about 90 minutes to get to Hemet where my Aunt (who took care of her) still lives, we decided there's no need for all of us to make that drive each Turkey Day.  So we are starting a new tradition...and it's at *MY* house!

Yep, I will be making my first Thanksgiving Day feast this week for 20 people at the Beever household.  It is bitter sweet for several reasons:

1)  The cooking:  I love to cook - especially for parties - but I've never done a Thanksgiving feast for this many people so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.  I have already finished all the shopping last night and even made my first appetizer yesterday:  Citrus Marinated Green Olives that sit in the fridge for 3 days.

2)  The traveling:  We won't have to drive far...almost all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, mom and sister live in Orange County so most of them will only have to drive about 30 minutes to get to my place.  But it is going to be super tough this year being without Grandma and in a house other than hers where I grew up.  And it may be a bit chaotic with our new puppy jumping all over the place.

3)  The cost!  Oh my gosh, I never realized how expensive it is to feed this many people!  We are going to have each family pitch in $5 for kids and $10 per adult to help me pay for the expenses but even after that contribution, I am still paying about $100 - $150 out of my own pocket.  If I do this again next year, I may need to up the ante by either having people bring a dish or pay more like $15 each :)

4)  The preparation...oh wow.  I started shopping for non-perishables two weeks ago then bought cold items on Saturday and the produce and turkey yesterday.  I cleaned the house all weekend and tonight I am making pumpkin banana mousse tarts and the cranberry sauce/relish.  Tomorrow and Thursday will be busy days for sure but I am actually excited (and a bit nervous) to see how it will all come out.

But the unfortunate thing about all of this is that Mr Fix It will not be with me this year on our first Turkey Day as a married couple.  We have always spent Turkey Day apart each year since he goes up to his parents house in Northern California and I have always been at Grandma's house.  So after we got married, his family assumed we would go up there together.  But Mr Fix It understood how important it was to me to have this year with my family since we just lost our grandmother. 

He asked if I wanted him to stay here with me so I wouldn't have to be alone but I told him to go ahead and go up to his family's house and next year we will start the alternating of holidays between the two families.  A lot of people think it's weird that we won't be together, but honestly, as much as I love him, I know that he would probably stress me out pretty bad while I am cooking all day Thursday.  Mr Fix It tends to be one of those guys who sits over your shoulder in the kitchen thinking he knows everything better than you do.  So silly...he always talks about what a good cook I am but when we have people over to our place, he just has to have his hands in everything. 

So I told him that I loved him and I would miss him and I would make a plate of leftovers for him to try when he gets back, but to go enjoy his thanksgiving with his family and not to worry about me.

So, ladies.  What are your big holiday plans this week?  Any of you having to deal with changes for your holidays now that you are married?

The Beevers are not dead

Hi, everyone!

I noticed a few of you have left some comments lately wondering where I am.  Yes, I am still around and yes I am still married...very happily!

I feel horrible that I have not been blogging for the past couple of months.  I even have about 4 more posts that I never finished up from wedding recaps I'd still like to complete and blog for you soon.  And eventually, I'd like to start blogging more about our married life...the ups and downs and adjustment phases we've been encountering.

But all is, indeed, very well.  We are happy and living together for almost 7 months now just feels 'normal.' 

I asked Mr. Beever if it was weird for him to suddenly be leaving with a wife and a teenage daughter and he said "No, it just feels normal....like we've lived together forever."  I just adore him.  He has been saying some really sweet things lately...waking me up in the middle of the night to let me know that he loves me and is really happy.  He has told me several times this past month what a 'good woman' I am.  And he is just as good to me.

We just had my birthday last month and we're hoping to hit Vegas soon to celebrate a post b-day getaway.  I am also planning and hosting my very first family Thanksgiving this year at our place.  There will be about 20 to 25 of us and I am so nervous but really excited.

And of course, we just got a puppy about 2 months ago and so when I am home I try to focus on him and the family since we're at work all day away from each other. 

Work is slowing down a bit again so hopefully I will get back to all of your blogs.  I know some of you have recently married and I have lots of recaps to catch up on.

For now, I will leave you with the two Christmas cards we just ordered today.  We couldn't choose one of the two so we opted to get two and send out half and half to the 100 family and friends on our card list.

Hope you are all well!!!  Take care and I will most definitely be around.  :)

My baby sister designed both of these cards for us.  And of course we included the new puppy, Brody in our family photo card this year. 

Happy New Year! And my fave Christmas gift recaps!

So last night, Mr Fix It and I did the low key new year's celebration...we had dinner with his brother and sis-in-law (actually, she worked by waiting on our table while we ate at the restaurant she works at).  His best friend (and groomsmen) and his wife also joined us.  We also dropped my almost 15 year old daughter off at her very first New Year's Eve party - my how she's growing up!  Then we settled in for some Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve and some sweet lovin' to end out at 2009 - if ya know what I mean :)

I also was gifted these little beauties as my final Christmas present from Mr Fix It...he got me some nice warm boots via UGG style and these new sunglasses by Electric that I have been vying for!  Why?  Because I love me the large sunglass style look that's in but have never found a pair that actually look good on me without buggin' out my eyes!  Until these!

My favorite gifts I gave last week?

*  The Garmin that literally made my mother cry when she opened up.  Silly to cry over a garmin I know but if you knew what a pain it is loaning her mine or having to look up directions on mapquest for her every time she can't find something while driving around, you'd understand why this was a must give gift for her.  And the fact she couldn't afford to buy it for herself - well, it made her cry when she opened it.

*  The Tachyon helmet mount video camera that I gave Mr Fix It...as a surfer and athlete extraordinaire, he saw this on his little brother while they were out dirt biking and just had to have it.  Whether or not he'll use it and get any fun stories out of it we'll see but since he loves to wakeboard and such, he was definitely in love with it when he opened it.

*  Of course my teenager just loved the new cell phone she got...how can you go wrong with technology for today's teen?

*  And finally, I gifted my boss (the most difficult person to shop for in the entire world!) the mini version of the camera I got Mr Fix It.  Hearing this man tell me that I gave him the 'perfect gift' for the first time ever was just music to my ears!  I mean the man's a millionaire and pretty arrogant about gifts he gets that he doesn't think suit his standard of living so finding something he'll enjoy that he doesn't think is stupid is truly a feat in my opinion!

What about you?  Did you get or give any gifts this past Christmas that you were just super excited about?  Why?

PS  Do you see that over there on the right side of my blog?  ------->  The past posts have all been lumped into 2009!  So crazy!

What a way to end 2009...

It almost seems poetic.  This entire year has been filled with more illnesses, injuries and health related problems in and around my family.

Sorry I have not been around these past couple days but my 14 year old has been fighting an ear and sinus infection for almost two weeks now and she lovingly passed it on to both her father, grandma and now me!

I had been battling getting sick for a week but on Christmas Eve I was seriously losing the battle and by Christmas night I had totally lost my voice and have a sore throat, horrible cough, total congestion and inability to breathe, cannot sleep, pain in my ear and sinus headache and a completely achy body.  :(  Boo!

So I will try to get back to the blogosphere in the next couple days as I miss staying on top of my google reader and especially miss keeping up with my girls Miss T who is just days away from her big wedding extravaganza and Very Married who just tied the knot!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and here's to a day full of trying to finally sleep and getting pumped up on some codeine cough syrup and anti-biotics hopefully.

Btw, exactly one year ago yesterday Mr Fix It made my year and proposed to me and he has proved to me over and over again these past few days why I knew I had to say yes...he has been wonderfully comforting in trying to make me feel better and taking care of me :)

Exciting news!

I won my very first giveaway on a blog! Woo-hoo! So excited, Carolina Bride just informed me that I won her poster giveaway...so now I have to go through all my fun e-pics and select the image I want to use for the 16x20 poster! Man I love the blogosphere! And Carolina obviously :)


Also, I found out that our invitation sample is in the mail and on it's way to me for final proofing! We finalized the revisions and selected the final photos and as soon as I get it in my pretty little hands I'll snap some shots to post of the real live invite!

What a glorious weekend this has been...I got to hang out with my future parents-in-law this weekend as they were down in So Cal from Redding visiting Mr Fix It and his brother's family. It's been so great to catch up with them and share a mini-pre-Christmas dinner :)

Getting to know the 'Christmas Side' of blogger friends

Saw this over on The Newlywed Chronicles today and thought it might be fun to share and ask you fellow friends to post as well - I love getting to know people better.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for sure!  And usually color coordinated for under the tree.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real growing up.  Fake, for the past 10 years.  Now Real this year since Mr Fix It insists on real trees :)

3. When do you put up the tree? The day after Thanksgiving!  (But with a real one not sure if I'll be able to continue this tradition)

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually around New Years Day!

5. Do you like eggnog? Um, no.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Don't think I remember my favorite but know that I loved my baby doll that you could 'feed' and then change her 'messy diaper.'  And also loved this little toy car thing that you drove around a race track.  Made me feel like a real driver.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Grandma.

8. Easiest person to buy for?  My sister...we always tell each other exactly what we want.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? My roommate had one that we always put out but since I've lived on my own for the past 3 years, the only ones I have are ornaments on my tree.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail for sure!  Gotta have something to hang!
11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received?  Don't think I ever got a worst Christmas gift.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Mickey's Christmas Carol...there's something nostalgic about it for me and it just makes me laugh!  And of course I love It's a Wonderful Life and a Christmas Carol.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after Thanksgiving and sometimes even before.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not at all.

15.Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? These cookies my mom makes called Snowballs.

16. Lights on the tree? I mix it up but my faves are either the all white ones that are synchronized to Christmas songs that 'ring' or the different colored ones that have 8 different ways of blinking, flashing, fading, etc.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Posted about it on Monday...My Christmas Card to You by The Partridge Family or O Holy Night by N'Sync.
18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Always stay home - though Christmas Eve we have the big family get together at a local cousin or Aunt's home.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Donner, Prancer, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, oh geez, can't remember the last two...then there's Rudolph!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Ooh...pretty Angel holding a harp that lights up.  Used to be a white star that flashed along with the other lights.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?  Christmas Eve we open presents with the extended family...we do a Secret Santa exchange.  Christmas morning we open the gifts with my immediate family - Mr Fix It, daughter, mom, sister and her hubby and kids and usually Grandma.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Having to hear on the news about stupid people up in arms about a nativity display or a Christmas song, prayer, etc and how they're offended by it and need it taken down or need to put up their pagan symbolic item or other holiday stuff.  It's called CHRISTMAS for a reason - stop complaining about it.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color?  I have been all over the place over the years...from peach and mint green to purple and silver.  But the past several years I have become more of a traditionalist and just love the basic red and gold theme on a green tree.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?  Last few years we've been doing mexican type stuff - enchiladas, tamales, etc.  We need to mix it up with the family I think!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I honestly can't think of anything.  I would love to get the new Google Droid phone but I know the fam won't get that because to them it's unnecessary :(

26. Have you ever been caroling? Yes, but can't remember when, where or why.  I was younger...I think we caroled at a nursing home.

Music Monday # 7 (The Christmas Card)

For this week's Music Monday, I wanted to share one of my absolute (if not THE) favorite Christmas songs ever!  My sis and I absolutely loved the Partridge Family Christmas album when we were children...cheesy I know, but oh my, just so fun!  And David Cassidy back then was just the bomb!

So here it is for your listening pleasure (please ignore the kinda silly photos and albums):

Why do I love this song so much?  Because I think it just perfectly sums up what I would want to send as well wishes and blessings in a card.  What about you, ladies?  What's your absolute favorite Christmas song?

More blog love!

So thankful to Bicoastal Bride, Miss Pug, New Mexican Bride and NuFlaiir for recognizing me on their blogs with a lovely new award.  I hate to admit I received it a while ago and have not gotten around to posting it, but here goes.

Rules: list 10 things that make you happy. Then, pass it on to 10 bloggers that make your day a better one!

1.  My daughter, Jordan Kaylie. 

That is a horrible pic of me but a super cute one of her from when she competed in the National American Miss Pageant this past August.  She's 14, a freshmen in  high school (God help me) and super athletic and smart.  I am so blessed and so proud to have such a beautiful, fun and talented daughter who loves Jesus!

2.  My fiance, Mr Fix It.

I am so blessed to have this man in my life and am thrilled beyond belief that he has chosen to make me his wife just four short months from now!  It's so crazy to think that after 37 years, I have finally met someone who is everything I ever needed but never would have expected for myself.  :)  Funny how the Lord works in mysterious ways.  I can't imagine my life without him...the thought of that just makes me nauseous. 

3.  My family.

 

My mother and my baby sister are daily parts of my life.  If we do not see each other, we speak on the phone.  We live within 15 minutes of each other and are constantly together.  My sister keeps me laughing always and my mother makes me feel grounded and established.  The three of us 'Campbell' girls have been a strong unit for our entire lives and happiness just isn't the same without them contributing to it.

4.  My job (and my boss).

No pic for this one...just the recognition that I am truly blessed by an unbelievably amazing boss and a job I have been at for 7 1/2 years now.  This job came to me via some serious hardships but God was so good in how He worked everything out for the best for me.  Because of this job, I was able to finally gain financial independence as a single mom, pay for this wedding without going into debt, take family vacations for the first time each year, work only 4 1/2 days a week and have the freedom to leave when I need to so that I can be at my daughter's school and sporting events and just overall live a stress free life without the worry of overtime and anxiety.  This job is what allows me to blog and read all day long and to plan our wedding without the stress of not having enough time for everything.  :)

5.  Jesus and the Bible.

Ok, this one should be number one, but God knows that without Him, nothing would be possible in my life.  For all of my fears and failures and faults, Jesus has been right there through every one of them correcting me, encouraging me, loving me...I am by no means perfect but I am perfect in His eyes.  I thank Him daily for what I don't deserve but am blessed with and remind myself daily to live my life in a way that honors Him.  My biggest hope for our wedding is that it will overflow with the name and love of Jesus and that our guests will know Him more personally through the ceremony and elements of our marriage and vows.

6.  The blogosphere

When I found my way into the blogosphere just a few short months ago I never would have dreamed of having 74 fellow blogger friends following along with me as I spill out my thoughts and ideas.  I am so grateful for this new medium and how happy it makes me to know I have 'someone' out there who can relate to me on some level. 

7.  The internet.

What would I have done without the internet?  Thanks to my job, I am able to browse online all day long and have made almost every one of my bookings and purchases for the wedding based on web sites I found.  I do all my Christmas shopping online and have everything come to me!  I am able to keep track of everything with e-mail and come up with all kinds of inspiration and ideas just from typing in a few words into Google.  Love it!

8.  TV.

I hate to admit I am a tv addict in many respects.  The funny thing is, I don't really watch a ton of tv when I am at home.  I actually watch it mostly at work!  Isn't that bad?  But my job (my amazing dream job as I mentioned above) is not really a full time job even though as an executive assistant my boss requires me to be in the office for 4 1/2 days a week.  So most of the day, I am just sitting around by myself in an empty office without anything to do.  Therefore, I do most of my tv viewing from the internet thanks to the networks new web sites that offer full episodes online.  I admit that I watch shows online I would normally never watch at home.  Things like the City, the Hills, Desperate Housewives, etc. But my absolute faves that I *do* watch at home are probably Lost, the Colbert Report, How I Met Your Mother, anything wedding related, and Bones.

9.  Cooking.

I love to cook and am a self taught chef thanks to the Food Network!  With the internet and cable in today's day and age, just about anyone can learn just about anything and DIY.  Cooking included.  My fiance thinks I'm a great cook and my mom refers to me as a 'gourmet' cook...that's a little overboard.  She's just shocked because I cook with mostly fresh ingredients and not things out of a can like she did when we were growing up.  :)

10.  Sleep!

Sleep makes me SO happy...unfortunately, in my late 30's, my body has decided it doesn't need much sleep and I am usually not in bed until 11 pm or later and then I usually cannot sleep past 5 or 6 am regardless of whether or not I set an alarm! UGH!  How I miss the days of my twenties when I could sleep until 11 am!  That is until my daughter was born of course.

So there you have it...10 things that make me truly, utterly happy.  As far as passing this award on, I would like to give it to my 10 most recent followers as every single follower makes me so so happy!  I love finding new blogs to stalk and knowing there are some out there who find I have something worth reading as well.  :)

Thankful Thursdays # 2 (Traditions)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I would be shocked to find a whole lot of people on the blogs today but just wanted to be sure I keep up with my routine to have a post for every day :)

Anyway, today's Thankful Thursday is obviously perfect since it is in fact, Thanksgiving.  And today, I am simply thankful for family and tradition.

Every single year for as long as I can remember, we have been driving out to my Grandma and Grandpa's house (though Grandpa passed away about 17 years ago) to have our big family turkey dinner.  In the past we've had as many as 35 to 40 people in my Grandma's 2 bedroom home.  But we love it.  All the little kids, my aunts and uncles, cousins...it's so amazing. 

Almost every year I look at my Grandma, who is now almost 95 years old, and think (or say to her) "Grandma, can you believe that all of the people in this house are here because of you?!"  It's amazing to me.  Granted, our family is not perfect, we have our issues and our little tiffs...but when the holidays roll around, everything seems to fade into the background and we all just hang out catching up, watching football, playing with the kids outside and of course EATING!

Now one tradition I can do without is the fact that for the past 10 years probably they have been making us 'cousins' all do the dishes and clean up after.  As much as I hate that part, it is so fun to hang all with all my girl cousins in the kitchen setting up an assembly line of washers, rinsers and dryers.  :)

This year will be a bit smaller as we have about 8 to 10 family members who won't be making it this year...I am really sad about that.  But also just thankful for the ability to have us all come together at this one time of year and enjoy our family tree.  I'll really appreciate it so much this year since next year after I'm a newlywed we will have to start the decision making process of alternating holidays at me and the hubby's family's houses each year.  (tear)

Have a great day everyone and eat well - but plan on exercising those extra calories off!  I made 3 Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tarts yesterday and am hoping they are devoured!  What's the one favorite food you have at Thanksgiving?