Love Me Some Christmas

Okay, so I don't know if you guys have been able to tell or not but, I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I know! Shocker! 

I think it has been pretty evident with my Christmas related posts this whole week. What can I say though? I am super excited that the Christmas season is here and I just love sharing all of my favorite things about this time of year with you guys. 

With that being said, I wanted to dive into one of my favorite parts of this time of year. Christmas music!!! I don't know what it is about music, but I love how it can transform my mood with just one song, and Christmas music is no different. I could seriously listen to it all year long(my Hubby would seriously kill me if I did though)and I get so excited when some of my favorite artists put out Christmas albums. So I thought that I would share with you guys, my favorite Christmas albums. 

Now I have some albums that I have listened to for years and then I always have new favorites as well. My new favorite this year is Christmas with Scotty McCreery. I love that boy and his voice is just so soothing to listen to. And if you are in for a good cry, listen to "Christmas in Heaven" off this album. Seriously bawled my eyes out after listening to it. 

One of my all time favorites that I seriously listen to over and over(and don't laugh) is *NSync's Home For Christmas. We all went through the boy band phase, some of just never grew out of it, haha! But seriously, this album has so many Christmas memories attached to it that I don't think I could ever quit listening to it.

Sticking with the boy band theme, another one of my all time favorites is 98 Degrees This Christmas. Again, don't laugh. It is a good CD and my Brother probably won't admit this, but he still listens to it every year and continually tells me that it is the best Christmas CD ever! Love ya big Bro!

One album that I just purchased within the last couple of years is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Frank Sinatra's Christmas Collection is amazing. And who doesn't love Frank Sinatra? I love his voice and I love that anytime that I listen to him that he reminds me of my Grandparents. And Franky and I share a special bond in that we have the same Birthday!

And of course my Christmas music listening would not be complete if I didn't mention the Glee Christmas Album. I didn't even realize that they had a Volume 2 & 3 out already. I am going to have to go pick those up and stat. They cover a lot of the classics in a more modern way and I absolutely love it. 

And now I have to share with you guys my all time favorite Christmas song (aside from the original Christmas Song by Nat King Cole of course) that I just absolutely love to blast in my car and at home and sing as loud as I can to. Gayla Peevey's "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." Try not getting this song stuck in your head. Oh it will happen!

Real or Fake?

Okay, since yesterdays post was about doing a theme Christmas tree or doing a more traditional tree, I am really interested to know what kind of trees you guys get.

So do you get a real Christmas tree? 

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Or an artificial tree?

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In the past, my family has traditionally always had real trees. When I was younger we used to go as a family and actually cut one down, ya know, Griswold style! As we got older though, and my parents were no longer together, we started going toward the fake tree and I hated it. Especially since I was the one having to set it up every damn year! What a pain in the ass I tell ya!

The past two years Aran and I finally had a place together so we were excited to set up a tree. We decided to go with a fake one the first year because we already had it and didn't feel like carrying a real one up three flights of stairs to our apartment. And then this happened...

Yes, those are my cats and they are laying in my tree.  After that we decided that we either needed a stronger tree or a way to keep them out. 

Last year we didn't even set up a tree because we weren't going to be there and with everything going on with the wedding, we just didn't have the time or the money.

So that brings us to this year. We fought each other for weeks about whether to get a real tree, which is what I wanted, or to get a fake tree which is what Aran wanted. Guess who won that one?

That's right! Me! Muahaha! But now, I am freaking out a little because we were reading online that the needles from real trees are mildly toxic to cats and if they eat them it can make them really sick. They did say that most cats won't go near them, but my cats are not most cats.  They get into anything and everything and I can already see them trying to chew on this tree.  But then again, I read that the toxins in the artificial trees are just as bad for them. 

So, I am not quite sure what to do. Have any of you ever had to deal with this type of situation before? What did you do to keep your cats or your dogs out of the tree and from getting sick?

To Theme Or Not To Theme

With the Hubby and I going to pick out our Christmas Tree this upcoming weekend, I want to know how you guys decorate your trees. 

Do you guys go the theme route and decorate your trees in a certain theme or color scheme?

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Source: 11magnolialane.com via Esme on Pinterest

Or do you go the more traditional route and do your own thing with a bunch of different ornaments and colors? 

I have always gone the more traditional route, but I am contemplating going towards a theme or a color scheme. So I want to hear from you guys! What do you usually do?

Holiday Weekend Recap

Oh Monday, I am not very happy to see you today. Especially after having five days off. Oh well, time to earn that paycheck.

Our Holiday weekend(which started last Wednesday) was awesome! The Hubby and I were incredibly productive around the house and had a great time spending time with our families.

On Wednesday I went out to lunch with my SIL, my Nieces and My little Sister. We did a little bit of shopping as well. After that I went home and the Hubby and I cleaned out our garage. It was absolutely gorgeous out here and we took full advantage of it. Once we were done with the garage, I headed upstairs to my office/craft room and got to work on getting it all unpacked and cleaned. Yes, I know, we have been in our house since July and we are still not completely unpacked. 

Well, that was until Wednesday anyway! It is finally clean and everything is put away and it is just waiting for a spare bed to go in there so that we have an official guest room.

Thursday we got up and headed up to the Hubby's parents house. We got up there around 10 and then headed out to have Aran's Dad take some pictures for us for our Christmas cards. And thanks to K from Down at Fraggle Rock, I won $50 towards my purchase on Tiny Prints. So we picked out a card that we liked and inserted the picture and they are now on there way to our house. I am so excited to see them!  Thanks again K!!

After the picture taking, we sat down for Dinner around 4ish. I decided this year not to stuff myself, so I really watched my portions and this was seriously the best thing I ever did. Not only was I not full, but I actually had room for dessert! We made this really yummy apple tart out of fillo dough and oh my gosh were they freaking delicious!

After Dinner we watched the Patriots embarrass the Jets and then decided to stay for the night. I think I went to bed around 10. I was so tired from all of the food and fun. 

On Friday we got up and then headed home so that we could get some more stuff done around the house. We went to Lowe's and bought some Christmas lights for the house. And we did a little bit around the house, but we actually ended up being pretty lazy on Friday. Which was nice. 

Saturday however was go go go! I got up first thing and started cleaning our kitchen up. It was a disaster and I couldn't take it anymore. It is spotless now and I will kill the person who doesn't clean up after themselves. You have been warned! We also cleaned up the rest of the house and started hanging our outside Christmas lights.

Once we were done with that we headed Downtown to some of our favorite shops to support them for Small Business Saturday. We went to Savory Spice Shoppe for some freshly ground spices and rubs. And then we went to this place called PB & Jellies. They have all these different kinds of Peanut Butter that they can themselves. We bought original, white chocolate and cookies & cream. They were delicious!

We also stopped in to see my friend Jason at his work. Jason just moved to town and I haven't had a chance to see him yet, so I am glad that we stopped in because he was just getting off work so we all decided to go to dinner at Old C's. It was great getting to see him and catch up on everything that has been going on. 

Sunday I spent a good part of the day at my Brothers house playing with my Nieces while they got their Christmas tree put up. After that I went home and pulled out the rest of our Christmas decorations and started the Christmification process! I am not completely done yet, but I am pretty close. I will share some pics with you guys when I am done. 

And that was my five day weekend! I am so bummed that it is over, but I am so happy that we got as much done as we did. I can't wait til next weekend though because we are going to pick out our Christmas tree! I finally won the battle of the real or fake Christmas tree for this year. Real it is!!!! Muahahahaha! 

I hope that you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and enjoyed some time off! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! I hope that you are all having a fantastic Holiday with your family and friends! Enjoy all of the food and the day off! 

Found Via Google  Image Search

Let the Weekend Begin!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Or in my case, Happy Saturday! That's right, yesterday was my Friday! Whoohooo! Taking today off was the best idea I have had all year. Holla for a five day weekend!!

With that being said, I have a lot to do though. The Hubby and I are going to clean out our garage tomorrow since it is supposed to be really nice tomorrow. It is amazing to me that we have only lived in this house for four months and our garage is already a freaking mess. Anywho, we have to clean out the garage and the whole house. We also need to get all of our Christmas stuff out and all of the Halloween/Fall stuff put away. 

And I am going to go pick up this little girl and she is going to hang out with us since her sister is sick and Mom needs a break from the only kid that can actually run around at this time, haha! She definitely has some energy and we are excited to spend some time with her! 

I am hoping that it is going to be a very productive day before we have a very lazy day. I hope that you guys all have the day off too! Have a great rest of your week and a great Holiday!!

Honeymoon Day 8 & Downtown Disney

It was our very last day in Florida and we were bummed that it was over, but excited to get back home and see our family and our kitties. We had to be out of our Villa by 10 am, and our flight wasn't until 5 pm, so we had some time to kill. We decided to head back to Downtown Disney. 

We had already been there once because we had gone to the House of Blues for dinner(sorry, forgot to blog about that) but it was pretty late when we finished with dinner, so a lot of the shops were already closed, so we didn't really get to experience all that much of it. So we decided it would be a great place to go back and spend some time before we had to leave. 

We did a lot of shopping at Downtown Disney. My favorite store was the World of Disney store. It is one of the largest Disney merchandising stores in the country. This place was huge. They had pretty much anything and everything that you could possibly want. I loved walking around the store and seeing everything. And I loved all the characters they had placed throughout it!

Aran's favorite store was of course, the Lego store. They had all kinds of cool Lego sculptures on the outside of the store and on the inside. My favorites were the Toy Story and Snow White sculptures. We were in this store for a while because Aran was drooling over all of the different Lego sets. I can't believe how expensive some of these things are. They are just plastic pieces! But anyways, it was a pretty cool store. 

After those two stores, we got some lunch at Earl of Sandwich, which I had never even heard of, but it was delicious. We also made a stop at the big Christmas store that they had there, but didn't really find anything that I absolutely had to have. Also, we went to the Ghirardelli store! OMG, I loved this store! We bought a lot of chocolate to bring back with us! Including some yummy Pumpkin Spice squares! 

After all of the shopping and walking around, we decided it was time to head to the airport and turn in our car and wait for our flight. We almost got creamed on our way to the airport by some guy that wasn't paying attention, but luckily some people moved out of the way for us to get into another lane. Once we got to the airport we turned our rental car back in and then headed over to get checked in.

After we got checked in, we made our way through security and then to our gate where we had a few hours to kill. So we just sat in the terminal and played on our computers and our phones until it was time to board the plane. 

It was a great end to an already amazing week. We were sad to be leaving, but excited to get home at the same time. It was an amazing  Honeymoon, filled with memories that I will cherish and hold on to for the rest of my life. I am so glad that we decided to go where we did. It was the perfect trip for us and I can't wait til we can go back again and create more memories!

Friday Letters

I don't know about you guys, but I am so glad that it is Friday! This week has been h-e-double hockey sticks I tell ya. Between stupid crap going on at work and trying to fight off whatever sickness is trying to take over, it has been a long week and I am ready for some time to do nothing. Well, other than going to multiple craft fairs this weekend. What can I say? I am a sucker for them. Any who, let's get down to business. It's time for some Friday Letters with Ashley from Adventures of Newlyweds.

And don't forget to go link up on Ashley's page if you are joining in!

Dear Job,

Please don't be hell again next week. Then again, how much of a pain can you be when I only have to work 2 days??!! Not bragging or anything!

Dear Hubby,

Thank you for finally bending and letting me put up a few Christmas decorations. I promise I won't go overboard just yet. I will save that for the day after Thanksgiving!

Dear Advent Swap Partner,

I am so excited about a few of the things that I bought you! I can't wait till you get to open them! You are going to LOVE them!

Dear K from Down at Fraggle Rock,

Thanks for having the Tiny Prints Giveaway! And thank you to your random number thingy for selecting me as the winner! I now have to decide which Christmas cards to purchase!

Dear Christmas Shopping,

I own you! I am almost completely done! That's right! I will not be that person rushing to get all of their Holiday shopping done a few days before. My husband on the other hand, well, that's his own fault!

Dear Craft Fairs,

Please have all kinds of amazing Holiday decor. I need more stuff to fill our house! And please be reasonably priced. I will not overpay for something that you deem to be amazing, because chances are, I have seen that shiz on Pinterest and can make it myself. So don't be ridiculous!

Dear Breaking Dawn Part 2,
Even though I am seriously dragging ass today because I was out until 3 am watching you, it was worth it. You were the best movie of your entire series and I can't wait to go again. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Dear Guys in Front of Me At Breaking Dawn Last Night,
We all know that you weren't there to see the movie. You were there to hit on girls. We aren't stupid. But I will say that your conversations had my ass laughing for most of the night. So thanks for providing a little bit of entertainment while we waited for our movie to start.

That's all I have for you guys today.  I am seriously not even awake. I don't even know how I drove to work this morning, or how I managed to still be on time even with stopping at Starbucks. Weird. This coffee in my hand is going to play a large part in how much I will be able to function today. Bottoms up! Hope you guys have a great day and an even better weekend!

Honeymoon Day 7

So our last day at Universal arrived and we were both excited and sad at the same time. We knew that we only had one more real day of our vacation, so we wanted to make sure that it was a great day. Before we left for Universal that morning, we sat down and looked at the map and decided on everything that we wanted to do. We wanted to have a game plan so that we could fit as much as possible into our day. Once we had all of that figured out, we were out the door and on our way. 

We had decided that The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was too good not to go to again. So that was our first stop! We went and did The Forbidden Journey ride through Hogwarts again! Still hands down the best part of our trip and the best ride we went on. After that, Aran wanted to go on The Dueling Dragons Roller Coaster. I opted to sit that one out, so instead I went into Hog's Head Pub and got another delicious Butter Beer!!! Yummmm! After Aran was done we walked around all of the shops again and decided to purchase a Chocolate Frog along with a few other things. 

After we were done there we headed over to Seuss Landing. I love Dr. Seuss so I loved looking around at everything here. All the buildings and rides seriously looked like they had cut them straight out of one of his books! It was really cool to see. And I loved that they had all kinds of Thing 1 and Thing 2 merchandise. Heck, I think they even went up to Thing 6 in one shop that we saw. That will definitely be something that we purchase when we have kids and bring them back, haha! 

After Seuss landing, we decided to head back over to Universal Studios. We started off by just walking around and taking all of the buildings and characters in. I even got to meet Lucy and Marilyn Monroe!

After walking around for a while, we decided to go on some of the rides. Our first stop was the E.T. ride. It was a fun ride. They have you traveling on a bike like they did in the movie. It was definitely cool to see what E.T's home planet looked like. After E.T. we headed on over to the Simpson's ride. This was another simulation ride. This was probably one of my favorites too. It was really cool and definitely one I think everyone should go on. 

After the Simpsons ride, we  headed on over to go do the Men In Black Ride. Unfortunately we didn't want to wait in line for 45 minutes, so we decided to skip it. Instead we decided to go to Mel's Drive-In for lunch. I loved the cars sitting outside of the restaurant, especially the pink one! And the food was delicious! It was probably the best burger I had on our trip. On a side note, for anyone who is wondering, Disney World's quick service food sucks compared to what Universal offers for their quick service food. Just saying!

After lunch we knew that we still had one more ride that we wanted to do and an attraction. So we made our way over to Disaster! We had to wait a while for this one, which was okay because we were still trying to let our food settle. This ride was a lot of fun. The whole premise of the ride is that you are cast as an extra for an action scene that they are shooting for a movie. In this case, we were the people on a Subway that were screaming our heads off when an earthquake hit and the roads above the subway started collapsing. It was awesome! After Disaster!, we headed over to the Twister experience. In this one, they put you in the little town and you watch the twister come through and get hit by the wind and all the rain. It was a really cool thing to experience. I definitely recommend both of these attractions!

After the Twister experience we did some more walking around just to take everything in and then finished up our shopping. And then we called it a day. We had done everything (minus the M.I.B ride) that we wanted to do. So we said our goodbyes to Universal and then headed back to the Villa. 

We were super bummed that we were leaving. I think I was more bummed that we were leaving Harry Potter behind and that delicious Butter Beer! But I think we were also bummed because we knew our trip was coming to a close. In just 24 short hours, we would be heading back to CO where it wouldn't be as warm and we would have to go back to work.

I absolutely loved Universal and I am already looking forward to going back in the future. Especially since I got an email from them saying that a Transformers ride will be opening up next year!! Yes please! We had such a great two days there and so many great memories to take home with us. Not to mention so much Harry Potter merchandise. Who has two thumbs and now owns a pair of Gryffindor pajama pants? This girl! Don't be jealous now!

Honeymoon Day 6 Part 2

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter took up a pretty good chunk of our day. I was okay with that though. I could have stayed there all day! After we were done there, we started venturing around other parts of the Island of Adventures park.

Our first stop outside of all things Harry Potter was in the Jurassic Park area. The Husband wanted to go on the Jurassic Park ride, and I agreed, well because I love him and I made him spend 3 hours with me that morning where I was super hyper and super giddy because of where we were. But don't let him fool you, he enjoyed Harry Potter just as much as I did :) 

Any who, I agreed to go on the Jurassic Park ride and then we got to it and I realized it was a water ride. Thanks honey! I wasn't real thrilled at this point. And wouldn't you know it, we got the first seat in the ride which meant that we were going to be absolutely soaked by the time we got off this ride. The Hubby liked this ride, I however, was not a fan. The drop was a little too much for my stomach and I definitely didn't feel very good afterwards. And I was soaked and I wasn't real thrilled about that either, haha!

After Jurassic Park we continued to walk around and found ourselves in Marvel Super Hero Island. We didn't do any of the rides in this area, but we did go into some of the shops and just look around. Aran really liked this area. We had planned on doing the Hulk Roller Coaster, but both of our stomachs were not up for it after the Jurassic Park ride, so we decided to skip it for the day. 

 

Once we were done at the Super Hero Island, we decided to leave Island of Adventures and head on over to Universal Studios. 

    

Our first stop once we were inside the park was the Despicable Me attraction. It was another simulation ride. It was awesome! I loved it! After Despicable Me, we headed over to Shrek 4D. The wait on this one seemed kind of long, but that might have been because once again my feet were killing me! The Shrek attraction was okay. I didn't like it as much as some of the others, but it was still a good one to go on. 

After Shrek, we walked around for a bit and did a little bit of shopping before we decided to call it a day. We were both pretty exhausted at this point and were ready to go back to the Villa. So we headed back to the Villa and as soon as we got back, I passed out for about three or four hours. It was a well needed nap. We spent the rest of the night in our room doing nothing. We were exhausted and knew that we had one more day in front of us, so we decided just to relax the rest of the night. So that's what we did. It was a great way to end a pretty amazing day!

Honeymoon Day 6

Day 6 of our Honeymoon was probably by far my favorite day of the trip. We were done at Disney World and now it was time to move onto Universal Studios! So why was this day my favorite day of our trip? 6 words...The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we arrived at Universal Studios that morning, we pretty much ran straight over to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Everything that I read online said that if you don't go there first thing and get on some of the rides, you will be waiting in line for hours, so we took that advice and made it our first stop. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was when we finally got there. I couldn't believe how life like it was. It seriously felt like we had just stepped into Hogsmeade. They really put you into that town. 

Our first stop once we were there was at Hogwarts to do the Forbidden Journey ride. I think we only had to wait about 15 minutes for this one. All I can say is wow! This was by far my favorite ride of the whole trip. It was so realistic and it really made you feel like you were flying with them. It was nuts! We got off the ride and I immediately wanted to do it again, but the wait time was over an hour at that point so we decided against it. We did however go on the walking tour of Hogwarts. It takes you through the castle so that you can see more of what you missed while you were standing in line. 

And of course, we had to stop and pose for some pictures outside of Hogwarts!

After we were done at Hogwarts we went and stood in line for Olivander's Wand Shop! The line was pretty long, but we knew that was going to happen, so we stood in line anyways. It was worth it. Once you are in Olivander's they actually choose someone out of the crowd to demonstrate how a wand picks the Wizard or Witch. It was very cool. I was bummed that I wasn't selected of course, but it was still a very cool thing to watch. And yes, we did buy wands for ourselves and a few family members while we were there!

After Olivander's we went into Dervish and Banges where we bought some of our souvenirs, like my Gryffindor scarf and Aran's Gryffindor tie. We also went into Honeydukes where we purchased a Chocolate Frog and some Peppermint Toads! And yes, in case you are wondering, the Chocolate Frog does come with a trading card just like in the movie! And I got Albus Dumbledore! We also went into Zonko's joke shop. We didn't buy anything there, but they had a lot of the stuff from the movie like the Weasley's Extendable Ears and even a Wizard's Chess set like the one they play with in the movies. 

After looking around in all of the shops we decided to head over to the Three Broomsticks for lunch! We ordered fish and chips along with some Pumpkin Juice and some Butter Beer!! We were really excited to try the Butter Beer! And it didn't disappoint! It was freaking amazing!! I can't even really describe what it tasted like, but it was delicious and I wish that I could get some here in CO.

 Another tip for anyone who may be going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, if you are wanting Butter Beer, don't stand in line at the Butter Beer carts outside. You will be waiting there for a good twenty minutes or so. You can go into the Three Broomstick or to Hogs Head Pub, which is connected to the Three Broomsticks and walk right up to the counter and order. No wait at all!

After lunch, we walked around for a little bit more just looking at everything. The Hogwarts Express was one of my favorite things there. It was so cool to see it up close. And I loved that they had a Hogwarts students luggage sitting there. It just made it feel that much more real!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was absolutely amazing. So amazing that I didn't want to leave. I was ready to enroll at Hogwarts just so that I could stay. Aran pretty much had to drag me out of there. The atmosphere was amazing and it really felt like you were part of the whole Harry Potter world. And this entire experience was by far my favorite part of the whole trip! I can't wait to go back and experience it all over again!

Weekend Recap

Hello again lovelies! I hope that everyone had an amazing weekend. Mine was pretty good, no complaints here, other than it being too short of course.

Friday night after work, I headed down to my Brother and Sister-In-Law's house and we all went out to dinner. I swear we had the slowest waitress ever. It took her forever to do anything that we asked, so long that my Niece Kelsi fell asleep in the booth we were in right after she ate her food. But our food was good and we had a lot of fun just hanging out.

Kelsi asleep in the booth

Kenzi with her stuffed animal that she won
out of the claw machine.

After dinner I went back to my Brother's house and helped tuck in my Nieces. I read my oldest Niece Rainbow Fish and a Berenstein Bears book and then headed home for the night after that.

On Saturday, I was up at like 6:30 for some crazy reason. I don't know why. I wasn't real thrilled about it, but my body would not go back to sleep. After just laying on the couch for a couple of hours I decided to get dressed for the day and head out to some of the thrift stores around town to look for Christmas decorations.

I went to my favorite thrift store and only spent $15 and got so much Christmas stuff. I can't wait to put all of it up! After that I met up with my friend/sister Victoria and her two daughters Kloe and Charlee. We spent most of the day shopping and also had lunch together.

My beautiful lunch dates

After we were done shopping, I headed home and then the Hubby and I headed to Church. It was the first time that we had been back to Church in a while, but it was great to go back. After Church we went to dinner at 3 Margaritas and it was delicious!!! After that we went to Target and did a little bit of Christmas shopping and then headed home for the night.

Sunday we did a whole lot of nothing! Once again I was up by 7! WTF??!! I can barely pull myself out of bed for work during the week, but on the weekend when I want to sleep in, I can't! I don't get it. Any who, I pretty much laid on the couch all day and watched football. I did make another trip to Target and then the grocery store, but really that was the extent of my day. I sat on the couch and snuggled with my kitties. It was a great Sunday!

My weekend was once again short and I am now back at work for another week, but I just have to keep telling myself that I only have a three day work week next week and it makes me that much more excited! Well, time to get to work. Have a great day everyone!