Snowy Colorado

Well, I obviously underestimated the severity of yesterday's storm. We're snowed in in Keystone. It's not that bad since we're not supposed to leave until Wednesday, but it makes me a little nervous all the same. If we'd left Colorado Springs an hour later we wouldn't have made it in to town which would have put a real kink in Brian's ski plans.

As it is, we are here safe and sound. I was planning to get the car and drive around today, but it's still snowing and I'm just a bit of a wuss. I might get out this afternoon if the snow dies down a bit. Brian's freezing skiing up on the mountain, and I'm going to meet him at Mountain House for lunch. Just saying Mountain House makes me cold.

Here are a few pics from Colorado Springs. It was just so beautiful with the mountains behind the hotel. We slept with the blinds open Saturday night so we woke up to this view Sunday morning. The pictures don't even do it justice.

And here we are at the wedding on Saturday night.

Enjoy your last day of 2007!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

We made it to Colorado! Our friends had a wedding in Colorado Springs last night and then we headed to Keystone this morning. Y'all it is so coooold. This is hard on a Texas girl! We turned West into the mountains today and the wind started to pick up. It was snowing and often we couldn't really see in front of us. I was a little worried, but Brian kept his cool and we got right in to town with out any major problems. We did see lots of wrecks on the way though.

Brian hopped right on the slopes and I chilled (literally) in our room finishing my book. We're heading out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant and we're walking!! It's still 10 degrees so I figure it could be worse, probably on the way back to the hotel after dinner! :)

It is so absolutely beautiful here! It's just wonderful. We brought our camera cord so I'll try to download some pictures for y'all tomorrow.

Christmas 2007

We had such a fun Christmas in Texas! My friend Jess was in town from D.C. to visit her in laws, and we got to catch up quickly on Friday afternoon before we left town. It was so great to see her! We don't get to spend nearly enough time together now that she's in D.C.

Brian and I loaded up the car and headed to Rockwall Friday night to celebrate Dad's birthday, but we also had to be ready for Christmas with both my family and Brian's. We had one FULL CAR! Brian couldn't see out the back window, and Fenway had to sit on my lap even though he's way too big to do that comfortably now.

We had a nice birthday dinner at our favorite steak place, we played Dad's new game Urban Myth, and stayed up way too late wrapping presents and talking. Ha! Surprise, surprise.

We had a fun bunch for lunch on Saturday with our regular seven, (that's our immediate fam + Nana) Uncle Bill and Jessica, Katie and her two boys, Uncle Mike, his daughter Melissa and her two-year old Preston. Jack and Nate were adorable with the Christmas presents. They ran straight to the tree to look for the ones with their names on them. They were so good and patient to wait until after lunch to open presents. It was so hard on them!

Saturday night we donned our new matching pajamas (for the boys, too!) and read the Christmas story. We woke up early Sunday to open presents before we all went our separate ways. Matt & Kels were heading back to Dallas and then on to Tulsa to spend Christmas with Matt's parents, and Brian and I were off to Houston to see his family.

We had a great time in Houston and even squeezed in a movie. We went to see I am Legend, which I do not recommend if you're looking forward to relaxing in the movies. Stressful! And guess what?? Janet taught me to make bows with ribbon!! Y'all, I have never been able to do this before, and I was just thrilled. Who new I had a bow-making talent?

On Christmas Eve we opened all our presents from one another after church and Brian made wassail which was an adventure in its own right. I thought it was way too sweet, but Brian was excited and had been talking about it for two weeks so I was happy he got to test his recipe.

We opened stockings on Christmas morning. Janet had a stocking made for Fenway with little dog bones and his name embroidered on it. It was so cute!! We had tasty Cornish hens for lunch and then it was time to pack up the car, AGAIN, and hit the road for home.


It was a wonderful Christmas with family! We had good food and good times and great presents, too!

*I wrote this email days ago, but was just now able to post. Sorry for the delay!

Guitar Hero

Look! Brian's a real Guitar Hero! And I took this pic on my new BlackBerry!

We're home from wonderful Christmas celebrations. I'm back at work, and Brian's at home playing Guitar Hero and watching new DVDs putting away all our Christmas loot and getting us ready to go on our ski trip.

I'll share more later, but wanted to say hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.

P.S. If you are reading this will you please leave me a comment and let me know you're visiting my blog! I'd love to hear from all 2 of my faithful readers. :)

P.P.S. Brian can play the real guitar, his mom just thought he and his brother would have fun with the game. I think she was right!

Christmas Meme

I saw this meme on a blog somewhere and thought I'd do it, too!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper! I think wrapped presents are so pretty under the tree. Gift bags are handy, but I think they're more for birthdays and such.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial all the way. I've never had a real tree, but I'm just sure they are messy and not worth the effort. Of course, Brian thinks this is just wrong, wrong, wrong but he's learned.

3. When do you put up the tree? I like to put it up the weekend after Thanksgiving so we can have lots of time to enjoy the season.

4. When do you take the tree down? I generally think the tree should be down by my birthday on January 3rd, but it's usually up until the first weekend after the New Year.

5. Do you like egg nog? Blech! - That's a no.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I wish I could think of something specific. I know I always loved to get clothes. My clothes habit started very early in life!

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. My Nana has given each of her granddaughters a piece from the Fontanini nativity collection for years. I have about 12 pieces now and treasure it dearly. I bought a creche at an after Christmas sale a few years ago so the nativity is now key to my Christmas decorating.

8. Hardest person to buy for? You'd think it'd be my Mom because she already has everything, but I'm going to go with Brian's brother Dan.

9. Easiest person to buy for? My sister Kelsey. If I think I'd like to have it, she probably would too. And since I do the bulk of my shopping with her it's really easy to figure out what she wants.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? If I sent them out it would definitely be by mail. I don't think I know anyone who would email a Christmas card...do I?

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Hmm...I know the worst wedding present! I have a hard time remembering presents from Christmases past.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf! or maybe Love Actually, but I don't think that really counts as a Christmas movie. I'm such a dork. Brian and I watched Elf the year it came out on DVD and I loved it. I hope we watch it again this year.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? One year Dan gave us a Bart Simpson pez dispenser and a Mr. T. soap on a rope (as a joke?). They made great white elephant gift exchange presents!

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Oh - everything! I really love a good Christmas ham.

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear of course! They just seem so clean.

16. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night hands down. Gives me chills every time I hear it.

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel. You've got to spend Christmas with family!

18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? I don't think so, and it would take me a while to try.

19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Kelsey and I have opened matching pajamas on Christmas Eve every year for as long as I can remember. This year we'll do it on Saturday night since we're having our Reid family Christmas over the weekend. This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions! And of course we have to wear them to open all our presents on Christmas morning.

20. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Traffic!

21. Favorite ornament theme or color? Mmmm....I'd have to say red.

22. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Did I already mention the ham?

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? It's a technology Christmas. I've asked Mom and Dad for a laptop and Brian for a Curve Blackberry.

I hope you're all getting in to the Christmas spirit!

Book Worm

One week! One week people! Wow, I have a lot left to do before Christmas. And all I want to do is read. I've been getting my books together for our trip to Colorado the week after Christmas. Brian will be skiing for three days which means that I will be reading and receiving spa treatments for three days.

I love to read on vacation. You don't feel bad about spending hours with your nose in a book, because you're not supposed to be doing anything else. At home I feel like I have to squeeze reading in between the laundry I need to finish or the piles I need to go through, but on vacation I'm worry free!

I'm taking World Without End which I haven't gotten around to reading yet. I went back to read the last few chapters of Pillars of the Earth before I started its sequel and I got drawn back in to it. It's just so good! And I finally picked up Rebecca the classic novel by Daphne duMaurier. It's been on my nightstand since June but I decided to pick it up this week before Christmas, read a few pages, and make sure I wanted to read it on vacation. Arg...I just should have waited because now I can't put it down.

My co-worker Erin has been listening to Outlander on tape in the car on her way to and from work. I've read it three or four times, but it's been years so I think I'd like to go back and read it again just for kicks. So that's three pretty hefty books I want to read (and one I need to brush up on) between now and the new year.

Do you have any good suggestions for heavy vacation reading? The TV writers are still on strike so I should have lots of time for reading in January, too.

Wonderful Weekend

What a beautiful Sunday! The sun was shining for the first time in a week, but it only warmed up to the 50s. Sunny, cool days are my favorite after a week of clouds and gray skies. We watched football with the windows open while Fenway ran around the backyard chasing birds and squirrels.

The Patriots won their game, the Cowboys played horribly, and I won my fantasy game! We're in the playoffs in our fantasy league now, and I think this win may have secured my spot in the final championship game! Not bad for a first-timer. I was sad about the Cowboys, but they still won their division and will get a first round bye in the playoffs, so I'm okay with them taking another loss.

I made cookies today - from scratch! Seriously, I used flour and a mixer and everything. I was so proud. I'm planning to give them to my co-workers for Christmas this week. I hope they enjoy them after I put so much work in to making a cookie masterpiece.

As we head in to the last full week before Christmas, there are still a few presents left to buy, but I'm in pretty good shape with my shopping. If I can just get everything wrapped this week I'll be ready for the celebrations to begin. We have Christmas cards to send out, but I haven't addressed them yet. They're pre-printed so all I have to do is sit down and write the addresses on the envelops and stick a stamp on them. It couldn't be that hard, but I haven't done it yet. It, too, is on my list this week. It's a pretty long list which makes me realise* it's my bed time. I've got to rest up for the busy week ahead!

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend just as much as I did mine!

Edited to Add:
*Ha, ha! I just noticed I spelled realize with the British spelling. I've been reading Rebecca and Harry Potter. It's my only excuse!

The Overseer

I took one of those personality tests online the other day because, you know, I didn't have anything else to do.



It turns out I'm an ESTJ or Overseer. I think it seems pretty accurate. Here's how www.MyPersonality.info describes an Overseer:

ESTJs are responsible, logical, norm-following hard workers. Their efforts are carried out in a practical, structured manner. ESTJs trust facts and experiences more than theories. They are decisive, loyal, tradition observing individuals. They enjoy being the person in charge and often make good supervisors.

Another definition of the ESTJ profile is:

ESTJs live in a world of facts and concrete needs. They live in the present, with their eye constantly scanning their personal environment to make sure that everything is running smoothly and systematically. They honor traditions and laws, and have a clear set of standards and beliefs

I didn't go back and read all the other things I could have been, but I think this seems pretty accurate. How many times have I said, "You know how I like to be in charge!"? And I might be the most structured person I know. If I could have the same routine everyday I'd be a really happy camper.

Take the quiz if you have time (it doesn't take long) and leave me a comment about your results. I'd be really curious to see if there are any other Overseers in the family. I think I might be the only one.

Monday Morning Adventures

I woke up to Fenway barking at 6:45 this morning. This is the dog who doesn't like to wake before 8:30. And Mondays are usually his slowest mornings because he's spent the weekend with us and is worn out from all the attention. But he was wide awake this morning.

I jumped out of bed (I know I should have already been up and at the gym, but y'all, it's cold outside and rainy!) and ran downstairs to check on him. I knew we had a problem before I even saw him.

Poor Fenway seemed to have had a bout of diarrhea (how happy am I that I had to look up how to spell that!) in the night. Since he was in his crate there was no where for him to go to avoid it; It was all over him and his little squishy cushions, poor guy. I plopped him out in the backyard thinking maybe he'd need to go again, but he just tried to clean himself. Ewwww....it was bath time. I thought of taking pictures of the nastiness so I could share with you all, but decided that might just be too cruel.

Brian usually does the baths and I hand over the cup or towel and keep Fenway entertained while Brian blow dries him. I know now it's really hard to bathe and dry a dog all on your own! And I don't think he much liked it either, although he seemed really happy to be clean. After everything was clean and the dog seemed to be OK, I also took a really long shower! So now I'm about to head home to check on him, and I'm just praying that his stomach is feeling better and hasn't caused any more problems today since we've been at work and unable to help him.

As I was cleaning up all the poop I was amazed at how little it grossed me out. I'm telling you, this dog owner business is great training for future children! From what I understand they poop a lot too! :)

Friday Randomness

Did you see Jenna Bush on Ellen's show this week? I just saw the clip on the Today show, but it was so cute! They seem like a pretty normal family all things considered.

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I found United States Tetris online. Too fun!

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Tonight is Brian's work Christmas party. It might just be the most random gathering of any people in Dallas at any given time. It begins at 4PM so that the shift workers from the 'fab' can come to the party and still be back at work by the time their shift starts at 6PM. The first year we went I assumed that it was an adult party because we'd already done the kid-themed Fall/Halloween party in October. But no. Santa is there to take pictures with all the kids, and he even passes out presents. Every kid gets a gift appropriate for their age and gender, and then they play with them all over the floor in the ballroom while the adults try to eat dinner at 5PM.

The people who arrive before 5PM usually wear jeans and Christmas sweaters. If you get there between 5PM and 7PM it is safe to assume you can wear slacks and a Christmas sweater. But watch out. The people who arrive after 7PM will most likely be wearing ball gowns and tuxes. So these fancy, dressed-up people are trying to make their way through a giant room filled with hundreds of people in jeans and Christmas sweaters attempting to round up their five kids and gifts so they can get home by bedtime.

I'm telling you, it's weird! Brian and I are somewhere in the middle of all these people. We don't wear Christmas sweaters, jeans, ball gowns or tuxes and we don't have any children to chase around. We just try to see all the right people, make a little small talk, use all our free drink coupons and head out. We always end up having fun though, and I get to leave work early today. So it's not all that bad.

Happy Friday everyone!

Christmas Tour!

I went to work on the house the day we got home from Thanksgiving in Rockwall. We ordered a new artificial tree this year, and I couldn't wait to get it up and decorated!

Brian and I made the trek to Lowe's after church last week to pick up a lighted garland, and our friends from Merrill Lynch were nice enough to send us a real wreath so the front entry of our house is decorated, too! This is the first time we've put up outside lights and it makes me feel very festive. We're planning on lighting up the tree in the front yard this weekend. Brian wants to wrap white lights around the trunk to give us that fancy, professionally done look so we'll see how that turns out.

I love decorating for Christmas! There's usually football or basketball on TV in the background. If there aren't any good games on, I'll turn on some Christmas music. I like to clean the house first because who wants to bring down a bunch of boxes and get new stuff out when you have a sink full of dirty dishes? I really like for it to be cold outside, but that rarely happens around here. It was 81 degrees last Sunday when we were out buying our lights. So since I enjoy putting all my stuff out so much and most of you won't get to see it, I thought I'd give you a tour!

Here's a Christmas home tour taken from the safety of your study (or office if you blog at work):

Welcome!

Brian worked hard to get the garland up there. The new power tool I bought him for our Anniversary is coming in handy a lot these days.

This is the beautiful new Lynn Haney Santa Mom gave me as an early birthday present so I'd have him for Christmas. He's sitting on the front chest in the entry so you can see him as soon as you walk in the door. He's also in front of a mirror which is why he looks a little two-sided on his left. He has the most detailed coat; he makes me smile every time I walk by!

Come on in to the den to see my pretty new tree!

Don't look too closely. There are a few unwrapped presents under the tree. I thought about moving them out of the way, but I decided I could trust you all not to zoom in on the picture! :) The bow on top is from the tree in my first apartment after I graduated. Mom made it for me and it still looks pretty good even on its fifth Christmas. But it might be time for something new next year.

This is our mantle that I'm not too thrilled about. There's a beautiful Santa thanks to Mom, again, but I need something tall and pretty to add in with the garland. I was thinking candlesticks, but our mantle is so narrow that's it tricky to put much up there. Any ideas?

And here's Fenway P. Sk@rbek with my pretty Santa on the hearth. I was afraid he'd want to chew on all my Christmas decorations, but he seems cool with them. He just sniffs them and then leaves to bother/play with Brian.

So that's our Christmas house in a blog (as apposed to a nutshell). I hope you enjoyed the tour. And I hope you are enjoying your Christmas decorations just as much as I am mine!