The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I haven't had to work in 2 weeks. Just call me a bum. It's been a nice break...like Christmas break a little early! I've done some cleaning, organizing, Christmas decorating, Thanksgiving cooking, and I spent a few days at home with my parents and sister last week. It's been great!

Mom had her 6th chemo treatment last Monday, and Jenn and I went with her. So far, she's done pretty good except for some aches and pains that I think must be pretty common with Taxotere. She ran fever for a couple of days, but knock on wood, she's stayed out of the hospital so far. Two more chemo treatments and then radiation, and she'll be finished!! Yay Mom!!! She's decorated a beautiful "pink" tree that's in the dining room. I wish I had her decorating talent!!

Mom's tree

We had a great Thanksgiving with the Dvorak family. Of course, the food was awesome, and we had fun playing Settlers of Catan and also ultimate frisbee since the weather was so nice outside. I'm thankful to have married into such a wonderful family!

We hurried home after our day of fun, fed the kitties (who were very sad that they didn't get any leftover turkey!), and mapped out our game plan for Black Friday. Our main goal was to buy a nice Christmas tree that fits our living room better. We headed to Kohl's around 11 PM since they were opening at midnight, but by the time we got to the back of the store, the trees were all gone. Sad day. They also had some counter height bar stools we were wanting to get for our kitchen, but we could only find one and we were wanting to get two to match. We bought a couple of Christmas presents there to make it worth our while, and then we headed out. Our next stop was Belk, where Travis dropped me off around 1 AM to wait until they opened the doors at 3 AM. Travis headed to K-Mart (which didn't open until 5 AM). We figured that it would be better to split up than both wait at Belk and potentially strike out again and then be too late getting to K-Mart. Anyway, after waiting 2 hours outside in the cold, I was definitely ready to get inside. People in line were getting pretty vicious too trying to keep people from breaking in line, so that was kind of entertaining. It made the time pass by faster at least. I got a $10 gift card for being one of the first 250 people in line, and luckily they had plenty of trees!

Travis left K-Mart and met me back at Belk, and then we headed to JC Penney and Lowe's before crashing at home around 5:30 AM. We are definitely getting too old to be doing that! I'm still recovering...

We ended up getting a 7 foot pre-lit tree with clear lights, and it fits great in our living room. We've gotten it mostly decorated, but it still needs a big bow on top and maybe a few more ornaments. It's getting there though!

The tree!

Shhh...don't tell anyone, but Jenn helped me make some houndstooth decorated ornaments for Mom's "Alabama" themed tree (she's got 3 trees this year!). Jenn's still got some Bama in her! Did you know you can buy houndstooth duct tape??? I had no idea!! Anyway, I brought one of the ornaments back for our tree...

Script "A" on one side...

Houndstooth ribbon on the other side!

The kitties LOVE the Christmas tree...maybe a little too much. No matter how many times we straighten the tree skirt, it never stays in place because they are constantly attacking it. Same for the tree itself. We've found several ornaments on the floor so far (thankfully not broken!), and they also like to chew on the branches themselves. So far, they haven't tried to climb the tree yet (that we know of), but I'm thinking it will be a miracle if it stays upright for the next month. We'll see...

Gabby loved the box as much as the tree itself

She also likes Black Friday sales :)

The prettiest package under the tree!

Just think how our presents will look after the kitties rip them to shreds!

Needless to say, this Christmas will be interesting with two little rascals living with us.

I can't ever remember it snowing in November, but it's supposed to snow 1-2 inches tonight and tomorrow morning. Don't know if I'm ready for winter weather driving yet!! That was one nice thing about living in Bham and Tuscaloosa...not as much snow and ice.

We watched the Iron Bowl over at the Hagewoods' house this year, and we had a great time! Bama looked better (except for 2 plays) than they looked the past few weeks, so we were glad to see that. It's apparently about 95% positive that we'll be playing the national championship game in New Orleans again! We'll find out for sure on Sunday I think. It's a shame that Travis and I weren't on the 7 year plan to graduate....then we could have gotten "cheap" tickets again like we did 2 years ago! As of last night, the cheapest tickets on Stubhub were $1700 a piece! Ouch. Santa, all I want for Christmas is to go to that game!!!!!

Shocker....I'm working tomorrow and Friday this week...if I can remember what to do! :) I'm hoping to get most of our Christmas shopping done this week (mainly online), so we can start getting some presents under the tree. Whenever I buy our stockings, I'll have to get those hung too. It's so much fun to decorate for Christmas!

Hope you're having a great holiday season so far!! :)


Erin

Random Friday tidbits

This has been a pretty relaxing week! The only day I had to work was Tuesday, so the other days I've been home, running errands, and getting stuff done. Monday, I did pretty good at Publix! Spent about $68 and saved $74 :) Wednesday, Mollie came to town to do some Christmas shopping, so I ate lunch with her at The Marketplace Cafe, a really neat restaurant that one of our friends from Tuscaloosa opened a few months ago. The food was really good! If you go, you should definitely get the chicken and bacon sandwich...yum! The salad I got was awesome too...it had apples, cranberries, and pecans in it. I can't wait to go back! I also got my hair cut on Wednesday...pretty short! It's just touching my shoulders, so a little shorter than I got it cut last time.

I'm getting pretty serious about getting blinds and curtains up on all of our windows, so yesterday I went to JC Penney and got curtains and a rod for our big kitchen window and some curtain rods for the valences I bought on Monday for our bathroom windows. Yipee! Can't wait to get those hung. We hung blinds on our little bathroom window last week, and they look really nice! We ordered them online, so I was a little bit nervous about that, but they turned out great!

Today has been cleaning day around here. The kitchen and bathrooms look much better! I didn't get around to dusting, but maybe I'll do that tomorrow. Travis has been working all week on DAU training for work. It's due tonight (he thinks), and he's not quite finished with it. It was a lot of reading and quizzes, so I know he'll be glad to get that behind him.

I've still been running about 3 times a week since the Liz Hurley race in October. Today, I ran 3.5 miles without stopping in 31:30! That's exactly 9 min/mile. So, I'm slowly getting in better shape. That's a good thing!

Felix and Gabby are getting pretty spoiled (by me!). Tonight, I was shredding some chicken to put in my chicken pot pie, and they came to sit at my feet (like they usually do when I'm chopping anything in the kitchen!). So, I put the cutting board with a few little chicken pieces down on the floor, and they licked it clean!! They have been napping a lot lately during the day and waking us up early in the morning! They usually start wrestling and chasing each other by about 6:30 AM, even on days we don't have to be up that early! Oh well. I guess it's good practice for having kids one day.

Taking their mid-day siesta

Gabby snoozing earlier today

Felix usually naps with one eye open...he's still kinda nervous!

Licking my cutting board clean :)

I'm getting excited about Thanksgiving! We're spending it up here this year since we were with my family last year. It would be a very sad day to miss Mom's pineapple casserole and sweet potato casserole, so that's what I'm making this year to take to Cheryl's. I hope they turn out as good as when Mom makes them! We'll see. I'm also making a cake from Mom's cookbook called the "Green Cake". It's yummy too!

I haven't started any Christmas shopping yet (pretty typical), so I'm thinking we'll go out with the crazies for a little Black Friday fun. The main thing I want to buy isn't a present....it's a new Christmas tree! The past few years we've used a small tree that my parents didn't want anymore, but it's pretty pitiful looking...you can see right through it. So, I'm on the hunt for a good deal on a nice tree. We also need some stockings because we actually have a fireplace to hang them on this year! Of course, Gabby and Felix will need stockings too. They're expecting some new treats and toys from Santa I believe. We also need some outdoor Christmas decorations. I guess Black Friday may turn into Christmas decoration shopping day. I'm sure Travis will love that! :)

Mom has chemo treatment #6 on Monday, so I'm probably going to go down either Sunday night or Monday morning to go with her. I don't work Monday or Tuesday, so I'll come back up here Tuesday night. Hopefully Mom will stay out of the hospital with this treatment like she did this last time around. She's putting up a "pink" Christmas tree this year in honor of her breast cancer fight, so I can't wait to see it!

Hope you're having a fantastic Friday!

Blessed

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, here are just a few things I'm thankful for right now...

1. Gotta start off the list with Travis. We've been married almost 4 years, and it's been awesome. It's pretty cool to think about how far we've come since we first met in Tuscaloosa...all the places we've lived, graduating from college, starting our jobs, buying a house and getting settled (still working on that part!). He's a hard worker, always offering to help others, true to his conscience, a good example, and just fun to be around. Especially during tough times like this year has been, he's been a great support. I'm lucky to have him!

2. I'm also blessed with great family, both mine and his. I don't think you ever really appreciate what your parents do for you until you leave home, and that was definitely the case with me. It took moving to Tuscaloosa for me to realize how much my mom and dad sacrificed for me. Thank you, Mom and Dad!! I'm especially thankful this year for my mom. She's been a trooper through chemo so far and a real encouragement to me. I'm also thankful to have some pretty awesome sisters and a new brother too. Love all of you! And, I have a wonderful mother-in-law, Cheryl, who is definitely my mom away from home! Thanks for everything you do for us!! :) It would take a lot of typing to list everyone in our families by name, but I'm definitely thankful for all of you. We're really blessed...

3. Would it be silly of me to mention Felix and Gabby in this list? Those kittens just bring so much joy into our lives! They are entertaining and a lot of fun. They definitely love us...that's for sure! And, even though Travis wasn't crazy about cats before we got them, I think he's changed his mind about these two. It's been really neat to watch them grow from skittish little kittens to adventurous and playful bigger kittens. They are best buds, and I'm really glad we got them!

4. We're also blessed to be part of a great church at Kelly Spring Road. It's awesome to be part of a group that really enjoys being together and worshiping God together. We're always encouraged every time we are there, and when we're out of town, we definitely miss being there! If you live in the area and are looking for a great group to be part of that is trying to follow God's word, please come visit us!

5.Finally, I'm thankful for fall and the holiday season in general. The weather is perfect, football games are played every weekend, and it's the perfect time to get together with family and friends. This time of year always makes me stop and reflect about all of my blessings, and I can't help thinking about those who aren't as fortunate, either financially or health-wise or whatever. It's a time of giving and reflecting, and that's what I love about it. Thinking about everything you have should make you want to help others who don't have as much as you do. Last year, we went to the mall and chose an "angel" off the Angel Tree to buy gifts for, and I'm hoping we can do the same this year. It's funny how your idea of Christmas changes from when you are young. As a child, all you can think about is what gifts YOU are going to get that year, and as you get older, you tend to think more about what you can give to OTHERS and how you can help OTHERS. I guess that's called growing up.

I'm currently teaching the K-1 Bible class at church, and tonight's lesson is about Moses and the burning bush. When God told Moses about His great plan for Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses started making a bunch of excuses and trying to convince God that he wasn't the right guy to do the job. Of course, God wasn't convinced, and with the help of Aaron, his brother, Moses went to Pharaoh and did just what he thought he couldn't do! Many times, we make excuses for not doing something that we really could do (and I'm talking to myself here, too). We're too tired, too old, too inexperienced, too busy, etc. Even if it's just something "small", it may mean a lot to someone else. This holiday season, let's do what we can to help others...

My encouragement to you today is to stop and think about all of your blessings and how you can use them to help someone else. No excuses!

Erin

Lots of pics and videos

It's been a while! We had a pretty busy end to the month of October, so I'm hoping November will slow down a little bit. Somehow I don't think that will happen though!

We had a fun time at the Tennessee game a couple of weekends ago. We met up with Ashley and Seth for a little while, and then we headed to Jason's tailgate. We didn't get to see anybody when we were in town for the Kent State game, so we were glad to have some time to see our friends and walk around campus before the game.

Mikayla, Katie, Jason, Alisha, Tyler, me, and Travis before the game

Newlyweds!

:)

The game was fun...or, at least the 2nd half was! We sat in my parents' seats, which are in the north end zone on the right side. We were literally right across the aisle from the Tennessee band, so by the end of the game I was ready to never hear "Rocky Top" ever again. I wish I'd taken some ear plugs!! :)

Last week was a short work week before we headed to Hearthstone Lodge on Thursday to meet Ashley and Seth for a 2 night getaway. Hearthstone is the same bed and breakfast we went in August 2010, so we were very excited to go back. (You can read about our trip last year here). This year, everything was even more beautiful with the leaves changing outside and the cooler weather. The breakfast lived up to last year's, which was what I was looking forward to most!

Friday night, we ate supper at Charlie's, an Italian restaurant that we ate at last year. It was as good as we remembered!

Ashley and Seth after supper

Us

We had to get a picture in the big red chair!

The guys weren't as excited...haha

We stayed in the Jonagold room again this year, and we loved it. Next time we go back, we'll have to try out one of the other rooms though...

Our room for the weekend

After supper Friday night, we played Settlers of Catan for several hours and ended up staying up way too late! Travis won that game. Saturday, we ate a big breakfast and then played Settlers again for a while.

Yummy fruit!!

The main course...an omelet, sausage, potatoes, and bread

After breakfast!

View of part of the back porch

Ashley loves Lori, their dog!!

Hearthstone Lodge!

I loved all of the fall decorations...

 Around early afternoon on Saturday, we headed to Blue Ridge, GA, where we rode the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway to the Tennessee state line. It was a great way to see some of the beautiful fall colors in north Georgia! It was kind of rainy off and on all day, so it kind of put a damper on the day, but we still had fun!

The train

The train went alongside the Tocoa River

Pretty!

We ended up in McCaysville, GA, which borders Coppertown, TN

We ate supper at Harvest on Main in Blue Ridge before heading back to the Lodge. And, that's rain...not snow!

Saturday's breakfast was even better than Friday's! We had fruit, bacon, and french toast croissants with apples and pecans. I ate every bit of it...it was amazing!! :)

YUMMMMMMM

After breakfast we played more Settlers (yes, we're nerds!) until it was time to leave. We headed to the Red Apple Barn to get some apples and peach cider before heading out of town.

I'm going to make apple pie later this week...can't wait!

On our way out of town, we got stopped on the highway by a bunch of horses and wagons. Not sure what that was about, but it was pretty funny!

Our trip was so much fun! We can't wait to go back hopefully sometime next year. I think it's going to be hard to find a better B&B than Hearthstone!!

This Saturday is the "Game of the Century"....Alabama vs. LSU. As of right now, our plans are just to stay home and watch it on TV. Don't want to pay $1000 for tickets! I'm planning to make gumbo (our tradition for the LSU game weekend), so hopefully it will turn out good. I'm pretty nervous about the game, but if we win, I'll feel a whole lot better about the rest of the season!

Speaking of football, fantasy football is not going so well this year. I'm 2-6, probably the worst I've ever done (including the first year I played when I had no idea what I was doing!). Maybe I'll win a few more before it ends...who knows!

Mom had her 5th chemo treatment on Monday. Only 3 more to go!! This time, she started a new chemo drug, so we'll have to see if it has any different side effects. Hopefully she'll stay out of the hospital this time around! The rest of the treatments will be 3 weeks apart instead of 2, so it'll be January before she's done with chemo. That's not too far around the corner though!! :)

The kitties are getting so big! Gabby is so funny....she loves to sleep on my stomach at night. It usually doesn't wake me up when she climbs on me, until she starts purring! She purrs so loud!! They were so glad to see us when we got home from the bed and breakfast on Saturday....they were meowing and following us all over the house. Even Felix was glad to be petted...haha.

Gabby ready for soup night

Gabby thinks she's a pantry staple :)

Felix loves House Hunters!

HGTV isn't just for girls!

Love my kittens!

Ok, I guess that's enough pictures for one post! On Emily's request though, here are a few funny videos from earlier this year. We were talking about them at lunch on Sunday, and I'd deleted them from my phone, but they were on my computer. The first is of Toby last Christmas when it snowed so much. The other videos are from the car ride home from Virginia with Tyler, Alisha, and Emily. There's nothing to "see" because it was dark in the car, but the singing is priceless! :)

Ok, I'm finished...I promise!! Watching those videos made my afternoon!! :)