The Snuggie

This cracks us up. They look like monks!

Gotta love those infomercials.

And So This Is Christmas...

In all, this year was a pretty good Christmas for Matt and I.

We began Christmas Eve at my sister Kristi's house where we enjoyed the company of the Sister Missionaries, ate delicious Mexican food that was catered in, had yummy desserts, and were overwhelmed with an awesome gift basket from the Dickinson's that included all the things Matt and I love and needed.

(Sadly, we apparently didn't take pictures of this fun night besides this one below.)

Christmas morning we woke up early and opened the few presents that were under our tree. Posed for a picture in our matching pajamas.

Gave Tucker his stocking.And then quickly headed out the door to enjoy Christmas breakfast and open some gifts with Mom and Dad in Rowlett. Matt got a whole bunch of presents he loved, wanted and needed including every tool he could ever need, electronic Monopoly (His favorite), A to Z game (another huge hit), brain puzzlers, candy galore, and a bunch of movies.

I received cake decorating supplies that I've been wanting and needing in order to fulfil my creative urges (and Matt's cravings), some super cute pajamas, and box of 600+ hand written I Love Yous (one for every day we've been married) from Matt. :o)


After an hour at Mom and Dad's we headed to Tyler to visit Matt's family and for some reason there we no pictures taken there either. However, we had an enjoyable time watching "The Office", playing "The Office" game, and Matt made good use of his "A to Z" game with all of his family.

We now have taken down our tree and are enjoying the rest from all the Christmas rush. We're so grateful to everyone who made this such an enjoyable Christmas for us and look forward to the day that someday we can reciprocate the kindness and generosity that was shown to us.

Graduation Day!

So the day finally came. After 8 years of learning, what have I become? A doctor? A lawyer? No...I've learned that I'm extraordinarily slow at learning. (This is obviously Matt by the way) Last week I crossed the stage to receive my B.S. in Finance diploma. My dad later asked me if I felt any different and I said "No." To be honest with you I don't think I've learned a whole lot. Yeah, I can calculate the present and future value of money, I can tell you the internal rate of return of a project, etc etc...but I still don't feel like I've furthered my "marketable skills", as my dad would say. So that's why I'm seriously thinking of going back. I'm thinking I should start my M.B.A. this fall. Is it because I think, "Yes! That will give me the marketable skills I need to support my family?" Well yes. But mostly because I'm a glutton for punishment...

Me after crossing the stage

Me and my mom
My mom, me, dad and Paul My smokin' hot wife, me, Judy (mom-in-law) and Richard (dad-in-law)

Working on Christmas Eve

I am very productive at work; just ask my boss. I get a LOT done in a day.

However, there are those days when it is just so dang hard to sit still and work! Those days are generally holidays when no one is there except me.

This Christmas eve there were actually 3 of us for a few hours before it became just me again. This is what we did in our time together.

Let this be a lesson to the person who took a week off of work to "bag" themselves a "buck" at the "huntin' lodge". She will be unwrapping layers for a LONG time Monday morning.
I'm sure she will take this as a sign we missed her...but that's not so much the case. When she unwraps that keyboard she will see that her keys now spell out "Romo Sux" because she talked about the stupid Dallas Cowboys one too many times before she left for "huntin'".

This is also another piece of work my roomie Niki and I did a few weeks ago. It's wooden man that we dress up for various holidays when we should be working. For Christmas he was transformed into none other than an elf sporting striped tights, elf ears, and hair. All made by office supplies.

Gingerbread House Fun!

Here are pictures of this year's houses!

This is Matt's...but I posed with it.

And this one is mine!
Like my upside down waffle cone tree? I did.

Feels Like Hanukkah, Just Like Hanukkah...

Today is the first day of Hanukkah! So before our sundown feast, we slipped on Tucker's festive blue fleece and headed out to take pictures with the giant menorah!

I wish we had a 3rd person to take our pictures together.
After that, we kicked off our shoes to reveal my lovely dreidel socks....

Prepared our feast of Lentil Soup and Star of David breads...

Matt poured the Kedem...

Which I enjoyed the most.

And I finished off the night snacking on Chocolate Biscuits...My favorite!

Here's to a great first day of Hanukkah!

It's Hanukkah Time!

Okay, okay now I know we're not Jewish and Judaism couldn't be farther off from our belief system...but that can't help Hanukkah from coming in as my 3rd and final very favorite holiday!!!

Before I show post pictures tonight from our most excellent Hanukkah party that will begin at sun down. I would like to first explain why this holiday ranks as my 3rd favorite holiday.

1) Christmas is one night...and then its over! All the fuss, shopping, and stress and in one 24 hour period its over and all that work you did barely gets remembered! That's a silly in my opinion. However, the celebration of Hanukkah is filled with not 1, not 2, but 8 crazy, fun filled nights! That's 8 parties in a row! Who can argue with that?!

2) Kosher Food. Kosher food is a friend to me! I am totally down with their beliefs on a lot of food and them not using the same oven/grill that cooked dirty meat to cook their own food. If meat ever makes it into my house, there will be separate knives meant for that so that I never use that same knife for my food. This is why my parents kitchen always had my utensils...and their utensils.

3) The Chahunaka Song! Everyone loves it!

4) Yiddish and Hebrew words! Not only do they sound cool, they're fun to say! "Yarmulke"..."Menorah"....you can't help but smile as you hear them!

5) These guys. Because they're super nice in the grocery store.

6) And for no reason whatsoever besides the fact that this cracked me up when I ran across it looking for a picture of a rabbi...this picture of a cat in a yarmulke makes me love Hanukkah that much more. Ha!

I love this blue and white holiday!

Themed Meal Night Is Back!

That's right! Themed meals are back! I don't know why it has been so long since I've created one...perhaps I had baker's block or something.

This week it was all about Matt, so we watched "The Princess Bride" and ate "Fred Savage Cabbage Stew"!

I know not many people like cabbage, but this was deeeeelicious AND was perfect for the cold weather we were having.

Graduation Breakfast...15 Hours Late...But Still Good!

Friday after work I went to Einstein Bros Bagels to pick up Matt's favorite breakfast so he would have plenty of energy for his graduation the next morning. When I got there I found these awesome candy cane bagels! (They look like a dog rawhide, eh?)

Unfortunately I had a long night of nausea and Matt was just plain tired, so we ended up waking up too late to enjoy this little Christmas miracle in bagel form for breakfast. But never fear, we had it for for dinner...as well as a pint of ice cream (sorbet for me)! I admit, it was not a very healthy dinner, but it was a meal fit for a graduate!

I highly recommend these for your breakfast pleasure!

Free Date Night!

Tonight Matt and I went on a date.
It wasn't planned, it just happened and it was so much fun!

We first did a little shopping with a reward I was given at work for doing double the work of everyone else....holla! Shopping was so great because NO ONE was out due to all the sleet and bad weather. We had all the stores and holiday sales completely to ourselves...even at Target!
After shopping, on our way home Matt suggested we look at Christmas lights. I suggested we get hot cocoa for the ride. We purchased our hot cocoa with a Starbucks gift card I found in my wallet from my old boss Kelly at AntiqueLand 6 or 7 years ago and were on our way.
The light displays in the neighborhood we picked were so cool! One yard's lights danced to music on the radio. Another house had mannequins in the window acting out a holiday party (like Kevin's trick on Home Alone to keep out the bad guys). The same house had giant horses and a mannequin child on the balcony helping up Santa. And there was so much more! We will have to go back and take pictures of this stuff!
The whole night was so much fun and all we did was drive in the sleet (we pretended it was snow), sipped cocoa, and gasped at lights! We should definitely try getting out of the house more often! And the best part of all this was that our whole date night was free!

What a great ending to a manic Monday!

Round 3

Matt woke up on Saturday morning to tell me he had ANOTHER kidney stone. The last one was on July 6th at 2:30 in the morning, so I was very grateful that he held out until 9am this time. However, the pain and screaming was much worse on me this time than the last...I don't know how many more of these I can take...and I'm not the one passing them!

Once Matt got his IV started and some drugs in him, he was a happy camper and nodded off. I watched some animal shows on the television and within a few hours we were out of there and home by 12:30pm. Once home, Matt passed the little devil at 4:30pm! A new record!

I was very pleased to have it all over and done with so soon and I know Matt was too. We're crossing our fingers that this is the last one for a while.

Our Humble Animal Themed Tree

I just wanted to post a picture of Matt and my 1st Christmas tree together and our 1st Stockings. Matt wanted a big one...I think this one did the trick.

Our Tree doesn't have garland yet, but that is coming in the mail. I wanted wooden bead garland and finally found some for dirt cheap. Yay for World Market again!
Now all it needs are gifts under it....maybe next year.

He Did It!

Matt officially had his last day of school today!

I'm so excited for him! I can't imagine what a relief that must be, but I hope I feel it too one day.

Here are pictures from my lame-o attempt a celebrating.

Celebration cake!
Excited Matt!

Sipping on bubbly.

(I know our alcohol-free champagne is in a wine glass and that's really tacky, but my fancy, special occasion, T&Co champagne flutes were way too high in the closet for this dwarf to reach, so we pretended and used these.)

I can't wait to see him walk across the stage and get his diploma!

My Only Attempt at Decorating

So this is about as far as my decorating has gone in this apartment. I framed 3 pictures we took in Pisa, Rome, and Venice and hung them in the dining room and now I feel done.

I don't know where all my motivation went? Maybe it's just this time of year...but I don't see much else going on these walls.

Tucker's Christmas

Tucker got his Christmas present early this year. A gingerbread house with 3 squeaky toys hidden inside! He's in heaven.

Christmas Tagged!

I was tagged by the lovely Sonia!

5 Favorite Christmas Movies:
Home Alone
Surviving Christmas
Family Man
Elf
A Charlie Brown Christmas

5 Things that Happened Yesterday:
I stayed in bed all day long
I watched an E! Special on Cults, Religions, and Mind Control (It was spooky!)
Matt made me dinner
I didn't go to sleep at night
I chatted with my mother for an hour

5 Things to Look Forward To:
A vacation
Matt finishing school on Thursday
Matt getting a new job
Paying off debt
Christmas being over, lol

5 Things on my Wish List:
A safari in Africa
Some cozy pajamas
New earrings
A new wardrobe with lots of little embellishments, pearl buttons, and sparkly things on all the clothing. :o)
A posh urban loft in London.

5 Things I Love About Winter/Christmas:
Sweaters
Winter Coats and Scarves
Fleece Pajamas
Having a few extra days off of work
Getting pomegranates at the grocery store

People to Tag:
Lisa, Kristi, Amber, and Janeen

Time to Count Down!

Today Matt and I hung our advent calendar!

I'm so excited about it because I think it's so cute! I can't wait to begin the countdown to Matt's favorite holiday!

Each day is a little stocking, hat or mitten! Now I must go fill them with candy!

Lindor Truffles, Airheads, and little German airplanes! I love World Market!