Two down, One to go

Happy December 26th, y'all!

December 26th is quickly becoming a favorite around here, as peace and quiet return and the craziness has {almost} come to an end. Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone and now we anxiously await to ring in the new year. I am not sure 2014 can live up to the amazing 2013 that Charles and I have both had, but I am anxious to find out what 2014 has in store for our family. This year, New Years will most likely be a quiet one for us, instead of our annual trip to the lake. As Charles said, I hope we can stay awake until midnight.

I trust you all had a wonderful and Merry Christmas filled with friends, food, and family {who I'm sure, even though you love them a lot, eventually got on your nerves}. I had a good Christmas, but I felt rushed all Monday evening, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I'm back at work today and I feel like I am finally slowing down. I haven't slept a lot the past few nights, so I was exhausted, and a few people in my family as well as Charles' family have been sick, and I'm afraid I might be catching their cold's. Not feeling optimal this morning.

Since telling you all via words about my Christmas would most likely be boring, let's just jump right into what my Christmas consisted of via pictures! Don't worry, readers, there's only a few a boat load of pictures {and I scaled back!}

Monday night was "Friendsmas" with some great friends, where we all went downtown to a charity concert and enjoyed each other's company {and perhaps stayed out too late}

My adorable husband being festive for Friendsmas. Yes, he wore this out in public, and I think he rocked it! Plus, I never once lost him in the crowd.

He got the leg lamp!

Charles' sweet Aunt and cousin got us our Wedding ornament! SO excited!

Because puppies like Christmas, too!

Some of the spread for the Christmas Eve dinner I prepared for Charles' family

Our annual Christmas Eve "ho ho" punch! It's so easy to make and so festive and pretty. Just take one bottle of champagne, one bottle of gingerale, and frozen strawberries! Voila, easy!

The hubby and I enjoying our first Christmas together in the church that we were married in.

The Marsh side of the family!

Because we have to pray before every meal

He was watching Shrek and wouldn't even stop for a photo!

Teaching her how to write

No explanation needed

Charles and I decided Christmas night sushi would be the perfect ending to the day

Laying in bed, watching my ALL TIME FAVORITE movie, "You've Got Mail." I'm so happy it was on tv. I watch it every time, I'm really surprised that I don't own a copy as much as I love it. This will have to change immediately. Wonderful ending to my evening.

 

 

A topic I have been consistenly reminded of lately is doing things that you don't want to do. Now this doesn't just apply to everyday things such as doing the dishes or taking out the trash {because those things, no matter how much you don't want to do them, you HAVE TO}


No, I'm talking about the things that you have a choice in doing. No, you don't have to go to watch your best friend's basketball game. No, you don't have to go help your husband take down the Christmas lights. No, you don't have to take an interest in your families life. But you should.

Part of growing up is recognizing that you have choices. You don't have your parents forcing you to do things, but you still should know what's right and what isn't. Not doing something simply because you don't want to, even when you know it might make someone happy is just unacceptable. We all have things we don't want to do, but part of growing older and being a person of substance is doing these things regardless. How can you teach your children values if you yourself don't have any?

My parents have set great examples for all of their children on learning to do things because it's the right thing to do, even if you don't get any personal gain from doing it. It's just the right way of going about things, especially when it comes to family. When you do things that you might not feel like doing purely because you know it's what you should do, people take notice, and people are more likely to return the favor.

Don't alienate those you care about due to laziness or pure selfishness. You become a better person by choosing the harder decision. Some people have the philosophy that you should only do what you want to do, only do what makes you happy because life is too short. No offense to that theory {ok, maybe a little offense}, but what a load of bologna. If you are selfish and only do what you want, people will start to resent you. All take and no give will not get you ahead in life.

Remember: You can make your own choices, but you can't control the consequences. Be prepared to take full responsibility for your actions.

"Never sacrifice what you know is right for what is convenient or expedient. Live the life of a leader - one of values, character, courage, and committment. What you do and what you tolerate in your presence best demonstrates your standards."

Christmas Eve's Eve

Hey, y'all!


Happy Christmas Eve's Eve! It's one of my favorites, because it's our annual "Friendsmas" with our friends who live out of town. We always meet up at our house and spend some time together before heading to "Christmas Jam" downtown where one of the guy's friends puts on a charity concert. It's a a great time, I truly love this tradition. We always end up running into friends that we haven't seen in ages, and it's a blast to catch up {and it's a chance to dress nice for a "night on the town!" which we don't really do too often}.

I'm hoping everyone had a great weekend. Mine was too short, shocking typical, but it was a lot of fun. You've already heard about my Friday night, so let's skip right to Saturday!

Saturday morning was spent getting pampered by a friend who is selling spa items. I cannot wait to host a spa party with her, I would love for my girlfriends to try this stuff out! My skin feels incredible, and everyone could use a little extra pampering every once and again.. From there I joined my family for lunch at George's, a really awesome local eatery. It was a particularly rainy, cold, dreary day, but still, I had errands galore to run. I needed to finish Christmas shopping, go to the grocery store, clean, wrap presents, etc..needless to say, the grocery shopping did not get accomplished on that rainy day. Not worth it.

Sunday morning was spent grocery shopping, spending time with my little nephew, and cleaning the house literally all.day.long. It looks great, but I was one exhausted busy bee yesterday. Nothing exciting happened, just a whole lot of chores! By the way, Wal-Mart is already CRAZY packed with people getting their shopping done for the holiday, so if you can, avoid it at all costs.

Today, I am at work {hey, no complaints, I love my job} and at 11 I get to go with my sister to pick up her husband at the airport since he is coming back from basic training! Yippee =) After work, it's a trip to my parent's to visit my cutie pie nephew for some play time before I go home to do a little "food prep" for Christmas Eve and get ready for Friendsmas!

Time for "Life via iPhone"

 

Can't go to the grocery store without my reusable bags! Leopard print, how cute are these? I have four and use them religiously {mainly because I hate the zillion plastic bags you typically get that break and are just a pain}

 

Received a precious gift of a handmade bracelet that benefited a child with a Catholic education. I love gifts like this!

 

Charles worked so hard, so I let him and the girls cuddle up and watch football all Sunday evening..

 

Elfie left me a hint on the counter...he wanted banana bread made. Anyone else think this was Charles' handiwork?!

 

Got this sweet gift from another friend! I love it! Couldn't resist sitting on the couch early Sunday morning with it :)

 

Baby Thomas loves his Auntie M, in fact, I make that exact same face! Silly goose.

 

 

So remember how I posted last about not worrying, not stressing, etc because it's not what the holiday is about?

 

It turns out it's one of those "easier said than done" kind of things. It's easy for me to write about not stressing and just enjoying the moment in a blog post, but it's not so easy for me to remember to put into practice. Someone was asking me questions about Christmas Eve and if I had everything done, what I was serving, who was coming, what time, etc. and I found myself getting very worked up about it. Instantly I thought "Wow, did I not just post about this exact thing? Why did I just lose my cool over someone merely asking me a question?!"

 

Sometimes it's easy to think that something should be done {or not be done, as the case may be} but it isn't easy to follow through. I really hope I don't turn out to be someone who is all talk and little action. It would disappoint me to be perceived in such a way. Do you ever say you're going to work on doing something, but fail to follow through?

 

How about we aim to be the person we desire to be? It won't be easy, but I hope I can catch myself before I continue with habits that I am trying to break.

 

I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas! I probably won't be posting until post-holiday, but I will take a generous amount of pictures so you can feel like you were right there with us!

 

 

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that an airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." - Henry Ford

One of the best in a long time

Hello, again!

Monday is back. I keep trying to scare Monday's off, yet they keep showing up again every 7 days..Weird.

For once it seems I'm particularly excited about this Monday. I am hosting the first event in Charles' and my new home. "Holiday Scarf Exchange" commences this evening about 6ish for some of the wonderful women I work with. We are basically getting together, having good conversations, drinking some wine, snacking, and playing "Dirty Santa" with scarves!

I had a sweet friend text me last night saying "I can't believe you're brave enough to host a party at your new house, you just moved in!"...I agree with her, it has been a bit of an undertaking trying to get the house in good enough shape to host a party, but I needed to get the house in shape for family staying with us at the holidays anyway, so this just helped me get it completed more promptly. Plus, I had a pretty handsome helper who worked SO very hard to make sure everything was finished and just the way I wanted it. Plus, he let me choose how to decorate everything..it was like a dream come true decorating. I often times forget to give my husband credit for the wonderful, hard working, loving man he is.

Ok. I'm at work early, I've got a cup of coffee in my hand, my dad's Christmas cd is playing in the background, so let's jump right into what I did this weekend, as it was one of the best weekends I've had in awhile!

 

 My weekend started Thursday afternoon with some much needed hair TLC. I decided to go back to my natural color. Sometimes, you just need a change in your appearance so you don't get bored. I love playing with my hair, not everyone can pull off blonde and brown, and I feel like I can pull it off {fairly} well, so might as well experiment a little bit! And everyone needs some wine while getting their hair done, it just makes the experience all the better :)

 

 There has been a lot of listening to my dad's CD lately, it just gets you in the holiday spirit {p.s., how stinking cute is this cd cover!? My dad had my sister's fourth grade class have a contest and the winner's got to be on the cover of the cd.} How sad is it that fourth graders can draw better than I can... I guess I didn't get the artistic gene, ha! Anyhow, it's perfect music to light a fire, have a glass of wine {or coffee, or cocoa, etc..} and just do a little writing, grocery list making, to do list creating, and so on. I plan to have this playing in the background as we all chat this evening. YES, he is playing everything on this cd. Want a copy? Check out his site here!

 

 Friday night was my work Christmas party which was a tacky Christmas sweater theme. Here are a few of us all dressed up. What a FUN evening it was, I really do realize how lucky I am to work with such a determined and awesome group of people!

 

 Drumroll please...OUR BEAUTIFUL TABLE! Huge thanks to 3's company for working so hard to get this finished in time for my party tonight, I am so grateful. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Shop Local! Small businesses are my favorite places to shop/eat/etc. Plus, you're not going to find a gem like this at some chain store {and if you're just lucky enough to find something similar, you'd probably pay a FORTUNE for it, when you can find things like these and restore them for an extremely reasonable price.} I'm loving the uniqueness and the character of this table..you just can't beat that!

Because it's just not the holidays unless your animals hate you.

 

A little Holiday treat making for the party tonight! I also whipped up some treats for Charles' Blues Fest meeting tonight. I feel so bad that I can't make it due to a previously scheduled party, so hopefully these treats make up for my absence!

We also spent a huge chunk of our weekend setting up the house, but I'm not going to post those pictures until after tonight. I want to take pictured of the house tonight, when it's all done up pretty for the party before I show you our finished result.

This weekend, I also read a great article about grace and understanding, which are two things that a healthy marriage will require from both parties. Let me give you an example of this. Let's say you had a very busy and important day at work, as they were doing interviews for promotions. You were very excited to get up early, have a nice cup of coffee, and get ready for your day to start it off right. Your spouse decides to get up extra early and surprise you with a big breakfast and a hot cup of your favorite coffee to do something sweet for you because he or she knows you have a very important day ahead.  In the midst of making said breakfast, he or she starts a small kitchen fire by accident, making your day start off horribly instead of on a high note. You're extremely irritated that they have done this to you! You become quite angry with your spouse.

Right there is a problem with most couples. Think about it. Your spouse tried to do something nice for you! Yes, it didn't turned out the way it should have, and yes, it caused you a headache, but step back and think: Did they do it out of malicious intent? Was it done with ill wishing? No, they were trying to do something special for you. This is hard for me to remember, but it's going to be a main focus of mine in the coming years. Don't let your marriage lack grace and understanding. Be grateful you have someone who cares enough about you to try to make you smile. Be your partner's partner. I know I say this all the time, but be a blessing! In a perfect world, you get back what you put in, but this world isn't perfect. Concentrate on being the best "you" that you can be. Your marriage comes before everything else {even your children..shocking, I know, but it's true.}

I hope your week turns out exactly how you plan for it to. Mine will be filled with holiday parties {one at my house, two for charles work, one at my sister's...} and family coming into town! It's almost Christmas, y'all!

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

'tis the season!

Hello, beautifuls!

It's Monday morning, and I'm not sure about all of you, but I found it particularly difficult to wake up and get out of bed this morning. Something about snow on the ground and a nice cozy house..

The winter weather showed up in full force, I was pretty much confined to the new house for 3.5 days straigh, which was okay with me, I needed to unpack the house and try to clean/organize/all of the grown up things {this whole wife life thing, I'm telling ya, it's pretty great..}Even though I still have SO much work left to do on the new house {and our soon to be rent house...needs a good deep cleaning and we still have to get some items moved out of there}, we got a large amount of work done. There were plenty of late nights for my husband and I, as well as early mornings, but it's starting to feel like home sweet home.

Here's a few photos of our weekend / some progress {note: I haven't taken a lot of photos of the individual rooms yet as we have not finished decorating. Stay tuned!}

 

Friday morning, about 6am. Charles had to be at work at 8 and I had the day off, so I stayed in, drank a nice cup of coffee, and decorated the tree {not finished in the photo above!} and decorated a few rooms in the house.

 

The winter wonderland that is our house this past weekend, and that's not even all of it! This was very early in the morning, around 10 I think, and it continued until well into the afternoon hours.

 

My three little loves taking a nap by the fireplace, which is easily my most favorite part of the new house. I have a not so slight obsession with fireplaces..

 

Here's elfie for you! Sleeping in his Crown Royal sleeping bag on the tree...sneaky little elf.

 

 

It's going to be another crazy week for me {are you sensing a pattern?!}. We have so much work to be done on both houses, as well as my work Christmas party Friday night. Then a week from today, I'm hosting a "Holiday Scarf Exchange" for the ladies I work with at my house, so you can understand the importance of getting the house completed to host the party! I'll share with you my party planning process, what I make for food, drinks, etc along the way! I'm very much looking forward to it.

Because I love you, I'm including a link to the song I've been listening to on repeat that has been keeping me sane while unpacking, taking a bubble bath, driving, etc. How can you not ADORE Michael Buble?!





If you have some spare time, head over to my dad's website! He writes his own music and has links to his songs. He is SO talented and I love him {and his music} dearly. Go support him! His website can be found here!

As always, be a blessing to someone this week. I'll be back for more before you know it!

XoXo

Thanksgiving break Re-Cap!

Hello, y'all!

 

I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving, spent with friends and family {and lots of food, too!} I certainly did. It was a much needed break from work and just typical week to week life in general. By the time last Wednesday at 3pm rolled around, I was in desperate need of a break, I felt like I was at my wit's end. Isn't it funny how breaks happen just when you need them the most?

 

It's back to work for the Alley household today. We have an incredibly rough week ahead of us, and I'll tell you why. First, Charles' grandfather passed away yesterday morning, which makes this week a difficult one. Secondly, it's my birthday tomorrow and we still have SO much to do before we move on Friday. I'm talking we still have furniture to buy, things to pack {and I'm out of boxes! I need some more in a bad way, because I have SO much left to pack...} On top of everything we still have left to do, it's supposed to snow/sleet on Friday, which doesn't exactly make for a pleasant move, haha!

 

All in all, I can't really complain with how this week plays out, because we are so blessed to be in the position to move into a beautiful new house. Yes, it may take a few all nighters and lots of help from loved ones to get all moved in and settled, and it won't happen overnight, but it will still get done, and I couldn't be more excited for when it is all put together and we can start our new chapter!

 

Without further delay, let me tell you about my break...

 

 

On Wednesday night, we had "Friendsgiving" with some great friends who live about an hour away but came into town for Thanksgiving with their families. Chicken and waffles seemed appropriate.. =)

 

Best way to start a Thanksgiving is with Mimosas {with cranberries!} and Black Friday ad's at my parents house. I only wish I hadn't skipped my typical morning cup of coffee, as I woke up at 6am and had a looong day ahead...

 

After a breakfast at my parent's house, we headed to Charles' families house about 30 minutes away and had a Thanksgiving meal with his family. Here I am with Charles' brothers' girlfriends!

 

Loving on the husband..XoXo

 

Round 2! I am more of a ham person than a turkey person...

 

Thanksgiving was also my sweet momma's birthday! Happy birthday to my mom!

 

Charle's decided that through the month of December, he is going to do Elf on the Shelf for me every morning. He is so adorable I can't stand it. Here is day 1!

 

Elf on the Shelf Day 2, as I get into my car it scared the heck out of me!

 

Well, friends, I hope you all have a blessed week and a blessed December. If I don't post much this week, please understand how crazy life is for us right now! Once we get all moved in, I am praying life will get a tad bit easier and less chaotic and I can post on a more regular basis. Hey, a girl can dream, right?! Have a wonderful December, y'all! <3

Holiday Bucket List!

Over a week again!

I apologize! It’s been a long, hectic, and tiresome few weeks, let me assure you.

My life has been filled with big brown moving boxes, lots of coffee, and a plethora of cleaning products…Moving is hectic, but it has been such a fun experience for Charles and I thus far. I got to go to Bed Bath and Beyond last Friday, spent 2 hours and way too much money, but I picked out everything we need for organization of the bathrooms and kitchens, as well as decorations. I also picked up all of the needed supplies to stock the guest bathroom {toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, loofah’s, etc}…I’m pretty pleased with my choices and even more pleased that the new house will have all new fresh items to make it feel like a fresh start! What an incredible feeling.

I thought I might give you a treat today and share with you my “Holiday Bucket List” thus far. Here are the fun things I want to do this holiday season!

·         Bake Christmas Cookies for all of the neighbors and friends! Charles and I do this every year and we have so much fun with it! We have already started the planning process for accomplishing this in our NEW house. It will be a hectic holiday so I’ll be having to make a set plan in order to make time for this.

·         Watch all of the Christmas movies I can watch. Needs no explanation, I’m pretty sure everyone does this.

·         Get an Angel from the Salvation Army Angel Tree. Again, Charles and I do this every year and we have a blast doing it. It is so rewarding to help others, and especially children needing presents for Christmas.

·         Go look at Christmas Lights while sipping hot cocoa! Again, another tradition that requires no explanation.

·         Put up Christmas decorations to my dad’s Christmas CD. Many of you don’t know this, but my dad plays the keyboard/piano for fun, and he makes these amazing instrumental Christmas CD’s of his songs and of holiday classics and distributes them to the family every year on Thanksgiving. I listen to these cd’s religiously all Christmas season, and I can’t wait to see what my dad comes up with this year!

·         Make a gingerbread house! Sadly I haven’t ever made one…Pathetic? Yes.

·         Host Christmas Eve at our new home. Charles and I host Christmas Eve at our house for his family every year, so this year is no different. I want to do it BIG this year, with Christmas music, punch, ham, casseroles, stuffing, and the works! I am so excited to host my first big holiday!

·         Wear red lipstick to Charles’ work Christmas Party. Okay now this is a bit of an odd thing to want to accomplish, but I rarely wear colored lipstick or lipgloss, and I always think the ladies Charles works with look so fabulous, so what better way to stand out than red lipstick during the holidays and a fabulous dress?

·         Fall asleep by my new fireplace! Purely because I can

I’m sure I have a thousand more things I would like to do during the holidays {after all, it IS the MOST wonderful time of the year} I hope you all have a Happy Holiday season. Let me know what YOUR bucket list entails..I’m always looking for more ideas. Be a blessing today! <3

As of Late..

Hello, lovelies!

I'm such a slacker, I know..I haven't posted in over a week!

Let me start off by saying that I had every intention of posting...and then life happened. I have so much to share with you! Instead of me writing out long paragraphs explaining what prevented me from staying in touch, how about I just empty out the contents of my iPhone for you.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...

Sick husband survival kit

Remember how last time I told you Charles and I had plans last weekend to go to Fayetteville, visit his grandmother, tailgate, and watch the game with friends? Well my dear husband caught the stomach flu. We had a very hard, long weekend. Luckily I get the awesome wife award for getting him soup from Fuji {the only broth he will eat} and a bunch of other necessities. I also disinfected the entire house..I have no time to get a stomach bug

Cran-brrr-itas came out...kept me occupied

Took care of spoiled rotten puppies

I became obsessed with vanilla and chocolate chai's..

Drumroll please....NEW HOUSE!

So here is what took up most of my time last week. Aside from training at work all week AND our company changing it's name, which caused a headache during working hours, Charles and I purchased a house!! It has been a hectic and truly exciting week! We are blessed beyond measure. We anticipate closing on December 6th {SO close!} and then moving in before the holidays! My birthday is Dec. 3rd, so happy birthday to me! Best present ever.

The wedding presents waiting to move into the new house!

I got the opportunity to go enjoy a nice evening with one of the best friends a girl could ask for!

I'm sorry I slacked last week. I can't promise I will be {too} much better throughout the coming weeks, but I will try my hardest! Please bear with me, the holidays are a busy time as is, and add moving into a new house on top of that? I'll be living on coffee, fumes, and pure excitement for the next few weeks...

Stay tuned..XO