Happy New Year!!

It's a family affair tonight, pizza, a movie and games until Midnight. Then we terrorize the neighborhood by banging pots and setting off fireworks!

Concerning Christmas! (And various other topics)

Twas the day before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.....

The table all set up for our second annual Christmas Eve Gingerbread house decorating extravaganza! (Yes Tim, they are the "fake" houses! They stay up and we don't eat them anyway, so I figure it's a win-win!)

My house, note the side porch and the giant hot tub, complete with humongous grasshopper!

My little brothers house, he's not that into the rhyme and reason decorating yet!

 A snowman one of my little sisters made!

~My Haul!~

My wonderful parents got me a Ktchen Aid mixer, in red! I can't use it right now, but am super excited any way!=)



More brooches for my brooch bouquet, I love the daisies though my favorite is the red and orange rose!

I saw this Macaroni and Cheese faerie while we were picking out our Christmas ornaments and fell in love! Isn't she adorable? Faeries and mac and cheese, two of my favorite things together in one adorable little package!

Cranford has a sequel? How did I not know this? Well, I know now and I own them both!

Some stocking stuffers, the game is super fun! The things in the middle are book plates, the package has 15, I need about 20 more packs and I'll be good!

 More stocking goodies, nail polish from AVON. I love it!

This is Rave, I painted my nails on Christmas and haven't done any touch ups! I do dishes, nanny, pick apart Lego blocks and so far it's held up almost perfectly! This is today, almost 5 days later. I'm lucky if my Wal-Mart brands hold up for two days! Plus, it's cheaper then most of the kinds I've bought in town, score!

~Favorite Outfit~

This is my new favorite outfit, stripes, teal, brown corduroy, heaven! Plus it goes with my much loved Autumn Kiss necklace! 

~I won!~

I won a give away from Nostalgems, through their facebook page. Go and check them out, I love almost everything on their website!! It's a grab bag of findings and settings, it may look like a pile of junk, but I'm excited to see what I can make out of it! 

~The List~

1: Penelope coat? FINISHED!!! Photos later on this week! But here's a little sneak peek for you!

2: Closet reorganized? Yep, all done! That was the first to get checked off!

3: Book printed out? Nope, but I did hear back from the editor of last years (aka a friend who offered to look it over for me!) and he said it sparkled! I am a little giddy!

By the way,  has anyone ever heard of Tate publishing?

4: Do some mending? No again, but there were some last minute issues with the coat and that took up my sewing time for the week!

5: Christmas gotten ready for? Check! It's both gotten ready for and been thoroughly enjoyed!

Christmas Tree!

We always used to get a perfect tree from a tree lot, then we went started going out into the forest and cutting down our own and then last year we had what I fondly called the Vegas Tree!(There are a few pics of it and an explanation behind our rather unorthodox tree choice!)

I have to say, having experienced three different types of tree, the forest ones are my favorite. They show the ornaments off so much better and just feel old fashioned and quirky!

My family at the tree lot, minus one, she's hiding behind someone else and you can just see her fingers reaching to do bunny ears!

Yes, it's a horribly out of focus picture, but I had the flash off because with the flash on, you couldn't see the lights. I really need to get a better camera.....

I love the look of cranberries and popcorn on the tree, hate the mess of using real popcorn and cranberries. Solution? Fake popcorn and cranberries! My parents bought them from a little country store before they had any of us kids and they've lasted 25 years so far!

I thought the shadow was cool!

We bought these years ago at Costco, so you know we got A LOT of them in the box. We hung them all along the curtain rod near the tree. I love glass icicles! =)

Another cool shadow picture.....

My awesome Christmas manicure, I know you're all jealous

.....

What? Yes of course I'm 24, what makes you think I'm not?

.....

You say 24 year olds don't paint their nails different colors?

.......

Just wait until the 4th of July!

Let the time off begin!

*Sigh* So much for my promise to be a better blogger this month, life has been busy and when it hasn't been I've been sleeping! I should be better this next week as today is my last day of work unitll the Monday after Christmas! ;-)


So, what offerings of joy and glad tidings do I bring to you this cold and cloudy day? A list, a (small) freak out and maybe even an outfit photo or two!

~List of thing I will finish during my time off!~

1. The Penelope Coat! It will be finished before Christmas, it will, it will, it will!!

2. Organizing my closet (Yikes! This one goes along with the freak out!)

3. Print out my NaNoWriMo book and get to editing

4. Attack my enormous mending/garment mutilation pile!

5. Get ready for and enjoy this Christmas season which has so suddenly come up on me!

(Hey, it's not like I had nay warning it was coming it was sprung.....wait.....you say the stores had decorations up in October.....and you also say I had been practicing for a Christmas play since September.....I get it, there was warnings, but somehow it still managed still it sneak up on me!)

~Freak Out!~

Every once in a while I will do a search on eBay for xl skirts and dresses( yes, I just posted my size for all to see!) and bid on any that are cute and cheap; less then $10 for skirts, less then $20 for dresses. I always bid the lowest asking price and have ALWAYS been out bid, usually within a few hours! 

Guess who has won 9 items in the past few weeks and is waiting to hear about 3 more? I have the money and with shipping haven't paid more then $20 for anything, but still I will be more careful in the future! Can you see the reason for the closet organizing? It's been needing it for awhile and now it really does!

I'll do a haul post when it all gets here!  I am both excited and still a little freaked out, I got one skirt yesterday and it is perfect condition Hannah Anderson for $6.99! =)

~Outfit Photo's~

Yes, it's another outfit photo set.....what can I say?

I really liked these two colors paired together. Excuse the curls poking out from behind my head, the hair is just a tad to short to go into the ponytail and while I like how it looks in real life, in pictures they look a little random and weird!

 Cardigan: Wal-Mart $9 on clearance
Polo: JcPenny $6 on clearance
Skirt: Made by me 4 years ago??
Shoes: Cowboy boots $17 you guessed it, on clearance! The people I nanny for want you to take your shoes of at the door, hence the reason they are not on my feet!

This is one of my favorite things about this skirt, the twirl factor! I got sooo dizzy taking this picture, 'cause it took a lot of tries to get one that wasn't too blurry. =)

I just liked this picture!

~Bonus Picture~
That's right, at no extra charge you get a random picture.....ahh shucks I know I'm a sweetie! ;-)

A log I had just thrown in the fire, I'm a sucker for things that look like hearts!

Christmas at the Murphy's

The video below will shed some light on my absence from the blogging world. One tech rehearsal, four dress rehearsals, and three performances make for one very tiered girl!! I'm Jennifer.....my husband is sick and my baby is sleeping!

Am I a Real Fashion Blogger Now? ;-)

Today is the first time I'm posting pics of an outfit purely because I like it. There's no event or anything I'm going too, I didn't make a thing I'm wearing, it's not a fashion week.....I  just liked my outfit today! I guess we can call it a celebration of me finally finding the nautical-inspired-red-stripped shirt I was looking for all year! So, for my entrance into the fashion blogger world I did a special photo shoot!

The outerwear pose. Very important for those of us on the colder climates, even though outwear can make you look bulky you must get  a picture of it.....

 Check!



The *I'm in the exact same pose but now something is different* pose.....

 Check!

The hands placed on your natural waist for the maximum slenderizing effect pose.....

 Check!



The contemplatively looking at an accessory pose( awesome color editing optional).....

 Check!

The *did I remember to put shoes on and are they from the same pair* pose.....

 Check!

The *my awesome cute man who is taking the picture is being adorable and I am trying not to laugh, and am now getting annoyed* pose.....

 Check!(Though as a disclaimer; I do not have an awesome cute man to take my pictures, so I was being made to laugh and being annoyed by the firewood rack.....his name is Stanley!)

The artsy picture of an accessory. For example; shoes, jewelry, bag etc etc etc.....

Check! (I think I get double fashion blogger points for having two accessories in the picture. One of them is blurry and that adds to the artist-y awesomeness.....that's got to be at least a couple points on the scale don't you think?)

Ooo, I almost forgot the breakdown of the outfit, where I awe you with my amazing deal finding skills!

Shirt- JC Penny $7.88

Wide Legged Sailor Jeans- Ebay, some fancy designer label in LA only $16!

Brown Loafers- Online, originally $85 got them for $35! ( I had to add in the original price so the $35 price tag would seem like a deal!)

Long Heart Neckalce- Wal-Mart $5

So there you go, my official entrance into the fashion blogger world! I know I'm not wearing anything thrifted or vintage and there is not a picture of my awesome cute man, but a girls got to work with what she's got! How did I do? ;-)

Christmas-y Saturday!

After years of being in love with the color white I have finally begin to come to terms with the fact that white is not a flattering color on me..... 

I did my colors; for those of you who know what one earth I'm talking about, I am a fall with a smattering of summer. But, as much as I want it to be, white is not one of my colors.....*sigh*

But any who.....on to the reason for this post. Yesterday marked the happening of the two events this Christmas season that my family does not have to do ANYTHING for besides show up. The Christmas Parade and the Nutcracker. Both were lovely, but as I don't like wearing more then one outfit on any given day; that either makes standing outside in the snow or sitting in a very crowded high school auditorium very uncomfortable.

One is very casual and very cold and the other is nicer and very warm, so this is what I settled on!

 White Shirt- JC Penny $10

Skirt- Made by me from an old jumper $5?

White Tights- (You can't see them but I've come to discover I loooove white tights!) Wal-Mart $3

Brown Boots- Natruralizer $140 (Hey, it's hard to find boots to fit my, um, curvaceous legs.....)

Headband/Hair Bow- Wal-Mart $4

I also looove the bow, I feel very Alice in Wonderland especially with the white tights!

Sadly, even though I remembered to grab my camera before leaving for the parade, it was only remembered when we were walking back to the car! This is a picture of my parents being very cute!

Christmas Quiz

Samantha at Simple Delights is having a Christmas quiz on her blog and as I both love reading this type of and filling them in, I knew I had to do it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Three of your favorite Christmas carols~

~Mary Did You Know~

This is my favorite Christmas song of all time and this is the best version I have found, even though I am not fond of Clay Aiken.....

~Carol of the Bells~

~God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen~



~Three Favorite Christmas songs~

~Sleigh Ride~

~Baby It's Cold Outside~
(This version won out by a slim margin over the one by Lady Antebellum!)

~All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth~

~Four favorite Christmas traditions~

~Cookies and Egg Nog while decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving

~Eating Sugar Plums while reading the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve

~Opening one presents on Christmas Eve 'cause it's so hard to wait!

~Singing Christmas carols during worship at church, I love that!

~Three favorite holiday cookies~

~Chocolate covered Cherry cookies

~Ginger Bread Men

~Cake cookies

~Does your Christmas tree have a theme~

Nope, unless crazy, big family with eclectic tastes is a theme!

~Three favorite Christmas ornaments~

~Little animals

~Candy shaped ones

~These little red berries

~Do you like snow?~

YES!!!!

~Hot chocolate or coffee?~

~Coffee, but the froo froo Starbucks kind, so it's kind of like hot chocolate and coffee had a delicious baby!

~Do you decorate indoors and out?~

~Mostly indoors, but we always have lights and a few wreathes outside.

~Do you like to decorate before Thanksgiving, or after?~

~The day after!

~Name 3 things you like doing in the snow~

~Taking walks

~Sledding

~Slipping

(Oh wait it says thee things you like doing....well I've had to learn to like it because if I didn't I would be a very unhappy girl all winter long!)

~Do you usually make at least one handmade gift for someone each year?~

~I try, but sometimes it just doesn't work out!

~Name one of your favorite Christmas books~

~Favorite Christmas movies~

~Elf

~The Christmas List

~Holiday Inn

(It was this movie and not White Christmas, in which the iconic song White Christ first debuted!

~While You Were Sleeping

(I don't want to hear how this one is not a Christmas movie, it is to me and if you don't like that you can do your own post and put "real" Christmas movies up!)



These are a Few of my Favorite Things

This is a random list of some of my favorite Christmas things!

~Thing One~

The Christmas List

This is one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time, but for the past few years it hasn't been on and as far as I can tell it hasn't been released on video either. So sad! Does anyone else remember this made for TV movie?

~Thing Two~

His Favorite Christmas Story

This song makes me so happy! Even though I feel like crying at the end, every time I hear it!

 

~Thing Three~

This Dress

I can only wear it at Christmas time, I just need to spring for a good pettiskirt and it will be perfect!

~Thing Four~

Peppermint Bath Products

I got some peppermint shower gel from Avon when I was 11 and have been looking for similar products ever since! I found some at Bath and Body Works, the smell only lasts for about 10 minutes, but for that 10 minutes I smell like a candy cane!!

Speaking of peppermint.....

~Thing Five~

White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha's

I looove this drink and even though you can get it all year round, it only tastes good at Christmas time! The one bad thing? I made the mistake of looking up how many calories it had.....it's very bad news! In fact it's so bad I'm not going to put it here in a hope that you will be uninterested enough to not look it up yourself and my guilty secret will be safe! ;-)

So there it is, a random list of five of my favorite Christmas things!

What are some of your random Christmas favorites? =)