My first Miscellany Monday!

Crunch Time

Collectively, I have 5 days left of this semester. It's not over until the 6th, but a few days have no class, or only one. But I have so much to do! A lot of it was due today but I feel swamped!

Sookie Stackhouse

I'm lame and I don't have HBO, so I haven't watched much of TrueBlood, but I'm addicted to these books! I'm borrowing them from my SIL and I'm on book 6 now. They are SO good!

Snickerdoodles!

How can you not love that word? And the cookie aren't bad either! I made some last night and they are so yummy! I love Christmastime!

Gift Swap 2010

Don't forget to sign up for it! The blog to sign up is HERE. I'd love to have more people sign up, so share it on your blog, grab the button, tell a friend - whatever works! :)

Family Time!

I didn't want to waste my last day of break sitting around the apartment alone, so I headed to my brother's house! They're using a new tree this year, so we get to use their other one! Yay! I haven't picked out decorations for it yet, but I'm excited to at least have it! My brother had his oldest son and daughter for the weekend, so I was glad to see them too! You might remember I got my niece an Ace of Cakes decorating kit for her birthday a few weeks ago?

Well we played with it today! They did a pretty good job, and I must say, the cake didn't taste too bad to be "just add water" and microwaved! Haha It came with fondant and everything!

My nephew's cake is on the left - Niece's is on the right

I got to see my baby nephew too, which is always nice! It's crazy how much babies can grow and change within just two weeks! He was like 3 lbs heavier - and you could feel it too!

I hope everyone is having a nice Sunday!

Join the Holiday Gift Swap 2010!

Procrastination

Okay, so when did Thanksgiving break become "lets make everything due when you come back so you have no time to relax at all" "break"? It sucks! I have...

- a lab final on Monday

- 20 lab reports due Monday

- 14 Chapter assessments due Monday

- a paper to write and a presentation to do Wednesday

- a test to turn in on Tuesday

Blah! I've procrastinated all I can and I have to start getting it done now, I guess. Boo for work on breaks! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving though, and I hope you don't have as much work as me!

Don't forget to check out the Holiday Gift Swap 2010!

Holiday Gift Swap 2010!

A few people expressed interest and I think it'd be fun to do so here it is...

The Holiday Gift Swap 2010!

Sign ups will last from now until December 3rd at 11:59 PM EST. I'll release the list of matches on December 4th. Gifts should be mailed out no later than December 15th! Only sign up if you are willing to commit 100% because it's not fair to send a gift and not get one in return!

Leave a comment with your email address to sign up. Grab the button on the right side of my blog and spread the word! The more participants, the more fun! Once gifts have been mailed, I'll make a link up post and everyone can share their presents!

There is a $20 limit on gifts, shipping not included. This doesn't mean you have to spend the full $20, it's just the limit.

If you celebrate a particular holiday and would like to be paired with someone similar (availability willing), please put that in your comment!

Happy Holiday Season!

Giving Thanks!

I was going to do a Wordless Wednesday for this, but I wanted to talk too much! It's so easy to get wrapped up in thing going wrong in our lives, that we forget how blessed we really are. So, since tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I probably won't be on to post about it, here just a few things I'm thankful for!

This handsome man I get to call my husband!

The best girl friends!

My purr baby, Charlie!

Family! New and old!

Moments like these!

And of course, my home, health, food and many many other things! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Ball Update and Wedding Pics!

Our ball was this past weekend! It was kind of...disappointing. Last year was Brandon's first year in the unit so we really didn't know what to expect, but last year was a lot better. Every lady was greeted with a rose, and we all got the commemorative glasses. Open bar for the first hour and the dinner was pretty good, big cake and all that. This year - no roses, one cup per couple, only free beer, you even had to pay for sodas, the cake was small and "dinner" was just finger foods/hors d'oeuvres. Kind of a bummer! We went to dinner with one of Brandon's good friends from the unit and his girlfriend, so that

was nice! Here are two of the three pictures I took that night!

On a more exciting note - we got our wedding pictures back!! There were a lot of them - 450! I was totally not expecting that at all, and I'm so pleased with how they came out! I'll post the links to my facebook albums and y'all can look at them there if you'd like! They're huge files and take forever to upload. Feel free to add me too if you'd like!

Bridal Pictures

Rehearsal and Getting Ready

Ceremony & Reception

Bridal Party and other Friends and Family

Our photographer is amazing! Check her out if you're in Georgia!

Kristin Benton Photography

Yay for Giveaways!

I won the Scentsy giveaway I blogged about a few days ago! I'm SUPER excited because I'm broke and I've been wanting one of these things forever! I won a bar from another consultant a few days ago too, so I'm all set! Let the addiction begin! lol Here is the warmer I chose. It will look perfect in our living room, because our sofa is a soft teal color too!

I also won a $10 Starbucks gift card from Allyson at The Blackwoods! I'm super excited about it too! I LOVE Starbucks and their Creme Brulee Latte comes out on Tuesday! Oh my - you should have heard Brandon at the Starbucks drive thru asking if it was out yet! He can't pronounce anything at Starbucks, and even the guy taking the order was laughing! It was hilarious! If you haven't had one of them though, you definitely should! They are delightful!

Last but not least - please leave your opinion on me hosting a Christmas Gift Swap! Leave a comment on THIS BLOG and let me know what you think! :)

Holiday Gift Swap? Let me know what you think!

I recently participated in the Fall Favorites Swap held by Nicole at Flip Flops and Combat Boots. It was super fun shopping for my swap partner and getting my presents in the mail! I've checked with Nicole and she's not doing one for the holidays. Sooo I was wondering if any of my followers would be interested if I hosted one! We could do a gift swap (~$20 limit), card swap, ornament swap...let me know what you think! If a decent number of people are interested, I'd love to do it! Please share your opinions! :) Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Birthdays, Anniversaries and Ball Dresses!

Lots of exciting things going on at the H house! Like I said a few posts earlier, my niece's birthday party was Saturday! Her actual birthday is today. Happy Birthday to her! She's nine now! To take things off my brother and SIL, I offered to make her cake! I asked Jason (brother) to see what she wanted. I was expecting Hannah Montana or something like that. I expected wrong. Jason said she wanted a statue of her holding her new baby brother, Mitch, surrounded by little yellow ducks. Okay, then! At first I had no idea how I was going to do this, but I pulled it off. God willing, I found a candy mold of little duckies at Michael's! Messed around with a little gumpaste for the first time, and I made a cute little figurine of Maddie and Mitch! I was very pleased with how it worked out. Maddie loved it too! Funny side note - the first thing she ate was the new baby's head. I hope that's not a hint. Hahaha. Here are some pics!

This is the figure before I put faces on it! It wasn't dry yet.

This is the completed cake at the party!

Maddie and her presents and cake! Gah, I miss birthdays as a kid!!

Happppy Birthdayyyy to youuuuu!

Make a wish! Pretty nice action shot, if I do say so myself.

We got Maddie a Cake Bakery! Complete with mixes, pans, fondant and tools! Where were the toys like this when I was a kid?!

As far as anniversaries go - Brandon and I have been married for a month now! It doesn't feel like it's been that long to me! Seems like it was only like 2 weeks ago. I think we're doing some sort of date night this weekend. Our 3 year anniversary is next Friday. Brandon has drill starting next Friday with the ball being Saturday so that weekend is full. We compromised and just said we'd do something this weekend! So that'll be fun! And today, I ordered my ball dress! Better late than never, right? Haha, the best thing is - it was $25! $33 with tax and shipping. I learned at our ball last year that you don't have to have the crazy elegant dresses (although they're nice!). So I'm going with a simple cocktail-type dress and I'll dress it up with pretty hair and jewelry! I'm pretty excited! The ball was blah last year because Brandon had only been at the unit for a month and didn't know anyone. This year should be more fun! Here's a picture of my dress!

Have A Very Shutterfly Christmas!

With Halloween gone and Fall slowly turning to Winter, it dawned on me the other day that it's time to start my Christmas card shopping and assembling! It's only the first week of November, but these things take time and planning because you want them to be perfect! I wanted to do photo cards this year, being mine and Brandon's first Christmas as a married couple, sending cards out together. Who did I go to for all my wedding photo printing needs? Shutterfly! We made an adorable guestbook for our wedding and it was such a hit! We loved it! The quality of the photos we included in it was great and it looked like we paid a fortune for someone to put it together! But that's the thing - it's affordable! I was so impressed with that, that I'm hooked on Shutterfly now! I was perusing their Christmas collection and I found so many that I like! They seriously have anything you could want. Christmas isn't your thing? They have all sorts of different holiday cards and just seasonal ones! They even have bilingual cards! Where else can you find that?

Not only are we sending ours out as general Christmas cards, but we're going to go with a wedding photo on them too! That way our family and friends will get a wedding photo and a card all in one! They even had examples of them! I love this one!

And of course you all know my latest obsession - damask! They had 15 cards that had damask patterns on them! So seriously, whatever you want, they are sure to have! These two are too cute!

And of course, they aren't all one-photo cards. You can add 5 or 6 if you want! They have all sorts of color options; the possibilities are endless!

Not only do they have cards for Christmas, they have a Thanksgiving collection too! A perfect gift to give at Christmas? A calendar for the new year that you design yourself! And I absolutely love these personalized gift tags!

And the best part of it all??? Shutterfly is giving away 50 FREE photo holiday cards to bloggers that blog about them! To submit your request to participate, simply go HERE. Enjoy, bloggy friends! :)

Saturday Thoughts

It's a Saturday afternoon, Brandon is at work and I'm procrastinating some school work I could be doing. :) So I thought I'd do a little random blog and see where it takes me!

First off, I'm in a contest to win a Scentsy warmer! Actually, I'm in 3, but this one requires votes! If you could vote for me that would be awesome. You have to add the consultant, Indep Scentsy Director-Bethany, on Facebook. Once she approves the request (she's good at getting to it quickly!) you just have to like my photo HERE! You

can't see the photo unless you're friends with her, so after she approves, the link will work. If you vote, THANK YOU!! I've wanted a Scentsy for some time now, and our recreational funds are limited, so I really hope I win one! :)

Second, I don't think I ever showed y'all what I won over at Adventures in Abby Land! It's a super cute keylette from Sew Much Detail. I'm developing an obsession with damask, so of course I chose the damask one! It's super cute and helps my keys not get engulfed in my purse! And the wrapping it came in was super cute too! Thank

you again, Robyn and Sandee!

Third, I sold my first crocheted baby hat this week! Breanna at Forever Yours, Semper Fi got a hat for little Miss Abigail! She gave me a picture of what she had in mind and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out! If you're interested in one, head over to Knitted Noggins!

I think that's all for now! I should probably get to doing some school stuff. Boo. I have my niece's birthday party this evening though! Update later! Until next time!

Friday 5! Christmas List!

I have felt out of whack alllll week because my schedule has been off! No class on Tuesday, trip to see family Thursday. But now, it's finally FRIDAY!!! I love this week's Friday Five. Christmas lists! I don't know why, but I'm so into seasonal stuff this Fall/Winter. So without further ado...

1. This Scentsy warmer

I've been wanting a Scentsy warmer for months now! I'm in 3? contests at the moment to win one. So if none of those work out, I'd like one for Christmas!

2. Cricut Cake Mini!

It's like a Cricut...but for cake! I'm an avid cake baker and this would make fondant work, SO much easier. The Mini does the same as the regular as far as I know, it's just smaller (and cheaper!). Fine by me!

3. KitchenAid Stand Mixer

I think every woman in America that spends any time in the kitchen wants one of these! And of course, I want pink!

4. Cake Pops by Bakerella

This woman is my hero and these things are the CUTEST. I've made cake balls before, but it's time to take it to the next step!

5. iPod Touch

Could it be? Something not related to baking? I really want one of these because I only have a 4 gig nano (old school!) aaaand I'm behind the times!

A new award!

I got nominated for the Verasatile Blogger Award by Diana at Little Moments! Thank you so much, Diana!! I'm so excited! For this award you have to list 7 things about you and then pass it on to 7 more people. Here goes!

1. I'm 4'11. I always wanted to be 5', but just never got there.

2. I hate politics and I don't really care what's going on with it. I think the country needs it to stay afloat, but I just don't care. They're all crooked liars anyway.

3. I can watch Discovery Health all day, every day. F you Oprah, for taking it over with a network about...you.

4. The idea of having a baby really freaks me out. But I want to have one one day. One day farrrr far away.

5. I never, ever thought I'd be married to someone in the military.

6. I can't wait to be out of college. Most people love it, but I'm kind of over it. Next, please!

7. I love, love, love baking! I only cook because I don't want to weigh 500 pounds.

And the nominees are...

Breanna @ Forever Yours, Semper Fi

Robyn @ Adventures in Abby Land!

Nicole @ Flip Flops and Combat Boots

Anna @ Showtimes and Dog Tags

Jordan @ Southern Hospitality

Kara @ The Ramblings of a Marine Wife

For #7 I want YOU to suggest a blog to nominate! I love finding new, good blogs!