Oh, Christmas Tree!

One of my very favorite holiday traditions is picking out the Christmas tree. My parents have always done fresh trees (except for the year they got a live in-the-planter tree) and it's a tradition I intend to keep as long as possible. I know they're pricey and messy, but to me, it's just not negotiable. Dan and I have only ever had a small tabletop-sized tree, but now that we're in the house, this was the first year we got to pick out a full size stunner.

On Saturday, we started a fun new tradition. We went out for dinner at PF Chang's with our friend and her two kids and then went to the lot to pick out our trees. It was really fun to make it a special night out. Dan and I just adore the kids, and their mom and I have gotten closer over the last 6 months, so it was really fun to have that time making memories with them. After we picked out our trees - both of which were strapped to the top of her Honda Pilot - we got to work decorating ours (she's waiting until Wednesday when her husband returns from a civilian assignment in Afghanistan to decorate theirs). I hit the jackpot at Kohl's on some very inexpensive ornaments, and used our old red and white balls to make a candy cane inspired tree that matches our mantle and also goes with mine and Dan's stockings.


No tree of mine would be complete without a Pinterest project, so I used the tutorial found here to make a fun linen-white and red ruffled tree skirt. Even though it was super easy (and made with my favorite method of attachment, the glue gun) I almost instantly regretted signing up for this. It didn't take that long, but it was kind of a pain. The cutting and the ruffling and the gluing just took it's toll on my psyche about 90 minutes in. But I just love how it came out. Once again, pardon my crappy photography. Maybe someday I'll use a real camera :)




So, I'm ready! Bring on Christmas!

Catching Up

I've been gone. Not even anywhere incredibly interesting. It's just been super busy. Last I posted, I was getting ready to head to Tucson for my friend Rachel's wedding. This is the story of what's happened in our life since. Get some coffee, it might be long. And grab me a cookie, please and thank you.

Our anniversary weekend was really fun. It started off with a pizza party for all the out-of-towners to meet. I quickly figured out where Rachel gets her "must take a picture of everything" obsession from. I kid you not, somewhere, there's a picture of me and my plate of pizza and salad. I'm posing awkwardly in it because I'm totally caught off guard by the fact that someone wants a picture of me with my dinner. The groom's family is from Spain, but now lives all over the world, and it was really fun to meet them. The super-cute flower girls (the groom's nieces) live in Miami and were super excited to meet Rachel's friends, including me, La Amiga Mas Importante (Spanish for "maid of honor").

On Thursday, I got to spend the day with Rachel - dropping some stuff off at the reception venue, having lunch, getting nails done, talking about friends we were both excited to see. Perfectly relaxing day. We went to the rehearsal (which was interesting and long, so very long) and then just Rachel and I and the bridesmaids went to a gourmet burger restaurant for dinner. Absolutely delicious. If you live in Arizona, you need at least one Zin Burger experience in your lifetime.

The wedding was gorgeous. I teared up about a thousand times during the day - my best friend was beautiful, she was marrying a great guy. It was all very emotional. Side note: I was never a very emotional person. Ever. I'm not sentimental, I don't find myself to be very compassionate. And then, I got engaged. Since I got engaged, I turned into what Dan calls a "mush pot." In fact, he calls me Henry the Mush Pot. Long story.

Anyway, wedding: gorgeous. It was so much fun dancing all night, seeing old friends. I was super nervous about having to give a speech, and I can't even begin to tell you how funny that turned out to be. I'll try though. So I'd had a couple drinks by the time I had to give it, but I'd also had a lot of water. Don't worry, I don't pee on myself. I'm just trying to emphasize that I was balancing out the wine with water. So I was at a fun point where I giggle at everything but I'm no where near sloppy or anything. So, the best man - the groom's brother - was up first. And he went on and on and on. For a while. And then said "and that's point one." And then he had two other points. And then, finally, he said "and lastly, on my wedding day, our uncle (insert uncle's name) sang to me and my wife, and so now I present to you, (insert uncle's name)." Um, yeah, the groom's brother is an opera singer and proceeded to belt out this beautiful song. I was listening, of course, but I was mostly also looking around at my parents and friends with wide eyes and giggling (quietly), thinking, "how the eff do I follow this?!" So the singer/uncle finished, the crowd went wild, and I got up to take the mic, and people start chanting, "Encore! Encore!" Say what?! So the mic is ripped from my hand and the guy sings again. At this point, I'm just dumbfounded, I lost my train of thought, had no idea where to even start. I have little recollection of what I said, aside from a very hilarious, "well, that's what you get when you have 10 years to plan a speech" (because the bride and groom were engaged for 10 years - helpful info) and I talked about how they take thousands of pictures of food (no joke). So yeah, that was my encore matron-of-honoring experience in a nutshell. I'm retiring from bridesmaiding and refuse to make any single friends.

After all that, I had to get up early on Saturday and drive back home to get ready for the BBQ I planned to celebrate Dan's birthday. We had a really fun night with friends, eating, drinking, playing Guitar Hero, and watching our friends' two-year-old trying to play Bocce ("dees baws weawy hebby"). On Sunday, we had to celebrate our friends' son's birthday at Peter Piper (really not fun hungover, BTW) and then I took Dan shopping for shoes and did some other window shopping. We had our anniversary/Dan's birthday dinner at our new favorite sushi place. All in all, a fabulous weekend of celebrating.

Since then, life has been more mellow, but still busy. We had a friend and her two kids over for dinner one night, I met up with Temerity Jane and Brie for dinner, and we had a garage sale this past weekend. Side note: garage sales are interesting, by the way. First, I'm amazed that people would want to buy my junk that I don't want. And secondly, at some point, it gets hot and the crowds die down and you're just sitting on your driveway with all your junk. Anyway, with our garage sale earnings and our cut from the sale of a golf cart on my mom's behalf, we installed a new security door and got our turtles a new tank... and the dogs got costumes. Money very well spent.

Up on deck the next few days: we need to prep our wall to be cut for the RV gate we're installing, our friend is moving in for a while, and we're going trick-or-treating with our friends' kids, which I'm super excited about.

Also, I just have to brag a minute, because this is adorable and funny. I'm a prize. Yes, that's right. Mrs. ESPN's daughter, Chatty, was in a soccer tourney this past weekend and came in 2nd place. Since she had to play against girls who are older than her, she decided she was entitled to a prize. And that prize is me. And Dan. See, we're watching Mrs. ESPN's younger daughter, Bia, the weekend before Thanksgiving, and Chatty decided that wasn't fair and decided that to make things even, she needed a babysitting sesh with the Awesome Kingstons, too. So we are apparently her reward for a game well-played. I feel so honored :)

Alright, that's enough for now!

Showers, dust, and kiddos

This was a weekend of celebrations all around. First up on Saturday was the shower for my friend, Rachel, in Tucson. I'm her matron of honor, and the bridesmaids and I spent the last 6 weeks planning and organizing. It was actually really great how everyone kind of took on a task and ran with it. Two girls took on food and decor. The bridesmaid in NY handled the favors and had them shipped out since she couldn't attend. Another bridesmaid took care of the games and prizes. I did the cake and some keep-sake type stuff, along with the odds and ends that didn't fall into any other category. And it all went just beautifully.

Rachel's wedding color (or the color of our dresses, anyway) is latte. We went with a blue, cream, and latte colored palette to stay within her taste but add some color and make it distinct from the wedding. The cake was made to match the invite. One of the bridesmaids managed to find latte colored roses, the same flowers that Rachel is incorporating into the bouquets. Here are some pics of the spread (mmmm, Costco chicken and cranberry salad sandwiches) and decor.






After cleaning up after the shower, I hung out with my parents for a bit, then headed home and had the lovely privilege of driving through a dust storm. Funny thing, the news people have been calling them "haboobs." Apparently, it's an Arabic word for these giant rolling dust storms. I've lived in Arizona my whole life, and not once have I ever heard them called a haboob before this summer. Weird. But anyway, it was so dusty, I couldn't see more than about 40 feet ahead, if that. The car in front of me took his foot off the brake and literally disappeared. Thankfully, it didn't last long, but it was a stressful 10 minutes as I drove through it.

I finally got home and got to hang out on the NEW COUCH! Yay! I didn't take pictures, because it looks completely jammed in our living room right now. We haven't decided if our old couch will be sold or donated, so we have both in the living room right now, including the chaise lounge part of the new couch that's supposed to reside in our living room. We have stadium seating, people. Paisley parked herself on the old couch, demonstrating once again that I think she'd be perfectly happy living in a house all her own, so long as she gets fed on the regular. Once the new couch is placed properly in the room, I think it's going to be fabulous.

Yesterday was our friends' daughter's 2nd birthday party. I can hardly believe our little Princess Kadence is a two-year-old. She's just so much fun, and so adorable. She was all jazzed up yesterday at her party and talking non-stop. She just adores Dan, and always says "hi, Dan" in her tiny voice whenever he walks by her or she notices he's in the room. She got a ton of toys and had a blast playing with them, though her favorite gift by far was none other than Disney Princess Chap Stick. Our wedding photographer's wife and children were also there, and their 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter had a blast playing with Dan (and his iPhone apps). It happened to be the 9-year-old's birthday yesterday (which we didn't know until we got there), and after we left, Dan decided he wanted to go get him a gift. This kid has the most awesome sense of humor, so Dan did a great job picking out the perfect card and gift bag for him. It was really sweet.

Here's a picture of our piggy-tailed little lady enjoying her cake and ice cream. It's amazing how big she looks. I just can't wait to watch her grow up into a (feisty) little girl.


How was your weekend? Any celebrations?

Good-bye, Christmas

Well, it's over. Another wonderful Christmas in the books. Dan and I had a great Christmas with my family. We spent Christmas Eve by ourselves, just like last year. We quite like our little tradition. We made a steak dinner, drank wine, opened gifts to each other, played Yahtzee and X-Box. We made spiked Serendipity Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, which I won in a blog giveaway. It was all fabulous. Then, we woke up at home Christmas morning. We snuggled, wished each other Merry Christmas, gave our girls Christmas cuddles, and packed up for Tucson.

Now when I was young, I wanted to open my gifts now. My sister liked to savor hers. She'd practically open hers slower just to cause me to panic. It drove me nuts. This year would have been Young Megan's perfect Christmas. We started our breakfast casseroles before gift opening. We had our traditional Christmas beer - it's usually Guinness, but we had something new this year instead. Another something new this year was my soon-to-be brother-in-law, Daniel, joining us. It was our first Christmas as a family of six, and it was fabulous to look around at so many happy Christmas faces. We took turns opening gifts, around and around in circles. After about an hour, the casseroles were done and we weren't, so we took a break to eat breakfast, then got back to it. Dan and I got an XBox Kinect from Daniel and Megan, gift cards to Chipotle, and clothes. My mom got Dan a red Rudolph nose. I got baking stuff, and a chocolate cook book. We also got something that 20-year-old me would have been pissed about: a Spot Bot. It's really awesome, trust me.

We spent the rest of Christmas day hanging out, preparing for dinner. My in-laws came down from Phoenix and it was great to see them for the holiday. We had a delicious taco bar for our Christmas dinner, and we were joined by more family. My grandparents, who usually spend Christmas with my very unjolly psychotic aunt, were able to join us for dessert. We built a fire pit in the back yard and spent the late evening talking and enjoying our company. It was a perfect Christmas Day.

The last couple of days were a blur of activity. Dan left Tucson for Phoenix Sunday afternoon after football. Between yesterday and today, Megan and Daniel ring shopped, florist shopped, phone, shoe, and cake shopped (with me, of course). We nailed down cupcake flavors, bouquets, and debated Megan's choice of two small wedding bands or one bigger band. She had a very productive week in Tucson in terms of the wedding, and they'll have only a few things to take care of on their next visit.

Now I'm home, enjoying some quiet that won't last long. The dogs are exhausted from 4 days in Tucson, and Dan's on his way home. Dan's brother, David, and his fiance, Alex, will be here in a few short days. We've got New Year's Eve plans with friends to figure out. They get married January 7th, so I'm sure they'll hit the ground running with last minute plans and arrangements, not to mention the family time with the Kingstons who will be arriving late next week. In the midst of it all is year-end close at work. I'm just hoping that on January 8th, I'm still alive and sane.

So good-bye, Christmas. You were so good to us all in 2010. Here's to a wonderful, prosperous and love-filled (Dan and I have 3 weddings to stand up in this year) New Year!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Our Thanksgiving week started out mellow. An easy week at work, nothing too stressful. Only 2 and basically a half days to get through until a day of feasting and family. And then, Clover struck. I took her to get her rabies and parvo shots on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, little girl was throwing up and when she came out of her crate, it was at a slow walk. Not at all like Clover. And her face was puffy, which was actually pretty cute. Basically, she was having an allergic reaction. So after a dose of Benadryl, it was back to the vet we went, for a steroid shot and a few hours of observation. It was oh so reminiscent of Paisley's horrible illness last year, almost exactly a year to the day. I'm so thankful for our amazing vet clinic. All the vets and techs are so helpful and comforting, and I never worry about our dogs when in their care.

After it was determined that Clover was in the clear, it was dog park time. And not just any dog park time. Dog park photo shoot time. A Knottie friend of mine is building her pet photography portfolio and so I took advantage of her services to get some cute shots of The Girls. Paisley and Clover ran and played for a solid hour while she just snap, snap, snapped away. She got about 140 pictures, and posted 30 on Facebook. Here are a few of our favorites of Paisley...

And of Clover...





After the dog park, we hung out at home and waited for Dan, who had a long night at work. We hung out, enjoying being off for the holiday. On Thursday morning, we headed to Tucson for Thanksgiving dinner with my family. It was a wonderfully relaxing day with my parents and a family friend. We ate, we drank, we played Wii. We were thankful for good company, our health, and our family. At the end of the evening, Dan had to head home to work on Friday. I'm so thankful for my husband, who works so hard for us and always selflessly put me first.

I spent the rest of the weekend with fabulous people: my parents, my dear friend Rachel, Mrs. ESPN's adorable girls, and our friend Scott and his kids. I'm so thankful that we have so many wonderful people in our lives. I got a fabulous Black Friday deal on some wine glasses, picked out the bridesmaid dress (I think) for Rachel's wedding, and helped my mom with her yard sale. All in all, another wonderful weekend. It went by way too quickly, but it was packed full of great moments.

Speaking of Mrs. ESPN, tomorrow is her birthday, so... Happy Birthday!! Have a wonderful day! Thank you for being an awesome friend.

How was your Thanksgiving weekend?

Anniversary Week Giveaway #1: Michaelangela

Welcome to the Kingston Castle Anniversary Week!! I'm ridiculously excited about this week. Not only is our anniversary on Saturday, but so is Dan's birthday. And I love birthdays. A lot. I haven't quite figured out what to get him yet, but we're planning on a BBQ at his parents' house with family, friends, food, and anniversary cake. Sweet!

Anyway, on to the giveaway. When I got married 360 days ago, I just had to have an awesome bride hoodie. I didn't want to go too overboard with it, and wanted something I could wear after the wedding. I found Michaelangela on Etsy and worked with her to create my awesome monogram hoodie, as seen here:

She was an absolutely joy to work with. She didn't currently have a design like my hoodie, but was more than willing to show me samples of fonts and colors and ideas and we nailed down exactly what I was thinking in my head.

I'm absolutely honored that she is willing to sponsor a giveaway on my blog! One lucky winner will receive a $30 gift card to use in her shop. Since I was a bride, she's expanded her inventory and now does custom embroidered monogramming on everything from shirts and totes bags, to robes and slippers, to cosmetic cases, to sweet wedding essentials like hankies, dress tags, and bouquet ribbons. Here are a few pics of her stuff:

Even if you're not a bride to be, there's something in her shop for everyone. This would be a great gift idea for someone, as well.

So here's the deal for how to win (one comment with multiple entries per person is fine):

• Go to Michaelangela's shop and come back and leave a comment telling me what you would use your gift card for. (1 entry)
• Become a new follower here or on Twitter (button up at the top right), or let me know that you already follow me (2 entries each)
• Blog about this giveaway and leave a link in the comments (3 entries)

I'll draw a random winner about this time next Monday morning, October 18th. Good luck!!

Kadence Smaaaaash!

Yesterday, we celebrated our friends' daughter's 1st birthday. It's hard to believe it's been a whole year, and even harder to believe how much she's changed since she was just a newborn at our wedding. She's got the sunshiniest little personality, and she just adores Dan lately. She always reaches for him, and hes happy to oblige. I think she likes that he's big and feels comfy in his arms - like an oversized chair or something.

I spent all day Saturday working on her cakes. In true Brooke form, we had some cake breakage, resulting in another trip to the store for more supplies. But in the end, her cakes came out great, in my humble opinion. I was very proud of them. Here are some low-quality BlackBerry pics of Kadence's cakes... before and after the carnage. She did start out quite daintily - just sticking a finger or two in the frosting and licking it off. And then she caught on to the fact that we were all encouraging her to go all "Hulk Smash!" on her personal cake and went to town.

Spectator Cake

Smash Cake

Mmmmm, squishy fingers!

"I love cake!"

Strawberry cake facials are so glamorous

All done!

I was the only one brave enough to pull the sugary little mess out of her high chair and carry her to the bath, and for good reason. I had cake all over the front and back of my top, but it was well worth it. She was on a complete sugar high the rest of the afternoon, which was pretty amusing to watch. She definitely seems to like this whole birthday cake thing.

Happy Birthday, Kadence! Can't wait to see all the wonderful things you learn and do in the coming year.

Cupcakes and cat doors

As I said in my last post, Dan was working on making me some cupcakes Sunday evening. It was very sweet of him. He was inspired by the Food Network's Cupcake Wars episode where contestants had to use a savory and a sweet ingredient. Someone made a maple cupcake with maple cream cheese frosting and bacon on top. He found the recipe, went shopping for the ingredients we didn't have, and made them from scratch. He fried the bacon and sprinkled it on top of the icing (he bought canned) along with brown sugar. They were so delicious! He used some of my adorable Bake It Pretty cupcake liners and they looked really cute in my new cupcake tower.

Despite the adorable display, some people at work were a little freaked out by them, but the people who did have one loved them. Dan had made a list of who was allowed to have them - mostly people he's actually met. He awarded his favorites 2 cupcakes and explicitly said that some other people could have none. I told him it couldn't quite work that way, but his list was hilarious. I definitely realized who I talk about most at home and saw that Dan has his favorites.

My coworkers took me to lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant, and it was really nice to hang out with the girls. I'm so fortunate to have a great group of coworkers here. In the afternoon, they presented me with not one, but two desserts: a delicious cherry chip cake and a yummy layered pudding dessert. It wasn't the most productive day ever, but it was definitely special.

In the afternoon, I got an email from my mom about my sister's dog, Meadow. Megan had been out sunbathing and playing with Meadow when she took off running. Megan ran after her and searched for about an hour before calling her fiance and asking him to come join the search. They looked everywhere around their neighborhood and the nearby lake, asked people if they'd seen her, and gave their number. Not knowing where else to look, they headed home. Megan passed by the house across the street and saw this:

Megan figured out that Meadow had run after the neighbor's cat and followed it inside the house through the cat door, which you can see she is sitting only inches away from. Because Meadow doesn't have a cat or doggie door of her own, she couldn't figure out how to get back out of the house. The neighbors weren't home, and Meadow was scratching at the door to be let out. After Megan was unsuccessful in coaxing or pulling Meadow out the door, Daniel had to come and bribe her with treats. We're all glad she's safe and we have a funny story out of it, but she gave us a good scare for an hour. Oy, Meadow :)

Last night, we took it easy. Dan met me at the grocery store after work and bought ingredients for dinner. He made me a delicious pasta with Italian sausage and bell peppers. He bought me a nice bottle of wine, and we curled up on the couch and watched Last Comic Standing and Intervention (season premier! trainwreck!). It was a really awesome birthday, and I'm so thankful for all my wonderful friends and family for making it a great day!

Disaster Averted

Earlier this week, one of the admins at the office asked me to make a birthday cake for another admin. I was happy to be asked and easily agreed, then asked about what she had in mind. I should have known the trouble ahead when she essentially asked me for a remake of this disaster from my cake decorating class:

I baked the cakes Wednesday night so that I could chill them, which makes them easier to level and creates less crumbing. Stupid me, though, I decided to let them chill in their pans. I don't know if it's because I didn't grease my pan well enough or because of the temperature itself, but one broke when I tried to take it out of the pan. I tried to save, it, really I did. I wasted a bunch of buttercream frosting attempting to patch it up, but it just so obviously wasn't going to work.

Dan came to the rescue and went to the store to get new cake mixes and I started over again at 7:30 in the evening. He told me I promised a pink cherry chip cake, and I was going to deliver a pink cherry chip cake. It wasn't until almost 8:30 that I was able to take them out of the pans and let them cool before leveling and decorating. The lady at work has asked for pink icing with yellow borders (no garland, thank goodness) and yellow roses. I, however, overestimated how much icing I'd need to cover the cake and didn't set aside enough for roses. I was pretty flustered about my icing shortage and realizing that I'd have to write on a cake, but Dan was so sweet and encouraging. So the end product is this:

Not entirely awful, but I admit I'm a little disappointed that the roses didn't make it to the party. Still, I think the birthday girl will be excited to have a homemade cake baked and decorated just for her. And to lighten the mood in the midst of the cake breaking and the icing FAIL, my funny knottie friend wrote me the following song, to the tune of "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry:

"I broke a cake and I liiiiiiked iiiiittt, the taste of it's cherry chip-stick.

I broke a cake, just to try iiiiittt, I hope I can recreate iiiittt...

It broke so wrong , I have to do it right. Don't think I'm gonna sleep toooooniiiight"

And speaking of of birthdays, it's my birthday weekend!! My wonderful friend Rachel is coming up from Tucson to celebrate with me. We're going shopping and for pedicures tomorrow, just having a nice relaxing girls' day. Tomorrow night, a few friends are joining us for dinner at a Brazilian BBQ place I've been wanting to try. My parents are going to come Sunday to spend time with me. It'll be an awesome weekend, and I'm very excited.

Does anyone else have fun weekend plans?

The Hippie Party

Written yesterday, but I was too tired to post last night:

Today is my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary. 30 years ago today, family and friends gathered in the front yard of the home they’d recently purchased and witnessed their marriage ceremony.

On Saturday, we celebrated the event with an awesome hippie party. We had family, neighbors, and friends come celebrate. Here are some of the highlights.

The guests of honor. Mom even wore her Jack Daniel’s tank top I remember so well. My sister found this awesome picture thingy (if there’s a better word for it, let me know) on orientaltrading.com. It was just a flimsy piece of plastic, so Dan and my dad mounted it pieces of sheetrock so that people could stand behind it. Quite a few guests took the opportunity to get a picture with it.

My cousins went all out with their disco pimp outfits. Brees, who’s 7, even told me to give him his money. Charming.

The punches. We had white grape punch with berries for the kids, and dangerous white peach sangria for the adults. We labeled them “Groovy” and “Not so Groovy.”

We displayed my parents’ marriage license and wedding invitation and photos from the wedding on a photo board I made with an old bulletin board. Then we added recent photos of our family and a little notebook for people to leave their favorite memories.

The Peace, Love, and Happiness cakes. I baked them Thursday and decorated them Saturday morning. Of course, I was an idiot and left the fridge door open to move something and Clover licked one – fully decorated – on the bottom shelf. We didn’t serve that cake to guests, of course, but I had a heart attack for a moment before Dan told me that we could just set it out for the visual concept and then cut the section off and not serve it.

And here’s me and the hubs, aka the Grill Master, enjoying the party. I found our shirts at Old Navy. His says “Rocksteady Kingston.” How fitting.

We had a really wonderful time seeing old friends and catching up with family. My parents were both very excited for their party and had a great time. Here’s to 30 more years of peace, love and happiness!

Wintery weekend

I took my final for my class today, which means I'm done with school for about 6 weeks! I hope it went well. I think I focused my notes a bit too much on old material and didn't quite have all the judicial support I needed, but I went into it with a solid A and I'm hopeful. I'm looking forward to an evening of wine, The Office, and spending time with my husband. I've also got a festive weekend ahead.

I've been planning something that I'm super excited about. I've mostly kept it a secret at the office so my idea doesn't get snatched. We're having a cubicle decorating contest - yeah, I know, something lame to make life in a box less lame - and I plan to turn my cubicle into... drumroll please... a cocoa bar!! I'm so excited about it. There's a potluck that day, and my contribution will be the cocoa and cookies. I'm going to have toppings like marshmallows, crushed candy canes, chocolate shavings, and cinnamon. My lovely buddy, Salt, is a graphic designer, and she's agreed to design my sign. I can't wait to see it. I'll decorate with everything wintery I can find - snow flakes, some of my snowmen, wintery wrapping paper on the inside walls. I'm serious about winning this contest.

There will hopefully be decorating going on in the apartment this weekend too. I got bit by the bug when I was home for Thanksgiving and we decorated my parents' house, and I told myself I wouldn't do anything until after my final. But now I'm excited to turn our home into cozy Christmas goodness. I don't know if we'll get a tree just yet because we don't want it to get try and start losing needles, but I'm looking forward to getting the snowmen and our stockings out and putting up some lights. What will make me thrilled more than anything is if Mr. Kingston gets excited about it too. A tradition that I forgot to mention is the advent calendar - mine arrived from my mom in the mail yesterday. She got me the kind with chocolate, so I'm pretty sure I can getthe husband on board with this stuff.

Tangent: it's not that Mr. Kingston doesn't like Christmas or isn't excited. We had a great time getting ready for the holidays last year. We went shopping and to Zoo Lights and did other fun festive things. But his family doesn't seem to make a big deal of Christmas, and the memories I have of decorating together with my family isn't something he has experience with.

I'll hopefully get started on some Christmas shopping this weekend, as well. I've got some good ideas, and I'm anxious to get started with the buying. Mr. Kingston wants a Blackberry for Christmas and I told him we could pick it up this weekend if he'd like - I know he's anxious. I want to also sign up for the cake decorating class Mrs. ESPN got me for a shower gift. Of course, if I'm going to have a winter wonderland cocoa bar happening in my cubicle in 12 days, I also need to get started with some baking. And there's more little stuff, as always. It should make for a busy weekend, hopefully making memories of our first Christmas season together.

What are your weekend plans?

Happy Birthday, America!

Mr. Kingston's brother came to visit from Maryland for the 4th of July weekend and we had a blast! We actually stayed at their parents' house from Thursday evening until Monday morning. Mr. Kingston's friend who is in the Army was also in town.

Thursday evening was spent at one of the boys' old favorite hangouts. On Friday, we lazed around, went swimming, cooked carne asada, and stayed up late just talking and catching up. On the 4th, we went to see our friend's new house, then cooked out and had more people over. I got the brilliant idea to jump off the roof into the pool after Mr. Kingston and his brother did and scratched up my shin pretty badly. That's the last time I do that. On Sunday, we did a lot more relaxing and swimming. Mr. Kingston and I ran some errands, and then he made an awesome dinner for all of us: marinated steak and chicken skewers. Mmmmm!! This morning we said good bye to the brother and his girlfriend until the wedding in October. I'm so glad we got to spend so much time with them.

All in all it was great weekend of naps, delicious food, cold beer, swimming, and friends. Now that the weekend is over, it's back to the grind (and the gym) for me. Bonus: Paisley is worn out from playing with the parents' dog all weekend - no doubt she'll be lazy for a day or two.

The Golden Birthday

I turned 28 on Sunday, the 28th. The all important (to girls) Golden Birthday. Anyone who knows me knows that I love birthdays. Love them. I get excited about them and want to make them special for everyone else. For my own, I get really excited and count down the days, and commit breaches of etiquette by throwing myself a party or get-together. That didn't happen this year though. I didn't get excited. I wasn't upset, just not excited. Luckily, my mom and Mr. Kingston got excited for me.

As my previous post shows, I kicked off my birthday weekend with my makeup trial. When Mr. Kingston got home that evening, we went to one of our favorite neighborhood bars for a couple drinks. On Saturday morning, I went kickboxing, which I love to do. I was lazy for a while, and cleaned and straightened up the apartment. Mr. Kingston ran some errands and came back with a Hannah Montana birthday banner to decorate the apartment. Around 5pm, my parents arrived from Tucson. Our plan was to go out for dinner, then to a dueling piano bar. My mom brought a basket of goodies that Mr. Kingston agreed to cook for dinner Sunday evening: chicken, green beans, brownies, fruit, wine, bruschetta, and cheese. Yum! So we went to dinner, and it was delicious, and then to the piano bar. My friend Reverend Drew met us there. We stayed for a while before deciding to head to another bar. It was a lot of fun to get to just hang out with most of the people who love me most (my sister was in San Fran with her boyfriend).

Sunday was a great day. Our dog let me sleep in, we went shopping, made our dinner, got Coldstone (Birthday Cake Remix, of course!), then went to watch karaoke. It was a perfect day we got to spend together, and I had an awesome birthday.