Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A Christmas Story

I'm proud to announce that Christmas 2011 went off without a hitch and the festivities aren't even over yet! We still have to have our belated family time with the Hajek clan in George West. Lindsay, Santa Clause will be coming back to town! I'll also be sharing a little more Christmas cheer tomorrow when my best friend, Erika, comes to see me! I hope she loves her Christmas present!!!

First off, I'd like to showcase our Christmas decor. This was my first time full-on decorating our home for Christmas. We've had a Christmas tree every year, of course, but that's always been the extent of the cheerfulness of our humble abode.

Our lovely 7-1/2' Christmas Tree. Yes, I know it could have used more lights!

 I was so excited to have a fireplace to decorate this year too!

 My mother gave us this hutch last Christmas. 
Brad's mom gave us these sweet little Christmas dishes this year.
They turned out to be the perfect little combination!

Now to move on to the good stuff! Brad doesn't do very well at the whole "waiting to open presents" thing. So, we had to improvise. Friday night we opened our stockings and I went ahead and let him open a present too. He picked the box that held his new brown leather Vans. 
For those of you who don't know him, the phrase "close toed shoes" does not exist in his vocabulary. It's always flip flops, flip flops, flip flops. However, when we were up in Longview back in October for his sister's wedding, I refused to let him run around in flip flops! So we took a little trip to the mall and were able to compromise on some grey Vans Classic Slip-Ons. Needless to say,  they are now his favorite shoes.
 Apparently Brad decided on a Hello Kitty theme for my stocking.
I'm not complaining!


Excited about his new shoes!

The next day, Christmas Eve-Morning, it was off to his mom's house to open presents with his parents and little sister, Katelyn! He had to work from 11:00a.m.-8:00p.m. and his family was heading to his grandparent's in Victoria for Christmas Eve, so we had to do it early. We got all kinds of goodies! I got a scarf I had been wanting, Coach Poppy perfume (it smells divine), a Hello Kitty coffee table book, some money and a gift card. Brad got a cool new phone, clothes, a book and a few other things. His family also loved the gift we had picked out for them! Unfortunately, there was a down-side to the morning. His other little sister, Lauren, and her husband Blaine were unable to come down. They had just been down for Thanksgiving and that long drive from Dallas to Corpus Christi is a little too much to make more than once within such a short time frame. I wanted to take a picture of everyone making sad faces to send her, but time got away from us. This was her very first Christmas away from home :(
  His parent's house on Christmas Eve Morning. It was magical.

 Brad giving Charles some attention!

 Brad's mom teaching him how to play Holiday Town on Cityville.
Now I know where he gets his video game addiction from!

Every year Brad's mom gets us a new ornament. 
This is the sweet little baby she gave us this year!

Christmas Eve afternoon, while Brad was at work, I made a trip to Alice to spend some time with my mom. She was originally supposed to come to our place for the evening, but the weather was pretty icky and I didn't want her driving in it.She was really tired too, so it worked out best for me to go there. Plus, I got a homemade lunch out of the deal. What's better than that?!? We exchanged gifts and she loved what we got her. I really loved my gifts too! Namely the Sperry's and Season 1 of Ahh! Real Monsters!

Later that evening, Brad and I got home at about the same time and he was just itching to open the rest of his presents, so I finally gave in. I gave him the previously mentioned Vans, a Star Wars shirt, 2 Transformers (Did I mention he's almost 30?), a Lambicht gift set, and I know I'm still missing a couple of things. He also opened the presents my mom sent for him, which were a blue pair of Vans and a really nice wine tool set.

As for my gifts from Brad, he's never been a great shopper. He always gets me the most random gift or two, it's just too overwhelming for him. So you can imagine how surprised I was when I saw all those little boxes under the tree with my name on them! He did so well! He gave me a beautiful black and gold bracelet with rhinestones from Dillard's, 2 new additions to my charm bracelet from James Avery, the Taylor Swift - Journey To Fearless DVD, Kung Foo Panda 2 (Did I mention I'm almost 25?), and a big bottle of my favorite perfume in the entire world, Princess by Vera Wang.

Out of all the gifts he gave me, the perfume was the most treasured. I know I had mentioned to him that I had run out, but he's not one to remember those kinds of things. So I squealed when I opened that last box that had the perfume inside. Here's my corny little story as to why the perfume was the most special gift he gave me: It was the weekend before Christmas of 2007. My mom and I were in San Antonio for the weekend doing some last minute shopping. We went to Sephora at La Cantera Mall to grab a few things she needed. As we were walking into the store, she noticed the beautiful bottle holding this fragrance and stopped to smell it. We went about our business, gathering the things she needed, and as we were about to get in line to pay she asked me to go grab a large bottle of the perfume. When we got back to our hotel room she gave it to me as an early Christmas present. I, of course, put some on right away and put the little crown cap on my finger as a ring. Brad and I had been talking for a while at this point, as friends of course, I knew he had feelings for me, but I was still unsure of how I thought of him. That night, we were texting back and forth with random small talk and for one reason, or another, it just hit me that I really did have feelings for him. A couple short weeks later we began dating and, well, you know the rest of the story.

So, ever since that night, I've always associated that scent with my then new found love for that cute boy who is now my handsome husband.

Our new shoes from my mom!

My pretty bracelet. (No, my wrist is not as huge as it looks in this pic.)

I cannot wait to pop these in!

 Vera's going to have to learn to share with Poppy, because I love them both!

Since we were unable to go to Victoria and spend Christmas Eve with his entire family, we opted to head up for a few hours on Sunday. Although we missed all of his aunts and uncles, cousins and their babies, we did get to spend more time with his parents and grandparents, and we did still get to see his cousin Lindsey for a little bit. It's always nice to be able to just relax with family! 

Brad and I at his grandparent's house on Christmas Day.
I wish I were more photogenic!

Here is one last little gem to leave you with:

 This was taken in 1986 when Brad was 3 years old.
How cute was he? I guess he's still alright ;)

Thursday, December 22, 2011

New Beginnings

I stumbled across my blog earlier today, only to realize my last post was from July of 2010. Oh how time has passed. I honestly thought I was only 3 or 4 months behind on my blogging.

As I read through the handful of blogs I had posted, I realized how drastically things have changed in the last year and a half. I decided that rather than resuming my posts, I would create an entirely new blog site. After all, I have had so many new beginnings since then and how better to keep up the trend than to say "Out with the old and in with the new"?

So here's a quick little update of the time that's passed between the last post on my old blog and this, the first post on my new one:

First off, I would like you to meet Sookie. She is our sweet little baby girl. Of course, by "sweet" I do mean she loves to destroy mommy's shoes, purses and basically anything else she can get in her little mouth. However, all she has to do is flash that poor little puppy face and all is forgiven. 

My precious little girl. (She's a Jack Russell Terrier by the way.)

Next on the list is my job. As my last post mentioned, I was working on a political campaign for Blake Farenthold who was the Republican candidate running for the Congressional seat for the 27th District of Texas. Well, he won. As much faith as I had in him and as much as I prayed, nothing could have ever prepared any of us for an actual win. He defeated the 28 year Democratic incumbent, Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz. Congressman Farenthold flew our staff to Washington, D.C., the first week of January 2011 for his inauguration as a United States Representative. That trip was priceless. Did I mention it was my first time flying...EVER? 

The work year has been a complete roller coaster! It's been go, go, go since day one and there doesn't seem to be any slowing down in sight. I'm just thankful to be getting a couple days off for the Christmas holiday!

I'll add a pic from DC when I get on my laptop!

My husband, Bradley, has 4 beautiful sisters. Their names are, in order by age, Katy, Lauren, Katelyn and Lindsay. I mention this now, because there will be plenty of references throughout the posts.

Lauren recently graduated from Texas Tech University where she was a fashion design student. In May we went up to Lubbock for her Senior Fashion Show. It did not disappoint. Not only were her pieces amazing, but she won a national award for her Men's Jeans design. Along with this award was a trip to Colombia and Guatemala to visit manufacturing plants, the winners even had about a dozen of their winning items "mass" produced. It was such a great experience for her!

 Lauren - Receiving the award plaque for her Men's Jeans design.

 
 The winning style in action.

In August I made a trip back up to Lubbock in August with Brad's mom to help move Katelyn into her new apartment. It was definitely a fun filled weekend. Everyone's inner interior designer came out and the final product was a masterpiece!

 Kate's cute little bedroom.

...and her matching bathroom!

Lauren demonstrating the new living area!


Katelyn's first day of her Sophomore year at Texas Tech University!


About two weeks after the move-in, Brad's family made a trip back up to Lubbock for Lauren's graduation. Sadly, we were both on the clock that weekend and weren't able to make it. We're still so proud of his little sister though!

 Lauren and her fiance Blaine on graduation day!

 Just two short months later it was time for our next road trip. This time, Bradley and I made the long drive to Longview for Lauren and Blaine's WEDDING! It was hands down the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to. They are so in love and it was just amazing seeing that love flourish into the next stage of their life together.

 The big kiss!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday of the year. There's just something about the season in itself, I just get that "homey" feeling when November rolls around. There's also the element reliving how much you have been blessed over the year and being thankful for your friends and family. This year was probably the most calm Thanksgiving we've ever had. It was just, perfect. We had lunch at Bradley's parents house. Lauren and Blaine were there, along with his parents and grandparents. After lunch, we went home for our post-turkey coma and then my mom came to spend the afternoon with us.

 Getting ready to enjoy our feast!

Finally, we're catching up with our timeline of the year! Last weekend, on December 17, Brad's sister, Katy, and one of my very best friends, Brittany, both graduated from Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. Katy graduated with her Bachelors in Psychology and Brittany graduated with her Masters in Education. I'm so proud of both of them!

 Our newest graduate - Katy Hajek!

 Not the best pic, but here's Brittany fresh off the stage!

So now we are completely caught up on the last year! I have a couple more posts to come regarding my recent craftiness, that will be a post in itself, and a post about the upcoming holidays! Hopefully I can actually keep up with this thing from now on! I envy my friend Sara for being able to keep up with hers so well.