Celebrating the Season - Day 3

Today I once again was not feeling great, which is a total bummer over the holiday weekend but in a way a nice way not to let the holiday slip too quickly away with all the running around and craziness we had originally planned.

We did get more of our decorations up, we are pretty much done. I got my mini tree up and this year we put up a second tree in the dining room which is pretty exciting for me. We also went and got more lights for the porch and around the windows so our house is looking very very festive! I'm loving every minute of it. I can't believe the weekend is just about over and tomorrow it's back to our normal routine. As much as I loved all of Mike's yummy Thanksgiving food I'm getting a little burnt out on leftovers so tomorrow it will be back to a healthier diet - well at least until I start baking Christmas cookies!




Tonight I did the pages for yesterday and today in my album. I'm really loving this project and can't wait to fill every page with good times, traditions and holiday spirit!

Celebrating the Season - Day 1&2

I love the day after Thanksgiving almost as much as I love Thanksgiving itself, why you may ask? For one it feels like the holidays are officially underway, also, Mike is off and we take down all the Christmas decorations and put up our tree. We also did something we hardly ever do on "Black Friday" we went shopping! We weren't out long and we certainly weren't out at 5AM but we did cross a couple of items off our lists so that's always a good thing!

Yesterday we also had our friends/neighbors Tom and Anna over for leftovers it was so nice to have them here and to share in some of our holiday with our new friends who are becoming to mean quite a lot to us. I unfortunately didn't get any photos of them here because I was too busy eating and talking haha!

After they left the tree went up. We have an awesome pre-lit artificial tree that goes up in three easy pieces, particularly easy for me since well, I just watch Mike do it! He then shapes all the branches and puts the star on top. I then jump in and put all the ornaments on. I love unwrapping all of my ornaments, they all have such special memories and some have some great stories behind them. I have several ornaments from when my mom was young and some from when I was a baby and then there are those I've collected with Mike over the years. Mike just watches and snaps photos for me and of me.



Today I woke up feeling under the weather - way under! When my alarm went off I just couldn't even think of getting out of bed so we canceled today's plans and I stayed in bed until 11AM! This is very very unusual for me since I'm an early riser and I love the mornings. So today was another day we didn't get as many decorations up and out as we had planned but Mike did get our porch lights up and he set Mickey and Minnie under the tree. We are planning to get more lights for the porch and windows and just around the house in general but for tonight it's so nice watching the lights flicker and glow and me, Mike and Hooper cuddle on the couch.



Here are the pages I created in my December Daily AKA Celebrate the Season Album. I will post today's pages tomorrow!

Cover of the album. I used the holiday House of 3 items to create the title!

Thanksgiving Wrap-up!

Do you ever have a holiday that you feel is absolutely perfection? Where everything goes just as you hoped? This Thanksgiving was absolutely one of those days! I woke up and did yoga and watched the parade, I lounged while Mike cooked, I took tons of photos. After dinner Mike and I went for a walk and watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special and we listened to Christmas music and cuddled. We never got to playing games but that was not a big deal.

So now what you've been waiting for - Food photos!!!! Mike really outdid himself making 2 chickens, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, corn bread casserole and warm pears with blue cheese. I added stuffed mushrooms to the mix and then I was in charge of dessert which was caramel apple pie and pumpkin cheesecake.







To say we ate a lot is an understatement but it was a great day! Mike even humored me and we set up the tripod and put the camera on timer and took some family portraits it was so fun and we got some great pictures out of the deal. This is something we plan to do all season long so stay tuned!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It's Thanksgiving morning! It is one of my favorite days of the year, I am watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - one of my favorite holiday traditions, Mike is already busy cooking in the kitchen and it smells heavenly already!! Yesterday I made an apple pie and a pumpkin cheesecake (stay tuned for photos) and stuffed mushrooms so today I just kick back and enjoy the day. This year it will just be me and Mike for dinner and I'm actually looking forward to the relaxing dinner, going for a walk with my husband afterward, playing games and watching movies.

I'm also taking time today to remember all the things I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for my family and friends, who listen, who support me, who encourage me and who love me unconditionally. I'm thankful for the fur babies who make me smile, laugh, who cuddle me and just make this apartment a home. I'm thankful for my health and for my continued motivation. I'm thankful for my amazing husband. I'm thankful that the Yankees won the world series, I'm thankful for how lucky we are to visit Disney all the time, I'm thankful for my scrapbooks and the stories I continue to tell through them. And though we aren't together today I'm thankful that I'm so close to my parents, sister and grandmother that we will talk so much today that it will be the next best thing to being together! I'm also thankful for those of you who read my little blog here, I appreciate you and enjoy sharing my life with you!

Now I don't know about everyone else but I am eagerly waiting for Santa to make his appearance in this parade so that we can officially kick off the holiday season. Now you see I gave my blog a little holiday decoration - thanks to House of 3 for releasing AMAZING holiday items!!! Tomorrow we will put up our decorations around the house and I will start listening to Christmas music (sorry Mike!) but I will admit, like so many people seem to be this year, I got into the spirit a little early this year. A couple of weeks ago we got a little blast of cold air here in Florida and after I picked Mike up from work we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios for the Osbourne Family's Spectacle of Dancing Lights! It was so great getting there in time for the switch flipping ceremony and to be there when the crowds were still light. We plan on going again but at least we went one day where we could just take pictures and bundle up or you know wear hoodies haha!




Part of the reason we are planning to visit the Studios again is because this year I'm working on a project inspired by Ali Edwards December Daily album. You can read more about the project on Ali's blog here. I'm doing mine a little differently which Ali encourages us all to do instead of just doing the album from December 1st until December 25th I'm starting my documenting tomorrow and going through to January 1st! wish me luck! I have my foundation pages done so tomorrow I will just start taking pictures and documenting the spirit and activities of the season! I plan on blogging each day so I can share all my stories with all of you so I hope you will take the journey with me!!

Now it's time for me to get back to the parade, Santa will be arriving in just about an hour!! Hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving, take time to remember what you are thankful for and hug your loved ones!

That's What Friends Are For!

Some friends are there for the good times, they are there when you need someone to go out and party with and laugh with. Some friends are there for the bad times, always lending a shoulder to cry on. There are friends who know you inside and out, friends who no matter how long it's been since you've seen one another you can pick up right where you left off. There are friends who can make you laugh and think and smile. My friend Ruth is all of those things so it was so great to spend a day with her at Epcot for a little Food & Wine fun! We talked, we laughed, we acted silly and we ate and drank of course!



Ruth has gotten me through some really rough times, she's been by my side through some really great times and once many years ago I tried to fix Ruth up with Mike - this was long before Mike and I got together and something we all laugh about now! Ruth has an ability to know what I'm thinking and to keep me from getting in my own way and I love that I can be 100% myself in front of her. We don't spend as much time together as I would like but it's certainly more time now that we live in the same state! And now we have more fun plans on tap for the future which I am super excited about. So stay tuned for more stories and photos from my adventures with Ruth and thank you Ruth for being such a great friend all these years - you may be the younger one but you are also the wiser one! Love ya!

Congratulations Yankees!!!

Ok there has been some serious blog neglect going on here for which I apologize, I promise to get back on track starting right now!!



I can't imagine that I haven't blogged since the Yankees won the World Series - it was a serious big time event for me. I think I'm still riding the high from the win and going through some baseball withdrawal. It's no secret I love baseball, it is a sport I've shared with my dad. I have so many great memories of going to games with my dad and watching the games on TV and now that we live far apart we still share our love for baseball and the Yankees - as soon as the last out was made in each and every post season Yankee game - win or lose - I would call my dad and we would talk about it. Of course who doesn't want their team to win the World Series but I wanted this Yankee win so bad I could taste it. I was a bundle of nerves during each game and they all seemed to run late so I was sleep deprived as well. Poor Mike watched as I paced, bounced, cursed my way through games and then they won and the feeling was incredible! My dad and I talked of course, excited, emotional and just happy. I watched every minute of the post game show, I sobbed as I watched players that I have been following for years celebrate and for the next several days I wore Yankees shirts! I truly wish I could have been in NYC for the parade but hey maybe next year!!

at Magic Kingdom

Happy Hauntings!!

I love Halloween! It doesn't matter whether we have plans, or if we are dressing up I love to decorate and make treats and wait for Trick or Treaters! This year we went to our complex Halloween party which is a first for us usually we skip those things but since we've been hanging out with Anna and Tom so often they've encouraged us to be a lot more social! We had such a nice time. We didn't stay for the whole party because they didn't have any food Mike could eat and he was hungry but we enjoyed the costume contest and just chatting with some of our neighbors. I think we are both enjoying knowing our neighbors!

On Halloween we decided to stay in and hopefully greet Trick or Treaters, sadly we only had 2 trick or treaters but that's two more then we had last year so things are looking up! We made this quick and simple chili dip as a snack and I made one of my favorites hot dogs wrapped in crescents and stuffed with cheese of course! And Mike roasted some fingerling potatoes! We hung out and ate and watched Ghost Hunters and then I watched the Yankees win! This World Series is completely stressing me out! I also made a super delicious Halloween cocktail: A Candy Corn Cordial! This was so delicious and boy did it pack a punch!



Now that Halloween is over I've been taking down the Halloween decorations and replacing them with Thanksgiving decorations. I'm going to have to see what new crafts I can whip up for Thanksgiving since I'm already missing the spooky projects I put together for Halloween!!

I painted the frames and pumpkin in a fun metallic purple and then I created the images with House of 3 Halloween goodies, embellished with a couple of cool flowers and gems and created a little scene on the counter!

I've been trying to fight the urge to get ready for Christmas but I just can't help it and I've already been buying presents and mentally decorating the apartment. This year I am hoping to win the porch decorating contest! Wish us luck!!

Living Life One Adventure at a Time!

For several weeks my dear friend Gabby has mentioning us training together to run a 5K in March, this is a idea I resisted - I have long been of the opinion that you only run when chased - but suddenly last Tuesday I woke up and decided I would indeed embark on this adventure and train for the 5K, I would give running a chance. What do I have to lose right? I could certainly use the energy boost, and I could absolutely use loosing some weight, so I woke up bright and early Wednesday morning and started my training! I'm taking it really really slow! I'm using the Couch-to-5K program, since that is exactly what I'm doing and it is basically intervals of running and walking, building up stamina and on off days from running you do some form of strength training. So I've been doing it for just under a week and I absolutely already feel the difference in my energy level!! I will keep you all posted on my progress but it's something I really want to take seriously! Wish me luck!

My lovely friend and neighbor Anna has been spoiling me by taking me on little adventures. She will call in the morning and then whisk me off to places that I've yet to explore here in the area. Last week Anna took me to Lake Alfred where we explored beautiful shops, lunched in an amazing tea room and bought goodies at a tea and bake shop. It was so nice being out, exploring a hidden gem and talking to Anna, gathering ideas, sharing thoughts and stories just an all around pleasant day and it gave me a chance to take some fun photos!

Inside the adorable Bake Shop!

Outside the tea room & bake shop

Thursday I was off on another adventure! I took Zanne to Epcot for a day enjoying the Food & Wine Festival! We took so many photos (you could tell we are both scrapbookers and crafters) we tasted yummy foods and enjoyed the fact that the park was pretty much empty. We explored nooks and crannies of the park that we hadn't thought to explore before and we laughed and enjoyed a day of girl time. The time spent with these fabulous gals and embarking on a new physical challenge has left me inspired and ready to create and to face each new adventure head on!!!



Halloween post coming soon...