Snow Day!

It's been snowing for hours and I love it!! Mike is working from home and the only car I've seen all day was the postman. The dogs are hilarious out there- Ellie loves it and Jack Bauer is just confused. Here's hoping we can get out and make a snowman soon!

Thankful Thursday

I woke up this morning and for about 10 minutes I thought it was Friday! Oh well, that's okay because I have a lot to be thankful for on this Thursday. :)

• I mentioned it earlier, but I am so thankful for Mike's promotion and success at work.
• That we are prepared for this approaching winter storm. Flashlights, candles, lots of food etc. We should be good for a couple of days!
• That Jack Bauer's ear infection isn't bothering him as much today. The poor guy was in some serious pain yesterday.
• That we're actually getting a tax refund this year! (First year ever.) And that the state return was deposited yesterday and the federal refund will be deposited Friday!
• That my baby brother got an xBox and can play online with Mike and his friends. Might not seem important, but since he's a Marine stationed in Japan I know he's excited to have that connection back home! <3

Hope everyone has a great Thursday and stays warm!

Way to go Mike!!

Mike got a pretty big promotion today!! And since I feel like I only post pictures of house stuff and Jack Bauer on here, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to post some pics of the hubby. <3

If you know Mike at all, you know what a goofball he can be. I rarely get him to pose normally for pictures. So this is a nice mixture of cute normal pics and typical Mike pics!

He's worked really hard for this promotion and I'm incredibly proud. He's really advanced quickly at his company and he deserves the success and recognition that he's getting!

and Mike insisted I include this terrible fake yearbook picture- he says it's his favorite. LMAO!

Way to go babe!!

It only took 2 years.

I have been searching for just the right thing to go above our antique buffet for two years! On Saturday I finally bit the bullet and bought the painting I'd been lusting over for a few months now. I absolutely love it!!

Here is a before shot:

I've had that cat print since I moved into my first apartment back in 2002! It has definitely seen better days and I was sooo tired of it!

and here is the new picture:

I love it! It works with all the colors that I love using in our house-- green, red, black etc. The best part-- I caught it at one of Hobby Lobby's 50% off sales. Perfect!!

He's smiling, right??

just another Jack Bauer photo shoot... but this time I'm convinced he's smiling!!

because sometimes I'm inappropriate.

Like lots of you guys I've been glued to the tv for the past week. The footage of the devastation in Haiti is heartbreaking. I've cried numerous times just from the sadness but also the strong will and huge heart of the people of Haiti. So when I told Mike that I was going to donate some money, I gave this speech (from memory I might add):

So like, right now for example. The Haitians need to come to America. But some people are all, "What about the strain on our resources?" Well it's like when I had this garden party for my father's birthday, right? I put R.S.V.P. 'cause it was a sit-down dinner. But some people came that like did not R.S.V.P. I was like totally buggin'. I had to haul ass to the kitchen, redistribute the food, and squish in extra place settings. But by the end of the day it was, like, the more the merrier. And so if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians. And in conclusion may I please remind you it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty. - Cher Horowitz

So, yeah I'm a dork but I really encourage you guys to donate what you can. Every little bit helps. :-)

GTL!!

(fellow Jersey Shore lovers will get the title. even though it has absolutely nothing to do with my post.)

As you can tell I haven't been blogging much. I have tons to say but I've hesitated to put anything out there because this is so public. Grrr. These are the times when I wish this thing was private. And here is where I'll be cryptic-- it's nothing bad, promise! it's exciting actually but I don't feel comfortable putting it all out there on the internets. But it has pretty much consumed my thoughts for the past 2 weeks...

So I will try to snap out of it and start posting more. Promise.

(oh and before I start getting emails--- It's not a BABY!!) hahaha! Hell no.

---and I promise to spill the beans when we can. or if I see you in person. promise. It's just that you have no idea who reads these things, ya know??

It's Been Awhile

Sorry for the blogging absence! I hope you all were able to carry on without me. :-) I thought I'd post some pics from our game night last night with some friends. And when I say game night I mean watching the Golden Globes while half way paying attention to the actual game we were playing. It's about the only blogging worthy activity we've done in the past week or so. We also saw 3 movies this past weekend and I'll blog about those later this week!

But first let's start with pictures of their adorable pups! This is Wesley. And every time we see him I plot and plan on how to stuff him in my bag and take him home with me!!

and Midge-- her floppy ear is freaking adorable!

the boys. You have no idea how many pictures I had to take to get a decent shot. Everyone was doing the dead face zombie thing, or the creepy Joker smile. Annoying.

Here's an outtake:

and the girls!

and the up close glamour shot! haha

Team Conan!

Saw this on Twitter today and I had to re-post!

How I Spent My Christmas Vacation Part Six & Seven!

Last cruise post!!!!!! Are you excited??

So last time I posted, we were enjoying Christmas with some sunshine, drinks and a formal night. December 26th for me is usually spent driving all over town hitting up all the after Christmas sales. This year it was spent on a private island in the Bahamas. Don't hate!

We woke up to lots of fog-- pretty and kinda creepy out in the middle of the ocean:

A few hours later we docked at Great Stirrup Cay- NCL's private island. We knew we wanted to snorkel, and the water and conditions couldn't have been better!

ahhh, toes in the sand! I miss this.

I had a few too many strawberry daiquiris from this little beach side bar:

Mike & Rob had some giant nasty beers while we waited in line to get back on the ship. Yuck.

The next two pics aren't great- but I thought it was kinda humorous that Mike and I accidentally dressed in coordinating colors for dinner that night. Ha! Yeah, we're that couple.

And that concluded our last night on the ship!

The next morning we woke up to this view:

We were back in Miami. Boo.

We all had breakfast together and starting saying our goodbye's. Mike's family was leaving before us, so we all gathered for some pictures in the ship's atrium:

Mike and I wanted to do a cheesy pose using the ship's props- they loved this roman column thing and tried to incorporate it in all of their formal pics. Funny thing is, I actually really like this picture (you know, minus the column and the tacky marble wall)!

Mike's family left and we decided to have one last drink at one of the ship's bars:

We headed back to the room and waited to be called over the intercom. We used the ship's transfer service to the airport. It was awesome because we didn't have to worry about our luggage until we landed in Arkansas that night!

Mike decided to use the balcony one last time for some reading.

and I just had to share this picture because it shows off the messenger bag I had made before we took the trip. I found the seller on etsy and she was fantastic to work with. I have a post later this week that tells just how fabulous she is. :-)

 another random pic-- we called this guy Jorts (you know, jean+shorts=jorts!) the entire cruise because he seriously wore them every day. Sometimes with a black mesh tank top. Not kidding!! LMAO!!

and one final picture from Miami International airport. I kept joking that I was so disappointed that we never saw a single Golden Girl or Dexter.

do you like the "gritty" effect I put on the picture?? haha!

So that's it! We survived my tedious vacation posts. And it only took me about a month to do it all. It really was a great trip. I cannot wait to go back to Belize, was pretty disappointed with Miami and made some great memories with Mike and his family. All in all, a pretty awesome Christmas. :-)

because these are so fugly they're precious

I photograph Jack Bauer more often than most of my friends photograph their human children. He's just too damn cute and ridiculous. Love him!!

check out that Elvis lip!! 

How I Spent My Christmas Vacation Part Three, Four... and Five!

So I figured I better finish my blog posts about our Christmas vaca before I forgot about it. I know it's not the most riveting thing to read, but after all this is kind of like my little diary and I know I'll want to look back on this stuff! So, here we go!

Our next stop was Belize. This place is absolute paradise. Our favorite stop on the cruise. The people are so friendly. the water is perfection, just lovely! But, our excursion on this day was spent cave tubing- so I didn't bring my camera. Boo. Our favorite stop and not a single picture! Oh well.

After our long day in Belize, we celebrated Mike's 31st birthday on the ship. They were having a "White Hot Party" at the biggest bar/club so we went and had too many dirty martinis and danced the night away. So fun!!

I threatened Mike that I was posting this picture even if he made a stupid face... I kept my promise!

Mike, warming up his sweet dance moves:

doing his best Don Draper with his dirty martini:

 After Belize we sailed on to Costa Maya, Mexico. It was Christmas Eve and we spent the day at the Kohunlich Mayan ruins. Simply amazing!!

Here we are on the bus heading to the ruins:

and some random pictures of Mexico as we drove toward the ruins:

Can you tell it was about 250 degrees outside?? So hot.

The coast line there was kinda rough, definitely glad we didn't do a beach day!

The next day was Christmas! It was a day at sea so we spent the entire day laying by the pool, sipping tropical drinks and reading. It was heaven!

But first, we sailed by Cuba!

Here's Mike, getting some sun and relaxing.

and my toes!

That night was formal night on the ship- we got all dressed up and had a fantastic dinner.

 I just have one more post to do and we'll be finished with the cruise stuff. It was sooo much fun (and I still have my tan!!) haha!