12.31.2011

RESOLUTION TIME

It's that time of year again. The end of one year and time to make resolutions for the new year. 

I don't know about you, but I tend to get get carried away with these resolutions.  Some are the same (lose weight, start a work out regime) and some are not. A lot of mine are based in creative ventures...writing, scrapbooking, journaling...

Resolutions for me mean a fresh new start to the year.  A clean slate to make improvements, changes and be more organized and productive.  (Well, those are the kinds of things my list is comprised of). 

Then I start asking myself, Have I made too many resolutions? Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Will I keep them? seriously. Does it matter? 

I have to be honest.  There have been years I have failed miserably with keeping any of my resolutions.  There have been years that I have only made a few thinking that will help me stay focused on the ones I've made. 


This year I feel very optimistic and energized by my resolutions. I have made a lot of them this year...resolutions from health, diet and fitness challenges to carving out time for some new projects and following through on the projects I have already jumped into.  

No matter whether I keep one or all of them, I believe that the routine of making resolutions is a good one.  I like having goals and I love the beginning of a new year!


Do you make resolutions?  Do you keep them? 

12.26.2011

CHRISTMAS AND MEMAW'S ANGEL

We had a wonderfully blessed Christmas.  We missed spending Christmas with our (daughter, Ashley) and (son, Taylor) who both live out of state--Utah and Virginia, but I did get to talk to Ashley and granddaughter, Grace on the phone and Skype on my laptop with Taylor in the afternoon. So good to see him!

We were able to spend time with the rest of our six kiddos, and our "adopted" daughter, Olivia.  My good friend, Linda and her other half, Graeme spent the afternoon and evening with us--so much fun and laughter!  We had such a nice day with everyone! Memories to lock away in my heart. 
I have much to be thankful for.  And I am!!

Last week, Heather and Cameron shared that their baby is a boy--we are thrilled that they are adding a second grandson for us to love and spoil in May!!  AND...on Christmas Day we learned that Ashley and Kent are expecting a girl, so we are getting our second granddaughter in April.  We are so excited!!

We hosted our Italian themed Christmas Eve dinner and evening and enjoyed our time with family.  We ate, laughed and celebrated the birth of Jesus together.  After dinner,  we had fun playing the "steal a gift" game with the gifts we brought to exchange.  

Today, we both had the day off from work and played catch-up here at home and did our laundry.  Back to normal.  We took in a movie this afternoon and heated up leftovers for dinner.  It's nice to be back on our schedule. 

I was reading the most recent post of another blogger I follow and her post reminded me of something so cute that Grace said to me while she was here.

We were sitting at the table and she looked up at me and said, "Memaw, call me Angel".  At first, I didn't get it.  But then I remembered that when she calls me to get my attention, I will answer, "Yes, Angel?"  or "Yes, Lovie"  

She told her mama, "I Memaw's angel"    She was definitely stuck on that while she was here.  If we called her a "silly billy", which is her own little thing she says, she would shake her head and say, "No, I not...I an angel.  I Memaw's angel." 
Ha Ha! Too darn cute is what she is!!

I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas and felt the love of Jesus, God's gift to the world!

12.23.2011

ALMOST CHRISTMAS

This week has been filled with many Christmas celebrations for us. 

Sunday night, Bruce and I went to see the Parade of Lights on the San Diego Bay.  The best part was that we saw it from the Hornblower Adventurer.  Our evening cruise included a delicious buffett dinner.  My favorite part was the spinach salad with honey mustard dressing and a vegetable dish made with summer squash, zuchinni, green beans and almonds. 

We sipped our cups of steaming hot coffee from the top deck of the ship and took in all the lights of the parade boats and the city.

Wednesday night we attended my office Christmas dinner party.  We went to Busalacchi's a Modo Mio located in downtown San Diego.  I ordered the butternut squash ravioli with cream sauce and hazelnuts.  It was so yummy. Hmmm...I sense a squash theme in my meals...haha!

I had the day off today so I got some things done around the house.  Played with some table decorations for our Christmas Eve dinner, took Kona to the vet to be groomed--she also got weighed and has lost 18 pounds--we have been working on it since she blew out both of her knees last year and her Vet told us losing some weight would help her recovery and general health.  I am pleased that her weight was down.  Her nails got trimmed (very much needed) and she is a happy camper.

I got my nails done (also much needed) this afternoon, too. I have two more gifts to wrap.

Tomorrow, I will complete my table centerpiece planning and pull it all together for dinner.  I have a feeling that it's going to be a very busy day!

12.18.2011

CHRISTMAS HAPPENINGS

Our Christmas tree is up, decorated and our house smells like Christmas.  We've shopped til we dropped (mostly online) but we still have our wrapping to do. 

Yesterday was cookie baking day with some girlfriends and last night we went to my parent's house for family candy making with my dad and brothers. We made close to 150 chocolate covered cherry candies! 

It was a fun filled day, but I was exhausted after a full day and evening of measuring, mixing, stirring, rolling and dipping--and my tootsies hurt from standing on them all day. We left my parent's house at 10:30 p.m. and did not get to bed until after midnight.  Needless to say I slept in this morning.

I am looking forward to more fun Christmas activities on our calendar this week!  Tomorrow, I'll post some photos from my camera. I need to upload them to my computer...and about a hundred other things before then...haha! 

Hope you are having a blessed (and not too busy) Christmas season!

12.05.2011

WEEKEND CLEAN UP

Our house was a disaster. It was cluttered from our busy month. It had not been cleaned in a month. It was not pretty. It was driving me nuts.

I spent all day Saturday organizing, putting things away and cleaning. Dusting, wiping down, scrubbing, mopping, vaccuming, minor repairs...and I even cleaned our oven. Now we have a clean and organized house once again! 

By the end of the day I was very tired but it felt so good to see all I had accomplished and to enjoy our clean house. 
Yesterday, Bruce worked hard on the outside.  He mowed the lawns, edged and cleaned up the front and back yards and hung up our outside lights.  Our house looks so beautiful all lit up in Christmas colors.

Now, I am ready to get our Christmas tree and begin decorating the inside of our house. Let the Christmas-ing begin!