Thanks!

Thank you for the private emails from the last blog post! 

My friend has decided to spend the holidays with us

so hopefully I will be able to pass along the encouraging words.

I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas & New Year!

We have 2 parties to attend tonight & 

a full day ahead of us tomorrow.

I'm so excited!

Here was our 2013 card!

We ordered it from Invitation Box because they 

had a special on Groupon to get 40 cards for $15!

I wanted to go with Minted but I am SO glad

we didn't! Apparently they had an influx of orders this year

and after reading alllll the horrors stories on Facebook, I don't 

think I would use them.

(The quality looks bad because I scanned it!)

Here's a few pics of my beautiful niece Khloe in this super cute

Chrtistmas outfit I bought her. I wish I would have taken my backdrop

with me now though!

 

Deco Mesh

This year I decided to try this deco mesh trend on the tree.

I can't seem get my tree to look

like the trees on Pinterest.

Everyone that comes over says our tree looks great but

I hate it!

I think I need to buy those huge ornaments to fill in all

the empty space but I can't justify spending $8 on only 2 ornaments!

I plan to take it all off & start over.

With that said, here is the 2013 Lawton Christmas Tree!

It looks crazy huh?

I'm not feeling that small winding ribbon!

 

Bebe's ornament

Our First Home Ornament from 2005

Help!!
Any suggestions on how to fix this mesh!?

My brother is married!

On November 23rd my brother & his fiance tied the knot!

It was a super simple ceremony with only her family, our family, and some close friends.

We all hummed the tune to "Here Comes the Bride" as her father walked her

down the "aisle."

 

 

I tried to add more photos but Blogger has been SO terrible for the last few months.
It took me over an hour just to load these!

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday the hubby & I celebrated 9 years together!

We kept it low key this year and opted to stay in town & check out

a new fancy restaurant.

And by fancy I mean we couldn't pronounce most of the words on the menu,

there were 3-6 courses per meal, & the food was really pretty (& tasted fabulous!)

We got each other matching watches for gifts!

My box looks rough bc I tore into it when I saw it! LOL

When we arrived they gave us some hot apple cider which was so good!

Then this pic below is a little treat from the chef. 

It's some type of white bean tip on a type of bread that had the texture of a cracker.

Bread with fancy butter.

 For my "preface" I odered a fried green tomato salad.

Hubby ordered a butternut squash soup which was amazing!

For my main course I ordered a beef and I can't pronounce all the other stuff.

Let's just call it veggies.

Hubby had swordfish/lobster/shrimp on rice which had a 

Spanish/ Cajun flavor.

He said it was the bomb.com.

My boobs look like they're resting on the table...they're not though! ha!

Dessert: Mine was basically chocolate cake & ice cream with

fruit toppings!

Hubby's dessert was a raisin bread pudding & ice cream!

(excuse the crumbs, we were hungry!)

A few blurry "usies" (instead of selfies)! 

Here's to another 99 years!

Paula Deen's Baked Potato Soup!

I found this recipe for Paula Deen's bake potato soup for the crockpot. 

One of my friend's told me she cooked it on the stovetop for 30 minutes instead of 

the crockpot so I decided to do the same thing.

Y'all- this is some GREAT soup!

I could not believe how great it tasted.

What you need:

Ingredients:

1 (30 oz.) bag frozen hash-brown potatoes (squared, southern style)

2 (14 oz.) cans chicken broth

1 (10.75 oz.) can cream of chicken soup

1/2c chopped onion

1/3 tsp. ground black pepper

1 (8oz) package cream cheese (softened)

Extras:

minced green onion

Bacon Bits

Shredded Cheese 

Sour Cream

I poured it all in a big pot except the cream cheese.

Let it cook on high while constantly stirring for about 15 minutes.

Added the cream cheese once the potatoes were no longer frozen.

Cooked & stirred for an additional 15 minutes.

Once done, put it in a bowl, add any extras you like, & voila!

For those who prefer to try the crockpot:

Add all ingredients except cream cheese, cook on low for 5 hours.

Stir in cream cheese & cook for 30 more minutes.

Drake!

Thursday night, the hubby & I (along with some friends)

went to Atlanta to the Drake concert.

I am not a huge fan of Drake but my hubby got a free ticket for himself

(because he was actually there to chaperone one of our friend's brothers).

So I decided why not, I love concerts so might as well.

The concert was great- despite all the delays intermissions!

Miguel & Future opened up for Drake and they put on a great show.

We sat by two blonde chicks that were too funny.

The first thing they said when they got to their seats was,

"Hey neighbors, do you mind if we smoke a joint later?"

Let me tell y'all, I think everyone in there was high.

The people in front of us, behind us, and on each side of us was smoking.

My eyes were so red you would have thought I had smoked too!

This happens at almost every concert at Phillips Arena.

 

The traffic after the show was ridiculous. 

It took us about an hour to get to J.R. Crickets (which should normally take

20 minutes max)! 

If you come to Atlanta, and you like chicken wings, you've 

got to try J.R. Crickets.

During the intermission I was looking at all the upcoming shows I'd like to go to:

Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, Jay Z, Pink, Robin Thicke, & Cher!

(Hubby already said he's not going to see Cher lol!

So I need to find someone who wants to see her with me. )

 

Road Trip

Yesterday I spent the day in Birmingham because my bestie's sons were 

performing their junior recital!

These boys are going places, they play so beautifully.

Their mom was filled with joy and sadness.

Joy because of how proud she is that they have 

accomplished so much at such a young age.

Sadness because she wishes their dad was still here to witness

what great kids he has.

 

Weekend Affairs

Happy Monday!

I can say that and honestly mean it now that I am 100% self employed.

Friday night hubby & I went out to eat at one of those hibachi restaurants.
I always love a good hibachi if the chef is entertaining...and ours was hilarious!

After dinner we decided to head to the mall.
I needed to find something to wear to a concert we're going to this Thursday.
Macy's had just put out so many new clothes and they were too pricey
for me to buy for once concert.

I actually hid lots of items I wanted to buy when they go on sale...

does anyone else do this?

I always move the items to a totally different department behind

formal gowns or men's clothes.

I'm weird, I know, Ha!

 

Saturday my mom & I went to Christmas Made in the South.
It's a huge craft show that is held annually across the south.
You can find lots of Christmas goodies at this show from the several
talented vendors!

My mom racked up and bought all kinds of goodies.
I was overwhelmed because there was just so much to see!
But I did leave with this cute Christmas door decor:

You can't tell from this picture but it is huge & was only $30!

I seriously cannot believe how fast this year has been.
It's November which means lots of fall family photo sessions, preparing for
the holidays, lots of parties & activities.
So hopefully this means frequent blogging for me as well. :)

These boots were made for walking...

Boot Season is upon us, YAY!

It's not quite cold enough in middle GA to be wearing boots yet.

But that hasn't stopped anyone. 

It's officially Fall so despite the hot weather, folks have already

pulled out their winter boots.

Shopping for boots can be a difficult task.

I have huge calves. 

Always have and I've always hated it.

When I was young I swore I would get a calf reduction surgery when I was 

an adult but after reading so many horror stories, and seeing one of my friend's 

mom have her leg amputated from a simple vericose vein removal procedure- 

I decided I will just have to work with what God gave me.

So for the last few months I searched high & low for stylish wide calf boots.

I finally settled on the "Elmont" boot by Jessica Simpson.
I purchased them from Nordstrom since they have free s&h for returns as well.

I got them today and they are so cute, stylish, & most importantly they fit around
my big ass 18" calves. LOL

I think the flash from my phone makes them look like a light brown.
In reality they do look just like the picture on the website.

Tip: I used ebates to make this purchase via Nordstrom and got $9 cash back!
Not much money, but cash back is cash back right? :)

Happy Halloween!

 

(Above: Free printable I downloaded from someone's blog last year! 

Can't remember whose blog it was to give credit. Sorry!)

How was everyone's Halloween?

I spent the evening passing out candy to kids.

This convo really happened:

Me to little girl: OMG your costume is so scary.

Little Girl: I'm a vampire.

Me: Oh no, I better go inside so you don't bite me.

Little Girl: I'm not a reeeealll vampire!

That cracked me up! I had to give her a few extra pieces for the laugh.

After those festivities I logged into Facebook to see all 

of my friend's cute kids all dressed up.

They all looked too cute!

But then of course the Bible Thumpers were in full effect spewing their hatred for

Halloween & how it's the devil's holiday and how they serve the Lord.

That just really annoyed me!

I'm a Christian and by participating in Halloween I am not worshiping the devil.

I don't care about the past history of Halloween.

I simply do it for the fun, the candy, & costumes. 

That's it!

Some people turn everything into a contreversy.

If you don't celebrate- fine.

If you do- fine.

Just don't judge others for what they do, simply because it's not what you'd do.

On to Thanksgiving!

Selfies

I set my camera up on the tripod, used my remote, and 

took some selfies in our front yard.

We needed a picture for this year's Christmas card 

so these are the choices.

 

 

One of the two below will probably be on our Christmas cards this year!

Only problem is we forgot Bebe! :(