Oh my ya'll it's been since like FOREVER since I blogged! And I figured out what the problem is... typically I blog from work because:
A) my employers are pretty laid back & as long as I have my work done they don't really say much when I'm not working (however I am respectful enough of my bosses to at least click OFF my blogging screen when they walk by. I'M A GIVER.)
B) I sit in front of a computer all day so when it's slow it's kinda a win win. You win because you get to read a blog post from me & I win because I'm getting paid by the hour to do it.
C) I sit in front of a computer all day so when I go home at night the LAST thing I wanna do is sit in front of another computer to blog. Bleh.
SO- when I was off work the week BEFORE Christmas - I was too busy doing fun stuff to blog. Then Christmas week came & I was playing catch up at work & had no time to blog AT work. Then the LAST week of the year came & ya'll know what was going on - the BANE of my existence - end of year payroll reconciliation. UGH. BOO. HISS. Kill me PLEASE.
Now that I have all the W2's done & I'm caught up on most my contracts that were pouring in at the end of year (because people like to get those expenses in 2014 at the VERY last minute!) I NOW have time to get paid to blog!
Oh, happy day!
Ok-so lets go WAY back to 3 weeks ago when I was off work... The Saturday that started my vacation, Shauna, Ally & I headed up to Santa Claus, IN to go to the Christmas store.
They have so many different kinds or ornaments. It was neat to walk through it all & see all the different things even though we didn't buy anything. The place was packed & it was one of those balmy temperature days so it was like 9,000 degrees inside.
Since we drove all that way we decided to stop at a couple of other shops. This was like a little boutique near the Christmas store & we found these cute head bands to wear. .
They had this super cute tree decorated as a snow man. I didn't even realize at first it was a snow man!
We also made a stop at the candy castle. It was a glorious display of sugar.
And it was also PACKED. This is people trying to make their way inside.
While Shauna checked out - Ally found these fun noses for us to try on. I didn't think until after that someone elses snotty noses have probably been in them too... GAG...
On Monday I went shopping at the outlet mall in Simpsonville. I don't think it has as many stores as Edinburgh, but it's close to home, the parking situation is better & it's not so spread out.
On Tuesday night, JLL had invited Alicia & I to Uptown Art to do a monogrammed ornament painting. Luckily they had the ornament & the chevron stripes already drawn on.
Can you IMAGINE having to paint all that?
The ornament was supposed to be like a redish maroonish color...but when I mixed my paints & got a lovely shade of purple - I was fine with making my ornament that color...
I love how it all starts to come together...
YES we had wine, but what this picture is showing is me practicing my 'M'. I know it's tough to see because it's white like the paper, but I HATED it.
Like I tried over & over & hated every 'M' I made...
So Alicia told me how she did HER 'M' on another monogram painting she had done in the past & I totally stole the idea. I'm glad I used her 'M' instead of the one I practiced...
JLL's 'L' is the cutest 'L' on the planet - I'm jealous of how good it looks.
And I hate to say that these girls copied off me & made their ornaments purple like mine, but the proof is in the picture....
On Thursday I wrapped presents ALLLL day. I used to work with a lady that made such cute bows for packages & I never had her teach me. For some reason I decided to YouTube how to make bows (Thank God for the internet...) & I made a bow. I think it turned out well. I even showed the lady I used to work with at our annual work Christmas party (She retired but they invite retirees to the party) & she was impressed as well. Score for Jaime Mac...
Usually I place the wrapped gifts under the tree all displayed out so pretty & organized by which family they are for. (B-rad's or mine.) HOWEVER Sonny likes to lay under the tree to sleep & since I'm a softy I didn't want to mess up his sleeping space. I always bag up the gifts for each family before we celebrate Christmas with them anyway - so I just cut out the middle step & bagged up all the gifts & stuck them beside the tree. Sonny got to sleep & I had most my work done. Call me a Scrooge - I don't care...
I didn't take hardly any pictures at Christmas this year. I just wasn't in the mood.
Rhonda crocheted this super cool "Marvin the Martian" hat for B-rad. He loves it.
We didn't do anything for New Year's this year. We went out to eat & spent the night at home. We've recently become addicted to "Sons of Anarchy" & some friends had loaned us the DVD's so we spent the whole night watching motorcycles, murder, mayhem & destruction. Happy New Year!
