bah humbug

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving. My father in law seems to be in a funk these days and can only see the world through his black colored glasses, but I was feeling merry and bright. I came home and began putting the Fall things away. I gathered a few Christmas items and started putting them out. I didn't want to make a mess, so I just gathered things that were easy to pull down from the attic and put on display. I put out a few rugs, a few nutcrackers, and lit our little Christmas trees on the front porch.

Last night, we welcomed the Christmas season by seeing Four Christmases. This morning we were up bright and early to hit the Black Friday sales. All was right in the world....for a while.

At 9:30, we stopped at Mickey D's for breakfast. I walked out of the restaurant and did some adjusting. We left the parking lot and went one store down when I realized I was missing my purse...my fairly new, first ever, Kate Spade purse. The one that was holding all of my personal information, two credit cards, three debit cards, multiple gift cards, one check book, and my driver's license.

I'm not sure if I walked out without it and someone came right in and snatched it up, or if they took it while I was sitting there. We were gone about 4 minutes and there was a family sitting right next to us that was still sitting there when we got back. They say they didn't see anything. I'm beyond pissed. I came very close to crying.

I looked in all of the trash cans and at the gas station across the street...no luck. I tried to file a police report, but apparently the police are only handling emergencies today. They said they'd call me back.

I was in the Christmas spirit, now I'm just mad.

vamped

Last night was all about the vampires. We went to see Twilight. I was afraid hubs might be resistant since I used every ounce of my free time during our florida trip for HIS 30th birthday to read the book, but he obliged. I finished the final story in the series on Friday afternoon. I wanted to be sure to finish out the story before I allowed Hollywood to encroach on my own imagination, just in case they didn't do it justice. I thought they did a good job though. I have previously been on Team Jacob, but was willing to switch my allegiance during the film because Edward was pretty cute. Freddie even liked it. He enjoyed the fight scene and the running and jumping, typical boy. He even made me tell him the plots for the other three books because, let's be honest, he's not going to read them.

When we got home, we watched the first episode of True Blood OnDemand. I've caught bits and pieces on HBO, but thought I should see the first episode to understand what was going on. So far, I'm not impressed. I'll give it another shot, but it seemed a little hokey and some of the story line seemed to be ripped straight from the pages of Twilight.

27 times

I've already watched 27 dresses 4 times (not always in its entirety) since it was first featured on HBO OnDemand and I'm certain to watch it many more. Quirky wedding themed romantic comedy and one of my favorite leading men, James Marsden, aka Cyclops, makes the perfect weekend time waster or laundry folding distracter.

nonsense

Can anyone tell my why I'm still watching Kath and Kim? The show is absolutely ridiculous and not funny and yet I haven't missed an episode. For the record, I set it up on my dvr before I had even watched an episode, but I could cancel the recording or delete the programs instead of watching them. But, I don't. It's like a bad accident. I can't look away.

grey's

I still enjoy this show. Freddie likes to go off about how unrealistic it is. Performing an illegal appendectomy on a friend...unrealistic? Yes. Enjoyable? Oh yeah. For the record, I was kind of hoping the new girl would die because she annoys the mess out of me.

year of a thousand dreams

Did you hear that Ashlee Simpson had her baby? She named it Bronx Mowgli. The girl had an Alice and Wonderland themed wedding, a Pooh shower, and named her baby after a character in The Jungle Book. Do we see a theme here?

survey monkey

8 TV Shows I Love to Watch (in no particular order):
1. How I Met Your Mother
2. The Office
3. Desperate Housewives
4. Gossip Girl
5. 17 Kids and Counting
6. The Hills
7. Brothers and Sisters
8. 90210


8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. West End Cafe
2. Elizabeth's Pizza
3. Trolley Stop
4. Penguin
5. Old Town
6. Texas Roadhouse (classy, classy)
7. Filling Station
8. Village Tavern

8 Things that Happened Today:
1. Laundry
2. Facebook
3. Car Inspected
4. Oil Changed
5. e-mail
6. Target
7. phone call to client
8. sleeping in

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Mayberry Monday with the Harpers
2. Putting up our christmas tree
3. Getting the yard settled for fall
4. Getting the house organized
5. Christmas Shopping
6. Visiting my grandma in Indiana
7. Thanksgiving with the big fam
8. February plans

8 Things on My Wish List:
1. Massage
2. New cell phone
3. a clean house
4. a new raincoat
5. a good tax refund
6. a well stocked ipod
7. Dining room table
8. A flat screen tv

charge it

I definitely racked up last weekend with the friends and family discount for the Gap stores. This week I'm sharing the love for Ann Taylor Loft. Enjoy!

counting the days

Look what I won! This is my first time winning a blog give away. I'm so excited. I may be feeling some inspiration to host my own. I'll have to keep my eyes out for something good to share. Thanks, MMM!

blowing rock

I just got home from an amazing girl's weekend in Blowing Rock. I went up on Friday and had a great time with one of my closest friends since middle school, Maggie. Maggie and I bummed around and caught up while we waited for the other ladies to arrive.

On Friday night, Mags treated us to homemade chili...yum and we gossiped and looked at magazines. We're all reconnecting with our inner teen and reading the Twilight books. Are you familiar with these? They're too fun, though I wouldn't actually let my own teen read them-the girl needs to learn to like herself before she gets all infatuated with a boy, let alone a vampire or a werewolf, however, since I'm grown up and able to recognize that, I'm eating it up!

On Saturday, we woke up and went to Stick Boys in Boone, NC for some amazing cinnamon rolls. Afterward we ventured into the village of Blowing Rock for a little shopping and some Kilwin's ice cream-while the snow sprinkled around us :).
, I'm pretty conservative about shopping, but this time I had a blast and really enjoyed using my debit card! Then, we headed to the outlets and I was so thankful to Chloe for sharing her friends and family link. I actually forgot mine at home, but stopped at Kinkos on the way up there to use the computer to print another. I did some serious damage at Gap and Banana Republic, but a couple of the things I bought weren't actually for me. That makes it all okay, right?!

Last night, we had big plans to try a new restaurant, but left the outlets to find cold cold rain falling. We quickly did a 180 and decided to order Outback to go (so we wouldn't even have to get out of the car!) We enjoyed some fruity drinks and the Sex and the City movie. It was perfect.

This morning we woke up to SNOW! I'm getting excited about the cooler weather and the holiday season. However, I'm still not ready for Christmas music. The Friday after Thanksgiving though? Game on!

On the way home, I found gas for $1.93...sweet!

game time

I'm still working on my posts about two weekends ago. I want to do the kids justice and blogger was moving slowly so I couldn't get the pictures I wanted loaded up. In the mean time I'll share a little tid bit from last weekend. Here's a shot of me and hubs at the Wake Forest/UVA football game last weekend.





We had a good time. I'll admit that I'm not a huge sports fan. I'm more excited about the experience, but we had a great experience....hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, t-shirts, people watching. A good time was had by all. We ended up sitting in the student section. You know we realized? It's been a long time since college. Sure, just 7 years since we graduated, but that feels like a lifetime. I couldn't have felt more removed from that place in my life. I enjoyed watching, but was so thankful to be out of that world. The girls were dressed ridiculously for November and it was cold. Those Rainbows and strapless dresses (some of them from the Lilly summer collection-seriously?) did not cut it in that wind. Luckily those girls had pregamed with a little liquid courage, so they were able to brave the elements.

One funny incident. At one point, two very drunk frat boys were tossing a football across the crowd. The police came up to check things out and remove them from the crowd. I was just taking it all in when I heard the crowd booing. Not one to miss the fun of the "experience", I joined in the booing. Freddie gave me a very disapproving look and scolded me. I thought he was disappointed with my sportsmanship, until I realized that I was booing at the cops---who were about two feet from me. Sorry, Officer, my bad.

the best

I had a great weekend. Now that I have 4 day weekends EVERY week, I'll pause to let you get over your jealousy, I have double the opportunity for fun.

This weekend I maxed it out. On Thursday, I went to the New Kids on the Block concert and it was AMAZING! On Friday, I cut a foot of my hair and and went to the doctor. We also celebrated Halloween and I dragged Fred out to a bar to celebrate a bit. On Saturday, we bummed around all day and enjoyed a trip to Costco where I purchased my first Christmas present. This one is for my mother in law and hopefully I won't lose it before Christmas like I did last year. (I still haven't found that gift, by the way.) On Sunday, I participated in a colleague's Ordination service, went to see one of my students perform in a collection of songs from popular musicals, and hubs and I went to see HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL-loved it!

So much fun and excitement was packed into one weekend, that I'm going to need multiple posts....

never knew

Hubs and I are sitting here watching How I Met Your Mother. Robin is flashing back on her dad and I learned a little something new about my main squeeze.

Fred: "That's Victor"

Me: "HUH?!"

Fred: "From As The World Turns. That's Victor!"

Me: "okay...."

Fred: "My mom and sister used to watch that show every day. I know that's him. I'm positive."

Yeah, okay. Because the reason I seemed dumfounded was not because I doubted your authority. I was just a little shocked that you were the one to eagerly point out the soap star.