Christmas Day

Christmas morning we woke up and gave Santa gifts to the girls (Ducky toy for Roux, scratching post for Motley) and opened stockings. We had about an hour before we had to leave for Cordova.













We opened presents with Mom, Dad, and Trey before having brunch with Gram, Gramp, Sharon and Richard.













We then went to Bo and Lisa's for the best meal of the year, or Christmas Dinner.



When we got home Bryan got in his jammies and started falling apart with what we would soon learn was the flu. We watched Scrooged and had a few more minutes together before Christmas was over.

5 Years in the Court House

Yesterday was our house anniversary. I keep this date on my calendar every year. It's dorky, I know. I just really love this house.



Hard to believe it's been 5 years since these two kids signed their names on the dotted lines and moved in. A lot has changed and surprisingly a lot has stayed the same.

Here's to five more years!

Christmas Eve

Forgive the tardiness of my Christmas recap posts. The flu and illness have struck our house and the last four days have been swallowed up by the black hole that is our couch. It's been a bit of a blur, but we're trying our best to work our way out of it today and at least try to do normal things.

We hosted the Baddorf's for brunch at our house this year Christmas Eve morning. This works best for our schedule as  do things with my families Christmas Day. Having brunch with the Baddorf's means that we have from 11 am til 5 pm to leisurely enjoy our time with the family without having to rush off to the next event.


















Even Roux got presents.

We had a little time after the Baddorf's left to open presents to each other before church.





We went to the 5:30 service at IPC with Mimi and Dad (Trey and Mom sung in the choir) and then met the rest of the Mitchum's at Panda Garden for dinner. Afterwards Bryan and I finished opening presents to each other.








This picture sums up everything I love about Christmas. I love sitting in our family room as a family, next to the tree, sipping wine or coffee.

Christmas Cards 2013

This year we went with the It's a Wonderful Life theme. It was Bryan's idea. Roux was NOT amused with the angel wings. She was not having it! Below are a few outtakes. 

While it's super fun to have fun card themes each year, it makes it tricky finding a card. This year I wouldn't find one premade so I went to Vistaprint and created our card. They seemed to have some issues and despite ordering on the 11th, paying for shipping to arrive by the 19th, they did not arrive until about 3 pm on the 24th. We've been refunded but I was a big disappointed that we weren't able to mail out the cards so our friends and family could have them before Christmas. Oh well... it's not the end of the world. 

Today we are recovering from Christmas... Bryan from some virus. He came home last night totally wiped out and running a fever. So today we're laying around on the couch. I hope to upload our many photos later this afternoon or evening. 1000s of photos to come soon I'm sure. 

SANTA! I know him!

This holiday season has been one of the best in recent memory. Partly because I'm not working a traditional job I have time to stop and smell the roses pine. The last week has been exceptionally busy, but in a fun way.

Early last week Mom asked us to go to Trezvant's holiday party. I wasn't expecting much since I had never been but they offered us free wine and heavy appetizers. I'm not one to turn down free wine and hot, cheesy dips!



They even had a Santa walking around. I made Trey take a picture with me! He was not pleased. Afterwards Santa assured us he was the "real" Santa. We nodded politely.

On Tuesday night of this week Bryan and I had tickets to see the Grizz take on the Lakers at home as part of our 11 game pack. We talked about selling or giving those tickets away since Bryan had been traveling the last two days, but we both agreed it might be fun to see Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

As we were walking in we saw a line of people lined up to take pictures with Grizz dressed in his holiday best. I might have screamed a little and skipped over to join the line.



We weren't sure if we would get our picture with him since he had to go in about 5 minutes. But we made it and he even gave us a bear hug after the picture was snapped. Thus my day was made and I checked off something on my 30 before 30 list!

Wednesday night we went to the Majestic with my family for Clark's Annual Christmas Dinner at the Majestic.



This is one of our favorite new traditions. They show Christmas Vacation on the big screen with sound, we eat a pre-fix meal (salad, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, mac and cheese, with a strawberry trifle for dessert) and watch everyone dressed up in their holiday best or character costumes. It's always a blast and a great way to kick off the last week or so before Christmas.

Now, with less than a week before Christmas it's game time. We don't have any more holiday parties or events on the books until Christmas Eve. I'm looking forward to baking treats to give away, spending time in our Christmas jammies, and watching a few more of our favorite movies.

I hope that you can take some time this season to soak up the glory and the joy of this miraculous season.

Tree of Hope

I believe this is the third year the Baddorf Clan has adopted a family through the Tree of Hope. We all pool some money and buy for a family in need.

Since I've got a pretty flexible schedule (what schedule?!) it was my duty to shop and wrap for the family.



After a pretty epic Target shopping experience I think I crossed everything off the list!



The four year old little girl requested anything Hello Kitty, play kitchen, and a bike with training wheels. I had fun picking out the toy food and accessories. She is also getting a fleece outfit, a Hello Kitty shirt, pjs and underwear.



The little boy requested hot wheels, a remote control car, and a football. I also got him an outfit and jacket, pjs and underwear.

We didn't have any information on the mom this year, but I got her some pjs, slippers, a candle, and some bath stuff. Everyone needs a little something.

While this time of year gets super busy and stressful, it's fun to take some time to think about someone else and what they may need and enjoy.

New Music Goal and Bombino

As part of my 30 before 30 I wanted to spent more time this year immersing myself in music, specifically new to me music. I hope to post a few of my findings here for you. I'm not music reviewer so don't expect any titillating review or anything. 

In my youth I spent a great deal of time listening to music, exploring new music, and cultivating a decent collection of tunes. Since getting married I haven't had the time, energy or resources at hand to devote to this hobby. I've spent the last year and a half building up a solid reading habit and so I decided not to create another reading goal for myself, but to make a music goal. The goal being to listen to new music each week. To spend just a little time, even just an hour, over the week to listen to music and learn about an artist.

For the last couple of years I've developed a long list of music I want to listen to. Picked up from random places I usually can not remember where I heard about an artist. But just starting this project I have at least 20 names to start with. That should keep me busy for a while.

To start I listened to Bombino's album Nomad. I can't remember where I first heard of him, but I've since seen this album listed on several best of 2013 lists. While none of the music is in English, that doesn't stop me. Bryan always jokes with me about my ability to listen to music without even comprehending the lyrics.

Sidenote: isn't it fascinating how people can listen to things differently? I listen to the instruments and rhythm primarily and Bryan listens to the words.

I haven't listened to Bombino's previous album (yet), but you can tell Dan Auerbach's influence on several songs. Bluesy and country twangs work it's way into his traditional sounds. It's beautiful and kinda mesmerizing at the same time. This would be a great album to have on at work when you are just trying to knock things out but still want to listen to something good.

When to listen to this album: just chillaxing, when you need to be in the "zone"

Bryan turns 31

This past weekend we celebrated Bryan's birthday. He went for a later run in the morning allowing him to sleep in a little later. I made some breakfast hash when he returned.

After dropping his car off to be looked at for a tire issue (ah, adulthood!) we had lunch and birthday beers at Hog and Hominy.



Gotta love their pizza and beer.

Bryan grabbed a few beers with his friend Max and then we went to Wiseacre with his parents.



They were having a fun Christmas-y party, encouraging ugly Christmas sweaters, and providing a brass band.



We capped off the fun day with dinner at Felicia Suzanne's downtown. I ordered the Milk (punch) and cookies for dessert and it was a nice treat.

Happy Birthday, Bobo!

Fayetteville, AR

At the end of last week I hopped in the car with Bryan and we rode to Fayetteville, AR to see a few accounts. This trip I did not visit the accounts.



Bryan had asked me to pick a hotel and I found this gorgeous place for not a bad price online!

We arrived in town just late/early enough to check in. Bryan dropped me off and I snuggled up into the fluffy bed and watched an embarrassing amount of House Hunters International. When he finished with his appointment he came back and we enjoyed complimentary cocktails at the restaurant bar on campus.


View from the restaurant. 

Since I had never been to Fayetteville before Bryan drove me around. The town square was emblazoned with thousands of lights. We ended up getting a pint and some snacks at Tanglewood, a cool bar/coffeehouse/restaurant.

The next morning Bryan went for a run and had an appointment which left me more time to enjoy at our Inn.



The Inn had a great breakfast and a cozy fire in the lobby by which I enjoyed several hours of book reading.

Fayetteville, you aren't half bad!

30 before 30

I meant to post a few days ago new goals for the new (birthday) year. I didn't because - well honestly I hadn't made them yet. The only thing I had so far was to take a picture with Grizz and the idea that I wanted to spend more time with music in the next year. But then I remembered that next year I'm turning 30 and I've seen others do 30 before 30 and thought this was my chance. So here's goes...

Cooking/Creating
Bake a cake... with frosting and everything.
Make a photo book of my college years.
Finish landscaping the backyard, making it more edible.
Stop buying meat and fish from regular grocery stores. Farmers market only... Whole Foods if you must.
Get a garden gnome.

Doing
See at least 5 live music acts.
Party at Raiford's!
Run a 5k
Go on a boat ride... any kind of boat... okay so casino boats do not count as they do not actually go anywhere.
Go fishing.
Give oysters another chance.
Try mussels.
Buy all gifts for the next year at locally owned stores.
Crossstich a sassy saying .... make it into a pillow or framed piece.
Commission custom abstract work for the bathroom... that space to the right of the sink.
Have a family picture taken with Bryan, me, Roux and Motley
Finish reading camera manual and feel confident shooting in manual mode.
Listen to new music each week
Learn a new hair do
Get a new passport

Seeing
Take a tour in New Orleans ... architectural, cemetery or Ghost
Visit Allyn in New York

Memphis
Take a picture with Grizz or a big name Grizzly.
Visit Sun Studios
Visit Stax
Eat donuts at an unusual hour at Gibson's

Eating Out
Second Line
City Grocery and/or Snackbar in Oxford
Peche in New Orleans
Sit at a chef's table... I'm not too picky where... just at a restaurant that knows what a chef's tasting is.

Drapery!

I FINALLY DID IT! We have window treatments!





Mom, Gram and Gramp, and Trey came over last Thursday to install the new drapery in our dining room.

Please excuse the cell phone pics and the messiness. I was just too excited!

Mom is working on the valence for the entry room and it should be up soon. Next year we are working on curtains for our living room. It's all coming together!

Weekend Update

We were supposed to have Icepocolypse... but it didn't happen. We did get sleet, ice, and a few snow flurries, but nothing too severe. I officially lost the bet. Oh well...


Friday afternoon we ventured out for a short walk around the block between precipitation.






We stayed inside much of the time.




We worked on the tree some.

Saturday afternoon we ventured out to Germantown to meet Mabel!




She was a bit sleepy.




The Growler opened in CY and we stopped by for a pint and a growler. Glad to have more beer options in town.

Sunday we went to church and to the 25th Lesson and Carols. We are officially ready for the holiday season!


Also, I found this note in my library book.

I'm glad we were spared from the ice storm. It was nice to take it easy and just be.