2010 Already?!

I can't believe tonight at midnight it will be 2010. I feel like this year literally just flew right by. I guess that's because a lot happened over the past year... we moved into our new house, got a new puppy, I started a new job, we both bought new cars..

We had a lot of good times in 2009 (it hasn't all been easy, there have definitely been some hard times too, but I try to focus on the good things). So tonight we will be celebrating for all the great times we had during our first year as a married couple and be hoping for even better things to come in 2010.

I hope you all have a fabulous (and SAFE) holiday. We will be ringing in the New Year at the Poconos with some friends for the weekend, so I will be back to blogging next week. Happy 2010 everybody! :)

New Recipe

This year was the first time I hosted our families Christmas dinner. At first I had no idea what to cook... Vince's mom did pasta and seafood on Christmas eve, so both of those were out.. No one in my family likes ham, so that was out.. and everyone just ate Turkey for Thanksgiving so I wanted to do something different. So, after looking through multiple recipes I ended up deciding on this one below for a seasoned pork roast with a pan sauce. I am really not a huge pork person, but this came out so GOOD, plus it was super easy! It takes like 5-10min to get ready and then you just stick it in the oven for a few hours and tada it's done :) You do have to make the sauce as well, but even that was really simple. (and as a bonus, a pork roast is super cheap! haha)

If you ever need something to make for a big family dinner, I highly recommend giving this a try. And trust me, you will get LOTS of compliments when it's done ;)

rubbed pork with bourbon pan sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup jack daniels whiskey (we actually used Gentlemen's Jack)

1 can (14 oz) reduced sodium beef broth (regular broth makes it too salty)

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons butter, softened

3 tablespoons flour

(this is meant for a 4lb pork roast, ours was a little over 7lbs so we doubled everything)

Mix sugar, peper, paprika, sage, and salt (save 1 teaspoon on the mix for the sauce later).  Rub the mixture over the pork roast, bake in a shallow roasting pan for 350 degrees for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours (until meat temp is 155 degrees).

To make the sauce add whiskey to pan with drippings, stir to scrape brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Add broth, worcestershire sauce, and the 1 teaspoon from seasoning mix. reduce heat and simmer until sauce is reduced by half. Then mix in butter and flour slowly until sauce thickens.

It really was super easy and DELICIOUS! (I served it with traditional holiday things like mashed potatoes and gravy, salad, rolls, green bean casserole, etc.) It is definitely something I will be making again in the future :)

my new toy

Like I mentioned in my last post my husband was so sweet and got me a fabulous gift for Christmas, a Nikon digital SLR camera. I have had multiple digital cameras, but am never very happy with them so I have been looking at upgrading to an SLR for awhile and was so excited when I opened my gift Christmas morning. (he even got me an extra lens and a bag for it)

Since we were really busy over the holiday with family I didn't get a chance to play with my new camera at all. So, I am just now sitting here reading the guide, learning about all of the settings, and taking pictures of random things around my house haha.

 

 

Right now I am still using the original lens, I haven't even taken the other one of the box yet.... figured I should learn how to work this one first haha. So far I really love the camera, it's so much better than my other one. (which will still be nice to have when I got out and don't want to lug around a huge camera lol)

So if you don't have a digital SLR camera, then I highly recommend getting one.. I have had it less than a week and I am already obsessed. And if you do alreardy have a camera like this, then any advice/suggestions you can give me on how to take the best pictures would be greatly appreciated ;-)

A Very Merry Christmas :)

Vince and I had a great holiday weekend with both of our families. It was really busy, but a lot of fun! Here is a little photo recap from our VERY Merry Christmas :)

My family on Christmas Eve:

Nana and Papa:

Christmas Eve at Vince's parent's house:

Vince and I got Pierce skis and he LOVED them :)

Vince's new ski outfit haha

 

Christmas Morning (warning: NO makeup lol)

 

Ty loved the paper LOL

 

 

My gift to Vince <3 (and he got me a really nice new camera!)

Then on Saturday night we had a little party so my parents could get together with all of their friends from around here since they were only home for a couple days. It was a really good time, we ended up with about 25 people and everyone seemed to have fun!

Hope you all had a great Christmas too! Now time to get ready for New Year's ;)

A Fishy Christmas Eve

I still can't believe today is Christmas Eve already! This month just flew by! Last night my grandparents, parents and sister all got into town and we were up way too late catching up (especially since I had to come to work early this morning for a meeting) Yep, that's right I am working on Christmas eve. Fun. But it will be a short day and I am getting all kinds of cute Christmas goodies from my coworkers so at least it's not too bad haha. 

Tonight we are all going to Vince's parents house to celebrate Christmas with his whole family and then going to a late service at church afterwards. His family is Italian and they do the whole "Feast of the 7 Fishes" for Christmas. (yea apparently all Italian families do that as a tradition for Christmas, I didn't know that until I met vince) Well I am not big on seafood and they have to make 7 different types... so I will eat a little shrimp and scallops wrapped in bacon, but other than that it's not my favorite meal ever. Luckily one of Vince's brothers isn't a seafood fan either, so a couple of years ago his mom started making him and I our own pot of sauce and meatballs so we can eat too haha. (Everyone else has a clam sauce for their pasta that night to count as another fish item..I have a feeling my sister will be eating some of my sauce of meatballs too lol) 

Even though the 7 fish thing wouldn't be my first choice for dinner, I do love holiday traditions and getting to go over with the whole family for Christmas Eve. And besides tomorrow I am making dinner (my first time to host Christmas dinner for the family) and I get to make what I want to eat haha. So anyways, I hope you all are getting to spend the next couple days with your family and loved ones and are enjoying some of your favorite holiday traditions together. 

Merry Christmas blog friends <3

Tomorrow :)

The last two days have been extremely busy. I have been getting stuff wrapped up at work before the holidays, finishing some last minutes things before Christmas, making sure the house is spotless before we have everyone here, grocery shopping for Christmas dinner, etc. But it hasn't been all work and no play... I did get a  chance to meet up with 2 of my bests, Kaitlin and Beth, tonight after work for drinks and to catch up for a little bit :) Now I am finishing up a few more things before heading to bed, because when I get done work tomorrow my grandparents will be here! Then only a few hours after that my parents and sister's flight should be in... I seriously CAN'T WAIT! 

Hope everyone else is having a good week so far... only 3 more days will Christmas! 

Not Me Monday

I did not enjoy being able to watch all of the snow this past weekend knowing I didn't have to go anywhere.

Vince and I did not try to make Ty wear a sweater to go outside in the snow. He did not then refuse to keep it on for more than .5 seconds. He also did not look adorable in it..

I did not then take Ty outside and let him roll around and get completely covered in the snow. He did not LOVE it. (thank goodness he was getting groomed the next day!)

I did not spend part of the afternoon wrapping more gifts and organizing them under the tree. I also did not get excited about getting more Christmas cards to hang on our ribbon :)

 

(both pics are a little dark because I took them with my phone)

I did not decide today after work to go out and pick up a couple more gifts that weren't on my list just because I felt like it..

And because of shopping after work I did not get home later than normal and then not have time to cook anything for dinner other than a frozen pizza. Nope I am a much better wife than that, I would never just make a frozen pizza (other than maybe on a weekend).

I am not super excited to see my family IN TWO DAYS!! I am also not really happy to spend our first Christmas in our home with everyone here<3

(join in the "not me! monday" posts at MckMama's blog)

Prayers Please..

I shared earlier this week about my father passing away of cancer. He was one of 3 kids in his family (he was the oldest and was 40 when he died). My uncle was in the middle and my aunt is the youngest. A few years ago my aunt and my 2 young cousins moved in with my grandparents. Then my grandmother was diagnosed with ALS and passed away this past July. Losing my grandmother has not been easy on anyone in the family, especially for my grandfather and my 2 cousins who lived with her.

Then late at night this Tuesday (on the 7th anniversary of my dad passing) my aunt wasn't feeling well and went to the hospital. They found out that she has cancer, but she also has an infection in her blood that is causing organ failure. She is only 39 years old and as of this morning it doesn't look like she is going to make it to out of the hospital. So, I am asking if each of you could please say a prayer to help comfort my cousins who are only 14 and 16 as they might lose their mother right before Christmas and for my grandfather who has already buried his oldest son, his wife, and now is facing the possibility of losing his daughter too. It has been unbelievably hard on them and any prayers would be greatly appreciated. Thank you from the bottom of my heart <3

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that tonight is my 6th and FINAL holiday party for work. (they are fun, but 6 really is a lot haha)

I am thankful that both of the next two weeks at work are short weeks! YAY!

I am thankful for a husband who took off work yesterday (he had some vacation time he needed to use before the end of the year) and spent his time off doing 5 loads of laundry and cleaning the floors. It was so nice coming home after work and having the chores already done! 

I am thankful for weekend plans with friends :)

I am thankful that all of our gifts are wrapped and under the tree, the stockings are stuffed, the Christmas menu is planned (even though I need to actually go buy the groceris.. ugh!), and  my family comes in less than 1 week!

and I am very thankful that tomorrow is FRIDAY.. finally!!

Hope everyone is having a good Thursday :)

Chili Dogs

7 years ago today my father passed away. He was diagnosed with cancer on my 17th birthday and died 6 months and 5 days later. My parents have been divorced since I was just a baby and both were remarried, so I have always lived with my mom and step dad (who I call dad because he was the one who really raised me). We all used to live in Florida, but I moved a lot as I was growing up because of my step dad's job. My father always stayed in Florida and so I spent a lot of summers and holidays visiting. Our relationship was not perfect and the distance didn't help, but he was my father who I loved and no matter what I always missed him when I was away. I was beyond devastated when he got sick. I was going back and forth to Florida almost every other week those 6 months to be there for him as much as I could. Even though I regret some of the things that happened years before he got sick, I am so grateful that I was able to be there then and we were given that chance to work through everything. My dad's passing is not something that is easy for me to talk about, even with my husband, but not a day goes by where I don't think about him. While this time of year always reminds me of how hard it was losing him that Christmas, it also always makes me think of all the good memories we shared during the holidays and all throughout the years.

(the last Christmas I had with my dad)

When my dad was going through chemo he was sick a lot and became really picky about what he would eat. There were really only 2 things that he ever wanted to eat. One of those was food from a local Japanese steakhouse, once he got too sick to go out they even gave my step mom the recipes so she could make some of it at home for him. The second was chili dogs. Specifically with my mom's chili. He called one night begging for her recipe for the chili because he couldn't find anything else he liked as much. (I have to admit it is really good) I cannot eat a chili dog without smiling and thinking about him. So tonight I will be making chili dogs and thinking about my dad. <3

Things that make me happy :)

Vince and I were in Vermont skiing this weekend and I didn't take my laptop so I was just now catching up on everyone's posts from the weekend and I found that I got a new blog award:

I received this from Katie who is a friend from high school who pretty much got me interested in blogging because I enjoyed reading her blog so much! So a big thanks to katie... and to everyone else make sure you check out her blog :)

Now my job is to list 10 things that currently make me happy... so here they are (in no particular order):

1. The fact that Christmas is NEXT week! Can't believe how soon it is :)

2. Dunkin Donuts Chai Tea. I am not a coffee person, but I LOVE tea and Vince and I both have recently become obsessed with this!

3. Gas card for work. I love that I don't have to pay for gas anymore, it used to always frustrate me how expensive it is and now I couldn't even tell you how much it costs haha.

4. Trying new recipes. I really do get excited when I find a different recipe to try and it turns out good.. sometimes I even do a little dance around the kitchen ;-)

5. Our new family room furniture. Last week we bought a new sectional couch, 3 of the seats recline (love it) and it is SO comfortable. We also got a new coffee table that the top lifts up which is nice for when we eat in there (which of course we never do ;-)) 

 

6. Weekends. All of them. I pretty much live for the weekends.

7. My sister. I love how much closer we have become as she has gotten older. She is one of my best friends and one of the first people I call with good or bad news. (and on that note, I should say my whole family. I really couldn't ask for a better one)

8. My friends. I have some of the best friends possible. Some have been there since way back in elementry school and some I didn't meet until college, but I don't know what I would do without each and everyone of  them. They can all make me happy anytime<3

9. Reality TV. It makes me laugh and I get excited to relax in the evenings to watch it. For example last night the new season of the Kardashians came on and it made my night :) Plus I have been seeing commercials for a new season of the Bachelor which I am seriously obsessed with watching! haha

10. Coming home to Vince and Ty. As cheesy as it may sound it's true. No matter if I had a good day or a bad day, there is nothing else that makes me happier than just coming home and spending the evening with both of them curled up on the couch. I love it, and it makes me super happy <3

So now I need to pass this award on to bloggers whose posts make me happy. Since there are so many of you I decided to pick 3 of my fellow Hokies and Sigma Kappa sisters whose posts are always filled with cute pictures and lots of great holiday ideas :)

Madeleine at http://whatabigtodo.blogspot.com/

Michelle at http://littlethingsxoxo.blogspot.com/

Holly-Lynn at http://heartcourageandbrain.blogspot.com/

I never said I was good at baking..

... but I thought it would be fun to try :) I am actually decent with cooking these days, but baking is a whole other story. Normally when I make cookies I buy the break and bake type (which I guess doesn't really count as making them, more like I pull them apart and put them on a cookie sheet).. you know like these:

The only time I have ever actually made cookies was when I was little and really my mom did those, all I did was help pour in a thing or two and then pretend like I did it all myself  :) So last night my friend Angela and I decided we wanted to do something festive since it's almost Christmas and we thought it would be fun to make holiday cookies.

 So I started pulling out some ingredients..

and she started mixing them together.

 

..and while it was a good idea, I guess we didn't really think it through. Neither of us had ever made cookies ourselves before, but for some reason we both figured making them from scratch was super easy and we didn't even need a recipe.  After our first batch we realized we needed a little help, and decided to call Ang's grandmother for some advice (thank goodness for her, otherwise we may still be in the kitchen trying to figure it out!).Thankfully our next batch turned out much better:

 

Then we attempted decorating some of the sugar cookies....

 

my side got a little bit messy

So after almost 4 hours in the kitchen we ended up with 3 dozen sugar cookies, 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies, and TONS of laughs! We each only decorated about 6 sugar cookies before deciding to call it quits and just put the rest in bags haha... but Ang did get us these cute little containers that we used for the chocolate chip cookies :)

Also, I had to share this picture of what Vince and Ty did the whole time we were busy in the kitchen:

Overall it was a really fun night and now maybe next time I decide to bake some cookies I will have a better idea of what the heck I am doing! lol.

It's almost C H R I S T M A S :)

I saw this list over at Gina's blog and I thought it would be fun to do since Christmas is only 2 weeks from Friday! (crazy how fast this month is going!)

1. Have you started your Christmas shopping? 

Yes I have! I am actually done other than getting a gift for my dad (and I do at least know what I am getting him) A lot of my gifts are even wrapped already :)

2. Tell me about one of your special traditions.
Ever since I can remember on Christmas Eve right before we go to bed my dad will read a story about the first Christmas and the birth of Jesus to all of us. He reads it every year right after we hang our stockings (that's another tradition- we don't hang them at my parent's house until Christmas eve) even though it was a kids book and we are grown up and I still love it. It's just something sweet and simple and it wouldn't seem like Christmas without it.

3. When do you put up your Tree?

Well typically my family puts up a tree right after Thanksgiving, but this year I had one up the week before Thanksgiving and one the week after :)

4. Are you a Black Friday shopper?

Yes. I love the craziness and excitement of it all. I don't really know why, but I actually like to get up WAY too early just to wait outside in the cold with a bunch of pushy mom's just to get things I don't really need haha. I guess to me it just marks the start of the holiday season haha. Plus, it's the first day that I allow myself to start listening to Christmas music 24/7 ;)

5. Do you Travel at Christmas or Stay home?
Both, it just depends on the year. Last year my grandparents bought the whole family tickets for a cruise that week as our Christmas gift, so we were actually in Saint Thomas on Christmas Day. This year we are staying home and my family is coming to stay with us. Either way I always have a great time and get just as excited, as long as my family is with me it doesn't matter where we are.

6. What is your funniest Christmas memory? 

hmm... not really sure.. I would have to think about that one and it's too late for me to want to think right now.

7. What is your favorite Christmas Movie of all time?

It's a tie between Christmas Vacation (just watched that tonight actually lol) or Jingle all the Way. They both get me laughing no matter what.

8. Do you do your own Christmas baking? What’s your favorite treat?
Hahaha... this is good questions considering my friend Angela and I just spent 3 hours in my kitchen making Christmas cookies... it was a rather interesting evening. (I will post about that later) But, no before that I have never baked anything for Christmas. I like cooking, but I am not the biggest fan of baking (and I am not very good at it either haha). I don't really have a favorite treat, I like lots of them :)

9. Fake or Real Tree?
Fake. I know that real tree's smell good and make it your house really smell like Christmas and there is something special about having a real tree versus just a fake one... BUT the real ones leave pine needles everywhere, plus you have to water them, and you have to hang lights on them (ugh, thats the worst!)... so this is the first year that I have given up on the real ones and decided to do just fake trees (with lights already on them.. yesss!). It's just so much easier.

10. What day does the actual panic set in to get it all done?
I actually don't usually panic about it, because I like to get everything done well in advance. However, I know when I have kids I may not be able to get it done as early so I might be more likely to panic at some point.

11. Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve?

Nope not normally. (that might make me panic)

12. What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas?

Christmas night after gifts have all been open and dinner is done (and cleaned up).. we all just sit around, relax, and watch a good Christmas movie. It's a nice way to end the holiday :)

13. What Christmas craft do you like the best? 

decorating gingerbread houses

14. Christmas music? Yes or No, and if yes, what is your favorite song?
Heck YES! How can anyone not like Christmas music??? haha. hmm... what is my favorite song? That's hard because there are SO many I like! I guess if I have to pick my favorite would be Baby it's Cold Outside (the Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey version), I just think it's so cute and I love singing along to it. I also love Grown up Christmas list (there are so many versions and I like them all!), Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton, and Christmas Shoes by Kenny Chesney (even though it makes me tear up!)
 

15. When do you plan to finish all your shopping? 

Sometime within the next few days.


 

Do you want to play along?Just simply copy and paste the questions into your blog, and then answer them.

Then tag 5 or more of your favorite blogs, and leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged.

When you post on your blog, please spread some Christmas Cheer, and leave a link back to the blogger who started the meme: Heather, at Top 10 Christmas 

I am not tagging anyone because I think EVERYONE shouLd do it! Come on, tell me about your Christmas ;)

Happy Birthday Ty :)

Today is my little man's 1st birthday. When we first brought him home he was exactly 10wks old and weighed 1lb 2oz.. he was the size of a beanie baby (and that's how we came to name him Ty, since Ty makes beanie babies). It is amazing how quickly he became a part of our little family. I can't even imagine coming home everyday without seeing his cute face at the top of the stairs waiting for us or not waking up every morning to him curled up next to me.

We don't have any kids yet, so for now Ty is our baby.. and really no matter how many kids we end up having Ty will always be one of our babies :) So to celebrate our little puppy growing up (he is a whole 4lb 5oz now! haha) here are some of my favorite pictures of him throughout the year.

Ty's first day home

a little over 3 months old

6 months and getting ready for his first flight to Missouri (and yes I took him on the plane with me, not in a cage underneath)

About 9 months 

 

Almost 11 months (just woke up and in desperate need of a haircut haha)

1 year and all grown up ;-)

Winter Wonderland :)

We got our first snow of the year today and it looks SO pretty outside :) (Thankfully though I was able to go to lunch with Ang and do a little more Christmas shopping before it started sticking, because I seriously hate driving in the snow!)

(view from our deck)

So since Vince is out of town for the night and I don't want to drive anywhere in the snow, I decided to do some more Christmas things around the house :) I wrapped some gifts and put them under our tree, I added a few finishing touches to our second tree downstairs, and I found a fun way to hang our Christmas cards as we get them during the next month.

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

our 2nd tree in the basement :)

This tree has more traditional colors and is where we hang all of our favorite ornaments. These are just some of the ones we got last year at our wedding from family and friends. The one of the right is probably my favorite of all of our ornaments.. its says "Your heart will always lead you home" and "new home 2008" is on the ribbon. <3

We will continue to add more cards to the ribbon as we get them :)

I plan to spend the rest of the evening curled up with Ty and watching a couple good movies. Hope you all have a great night!