As a way to relax and enjoy a bit of downtime, my Mom and I spent a good part of the afternoon shopping. Nothing says Happy 2011!! like 6 new pairs of shoes, a new purse and some fun costume jewelry and that's just what I bought for myself. Mom had a really successful shopping trip also. Guess this is why we don't shop together all that often
I'm hoping the new stuff brings on the positive energy for the New Year. If not, we'll at least I'll look fashionable while trying to take on the world.
Hope you have a happy and prosperous New Year. And be careful if you're going out to celebrate tonight.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
One More Angel
I'm suffering from pure exhaustion from the last two days and while my brain is not thinking clearly at the moment, I just wanted to post this pic. It's from my Grandma's birthday back on November 3rd. It's one of the last pictures I have of just her and I. Today at 3:06 pm, she lost her battle with cancer.
I know she is looking down over me and everyone else and will continue to protect us as she's done over the last 79 years of her life. It has been a horribly painful 48 hours. Once I gain back some composure, I will dedicate another longer post to her. Until then, I will just continue to remind myself that she is at peace.
I know she is looking down over me and everyone else and will continue to protect us as she's done over the last 79 years of her life. It has been a horribly painful 48 hours. Once I gain back some composure, I will dedicate another longer post to her. Until then, I will just continue to remind myself that she is at peace.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Naughty or nice?!?!
I guess I was really good this year....
What's really funny is that out of all of these things on my wish list, I had only really asked for the knives and spice rack. But, I have such an amazing family, that they all knew how excited and grateful I would be for the other gifts.
I had been scoping out Kitchenaid Stand Mixers online for nearly a month but thought it was something too extraordinary for me and my cooking and baking abilities. My mom, on the other hand, thought it would be fun to surprise me with such a gift. I was definitely surprised and very thankful for her generosity. I plan on baking many desserts and whipping up plenty of dinners to show off.
My dad gave me the Cuisinart Food Processor and thought that I could use it along with my spice rack to create my culinary masterpieces. (Very good thinking Dad!)
Perhaps the craziest thing has to do with part of the gift I received from Broccoli. While I was out at Bed, Bath and Beyond last Wednesday night picking up a few last minute gifts for my Mom, I happened to see a chef's jacket on sale. I contemplated buying it for a few minutes, but figured I would wait until after Christmas to come back and pick it up. There was no real reason I waited to buy it besides the fact that I just didn't want to carry more stuff upstairs to my apartment that evening.
For the last few weeks, anytime I was stressing out or putting too much pressure on myself, Broccoli would joke with me about what I was getting for Christmas and without letting on to what I was getting would put me back into a better mood.
Thursday night, Broccoli and I exchanged our gifts and with mine was this awesome chef's jacket. I was completely shocked and elated. I told him the story about the night before and I think that relieved any uncertainty he had about whether or not I would like it. (By the way, I love it!)
The entire weekend was fabulous. I'm so glad I was able to spend 3 days with extremely exceptional people. Today, I'm sitting at home playing with my new toys. Who says Christmas is just for the kids!
Hope you had a fantastic Christmas!
What's really funny is that out of all of these things on my wish list, I had only really asked for the knives and spice rack. But, I have such an amazing family, that they all knew how excited and grateful I would be for the other gifts.
I had been scoping out Kitchenaid Stand Mixers online for nearly a month but thought it was something too extraordinary for me and my cooking and baking abilities. My mom, on the other hand, thought it would be fun to surprise me with such a gift. I was definitely surprised and very thankful for her generosity. I plan on baking many desserts and whipping up plenty of dinners to show off.
My dad gave me the Cuisinart Food Processor and thought that I could use it along with my spice rack to create my culinary masterpieces. (Very good thinking Dad!)
Perhaps the craziest thing has to do with part of the gift I received from Broccoli. While I was out at Bed, Bath and Beyond last Wednesday night picking up a few last minute gifts for my Mom, I happened to see a chef's jacket on sale. I contemplated buying it for a few minutes, but figured I would wait until after Christmas to come back and pick it up. There was no real reason I waited to buy it besides the fact that I just didn't want to carry more stuff upstairs to my apartment that evening.
For the last few weeks, anytime I was stressing out or putting too much pressure on myself, Broccoli would joke with me about what I was getting for Christmas and without letting on to what I was getting would put me back into a better mood.
Thursday night, Broccoli and I exchanged our gifts and with mine was this awesome chef's jacket. I was completely shocked and elated. I told him the story about the night before and I think that relieved any uncertainty he had about whether or not I would like it. (By the way, I love it!)
The entire weekend was fabulous. I'm so glad I was able to spend 3 days with extremely exceptional people. Today, I'm sitting at home playing with my new toys. Who says Christmas is just for the kids!
Hope you had a fantastic Christmas!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas!!
From my family,
to yours...
We wish you peace, love and happiness this holiday season.
May you have a blessed Christmas wherever you may be.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
3 Days...
...3 Christmases.
While I may not have any Christmas decorations out or a Christmas tree up, I have shopped or made all of my Christmas presents and even wrapped them and ultimately, I'm ready for what's next.
Tonight is Christmas with my main squeeze. Since we both have family functions on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we're celebrating our Christmas a tad early. I'm making a semi-fancy dinner (only because I'm using wine in my roast beef entree) and we're going to exchange our gifts. We aimed for the hand-made, thought-provoking aspect this year. Hopefully he'll find my gift to be a clever one. :) He hasn't given me any clues as to what he put together for me but I do know he's searched high and low for materials. I'm sure it will be perfect.
Christmas Eve, I'm heading to spend the evening with my Mom's side of the family. A bit of good news came Tuesday night as my Grandma was released from the hospital. While she is still struggling, it is comforting to know that she will be spending the holiday at home with her family.
That leaves Christmas Day and as long as the weather cooperates, my Bro and I will be driving out to my Dad's and spending the afternoon with him, my aunt and uncle and cousins. We're playing it by ear until the system comes through the region but we're all hoping that its nothing major and that our plans hold up. Otherwise, we'll move our celebration around to combat the snow.
It will be a fun-filled weekend for sure and the best part is that its not all lumped into one day. I wish holidays worked this well every year.
While I may not have any Christmas decorations out or a Christmas tree up, I have shopped or made all of my Christmas presents and even wrapped them and ultimately, I'm ready for what's next.
Tonight is Christmas with my main squeeze. Since we both have family functions on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we're celebrating our Christmas a tad early. I'm making a semi-fancy dinner (only because I'm using wine in my roast beef entree) and we're going to exchange our gifts. We aimed for the hand-made, thought-provoking aspect this year. Hopefully he'll find my gift to be a clever one. :) He hasn't given me any clues as to what he put together for me but I do know he's searched high and low for materials. I'm sure it will be perfect.
Christmas Eve, I'm heading to spend the evening with my Mom's side of the family. A bit of good news came Tuesday night as my Grandma was released from the hospital. While she is still struggling, it is comforting to know that she will be spending the holiday at home with her family.
That leaves Christmas Day and as long as the weather cooperates, my Bro and I will be driving out to my Dad's and spending the afternoon with him, my aunt and uncle and cousins. We're playing it by ear until the system comes through the region but we're all hoping that its nothing major and that our plans hold up. Otherwise, we'll move our celebration around to combat the snow.
It will be a fun-filled weekend for sure and the best part is that its not all lumped into one day. I wish holidays worked this well every year.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Very grateful
Yes, I'm gonna gloat a bit. Right now, I'm sitting here enjoying a wonderful lunch prepared by the most awesome Broccoli. Realizing that I've pretty much run myself ragged this week, he was nice enough to drop by a delicious, home-made meal while I'm trying to wrap Christmas presents and clean up some loose ends here at home.
This has been one of the hardest weeks I've ever faced. My Grandma went back into the hospital after getting extremely sick from this last bout of chemo late Sunday night. Luckily, I was able to work obscure hours in order to be able to spend time with her and help out as necessary. My Bro came to spend the first part of the week with me so that he could also visit my Grandma and was met with an apartment with less than plentiful resources. My plan was to grocery shop last Sunday when we had snow and I decided not to venture out since I knew the stores would be nuts. Being the clever guy that he is, he was able to piece together a few meals from my cabinets when he was hungry and we were able to enjoy a great dinner with my Grandma and Mom at the hospital on Tuesday night.
To top it off, it was the busiest week of the year at work for me with preparing for our Christmas party, handling our employee appreciation for 5+ year employees (this is our first major milestone as a company since we were only formed in late 2004), completing the retro increases we were promised and then explaining the calculation to every employee that called for clarification and then dealing with other miscellaneous issues that popped up. I was completely exhausted when I finally was able to make my way home at night.
In the back of my mind, I was also bothered the fact that I hadn't really started Christmas shopping and knew that this weekend was probably going to fill up fast with other priorities, so by Thursday, I was in full freak out/overload mode. Somehow, Broccoli pulled me out of it and got my head straight so that I could "schedule" and plan for nearly everything that needed to get done.
Amazingly enough, I was able to run around like crazy yesterday and not only finish my Christmas shopping but also my Mom's (she's been at the hospital pretty much non-stop since Sunday night), re-stock my pantry and fridge and then spend the rest of the evening with my Grandma. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep when I finally decided to go to bed.
Through all of this, I'm realizing how very grateful I am for the little things. The idea that someone (or a few someones) is thinking about me and trying to lighten my load and ease my mind a bit is amazing. In spite of how busy others are, it's nice to know that I have surrounded myself with people that do look out for me and are willing to do what they can to help out. While the circumstances stink, this Christmas season is a special one.
This has been one of the hardest weeks I've ever faced. My Grandma went back into the hospital after getting extremely sick from this last bout of chemo late Sunday night. Luckily, I was able to work obscure hours in order to be able to spend time with her and help out as necessary. My Bro came to spend the first part of the week with me so that he could also visit my Grandma and was met with an apartment with less than plentiful resources. My plan was to grocery shop last Sunday when we had snow and I decided not to venture out since I knew the stores would be nuts. Being the clever guy that he is, he was able to piece together a few meals from my cabinets when he was hungry and we were able to enjoy a great dinner with my Grandma and Mom at the hospital on Tuesday night.
To top it off, it was the busiest week of the year at work for me with preparing for our Christmas party, handling our employee appreciation for 5+ year employees (this is our first major milestone as a company since we were only formed in late 2004), completing the retro increases we were promised and then explaining the calculation to every employee that called for clarification and then dealing with other miscellaneous issues that popped up. I was completely exhausted when I finally was able to make my way home at night.
In the back of my mind, I was also bothered the fact that I hadn't really started Christmas shopping and knew that this weekend was probably going to fill up fast with other priorities, so by Thursday, I was in full freak out/overload mode. Somehow, Broccoli pulled me out of it and got my head straight so that I could "schedule" and plan for nearly everything that needed to get done.
Amazingly enough, I was able to run around like crazy yesterday and not only finish my Christmas shopping but also my Mom's (she's been at the hospital pretty much non-stop since Sunday night), re-stock my pantry and fridge and then spend the rest of the evening with my Grandma. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep when I finally decided to go to bed.
Through all of this, I'm realizing how very grateful I am for the little things. The idea that someone (or a few someones) is thinking about me and trying to lighten my load and ease my mind a bit is amazing. In spite of how busy others are, it's nice to know that I have surrounded myself with people that do look out for me and are willing to do what they can to help out. While the circumstances stink, this Christmas season is a special one.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Who called for snow?
All week, the meteorologists had been saying that the snow was gonna bypass us completely and we'd only be dealing with extremely cold temperatures. Not sure what it would look like here if they had actually forecasted snow --
This is what I woke up this morning. Perfect for a day when I'm supposed to be finishing up my Christmas shopping. Most people would say, "oh that isn't too bad." Yeah, here in STL, when it rains, we're in for great fun on the interstates, when it snows, you just better plan to stay put for most of the day. It also doesn't help that the wind is blowing 20-45 mph. Brrrrrrrrr! I'm definitely not ready for winter.
Guess it's the perfect day to stay in and work on my homemade Christmas gifts.
This is what I woke up this morning. Perfect for a day when I'm supposed to be finishing up my Christmas shopping. Most people would say, "oh that isn't too bad." Yeah, here in STL, when it rains, we're in for great fun on the interstates, when it snows, you just better plan to stay put for most of the day. It also doesn't help that the wind is blowing 20-45 mph. Brrrrrrrrr! I'm definitely not ready for winter.
Guess it's the perfect day to stay in and work on my homemade Christmas gifts.
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Doesn't get much better than this
Nothing says Merry Christmas like an acoustic Shinedown show and tonight I'm headed out to see them perform live. WOOO HOOO!!! I've warned Broccoli that he just may have to save me from my heart exploding from all of the excitement tonight. I believe he's prepared for just about anything with me.
To make this early Christmas gift to myself even better --
I have tomorrow off from work!
DOUBLE BONUS!!!
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