Free Christmas Templates!

Two posts in one day?? Yes!! (Don't miss my other post today.)

I had to share this great giveaway! Jamie from Designs by Jamie is giving away free Christmas templates today! Check out her blog and get one! Her designs are cute. (I'm totally asking for a blog make-over for Christmas!) What are you waiting for?? Go check it out!

A year ago was a Lifetime ago

Last year on this day our lives changed. We didn't know at the time, but God had some really great growing stuff planned for us and it all started last year exactly one week after Thanksgiving.

Even now, it's hard to think about the raw emotions that that day brought, but without that day happening, we would not be where we are today. Last year on this day, Jonathan lost his job. A year ago today the weight of the world was on our shoulders. How would we pay bills? How would we do Christmas? Who feels like celebrating a holiday when life looks so dark? Why would God let this happen to us? It was the hardest day I think we've ever been through. I remember just holding Jonathan. It was a hard day.

I started blogging not long after that because I had so many emotions and I didn't know what to do with them other than get them out. I had never been into journaling, so I thought maybe I would actually keep up with blogging.

Through those long, very dark days, we grew stronger as a couple and we grew closer to God. Somehow we were able to keep our heads up because of the strength that God gave us. We knew that He allowed this to happen and that He had plans for us and we just needed to follow Him.

So, we followed blindly. We had a great support system of friends and family through that time. I really think that unless you have actually been through losing a job, you don't understand how devastating it is and how how much you need others support and comfort.

After literally months of being told he was too qualified to even interview or get called back for any job, he finally got a call. It was for a temp job, but we were thrilled! It is nearly impossible to work for the University of Kentucky unless you know someone on the "inside", so when a temp job came open in the accounting department Jonathan jumped at the chance! Now, there is no way that he would have ever quit his job at the bank to take a temp job (that's just too far out on a limp than we would ever go), so we knew that God had this in His plans. Without that temp job, he would have never met the people necessary to have access to the permanent job that he did get. The job that was/is way better than any job at a bank! We are so blessed!

Its amazing to look back on our life to see where God's path has taken us. Now we are both (out of banking!) in better jobs (physically and mentally) and we've come out on the other side of that long and very dark tunnel holding hands and looking to God. I love Jonathan more and more with each day after watching him grow in such a hard season of life. Let me tell you, we never take our jobs for granted now! We cherish them!

Pretty awesome to think about. So today isn't a day to be forgotten. It's a celebration day. It's the celebration of the first anniversary of the day that our lives changed.

Christmas Decorations

On Black Friday, Jonathan and I got up early (ok, not really), I made Oven Toast (a family specialty breakfast that includes broiling bread with butter and brown sugar) because obviously we were trying to make a healthy choice. Then Jonathan made the climb into the nicely finished attic, which we didn't have at this time last year!

All of a sudden, our garage was FILLED with Rubbermaid boxes. I have some OCD tendencies and one is that all of my holiday decorations have to be in nice sealed boxes so they look all tidy! Well, we started opening up all of the boxes and we got a bit overwhelmed with how much crap...ahem...holiday stuff we have. So we decided to venture out to go shopping to get out of the house. Well it just so happens (we found this out last year) that the shoppers have left the stores by mid-afternoon and the stores still have sales! So we got a few little things (no serious shopping). Then we came come all rejuvenated and started decorating the tree.

I wanted to share some pics of my decorations with you since most of my family is long-distance and won't ever get to see my decorations in person. It's still a work in progress.

First is my tree. This tree has not changed since before we were even married. Well, the tree itself has (we had to get a pre-lit one) but I got most of these decorations for my tree in my apartment during my single days. I obviously like the look of it since I've kept it around for so many years. I thought of doing something different this year, and then we got the stuff out and I decided I still like it!

Next is my Willow tree nativity scene. Jonathan arranged it this year. Didn't he do a great job? Each year that we've been married, I have asked for more pieces to this set. Now I have the complete set and I love it! (Well, complete other than the platform but it's really expensive!)

This is my advent calendar. My mother-in-law gave it to us on our first Christmas we were married. I love it. It's from the Bombay Company (so sad it's gone) and we both enjoy putting the ornaments on it each day. (The ornaments are on magnets.) Growing up, I always did an advent calendar. Each day had a little rhyme about Jesus' birth story. I have such good memories of that. I can't wait to do that with our kids one day.Stockings. Our next house is going to have a fireplace! How else does Santa get in? Yes, Dakota gets a stocking! I love the reindeer holders!Here are some more random pictures:

(The cute snowman is from Pier 1 - love it!)

(This star was my tree topper. I got it when I worked at Pier 1 many years ago but it was so heavy that it didn't stay up on the tree well so I took off the holder and made it into a decoration instead.)

This giant reindeer was a gift from my mother-in-law the second year we were married. I love the holiday stuff she gives us! I look forward to it each year!

I just had to post this picture to show my new purchase at Bath and Body Works. Last night I walked in there and HAD to have this candle. I LOVE the scent and it's just so cute! I had a coupon for a free item with a $10 purchase, so I bought some new body wash and got this for free!! I need to find him a better place to sit though. (Please notice the Holiday Mint M&Ms that Billie so kindly got me hooked on!!)I love snowmen. This is my snowman tree next to my sink! It never changes each year. I like to leave the snowman nutcracker out all winter because who says that snowmen are Christmas-y? They are winter-y!This tree I got at Pier 1 after the season last year when it was like 75% off. I had watched it all season and wanted it so bad! I left it up all winter because I just loved it! (Please disregard the Pup-Peroni's on the counter - they have to be easily accessable for Cody. I'm sure you understand!)
I have a small tree that is still a work in progress. When I finish that I'll have to post more pictures. AND I think our outside lights look great, but it's raining so I'm not going outside to get a picture, so that will have to be later too.

After reading back through this post, I have two things to say: 1) I think I do too much shopping at Pier 1...ok maybe not:) and 2) if you made it to the bottom of this post then you deserve a prize!

Kentucky Football

Last night Jonathan and I went to the Kentucky vs Tennessee football game. It was a GREAT first half, but then Kentucky forgot to show up in the second half. We eventually lost in overtime. So sad! The Tennessee fans were so obnoxious. We actually saw two fights break out between UK and UT fans! People are crazy (and intoxicated)!

Anyway, a guy that Jonathan works with couldn't use his season tickets so he gave them to us for free! (Jonathan is on a list for season tickets so hopefully we'll have them next year.) Then he gave J a tip to park in the library employee parking lot and sure enough when we got there, they regulate the parking lot and with Jonathan's employee parking pass, we got to park in a near empty lot for FREE! (If you don't count that we pay monthly for that pass!) :) We walked through campus to get to the stadium and it brought back J's memories of being a student. He showed me his old dorms and places he hung out. How fun!

It was a perfect night for football. We thought it was going to be freezing so we layered. I guess I layered too well because I didn't even need my coat till half time and even then I didn't have to zip it up! But it was nice to not freeze during a November football game! (Sometimes the south really surprises me!)

I didn't want to carry my camera around so I only was able to get some pics from my phone, but here they are.

A cool formation for Senior Night before the game.

Before the stands got full. I couldn't get a good pic with the field behind us. They kept turning out blurry!

A very packed arena!

Because of where we parked, we missed sitting in all that traffic! It was perfect! We hadn't been to a game in years and we had so much fun. (It didn't hurt that it was such a huge game and the place was sold out! Kentucky pride is so awesome!) I wish that wasn't the last home game of the season! Now I can't wait till next year so we can go again!

Bring on those calories!

Thanksgiving morning Billie and I (yes she was 4 weeks -to the day-postpartum) ran the Thoroughbred 5K Classic. I was so excited to run. Last year on Thanksgiving my sister-in-law and I ran the Smoke The Turkey 5K in Toledo and it was such a great experience on Thanksgiving morning that I wanted to do it again. This year we were in Kentucky to spend the holiday with Jonathan's family so we found this race which is in its 24th year.

I think a lot of families like to do Thanksgiving runs together. It really is a fun time and a great atmosphere! This race was actually pretty organized (other than not being able to find water after the race), but there were a lot of people in a small area! The race was held at Keeneland (for those of you not from Kentucky, Keeneland is Lexington's horse racetrack.) and we ran through the rolling hills from barns to beautiful countryside. It was a beautiful day and a really pretty course, but a little narrow for over 2000 people. Usually runs kind of thin out part way into the race, but not this one. It was like we were running shoulder to shoulder with people the entire way. (Not my favorite.) But oh well. We had a good time. And yes, since we ran and burned those calories, there was no guilt for having a second helping of Thanksgiving dinner:)

Here are some pics:

Before the race

A mass of people from Jonathan's parking spot.

We were surprised J actually saw us in the crowd! (See how many people?) We'd be running and someone would just slow down or stop to walk right in front of us and we'd have to dodge them... Crazy!

We always have to do an "after" picture! Beautiful Kentucky white fences in front of one of the horse barns.

Billie placed 65/100 in our age group finishing at 32:21.

I placed 67/100 in our age group finishing at 32:21.

If you ask Billie, she will tell you that she was slow. But she's just used to finishing way before me:) She didn't seem slow to me so we ran together the whole way. Plus we had to do a lot of weaving at the beginning which slows you down and takes a lot out of you. We even kicked it in at the end and sprinted as best we could (sprinting is hard to do when you're dodging people) and stepped over the finish line at almost the same moment! I'm so proud of her! I'm pretty sure I'd be using the excuse that I just pushed a child out of me 4 weeks ago, so no, I will not go run 3.1 miles, but please bring on the Turkey! But not Billie! She's a champ! Hopefully this will become an every-other-year tradition (for the years we're in Kentucky and not Toledo). Now we get to start training for our half!

Coolest Kid on the Block

I know you all have been holding your collective breath to see the "after" pictures of my office. Before I get into the pictures, I just have to say how amazing my friend Jes is. You know your true friends when they give of their time and themselves without anything in return. First of all we spent about 5 hours on Saturday painting the circles. Tonight she came over to my office after she got off work and we worked for about 2 hours assembling, repainting, placing, drilling, measuring, and cleaning. (All while we were hungry! Didn't think ahead about dinner!oops! Thanks to Jonathan for having a yummy dinner ready for me when I got home!)

Everyone should have a friend like Jes! I'm pretty sure that everyone else in my office will want to hire her once they see my office:) I love that my office is so modern and "cool". I'm gonna feel like the "cool kid" and I love it! I felt like I could take some fun "risks" in my office that I couldn't really do in my house, so it doesn't feel like "me"... but on the other hand it does. Does that even make sense? Can I use any more "parentheses" in one paragraph?? I think not! :)

Here is the view from the doorway. I wish I could get the true color of green to show in these pictures. Try to envision a really really bright green! (If you want to see the correct color, go to Southland's website and look at the green in the logo. That is the color of the walls.) Here is the wall with all of our hard work! (Yes, the lantern lamp was not on because I need an extension cord and I went to the store on lunch to get one and totally forgot it till I walked back into my office!)

This is the view from inside my office to my other wall. Jes gave me this mirror from Ikea. She had it in her room when we lived together and wasn't using it now so she gave it to me! I think it's perfect and I love with the way that the circles reflect in the mirrors!

Here are some other views.

OK, seriously does this look like a church finance office? No? Okay good! :) I don't want to look boring. Jes said once people see my office they will want me to be on the creative team instead of the finance team... Well, lets just say that if they were to do that they would be sorely mistaken. HA! I will happily give them Jes' name and number because she won't disappoint:)

Circles, Zebra and a Friend

I'm sorry that it's been so long since my last post. I just haven't felt like I had anything exciting to write about...that is...until today!

I talked in my last post about decorating my office. Well this week I got a green (and I mean *bright* green) accent wall. (I had a choice of green, blue, and orange...but if you know me well, that was not really a choice for me!) Somehow I procured a bit of the green paint that was used on my accent wall in order to make a piece of art for one of my white walls.

Jes, my old college friend always has such amazing ideas for art. She had a whole bunch of mdf 2 foot circles left over from a set she had built, so she gave them to me for FREE! Seriously!! She thought we should do a grid of circles, so today was the day to paint them! We decided that black paint would look best with the bright green. We went to Lowe's to get some black paint and found some brownish/black paint on the discount/reject shelf for $3.50! We asked the worker nicely if he could put more pigment in it and he said he wasn't supposed to, but he did it anyway. How nice of him!!!

After we had a bunch of circles painted black and a couple painted green, we attached some zebra fabric I had with spray adhesive to two of the black circles to give an extra dimension to the wall! The result is awesome!!! Here are some pics: (I realize the green looks a bit yellowish in the pics, so you'll have to believe me that it is really really bright green!)

I left the circles in Jes' garage/art studio to dry and she said she would probably move them around a dozen more times to get exactly the right layout!

I also have a square on my green wall that I needed to cover up, so we used a ring that we painted black and stapled the zebra fabric to the inside. It looked great! We're going to hang two black circles, one above and one below the fabric one. LOVE it!! Here's a pic!

This entire project cost me about $10 (black paint, spray adhesive, and screws)! Can you believe it??

I got a HUGE white lantern lamp from Ikea for $6 so I think all of the circles are going to look soo good! We're planning on hanging all of this stuff on Monday after work. Hopefully I'll have some more pictures to post after they are on the walls! :) Can you tell I'm excited?? :)