2011: A Year in Review!

2011 was truly a great year! I'm so thankful for all the memories and experiences I had this past year. I'm also extremely thankful I have this blog. This post took quite some time because I looked back on all my posts written this year to remember everything that went on. It was a lot of fun looking back and saying, "oh yeah, I remember doing that." Without this blog, I probably wouldn't have remembered everything! Here's to wishing 2012 is just as good, if not better than 2011!

January

Started the year off right with a trip to my Alma Matter to visit my college friends and watch the pom squad perform!

February

Saw Eli Young Band in concert with Aaron and Katie!

March

Met "The Pioneer Woman" and had her book and cookbook signed.

April

Celebrated my 23rd birthday with great friends and great fun. Attended the Josh Abbott Band concert with my best friend from college and a few other very special people.

Took a road trip to Fort Worth to visit my best friend, Marcus who was visiting on a business trip.

May

Completed my 1st marathon in ridiculous weather!! By far my biggest accomplishment and proudest moment in my life, thus far.

Welcomed precious baby Christian to the world. So proud of my amazing friend Katie!!

June

Welcomed beautiful baby Isabel to the world. She is seriously the prettiest little girl I've ever seen. She is the newest baby girl cousin in the family!Took a much needed vacation to Jamaica to celebrate the union of my cousin Brad and his wife Jaimi. I was honored to take their wedding pictures and have a part in their special day! I'm ready to go back!

July
Decided it was WAY TOO HOT to have hair half-way down my back in 110 degree weather, therefore I chopped it off and donated it to Locks of Love.

August

Celebrated the engagement of my best friend and her fiance! Can't wait for the wedding in May!

September

Celebrated 5 years of dating this wonderful guy!!

Was honored to be a bridesmaid in my childhood friend, Megan's beautiful wedding! Photo source: the amazing Leslie See Photography

October

Was thrilled that Aaron got an internship and moved an hour closer to me!! Have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of him being closer!

Took a trip to Branson to witness and photograph the sweet union of my cousin Blondell and her husband Kyron!

November

Gained a sister when my brother married Ashley. Had a blast celebrating with our closest friends and family at their beautiful wedding!

December

Had a relaxing Christmas spent at home with my family!!

Hope you all have a Happy New Year!!!

Love,

Quincee

Samson & Bogie!

My cousin, Stephanie, and her family just got a new puppy named Bogie. He is a German Shepard mix and is seriously the cutest thing ever. My horse, I mean dog became fast friends with Bogie. It was hilarious watching them play.

The commentary on this makes it twice as cute. My little cousin, Zach thought it was hilarious and his laugh is hysterical....so cute!!

Is that not the sweetest pup you've ever seen?

Zach and Bogie!
Just layin around together
love the way he's laying with his back legs out....that's how Samson used to lay when he was a pup!

After playing with Bogie tonight, it definitely gave me puppy fever. Samson really would love to have a baby brother or sister!!!

Paint Your Own Pottery!

My friend, Sabrina, and I were bored one day and decided that painting pottery would be a fun activity to do. I painted four measuring cups and she painted her initials. Mine didn't turn out as cute as I imagined, but it was still fun. It's hard to tell, but those are supposed to be flowers. The yellow petals didn't show up very well :(
Here are Sabrina's cute initials which turned out great!!

Stocking Stuffer Blog Swap!

I got my stocking stuffer package in the mail yesterday and wanted to share what I got. I love all the goodies! Thank you, Elle! Here's what I got: E.L.F Minty Lip Gloss

Super fun glittery nail polish in Frenzy by Sinful Colors...can't wait to wear it!

A sugar cookie mix with oven mit, cocoa set, and sprinkles....YUM!





This is what I got Elle:

stocking

Umbrella

Tyler Candle Co. wax mixer melts in Thornapple and Tyler fragrances

Pomegranate make-up remover tissues

Stationary

hair product samples

E.L.F make-up


Like I said before, I love participating in blog swaps for three main reasons. I love giving, meeting new people, and who doesn't love getting packages in the mail?!? Can't wait for the upcoming accessory swap! Thanks again, Elle....I enjoyed being your swap partner and I love the gifts!

Santa's Reindeer Wants to Wish You......

A Very Merry Christmas!! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas spent with the ones you love. Most importantly, may you remember the real reason for the season!

Love, Quincee & Samson

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

#1. Today is my beautiful mamma's birthday! We are celebrating tonight with dinner and possibly a movie, or ice skating. I kind of hope it's ice skating because I love to ice skate and Aaron has never been before so that would be quite comical!

Me, my brother, and mom

#2. I absolutely LOVE Rodney Carrington! Anyone ever been to one of his shows? If you're not familiar with him, he's a comedian from Oklahoma and he's hysterical. He's also been in the movie, Beer for my Horses. Two years ago, Trevor, Ashley, Aaron, and I went to his show and it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. We were all in tears from laughing so hard. Yes, he's vulgar and talks about inappropriate stuff, but it's hilarious! Since we talked so highly of his show, my parents decided they wanted to go this year. I'm interested to see if they think it's as funny as we do. I'm definitely not sitting next to them because that might be awkward :/It helps that he's a good lookin man for his age!


#3. As a Christmas gift from my mom, I got an online photography workshop from the talented, Southern California photographer, Megan Papworth. Check out her website here. The workshop includes 6 lesson plans that cover everything you need to know to execute a professional photo shoot. They were offering this deal through Very Jane and it was half off the original price! I can't wait to get started and see what I learn!

#4. Today begins the first day of my half marathon training. I've been so lazy lately and it's time I get back in shape. I will be running in the OKC Memorial Half Marathon on April 29th, 2012. My official 12 week training will begin on Feb. 5th. Starting today, I will be running 3 miles, 3 times a week. I'm using Hal Higdon's training program (the same program I used for the marathon). You can view it here. If anyone would like to join me, please do....I'd love some company this year!

5. I love that Christmas is on Sunday! I just have Christmas day off so I don't have any big traveling plans. Looking forward to relaxing and spending a day with my family at home. We will be going to see family that live here in OK throughout the day. I also love looking at all the Christmas cards. It's one of my favorite things about Christmas time. I wanted to share our Christmas letter we sent out this year. My family has a tradition of sending out letters instead of cards. In the past we've each written a note about the year we had and what Christmas meant to us. Then, my mom compiled them into a scrapbook type letter with pictures. This year my mom didn't really have time to put anything together so I told her I'd be in charge of making a letter. I really enjoyed making it! It's been fun to look back on all the letters from years past and see what was going on in our lives.The front of this year's letter

The back

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!!

Love,

Quincee

I Love Christmas Parties!

This weekend was filled with Christmas parties and fun! Saturday night, we had our 2nd annual gift exchange with my three best friends from elementary school. We went to dinner, exchanged gifts, and had a slumber party. As always, it was a great time and we stayed up late hanging out and talking. Beth, Rachel, Alli, and Me Crazy pic!

Here are a few pics of each of us with our gifts.

I loved all of my gifts. They know me so well. I got a cute dress, a gift certificate to get my nails done, headbands, a bottle of wine, and a 2012 calendar/planner! Thanks girls!
Beth got two books, a purse, "We know we belong to the land" Oklahoma t-shirt, funny napkins, and a bookmark.
Rachel got an OU hoodie, scarf, candle, bottle of wine, calendar/planner, and bangles.
Alli got a bottle of wine, scarf, calendar/planner, "Mrs. Schoonover" hanger, and picture frame.

As you can see, we all must have been pretty good this year! Pinterest was a huge help while Christmas shopping this year. Two of the three girls have a Pinterest and they had a board with things they wanted.....it was a LIFE SAVER! Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find and order the OK t-shirt and book for Beth. I also ordered the "Mrs. Schoonover" hanger for the soon-to-be bride, Alli. She had that and the "house divided" picture frame pinned on her Pinterest. If you're on the look out for a bridal gift, I highly recommend you order from TwoBroadsDesign on etsy. They were very easy to work, reasonably priced, and very quick.
A better pic of the hanger


Friday night we had our annual corny Christmas sweater party! I found a sweet, velvet two piece jumpsuit at the thrift store, complete with a wreath turtleneck from Wal-Mart. Aaron didn't have a sweater so we dug through my dad's closet and borrowed one of his.Alli wore her mom's maternity Christmas dress and I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty cute!
Part of the gift I brought included stick-on beards and mustaches. I bought them for the sole purpose of taking awesome pictures!
Makes me laugh every time.

I love my friends! The two boys in the back are having a little moment...they love each other!

Thanks Brandi and Lance for hosting the party, I had a blast!