Weekend Recap!

I had such an awesome weekend. It was filled with Aaron's graduation, spending time with his family and mine, a graduation party with his friends, and a Christmas party with my friends! Here are some pictures from the weekend: Receiving his diplomaAaron and his familyAaron and my family Congratulations Aaron...i'm very proud of you!

Aaron was able to come back home with me and attend the Christmas party. It was a lot of fun! I was impressed that ALMOST everyone dressed in their corny outfits. The party was complete with lots of great food. We also played dirty Santa...I'm proud to say that I received a shake weight as my gift haha!

Lance's outfit was pretty good, complete with a cigar, eggnog, corny sweater, turtleneck, and an AWESOME comb over! He looked pretty classy.


So one of the main things on my Christmas wish list this year was the Nike Sport Band. Since I will be training for a marathon, I figured running equipment and gear would be a good thing to put on my list. Compared to all the other running watches and measuring bands, this one was fairly reasonable. However, I soon learned that in order to use this particular band, you must have the Nike running shoes that hold the pod in the sole of the shoe. Therefore, nix that idea because I didn't have the Nike shoes and I wasn't about to ask for both. Well Aaron said the other night that he wanted to go to Academy to get some Christmas shopping done. I was tired and didn't want to go so I let him go by himself. He came back all excited and said he really couldn't wait to give me my gift and he wanted me to open it NOW. I was SOOOOO excited when I saw what it was. I also felt bad that he spent so much money on me...I did not want, nor expect him to spend that much money. I told him he shouldn't have done it and his response was, "I wanted to because you're worth it." Isn't he so sweet? And yes, I must admit, he does a good job of spoiling me. I'm so excited to try out the shoes and the Sport Band. It tells you your distance, pace, time, and calories burned :))

Christmas Decor

When I was in college I found a really nice kitchen table in the classifieds. It was made of solid oak wood and it had a leaf and six chairs....the only thing wrong with it was the awful material on the chair covers. For the longest time, I've been meaning to recover them, but I haven't been able to decide on what fabric I like best. My mom had some red fabric that she said I could use for now just so they could be temporarily recovered. It's not what I would have picked out, but it looks SO much better than the old fabric and it matches the kitchen and is festive for Christmas. I will leave them like this until I get my own house and decide how I want it to be decorated. The chairs were super easy to recover! Here's the cushion before...YUCK!

And here it is after:

Before:After:Someday my goal is to paint the legs and chairs all black and stain the top a dark wood and add fun fabric to the cushions...we'll see!My mom bought me these fun Christmas hand towels from Pier 1. Aren't they cute? While searching for a corny Christmas sweater at a thrift store, I spotted this little jewel for $6 and I had to have it. I LOVE it!

I discovered two of my new FAVORITE wax melt scents today. My most favorite is the Scentsy Go-Go-Goji. It's an exotic blend of Chinese goji berry, sweet lotus flowers, and ripe warm dewberries. I have it burning in my room right now and I can't get enough of it. You seriously need to try it. My other favorite is Tyler Candle Co's Frosted Pomegranate...YUM!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's 58th birthday!!!! I wanted to wish him a very Happy Birthday because he deserves the best! My dad is the world's greatest dad....i know everyone says that about their own parents, but truly he is. I wouldn't trade him for the world. He is a husband. father. brother. uncle. teacher. coach. hard worker. survivor. My dad is always a very pleasant person to be around....I guess you could beg to differ if you ever had a run in with him on the football field or track. When I was a little girl I used to go to work with my dad almost everyday in the summer. I would get up at the crack of dawn and go to football practice with him. Most girls would probably dread going, but I absolutely loved every minute of it. I got to help the trainers hand out water bottles and I played pretend school in the coaching offices by writing all over the blackboards and for some reason that was really fun to me. I LOVED going to watch all the Norman High football games. I always loved running out onto the football field after the games and giving my dad a big ole hug! After my senior year of high school, my dad retired from coaching football so that he would be able to come watch me play volleyball in college. Of course, this wasn't the only reason he quit coaching, but i think it played a significant part in it. That meant the world to me....what a great dad! The older I get, the more grateful I am for my wonderful parents. The way my dad treats my mom has taught me exactly how a man should love a woman. After all, I remember my dad doing most of the cooking when we were younger (no offense to my mom, she is a great cook now). The way my parents raised my brother and me has taught me so much about how to raise a family properly. Dad, I'm so blessed and thankful to call you my dad. You've taught me so many great things and always let me know that you were proud of me. There has never been a time that I haven't felt completely loved. I hope you have a FANTASTIC birthday! I love you!

December Happenings!

This is what I'm loving about December:


1. Christmas Parties- i love love love Christmas parties. This past weekend I attended my first Christmas party of the season.....it was a work party. We ate dinner at a fun restaurant in Norman called Yumato. It's one of those restaurants where they cook the meal in front of you. I had a very good time and got lots of goodies.

My boss is amazing and super sweet and she gave everyone a bottle of Kenra Hot Spray, Kenra Root Lift, clips, and product samples. She also had a bunch of fun stuff that she gave away in a drawing. I won the drawing and got the blue biolage scissor case...it has different pockets where you can put shears, clips, combs, etc. My co-worker who drew my name got me a $20 gift card to BJ's and a cute red scarf...SAWEET! And last, but definitely not least I got a CHI for doing so well as a new stylist.....REALLY??? I was super pumped!! Did I mention I love my job, my co-workers, my clients, and especially my boss....they are all AWESOME!

These are all the wonderful ladies I work with....a few stylists were missing. Another thing that makes my job even better is that I now get to work next to one of my best friends from cosmetology school. She just started working last week and it's so great to see her beautiful face everyday (she's on the far right).

I will be hosting our annual Christmas party at my house this weekend. All my high school friends have gotten together for a Christmas party for the last 5 years or so. We all wear corny Christmas sweaters and play dirty santa....it's always my favorite party of the year because we have so much fun!

2. Aaron will be a COLLEGE GRADUATE!! This Saturday my boyfriend Aaron will be graduating from college with a degree in Environmental and Health Safety Management and a minor in Biology. I am so proud of him for completing college in 4.5 years. My parents and I will be making the trip to Tahlequah to attend his graduation and help celebrate his achievement. Aaron will be moving back to his hometown while he is searching for a job.....this means that he will be an hour and a half closer to me....YAY!!

3. Receiving Christmas cards in the mail- I love seeing all the cute Christmas cards that people come up with.....I think they're fun to look at and fun to display. I've already gotten a few so far and they are displayed on my shutter bulletin board in the kitchen.

4. Giving gifts....and let's be honest, who doesn't like receiving gifts too?? but I honestly can say that I like giving gifts just as much as receiving them, if not more. I love seeing people's reactions when you get them the perfect gift.

5. Spending time with family while making Christmas treats, playing in the snow, singing Christmas carols, and celebrating the real reason for the season, Jesus' birth!

Christmas 2009

Bamboo Stick Mirror

I absolutely love these bamboo stick mirrors and I've been wanting one for a LONG time. I found a tutorial on how to make one at this website : http://isabellaandmaxrooms.blogspot.com/2010/08/sunburst-mirror-project.html. Once I find a small circle mirror and some bamboo sticks, I will try to make one of these.

Picture Source: somedaycrafts.blogspot.com

Way Back Wednesday- College Volleyball Days!

I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane to my college volleyball days. During my freshman and sophomore years of college I played volleyball at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. It was one of the best decisions of my life to move to Fort Smith, Arkansas and attend college there....I absolutely loved it! The first two years of college I was a member of the volleyball team and the last two years I was a member of the pom squad. I miss them both a lot! I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to play a collegiate sport. Although it was very hard at times, it was also a lot of fun and I met so many awesome friends. I wouldn't trade those times for anything. We used to report to Arkansas a month before school started for "three-a-days." That was typically the worst two weeks of my life....I dreaded waking up everyday. During season we would practice every morning from 6:00-8:00, go straight to class, and then workout (lift or condition) after lunch. Needless to say, I learned a lot about responsibility, determination, and motivation throughout those two years. It was a huge challenge to balance volleyball and school at the same time. We were always traveling so there would be times when we would only be in class 2-3 days out of the week. It was very hard to stay caught up in class. Van rides were always bittersweet. They were long, stinky, and jam packed, but we always managed to have a good time singing, dancing, and telling interesting stories. I will always cherish the memories and friendships I made with my teammates and I hope one day we can all have a reunion :)) Love and miss you girls! Sophomore year at the National Tournament.Pool party before three-a-days (sophomore year)This picture cracks me up. This was at the Howdy dance freshman year. Freshman year athletic banquetGetting pumped before a game. It was a tradition for everyone to scream and yell down the hall then jump up and hit the arch of the door before running on the court.Sophomore night.Freshman team pic. Those were the tightest, ugliest uniforms I've ever seen.

I couldn't even breathe, much less lift my arms up. I always played horrible in those jerseys, but we wore them all the time.First home game (freshman year)Short girls on the left....giants on the right.Oh how I sometimes miss the good ole days.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas......

I'm proud to say that on my day off today I put up the Christmas tree and did some Christmas shopping. I'm so close to being completely done...I only have six more gifts to get (this makes me very happy and stress free). It looks a little bare around the tree, but I'm planning on buying a skirt to go around the bottom of it and once we get some presents under it I think it will look just fine.

Ashley (Trevor's gf) brought over her little tree and put it up last night. The random little wall that sticks out in the kitchen entry area is the perfect place for it! I'm loving my chalkboard...it's fun to switch up what it says. I had give thanks written on it for Thanksgiving and I woke up one morning and to my surprise the give thanks had been removed and it read "do your chores." Yes, that's right...I live with boys, but Trevor is very tidy and doesn't hesitate to remind us to keep the house clean. I guess that's what you get when you live with your landlord!I'm just waiting for the day when I come home and the dogs have destroyed the tree...I was so surprised that neither of them messed with it today. Keeping my fingers crossed!