{why I like the snow}

Found this on my way out the door this morning:

{30th birthday weekend recap}

My 30th-birthday-eve was almost just as special as my actual birthday. The girls at work got me a super-sweet card and brought in food in honor of my bday. Totally low-key but so nice that they thought of me. I’m very thankful for my coworkers—they are such as nice group of young women, with whom I have tons in common. Thank you, girls! I came home to pack and prep for an overnight trip to Nashville, Tennessee. After delish garlic bread pizza and some cabernet, Paul and I headed to the local theater to see Juno. (I recommend the movie if you haven’t seen it.)

Nashville was a great mix of kicking back, looking around, and having fun. Plus Paul and I love road trips—having four hours to talk and eat sour Jolly Ranchers is always a good time. We got to Nashville pretty early since we forgot about the time change, so we headed a little south to cute little downtown Franklin to eat at Merridees, which has the BEST baked goods. We walked in a few shops but it was so darn cold this weekend (25 degrees), being outside was pretty un-fun. We stopped at the Belmont Mansion for a little historical tour.

The tour was pretty interesting, but one of the women on the tour with was SO annoying...she asked about a million stupid questions, most of them asking if the wallpaper was original (after about the 10th “no” she would have figured it out).

Anyway....we headed back up to the hotel for opening presents and taking naps. (Thanks, mom, for the super cute Amy Butler bag!).

Paul did a great job surprising me with some really great gifts. What a sweetie! That night we headed out early this rather well known , but small hole-in-the-wall kind of place called the Bluebird Café. It was SO much fun—way more than I expected. Four singer/songwriters played some awesome country music (way better than the crap they play on the radio) in the round. And we sat about a foot (literally) from the musicians. Not only was the music really good, but so was the company. I was dreading having to be social with other people at our table (I was really tired...and I don’t like people all the much). Some girl who knew one of the musicians came along and sat at our table. She was really nice and asked some questions but I just felt really awkward. And then it turns out she lives in Nashville but she’s from Orange County and went to EV Free. Small world! We chatted easily after that. I had planned to go out after the Bluebird, but it was so much I figured nothing could top it, so we just kicked back at the hotel.

I woke on Sunday morning to find the bed empty (Paul was downstairs reading so he wouldn’t disturb me) so I did some more kicking back, drinking coffee and watching tv. By the way, I have to mention Paul did a great job picking the hotel...I highly recommend (at least the one in Nashville) the Spring Hill Suites by Marriott. The rooms were really nice (suites) and only $90! Plus they come with two free bottles of water—wow! About 11am on Sunday we headed to the Pancake Pantry, a Nashville tradition. We were expecting the line that greeted us when we got there—unfortunately, the line was outside and it was 25 degrees, but it was worth it.

After cinnamon and sugar pancakes (yum!) we spend some time browsing in a used bookstore, then drove out to the Hermitage to tour the home, tomb, and grounds of Andrew Jackson, 7th US president.

I noticed they kept the mention of the whole Indian removal thing to a minimum, but the place was pretty interesting. By they end of our two hours, much of it outside, I was pretty frozen and ready to head back to Cincy. Which we did.

{currently loving...}

CO Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint No. 1136

I got a tube of this luscious lip gloss at Bath & Body Works on sale for $5 (and I just heard it's on sale for $3 at the CO Bigelow store). The tint is the perfect hint of color, the gloss has a slight sheen that's not too shiny or sticky, and it has a fabulously minty taste. Plus it doesn't dry out my lips. Mom and sis both tried some of my tube and agreed it was every bit as great as I said it was. Mentha Lip comes in a couple different tints as well as clear.

{new year, new perspective}

Literally. I now have pieces of dark plastic framing my vision, which can sometimes be distracting. But I’m excited that I finally got new glasses, which I have been searching for the entirety of 2007.

Anyway...

Happy New Year to all of you!

I can't help but make New Year's resolutions. Maybe it's my goal-oriented side. Or my tendency to self-reflect. Or constant dissatisfaction with myself. Or maybe just my love of list-making. In any case, I never have trouble coming up with a few resolutions. Here are the three that came to mind first:

(1) Do more pilates (actually, that would be just "do pilates")

(2) Accept my personal style (but also stop feeling self conscious when I wear things that are “not me”)

(3) Wear more skirts (which is Paul's personal favorite)

I was discussing these facts with Paul on the drive home from the airport on Sunday, and lamenting the fact that I am never able to get the motivation to really change, specifically my complete inability to want to exercise. Paul, who had just come from hearing an appropriately relevant sermon, said something to the effect of this: It's not up to me to change myself or even within my capability of changing myself; it's up to God to change me (I'm assuming counting partly my willingness to allow the change...I can be pretty stubborn sometimes.) Well, good point, Paul (and thanks Dad-in-law!). It’s one of those notions that is so obvious yet so easy to forget, but so freeing when we remember. I don’t have to try to do the impossible. I don’t have to beat myself up for failing at the impossible. I don’t have to despair that I can’t complete the impossible. I can still try to make an effort to do Pilates or whatever, but it’s so nice not to have to rely on myself.

So, we'll see how the year goes. In the meantime, I will chuck my resolutions. Except maybe the one about the skirts because it's such as great excuse to go shopping.

{which holiday treat are you?}

Turns out, I’m a gingerbread house, which is really pretty accurate considering I’m sweet and crusty most of the time. According to the quiz, I'm a gingerbread house because:

“Wild holiday parties? Not your thing. Since your home is such a tasty place (nonpareils, gumdrops, and licorice are very welcoming), you'd rather hang out there with a small group of invited guests. The holidays are a lot of work for you, but it all feels worth it when everyone compliments your artful decorations and inspired seasonal soundtrack. You surround yourself with sweetness at home, so you don't feel the need to venture out -- you're happier in your own, carefully-constructed holiday surroundings.”

Which holiday treat are you? Click the image below to find out!

{guest post from my hot husband, Paul}

Kristin and I have been thoroughly enjoying her clever Advent calendar. In fact, tonight's Advent activity is to blog on each others blog. So I thought that I would post a Christmas activity list for all Kristin's readers looking for a simple way to add some simple joys to this Advent season.

1) Go to the library and check out some Christmas movies (my favorite is the Charlie Brown Christmas).
2) Call a long lost relative or friend to wish them a happy Christmas.
3) Read Luke 2:1-20
4) Listen to King's College Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (at 3pm GMT or 10am Eastern on Christmas Eve).
5) By some peppermint ice cream and hot fudge and enjoy a winter treat.
6) Go ice skating.
7) Give a gift to someone you know in financial need.
8) Drink coffee and read all day long.

Cheers!

NOTE FROM KRISTIN: Check out my post on Paul's blog here.

{i'm famous!}

Okay, not quite. But gotta toot my own horn every now and then...

My advent calendar got a mention on the "who's who of scrapbooking" blog, scrapscene.com. Pretty cool! Plus a reader gave me this comment, "This has got to be cutest most clever Advent Calendar I have ever seen!! Thanks so much for sharing it with us! Hope you & your family have a wonderful Holiday season filled with love, peace, & laughter!" Aw, how sweet.

{santa and his friends}

Last night, we took a trip to the carnival of gaudy and overdone Christmas décor that is one of the houses on our street. I wish I could show you the entire display. Unfortunately, dark enough for the lights is too dark to photograph. But I was able to get a photo of Santa and a couple of his friends:

{advent}

One of my fondest Christmas memories is opening the tiny little doors of a paper advent calendar. Every year, my mom would buy my sister and I our own little calendars (her way of providing peace on earth—no fighting over who got to open the doors). I haven't had an advent calendar for years and I miss the tradition. So after seeing some really cute scrappy advent calendar ideas on the blogs I read at work, I just had to make one. I saw a wall-mounted, tree-shaped picture holder at Pier 1 a few weeks ago and snatched it up, just planning to hang it on the wall bare. But inspiration struck an advent calendar tree was born:

The backs of all the squares have activities for Paul and I to do each day (like drink hot chocolate and give each other foot massages). It makes us feel like kids again, finding ourselves racing to the tree and eagerly anticipating a new activity. And we like the idea of developing new Christmas traditions and incorporating old ones that we can enjoy now and share with our kids when the time comes.

What are your Christmas traditions—old or new? Wishing you a joy-filled advent season!

{random}

I was getting ready to send some random pictures to my mom and thought I'd just post them here:


The perfectly delicious pumpkin cake I made for Thanksgiving. I really worried about it since I don't bake and our oven is old, but it was scrumptious! I ate at least a 1/3 of the cake myself. And I now I don't want to see pumpkin cake again until next Thanksgiving.



Paul's old hand-me-down side table made a bit more stylish and modern. I took out the glass tabletop, wrapped some funky Amy Butler fabric around the glass, and put the glass back in the table. Voila! Easier than paint, cheaper than Pottery Barn.



Some fabric I bought during a trip a coworker and I took to a really cute little town an hour from Cincy. I'm thinking I will use it as boudoir pillows for the bed.



One of the three aforementioned pine trees Paul purchased for the backyard. It turns out they aren't pine trees they're some other kind of evergreen, but still. Paul planted two and kept one on the porch to use a Christmas decor. The little thing looks pretty cute! Like I said, pine trees are only pretty as Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ever since I can remember, I’ve looked forward to Thanksgiving for one reason: Nana’s (my grandma) stuffing. Sure, I fill my plate with tons of Thanksgiving treats, but the helping of stuffing far outweighs all the rest. Nana passed away several years ago, but my mom took over the stuffing-making duties (and my sister had the pleasure last year). I will be at my in-laws this year so, sadly, I won’t be able to partake of Nana’s yummy stuffing goodness. But dreaming about the herbs and spices Mom promised to make me for Christmas instead inspired this quick digital scrapbook layout I made for work.



What are your favorite Thanksgiving treats? From Paul and me--Happy Thanksgiving!

Pine Trees: An Informal Survey

Last week Paul was mentioning the types of tree he would like to plant in the backyard. First on the list: a pine tree. My reaction? Something along the lines of “What?! Pine trees are ugly. I don’t want to see a big ol’ pine tree first thing right outside my kitchen window.” (For the record, my sweet Paul has decided to plant the pines way down the hill in the forest of our backyard). This discussion has come up a few times since then. I recanted my statement at bit; it’s not that pine trees are ugly per se, they’re just not pretty. Why would anyone choose a pine tree over, say, a beautiful maple or a delicate Bradford pear? To me, pine trees are only appropriate in winter or in the mountains. Paul, and the guy who told him about the tree in the first place, disagreed. Then I was relating the tree story to my mom, who had much the same reaction to the pine as I did (and for the record, we both also hate palm trees and birds of paradise). Then I began wondering if it was California thing. I mean, in California the only time you see a pine is inside your house surrounded by presents.

So, I’m conducting an informal survey. Pine trees: Yay or Nay? Please leave a comment stating your opinion of pine trees and your state. Thank you for participating!

The Gift of Gifting

At small group last night we were given the task of being content with and not squandering the talents and skills God has given us. I’m terribly guilty of squandering my talents. I have a tendency to dismiss them as not good enough. I’m an artistic and creative person and I like writing and shopping, but I always tell myself those things don’t “count” as skills that can be used for the kingdom.

In the church lobby they put up one of those trees where you take an ornament and buy a gift for a kid. I happily picked out an ornament, one inviting me to buy an item of clothing for a teenage girl. And as I was walking away it hit me—here was my opportunity to use my shopping skills for good and not evil! Turns out, shopping does count for the kingdom. I mean, not everyone can do it well or even handle it. Paul, for example, would probably rather poke his eye out than go inside Forever 21. So from now on my talents, shopping at least, will go on the “things that count” list.

New Wedding Photos!

We finally got the disc of all our photo proofs. Yay! I had a freak out moment when I first looked at the photos. I snuck a peak at some of the bride shots while dinner was cooking. My reaction? That I looked like complete crap, totally unphotogenic and that my parents has wasted many, many dollars on horrible photography. I lamented the photos all through dinner. Paul suggested that perhaps the photos were fine and that I was just hungry. Whatever! was my reply. Like that would really affect my ability to look at pictures of myself. Turns out, Paul was right. I went back after dinner and looked at the same ten photos and they looked completely different! All the pictures turned out awesome, even in their "raw" form, and I'm really happy with them. Here are some of my favorites:

Happy Anniversary to Me

Today is my one-month wedding anniversary! It’s flown by. Paul and I love being married. It’s so much fun and really more enjoyable and less stressful than both of us expected. It has not been an adjustment at all; everyday we find new things we enjoy about living together and being married. I think it makes us wonder why we didn’t do it sooner! I’m definitely so grateful to God for bringing us together and provding a wonderful, loving, firm foundation for our lives together.

In honor of our mini-anniversary, here are five things I love about being married:

*Having something besides my alarm clock wake me up in the morning...and bring me a mug of deliciously dark coffee

*Getting to see my favorite person first thing when I wake up in the morning and last thing when I fall asleep at night

*Doing my own thing but knowing Paul is in the next room

*Not having to lug the entire contents of my apartment (laptop, cooler of food, magazine, book, DVDs, flip flops, etc.) to Paul's house

*Cable TV (just kidding! sort of…)

TV

You may know by now that Paul is fairly anti-TV. For him, TV is a mostly a waste of time. You may also know that I’m 110% pro-TV. It’s my passion. If I could allow myself watch TV all day long, I would. Imagine the sacrifice of living without cable last year. Um, yeah. So, the deal with the new hubby was that when we moved in together we would get cable (since I no longer had to pay for cable Internet at my apartment). Let me tell you, it’s been so nice to relax after work and catch some Project Runway reruns and feed my not-so-secret obsession with America’s Next Top Model.

As it turns out, I am not the only cable fan. That’s right: Paul likes cable TV! Not one but three CSPAN channels, plus the Military Channel and National Geographic! Wow!! One time, Paul was watching TV while I read a book. It was like bizarro Paul and Kristin. And imagine my surprise to find out that Paul has been viewing the tube before he goes to work each morning (the Cincinnati version of CSPAN, but still surprising). So of course I’m all excited that Paul shares in a bit of cable excitement and doesn’t resent the new expense. Now if only we could find a channel that we both like to watch… Having completely different TV interests is kind of a problem. It’s bad that I finally have cable and I find myself watching a DVD on my laptop in the bedroom…

His and Her Decor

One downside of getting married and living with a boy is that you really have to keep the girl décor to a minimum. Paul’s been pretty good about letting me put some floral fabric accents around the house. But he pretty much drew the line at hanging a collage print by this etsy artist I love who specializes in girl-themed art. But how cute is this print??













It’s called soul nesting. How perfect! Two newly marrieds...souls joining as one…nesting in a new house together… Plus, the bird in the top right matches a bird in some other fabric I'm putting in the living room. Paul hasn’t actually seen this particular print yet…maybe I can talk him into it. What do you think?


P.S. Yes, I'm in a posting mood...it'll save me the trouble of posting for the next month. (just kidding...sort of...)

Two "hot" topics: Coffee and global warming

I just got back from my weekly trip for a Starbucks treat. It's a bit ridiculous that a cup of coffee (fancy coffee spiced with pumpkin, but still) costs more than four dollars. It's even more ridiculous that I spent the more than four dollar to get one. We wonder why Starbucks costs so darn much. Guess what? We let them. I do, anyway. There are three Starbucks within a 1.5 mile radius of work. And I'm pretty sure a lot of other people let them too. Maybe I should boycott my weekly treats... (yeah, right).

On a separate note, I love to read the quotes on the side of the Starbucks cups. Today's was a rather witty comment regarding global warming:
"So-called global warming is a secret ploy by wacko tree-huggers to make America energy independent, clean our air and water, improve the fuel efficiency of our vehicles, kick-start 21st-century industries, and make our cities safer and more livable. Don't let them get away with it!"

He has a point. I don't know whether global warming exists or not. And, frankly, I don't really care. But certainly is can't hurt to use cleaning products without chemicals, to save money on the energy bill, and drive the car a little less. I'm fairly intrigued with the whole green movement...much of my ideas and information comes from the various home décor and lifestyle magazine I read (which, for the record, I either save or recycle). Perhaps my semi-liberal husband is rubbing off on me.... But, don't worry, I'm rubbing off on him too; he went shopping yesterday (by himself) to find me a houndstooth winter coat...

Wedding photos: Sneak peak!

My good friend Jen Disney took some super cool photos at the wedding and posted a few on her blog (thanks, Jen! You rock!!). Check them out here.

What City Do You Belong In?

I’m supposed to be working right now. But my boss and almost all my coworkers have left for the day, so you can imagine how motivating that is.

So, I’ve been a blog stalker this week. I love reading people’s blogs, getting their stories, finding out what other people’s lives are like (much more interesting than my own, and way more interesting to me than celebrity gossip.) Anyway, I’ve been a blog stalker this week on Tracy’s blog. I don’t know Tracey personally (but I do know her husband from EV Free) but I made my way to her blog from Jen Disney’s photo blog. On Tracey’s blog was a link to a quiz called What City Do You Belong In? I’m belong in Paris—how apropos. Not that I’ve traveled to that many non-US cities, and it’s actually a toss up as to which is my favorite, but I would go back to Paris (where I’ve been twice) in a heartbeat. I dream of Paris and it totally inspires me.
What City do you belong in?

You Belong in Paris

Stylish and expressive, you were meant for Paris. The art, the fashion, the wine! Whether you're enjoying the cafe life or a beautiful park... You'll love living in the most chic place on earth.

What City Do You Belong In?