It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Ok, so maybe we jumped the gun just a bit, but last week we bought and set up our Christmas tree! We figure we might as well enjoy it, and since we're going to South Carolina for Thanksgiving, we want it waiting for us when we get home in all its sparkling cuteness. I have to say (total cheesehead moment coming...) it was such a blast setting up OUR tree together. Our first Christmas tree. We've decorated lots and lots of trees together over the years, but something about this one being OURS, and doing it as a married couple...ah shucks. :) It was awesome! And now I'm done making you all nauseous...promise... :)

The tree didn't start out looking like much. We were a bit concerned about the Charlie Brown-ness at first. Can we say, "Are there still some branches in the box?" :)



But after some hard work and muscle power... (man I have fun with this kid!!)



...we are pretty pleased with the results! Here's the before (loving the giant spaces) and after:





A couple days ago I went crazy with some fake pine, glittery flowers and lights, and ended up creating this contraption (Please forgive the show-and-tell. Brian and Mom wanted pictures posted, and what Brian and Mommy want, Brian and Mommy get!) :



Anyway, between the tree and garland, we're feeling pretty festive, and sparkly, and glittery, and happy around here! Hip hip hooray for Christmas!!!

Where Oh Where Can My Hubbie Be?

Warning: This is going to be me whining. I don't particularly care for whiners, but I'm going to be one for just a tiny little minute. Call it isolation induced insanity kicking in--it is midnight and Brian is still at work. Yep...this is his second 15 plus hour day, and I feel horrible for him and, I must confess, a little ornery about it myself. The best part is, that the past couple of times he's called he's said they are doing (wait for it...) NOTHING. Yep. That's right. They are being kept there for hours on end in-case work becomes available. I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but in my ornery state I don't care. :) he he he.

Ok. I'm not THAT bitter. I do still realize that we are incredibly blessed to have such a good job in these tough times. In fact, our life in general, though not perfect, could definitely be a lot worse. I am still rational and grateful enough to realize that. But I just had to vent--and, more importantly, see if there's anyone out there who wants to don camouflage and help me plan and carry out an elaborate scheme to overthrow the crazy management. With me and the girls in charge, not only would there be overtime pay and normal working hours, but I believe there would also be a fair share of tea parties, bring-your-wife-to-work days, and elaborate company balls where the company foots the bill for the cocktail dress. What do you say...who's with me? :)

Misbehaving in Williamsburg

This weekend we hitched up the horses, loaded the carriage, donned our wigs and headed to Colonial Williamsburg for a weekend getaway. (Ok...so there were no wigs involved. We could have rented colonial costumes, but after the dalmatian stunt, I'll be lucky if I can get Brian to dress up as anything ever again.) We had a really great time. The leaves down there were just beginning to fall, and we loved getting pelted by them as we walked through a revolutionary town, crunching as we went. The colors were still amazing, and being in one of the first colonies was so cool. I hate to rip off my own past post, but as usual the mishaps made the memories, so here we go:

*The first day food seemed to be a problem. All I wanted on the drive down was an Arbys. I'm so easy, right? Wrong. We searched the signs at every exit, only to find no Arbys. Ironically enough, on our way home there were Arbys listed at almost every stop going the opposite direction. :) Oops. The good news is, there was an Arbys not far from our hotel, and after a beef and cheddar, we finished off our hunger with goodies from the 7-11 across the street.

*Ah, our lovely lobby. The night we checked in, we saw it a lot. We were in and out of our room searching for Arbys, going to the car, going to 7-11... I began to think the front desk guy must think we were nuts. So, when we had to leave the room the ka-gillioneth time in search of ice, we took a different hall, and a different elevator that wouldn't lead us past the front desk. It was pretty deserted, actually, as we waited to get back on the elevator.
Me: "I don't want to run into that little front desk guy again...he's gonna think we're crazy."
The elevator arrives. "So, we'll take this elevator in this nice, abandoned part..."
The doors open and I enter, "And....Aughhhhhhhhh!"
Standing in the corner...the front desk man. He looked at me like I was nuts (whether because I gasped and jumped, or because it was the millionth time he'd seen me in 1 hour I don't know), and Brian laughed his head off causing the "These people are nuts" look to become even more pronounced.




*This is me warming my buns by a colonial fire, with charming wood-paneling, in a quaint little tavern, where we had a tasty little lunch, served by a pleasant colonial lady. Now that I've painted a cute, picturesque scene, the real story: It POURED on us Saturday morning. And I mean POURED. Within 10 seconds we were soaked to the point that it seemed dumb to buy a $13 umbrella. So we laughed, sloshed to the tavern, ate lunch and then tried to dry out by the fire. It was quite chilly. :) The good news is, Sunday was gorgeous, and we finished our site-seeing in pure autumnal bliss.




*Take a close look at this picture. Notice anything...amiss? Like the keys dangling from the ignition? :) Yep. Saturday we were walking back to the car when Brian noticed he didn't have his keys. When we got to the car, whala. The first time he's ever locked his keys in the car. We were a bit stressed, but after remembering our road-side assistance insurance clause, we were able to laugh as we waited the half hour for the pop-a-lock guy to come. Hey...at least it wasn't raining!




*We went on a fun ghost tour of the town Saturday night. Unfortunately, we got put in a group with 9 year old girl scouts. Now, I love kids...and I can usually find them cute regardless of what they're doing...but these girls...wow. Just wow. They were so...questioning? curious? talkative?... that we actually had 2 or 3 families disappear from our group when other tour groups passed by. By the end, our herd was thin, but we still enjoyed ourselves, and learned some great history. (Keep this in mind ladies: If he wears a thick wig, with lots of curls, it's a good sign cuz it means he can afford it. Thus the term, "Big wigs...")





*Just on a fluke, we ventured into the Yankee Candle store in Williamsburg, and boy did we get a treat. Brian lists it as one of his favorite things about the trip--and no, it wasn't because of the yummy candles. It was like Santa's workshop! There was even a room where it snowed! Awesome!

Anyway, we had a great time on our last little fall outing. Now the Christmas bug is beginning to bite... we bought our tree yesterday, and I think ornament shopping is in store for today. Happy Holiday Season everyone!

Have you seen this couple?

Cuz if you have, I want them back!! Yes, the last of my family visits wrapped up bright and early this morning. I hated to drop my parents off at the airport. I got home and blubbered like a baby! :)

Their trip went WAY too fast. Maybe it was because we ran around seeing anything and everything imaginable: Arlington Cemetery, the monuments, the house where Lincoln died, Mt. Vernon, downtown D.C, the Capitol, the Air & Space Museum, the National Archives, the Holocaust Museum, the Natural History Museum, Old Town... plus, we threw in some very tasty dinners (thanks Mom & Dad), a movie night and a rousing game of Battle of the Sexes (we won't say who won...we WILL say that the inventors of the game obviously think boys are dumb because they give them incredibly easy questions :) ). Or maybe the reason their visit went by so fast is because they are truly some of my favorite chums. Not only are they amazing parents, but they are amazing friends. I love hanging out with them, and doing it in D.C. was definitely no exception. Thanks for coming Mom & Dad! We love you guys and already can't wait to see you again!

Six Quirks (It's a novel...proceed with care...when you're bored...)

Ok...so I got "tagged" by my sister Carly. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what that means. Does that make me a slightly old-foagie blogger? :) I think that means I do what she did and list six quirks about me and Brian. Six is child's play, I can assure you :) We're both quite dorky, so this shouldn't be too hard. Maybe I should make everyone who wants to read this post sign an agreement first: "I promise I will still be friends with the 'special' couple, even after I am allowed to see a glimpse of what they really are." Yes...we'll use the honor code. If you keep reading, you're stuck.

#1-I absolutely can not stand having anything touch my inner elbow. Nothing. I don't care if it's a needle, a purse strap, a finger or a hot husband. I get so grossed out. It bugs me enough that when I went in for brain surgery, my biggest concern was not whether they would screw something up while they were in there (let's face it...not much they could scramble), or whether my nose would ever look the same....it was whether they were going to put my IV in "that part of my arm". Yep, it's psychotic. I'm working on it. :)

#2-Breakfast is the meal that 99.999999% of Americans start their day with. "BreakfRast" is the meal that Brian starts his day with. Where it came from, we will never know. I used to try to figure it out, but now...well, it's kinda grown on me. One of his cute little boy quirks. :)

#3-My car is my baby. I'm a liiiiiiiiiiittle bit overprotective, and maybe a liiiiiiittle bit too attached. :) Her name is Tinkerbell (usually just Tink), and ...well, she has feelings. :) She gets parked an insane distance away from store entrances so no one can ding her, and I'm still convinced that she's been throwing attitude since I forced her to leave the comfort of her garage in Utah (although, she does have a parking spot by the woods here, and seems to like having little forest pixie friends to mingle with :) ). Tink needs friends, so I've named quite a few cars, actually: Brian's Saturn is Sophie, my dad's truck is Brutis (had to come up with a manly one to justify stealing his garage spot...a manly truck could deal with the cold... :) )... you get the idea. I'm weird.

#4-Brian is a manly, sports loving, football watching, boys' boy kinda guy. But you should hear him perform broadway musicals. :) Long car trips usually involve at least one soundtrack, and they are definitely not from my collection :). He loves Wicked, Les Mis... (ha ha ha...I just ran out of musicals, and asked him "What other ones do you sing?" He didn't want me to tell his little secret so refused to answer. I said, "I'll start listing stupid ones if you don't tell me." He responded, "Like what? Name one stupid one!" And there you have it. He likes his musicals.)

#5-I LOVE playing practical jokes. Mostly on Brian, for some reason. I've pulled some doozies over the years. For example, when he called one day, I maybe kinda told him I was in the hospital with a ruptured ear-drum, and I even had a remote control beeping sound going in the background, and I told him I'd be permanently handicapped and unable to hear in one ear. He responded, "But you're a cute handicap!" so sweetly...and then hung up on me when I told him I was kidding. Seriously, what about that wasn't funny? Yeah...I agree...none of it was funny. I felt horrible about it after, so since then my "jokes" are few and far between, and mellow. Me: "Guess what? I went shopping at the mall today and kinda went crazy." Him: "Good! What did you get?!!" Me: "Oh. I was kidding." Funny, huh? :)

#6-Brian is definitely NOT a picky eater. He's so fun to cook for. Likes pretty much anything ... except black licorice. He despises it. Won't go near it himself, and if I've been eating it no smooches for me. I didn't realize how bad the aversion was until I was popping jelly bellies into his mouth as I munched and he read earlier today. I snuck a black jelly belly in there after some orange ones (see quirk #5) and he went nuts! He was gagging, and jumping off the couch, and spitting the jelly bean into my hand, and running his mouth under the sink... Apparently he really does hate the stuff. :)


And there you have it. As if you didn't think we were odd enough. Now it's your turn. I tag everyone on my cute little blog list who wants to play! I'd love to learn your scary little quirks!