Currently ~ January 2019

Happy New Year, Loves! 

A fresh start. A new beginning. The expectation! How about you? Oh, how I have missed my little space here in Blog Land! Thank you so much for joining me again in 2019. 

I'm celebrating my birthday month with Anne and her friends for the first linkup of 2019, and today, we're sharing about what we're currently choosing, tidying, resolving, exploring, and refreshing.

choosing || After I finished Melanie Shankle's Everyday Holy devotional last year, I decided to take some time and just simply read the Bible during my daily quiet times. Then in the fall, Amy and Kelly both recommended David Paul Tripp's New Morning Mercies devotional and when I found it at our local Christian bookstore for 50% off, I decided to get one and start the new year with a new devotional. Our Life Group leader also highly recommended it. The thing with devotional books is that it's important that they don't hinder your actual daily Bible reading. Are any of you using this one, too? I would love to know if you are. 

tidying || Like most of you, I'm in the process of cleaning up from the aftermath of Christmas. Why is it that some years, I find it harder to let go of the holidays? I am not ready to take the tree down, so it's still up until this weekend, but for the most part, all the other decor is boxed up and ready for next year. I just need a few more nights of twinkling lights. 

resolving || Y'all know that I don't make resolutions, but I HAVE decided to do a word for the year and I'll be sharing that next week, so stay tuned! 

exploring || It seems as soon as I posted this post, I entered into yet another stage of raising a teenager. Alise is "talking" to a boy and I use that phrase loosely. This topic probably requires a post all it's own, but due to her privacy, it won't happen. So needless to say, I'm exploring all the nuances of middle school crushes (But just for the record, he does not go to her school and he seems to be very nice and supportive of her. Just sayin).

refreshing || I am "refreshing" or actually, "repurposing" some of my Christmas decor.  I'm taking some of the winter themed items from our bedroom and working on a vignette for our kitchen island. All this inspiration came from my dear friend, Andrea, who gifted me a gorgeous lantern for Christmas. While putting some Christmas things away, it hit me that I needed to use my gold tinsel tree as a Mardi Gras tree in a few weeks. I recently found some light weight purple, green, and gold balls, so hopefully I'll be able to show you all these decor ideas soon. 

And now for a brief review of some things we did in December!

laughing || We attended John Crist's Human Being Tour and laughed our heads off! He is so funny y'all and if you're not following him on Facebook or Instagram, you should be! 

meeting || While we were waiting for the show to begin, I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a pic of Melissa Radke with John Crist. I commented that I was currently at his show in Shreveport. She quickly responded and said, "Come say Hi! I'm on the front row!" We found each other and THIS happened! Y'all! She was the kindest person and I highly recommend listening to her segment on Jamie Ivey's Happy Hour Podcast! Go now! 

twirling || Alise and I attended our local ballet to see her best friend in the performance. It has been YEARS since I've attended the ballet at Christmas and we had a fun mother/daughter date night. And y'all!  That's the Dooney & Burke purse Wayne bought me in COLLEGE! See?! Things really do come back in style! And this was just ONE picture from Alise's very busy social calendar from the holiday season. Baby Girl has kept me hopping with activities. 

shooting || Alise had the best game of her season so far in mid December. She scored two three point buckets back-to-back and had a great night on defense, too. The game came down to the buzzer with her best friend scoring the winning shot and the crowd went wild! We won by just one point. The team was awesome that night! And let me just say that you're a true baller if you wear knee pads and Adidas slides! 

crooning || Wayne and I attended Harry Connick Jr's concert in Shreveport and it was ah-mazing! My only disappointment was that I wished he had sang more Christmas songs, but when he pulled up a stool and sung, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve," I nearly lost it! He also led us in a rendition of a bluesy "How Great Thou Art" which was so, so chilling. Great concert! 

maintaining || Never in a million years would I have thought I would be able to maintain my weight during Christmas. But I stuck to my plan for the party season and I can happily say that I did not gain a pound! Yay! Because let's just say that there were lots of parties and dinners with friends this season! Lots! And I even managed to do better on the water wagon and so now I feel like I have the momentum to carry me into the New Year to lose those last four pounds! I can do this!

Christmasing || Movies, ice cream runs, Christmas toes and lots of baking. Sweet surprises from blog friends and precious Christmas memories. Just all the things Christmas and I loved every minute of it! Santa was so good to us and we enjoyed spending the day with my parents, brother, and aunt and uncle (to which I did not get a single picture!). Here are just a few snaps from the season. 

baking || I was finally able to get in some holiday baking the weekend before Christmas. I had made a few things here and there to carry to Christmas parties, but nothing like I normally do during the season until that weekend. I found my Christmas apron and had so much fun with Mr. Buble, Mrs. Clarkson, and a new artist I've discovered this year, Ingrid Michaelson, playing on Alexa while I baked away in the kitchen. Alise even decorated a gingerbread houses with her friends this year! 

wearing || Today over at The Blended Blog, the style prompt is what I wore for the Holidays. Here are a few outfits that I wore in December, when I could remember to take a picture. Let's just say that my faux leather leggings got plenty of wear for parties and such, but Alise and Wayne both told Santa that I needed to size down because they were looking baggy. 

watching || Over Chirstams, social media was all abuzz about the Netflix film, BIrd Box, starring Sandra Bulloch. We watched it Christmas night and the whole time I was wondering, "Who writes this stuff?!" Wayne and I saw the previews for the series, Ray Donavan, while we were at the actual theater and decided to start binge watching it. So far, we're enjoying it.

exciting || On Christmas night, I got a text from Dani letting me know that Baby C is on the way! I am SO stinking excited for her!  She's going to be the best Mama ever!! Miss seeing all our favorite basketball stars! 

ringing || Well, Mr. Horton decided on a repeat from NYE 1999. Although it wasn't the flu, he did have a very bad sinus infection and finally decided to go to the clinic on NYE (his doctor's office was closed), got two shots and three meds. So we ended up spending a rather rowdy evening with three teenage girls who were so excited about ringing in 2019 together! I cooked, we popped fireworks, and then Mr. Horton and I succumbed to our bed around 10:30 and let the girls have the rest of the evening to themselves. Happy New Year, Friends! 

loving || Have you kept up with Lysa TerKeurst's story? It is amazing and I am looking forward to reading her latest book this month and participating in an online Bible Study with friends. Her status on New Year's Day made my heart smile. 

ten years ago this month || Y'all!  Speaking of babies, just look at MY baby! Ten years ago, at the age of two, Alise fell off a plastic house at daycare that she was climbing on and ended up with two black eyes and a huge goose egg. I took her to our pediatrician and we had x-rays. Thank goodness nothing was broken, but Dr. S did suggest that we keep her "inside" until the swelling went down and the black eyes disappeared, which took nearly two weeks! He had to explain to this new mom that some people might not understand what had happened and draw conclusions.  I think this is when the bruising looked the worst and it just broke my heart that this happened. 

Okay, Friends, you are all caught up! At least for December, ha! I've got a few new ideas planned for the blog this year, so I hope you'll join me back here next week to hear all about it! Also, don't miss my post on Friday! I promise, it will be yummy! 

My Favorite Childhood Memories ~ Part One

Merry Christmas, Friends!

This will probably be my last post for 2018 simply because the Christmas season is officially here and I am taking some time away from Blog Land to spend time with my family and friends for the remainder of the year. I'm sure you understand. We've had fun kicking off the season and I'll be sharing all that at some point in January, I'm sure, but for now, I just wanted to say, thank you to my friends and readers, who for some crazy reason, still read our family blog. Apparently, much joy comes from reading my written "therapy sessions." Ha! I hope you and your family have a VERY Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year! 

Today I'm sharing some favorite childhood Christmas memories in lieu of the season.  I even went over to my mom and dad's SPECIFICALLY to find the pictures I needed to go along with the memory. I've decided to break this post up into two parts, so you'll have to come back in about 365 days to read part two! Ha! This post is a little long, but stay with me. Here we go!

My earliest childhood Christmas memory is from 1978. I was five, which means that my brother, Michael, was one. We lived in a moderate sized home that had a formal living room with a huge front window that over looked the main street of our neighborhood, and yes, avocado green shag carpet! Our Christmas tree was about five feet and it stood in front of that huge window. I asked Santa for a kitchen set that year. Up until then, Daddy had taken cardboard boxes and drew circles on them to resemble stove burners and I wanted no part of that anymore. I wanted an "official" kitchen with "real" dishes. Santa came through with the goods.

A few weeks before Christmas 1979, Mama bought me some lavender tweed pants and a velour top to match. She must have ordered them from Sears or JC Pennys because I remember her taking the clothes out of clear plastic wrap and making me try them on to see if they fit. I complained so much about the pants itching. I guess Santa overlooked my groaning because those things showed up with the pram that I asked for and needed for all those dolls I had. I loved that pram and it was probably my most favorite childhood gift from Santa. I got a pink and white roll top desk that year, too!

My mom worked for a huge insurance company and every year, they had a Christmas party for the employees' children. In this kid's eyes, the party was massive with gifts and toys and cookies and red punch. And of course, Santa was there. You attended the party based on what area of the company you worked in and since my mom worked in the biggest area, our "shift" was chaos! Wrapping paper flying, kids screaming and crying, punch spilling, but I thought it was bliss! I remember the year my Mom showed me her desk where she worked and I just thought that was the coolest thing ever to get to sit in her chair!

Eventually, Mama put a six foot Christmas tree on lay-a-way for one hundred dollars at a local store. I used that tree as our family tree until a few years ago and the receipt is still in the box! With the new tree came a new display place and so we moved it into our den, which was off the kitchen area. I can only remember one Christmas of having a real tree and it was the ugliest thing I'ld ever seen! Daddy complained about the needles getting stuck to the shag carpet. 

Looking back at these pictures makes me realize how, even as a young girl, I had a love for red dresses (and white tights!). The first dress was red velvet. The dress with Santa was long and the pinafore was embroidered with red cherries. When the dress got too short, Mama cut and hemmed it to make is shorter so that I could wear the dress for another season. The last dress was red with white polka dots and a rather huge white collar. 

One more story. In the picture with Santa, do you see how short my hair is? That was the shortest my hair ever was until the fifth grade. My mother, for some CRAZY reason, sent my dad and I to get my hair cut. I remember when we got home, my mother was mortified. She was SO mad at my dad for getting my hair cut that short. I didn't think anything of it, but she didn't talk to him for a while because of it. Too funny. 

God bless you all and may your Christmas be full of wonderful holiday memories, too!