Tickled Pink on New Years Eve

We are headed back to our hometown for New Years Eve. We will be spending it with hubby's family and extended family shooting fireworks, eating chocolate crinkles, drinking, and being merry.

What will I be drinking this New Years? Why, that would be my new favorite drink. It looks a little something like this:

A Tickled Pink is this:



Mixed with this:



or this:


I am most fond of the X-rated & Sprite combo so that is probably what I will be going with this NYE. But both combos are equally as yummy!

What are you all doing for New Years? Any fun plans?

**The remainder of the Christmas post will hopefully be up tomorrow.

A Munchkin Family Christmas: Part 1

I can't even begin to tell you how exhausted I am after our long holiday weekend. Our Christmas started on Wednesday morning and lasted through late Friday night. I spent most of Saturday morning in my PJs watching Christmas movies while hubby was out duck hunting. Then, instead of going to see what I could find for the after-Christmas sales, I hung around Mom's house and watched more Christmas movies! Lovelies, I was tired! I got to hang out with my baby bro though, so it was all worth it.

I did take a good bit of pictures over the holiday weekend so I figured I would split it up into multiple posts. So today I will share our Christmas at home with you. We exchanged on Wednesday morning, which was our last day at home before traveling that night, after work, to our hometown to start the festivities.

I don't want to bore with you millions of pictures of us opening every single present we got each other so I'll just share a few, m'kay?

Hubby loves his cast iron skillets!

Isn't this paper just adorable? It says "Merry Christmas Darlin'."

Yes, I do realize that the nearly everyone on the planet already has a Wii, but there's a story behind this. Our first Christmas as a married couple I was planning on buying hubby a Wii. When my MIL found out she informed me that she was already getting him a Wii, so I told her I'd figure out something else. Well, that was three Christmases ago and the Wii has yet to turn up. So, this Christmas I decided it was high time my baby got his Wii!

As you can see he was ecstatic.

I wanted to show you this to show you just how cute the paper was!

My kick-ass shoes!

Here's a closer look.

I freaked over this one! I LOVE it! A total surprise.

Here's a better look for you lovelies!

The Munchkins had a good Christmas too. Since they nearly have more clothes than I do, they have a million toys, and plenty of treats, I had to do some hard thinking to figure out their Christmas presents. When I saw this bed in Hairy Winston, I fell in love. Isn't is gorgeous?? Can I sleep in it????

The Munchkins checking it out.

I got them some new custom harnesses from Park Avenue Dogs. Aren't they beautiful?

Isn't he devastatingly handsome?

My lovely little girl.

All in all, I think we all came away happy. I was over the moon with my shoes and my ring. I loved ALL of my gifts from hubby but the shoes and the ring totally made my month!

There are more pictures to come!!!

Merry Christmas Ya'll

Christmas 2008 Photoshoot

Last year, in preparation for our Christmas cards, we did a little photoshoot at the beach with the Munchkins. The pictures turned out okay but the whole ordeal was a fiasco! I won't go into detail about it because it stills makes me a tad bit angry, but trust me that it was more headache than it was worth (and overpriced to boot).

Since we did manage to get some cute pictures out of the whole thing, I thought I would share them with you all.

We used this one for our Christmas Cards last year.

This is my favorite even though it was technically an "outtake". It turned out so cute I think!

I have a busy holiday ahead of me! Thank goodness we got most of our stuff loaded in the car last night. I am rushing home from work today to change clothes, finish loading the presents into the car, and then we are headed out of town to visit our families for Christmas. We have somewhere we have to be tonight. We have a Chinese Christmas exchange and dinner with Dru's Dad's side of the family. It always turns out fun because we do not shy away from taking the presents that we want! And it's all in good fun. After that is it on to my Mom's. We are staying with her over this holiday and tonight I have to give her the birthday present we got her.

Tomorrow I have off of work, thank goodness! Or else I would be driving to hometown tonight, back home tonight, going to work tomorrow, then driving back to hometown after work. Yikes! Tomorrow I am hoping I can find somewhere to get a quick trim. Then we have to head to my cousin's house for dinner with my Dad's dad's side of the family. Normally we do a draw-name and exchange gifts with the Christmas Eve night, but this year we are just doing dinner. The kids will get presents.

Christmas morning I have to get up at the buttcrack of dawn to get showered and dressed before my brothers wake up. Then I watch and take pictures while Lil Henry gets his "Santa" and opens gifts from all of us. Then the rest of us open our gifts before hubby, the Munchkins, and I have to hightail it to Dru's parents' house. Usually we end up waking them all up to exchange! This year will probably be no different. Then we have to rush off to my Nanny S's for breakfast and gift exchange. Every year, since there are sooooo many children in our family, each adult draws two names and buys gifts for those children. That way each child gets presents to open and everyone doesn't break the bank buying for every single child. (We're talking in the double digits here as far as the child head count goes.) Then the adults (you get qualified as an "adult" for these purposes when you get married) do a Chinese Christmas exchange.

After that, we have to rush off to my Nanny N's house for our gift exchange with them. Then it is off to Dru's grandmother's house. We open presents from his grandmother and then the whole family participates in a Chinese Christmas exchange. We eat dinner, hang around and chat, and then it is back to my Mom's house. Usually that is the end of it, but this year we have one other place to go. We are having a Christmas exchange at my step-dad's parents' house on Christmas night. They normally do it around lunchtime on Christmas day, but since hubby & I have so many places to go, we never make it. But this year it will be nice to see everyone and participate in the gift exchange.

So yes, I will be one busy girl on Christmas day! Oh and I can't wait for the after-Christmas sales! Woo hoo!

Christmas Party

First of all, I want to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Mom. She turns 40 today!

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So, I mentioned yesterday that we had our company Christmas party on Friday night. I was super busy at work all week last week getting ready for the Christmas party on top of doing my job, but Friday night it was all worth it. Despite a lot of unnecessary drama that surrounded the party beforehand, it turned out really nice and we all had fun.

I started out by taking photos of everything before leaving work to go home and get dressed (I wear jeans, a t-shirt/sweater, and flip-flops/Danskos to work most days).

These were the table arrangements that I came up with. What do you all think? Everyone here was very pleased with them and I think we are going to use them again next year.

The party was held in the warehouse. Not the most ideal location but it seems to work out fine every year. Oh that green blob in the back was the deflated jump castle for the kids (yes, kids are invited).





This is the giveaway table. Every employee gets a ticket when they arrive and a ticket is draw from a basket for each of the prizes. I was a little upset this year because normally the biggest prize (the tv) is raffled off first. That way everyone has a chance at it. Well, this year, the powers that be decided to do it different and raffle the tv last. Well guess whose tickets was called first?! Yep, mine, and I got a basket with wooden spoons, decorative Christmas dish towels, and a food chopper. But, I was appeased when my friend Deb won the tv!






Sorry there aren't too many pictures of the actual party. I didn't want to post pictures with my other coworkers in them without their permission and since I don't advertise my blog at work, I didn't ask them.

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Oh, and just a quick update on my Christmas Day outfit situation: I did make it to The Loft last night and found two cute options for Christmas Day, if it's as warm as the weatherman is saying its going to be. Either option will go with the brown silk pants and new Jessica Simpson snakeskin shoes hubby got me for Christmas. I will be packing my cold weather Christmas Day outfit along with my warm weather Christmas Day outfit. The only bad news now is that its supposed to rain. It has been raining like crazy here lately. I think we are making up for all that rain that we didn't get over the summer!

The Christmas Shoes...and more

This weekend hubby and I watched a movie on Liftetime called "The Christmas Shoes" with Rob Lowe and Kimberly Williams-Paisley. I had heard of this movie before but had never watched it...which is hard to believe since I live on Christmas movies during the holidays. When I saw that it was coming on tv on Saturday, I made sure hubby and I were in front of the tv to watch it. And oh boy!

I don't normally cry over movies, commercials, etc. but I was bawling like a baby by the end of this movie. And although Dru may not be thrilled that I am divulging this, he cried too. After it was over he told me not to make him watch movies like that anymore! My adorable husband is very in touch with his emotions and has such a tender heart. That's why I love him! It was nice to lay with the Munchkins and have a good cry together watching this movie.

Otherwise, our weekend was relatively relaxing. Saturday morning we did some cleaning and straightening, then we pretty much just hung out and watched Christmas movies together while the clothes were washing. Sunday was relaxing as well. We went to lunch, took the Munchkins to Hairy Winston to pick up some bully sticks, then went home and watched Christmas movies while we packed. We will be leaving on Wednesday evening to go "home" for Christmas. Originally we were going to have to travel "home" on Wednesday night for Christmas with hubby's Dad's side of the family, then drive back here so I could go to work on Thursday, and then we would have to turn around and travel back "home" on Thursday afternoon to make it in time for my Dad's side of the family Christmas. But, I was able to get Christmas Eve off (instead of my usual half or partial day), so I won't have to travel back and forth so many times.

That is a relief and a weight off of my shoulders. But, now I have to figure out what to wear on Christmas day! The outfit I had planned is not going to work since the weatherman is saying it is going to be 67 degrees here that day. I am so SICK of warm weather on Christmas day. Last year I wore a short sleeve red dress with knee high boots. I want a white Christmas!!!! But that's just wishful thinking since that will never happen here.

Tonight, hubby and I are going to run to the Towne Center to see if I can find a cute shirt to wear with the pants and new shoes (they are awesome! I can't wait to show them to you!) I am planning on wearing that day. I'll probably hit up Ann Taylor Loft since I can almost always find a cute top that fits well enough. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it won't be too terribly busy there tonight, but I have a feeling that tons of last minute Christmas shoppers are going to be out and about.

I hope you all had a great weekend. I am continuing to stay behind on blog reading. It seems like when I finally start to catch up, a lot more new posts get added! Maybe this holiday will let me catch up? It doesn't help that last week I was busy with work and getting ready for the company Christmas party (will share pictures from that later). And this short week of work, I will probably be pretty busy too, but I am hoping to get by at least a few of your blogs to comment. Although I am soooo thankful that it is going to be a short work week, I know that I will most likely be slammed trying to get stuff out the door before Christmas. I guess we'll see.

To all my friends in the north, I hope you all are staying warm! I know some of you were hit with a nasty snow storm. I am sending warm thoughts your way, even though it is quite frigid for us down here right now!

"The Stockings Are Hung..."

"...by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon will be there."

Sorry I've been so absent this week. I have been foregoing blogging in favor of trying unsuccessfully to catch up on blog reading and also in favor of actually working! I have been swamped this week at work. On top of that, we are preparing for our company Christmas party, so that is taking up a lot of extra time as well.

There isn't much to report really. Since all of our shopping has been done for a couple of weeks now, we are just taking it easy. The last of the gifts ordered online arrived this week, minus one, and I got all those wrapped and under the tree.

The only other "news" is that our stockings finally came in. I am beyond excited! I have been wanting these same stockings for three years but every year they sell out before I can order them. But not this year! I finally have the stockings I have been drooling over. Here they are:

I apologize for the horrible lighting. Due to the time change, I can't get any natural light to take any pictures during the week after work. So the stockings look a lot darker than they actually are.

You may notice that Bentley & Lexus' stockings are missing. I am still in the process of trying to find the "perfect" stockings for them. I want something in our same color scheme, but doggie related. I'm not exactly sure what it is I have in mind, but when I see it I'll know. If I haven't found something by next Christmas I will probably break down and just buy them the bright green and white polka dot stockings with red trim I saw at either Personal Creations or Personalization Mall. If anyone has any ideas for the Munchkins' stockings, please feel free to share!

Things have been pretty boring around our house. I hope to get some pictures at the company Christmas party tomorrow night that I can share with you all. There is a good chance you won't hear from me until next week.

Have a great weekend and finish that Christmas shopping if you haven't already!

Giveaways

Okay, first up we have such an awesome giveaway. And I could totally use the prize! This giveaway is for a Sleep Number bed! It is being hosted by Our Ordinary Life. Go on over and check it out! But hurry because it ends on the 15th!

Friends, I could totally use this bed. I am ashamed to admit it but right now hubby and I are calling a mattress and a box spring stacked on the floor our bed. We relinquished our old bed to one of the spare bedrooms and have been waiting to buy/build a new bed. But things keep getting in the way. There's just never any time!

You actually have more than once chance to win this bed because Lizzy is giving one away too! Go over and enter her giveaway too! But be sure to hurry because hers ends on the 15th as well!

Next up is the Fantabulously Frugal "You Deserve the Best" Giveaway! There is a ton of loot up for grabs so go on by and check it out. You have until the 14th! But be sure to tell her I sent you!

I am sure there are more but I am still trying to work my way through my over-loaded Google Reader. I want to go ahead and apologize for multiple giveaway posts just in case I run across more that I want to let you all know about!

As a side note: I am working on putting together my own giveaway for after the holidays. Keep your fingers crossed that it works out!

MIL Update

I spoke with hubby on my way home from work and he delivered the good news that my MIL is being discharged from the hospital! I guess before I tell you what the prognosis, or non-prognosis, was I should give you some background info that I didn't share yesterday.

Less than a year ago my MIL, who just turned 50 last week, suffered a heart attack. She was lucky though, they caught it early and were able to perform emergency surgery immediately to put a stint in. She has been on the necessary medication and everything has been going well up until this week.

Like I mentioned yesterday she was in the hospital since the beginning of this week. She was taken to the hospital by my SIL, BIL, & FIL because she was feeling light-headed and kind of yucky. When they took her blood pressure it was very high so they decided it would be best to take her to the ER. Her blood pressure was a lot lower at the ER and all other initial tests came back fine. They admitted her for observation overnight.

The next morning hubby went by on his way to work. (Remember they live in another city. Since hubby commutes there for work every day he is able to stop by on his way to and from work.) His mom delivered the news that the doctors had mentioned possibly doing surgery to install a pacemaker. This was shocking news to say the least because she just turned 50 only a few weeks ago.

They wanted to do the surgery tomorrow. They performed a stress test this morning and everything came back okay with that. Other than checking her BP every 4 hours they weren't really doing much. Hubby and I were never given the chance to speak with the doctor and I believe my MIL only saw him once herself. You see the town they live in is a very small one and the hospital is even smaller. We haven't been impressed with them and continue to still not be. We would much rather have had her moved to one of the many hospitals here in Charleston. The medical university would have been my choice but we have a few other great hospitals within arms reach as well.

We were afraid the whole time that they were jumping the gun on this surgery and not exploring all options and I wasn't so sure that the doctors were given all the pertinent information by my MIL. We weren't ever given any information that would indicate the need for a pacemaker. And as someone with aspirations of being a cardiologist, I wanted to make sure that the surgeons weren't just anxious to cut.

So it turns out that they were mis-treating her. Someone goofed somewhere. (Have I mentioned how incompetent this hospital is? The doctors most especially, but the nurses are pretty great there.) Despite the fact that the doctor that was treating her is a colleague of the doctor who performed her heart surgery, they had no idea that she had had a heart attack earlier this year. That should have been a red flag on her chart but evidently someone didn't feel it was important information. So, anyway, they told her to stop taking her blood pressure medication and see if it levels out. She goes back to her doctor for a follow-up within the next couple of weeks.

Needless to say my husband told his mother that she is not to be taken back to that hospital. He has been very frustrated with this whole experience and if you know my husband then you know he is a very laid-back, low-key kind of guy. He never raises his voice and he did several times this week over this whole thing (not at anyone, just talking about it). He doesn't often get vocal about things but when it comes to his family and their medical treatment, etc. he is starting to get very vocal about it. Actually I applaud him for it.

So yeah, that is where we are right now. I am hoping that going off her BP meds will help her BP to level out and stop bottoming out like it was. If anything new develops I will let you lovely ladies know. Thank you so very much for keeping my MIL and our family in your prayers. We appreciate all the support we have felt from the blogosphere.