XOXXOX

photo source

Happy Valentine's Day!

(Or Happy Tuesday, as some of you would call it. :)

I have to recap some of our weekend fun for you...

Dancing at the school "Sock Hop,"

A morning of roller skating to celebrate 

my youngest monkey's bday...

He's 8 years old now.  

Wow.  Time flies.

Happy birthday, my dude.

If that wasn't enough of a party...

 ...Mister Christmas and I had attended the Sweet Hearts Ball. 

We got FANCY for a good cause - to raise money for cardiac arrest awareness.  Their goal is to have 

Automated External Defibrillators 

in every school and business in the state.

I met so many amazing survivors of cardiac arrest, and heard so many sad, but inspiring stories.

And we raised money for a SPECIAL cause. 

I was truly moved and motivated.

Sunday was a nice, lazy day with these two...

Happy Valentine's day!!

XOXXOX

Life can be frustrating...

photo found here...

This picture was a nice little pick-me-up today.

Life has been very frustrating lately, to say the least.

Sorry for not writing much.

Dealing with lots o' crap these days.

Stick with me.

xo

Christmas 2011

Here's a little peek at our holiday festivities,

including Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day...

I hope your Christmas was MERRY and BRIGHT.

Stay tuned for a look back at my year...

photo credit 

2012 is almost upon us and MY, MY, MY - I am ready for that!!!

What are your New Year's Eve plans?

Do share!

Torture

I enjoy seeing the sights during the holidays, but there's no sight quite like seeing my dogs in a Santa hat and a Santa suit.

They torture me every day with their licking and their obnoxious behavior.

It's about time I torture them for a change.  

Don't you think?

Aren't they just ADORABLE????

(Even with that look of misery in their eyes.:)

Baking day!

Monday was BAKING DAY!

The monkeys and I went over to Natalie's house and we baked cookies all day.

The kiddos had a blast decorating the sugar cookies...

We also made chocolate button cookies, peppermint bark, and thumbprint cookies.

We were baking ANIMALS!!!

Speaking of animals...

...Bigsby even (reluctantly) donned his Santa suit for the occasion.

We are making a gingerbread house, tonight.

And Mister Christmas is bringing us a SURPRISE dinner!

Hope you are all staying WARM and FESTIVE. 

These two.

These pups are so funny.

So crazy.

So sweet.

I've been missing them, lately.  

We are looking forward to lots o' playtime and snuggle time with them over the winter break.

Going out to do the LAST of my holiday shopping!

photo credit

Have a marvelous day!!

Keeping that under-bite warm and cozy

The cold weather has finally caught up to us.  Tomorrow, it will be snowing.

I have to make sure Bigsby stays all warm and cozy so...

...I couldn't resist taking about a hundred photos of him in his new fall sweater 

by Martha Stewart...

...and I could have taken a hundred more.

Doesn't he just look adorably ferocious?

He's a vicious beast...who shivers. :)

Stay warm, my friends!

Love is in the air...

Say "hello" to one of my dearest friends, 

Jenna and her fiancé, Kevin.

These two LOVEBIRDS are getting married on Friday.

I am so DEEEEELIGHTED for them!  I can hardly wait!

She is going to be a BEEEEEAAAUUUUTIFUL bride!

(This is her looking cute in her tiara at her bachelorette party.)

Those who know me will tell you that I'm not exactly a gourmet chef.  In fact, I sometimes have difficulty finding my way around in the kitchen.

But today, I spent the entire day in an incredible kitchen, helping make delicious goodies for their wedding reception.

I helped prep the "SALTED CARAMEL APPLES." (Stay tuned for the recipe.  I will post it soon.)

There were several of us so we all worked on different projects...Here's a few shots of the other food prep...

(I prepared the tomatoes, onions, garlic, thyme, and olive oil for the roasted tomato soup, another recipe I hope to share very soon.)

YUMMY.  I can't wait to eat them.  The salted caramel was RIDICULOUS.

As I mentioned, we prepared all of the food in an AMAZING kitchen, in and AMAZING house which belongs to one of Kevin's close friends.  Here's a few shots of the house and the kitchen...

...and this is JUNEBUG. 

 She was such a good girl, today.

We had so much fun today.  Even with all of my "kitchen anxiety," I ended up REALLY enjoying the day.  I am so glad I could help my sweet friend get ready for her special day...

...and when I see the wedding guests sinking their teeth into their salted caramel apples, I will be proud on the inside knowing that I helped create those YUMMY treats.  

Happy Wednesday!!