Christmas 2016

Hey y'all! I hope each of you had a very Merry Christmas. We loved getting to celebrate Jesus' birthday with our family this year. The holidays are always a whirlwind for us since we travel so much, but it is always worth it. We started our celebration the day before Christmas Eve. I worked until 5:00, and then we hopped in the car and headed to Lexington to spend the night with Tyler's mom and Kip. Rhonda made several yummy appetizers and some delicious peach tea. After we ate, we opened gifts and watched Christmas Vacation. Rhonda got me a BEAUTIFUL bedroom comforter with all of the matching pillows. I told her about this cream bedding set that I had seen online at Macy's, and she asked to see a picture. We both got so tickled when I showed it to her because she has the exact same one. She also got me a few other things including the softest Vera Bradley pajamas. I've already had to wash them three times since Christmas because I want to wear them every chance I get! 

All of Ty's mom's decorations were so beautiful. 

Little Emmie being a good girl.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to head to Inez where Rhonda's parents live. One Chik-fil-A stop and a bathroom break later, we arrived at our second Christmas celebration. We had a great dinner and got to watch baby Emma open up all of her gifts. Having little ones around makes everything so much more fun!

This is Mo with her great granddaughter. How sweet! 

Tyler's aunt Michelle and her granddaughter Emma. 

Trying to get a picture with the wild child LOL

Rhonda with her two babies! 

Notice Emmie behind the chair.. She never leaves Rhonda's side. 

After spending some time at Ty's grandparents' house, we got back in the car and headed to my maw maw and pawpaw's house. We had another delicious dinner there, and then we opened up gifts. I hadn't seen my cousin Emilee for many months, so it was good to get to spend some time with her and Ross. I always love when we can all get together. 

Look at my maw maw's beautiful tree! I love it! Her decorations were so pretty. 

All of the grandkids with maw maw and pawpaw. 

For Christmas this year, I wanted to do something special. I schemed with my pawpaw Fred to make the women in our family a cookbook with recipes from my maw maw's recipe box. These are recipes that we have grown up on, and I wanted everyone to have a copy of them. I began working on this back in the summer. It took a long time to scan in all of the handwritten recipes and old family photos. I also typed out all of the recipes so they would be easy to read. The cookbook ended up being over seventy pages long. It was a labor of love. I think my maw maw, Aunt Michelle, and mom loved it so much, and that made all the work worth it! 

I snapped pictures of each of them opening it up.

Love these three women so much!

After spending time at my maw maw and pawpaw's house, we headed to my mom's to spend the night. Mom also had some yummy snacks made for us. Yes, we ate something at every single house we went to LOL Every year, we open gifts at my mom's on Christmas Eve, and then Christmas morning we get our stockings. I was so excited for Tyler to see what my parents got for him.

Look at my little sweetie and her new Lilly Pulitzer dress I got her in the print Southern Charm.

Mom got Kelly a pair of pants in the same print that I got in her dress LOL Can you tell we like Southern Charm?! 

Dad got Ty an awesome tool set with some accessories. 

Look at that grin LOL

He was tickled to death with his Apple watch!

Okay, so here is the most exciting gift I got for Christmas. If you follow me on Pinterest, you've probably seen the countless pins on my Salt Life board of blue townie bikes. I have always wanted one but never bought it for myself. When it was time to open gifts at my mom's, my sister told me to turn around and hide my eyes. When she said to open them, I spun around to see her wheeling this beautiful thing out of my parents' bedroom LOL I was ecstatic. Honestly, I was in shock at first. I immediately hopped on it only to find my bike riding skills have gotten a little rusty over the years LOL I can't wait until it warms up so I can ride it around. I hope Tyler knows we will now have to get a bike hitch for my car because this thing is definitely coming to Myrtle Beach with me! Thank you so much Kelly! This was the best gift ever!! 

Now, don't think Kelly didn't get an awesome gift too. That sweet little thing had been looking at fur coats/wraps/capes everywhere we went for the last three months, but she could never find exactly what she wanted. When I found this fur cape online at Dillard's, I just knew it would be perfect for her. She loved it, and she looks absolutely beautiful in it! 

My mom surprised me with a few things that I did not know I would be getting. I had sent her a picture of this nativity scene from Hobby Lobby back in the fall when they first put it out. She remembered me wanting that and got it for me. I cannot wait to start using this every Christmas. How special! 

She also got me a hand mixer and mini food processor that match my mixer.

I accidentally broke the box (oops) BUT she also got me this white cast iron pot. I LOVE it! I can't wait to make some Hoppin' John in it for the New Year!

On Christmas Day, we woke up and had a delicious breakfast that my mom made.  After breakfast and opening our stockings, we got ready for another day of traveling and visiting with family.

We had a wonderful time at my grandmother's house. Seeing Bo open all of his gifts was so much fun. Listen y'all, that baby is just everything. He is the cutest, sweetest, smartest baby boy in the world. He entertained us the entire time we were there! 

Kelly did it again with giving an awesome gift. She had this beautiful picture of my grandmother and pawpaw Peanut framed. Gran loved it so much that she cried. It was such a thoughtful gift.

Gran got Bo a vacuum cleaner because he loves to help around the house while Tay cleans. That sweet boy vacuumed all day long LOL Tyler asked Tay if he could come to our house and visit with his new toy!

After visiting with my grandmother, we loaded up the car to head to one last Christmas gathering. We  loved getting to see everyone at Doug and Barbara's house!

Brooke got everyone awesome gifts. She got Barbara and Robin glass pineapples that were beautiful. She was opening it up in this picture, and I think her expression says it all! 

We finally made it back to our house around six that evening. We carried everything up into our apartment and then crashed. We loved getting to see everyone and spend time with our families. Christmas can be a hectic time with traveling and trying to buy everyone the perfect gift, but it is important to remember the reason for the season: the birth of our Savior. 

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Until next time.. Take care y'all! 

Birthday Celebration

Hey y'all! Since my last post, I have been working like crazy, but I am loving it so far! Although my work schedule is a bit hectic, that doesn't mean I haven't had plenty of time to relax and visit friends and family. Recently we celebrated my friend Jill's birthday with dinner at Taste of Asia and a delicious cake. I always love getting to hang out with her and her husband Matt. We always have a good time together! My birthday was yesterday, and I have been celebrating it the last few days LOL I was supposed to have this past weekend off of work, but Friday the scheduler called to see if I could cover for someone on Saturday. I agreed to help out, but I still got Sunday off which was my actual birthday. On Friday, Tyler came in with presents and a huge chocolate cake. He sat everything up on our kitchen table and had the candles going. He yelled for me to come into the kitchen, and when I walked out of the bedroom I saw all of the surprises. I LOVE the gifts he got for me! I got some UK blue Kendra Scott jewelry, and my personal favorite, seasons 1-3 on DVD of the Real Housewives of New Jersey. I can't wait to have a lazy day and binge watch those old shows! My sister also got me some beautiful pearl while Kendra Scott earrings. I love them! I also got to meet my mom, sister, and her boyfriend Tyler at Berry Hills for dinner on Friday. Saturday night, Tyler and I were supposed to eat at a restaurant in Charleston called Laury's, but after working all day, I decided I wanted to do a casual birthday dinner. We cancelled our reservations and headed to the local Mexican restaurant! I was so happy with my decision LOL I just didn't feel like getting all dressed up and going to a fancy restaurant that late in the evening. On Sunday, my mom had me a little get together at her house. We had a delicious dinner, and she cooked me my favorite chocolate cake. My grandparents visited for awhile after we ate, and they gave me cards and gifts. My maw maw and pawpaw gave me a camera, which I am SO excited about. I can't wait to use it to take pictures for the blog instead of my iPhone. My grandmother got me a Southern Living cookbook, and y'all know how much I love cookbooks. I enjoy looking through all the recipes and getting new dinner ideas! I had such a great weekend celebrating with everyone. 

Testing out the camera.. My cape makes this look a little awkward LOL but look at the beautiful necklace my mom got for me. It is gold, pearls, and rhinestones.. three of my favorite things! 

My cake at mom's house 

The cake Tyler got for me

As some of you may know, today was the Lilly Pulitzer After Party Sale. I told Tyler that it is no coincidence that this sale occurred the day after my birthday LOL I got so many cute things! I shopped on the Lilly website as well as a website called 6pm.com. I can't wait for my packages to arrive so I can see everything in person! I was really hoping to get some leggings, but they were only marked down a little bit. I just can't bring myself to pay that much for leggings that I'm going to be laying around the house in! I did get several dresses and some pants too. I absolutely love the palazzo and beach pants. They are so comfortable but still make you look "put together." 

Here are the items I got during the sale:

The After Party Sale is a wonderful event that always gets me so excited; however, I know that this sale also indicates the closing of summer. Labor Day will be here before we know it, and that means all of our darling white pants that pair perfectly with Lilly tops will have to go into retirement until Easter. I know some people say that old southern rule of no white after Labor Day is silly, but I just can't bring myself to break it. It always seems my Lilly sale order arrives just after Labor Day, so I am forced to save those beautiful dresses for the following spring. This is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I have all new clothes to wear for the following spring and summer, but it is so hard to not wear them when they first arrive. 

Speaking of summer ending, I made a quick stop in Hobby Lobby last week, and Oh. My. Goodness! They already have fall (Thanksgiving and Halloween) and Christmas decorations out. I absolutely LOVE fall and Christmastime, but I hate to see summer end. I took a few pictures of some of the seasonal pieces that I absolutely love! I am trying to refrain from buying any home decor until after Tyler and I settle down and buy a house of our own. I am typing this part of the post partly for you to check out the beautiful items they have at Hobby Lobby and partly for me to have record of things I want to buy in the future LOL

I love the color of this table runner.. It is sort of a sage green but also has a hint of a muted blue/grey

I'm really getting into the whites, greens, and blues for fall.

After last Christmas, I bought gold chargers and table runners to match my Christmas dishes. They were on sale at Kohl's. I love this little pumpkin plate because it would match some of the stuff I already have!

This plate would go perfectly with the table runner above and would be beautiful with those soft muted greens and blues I like. 

I absolutely love this nativity scene for Christmas. It has a white distressed look, and it even has hints of sparkle on it. I NEED this!

Currently, my Christmas decorations are traditional red and gold, and I add in a hint of leopard for some pizazz. I know this is hard to believe, but Tyler isn't a huge fan of the leopard LOL The next time I get new ornaments for our tree, I'm thinking of mixing gold, silver, and cream. I love this muted metallic color that would go perfectly with either gold or silver. 

How cute would these sleighs be if they were used as a vase. Add in some holly, pine, and poinsettias, and you would have a beautiful centerpiece for a Christmas dining table! The reindeer are cute too!

I hope y'all enjoyed this post! I am hoping to do some more cooking posts soon. Tyler and I have decided we need to do meal prep for the week from now on. I have been working a lot of evening shifts which means I'm gone from 1 or 2 in the day until 9 or 10 at night. Most of the time I don't even get to eat a meal while I'm at work, so I eat a large lunch and skip dinner completely. That isn't healthy, and Tyler hates eating out all week when I'm not home to cook. Usually I work a few days and then I have a few days off. We are hoping to prep meals for a couple of days at a time since I'm not a huge fan of "leftovers." Whenever we find time to meal prep, I'll make sure to take pictures for y'all! I'll have my new camera too, so the pictures will be much higher quality than what I've been posting! Until next time.. Take care y'all!