on the 6th day of Christmas....

Today as you know is December 6th, also known as St. Nicholas Day. We all know of our version of St. Nick as the chubby grandpa man in a fuzzy red suite squeezing down the chimney to deliver presents to little boys & girls.

The activity for today is read the true story of St. Nicholas. So tonight while my hubby made dinner {which is rare around here since he is always working so hard, but today he had the day off} I read while he cooked. I found the 'true' story of St. Nicholas here along with the picture above. I will share with you my favorite excerpt of the story.

"One story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands something of value, a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man's daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry.

This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver."

And suddenly the picture of oranges in stockings all makes sense!

on the 5th day of Christmas....

photo credit: here

When it comes to Christmas music I will listen to just about anything. I start my Christmas music listening a little early, and listen to it whenever I can. Brian is probably getting a little tired of my music preference and he's only home for a few hours a day, but tis the season.

As of late I have been obsessed with an artist named Charity Vance. She isn't a huge star {yet} but has one of the most amazing voices I have heard in a long time. So far she has only done 1 Christmas song and you can find that here.

It's one of my all time favorite Christmas songs, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

on the 4th day of Christmas....

My hard working hubby got home last night to a candle lit dinner of salad with grape tomatoes, sliced red onion, and shredded sharp cheese. I also made 3 cheese spinach ravioli in a garlic tomato cream sauce.

We turned on a little music and had a relaxing candle lit evening after his exhausting day. 

on the 3rd day of Christmas....

Christmas cards are made and with a few wedding pictures they will be off in the mail. It's so exciting to be sending off our first {very small} batch of homemade married Christmas cards.

Hope the start to your Christmas season has been as holly jolly as ours has been!

on the 2nd day of Christmas....

Nothing says Christmas spirit like sipping a on a hot cup of jo to start out your day. My hubby and I headed to Starbucks after church and enjoyed a wonderful start to our day. I had a gingerbread latte and Brian a vanilla latte.

Just a suggestion for those who don't like coffee, try the peppermint hot chocolate or hot chocolate with a shot of hazelnut. It's like Christmas in a cup!!

on the 1st day of Christmas....

I have been searching on one of my favorite websites {etsy.com} for weeks, looking at Christmas gifts, inspiration for Christmas decor, birthday gifts, craft ideas and found something totally inspiring. Christmas decor is all over the place on this site and I really wanted to make something for Brian and my mom as a early Christmas gift/thank you for all of their help with our wedding. I love making decor that is not only cute but practical, so I decided on an advent calendar made with a cupcake tin . How fun is that?

So after a festive trip to the craft store, I got to work on the calendars and came up with these. I snapped a quick shot of the one I made for my mom, which is below, and good thing I did. Just to keep it real I will let you know that in 2 attempts to finish Brian and my advent calendar, I bought the wrote magnets to adhere to the paper...twice.

How does that even happen?

You might ask, why didn't I just run back out to the store, well the store is now 35 minutes away from our house so I couldn't just run back out and waist the gas. So ours will have to wait to be completed till tomorrow.

Every day leading up to Christmas I will be sharing with you what is in our advent calendar. For each day there is a slip of paper with an activity we will do to get more in the Christmas spirit! Now if we are not able to complete the activity for that day, I will put the slip of paper in a little Christmas tin and we will do it on a different day, but mark my words, we will do every one!! So there might be a day when I don't share what the activity was, but I will share it eventually.

On the 1st day of Christmas the activity was....

it's Christmas tree time

And just like that, it's Christmas time already. It feels like it was just yesterday that fall was creeping up on us, and now there is snow on the ground. Granted the snow only lasts a few days, but while it sticks we enjoy it. Lets just say that there probably won't be any snowmen made any time soon.

On Sunday we took a trip to a local tree farm to pick out our very own Christmas tree. This adorable tree farm also included a visit from Mr. & Mrs. Clause, hot apple cider, a wagon ride to the different types of trees, and help to trim & tie your tree. After a quick time-consuming but fun trip to target, we picked out some Christmas decor, lights, tree topper, tree stand, stockings and a matching tree skirt.

We can't wait to fill the bottom of the tree with presents, but as you can see I already got a jump on that! I just couldn't resist!

wedding advice

Here is some advice from me and my new hubby:

-listen to other people's advice {I know that's a funny one to put first, but at times the advice that others gave me really helped}

-get as many projects done before the last week or two before the wedding because there will be plenty to do the last 2 weeks

-write down specific pictures that you want taken for your photographer, because when the day comes you will not remember any of them

-have fun {hence the picture above} because the day flies by

-take lots of time to spend with your fiance before the wedding because when the day comes, it's a whirl wind

-make sure you inform everyone who is close to you what is going on the week of the wedding

-delegate projects even if it feels strange to, I was overwhelmed with the amount of people who truly wanted to help out

-even though I certainly did this, don't stress about the little things because when it comes to your wedding day, those little details won't matter

-plan a honeymoon, you need the break with your new husband/wife

-make sure you focus on your relationship with your soon-to-be husband, not just the wedding details

-check your attitude at the door**

-think about opening your gifts after you get back from your honeymoon. Brian and I left our gifts at my parents house and we were so excited to come back and open them with just our immediate family. If we would have done it the day after with 2 dozen people watching, it would have been waaay to overwhelming!!

-don't procrastinate when you can do something earlier because your wedding day will come a lot sooner than you might think

-ask your bridesmaids what they would like to wear. I stayed in contact with my girls and we chose a dress that was comfortable, they could wear a regular bra, they were flattering on everyone, and they could dance the night away with no "technical problems" {if you know what I mean}

-pray about everything, no matter how small it is God wants to hear it

-make sure you have people in charge of the little things on the day of the wedding, like: who will clean up the church, who will drive the wedding party around on the day of the wedding, who will be at the reception hall before everyone arrives to make sure everything is in order

-everyone says the day goes by sooo fast {and you will hear that a million + 1 times} so don't sweat it if you are a little off schedule or your dress gets a little dirty, just enjoy every moment you can!!

**When Brian and I got engaged, I made one promise to myself, family, and Brian: I will not become a bridezilla. While most everyone said that I didn't really freak out or get too stressed, there was one person who did take the brunt of my stress. Brian and I weren't in the same town as we went through the planning of our wedding, so I worked closely with my mom and there were a few times quite a few times when I lost my cool and let the stress overcome me. She was such a great help to our wedding and was such an amazing mom the whole way. I only wish that I can be as patient when my daughter gets married {disclaimer, I don't have a daughter and am not even pregnant but I hope to have a girl one day and would love to help her plan the wedding of her dreams}

I'm sure I will think of other advice, so don't be surprised if this list grows over the next few months. I have lots of advice so feel free to shoot me an email or a text. I love talking to future brides about their weddings now that we have been happily married for over a month!

the rant

So do you remember that rant that I was talking about last post? The ranting paragraph that I wrote and then deleted? Well, I thought changing your name took a little more effort than I thought, but after yesterday...it was lots more than I even imagined.

I awoke yesterday morning to my 4:45 alarm clock and proceeded with a normal morning around here making coffee, breakfast, and sending B off with lunch. I headed out the door at 10am to run a few errands and head over to babysit Brian's nieces, now my nieces, yey! I headed to the social security office to apply for a new card with my new last name on it, but their office had moved. I was directed to the new office and sat for about 15 minutes waiting for my name to be called. I was again called and informed that I now needed to go to their office downtown. This was the office that I had planned on going to in the first place, but when I told my very protective husband about it he protested with "That is not a safe neighborhood!" and "Please don't go to that office, I don't feel comfortable about that!"

I now had no choice but to go to the so called "unsafe" office. How bad could it be? I mean really?

After waiting for over an hour and not getting my paperwork done, I came to the conclusion that if I waited any longer I would be late to babysit the girls. So I headed back to my car parked just outside the parking lot because all of the spaces were filled. As I came closer to my car I knew that there was something wrong. I even thought  for split second that it wasn't my car, but there it was damaged and violated, just how I felt.

Panic instantly overwhelmed me and my mind began racing. What did I leave in my car that was valuable? I had everything that was really important on me....purse, keys, wallet, phone. Then it hit me, my GPS...and I was right, it was gone.

I ran back into the building to consult with the police officers who were doing security and they advised me to call 911. After a 40 second conversation with the operator was over I realized that I never told him where I was located and my phone cut out just after he informed me that "we will send someone right out". I gave a call back and they transferred me to the non emergency line 311, they informed me that it could take anywhere from 1-3 hours for a police officer to get to me.

I waited and waited, paced back and forth not wanting to leave my car exposed and unprotected even though I was chilled to the bone.

Over an hour has passed and in the mean time I got a hold of my parents & husband {who was at work} and found out that our insurance won't even cover glass damage. So, the damage report from the officer wouldn't even do good, but I couldn't just leave. After 20 minutes and another call to 311 I found out that my 911 call had been canceled and there was no police coming. They were currently out on a shooting. I counted my blessings, thanked the Lord that my situation was not so tragic, and told the operator to cancel my request.

After bursting into tears for what seemed like the 10th time, one of the police officers took my paperwork an personally processed it so that I could take my damaged car and be on my way home.

But I couldn't even get home, the thief stole my GPS. After break down #11 happened I called my mom and she guided me back to 94, but not before I got lost, ran out of gas and vacuumed out the glass that covered my car's floor.

All I wanted at that point was to be in the safe arms of my protective husband, because it always feels like nothing will ever go wrong there.

What did I take away from this? There are so many people that are less fortunate than I am. I am very blessed to have an amazing family and support system. It's sad that people have to resort to theft, but I am hopeful that he/she will feel remorseful.

It could have been much worse and I thank the Lord that I didn't suffer any bodily harm. Let me just say once and for all "my husband was right!!"

1st week {at home} as a wife

I still have to pinch myself most days. It has been a whole week of being a stay-at-home wife and life is totally changing around here. This place has gone from a bachelor pad, to a slightly less bachelor pad when I moved a few things in, to a full fledged 'home of a married couple.' It smells a little bit better, is much more filled, has at least 1 person {meaning me} in it almost all the time, and is a little more organized but then again a little more chaotic with all of my crafting supplies.

Before my husband and I got married he worried that I would feel confined and claustrophobic because the square footage of our apartment is about the size of my bedroom, bathroom, and craft room at my parents house. In fact isn't quite the contrary. Our apartment is the perfect size. It is still plenty spacious to clean and I love being able to check in 2 seconds if all the lights are off, or in the summer we can air out our place with the opening of 2 windows. I love that I don't have to search across the house to see what my husband is doing, I just have to peak around the corner.

Now this doesn't mean that I don't miss where I lived before. I don't really think it quite hit me until today. I had been holding off the Christmas music {which is very unlike me} because I wasn't really in the Christmas mood. Again very strange for me, I'm normally getting into the holiday spirit before kids decide on their Halloween costume. Anyway, I have seen commercials on TV with Santa and have seen red & green creep into most department stores, but I wasn't feeling festive. All the memories I have of Christmas are tied to the house with my parents & sister, and I no longer live there.

So this holiday season will be the start of new traditions, creating new memories, making lots of Christmas gifts, sending our own Christmas cards....it will be a year of firsts.

So back to my first weeks as a wife, I have had lots to accomplish but haven't made it too far on my to-do list. It turns out that the "simple" task of changing your name & address, takes much longer than it sounds. Anyone who has recently changed their name will understand what I mean. You think it would be as simple as hopping on the internet, and typing in your new name & address but it's much more than that. I just went into a paragraph rant but then realized that nobody really needs to hear me rant about that, so in short...changing your name & address takes much more effort than I had anticipated.

I am also learning how to be a better wife. I made a lengthy trip to the grocery store to stock up. It really is nice to have filled cupboards instead of running to the store for each meal. After a little practice I can now wake up with Brian at 4:45, snuggle for a few minutes, make coffee to-go, pack his lunch, and send him off with breakfast for the car ride, all before 5:15.

Our apartment is coming together piece by piece, so stay tuned and I will show it to you corner by corner.