Surprise!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi All-- This is Giant's Fan, J's Best Friend from a few states over.

J wanted me to come by and give y'all some good news.....

(in my best J typing mode....)

She got her ring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She is so super excited!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw a picture that she sent via her cell and it looks stunning!!! I can't wait to see a bigger picture, as I'm sure all of you would like to as well. But, we will have to wait for J's return for that one! She will be up in Ohio for a few days spending time with Mr. "S"s family and playing in the snow with her goofy self! Fun!!!

A merry, merry Christmas to J and all of her readers!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I want to wish all my loyal readers a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

I don't know if I will blog much between now and January 5th when I return back to work!!! We have a lot going on!!!

We are hosting Christmas Eve at our house with my mom's side of the family!!!

Christmas Day Mr. "S" and I will open gifts and enjoy a home cooked breakfast!!! Then we will dart to his brother's house for dinner and then back to our house to pack for our trip!!!

We leave Friday morning for Ohio and we will be there till January 2nd!!! We have a lot of FUN activities planned with Mr. "S" family!!! I'm soooooooo excited I can't wait!!!

Here are a few places we plan on visiting during our time in Ohio:

SNOW TRAILS

KALAHARI RESORTS & WATER PARK

I will do my very best to blog during this time!!!

Our tree!

I added some Red Poinsettias for color!

Now on to our bathroom! I told yall I was going to decorate it in all snowmen!

I found this CUTE little snowman on sale at Kirklands last week! He is hanging out by our Christmas tree!!!

FUN TIMES ~ FUN TIMES

We had a great weekend!

Friday night we went to our Friends Annual Christmas Party!

It was a packed house! Everyone was coming inside to start the White Elephant Game!

Cheesy me! This was the other half of us waiting to start the White Elephant Game!

Me and Mr. "S"

Patience ("L" don't sing the song lol), Me, Courtney and Dede

Me and Courtney!!

A few of you asked me about the "WHITE ELEPHANT CHRISTMAS EXCHANGE" - Click HERE for more info!!!!

We had a total blast! There were 33 of us! Gifts were exchanging hands like crazy! I was #6 out of 33! I didn't think I would walk away with something I really wanted but I did! It was a cute decorative basket with some alcohol, peppermint candy shot glass and some his and hers bedroom stuff!!! lol Mr. "S" was robbed! He walked away with a 5 pack set of measuring tapes! lol

Some of the other gifts included movie gift cards, car wash kits, flash light kit, decorative wood/metal crosses, drink/mixer set, CD (some country singer), alcohol and more alcohol!

Saturday - We built the steps off the deck!! Yep, I said we! He cut the boards and I screwed them down! Go Me! The steps look really good! We still have a lot of deck work to do (railing and roof) but that will have to wait till we get back from Ohio which will be after the first of the year!

Saturday night we went to the local bar and grill to watch the Cowboys play or should I say lose! UGH! I was soooooooooooo upset! I couldn't believe they lost? I think I also managed to drink a little to much because I decided it would be cool to Karaoke to Mustang Sally - Mr. "S" and I did a duet (HA) to Simple Man!!! We were totally rocking the place out!!! (LOL) I wished I had video of us! What a trip! Good Times - Good Times!

Sunday was a lazy day! We did to much partying Friday and Saturday - my body isn't use to that! I did manage to do some cleaning, some cooking and then it was all about the football! It was cold so I just snuggled up on the couch and cheered for the Eagles to lose (which they did - that helps my cowboys out)! Next weekend is a HUGE football game for the Eagles/Cowboys!!! I'm hoping the Cowboys come out on top!

I still have shopping to do today! I'm so behind this year! I don't get it?

Tonight we are going to Christmas Party! Woo-Who! Yall know me! I'm all about a good party! We are doing the White Elephant Christmas Exchange which is always a total blast! I'm hoping to come back on Monday with some FUN pictures!

Tomorrow we are hoping to work on the deck! Weather permitted! It's been sprinkling off and on all day today!

I'm hoping to get some last minute shopping in! I just don't want to deal with all the crazy people at the stores!

Sunday is all about the football! It's getting down to the wire! I need the Cowboys to beat the Ravens! I also need the Redskins to beat the Eagles so my Cowboys will have no worries getting into the playoffs! Go Boy's Go!

I can't wait till next week! It's a short one! I work Monday and Tuesday and then I'm off till January 5th! Awwwwwwwwwwwwww it's going to be soooooooooooo wonderful!!! I can't wait!!!

Oh yeah, those of you who sent me Christmas cards and those of you that wanted to be on my Christmas card list! They still haven't went in the mail! Be patient! I'm a procrastinator! They will get there sometime before next Christmas! HA!

I hope you all have a FAB-TAB-U-LOUS weekend!

Wedding Update & Christmas Package

Well, today is the day that we paid off the remaining balance on our cruise! It is now official! The cruise is booked! We sail out March 1, 2009 and we will get married March 4th! I'm still waiting on a ring!!! HA!!! We are just funny like that!!! We like to do everything backwards!!! We went ring shopping a few weeks back - that is all I can say for now!!! =)

I was excited to find out that Carnival is now preforming beach weddings in Jamaica! When we first booked the cruise (HERE) I was told Carnival only preforms garden weddings in Jamaica (HERE)! We did NOT want a garden wedding we wanted a beach wedding! We were totally bummed out! Then I started working with some local wedding planners (HERE)! That was making me feel real uneasy about the whole process! I didn't feel our money would be secure! It didn't seem legit to me? I wasn't getting a good vibe what-so-ever! When I called our Carnival Rep the other day to discuss our cruise and all the other small details I brought up the whole "BEACH/GARDEN" wedding! She sent me a new wedding packet! Carnival added in a beach wedding about two months ago! I was so excited! It was so meant to be! Now if something goes wrong I will have Carnival to go back to! If something went wrong with our local wedding planner I would have no one to go back to! That is why I was feeling so uneasy! Wouldn't that make you nervous!

This is a picture of the beach that the Carnival Wedding Sales Agent sent me!

I'm loving it!!! What do you think???

Okay now on to another delima I feel we are facing. Our family is sad that we aren't getting married here so they can be at our ceremony. I can understand their feelings! I wished I could pack them all up on the cruise with us but I can't! They do not want to go on the cruise - it's 7 days - it's to long for some of our family to be away from home/work/kids/pets! What do we do? Do you think I could have a small ceremony for our family? Would that be weird to have two ceremonies? I want our family and friends to share in our ceremony - I really do! We are going to host a reception at the lake after the wedding (the end of March or first of April). What are your thoughts? Should we also have a small ceremony before the start of the reception?

Now on to a WONDERFUL and EXCITING Christmas package I received yesterday from Marmite and Tea!

Check out all this UK wonderfulness!!!!! I've already ate all the Maltesers and they were totally YUMMY!!! They remind me of Whoppers but way better! I think it's the chocolate that makes the Maltesers!!! I haven't tried the Crunchie or the Christmas Pudding yet. I didn't want to go into a sugar shock last night! HA! I could soooooooooo see me doing that to myself!!! Plus I'm thinking I might save my Christmas Pudding for Christmas morning to share with my sweet Mr. "S" (if he is lucky)!!!

I'm not kidding yall! These are the BEST chips I've ever tasted! I love them! I'm hooked! They remind me of Lay's Chips but better! They are so crunchy and not as thin as our Lay's! They are soooooooooooooooooo delicious!!! I've never heard of Prawn cocktail flavor crisps? What is this? Whatever it is it's to die for yummy ( I would take these over my Salt and Vinegar any day)! I even shared with my dad and Mr. "S"!

See I shared even though I didn't want to! They were YUMMY!

The picture of the chip bag (back label) didn't turn out as good as I had hoped (so much for that flower logo on my camera settings)! Can you see where it says Muddy Good Potatoes! HA! I love that! I also love the way they call chips "crisp"! So cool, So cool! I must add that Marmmite and Tea made my day yesterday! Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooo very much!!!! I will be sending you a Texas/Ohio package really soon!!!

Christmas Party, Christmas Parade & Deck!!!

I have Lot's and Lot's to blog about today! I will try and keep it short and sweet with a few pictures!!!

Mr. "S" Company Christmas Party was held at Pappas Seafood Friday night!

I wished we would have took a full length picture! I was looking cute in my NEW top and black slacks!

The party was fun! We ate way to much! We didn't get home till 1am - whew - what a long day/long night!

Saturday night we went into town for our local Hometown Christmas Parade! My camera was acting up so the pictures aren't very good! Sorry!

Sunday, Mr. "S" and pop's finished the base of the back deck!

Lot's and Lot's of wood!

We still need to add the steps, railing and roof!

Next weekend we will build the steps and frame in the deck at the bottom!

Christmas Party!

Tonight is Mr. "S" company Christmas Party! We are so excited! Last year's party was a total blast! We are really looking forward to tonight! It will be a late night for us but at least we can sleep in tomorrow!

His party starts around 7pm and it will probably last till 10pm then we will have an 1 1/2 drive home! I'm thinking we will get home around midnight!

I'm glad the ice and snow is off the roads (that is so funny to say ~ we never get that here in Texas)! Today's drive into work was sooooooooooooo much better!

I think today's high will be in the upper 60's! It's crazy how you can go from freezing cold temps to such a nice sunny day?

I'm excited about the weekend!

I get to sleep in! That is such a bonus!

I will clean house and finish the Christmas decorations!

Mr. "S" and his dad is going to TRY and complete the deck minus the roof! I think my dad might drive up and help too!

Tomorrow night we are going to our town's Christmas on the Square! The Hometown Christmas will feature live entertainment throughout the day, the Christmas Train Village, Photos with Santa, refreshments, arts and crafts vendors, a food court, a petting zoo, pony carousel, wagon rides, carriage rides, a quilt show and a car show. Hourly drawings will be held for prizes. The Lighted Parade will begin at 6:00 p.m.! It's going to be a afternoon filled with fun!

I just found out they do a Jingle Bell Fun Run and Walk! I wished I would have known, I would have tried to get some friends to enter with me! They give awards for the two best holiday outfits, the top three overall finishers (male and female) and the top two finishers in each age group (male and female)! That sounds like a total blast! Count me in for next year! Plus each person that signs up gets a free t-shirt!!!

I hope everyone has a JOYFUL weekend!!!

More Snow Pictures!

This is HUGE for Texas Yall! Huge! Sorry to bore my Northern readers! =)

Last night we made a few stops on our way home! This is what Mr. "S" toolbox looked like after we stopped to get his haircut!

This was the snow that was coming down in the parking lot! It was really coming down!

I know it's not much to look at but it was sooooooooo exciting to see!!!

This is what his truck looked like after I ran inside McDonald's to take a Red Box DVD rental back!

This is what my Durango looked like when we got home!

I ran out to the street to get a snow picture of the house!

My Durango again! The snow was getting thicker by the minute!

This is our back deck which is under construction! This is what Mr. "S" and Pop's got accomplished this past weekend! We are hoping to have it finished this coming weekend!

Another picture of my car!

Our tree! I took this picture last night! The snow really put me in the Christmas spirit! I was outside (FREEZING MY BUTT OFF) trying to get a picture of our tree with the snow blowing along side of the house! It didn't work! This is the only picture I have to share with you! A picture from the inside!

I'm hopping to add a few more things to our tree this weekend! I bought a Snowman shower curtain, snowman rug, snowman towels and wash clothes for our bathroom! I want the house to be snowman CUTE when my family comes over for Christmas Eve!

I must add that it took us 2 1/2 hours to get me to work this morning! Which is normally a 1 hour drive! Mr. "S" had another 45 minutes or so after he dropped me off! Houston's roadways were a total nightmare this morning! They had the main highway in two different locations shut completely down! We were at a complete stop! That was not fun! after about 2 hours I was wishing I would have packed some breakfast for the long drive in!

We seen a few wrecks! Poor Texas people! We just can't drive in this kind of weather! I felt bad for this one car early this morning around 6:15am! It was still dark out! They went off the road just passed a small bridge. They went down the about 30 feet and slammed into a tree sideways!

It's snowing!

It's snowing!!! Holy Moly!!! I'm from Texas so this is exciting for us!!!

It's really snowing here in Houston, Texas!!!

This is sooooooooooooooooo exciting to us because it NEVER snows here!!!

It just started snowing about 10 minutes ago!!! This is a picture I took of a car in our office parking lot!!!

Blogversary Party!!!!

My fellow Texas blog buddy ForGetFulOne is hosting a giveaway in honor of her 3 year Blogversary!!! Please stop by and tell her Happy Blogversary and let her know I sent you!!!

Happy 3 Years ForGetFulOne!!!

Who is my Secret Santa??? (UPDATED)

I was on a mission yesterday after I received my SSS package!!! I wanted to find out who my swap partner was??? So who are you??? Don't keep me waiting!!!

Holy moly I hit the jackpot when I opened my package!!!! My swap partner was soooooooooooooooo soooooooooooooooooo soooooooooooooooo very kind to me!!!!

All I know is my *SSS* is from California!!!

I think she *might* have left me a clue here:

I'm thinking the Travel page that is hiding all of my goodies is a hint to *MY* SSS blog??? I could be wrong? I'm guessing *MY* SSS is "Travel Girl"? Do yall think the travel page was a *hint* or a *coincident*?

Look at all the stuff she got me!!!

The first thing I see is *MY* Atlanta Braves toothbrush - I start jumping up and down like a little kid!!! This totally ROCKS!!! At least for me!!!

Check out all my Bath & Body Sensual Amber!!! Oh how I love the smell!!! I used my body wash last night and I came out of the shower smelling all dreamy!!! At least I thought so!!! Mr. "S" still has a cold so he couldn't smell a thing!!! Poor guy his loss for sure!!! =)

To My Dear SSS,

Who ever you are I just want to say "THANK YOU" from the bottom of my heart!!! I truly LOVE every little thing in my package!!! You totally picked out things that are *ME*!!! Thank you for taking the time and money to create such a wonderful swap package!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

(((HUGS)))

"J"

I would like to *THANK* Georgie and Amy Amy Bo Bamey for hosting such a WONDERFUL Secret Santa Soiree!!!! Yall keep it very organized and very fun!!! I've met several new blog friends through this swap!!!! Thank you sooooooooooooooooooo much!!!! I'm looking forward to next years SSS!!!

Just a little update!

I was RIGHT! My SSS was Travel Girl! She left me a comment this morning! =)

Our Tree

Saturday night Mr. "S" and I went to Wal-Mart to pick out the perfect tree. That didn't happen! At least not at Wal-Mart! The trees at our Wal-Mart were yuck! We jumped in the car and heard to Lowe's where we found the PERFECT tree! The first tree Mr. "S" picked up was the one!!!

BEFORE

AFTER

I feel like something is missing! Mr. "S" said it looked great!

Here are a few of my favorite snowman ornaments!

Our Tree Topper!

Here are a few of our decorations - mostly snowmen!

Our snowman tree skirt!

Fiber Optic Snowman!

Snowman cookie jar! I'm thinking I need to bake some cookies to fill it up!

While I was decorating the house Saturday and the tree on Sunday Mr. "S" and his dad worked, worked, worked on our back deck! It's looking good! After it's complete it will be a 30x12 covered porch!

I still have a lot more decorating to do but this was a start! I'm so excited about our tree! This is the first tree I've had in four years! Yeah, I know ~ 4 years is a little long! I was like a kid in a candy store pulling out all my Christmas snowman decor! It was all new to me since I haven't decorated in so long!

I'm also excited that our family will be gathering at our house for Christmas Eve! This will be the first time my mom has been to our house! I have a lot to get done before the big day! Yall know how I like to host the parties!