I'm Leaving The World of White and Black...

And rejoining the world of color!!! I'm excited to start my new life with Stephan but will miss all my girls at White House Black Market! I had some great times with some great girls!

My last day was also my Store Manager Ashley's last day (we also had our first day together so it was kind of an end of an era.) The girls made a big deal and decorated the back room with streamers and pics and posters. Then we met up after work... I heart them all!!!

We were banned from the back room and came to find this!

We loved this part of the poster! We were both quitting for our hubbies so they pasted a pic of them together (It kinda looked like they were a chic gay couple)

Iris, Veronica, Me, Ashley, Dawn, and Barbara XOXO

Devil Dog

Notice anything weird about this picture? This was either a really bad angle or Bentley was temporarily posessed by the devil. The best part is Diesel looking like a dumby who doesn't even know what's about to hit him:)

Anatomy Of A Christmas Card

I wanted to send out a little Christmas card this year and kept waiting for all four of us to be together. My friend Kim took a photo of us by the lake behind our house. The only problem was the extreme wind. Bentley looked like he was in a wind tunnel in the majority of the photos. Of course Diesel still looked perfect! We ended up picking the first photo we took and then downloaded it the the Walgreen's photo center and were ready in about an hour. I also used a coupon from retailmenot.com.

My lack of preparation kicked me in the butt though. I started a 6 day work stretch and had no time to get them out on time. Then I had to hunt down addresses (hard to go off a two year old wedding guest list). And the address labels I wanted would take 2 weeks to come. Grrrr.

Here's the pic we used:

And the card design:

And what the address labels would have looked like (le sigh):

New Year, New Life

Happy New Year!!! I'm excited for 2010!!! This is the year we move into and fix up our first home together, have a new second puppy, and celebrate two of my best friends weddings!!! My BFF Kim and her fiance Kyle and my brother Matt and his fiancee Rich are both getting married this year...and I'm a bridesmaid in both! Looking forward to this year and glad a year of moving and deployments is over!

My resolutions:
-Pray more
-Spend more time with Stephan
-Have a hobby that doesn't include watching tv or shopping
-Learn all the words to "Don't Be Tardy for the Party"
-Work on lots of home projects
-Be more involved with church
-Be nicer and more patient
-Tone up (two bridesmaids dresses comin' up)
-Wear more red lipstick
-Shop less, save more
-Eat out less, cook more
-Treat the people that matter to me like they matter and make sure that they know they matter to me

"I Like To Work with Leath-ah"

So Stephan has always longed for a leath-ah chair. (Ever since the season of Project Runway with Stella I will never say leather normally again...)

I don't exactly understand men's obsession with leather furniture but Stephan did have a valid point that it would add a masculine element to the living room. And I agreed that it might be a nice contrast with the velvet, fur, silk, mirrored more femme stuff.

So for Christmas I decided to find a leather chair...for under $250. Not easy at all. I was thinking more club chair than recliner. We looked at Home Goods, Target, and IKEA. We found one at IKEA that was very sleek AND comfortable. It was the JAPPLING chair for $249 (under budget by a dollar). So I rushed over on Christmas Eve after work and picked it up (with lots of lifting help, trust me) and the best part was that I had some gift cards from there too!!! I hid it in the garage and told Stephan his present was a small bag I brought in when I came home (actually a gift from my boss). Gotta love Christmas mind games.

It is staying packaged up until we move, and I can't find a pic on their website but I found one on google.com so these images will have to do for now. Stay tuned for the big reveal!

Source

Ice, Ice Baby

On Christmas Eve we went to church service with my family and then headed over to ICE! at the Gaylord Palms Hotel. If you've never been it is basically a convention center that is filled with ice sculptures and did I mention it's 9 degrees inside??? It is also yet another thing for people from other states to make fun of Floridian's for (other states who live in this in winter don't find it as entertaining, I'm sure). Living in the Kansas winter last year, the thing that made it much more bearable was that there isn't any wind!

Here's some pics of the ice-y fun. Can I also say that going as a family group of about 15 proved to be difficult, especially when you are all in the same sexy electric blue coat!!!

The gang's all here!

They hated on my faux fur accessories but gotta do what you can to make that coat look glam!

Creepy Santa!!!!

Diesel in ICE!!!!!

Nativity!!!

Don't Be Tardy for the Birthday Party!

So I turned 24 on the 18th. Weird. A few months ago I had a conversation with Stephan about it that went a little something like this:

Me: So I'm having a hard time with the turning 24 thing...
Stephan: Why?
Me: It's just starting to sound old...even Lady Gaga is younger than me!
Stephan: What does Lady Gaga have to do with it???

I worked on my birthday (because adults asking off work for their birthday seems silly to me) and then Stephan took me for a romantic dinner at The Boheme and the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Downtown Orlando. The hotel and restaurant are both fabulously glamorous!

The Boheme had a pianist and singer and, my fave part...light up menus!!! The pics just don't do them justice!!! We had yummy bread, fried green tomatoes, salmon with mac and cheese and lamb with green beans. They were nice enough to give us a slice of cheesecake for my birthday as well!!! Loves it!

I was even more impressed to learn that Stephan had actually planned it two weeks earlier even going as far as calling my best friend Kim for advice. He still owes me a trip to the movies to see the new Hugh Grant movie (when we actually have time!!!)

I also got wonderful gifts from my mom and Bff Kim who came for shopping and birthday fun. Kim even made me my fave red velvet cupcakes. Too sweet!

I also looked up some celebs that have the same birthday as me:
Brad Pitt
Katie Holmes
Christina Aquilera
Steven Spielberg
Keith Richards
Betty Grable
and last but not least Joseph Stalin??? If you can call him a celebrity...

Thanks for all the birthday love I got via Facebook or by text!

My gift from Kim (Z Gallerie lovelies)! Had to show the custom tag!

Coulda, shoulda, woulda used some Spanx!

Do you ever look at your husband and see a little man-boy? This is one of those moments.

What should I order off my light up menu???

Fried Green Tomatoes with goat cheese??? Yes, please.

Me on the lounge singer "Here's hoping she skats!"