You know you're getting old when....

...an EXCELLENT weekend goes something like this:

Saturday:
- Sleep in and wake up next to your hubster and then enjoy morning coffee and a slice of toast (from homemade bread)
- Tidy up the kitchen from the week's built-up mess with the hubby's help
- Box up and put away all of the Christmas decorations...again with the help of the hubs along with other house clean up/organization
- Hang pictures you've had stacked in a corner
- Rotate, fold and put away 3 loads of laundry
- Try a new recipe for dinner that utilizes garden veggies
- Attend a high school basketball game with your husband
- Wind down with a glass of wine on the couch rewatching an episode of Battlestar Galactica before heading to bed

Chicken, black beans & rice recipe from Better Homes & Garden.
Could have afforded to use more cayenne pepper...next time!

Sunday
- Attend church with the hubster and see family and friends
- Make a quick stop at the grocery (with the man)
- Heat up leftovers for lunch while the hubs preps soup to stew all day for dinner
- Make a batch (3 loaves) of homemade bread
- Visit with family who is visiting the Valley
- Make a batch of sugar cookies from scratch
- Vacuum, dust and other house chores
- Enjoy dinner with the hubs and head to bed early

Final step of the bread-baking process!

Look Both Ways

What kind of blogger would I be if I didn't make a post about my outlook on 2012 and all of my goals and aspirations? I mean, this tends to be the one post I get in most years!

So a quick look-back on 2011 and I think we know what it'll always be remembered for: THE WEDDING. Funny, though, that kicking off the year I had no clue that would be the case. If anything, I probably would have told you it might include an engagement. However, let's not forget some other major highlights:

• My move back home to The Valley
• Running my first mini-marathon
• Moving out of the GLI offices at work and having our own space
• Jon moving to Casey County and getting a job at Tarter
• Our massive garden project, learning to can and make bread
• Nic & Michelle buying their first house
• Seth graduating from Bellarmine

My first batch of bread (there was a 3rd loaf
but we'd already demolished it!)

Survived my first mini with my sis!

 And I wouldn't exactly consider it a highlight, but the passing of Walter definitely put a damper on the year. Jon's best friend and a dog no one disliked and most actually loved upon their first meeting. Life without The Pig is not the same. I'm just grateful that Jon had him for the time that he did and while he got deathly sick in May, he held out until the fall when Jon was safely mine.

Little Man Bear Pig, Walter, Piglet, Waldo, Walt...
April 2008-Nov. 2011

On to 2012! Jon asked me what my resolutions or goals were and I can't say I have a big resolution. (Lose weight... run a marathon...travel...) I simply want to put our savings plan into action for our future house. Jon and I are very fortunate to have the nice (and cheap) living quarters that we do through the use of The Blue Bank Loft but the sooner we can be in a home, the better. We've laid out a pretty solid savings plan for 2012 and are setting up a new savings account strictly for the purpose of the house. 

It's so easy to have one thing after another pop up and take a hit on the checking account, but in a year, we want to see we've taken a major stride forwarding in this big adventure we are on. In addition to the savings, there are 2 other big steps for our house we've made. 

Thanks to my cousin Als who hooked us up with a friend who JUST SO HAPPENED to buy a house in Shelbyville that had a woodburning stove included that they have no desire to use. It doesn't stop there... It's the Jotul older Jotul 118 model (moose) that has been replaced by the Black Bear version. This is the same stove I grew up with in my home...and that everyone else in the family uses. After calling 2 Jotul suppliers, they run approximately $1600 on average. (I believe one guy told us suggested retail is just over $1700). That of course wouldn't include taxes. So this young couple sold us theirs for a great price and with the way those things hold up it might as well be new! We aren't really in need of it right now, but...

1. It is a step towards the house we want and we can better design the layout knowing what stove we have.
2. That's a big investment out of the way for much less than buying one new (not to mention the version we preferred over that available brand new.)

The second step we have well underway is designing. Now, I don't mean we nearly have it done--it's quite the opposite. But we have started regularly sketching out floor plans in a book I created to keep it all documented in. It's fun to see what we each come up with and prefer and feed off of those ideas. At the same time, it's sometimes fun to throw out everything and start with a blank canvas and see what new nifty ideas you come up with if you don't go with a particular idea you previously thought was a "must". Being that we won't be breaking ground in 2012 (that I can feasibly foresee), we have some time for multiple sketches and drafts!

Pinterest, I must add, is a great resource and tool for archiving thoughts, ideas and advice on the house-planning process!

Have a blessed 2012, everyone!

Christmas Doesn't Require Money

I'm sure it has always been this way (well, not always) but I have felt overwhelmed and very turned-off by so much of the lingo dealing with "holiday shopping," "the perfect gift." Now, as long as I have the money to do so, I love to give gifts. I'm not coming down on that. (I do think media and consumerism makes us feel like we should be shopping from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 at midnight for every last deal and gift out there.) I just think it's important to remember all of the wonderful things to do during this time of year that don't require your checkbook and that this season has nothing to do with blowing your budget.

Here's my list of things to do to keep Christmas festive, yet simplified.

1. Decorate!

You don't have to buy extra fancy decorations, all new ones or any at all. There are plenty of ways to decorate or recycle old decorations in new ways. Just always keep your old decorations from year to year and over time you will get quite the collection!

 

I had extra blank stockings from a Christmas party in 2009
so I made stockings for all of our animals!

 2. Send Christmas cards!

Sure, there is some cost but send a few. It's an easy way to reach out to people and brighten their holiday. I'm still working on wedding thank yous so those are kind of my Christmas cards this year. (Luckily I did find some actual thank you cards that were holiday festive (at the Peddler's Mall of course!) but I definitely should have gotten more...

3. Enjoy FREE town events! 

Every town has Christmas events that are free. Bizaars, parades, Christmas tree lightings, plays, recitals...and so on! Even little old Liberty has a Christmas kick-off celebrations.

Windows in downtown Liberty were decorated on Dec. 1.

Tree lighting at the Court House.

Free popcorn from the Casey Bank!

Parade!

Parade!

4. Shop...for FUN.

Go on a shopping trip not because you NEED to, not because you're in a panic, but to just spend time with someone. I love being out in the hustle and bustle of the holidays because there is always music playing and everything is decorated so well! Often times you'll also get to enjoy wonderful smells, Christmas lights--maybe even see Santa out and about! For Jon and I, we have enjoyed time strolling about the Peddler's Malls together.

Jon and I got our angel at the Peddler's Mall for $7
this year and we plan to use it for the rest ofour lives!

5. Create and keep tradition!

It is often the little things that MAKE each individual's Christmas season special. Sure, presents are fun but we get presents for our birthday yet we don't think of our entire birth month as a celebratory time. Little traditions can make more than just Dec. 25 special during Christmas time.

 

Dec. 6 is St. Nicholas Day! As kids we always left out our
letters to Santa and usually had a small surprise in the
morning. Jon gave me a small surprise this year which
made the day fun!

6. Presents under the tree... :)

For me, there is just something about seeing pretty packages with bows and ribbons under the tree. We have quite a few presents under the tree for just the two of us...but that's because I find a reason to wrap up anything and everything...even if it's something Jon and I need and we bought together. I am making everything a Christmas present!

 

7. Listen to music & watch movies!

We all know the music and we all know the movies... And as long as you have a radio and a TV you can enjoy them all! Listen to the music in the car and let the movies play in the background during your day-to-day chores. 

 

8. Make Cookies!

Sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, sprinkles, icing... And maybe your thing isn't cookies. There are so many holiday sweets and treats: puppy chow, reindeer food, peanut brittle, pound cakes, pies, fudge... Homemade goodies is what it boils down to. In my house we made and decorated sugar cookies. Getting to join the Sweeneys and do it with kids makes it that much better!

 

 9.  Do something for someone else.

The nature of the season is doing for others. It's why we give presents really: a kind something we can do for others. However, there is something even more special about doing for others that you don't even know and that have never done anything special for you specifically. I hear great stories about wonderful things people do for those in need at this time of year. I hope one day I can be one of those people. For now, though, our family always volunteers a day to ring the Red Kettle Bells for the Salvation Army, which Jon and I did together this year. 

10. Make yourself FEEL festive 100% of the time!

I wear my hat everywhere... As long as I have a clean pair I wear my candy cane striped socks... I play Christmas music til I've made everyone sick of it... I burn Christmassy smelling candles.... I keep all of our lights plugged in... It sounds silly but it keeps me in the spirit and while people sort of shake their head at me, a part of them enjoys seeing someone my age THIS excited about Christmas!

Jon laughed at me for feeling the need to put on my socks,
hat and red sweats before beginning our tree decorating!

Enjoyed a girls' day out at Equus Run Winery in Midway, Ky and, yes, I wore
my red and white and Santa hat!

 10 more days of joyous remembrance of this blessed time of year!

My Wedding on a Budget: 25 Days to Go!

Cake Tasting...Yum!
Today Kara finally got to do a cake run. There are many factors to evaluate...

The Design/Decoration: Of course they day before she did it would be when I decide to change the design. Okay, not the design but the look, so all I had for decoration was the ribbon from a few weeks ago with KK--No twine or burlap. However, the thicker dark purple ribbon I got that I thought I didn't want to use, may end up being what I use if not the twine. Talking it through with Kara, we decide we could always use a regular stand, lifted up on blocks or something of the sort and just overlay it with the burlap and maybe even incorporate some moss. Is it bad that I sill really don't know what it's going to look like--with 25 days to go!

Icing: It ended up not mattering too much that we couldn't do much decorating because her buttercream icing with no real butter test didn't turn out so well, which meant the exterior look wasn't really top-notch. (Good news is, it wasn't the taste of the icing that had issues. I thought it was delish!) Neither of us thought about the fact tub butter/Earth Balance is very soft in general and that it probably would melt and become soft very easily. While it tasted great, she had a tough time spreading the icing so it was pretty thing and sloppy. It will definitely need a better look for the real deal. I would think that stick margarine would work better. It was only NOW, though, that Jon decided to mention that his mom has her own Jon-friendly recipe. Hopefully that will be the secret sauce we need. She uses water, powdered sugar and vanilla, which I would think creates a fairly thick/stiff icing.

Flavor: Chocolate cake was great. Not too heavy, which I had feared only slightly. It's been that way sometimes in the past, as I have found happens more so with baked goods from scratch. She did good though...as I expected from her baking experiencing! She's also going to throw together tomorrow a bourbon fused version of the cake. I doubt we'll go with it, but it's definitely worth trying and we know how Jon feels about bourbon!

And something extra: Kara also stuck a little purple surprise in the center! She put a layer of purple icing between the two layers on top. (I assume she did the same for the bottom.) Not only was it purple, though, she took it a step further and threw blueberries in it. I guess she knew we wouldn't turn down the extra thought by securing my vote with the purple and Jon's with the blueberries.

Icing will have to be bettered and the look still has to be nailed down, but it'll come together. It's one of those things I'm not too worried about.

My Wedding on a Budget: 57 Days to Go!

Friday's always seem to have traveling involved these days! That also usually means little time for wedding progress...however, today did bring for some progress. I finalized which flower girl dress Julianna will wear. I went up to visit Aunt Lea to give her a few answers on what I was envisioning with the veil. It really should be pretty simple and we even found online the one (I'm pretty sure) that I tried on at David's Bridal that gave me the idea for what I wanted made. Jerusha was busy-busy-busy finishing up Cake-Pops for the shower on Sunday. I was lucky enough to get to taste-test a couple! Delicious indeed!

We headed for Newburgh tonight for tomorrow's shower with Jon's friends and family. It will be followed by the Dixon family/Louisville friend's shower on Sunday. (I know, I know...Quite a shower filled weekend!) I started working on some thank-you notes from last weekend's Ohio shower while in the truck (YES, we drove the new truck) and we also went through my iPod listing some of our "must play" songs for the reception!

My Wedding on a Budget: 67 Days to go!

I'm taking it pretty easy tonight. I needed that. I've been looking on Etsy for cupcake papers to use. I figure I'll go with green and purple (imagine that) and maybe the patterns like in this picture so we can do each flavor with a different pattern. I'm going to look on some more general bulk sale sites to see if Etsy is the best route or not. These run about $16 for 225 papers.

Holly also introduced me to a site I may look at with Jon for honeymoon options. It's BookIt.com. It seems to be a great place to do last minute trips and get them cheap. My guess is it's resorts and cruises with extra space and when it's so close to that date being passed they'd rather sell it at a cheap rate than make no money at all. I really want Jon to just pick a honeymoon so we can have that decision off our plate!