Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve- my favorite day of the year!

"You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth." -Luke 1:14

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

Godmother/God-daughter Day Out

Last week I found out that my aunt and uncle and 2 cousins were traveling to FL from Virginia for Christmas! To say I was excited at this news is an understatement!

I have always been close with my family and in 2007 they moved to VA. It's hard not getting to see my cousins grow up since I was around them SO much during their infant&toddler years. Thankfully, I get to see them a few times a year when they come here or I travel there.

Anyway...to stick to the title of this post, I told Chloe (my cousin and godchild) on her way to FL that when she got here, we were going to have a Godmother/God-daughter Day Out. Of course, it would involve what she requested. :)

I picked her up at the hotel her family was staying at. We had some photo fun, first.

Our first stop was lunch at Chick-Fil-A. Can't go wrong with that place, ever!

I enjoyed getting to talk to her and experience her sassy little personality. She is part of a swim team up where she lives, and I was asking her how it was going and whether or not she forsees herself sticking with the sport for a while. Her response? "Yeah, I'll do it for a long time. I'll be swimming with Michael Phelps when he's old." Ha ha!

After lunch, it was time to go get our nails painted for Christmas. Chloe knew exactly what she wanted her nails to look like.

They spell "Merry Christmas!"...one letter on each finger.

The nail technicians were impressed by her creativity!

Both of our holiday-ready fingernails!

After running into Walgreens and Publix to get some things, Chloe informed me that she would like to trade her Chick-Fil-A toy in for a cup of ice cream, so we swung through the drive-thru to do that. It's my job to spoil her and I love doing it! This girl means so much to me!

....And that was how we spent our fun day out! Looking forward to seeing this girl again on Christmas Day!

North Carolina...again!

This past Friday-Tuesday, I went on another road trip to North Carolina with my friends Audra and Dayna. This trip was planned the day we left North Carolina in October. Think we like road trips much? :)

Would you believe that there was NO snow? If you know me and my obsession with snow, you can imagine how disappointed I was. I was holding out hope until the minute we left; thinking maybe, just maybe, there might be an area with snow somewhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Unfortunately though, there was none.

So what does that mean? It means that another trip has already been planned for January or February. This time, a snowstorm will dictate when we go. I'll be watching the weather consistently over the next few months, and when it works out that we're free and a snowstorm is moving in, we're gone again! I can't wait!

We left Friday after school. We left later than originally planned, but in true procrastinator-fashion, Dayna and I were not packed yet. It worked out though because our drive was 5 hours flat with no traffic. Friday night we stayed in Audra's uncle's cabin in Georgia. It was so fun! The smell of pine filled the cabin and it just felt cozy! When we arrived, her uncle had everything set out for us, complete with Christmas music playing. This experience made me dream of spending a Christmas(es) in a snow-covered cabin somewhere in the mountains.



Saturday we headed to our final destination of Asheville, NC. We stayed in the exact same hotel we did when we were there in October since the hotel worker told us in October that last Christmas they got 16 inches of snow. While we were there, we were able to visit The Biltmore Estate, shop, eat at new restaurants, and go Christmas-light-looking through the mountains. Skiing, snowtubing and/or snowmobiling was on the original agenda until the weather decided it wanted to be "unseasonably warm." {Probably my least favorite phrase, ever.}

Here are pictures to help tell the story of our trip...

The classiest McDonald's, located near Biltore and equipped with a grand piano and fireplace

Beautiful Biltmore

The impressive intricate design


Nighttime with the Christmas tree lit up



Audra and I waiting to go in to Biltmore Candlelight Christmas, freezing cold!


After Biltmore, we went to eat at this restuarant which had a delicious New York Strip!


Shopping in Asheville


After shopping, we visited The Grove Park Inn in Asheville. They were hosting a huge gingerbread house contest and had some shops and in-house restaurants. We walked around for a while and then got some hot cocoa which we took outside to sit and overlook the mountain view.


We had planned to go to a sit-down restaurant for dinner but to our surprise, many of the restaurants closed at 9:00. So we settled for a place called Cookout Burger and I thought it was SO good! We ate outside in the cold weather, but I was soaking it all in! :)


When we got back to the hotel, Dayna and Audra played chess in the lobby while I relentlessly searched the weather forecast on my iPhone. (We know how that turned out.)

Although no snowflakes fell from the sky this trip, it still was fun being in the company of great friends and enjoying the first few days of our Christmas Break in another state! The cold weather at least made it feel festive. Hopefully my next post regarding a trip involves lots and lots of snow pictures!

3 days 'til Christmas!

Deeply Moved

I am deeply moved by an incident that took place recently in the town where I live.

Sunday night, a 25 year old police officer was shot in the neighborhood surrounding the school I work at. He underwent hours of surgery immediately after arriving at the hospital Sunday night, and today the police chief made the announcement that doctors believe the officer will not be able to recover from his injuries.

I do not know this police officer. Yet I am deeply moved. A man, exactly my age, has been severely wounded, and potentially, fatally-wounded just in doing his job.


I am utterly disappointed that a 19 year old kid is capable of such a crime. I should know better, because the world in which we live is an unsafe and cruel world. But it still shocks me nonetheless. I just don't get it. Plain and simple.

What's more, is the fact that this 19 year old has already been in trouble with the law. In the past year and a half, I can recount a few different stories of officers being shot just within the Tampa Bay area. The common thread here is that these criminals, capable of shooting police officers, have already been convicted of crimes, yet they're free on the streets committing more crimes, some of which are costing innocent lives. What sense does this make? What will it take for these criminals to get tougher sentences?

I usually don't post such a topic as this- but tonight I just feel led to pray for and honor this innocent police officer. He was simply doing his job to keep the community safe. I am brought to tears by this story, especially right before Christmas, and I just can't imagine the pain some are experiencing tonight due to this situation. Doctors have their wise knowledge on a patient's condition but GOD's ways are always greater. Whatever the outcome is of this officer's injury, I am confident he will be known as a hero in our community.

Tonight, I am reminded to be thankful for police officers who daily risk their lives for the betterment of their communities.

I Want To vs. Reality

It seems as though the holiday season is busier now than it was before I was a working adult. I'm feeling overwhelmed with it all. There's just SO much going on right now. And I'm overwhelmed! Oops, did I say that already?

There's so much I want to be able to do as part of the season (especially since it only comes once a year) and then there's what I must do to stay on top of my job.

I feel like part of my brain is in this fantasy, pretending I'm doing the things I want to do this holiday season. Then, the reality sets in that those things are only mere wishes of mine that just make me feel in the holiday spirit.

{Have the random thoughts of my brain bored you to tears confused you yet?}

I want to be baking all sorts of holiday sweets and putting them in cute festive containers with handmade labels/gift tags to give as gifts to everyone I know.

Source: talkcraftytome.com via Michelle on Pinterest

I want to coordinate matching, holiday tissue paper with every holiday gift bag I give.

Source: currentcatalog.com via Chimene on Pinterest

I want to decorate my apartment as if it's on display to the community the entire month of December.

Source: livingroomdecorating.org via Sabrina on Pinterest

I want to plan and teach the most fun and amazing "Christmas-Around-the-World" lessons to my 5th graders.

Source: bainbridgeclass.com via Suzy on Pinterest

I want to send really nice Christmas cards to my closest family and friends, on time.

Source: scrapbookgirl.typepad.com via Jessica on Pinterest

I want to make all sorts of Christmas crafts.

Source: google.nl via Chantal on Pinterest

It's just not all going to happen right now, as perfect as I might like it to, anyway. Maybe someday?

I have, however, recently hosted a Gingerbread House Decorating Contest on Friday night and an Ornament Exchange Saturday night that I have yet to blog! I hope to soon!

A New Tradition

I think it's safe to say a new tradition has been started, and for someone who loves tradition, this makes me a happy girl! Last month, my friends from college, Whitney and Lauren, and Dayna went to dinner one night and decided we needed to get together once a month. They both live in Lake Wales and Dayna and I are in Lakeland (about a 30 minute distance) so we thought it'd be fun to get together every month and trade off locations. So far, we've been able to manage this tradition for two months! :)

Tonight we got together again, this time in Lake Wales (well Frostproof, actually) at an infamous little diner, Frostbite. It's such a good place and somewhere I frequented in college.

Getting together with these girls is such a breath of fresh air. I love them! We laugh most of the time at Lauren but can also talk seriously about what's going on in our lives. Lauren was my roommate my first semester of college and I feel so fortunate to have met her and also to have been able to go through our first college semester together. There are too many memories to count from that first year.

And Whitney has been friends with Lauren since elementary school. Lauren would invite Whitney over to our dorm sometimes and that's how I met her and we just became great friends over the years. She's also a teacher and is about to celebrate her first wedding anniversary! Both of these girls' friendships are treasured!

Tonight we swapped some gifts classy style, in the backseat of Whitney's new ride. :)

{Excuse my nasty, nasty, nasty hair! Why, oh why, must the left side always flip out?}

Whitney is notorious for writing cards for all seasons and holidays. She's SO good at remembering to be thoughtful. So, I thought she needed some more note cards! Plus, who doesn't love a monogram frame? Haha.

And Lauren...a frame for her, too, but also some nailpolish because that girl loves her some nailpolish! It's kind of an inside joke, too, but when I lived with her freshman year, it was literally about every night she'd paint her nails a new color. I don't have the patience to let my nails dry every night, but she was determined. New color, almost nightly. I love this about her! So I had to get her some, of course!

Tonight's get-together was too short, but such is life for working adults. I can't wait to see them next month to continue our tradition!

Life Lately via Instagram

1. Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
2. Peanut Butter Blossoms
3. Wrapped presents under the tree (my favorite!)
4. White chocolate dipped pretzels