2010 Resolutions!

Guess what I will NOT be eating this year? Tofu donuts like these! Yuck! So any of you with food goals, think carefully before committing or you might be stuck with these. (I'm kidding. More power to you if that's what you're planning!) Okay okay, I won't slam them until I try them.

First of all, lets get last year's resolution out of the way. In 2009, made a decision to cut back on sugary drinks. I did pretty good with that and had a Coke, Dr. pepper, and Cream Soda I'd say 10 times all year? So I'll give myself a B. However, this year I'm trying to do a bit more. If you never try, you can never achieve right?!

2010

1. Read the whole Bible, front to back

2. Work diligently on magazine article publication

3. Read 12 new books (always open to suggestions)

4. Focus on praying for others' individual needs

5. Call mom and dad once a week. (Believe or not, this is hard to fit in sometimes.)

6. Write a letter on stationery once a month and mail it!

7. Cook healthier this year! Hooray for learning how!

8. Talk to strangers more openly (for instance, in line at Starbucks)

9. Practice the Violin more often

10. Be better at randomly paying for stranger's drinks in the drive- thru

Ten seems like a lot, but if I put my mind to it, I really will be a better person! So there's not talking me out of it now.

The bests of 2009

After reading many fantastic blogs this week (people must get inspiration after some time off at Christmas!), I was inspired by LT a.k.a. The marriage of an undometic to make a list of my 2009 bests. BEST idea all week! So here goes a whole lot of somethins--numbered, but in no particular order.

Best reading of 2009

1. Real Simple magazine

2. Twilight Saga, again

3. My favorite blogs (they make my day everyday)

4. The Time Traveler's Wife

5. The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers (read it now!)

6. My journal entries from the 5th grade. My how life changes.

7. My prayer and answer journal box from 2008. God is good.

8. The Biggest Loser cookbook for families! It's amazingly good food.

Best Eats of 2009

1. Mushroom Ravioli from Olive Garden

2. Chocolate Pecan Biscotti--made in my mother's kitchen

3. Biggest Loser's Spinach cheese dip with crackers! Yum! And even better? It's got 21 calories per serving!

4. Mr. Burger Vanilla Dr. Pepper (only order this if you're ready to die and meet your maker)

Best places of 2009

1. Cuppies and Joe

2. Our new home

3. Full Circle Bookstore

4. Target

5. Anthropologie

6. Urban Outfitters

7. The Rink

8. Alaska

Obsessions of 2009

1. Tea (I got a lovely new teapot for christmas if you'd like to come over and taste test a few!)

2. Colors!!!!

3. www.amazon.com

4. hair dye

5. texting friends

6. writing letters on beautiful stationery

7. crafting fabulous things

8. reading the Chicago Manual of Style and marking favorite pages

9. Robert Pattinson

10. The public library

Best Memories of 2009

1. Attending the New Moon opening night party and then the movie with best of friends.

2. Buying our house!

3. Singing Christmas Carols in the car with Jonathan as we drove through historic downtown OKC looking at Christmas lights!

4. Quitting my job at the Accounting firm

5. Finding out Roxanne was pregnant!

6. Our dog Mini's 1st birthday party with dog friends!

7. Passing the English certification test

8. running 6 miles all at once (hoping to run the 1/2 marathon in April)

9. Reading blogs. I told you this was one of my favorite things and I'm not kidding!

10. Learning to cook from scratch in my beautiful kitchen (favorite was a lemon meringue pie and homemade cinnamon rolls)

11. eating Swiss chocolate which was only 4 days old, from the Lindt factory in Switzerland, thanks to Andrew and his travels!

12. Feeling extremely loved when our friends stepped in and replaced a TON of our stuff in February when our house was robbed. Thank you again!

13. Our Alaskan Cruise. It's like sailing through postcards.

Favorite people of 2009

1. Andrew, for being an inspiration in the world of travel. I'm always amazed at his gumption tojust do it. This boy basically backpacked Europe. Much of the time, alone.

2. Jim Wilcox, for inspiring me to become a better me.

3. Laurie Tomlinson, for always having an encouraging word and a funny story.

4. Ellen, for bringing some laughter into the world.

5. Jonathan, for supporting me through all of my crazy ideas.

6. Christi Busic, for being wonderful.

7. Taylor Swift, for being a truly remarkable person as well as a great artist. Plus, her tweets always make me smile.

8. Hugh Grant. He might alway make the list. So what.

Baseball game

Alaska

Alaska

Alaska

TobyMac

It's been a full day.

picture found on flikr

9:30am- wake and eat a bowl of lucky charms with Andrew

9:35am-joke with Andrew about how hard it must be to work for the Guymon newspaper

10:45am-Morning church service begins

11:55am-Contemplating my New Year's resolution for 2010 which may include reading the Bible through in a year

12:30am-sitting down to lunch with my mom, dad, brother, husband, sister, and brother-in-law to amazing rack of baby back ribs.

1:30pm-ate cake with pink sprinkles

2:00pm-making homemade chocolate pecan biscotti with mom for our latte game night

3:00pm-buying materials for my latest homemade projects...soon to be released for sale on Etsy as soon as I stockpile a few more amazing ones. (what could it be!?)

4:00pm-make homemade noodles for our turkey and noodle soup.

6:00pm-HGTV tevo

6:30pm-dinner with the family!

7:00pm-prayer time and devotions at the dinner table

8:30pm-Rook game of the year with all 7 of us=hours of hilarious laughter. Latte game night plans pushed to tomorrow. All the better.

8:41pm-"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" theme song was sung. Rox wins Rook.

11:40pm-Andrew plays some awesome tunes on the guitar.

11:41pm-I think about my wonderful friends and how thankful I am for all of them

11:42pm-The night is young...

At the end of wonderful days like this, I sleep so well. I feel: loved, appreciated, happy, joyful, needed, fed, and content. I am reminded of all the wonderful things in my life and I certainly feel filled up to the brim. My cup is overflowing with all emotions that I know are my significantly strong qualities. Wow, it was a great day to be alive. I'm glad I lived it to the fullest.

Perhaps the cutest kids ever

I found Sesame Ellis' flikr page on accident and was so enthralled with her twin babies and her adorable daughter that I had to post these new Christmas pictures. These kids couldn't be ANY cuter. Life would be better if I knew them!

It's 1:20 a.m. and I am so incredibly sad that I have not updated my blog this week! Forgive me...and until tomorrow when I write...goodnight.

New Band Photos!!

I just took some new pictures for Leo Goes Grr this week. You can visit their website here for more information about their music and concerts!! Merry Christmas!

Today? I'm excited about Kelly's new rice recipe which can be found here which I will try sometime this week. I had to leave SUBBING today because I was sick. How ironic is that? I sub for a sickie and I leave because I'm sick. Wow. I probably apologized to the school secretary about a million times, but sometimes, you just can't help it. Jonathan treats me so sweet and came home carrying drugs at lunch. That always helps. :)

I'm a little bit stressed about finding all the gifts for Christmas in time, but it will work out! It always does! I'm hoping to knock it ALL out by tomorrow! (cross your fingers)

Oh Saturdays!! I'm sleeping in!!!!!!! Well be safe and chill--literally in Oklahoma. If you're in a mood for a really fun time, go to the Rink on Rockwell between 30th and 36th. You won't be disappointed with all their new Christmasy stuff.

ATTENTION Twilight fans, the Twilight Scene It DVD game is on sale on Amazon TODAY ONLY for 7.99, normally a 29.99 pricetag!

10-4. Over and out.

Taming the tongue

Sometimes, when I realize things that are said, by me or by others, I remember how God talked about taming the tongue in the Bible. I stop and think about all the times I said something that didn't need to be spoken out loud. Not ever. I think about all the times that I had a regretful word with someone or I was feeling guilty for talking about someone in a way that was not kind. It's not easy to apologize to those people. But then, after some pondering of my own, I wonder why God didn't make me deaf and blind--then I couldn't even make those mistakes to begin with. Even though I do the wrong thing sometimes, I'm learning that language is one of the most powerful gifts that I was ever given. It can be used for good, or it can be used for bad. It depends on the power behind the words. With a responsibility like that, I can't afford to slip up too often.

image found here

Wedding Cake Redo

Found it. Had I seen this before my wedding, there may have been a redo.

Beauty.

This cake is from Couture Cake in Canada

Try this!

It's more of a command than a request that you try this new exact eyelights mascara from who? COVERGIRL?! I was skeptical at first because I don't really like Covergirl, but after hearing good things about this mascara, I had to try it. Of course, I'm always skeptical of mascaras because most are really similar and just packaged differently, but are mainly the same clumpy crap. Not this! I'm telling you! They have different shades to enhance your eye color exactly and it seriously illuminates yours eyes. You'll keep staring at your face thinking, what's different? And then you'll realize. Oh, it's just this awesome mascara!

Peppermint Twist Cupcakes

Peppermint Twist Cupcake ICE Challenge December
Originally uploaded by Fields of Cake

Tell me I can make these! Yum!

Music Video

Please watch Jonathan's newest Music Video, Angela Darling by Leo Goes Grr...

It's so incredible! Watch the video here!

Woman

You are a girl that is captivating. Intriguing. And most importantly, significant, important, and extremely valuable. You matter. You should be cared for. You are loved, and you need attention. You are just as equal as men. You live for compliments of your beauty and loveliness. You need to hear that you are wonderful. That you are needed. That love in real life is not just a significant figment of your imagination. That someone in this vast world cares about you enough to make sure you are okay. That you are fed, cared for, and most importantly loved. You must be captivated. Unless this happens, you are forced to live in a lost world, a fake world of people demanding your attention, time, and always taking from you. The cruel world that never gives to you, but instead of teaching you, forces you to be someone that you most certainly are not. You need recognition for what you do, but more importantly, who you are. You are not a number, not a person on the street to be taken in, not someone who needs to be held by the hand. You are an independent woman who still needs to feel human love. You need space, you need romance, and you need confidence, because no matter what, you are still your own person. You are a woman.

Best Magazine Racks

If you need a cute place to store your magazine obsessions or just want an awesome work of art, look no further than these amazing design masterpieces! I am in love love love with the first one. What a GENIUS idea! Can I get one? I might tell Santa (a.k.a. my dad). He's super-handy in the woodshop! :) LOVE! Enjoy the cuteness!

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My Christmas List

This is my top 10 list, in no particular order. How in the world could I pick anyway?!

1. A Robert Pattinson wall calendar. Hey, everyone has that one little quirk.

2. An iphone. I'm still in the Blackberry world, but maybe sometime next year I'll cross over.

3. Cute Earrings. These are from Anthropolgie. $28

4. Joshua Bell's new CD. Love love love his music (and not his CD cover). Get it here.

5. An Espresso machine. This one is on sale at Starbucks if you happen to want one too!

6. Brown leather boots. I'm a big fan of these from NineWest because they only have a 1 1/4 inch heel, perfect for work.

7. Adorable BKE Jeans. The perfect combination of medium dark color with a slight bootcut stretch. My fave.

8. Cute bootie slippers like these! From Target.

9. A really awesome white watch. This one is a Michael Kors from Macy's.

10. A cute quilt like this one from Anthropolgie.

We all want things for Christmas, and some of the things on my Christmas list this year make me laugh. Funny thing is, I feel terrible even posting a Christmas list at all (I have never sent one to my parents in my life) because I feel that Christmas isn't about presents at all. All of these things are so unnecessary, but all of them fun regardless. What do you want most for Christmas? I'd love to hear!

Red Cups

Every year, Starbucks brings out these fantastic little red cups that literally pass our holiday cheer. They help us enjoy our seasonal Gingerbread latte or Peppermint Mocha with a little extra punch.

However, say hello to the new Starbucks beverage--the Caramel Brulee Latte! I haven't tried it yet, but you'll have to let me know how it tickles your tastebuds. I seriously doubt a title like that has room to disappoint.

And how about this new Candle Winter from Bath and Body Works? It's absolutely amazing. If you need a fresh new winter scent and are pretty burnt out on cinnamon or something spice, try this out. No regrets here!

Clay & Tillanie

David & Beth

Here are a few of the new pictures from a photo session last week with my good friends, David and Beth! Happy one year anniversary guys!