Christmas 2014

This was mine and Josh's first married Christmas and our first Christmas in a house rather than a basement apartment.   The best thing about this Christmas is that we didn't spend as much as we usually do on each other but this ended up being one of the best Christmases we've had.  We spent the morning opening presents at our house, then got ready and headed over to my Mom's to exchange gifts with her and my siblings.  We had to get gas before heading to my aunts which was a Christmas present in itself (only 2.39$ per gallon!!).  We spent the rest of the day at my Aunts in PA with my Mom's side of the family.  I don't have any photos but we spent Christmas Eve at my Dads with him, my Granny and my siblings and also stopped by Josh's Mom's house.

Josh's favorite present is actually the PJ's he is wearing which were part of his Christmas Eve gift.  He also loves Guardians of the Galaxy.  My two favorites were my Fitbit and Rosetta Stone (German).  No photos of me though because they're way too close up!

Blogtober: Halloween Memories

Today for Blogtober we're supposed to talk about our best or worst Halloween memories.  I really don't have any horrible memories.  There was last year when I was at my mom's and the neighbors house caught fire and burned down.  That was bad. 

I don't have any specific best Halloween memory but Halloween in my neighborhood was pretty badass when I was growing up.  Me and my best friend Alex, would go to all three courts surrounding us and come back to the house multiple times to dump our candy bags.  People had amazing elaborate decorations and it was freaking awesome.  My cousins would also come over because they live on a main road so there wasn't any trick-or-treating where they were.  So, today I am just going to share awesome photos of our also awesome costumes over the years.

 Excuse my face there.  I was Esmeralda from the Hunchback of Notre Dame

 Dorthy and Toto.  My Mom hand made my costume and glittered the shoes.  My favorite costume to this day.

 Pumpkin :)

A witch and Casper

 80's Rocker, Angel and Bumble Bee

 Flower, 50's Girl and Hawaii Luau Girl

 

 Hippie and Hockey Player

 My Favorite Disney Princess, Belle

This isn't from Halloween but I was Jasmine one year but I was sick and couldn't trick or treat.  I was not happy.

I am so sad I can't find the best costumes ever which was the year Alex and I went as our favorite Spice Girls.  I went as sporty and Alex went as baby.  Alex totally stuck balloons in her shirt!  We still laugh about that now.  

Happy St. PADDY's Day

The Irish in me has to say it ....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

New Year, New Blog ... Kind of

To be honest, I am not sad to see 2013 go.  It was definitely not my best year and 2014 looks to be much brighter for us.  So, on the (almost) last day of this year I am going to hit on a few things I want for this blog next year - this blog is one of the many things I hope to improve over the course of the new year!

For the first few days or maybe even the first two weeks, you will mainly be seeing book reviews on this blog.

Why?

Well, first, I am way behind on book reviews and really want to get caught up and second because I am reevaluating the content of my blog as well as my writing style.  

I had a friend read some of my posts and be honest about my writing style.  Apparently I write my blog like I write a paper.  Minimal contractions and very proper.  That is not at all how I speak and I want my blog to feel more like I am speaking to my readers.  So, I will be spending the month of January pre-writing some posts and making them sound more like me.

Also, I noticed that I tend to play it safe on my blog and I don't want to do that.  I want my readers to really get to know me.  That is why we blog in the first place, to meet people with both similar and different views from us.  Over the course of the next few months you may see posts about my decision not to have children, why the idea of marriage is hard for me, my fear of settling, and I may even through out some of my controversial political views if I really feel like starting some blogger debates ;)

Last, along with my travel recaps/reviews I want to write more about what travel means to me and some deeper thoughts about my experiences.  I feel like I have only scratched the surface of why I love to travel.  Traveling and reading are my two biggest passions and I want my blog to reflect that!

I am also making a few goals for this blog.  I hope to read 250 followers by the summer and 500 by the end of the year.  Once I hit 250 followers, I am going to start offering Ad spaces. I will be sponsoring more blogs this year and working harder to get my blog out there.

Also, I have so much exciting news to share over the next few weeks!  Including wedding plans, job opportunities, and other new opportunities for Josh and I!  I really really really a million times really, wish I could tell y'all about this amazing job opportunity but I can't say anything until all of my legal stuff goes through ect.  But I am super excited and there are future international opportunities! Gah, I wish I could say more but I can't and it's killing me!

Moving on ...

In general, I am excited to get more involved in the blogging community and in my own and I can not wait to see what 2014 has in store for Josh and I and for this little blog (like maybe a redesign?)!

25 Days of Christmas: Baking Cookies!

This past Sunday, Mom and I (and Jason) spent the afternoon baking Christmas cookies!  I posted the Recipe for Paul Bunyan cookies the other day and will hopefully have a recipe up for the Peanut Blossoms and Black Bottoms in the near future :)  The chocolate chips were just frozen dough from Schwan's.  Mom makes them from scratch on a different day but I didn't have time for all those shenanigans.

Of course, the Charles wanted to help!

25 Days of Christmas: Favorite Christmas Songs

 
I love Christmas music!  My favorites are the ones that are done the way they are supposed to be done.  I don't like when singers do crazy things to classic songs.  These are some of my favorites

O Come All  Ye Faithful by Celtic Woman

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree by Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood and Julianne Hough

O Holy Night by Martina McBride

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Vince Gill

Silent Night by Celtic Woman (in English and Irish)

Silver Bells by Martina McBride

Grown Up Christmas List by Amy Grant

 
Let There Be Peace on Earth by Vince Gill

 I pretty much love every song on Martina McBride's Christmas album and Vince Gill's 1993 Christmas album :) 

25 Days of Christmas

So it is December and I could not be more excited!  Despite the fact that it is super cold, December is one of my two favorite months simply because of all the celebration and good times that always happen in December.  

Throughout December I am going to be posting about Christmas in a small series I am calling the 25 Days of Christmas (totally ripped off ABC Family).  While I will not be writing about Christmas every day from now until Christmas, I do have quite a few post about Christmas favorites that I am super excited to share with all of you :)

Today I am going to keep it simple and share a few photos from Christmas Past :) 

Halloween!

Today, I am participating in Helene's Halloween link-up!

At first I really didn't know what to share about Halloween.  I really don't do much anymore but when I was little Halloween was a big deal in my neighborhood.  We lived in a rather large development and every Halloween it would be swarming with kids.  Not so much since 9/11 which is sad because it was so fun.  People really got into decorating their homes would have crazy flashing lights and all that fun stuff.  We would be out for hours and come back with two full pillow-cases full of candy.  Seriously, we'd be eating Halloween candy well into the summer.  I wish it was still like that.  

Anyway, the topic I decided to post about is costumes.  That was always my favorite, seeing everyone's costumes!  For me, that was even better than getting candy (...maybe).

I had some pretty awesome costumes, if I do say so myself.  Also, I have to apologize for my parents horrible taste in furniture and carpet color.  I am almost embarrassed to post these because of that, ha!

  

This pumpkin costume was my first ever Halloween costume.

Casper and a Witch

Rocker, Angel and Bumblebee

Flower, 50's girl, Hawaiian

Belle - I was so mad at my Mom for making me wear that shirt.

Dorthy and Toto - my Mom made the Dorthy costume, she even got regular shoes and made them gittery.  She was the best Mom ever that Halloween!

I was sick on the Halloween that I wore this Jasmine Costume.  I wasn't allowed to go trick or treating but I wore it to hand out candy.

Hippie and Hockey Player

The super poor college student home made costume at JMU ... a Devil

Another super poor college kid costume ... cowgirl.  I had a hat but it got annoying.  Also, I want my hair to be that short again!

A cop

I have also been Sporty Spice, Esmeralda, a Belly Dancer, a Baby, and a few others but I can't find pictures of them at the moment.  The ones from the year I was a belly dancer are just inappropriate for the blog ... we got way drunk and decided that body shots were the thing to do.

Happy Halloween! :)