Visit with Santa

Some of my oldest and longest friends took their little one and a half year old twin girls to see Santa this past weekend... It turned out to be a very interesting trip for Mom and Dad to get them on his lap.. and not too long to get them off of his lap, as well. But there was a picture to capture the memory.

Our Christmas Decor

This is our first Christmas together as a married couple. This is our first Christmas together in our house. Last year, we had just bought our home and before anything else was moved in, our Christmas tree was up and the mantel was decorated. Needless to say, I love the Christmas season and being able to decorate!


We out our tree up two weeks before Thanksgiving so that Taylor would be able to enjoy the tree before he left to go out of town. I love ornaments. Since I was little, every year my mom has given my sister and me an ornament to add to our collections. Over the past three years, I've decided that I wanted to start more of a collection of them and I have started picking one up whenever I travel somewhere. It's been something really special to collect with Taylor over the past two years. We added 6 more to "our" collection this year. I'm going to post about our ornaments next week. It's something too special to only mention it. I will have to show them to you and let you see why it's so special to me. That post to come next week. Here's a look at our tree:


The next thing that I wanted to add to our Christmas decor this year was something that I had seen in a Pottery Barn catalog back in late October. The "HO HO HO" letters came from Hobby Lobby and we spray painted them red so that they would show up better off of our shelves. I love the way that it turned out!



Our stocking hangers are one of my favorite gifts that we received at our Christmas Shower when we were engaged. I love decorating for the Holidays so much that I wanted that to be our first wedding shower last year. It's been so much fun getting all of those things back out again this year. If you need dishes and platters to entertain with this time of year, chances are that I have enough for both of us. I picked up two more stocking hangers this year so that one day if I were to ever need them, then I would have them already and they would match. Hopefully we won't need more than 4. hahaha I know, I'm looking ahead to Christmases in the future but I just want to be prepared and for everything to coordinate. Our stockings were also a gift at our shower that I love.. they are so simple and classic. Miley got a stocking from World Market that she loves. She'll be excited about her treats that SantaDog is going to bring her!




I really wanted an advent calendar last year but never found one at the right time that I really loved enough to get. But two weekends ago as Mom and I were walking around in Target, I spotted this one of "gifts" and couldn't not have been more excited about it. I love it next to my favorite green trees! Bet you can't guess what is inside of the gifts? Give up? Candy Cane Kisses, of course! :)



Our foyer table has a simple glass mosaic candle holder and the cute present plate to put our keys on. The candle holder is from Kohl's and the plate is a gift from our shower.



Our wreath was from our shower also but it's also from Target and I want everything from this part of their Christmas collection. I love the colors and the way that it looks from the street.



This little tree is in place of my flag for right now. Also a gift from our Christmas shower. It ties into the "look" of everything so perfectly.




So that's a little peek into what our house looks like at Christmas time. I hope that you enjoy decorating your house for Christmas as much as I do. I'll post a picture of our table set with our M. Bagwell Simply Christmas china soon. I told you that I loved our Christmas shower.

Dear Mommy,

While you were at work today, I got really bored.  Remember that pillow that Daddy put in my house last week to help me stay warm while you were gone to work all day and I had to stay outside?  Well I decided that it would be fun to see what was inside of it.  I ripped it open and found this white, fluffy stuff that I have seen inside of a few of the stuffed animals you have bought me... after I rip them open, too!  The more I looked at it, the more that I thought that it could be SNOW!!  (You know, like around your Christmas Village that I pulled around the living room a few weeks ago?)  Then I decided that you would love to have a White Christmas so I spread it all over the yard for you, see?!?!  I knew that you would love it and let Daddy know right away how sweet I was!! 

Love,

Miley

Taylor is back out on tour. He left early on Thursday morning and will not be home until December 21. He was home for over 6 weeks so Miley and I are having a hard time adjusting to it being just the two of us again. We went to Monroeville this weekend to stay with my parents. They had their "Living Christmas Tree" performance Saturday and Sunday so I wanted to be able to see what they had been preparing so hard for. It truly was something special and cool to see 60 people in this "tree" with just their heads peeping out from the branches singing beautiful Christmas carols. 

Our next few weeks at home leading up to Christmas are eventful but not too hectic. I'm cleaning the house and preparing to take a few pictures so that you can see what Christmas looks like around the Price house. 

I went grocery shopping once I got home this afternoon and found my favorite holiday treats. Hershey's Candy Cane Mint Kisses.

  

It's Sunday night... one of my favorite nights of television so I'm curled up on the couch, finished with my mom's potato soup for dinner, and now I'm enjoying my favorite holiday treat. I'll post more tomorrow. Go get a Hershey's Kiss and enjoy, too! :) 

Our Black Friday

Since I was posting from my iPhone the past two posts, I figured that I needed to get on my computer and fully explain what Black Friday looked like for my mom and me.

We woke up at 4:15 am, showered and got ready to hit the stores. We stayed up until 12:45 am so that we could map out our shopping plan by the sales and what we knew that we were going to need to get during the early hours. The list was pretty long. But we arrived at Target by 5:15 am and waited in line for 45 minutes until the doors opened. It was still too dark outside for my camera on my phone to take clear pictures of what the lines looked like. We were halfway down the side of the building with the rest of the line wrapped around the parking lot and down in front of a few more stores. The security guards that they had posted were guessing that there were somewhere between 500 to 750 people in line when the doors opened at 6:00 am. Mom and I were within the first 100 in the store. I raced one lady to the back of the store. Apparently she thought that I was headed to the toy aisle like she was. Not yet, lady.. we haven't made it to that step in our lives yet. I was actually going to the cases on the aisle with all of the iPods. My step dad is getting one for Christmas and Target had the best deals during Black Friday to get one. $145.00 + a $15 gift card to Target. So we waited in line in the electronics for 20 minutes and we were back in our car, getting away from the craziness of Target by 6:20 am. I wish that I would have been able to get a picture of what the lines looked like. The line to checkout in the front of the store was unbelievable. We decided to go back on Saturday to get a few other things that we knew would still be there when we came back. It was time to head to another store.

The next stop was Kohls. Only a few things on our list but we ended up getting great deals on some new dress shirts for Taylor. Plus we received $30 in Kohls Cash for me to go back and spend tonight, I think.. just as long as it's before Dec. 6. I believe that it will be towards some accessories for my Christmas Village. :)

We needed a little pick-me-up so we headed to Chick-Fil-A for coffee and chicken biscuits... then on to Home Depot to get some things for Taylor. He'll be happy to open up his gifts on Christmas morning.. and will be so surprised!

Next was Shoe Station where we were able to use our coupons to get a little off of the things that we needed to get.

On the Costco.. and this was unbelievable actually. There was hardly anyone there yet because the doors had just opened when we got there at 9:00 am. First we ordered my mom's Christmas cards.. all 150 of them and it only cost $42.00. She was in shock and so excited about the way that they turned out. We picked those up, grabbed the holiday stamps and checked out. If I can scan one tonight, I will and post it for ya'll to see.

Then there was Belk (men's and women's stores) where we found amazing sales on some clothes. Along with a stop to Bath & Body Works to get a few Wallflowers that were on sale as well. 

After that, we came home and hurried and got ready for dinner before Mom, Jack, Taylor and I went to the Shakespeare Festival to see A Christmas Carol: The Musical. It was soooooo great but Mom and I were about to fall asleep during the play since we had been up since 4:15 am. 

I did do a little online shopping at bestbuy.com on Thursday since you were able to get the sales before the stores opened on Friday morning. I actually did a lot of my shopping online this year and everything has come in but one thing that should be here on Monday. Other than that.. everything is wrapped and under the tree..

Oh Christmas Tree

Just decided to put up a little peak of our decorations and all of the
packages wrapped up under the tree. I took this picture from my iPhone
tonight after I finished my wrapping. So far, everything that I've
purchased has been wrapped. By this weekend, I'll be completely
finished with shopping and will be anxiously awaiting December 20.
Friday was very productive. Look for a post about our experiences
tomorrow. So until tomorrow... Merry Christmas!!

Happy Thanksgiving! Taylor and I are headed to Lanette, AL this
morning to lunch with his mom's family at his grandmother's house.
Then back to Montgomery for an afternoon nap before dinner at my
grandmother's house! Here's to eating too much but walking it off as
mom and I start shopping at 4am tomorrow!

Atlanta

Last weekend, Taylor and I decided to make the quick trip to Atlanta to visit with our friends Nick and Sarah. The weekend was full of great conversations, many laughs, many stories of the boys and their high school memories, and amazing food!! 

On Friday afternoon, we actually made it into town before 5pm traffic got really bad. We went to this amazing wine store to stock up for the weekend then headed to dinner at Wild Wing Cafe. We drank and ate a lot and just enjoyed getting to catch up! We ended the night with watching a movie by the fire.

Saturday morning was an early one. The four of us had a day full of activities planned. First stop was breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast then on to downtown. We spent the morning at the Georgia Aquarium and really enjoyed ourselves. It truly is such a cool place to visit. Our next stop was the World of Coca Cola Museum. Amazing. We got to taste all the cokes that we wanted (all 62 if we were up for the challenge) and then we got to leave with a small glass bottle of Coke. We loved it.. and I love this picture! 

 

Our lunch stop was to the Varsity. Of all my trips to Atlanta, it was something that I had never experienced and we were all starving and ready to eat by the time that our morning was over. We decided we needed a trip to Atlantic Station to work off our lunch. A little shopping at the newly opened H&M was a treat! I left with a Christmas present for someone and a few things for myself.

Then on to IKEA.... unbelievable. I have always heard how amazing they were.. just never been able to experience it for myself. None of us had. So the four of us spend two full hours walking around and absorbing everything. Wanting to leave with more than we could. There will be another trip just for IKEA, soon, very soon. The night ended with football and tons of tailgating food.

Sunday morning we went to Marietta Diner for breakfast before leaving town. It was wonderful! We even left with some of their amazing cake to get to eat later on. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake.. yummmmm. 

Miley spent the weekend with her grandparents in Monroeville so we did make a trip to Greenville on Sunday afternoon to pick her up. She enjoyed herself and only got into a little bit of trouble. :) We were glad to have her back with us though. Thursday night was our first night in our house without her since we got home from the honeymoon.. you just never realize how used to something you are until it's not there. We love our Miley Girl. But I loved our fun little weekend trip too! I look forward to many more weekends like this!!

Jana and Will's Wedding Festivities

The rehearsal dinner was at this really cool flower shop in downtown Birmingham on the second floor of the building. They had a Mexican meal catered in and it was amazing. 

Taylor and I

It was so great to see so many people that I haven't seen in years and catch up with the old roommates. 

Amy, me, Heather and Jessica

Jana was the calmest bride and just so excited to be able to share her last night as Jana Wentzell with everyone. I cannot tell you the amount of people that toasted her and Will after the dinner. You can tell just how much they have blessed every one around them, individually and as a couple, too. I am so overjoyed to call her my best friend. It was such an honor to be by her side all weekend. Jana, I adore you and I'm so happy for you.

me and the bride

As you can tell, all of us girls loved being there with her to share in her special day! :)

all the Auburn girls

After the Bridesmaid's Breakfast that was hosted at her parents' house, all of the girls were invited to get ready along with Jana. It was so much fun to be able to watch her get her hair and makeup done. 

Hanging out in her parents' bathroom while she got her hair and makeup done

Wasn't she the most beautiful bride?!?!

The wedding was perfect! The reception was at Jones' Farm. It was a little cold outside but the heaters everywhere and the bonfires helped keep us warm here and there. They had a great band from Atlanta called the Tams. We danced and caught up with old friends. The bride and groom left around 8pm headed for a night at Ross Bridge Resort in Birmingham then a few days in Ashville, NC at an amazing resort. Like I said, the weekend couldn't have been more perfect. She is now, after over 3 years, Mrs. Flinkow!!

Mrs. Flinkow

Photo by Amelia Strauss

She's married! And her students will now refer to her as "Mrs. Flamingo". The weekend was beyond perfect and she couldn't have wished for prettier weather. Everything was just as she wished and hoped that it would be. She was stunning and glowing all day. Will is truly a lucky man to have her as his wife... but I surely don't have to tell him that. Another post tonight after work to let you see pictures that we took.

Soon to be..

My best friend is getting married on Saturday!! Miss Wentzell will become Mrs. Flinkow. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to be able to be a part of her special day. Since the end of our freshman year and the beginning of our sophomore year at Auburn, I cannot imagine my life without her in it. Many tears have been shed, laughs have been heard and love has been share. She is truly one of a kind. I am excited about a Friday off of work to be able to share memories with you, Jana!!

living room update

For months (almost a year actually since we've bought our house last December) I've been waiting to hang something over our sofa. I wanted to buy ledge shelves but I wanted to wait until I actually found them on sale. So $25.00 later, I left from World Market last week with two shelves that were 50% off and I couldn't wait to get hung over our sofa. While Taylor was home for a few days last week, we got them placed right on the wall and then I was able to take a couple of trips to Hobby Lobby to get frames. One trip was to frame our favorite engagement picture with us on the black fence that cost under $50.00. And another to purchase the other five frames for under $25.00 since the frames were all 50% off last week too! So I printed the pictures at Costco for the other five frames for less than $3.00 today and now the project is finished. I am so happy with the way that it turned out and just decided to add a few of my little pumpkins that I had laying around the house for some color. I'm obviously proud of the way that it turned out since it's the first picture of our house or my decorating that I've posted on this blog. Maybe sometime soon we are going to be getting new living room furniture and I'll actually let you see that too!! I just have to find something that I like first! 

Miley Girl

Look how sweet our little Miley is! She is now 7 months and growing to be such a precious dog. My mom and step dad have been in town just about every weekend since Auburn Football kicked off and so she enjoys spending time with them all weekend. And since Taylor has been home during the week and gone on the weekends, I've enjoyed the company, too!! (Taylor invested in a new camera and has enjoyed trying to capture Miley in her element!)









So other than that, not much news! I've been decorating for fall and trying to get some things organized a little more to my liking. I said that I was going to be a little more frequent with my

updates but there really hasn't been much to post. We did buy a dog house for Miley but I am trying to not talk about her all the time.

Taylor and I celebrated 6 months of marriage and one year since we got engaged on Monday night. It's really hard for me to believe that this much time has already gone by. So much is different in our lives than they were a year ago and we are truly better for the changes that the Lord has made (most of you know what I'm talking about).

I am off to enjoy one more night with Taylor before he leaves on tour again!

surprise

Taylor called me Sunday night as he was picking up a rental car in Nashville. He decided that he was going to surprise me and drive home for two days instead of hanging out in Nashville. He didn't want to totally surprise me since I have been going to sleep early and him coming through the front door at 11:30pm might scare me to death. Although I had to work Monday from 8am- 5pm, it was such a treat to come home and get to spend time with him. He left yesterday, Tuesday, while I was at work and headed back to Nashville to meet up with everyone else last night. It was a short, quick trip for him but I was so glad that we didn't have to go without seeing each other for over two weeks. Thankfully, he will be home again on Monday night!

Remember these?

I ran across something the other day on one of my few trips to Target that I take weekly. I couldn't help but get excited about it...

                     

Remember when you used to take them on trips to a friend's house or to summer camp because you thought that you needed all the makeup and accessories that you owned with you? I had the coolest one or like three that I remember had my name written on it in paint pen from the girls that worked at Sanrio Surprise. One was black on the bottom with a white and pink polka dot top with a pink handle. One was pink glittery with a clear handle. Isn't it crazy that I can remember that? I wish that I still had them because I promise that I would still be using it. Why would I have ever let myself get rid of them. Luckily for me, they do still make the classic ones but they also have these huge train case ones now that I wouldn't mind getting my hands on. I think that I know someone that will be getting one of these for Christmas. I just have to find the one that I want. :) 

            

Auburn vs Southern Miss

This was our wonderful view from the game today. The best part of all is the fact that the seats are directly under the smaller score board on the very top row so you have something to lean back against and then you are in the shade and have the breeze blowing almost constantly. So as we were leaving the game the first couple of minutes into the fourth quarter, we realize how lucky we were since everyone we saw was sunburned and had been sweating to death the entire game. I'm so thankful that we were in those seats and out of the sun because I'm pretty sure that I would have wanted to leave earlier than we did. As we were about 200 yards from our tailgating spot and my car, the rain came pouring down!! We jumped under a tent that had been left vacant during the game and waited until this rain slacked off a little. We ran the rest of the way and by the time that we were back at the car, the rain had stopped and we were wet and ready to get home. A quick stop by the bookstore and we were back in Montgomery in no time. 

I enjoyed my day so much and realized two things:

1. I miss Auburn more than I remember and wish that I was able to get up there more often. A trip to Big Blue Bagel would have made it complete but I'm thinking that I'll be up there again in a few weeks and I'll make that my first priority.

2. Why in the world don't I spend more time with Amber?!?! I loved being able to talk and catch up with her today and just have some time to hang out. I'm so thankful that my parent's gave us a chance to do this. We had so much fun! It's so stupid that I feel like I don't ever have friends in Montgomery when really I have a sister and a wonderful friend right down the road that would love to spend time with me. We will change this and make this happen more often, mark my word.

So that was our day. I'm beyond tired. I wanted to blog though. But now, I'm going to bed.  

Google Game

I stole this from a random person's blog that I ran across last night. Decided that since I'm trying to post more often again, that this would be something fun to try. We'll see. The only rules are that for each question you google the answer and choose the FIRST image that comes up that is appropriate for your blog. Here goes.

My age:

Place I'd like to travel:

My favorite place:

(with Taylor, and no, I didn't google this.. this is the honeymoon)

My favorite food:

My favorite animal:

My favorite color:

Town where I was born and where I live now:

My first name:

My middle name:

My last name:

My bad habit:

My first job:

My present job:

My dream job: