SIXTEEN.

No, I'm not sixteen. Close. Turning 22 on Sunday! But that's not what this is about. You've seen the posts where you tag someone to answer questions about themselves and they in return tag more people to answer the questions. I've been successful in those questions: lipstick or lip gloss?, what color hair do you have? chocolate or vanilla?, favorite Christmas memory? All pretty basic to answer. I saw this self-revealing chain blog and thought I'd join in. So, tag, you're it! If you haven't done it -- or need something to update your blog with because certain people won't get off your back since you haven't posted anything new on your blog in the last week -- this is for you! Ashley, whose blog I stole this post from, always has quick answers for those self-defining questions. I definitely consider her a strong individual. Plus, I like reading her answers to such questions. I am now attempting to pick sixteen things about myself. Here's to self realization. :) this will most likely be an on going list and all 16 will not be done in one sitting. STATE SIXTEEN RANDOM FACTS, GOALS, HABITS, ETC. ABOUT YOURSELF. 1. I'm a people pleaser, but I'm working at being more decisive for myself. 2. I can sit in traffic and be perfectly content. 3. I've been looking for the perfect pair of purple pumps for about 5 years.(there are not a lot to choose from but I have hope since purple is trendy again) 4. I will break out in random dance in public. 5. You don't want me backing you up in a verbal fight - my vocabulary has never been good and I have no good comebacks. I will only assist you in looking stupid. 6. I am immune to sub zero temperatures outside of Sam's Club if it means helping a friend.- that's for you Molly. 7. I am awful at time management -even worse if it means doing activities with other people...if I am by myself doing things I am so much better. 8. I love my lists - what needs to be done before a particular date, what I have accomplished, what I need to pack, what my priorities are when I get home...you name it, I probably make some sort of list for it. 9. If bored I will clean and reorganize closets, clothes, drawers, shelves...I will do it all day. 10. I've always wanted to have a passport -(now that I do, I want to fill my passport with as many stamps as possible!) I LOVE to go places and do things! 11. I am a fingernail biter and cheek biter. I have gotten better about it over the years. I used to bite my (WARNING: do not proceed to read the next word if you have a weak stomach and visual mind) toenails. 12. As much as I love to make outfits and dress up for the public, I am not afraid to look absolutely disgusting and be in public. 13. I love me some peanut butter - I eat it all the time and on anything/everything! 14. I want my children to have brown hair - with the Blauser blue eyes. 15. I am horribly cranky when I'm tired - ask the hubby - this week's been bad... 16. I want to get better at making dinners every night and having more variety. One step at a time.

FREE.

FREE POSTERS. Based off depression posters. There are 5. (click the title)

Neat idea.

I like the comment from the lady saying she actually encased the magazines and topped them off. Easier to dust I'm sure...and would look extra cool. Don't know where you'd find some glass/plastic vase thing that big. Enjoy. (again, click the title)

Partying a little too hard...

Stone Mountain Mariott Resort

Since we are now affiliated with the wonderful world of Delta we were invited to their annual Christmas party. I got to wear a fancy little dress and mingle with important people :) haha. Ok, seriously. I went dress shopping this past Tuesday with Liz and Erica (also wives of delta personel) and found a dress I really liked at White House/Black Market. Erica also found her special dress there - Liz already owned half of the store so bought a cute red clutch to go with her black dress and red pumps. Like I said, I found my dress, but I didn't buy it. I couldn't justify it in my head to spend more money on a dress that I would wear once and maybe twice looking down the road. I was strong and walked away. How did I get the dress then? Bryce decided I should have the dress and that he would go back to the mall where it was in Atlanta and buy it for me as a surprise. And what a surprise it was! :) Thank you Bryce! Thank you Liz and Matt for helping him find the right dress and size. Bryce and I carpooled to Stone Mountain with Erica and Adam. We never did get a group photo or couple pictures so the pictures I have are of me doing a pre-party fitting and then after the party where my hair has lossened and gotten messy a bit. :) Just use your imagination to picture it how it was. I had some pretty large grey pearl earrings I wore. Bryce wore a light grey shirt with dark grey pants and a tie that had grey and black stripes on it. It's the first time we've purposely coordinated, and we looked dang cute! Bryce jokes that I drank out of someone else glass at the party (which I did not!) b/c I was out this morning. He called at 10:35 (church starts at 10) after trying me a couple times earlier and asked if I was ok and coming to church. I was dead asleep when he called too, not this half awake, half asleep business. I've never slept that hard for that long. I guess I was tired from the dancing and late hours but it was lots of fun.

My stingray skin clutch from Oly.

Tree skirt!

I picked the material out a couple years back and my dear mother has made me a tree skirt to enjoy. I got it in the mail yesterday and immediately put it under the tree - as I should. Jamba really likes it and has actually been crawling under the skirt and out the hole in the middle around the base. Great. I had mostly forgotten the fabric I picked, but I'm glad to say that I still like it. My genius mother backed it with a nice white tone on tone fabric so I can switch sides when I get tired of the green and red. Here's another shot of the tree in our green house. :)

Art

We hung two pictures in Bryce's office. We used the museum standard and hung the center of each picture at 57" from the floor. Although, on an after thought, since the room has a stripe we probably should've had them land at the same place on the stripe. Too bad. They're on separate walls so it's not as bad as if they were next to each other.

"Tire" by Bryce Blauser (he did this in high school after school one day b/c he was bored.)

"Sunset" by Monet

It's officially Christmas Season

It's the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations and music are fair game. We got our tree up and stockings out. Little by little I'm adding bow to everything :) I have a couple projects for next Christmas. I'll get the stuff on sale when Christmas is over and you'll get to see how they turn out later. I know you're looking forward to it...ah, ah. I know. Jamba's got her wild eye on you - watch out. Darn flash. We've found out that she likes to bite fake Christmas trees and knock low-placed ornaments off. Anybody want a cat? That's a joke Bryce. One thing I like about Georiga is the serious supply of evergree/pine needles. I just cut some low sprigs off the small trees and stick them in my decorations. I added the bows on everything, pillows, card holder, towels, chandelier, as a tree topper, on a lamp... Also, adding more evergreen sprigs. Yes, the 'Christmas' card on the left says Welcome. It's from Delta, and we like it there. This is my project for next season. drum roll for a year.... It probably will not go in front of the fire place (can we say fire hazard. I like my house thank you.) I was imagining it up behind the couch where the camel and other things are. I'm still keeping my eyes open for a Nativity set I like, I hope to add one to the decor soon!

25% off and another 50% before Noon!

My first Black Friday (dun-dun-dun-duh) experience. We decided since Bryce LOVES to shop and LOVES even more to be around large gatherings of people to go experience some Black Friday madness and get some deals. Ok, mainly, I made him get up early so we could go to an outlet mall south of us so we could buy him some new clothes for his new job (where he can't get away with wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and whatever he throws on) when nice things would be a bit cheaper. We scored a deal at the first place. We saved $94 on three pairs of pants from Bass. They are really nice pants - wrinkle free out of the dryer and fit him well. We actually didn't save $94, because we wouldn't bought them if they weren't on sale. We really just found some really nice pants for $18. That's what I'm talking about. I found some nice stuff at half off and maybe 60%off, but my best deal was probably a nice peacock colored cardigan from Ann Taylor for $11. No, there were no missing buttons or holes in the armpits. No pictures of this excitement - shopping was enough to fill his excitement reserve for at least another 3 months. Bryce bought his shirts at Banan Republic - a first for him. He's just steppin' up in this world isn't he?!

Fun in Kentucky! (no, it's not an oxymoron)

I got a little appeitite for something different by the time November rolled around. Lucky for me the best opportunity in the world presented itself and I took it. Jenifer flew in from UT the same week as my friend Molly was going to be available to play. I gave plenty notice at work and told them the day before that I would be taking two days off of work. I left my house at 3:30 A.M. and arrived just in time for some breakfast! It was a great change of pace to be with some family in Kentucky for a few days. Sadly, it was only for a day and a half. I'll take what I can get! Molly was a great host. We had some Trivial Pursuit adventures and I won - that's right Molly - it came back to bite ya. :) My arm was sore for a couple days after the Wii, and I passed out gingerbread contest flyers for PBS (for 5 hrs) with Molly on a cloudy, 37 high, Saturday. I got treated with free dinners and great company. Thanks Molly and Eric for being so cool. And thank you Amy, Jared, Pierce, and Megan for feeding me lunch on Sunday and for the entertainment/excitement. Your house echoes really well when kids scream. :) Sadly, there are no real pictures beside my hair cut, which is super cute and another real perk to being around Jenifer. If you've experienced it then you know what I'm talking about! Driving home I had my back seat down to make room for a chair, shell chandelier, and some vases. Thanks Ma! I do have pictures of those.

Smokin' Buns...well burgers in this case

I decided to do something better for dinner since I'm tired of the ol' rice and chicken or noodles and chicken dinner so we did Hamburgers tonight with all the fixins including bacon. I didn't have a tomato so the Ketchup made up for it. And we don't have a grill so I broiled them. The exciting part of the night was the smoke dector blaring in our house. They made the smoke detector go off so we had a couple doors open and fans on, and Bryce had a broom waving it around the smoke dector so it'd quit beeping. That was sort of comical - definitely moreso for me than for Bryce. Pretty exciting. I've never broiled anything so maybe next time there will be less smoke :) They tasted pretty decent though. They were moist and not dry and not too flat. We mixed garlic powder, salt, pepper, and one egg in with the meat. If you have any good burger recipes, hand them over!