Snow weekend

Last weekend Dallas got a taste of what the east coast has been experiencing...SNOW! We got about 12 inches...which is the most snow Dallas has had since the 1970s. The snow was absolutely beautiful..big flake, perfect for snow balls and snow men. We made a giant snow man at work..a good 6 1/2- 7 feet tall! The bad thing about the snow...it knocked our power out, along with 200,000 other Dallas residents. But, we made a bad thing into a good thing and went over to our friend Ashley's for the weekend. We had SO much fun! We made dinners together, played in the snow, and played lots and lots of Wii. Here are a couple pictures of our weekend of snow.

Our street as we leave for Ashley's.

Out playing in the snow! I would never get sick of playing in the snow. I love it!

Joshua outside. He loves that hat.

Obviously a little bit of excitement!

The Vincent House!

I spent last night transferring a ton of pictures over from my old laptop. It is being converted into Joshua's "garage computer" to help him with the Duc's programmable ignition. While getting all the pictures off, I found the pictures I took of our new place...though not so new anymore. We've made some changes since taking these, so I'll have to post those changes later. Here is a little glimpse into our quaint home.

This is our main living space...where we spend most of our time. The room is pretty long and I was standing close to the tv.

Bathroom! Thankfully, our stuff already matched.

Kitchen. I love our corner sink and the ample amount of storage we now have. The stove, refrigerator, and portable..yes portable..dishwasher are all to the right.

Our awesome patio area outside of the kitchen. Joshua used this area a lot this fall to have his weekly cigar chat with his dad.

I've already shown our bedroom, but here it is again. I love that every room of our house has windows. It makes everything so bright!

The path from our side patio to our backyard..great crepe myrtle in the yard.

The backyard...you can see the home of our future grill..and the stepping stones to it.

The only thing i don't have pictured is the garage and the office. The office is constantly in flux (aka very messy). We love our little place and are looking forward to warmer weather so we can enjoy the yard again!

Stanley, the neighbor

Neighbor CAT that is. Joshua and I moved into our quaint duplex about 6 months ago and we immediately noticed that our neighbor has 2 indoor/outdoor cats: Stanley and Alex. They both came over to meet us pretty quickly and one night, during a horrible storm, they were both crying at the door. So, while watching Coraline, we let them come in and explore. Alex was a little skittish, but Stanley was very friendly. Stanley has continued visits..and from time to time will even curl up with us at night and sleep over! So, without having a pet of our own..we get the perks! Stanley is a very very loving cat and she (yes, she) is SUPER talkative. She meows up a storm..and will meow back when you talk to her. It's a riot. The other night Stanley and I were cuddling when waiting on Joshua to get home and I captured a really cute picture of her.

While I'm at it...I took some new pictures of our bedroom. As I clean up the house a make a few changes here and there, I'll be sure to post pictures of other portions of the house.

Some details of the room, including my bedside table, and my dresser with the candle holder I got during the Walton's Dirty Santa exchange:

More house updates to come. The pretty ivy that used to cover part of our kitchen window became a little too unruly and was crawling through the window...so that has all been torn down. I'm sure I'll regret tearing ALL of it out because it was so pretty. But I'm glad it's no longer creeping in to our kitchen!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Joshua and I had a wonderful Christmas. We were able to spend a few days before Christmas with his parents before heading to Michigan to spend Christmas with my family. Once we reached our final destination, we had a very relaxing, restful time. We stayed with my grandma, on the farm...which made me feel like a kid again. I've spent every Christmas except for 2 in Michigan, so it was kind of like going home.

I got some pretty cool gifts, including some gorgeous books that I've been pining over. I received Great Expectations and Wuthering Heights from my cousin's wife, Devon. The cover design is by Coralie Bickford-Smith and they have been all over design websites. I absolutely love the designs and I've actually never read either, so I'm looking forward to diving in.

So we are on to 2010! Time to start setting goals...and sticking to them. Of course, along with the rest of the world, I have a goal to eat healthier and live an overall healthier lifestyle. Goals are abbreviated below. I really haven't thought to much about these...but some things I would like to accomplish:

1) Cook and eat more meals at home.

2) Exercise more regularly. I do work at a gym, after-all!

3) Send more hand written cards. There is just something about snail-mail that I absolutely love.

4) Become more fiscally responsible. I think I do a pretty good job of not spending money on a whim, but I want to keep a better record of expenses this year.

5) Grow my hair out. I miss my long hair...and thus, I am growing it out.

6) Keep our house more organized.

That is my list for now...I'm sure I'll be adding to it in the coming weeks.

One other cool thing I found today that may be a fun way to help me attain #1 comes from a website I absolutely love called Design*Sponge. It's a diy project for a grocery planner. now, I am truly a sucker for paper products and things with purpose and beauty...so I may have to take this project on. Here is the idea:

You can find instructions for the project here. And, if you like design and prjecting, I encourage you to check out the rest of the site. There are some pretty cool before&after projects.

Thanksgiving.

Yes....I know Thanksgiving was a good two weeks ago, but I haven't been able to find time to write..so here it is.

Joshua and I were able to make the trip home for Thanksgiving this year and it was SO good to be home. We did Thanksgiving with his parents, since we'll be going to Michigan for Christmas. Jannelle (mom-in-law) ordered a few things so we didn't have to do a TON of cooking...but we made sure we kept the traditional sides for us! I made Sweet Potato Casserole and Barbeque Green Beans and Jannelle made Ming Salad and Deviled Eggs (a Vincent must have!!). Our lunch turned out perfect and it was fun to have the meal with just the 4 of us.

After a little football watching/napping, Joshua and I made our way over to my parent's house for dessert and coffee. Mom had made pumpkin, apple, AND pecan pie....which meant we had to sample all of them, of course! We went to a moview with my family: Joshua made the choice of Old Dogs...which he later regretted, as it was a typical Disney flick.

Friday we went with both our families for lunch at the Mellow Mushroom! Must get in the local food (though Mellow Mushroom isn't just a Nashville thing...we don't have it in Dallas). Eating was followed by shopping for the women and cigar smoking for Joshua and his dad. I went with Jannelle, Olivia, and my mom through all the stores in downtown Franklin. They have done a great job of bringing in some really cool stores. Friday evening I met up with Kallie and Megan for dinner and had a BLAST catching up and just spending some quality time with them. I miss them terribly and wish all 6 of us could have been together...but there's always Christmas for that!!!

Saturday Joshua took me for a ride on his dad's bike. I was expecting for it to be a miserable ride, as it was FREEZING...but I wore appropriate clothing so it wasn't too bad. Like all rides/drives in Middle Tennessee, the scenery was fantastic! All the leaves had pretty much fallen, but the rural farms are still absolutely gorgeous...especially those big old barns. I'm a big sucker for the landscape! I met up with Olivia during the afternoon to do some shopping for our parents and then met up with Josh and his parents again for dinner with Grandmother, Grandfather, Aunt Lane, Uncle Keith, Suzannah, and Caroline. It's always nice to see and catch up with all of them! I love their family and feel so blessed to be a part of it now! After dinner we went bowling with Jason and Deidre, which is always a good time. They are a great couple and a lot of fun to be around.

Sunday was quite the beast of a drive back to Dallas. It rained the ENTIRE way back. We stopped in Memphis for delicious barbeque. Texarkana had quite the surprise for us on it's side roads. We got off to use the bathroom...and to detour the stand-still traffic due to construction...and found ourselves driving through severely flooded streets. Let's just say we found our way back to the interstate rather quickly.

Now we are enjoying the holidays...just got our Christmas tree last night! Somewhat smaller than last years but absolutely perfect!