Today is the BEST day of the year : )

Happy birthday to meeeeeeeeeee!

Today is the 5th anniversary of my 21st birthday. Exciting, right? Normally I suffer some sort of a crisis on my bday because I feel 'old'. But not this year. Right now I feel like my life is right where it's supposed to be and I am blissfully happy. I couldn’t want anything more. (Except maybe some Louboutins ;)

I have a feeling this will be a very good year! Hey, twenty-six? You're looking good, baby.

Chicago bound!

We're off to celebrate my birthday in the lovely city of Chicago! Yes, in just a few hours, we will be on our way to one of my most favorite cities in the world. I am so so so excited. We planned this trip pretty last minute, and when hubs proposed a weekend full of shopping, yummy dining and Broadway, I simply couldn't say no!

See you on the flip side. :)

Oh, and anyone want to guess how many pictures I'll take? I'm thinking 200-300ish:) Can't wait!

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, in our house-hoooooooold!

We finally put up all of our decorations and our tree this weekend! This is my very favorite time of the year. :) I love Christmas! I love everything about it, from the promise of snow to decorating a Christmas tree to opening the presents underneath. I love Christmas music and hanging up stockings and making gingerbread cookies. There is nothing better than cozying up in a blanket, drinking hot cocoa and watching favorite holiday movies! :)

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas-filled humble abode!

[beautiful table centerpiece]

[our wreath that i made!]

[bringing our christmas tree home]

[all decorated!]

[full view of our living room]

['huh? are we done yet?']

[what are holidays without a starbz gingerbread latte]

[oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree...]

[worn out from all the decorating]



The holiday season is officially here- 18 days!! I am ready for some spiked eggnog. yumm!

Ladies, I need your help.

As we all know, the holidays are filled with celebrations and gift giving. For many, the Holiday Season is also a time for charitable giving and volunteerism. To honor that spirit of charity, I want to share with you something I recently saw that touched my heart, and I hope will touch yours too.

I recently saw an interview with Debbie Tenzer, founder of the website DoOneNiceThing.com. She was speaking about the female troops in Iraq. Many of these women not only serve in combat situations, they also act as intermediaries and advocates for Iraqi women and girls. For the holidays, she was seeking donations for care packages for these courageous women.

Here is the information from DoOneNiceThing.com:

OPERATION YOU GO, GIRL - Far Away for the Holidays

Please help make the holidays sweeter for some female service members in Basra, Iraq. Any of the following gifts would be greatly appreciated:

1. Moisturizers: Fragrant lotions, shampoos, soaps, loofah sponges, etc. (Small samples are great)




2. Magazines (nothing sexy, please) Issues you’ve read are fine too.




3. Munchies: Cookies in the can, hard candy, microwave popcorn, nuts



4. Ground Coffee. (No decaf.)

5. Homey holiday decorations: an ornament, scented candle, stocking


5. Mail: Cards, letters and children’s drawings are the best gifts of all.


(No chocolate candy, please. The temperature in Basra is still in the high 70s.)

Address:
SFC Meyers, Aaron D.
34th ID, Fires Cell
APO AE 09374
Attn: HOL

MAILING DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO DEC. 10.

[Many of these items can fit in a United States Priority Mail Flat Rate Medium Size box, which costs $10.35. Be aware there are special postal restrictions and forms that have to be filled out when mailing packages to SFC Meyers. Info can be found on the United States Postal website. Please don’t let a few forms deter you from brightening someone’s day.]

SFC Meyers will make sure that our gifts are delivered directly to female service members. If each one of us could take 10 minutes out of our day and send just a couple things, it will go a looong way in making this very lonely holiday season a little more special for these courageous women. They are true heroes who deserve to be reminded how much their efforts are appreciated, especially as they spend this holiday season away from their families.

Thank you ladies and i hope all of you are having a fantastic weekend!:)

EDITED TO ADD: i just mailed a package this morning... i used a medium size priority mail flat rate box and it only cost $10.35 to send the package. i was able to send about 10 magazines, two bags of candy and around 10 travel size lotions.

The verdict is in!

And this new camera is SO worth it. If you want a nice SLR but have second thoughts about gettting one, DON'T!

I have no freaking clue what I'm doing and these pictures are already light years better! Take a look at my two cute guinea pigs:

What do you think?

I cannot wait to play around more with our new addition to the family over the weekend. And I hope to actually be able to finish reading my owner's manual and understand the settings so I can finally take it off 'automatic'. And I am SO happy to say goodbye to the blurry/overexposed pictures I used to post :)

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Say Hello

To our beautiful new, shiny kitchen appliances! They are finally installed and ready to be used photographed and admired. :)

Click here to see the befores.

(all photos are taken with the new camera, of course :)

The amazing fridge I am in LOVE with.

Happy Wednesday all!

I was rich for 5 minutes.

It's over now.

Cyber Monday sucked me in again. I’ve been sitting here for about an hour, clicking on shopping carts. They sure know how to reel ya in to their world of 'free shipping, one day only, last chance, don't miss out, web busters, deal ends tonight' marketing gimmicks. I know, it doesn't help that I know my credit card number by heart.

But not everything about cyber shopping is bad... The receipts get sent right to your email and cannot end up laying around for your husband to find for easy insta-budget tracking! I just create a “Christmas09″ e-mail folder and hide neatly store everything away. Viola!

Oh, and I am really good at finding online promotional codes. If it exists, I WILL find it. I will never, never, never order online until I've done a Google search to find any available coupon codes.

The only thing is, sometimes, my trigger finger goes wonky and extra items fall into the cart just for me.

Ooops?

Happy [early] birthday to ME!

If you known me at all, you may know that I love being a paparazzi taking pictures. And my husband today surprised me today with a little big gift.

it's MINE!

Yay! I’m now the official proud and happy owner of a new Nikon SLR! It’s my early birthday + advanced Christmas present rolled in to one nice little package.

I have been lusting after a DSLR camera of my own over the last year or so, and I cannot believe I got it.(thankyou,thankyou,thankyou,THANKYOU hubs!)

I am even thinking about signing up for a photography class or two. Ah, I forsee many picture-laden posts in the future! :)

Woooo Hooo! Yippee! Happy dance (with jazz hands)!