Friday, December 31, 2010

December in Photos

Ok, it's true that when the Holidays roll around, the time between Thanksgiving and NYE is choc full of family get togethers, friend reunions and memorable moments all worthy of capturing with a photo. It's also true that I've yet to upload and print those photos (eeek), which is surprising because I absolutely love taking, picking out and printing all those photos and finding places to put them!

So here we go, December in Photos....

Engagement Photos:
To be honest, these photos were actually taken in October but we got the disc and finally printed them in December, so needless to say we've spent several hours combing through them and picking out our favorites. Below are some of my favorites (really I could've added a dozen or so more). We were very pleased with All Angles Photography, enjoy!







Graduation
On December 15th I finally graduated with my Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree! It's been a rough five and a half years but totally worth it. Currently I'm in the midst of job hunting.

 My immediate family just after the ceremony.

 Stephen and I just after the ceremony.

After the ceremony we went to a local restaurant in the Highlands area near my school. It was fabulous having all my family and future in-laws at the restaurant celebrating the occasion.

Graduation Party
On the Friday after I graduated, Stephen graciously hosted a party with all our family and friends to celebrate my graduation. we had a blast.

My two best gals, at the party!

The graduation festivities continued with my new colleagues (former classmates) at a local entertainment area.

Once again, my two best gals!

 My MOH and I about to enjoy a celebratory toast!

On the Monday before we graduated, the officers of my class put together a class dinner, or opportunity for everyone to get together in a social setting one last time before walking the stage.

A great group shot of all my favorite PT (physical therapy) girls.

On Tuesday, we had graduation practice. Following practice we all made our way to the lobby of the gym for a champagne reception.

  Once again, some of my favorite girls.

Christmas Eve Morning
In light of trying to figure out the logistics of Christmas day with both our family dinners, Stephen and I decided to have our "Christmas Morning" the morning of Christmas Eve.

 Before the opening of presents commenced! Unfortunately we failed to get a pic of the two of us in front of the tree. Seeing as how I am the shutterbug of the relationship, we tend to end up with a lot of pictures of Stephen.
 
Stephen got me several games for my new Wii (a graduation present)

One of Stephen's favorite presents :)


On Sunday after Christmas, Stephen and I hosted a game party with all of my oldest friends. We've been friends literally, since middle school and a get-together at Christmas time when everyone is back in town has become a beloved tradition.

Our pretty sweet spread!

We also got to use the Wine Brique Stephen's mom gave us to keep wine chilled throughout a party.

It was great catching up with everyone and letting our competitive streaks come out during game play!





After the party my MOH and BM and I decided we better do some wedding planning seeing as how both of them would be a minimum of 5 hours away. So the next day we decided to go dress shopping for them. We had a blast.
They tried on probably a dozen or so dresses. We unanimously decided that this style in a navy blue would be perfect for the wedding! It even got me excited about the prospect of wedding gown shopping!

There we go, officially caught up, whew! The end of 2010 has certainly been amazing. I hope everyone's New Years is fabulous!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Home-made Christmas

As this is mine and Stephen's first Christmas together in our new place we had the joy of decorating the place to our liking. (See this previous blog post about Christmas family traditions).

Of course we were lacking in the ornament department. We ended up taking the yearly ornaments each of our mother's had gotten for us. We loved that the yearly Christmas ornament tradition was something that both of our families shared. So in theory, that's already 48 ornaments (24 for him and 24 for me) and we've received a few acknowledging our first Christmas together, so we weren't doing to bad. But me, being the crafty, wanna-be, that I am, had to make a few to stick up on our tree.


I love the inconsistencies and the imperfections in the ornaments. I didn't dwell on trying to make them perfect, I just went with what I liked and enjoyed spending time with my mom as she made a few for her tree as well.


In total, I made about 8 or so and they really added to our tree and I love that they have a story behind them and will hopefully adorn our tree for years to come.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

How 'Lush'-ious

I just wanna say: T minus ONE WEEK until Christmas!!! Can you believe it?!

This post is dedicated to a new-to-me line of bath and body products my soon to be mother-in-law helped me to discover! Has anyone ever heard of "Lush?" Lush is a brand that prides itself on creating fresh, handmade cosmetics using fair trade ingredients.

My mother-in-law received a bath bomb and a body wash as a gift from one of her student's mom. She showed them to me and I was immediately intrigued and discovered that there are in fact several stores in the area.

 The store's large collection of scrumptious bath bombs!

 The company itself is based out of England with it's North American headquarters in Canada and several stores in the good ole U.S. of A! I've noticed that in my area they are often found in Macy's department stores. You can use their store locator on the website here.

How excited was I when I found out that Stephen's brother conveniently sent us a gift card to where else but Macy's!!!! So of course, when I had the first opportunity, I headed over to my local Macy's to check this out. I have to say I was very impressed with the set up of the little shop, they had great displays showcasing their product and their mission to be environmentally friendly (considering hardly any of their products are packaged). Everything smells amazing and natural and it just makes you want to go home and draw a nice hot bath.

 Their collection of bubbly bath bars!

I probably spent 30 minutes looking around and talking with the consultants who were very helpful and passionate about the products they were selling. They also promote sample sizes of their products so you can trial what you are buying.

There is a minor catch, and I'm not sure if you could even call it that, but this stuff is slightly expensive. But I think the added cost of knowing that your products are fresh, handmade, the ingredients are fair-traded and a large percentage are actually vegan is worth it!

My first purchases consisted of:

1. The "Twilight" bath bomb (described as a "creamy crepuscular fizzer.")  $4.95
2. The "You've Been Mangoed" mango flavored bath melt $5.95
3. The "Ultimate Shine"' solid shampoo bar $9.95

I know what you're thinking $10 for a shampoo bar? I thought the same thing but the catalog and the consultants claim that one solid bar was the equivalent of 3 bottles of shampoo. So really, it's not a bad deal at all.

I haven't used the bath bomb or the bath melt yet just because I haven't enjoyed a nice soak yet, BUT I did use the shampoo bar this morning....WOW, I've never experienced such a rich lather and it made my hair super shiny and soft. You're supposed to keep it in a cool dry place in order to maximize it's life span, so I went to my local HomeGoods store and bought a mini-bakeware dish and placed it just outside my shower so it's within easy reach but not getting soaked 24/7.


I'm really enjoying these products and they're making me want a nice large, jacuzzi tub.....ahhhh just thinking about it relaxes every muscle in my body.

Anyway, if you haven't you should check these products out, they have everything for beauty and bath (way to much to even try to mention here).

P.S. they would make GREAT Christmas gifts (you're welcome! lol)

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Did Everyone get their Shots?

This past Friday was my last day at physical therapy school....ever, I'm graduating in 3 days!! The moment is completely bitter sweet and has got everyone remembering special moments, good times and great events that have consumed our lives for the past 3 years.

My friend Michelle and I were reminiscing this past week and I remembered a funny, albeit, awkward time in my educational experience about a year ago. Apparently I bonded with our cardiopulmonary and geriatrics professor so much so that she started sending me e-mails individually.

I remember one afternoon checking my email and I received this hilarious joke (it was very appropriate at the time if you remember all the hoopla about the "flus")

"What's the difference between bird flu and swine flu?"
"For the bird flu you need 'tweet'ment and for the swine flu you need 'oink'ment"


I thought the joke was hilarious and found it to be even more so when I discovered that I was the only one to receive the e-mail... I didn't know we were that close!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

A Hunting we will Go!

On Sunday, Stephen and I joined his parents, their goddaughter and her parents for a joyous afternoon spent at a local orchard and winery picking out Christmas trees and just enjoying the place in general. First off can I say it was C-O-L-D! Oh my goodness, it was freezing, this past weekend was oober cold and I was definitely not prepared.
Stephen's Dad, mom and himself waiting for the tractor to take us to cut our tree!

Anyway, almost as soon as we got up there we ran into this jolly old man:

It's mine and Stephen's first picture with St. Nick ever!

I kept running back and forth from outside to the winery and the market (enjoying some warm cider) trying to keep my nose from freezing off. Stephen's mom is from Iowa and Stephen apparently got the cold gene because he and his mother were right at home in the snowy weather.

 Aboard the tractor to go cut our tree!

Prior to boarding the tractor we had to figure out what kind of tree we wanted, ultimately we decided on the Norwegian Spruce.


 We spent very little time picking out the one we wanted, I think everyone was ready to head back to the winery and restaurant for something to warm us up!

Stephen and his mom and dad finally found a winner that everyone could agree on:


Unfortunately Stephen's brother couldn't join us this year so Stephen was stuck on the ground sawing the tree all by himself (I think he secretly enjoyed it!)


After we, well, Stephen, cut the tree we drug it up to the dirt/mud road to wait for the tractor. We spent the rest of the afternoon sharing bottles of wine and eating gobs of yummy cheese then headed over to the restaurant for some fried chicken, ham, chicken and dumplings, green beans, corn and apple butter sweet rolls yum yum yum!!!!

We spent the rest of the evening decorating the tree (of course I forgot to take pictures of the final product). I love this time of year!

All Grown Up!

This is about a month and a half late but I love the pic sooooo much, I had to post it anyway. This was Stephen's first day of work at his new job as an investigator with the state:


So professional, with his brief case and button up, awwwww! Well I was excited, I woke up and grabbed the camera just before he walked out the door, I felt like a mom with her child on his first day of school. I constantly texted him and checked in throughout the day just to make sure things were going okay also.

I can't wait for my "First Day of Work as a PT" photo!!!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Gotta love product parties!

Lately, I've been really getting into the whole "wifey" persona, attending and hosting pampered chef parties, jewelry parties and now most recently, a Thirty-One party.

My friend Michelle, from PT school, hosted a Thirty-One party this afternoon for her best friend who is a consultant with the company. I was familiar with the company as I had seen their catalog in the break room at the hospital I was interning at earlier this summer.

 Michelle (on the left) hosted the party and our friend Sarah (in the middle) and me (on the right) attended and had a great time picking out fun, personalized gifts for ourselves!

For those of you who don't know, Thirty-One is an organization that caters to females. The sell super cute purses, totes, lunch boxes, luggage, accessories, wallets, etc... They're product line is so varied I think everyone could find something for them and what's even better is that you can customize your pieces with embroidery!

Here are some of the things I ordered today. I'm super excited about getting them and putting them to work!


 I got this exact pattern and our last name initial embroidered on. This is the large thermal tote. I'm thinking picnics, BYOB parties/cookouts, taking it on the boat, to the zoo, etc... It can hold 2 wine bottles :)


I also got this Cinch Sack. I think it will be perfect for transporting gym clothes back and forth from the house, school and the gym.

If I had an unlimited income I probably would've bought the whole catalog. They have several various sized totes that could be useful for so many things. Several of them are very structured and would be great for keeping things organized in your trunk or the back of your SUV.


The only thing I am/wasn't sure about was the quality of the pieces. It seems somewhat questionable, but there were several people at the party that had various Thirty-One pieces and absolutely raved about them, I'll keep you posted, but as of right now I recommend them!

Job Security?

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday festivities going on around town!

So my mom bought me a Wii for a graduation gift (I know I'm a little behind, but I was excited!) I ordered it from Best Buy on Thanksgiving for $30 cheaper than what it regularly is (therefore...super excited!) and it arrived at my parents house yesterday unbeknownst to me. I had traveled to my parents to do some laundry and found my brother and my dad waiting for some new appliances to be delivered.


I noticed the packaging on the kitchen table and asked my brother what that was all about. Well he told me that the Wii had been delivered and I tell you what... it was hard for me to spend anymore time at my parents as I couldn't wait to get it home and PLAY!!!

I finally got it home about 20 minutes before Stephen got home from work and he was excited as I was! We probably played for a total of about 2 hours last night and this morning... my right shoulder is, I'm not gonna lie, a little sore and Stephen was complaining of elbow pain last night.

This is what a search for "Wii Injuries" brought up on Google:

...gulp, there are some pretty nasty ones.

So, I've realized the more Wii's there are, the more upper extremity injuries there will be, i.e. more patients for physical therapists!!!

That seems a little unethical though now that I think about it. I guess I'll give my arm a rest today...for a little bit, I can't resist playing!