Bring on the New Year!

"For last year's words belong to last year's language, and next year's words await another voice."

-T.S. Eliot

I cannot believe how fast 2013 went by and that 2014 begins tomorrow!  Here is a quick recap of everything that happened this year.

January- I went on a cruise to the Bahamas and Key West with four of my best friends from nursing school.  We went through so much together with school and this break was definitely needed!

February- Celebrated Valentine's day with the love of my life!

March- March Madness gave every KU basketball fan high blood pressure and ended with a loss to Michigan :(

This is a horrible photo that I took senior year at one of the basketball games and it really does not do Allen Fieldhouse justice.  It is an amazing place to be!

April- Celebrated my 24th birthday, began my Capstone on the medical ICU at Stormont-Vail, and went to a Royals game.

May- Passed boards to get my nursing license and graduated from nursing school-whoop whoop!

I decorated my cap.  Peace. Love. Nursing.

He was so supportive of me even when I was near a breaking point.

My wonderful parents.

June- Wedding season began with Karalie's wedding which had a vintage feel and was beyond beautiful!  Also, I went to a geriatric nursing conference in St. Louis.

July- Independence day was celebrated with a bang at my future in-law's house, I started my job as a Registered Nurse on a geriatric behavioral health unit, we had a wedding every weekend beginning with Chelsea's (it was a blast!), and I finally saw my all time favorite band, the Goo Goo Dolls, in concert.

August- We got engaged and began planning our wedding and took a trip up to Omaha, Nebraska!!

Please excuse my unpolished nails.

September- Our beyond fabulous friends Ashley and Kevin got hitched and we were so happy to be a part of their big day!

October- My favorite month came and went, but not without a trip to the corn maze, a few football games, the fall festivals, my best friend got engaged, and I moved away from home officially!

On the bridge in the middle of the corn maze.

Two of the greatest friends a gal could have! (The one in the middle got engaged in October!)

November-More football games (where I froze my butt off!) and so much to be thankful for this year!

December- Our, what seems to be becoming annual, trip to Kansas City, holidays with the family, and the end of a fabulous year!

Our trip to the Boulevard Brewing Company.

The new year has a lot to live up to and we have so much to look forward to with our upcoming wedding and honeymoon!  I leave you with one of my favorite songs which is traditional for the new year.

Tomorrow I will post my goals for the new year (I've never been much of a resolution gal)!  Have a happy and safe new year!

25 Days of Christmas: 364 Days until Christmas

The day after Christmas has always been somewhat bittersweet to me.  There is music, decorations, food, family gatherings and so much more building up to the holidays and then, all of a sudden, it's over.  We are left with putting away gifts (that we are beyond thankful for), eating leftovers before they go bad, taking down the decorations that make a house seem so warm and inviting at Christmas time, and going back to work.

Well, our gifts are mostly put away and there are still a few leftovers in our fridge.  I took an AMAZING fruit salad to work on Christmas and it's been hit pretty hard since I brought it home.  I have been back at work since Christmas evening and Aaron went back to work yesterday.  The only thing the same in our house is that our decorations are still up, but this is mainly due to the fact that I don't know how we're going to store everything.

We had an excellent Christmas this year and I have a few pictures to share with you from our own little Christmas celebration we had on Christmas morning.

Here we are after we got home from church and Aaron's parent's on Christmas Eve around 12:30 (that's why we both look a little sleepy).

I got Christmas socks in my stocking!!

The purse I had posted about here.  I absolutely love it!

My new Kate Spade bracelet!

I just love this progression of photos.  This is Aaron opening up the package with his George Strait concert tickets.

"Are you serious?!"

He was very excited!! (Also, he often has a hard time keeping his eyes open in photos)

Hope your holiday was merry and bright!  364 days until Christmas 2014 and I'm sure it will be just as wonderful!

P.S.-I am aware that I only did 23 posts instead of 25, but I really don't have much else to say and it's almost New Year's so let's just pretend there were 25 posts total okay!

25 Days of Christmas: 12 Days of Christmas Gifts

This year for Aaron's gifts, I decided to do a little something different.  I had seen a few ideas on Pinterest and various other places on the internet about doing 12 Days of Christmas gifts and decided it sounded fun. I sat down to make my list of items to purchase and then began shopping!

You can do the gifts however you choose, but I tried to stick with the number theme.  Below are the gifts I got him.  Some of them are smaller and some of them are bigger gifts.

12 Days of Christmas

12. A new alarm clock (Aaron's broke about a month ago) with the 12 hours represented.

11. A CD with eleven songs on it that remind me of him

10. Ten packages of cashews

9. Nine K-cups for the Keurig

8. Six pairs of boxers and two undershirts

7. Seven of his favorite candy bars (Snickers)

6. A six pack of beer

5. Five dollar gift card to a restaurant he frequents regularly for lunch

4. Two pairs of socks adding up to four total

3. Three packs of chewing gum

2. Two tickets to the George Strait concert in January

1. A new wallet

Here are all twelve presents wrapped and ready to go under our tree!

As you can see, most of the gifts are smaller and could fit into a stocking, but I thought the idea was a fun one and it makes for more presents to open up.  I saved the two biggest gifts for the smaller numbers.  It was a fun way to do the presents this year.  Ideally, he would have opened one each night leading up to Christmas, but since we don't see each other except on our days off this didn't quite work out.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

25 Days of Christmas: Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope your day is filled with love, laughter, joy, and peace.

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.

Peace on Earth, good will to men,
kind thoughts and words of cheer,
are things we should use often
and not just once a year.

Remember too the Christ-child, grew up to be a man;
to hide him in a cradle, is not our dear Lord's plan.
So keep the Christmas spirit, share it with others far and near,
from week to week and month to month, throughout the entire year!
Norman Wesley Brooks

25 Days of Christmas: Christmas Eve

"As long as there's Christmas, I truly believe that hope is the greatest of the gifts we'll receive.  As long as there's Christmas we'll all be just fine.  A star shines above us lighting your way and mine."

-Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve to each and every one of you!  I have today off and I am spending it in my snowflake pajamas and reindeer socks.  My lights on the tree are on and Meet Me in St. Louis is playing on my television and the only that could make it better is if Aaron had today off.  Later today, I plan on finishing up wrapping a few presents and trying to put away the presents we received this weekend, but for the time being I am relaxing and enjoying the season.

This evening we will be heading north to go to the Christmas Eve service at church and then having snacks at Aaron's parents house.  I really do love all the family get togethers this time of year!

Tomorrow we will have our first Christmas together in our house and then head up north again before I go in to work.  One more sleep until Christmas and I cannot wait!

25 Days of Christmas: Christmas Food

As I mentioned in my post earlier today, my mom had homemade lasagna ready for us when we arrived at her house to celebrate Christmas.  I'm not a big lasagna fan, but this is probably the one and only recipe that I will eat.  Plus, it's easy to make ahead and throw into the oven.

Christmas Eve Lasagna:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1/4 teaspoon parmesan cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 15 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1/3 cup water
• 16-24 ounce cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces cooked lasagna noodles
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella

Brown ground beef, add parmesan cheese, pepper, oregano, basil, and sugar.  Then add tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water.  In a separate bowl, combine cottage cheese, egg, parsley, and salt.  Layer in a 13x9 inch pan beginning with meat mixture, noodles, cheese mixture, and mozzarella and ending with a meat layer on top.  Bake covered at 375 degrees for 25 minutes and uncovered for five minutes.  Let set for 10 minutes prior to serving.

I've also had a few requests for some of the recipes from our goodie baking day so here they are!

Sugar Cookies:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour

Cream butter, gradually adding sugar and cream well.  Blend in eggs, milk, orange juice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla.  Gradually add flour.  Roll out 1/3 dough at a time on floured surface and cut 1/8 inch thick.  Bake 5-7 minutes at 400 degrees.

Sugar Cookie Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1/4 cup orange juice

Cream butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk then add orange juice.

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes:

• 2 packages of cream cheese (8 oz. each and softened)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 24 vanilla wafers
• 21 ounce can cherry pie filling

Beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Line small muffin pans (approx. 2 inches in diameter) and place vanilla wafer in the bottom of each cup. Fill the cups 2/3 full with cream cheese mixture.   Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Top each cheesecake with 1 tablespoon cherry pie filling.

Billionaire Bars:

• 1 package (14 oz.) caramels
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
• 1 cup crisp rice cereal
• 3 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 teaspoon shortening

Line two baking sheets with waxed paper; grease paper and set aside.  In a large saucepan, combine the caramels and water, cook and stir over low heat until smooth.  Stir in pecans and cereal until coated.  Drop by teaspoonful onto prepared pans.  Refrigerate for ten minutes or until firm.  Meanwhile, in a microwave, melt chocolate chips and shortening; stir until smooth.  Dip candy into chocolate, coating all sides; allow excess to drip off.  Place on prepared pans; refrigerate until set.  Store in an airtight container.

Peanut Clusters:

• 1 pound white chocolate
• 12 ounce package milk chocolate chips
• 15 ounce Spanish peanuts (cooked not raw)  

Melt white chocolate and chocolate chips together until smooth.  Add peanuts and stir until combined.  Drop by teaspoonful onto wax paper lined baking sheets.  Let cool until hardened.

Layered Mint Chocolate Candy:

• 12 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 ounces white confectioner's coating
• 1 tablespoon peppermint extract
• few drops green or red food coloring

In a heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt the chocolate chips with 1 cup sweetened condensed milk.  Stir in vanilla.  Spread 1/2 the mixture into wax paper lined 8 or 9 inch square pan; chill ten minutes or until firm.  Keep remaining chocolate mixture at room temperature.  In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt coating with remaining sweetened condensed milk.  Stir in peppermint extract and food coloring if desired.  Spread on chilled chocolate layer.  Chill ten minutes longer or until firm.  Spread reserved chocolate mixture on mint layer.  Chill two hours.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark:

• 1/2 bag of mini pretzel twists
• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 bag of chocolate chips
• sea salt or table salt

Preheat oven to 350 degree.  Line a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lay a single layer of pretzels down.  In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and the brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved.  Let it boil gently until it starts to stick tot he bottom and it forms a nice smooth caramel.  You'll want to let it bubble a little and get really thick.  Remove from heat and pour evenly over the top of the pretzels.  Put in the oven for five minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top.  Put back in the oven for one minute.  Spread  the chocolate chips around with a spatula until mostly melted.  Sprinkle generously with salt. Let cool on the counter top for a few minutes and then pop in the freezer for at least two to three hours.  

Salted Caramel Butter Bars:

Find the recipe here!

Snowman Poop:

• 1 package Oreos
• 8 ounce block of cream cheese (softened)

Crush oreos (I use our food processor) until crumbly.  Mix crumb mixture with cream cheese. Form into 1-1 1/2 inch balls.  Put in freezer to harden.  You can also dip them in white chocolate, but I skip this part.

Sorry there aren't many pictures!  Enjoy!

25 Days of Christmas: Christmas Celebrations

As I said yesterday, we had three Christmases this weekend.  While I love the holidays and celebrating with family, I think both of us were worn out by Sunday evening.  The good news is now I can share with you what we gave as gifts to my family and what we got this year!

Most everyone in my family is easy to buy for with the exception of my dad and brothers.  For some reason I have always had a hard time shopping for them.  My dad generally buys everything he wants/needs and my brothers don't want for much which makes gift shopping particularly difficult.  One day in November while shopping with my mom I came across this puzzle at a Hallmark store and loved it.  Since my dad is in law enforcement, he collects police items.  I think I have given him ornaments, a cookie jar, and many other police items over the years.

Here is the picture on the puzzle I got for my dad.  Turns out it's the exact same picture that is on the coasters they have in their living room and I didn't even notice!

As for my brothers, for the oldest (he's 22) I opted for KU ornaments for his Christmas tree and for the youngest (he's 14) I opted for some Under Armour sweatpants since that is all he seems to wear these days. My stepdad got a new coffee maker because he was desperately in need of a new one.

Now, the ladies in my family are much easier to buy for.  My mom will be happy with just about anything, but this year she has decided she will never buy any other candle besides the Leaves scent from Bath and Body Works.  So, I got online and ordered two large candles and three mini candles in the Leaves scent (using a coupon of course!).    The oldest of my two younger sisters (she's 20) loves flannel pajamas and mustaches and I had seen these pajamas on Pinterest Told Me To and knew she would love them!  My other sister (she's 19) wanted infinity scarves which was super easy and I ended up finding a cute coral colored one and then a blue patterned one.  Lastly, I ended up making my stepmom a wreath similar to the one I had made for our front door earlier this year.

We both also got quite a few things that were on our list this year plus some.  Here's a photo of a few of the things I got this year.  I can't wait to start reading the Divergent series and the scarf was a handmade gift from my youngest sister.  Another Bath and Body Works candle to make our house smell spectacular and a puzzle to do on those lazy days.  I also got the Pioneer Woman cookbook I had on my list and a few movies including Hocus Pocus so I can watch it on Halloween next year!  I can't wait to listen to my new Celine Dion CD either.

EEK!  I'm so excited!  Also, check out the peach gummi candy (I told you my dad always fills stockings with fun snacks)!

Ornaments are also something I look forward to receiving every year and this year Aaron got two and I got two.  There's a tradition with the pickle ornament that you can read up on here.

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with my side of the family and still have Christmas with Aaron's family and our own little Christmas!  Two days people!

It was snowing again this morning and I couldn't help taking this picture :)

Have you celebrated Christmas yet?  What did you get?

25 Days of Christmas: Wrapping Presents

Whew!  Three Christmases later, our weekend celebrations are complete.  We started off Saturday with Christmas at my dad and stepmom's complete with my two little sisters and younger brother, my parent's dog Blaze, and plenty of snacks.  It was quite the celebration.  Then, after scraping a thick layer of ice off the car (thanks Kansas weather), we made our way to my mom and stepdad's for some homemade lasagna, presents, and watching The Polar Express.  We decided to stay in Topeka last night due to the weather and are very thankful we did.  The roads were fine this morning, but I highly doubt the same could have been said last night.  Today we made our way up north for Aaron's dad's family Christmas and now we are back in our cozy home with our new Power Heater watching The Sound of Music.  Tomorrow I'll share a little bit about the gifts we received and a few of the gifts I gave this year, but today is all about Christmas wrapping!

I love wrapping gifts and always have.  I'm by no means a pro and I'm not always very creative, but I do like to have a theme.  This year, I went with a red and green theme.  For Aaron's gifts, I went with brown paper and this cute red and green chevron tissue paper from Hobby Lobby.  For my family's gifts I went with different red and green wrapping papers.  I think themes are fun, plus it's easier to distinguish whose presents are whose.  Below are the final products.

The Christmas tree wrapping paper is on the gifts for Aaron's side of the family and the striped paper is for the gifts on my side.

Here are Aaron's gifts (I'll have a post on why there are so many later).  I wrapped some of the presents in the tissue paper just to mix it up a bit.

I can't wait for the rest of the presents under our tree to be opened!  Here are a few pictures from this weekend as well.  Three days until Christmas everyone!

My two little sisters enjoying opening presents at my dad's.

It doesn't get much better than a warm fire, Christmas lights, and watching The Polar Express with your family on a cold winter's night.

25 Days of Christmas: Christmas Decorations

Can you believe there are only five days until Christmas?!  I sure can't.  We are going to my dad and stepmom's tomorrow afternoon to celebrate Christmas there and then having Christmas with my mom and stepdad later on in the evening.  It's going to be a busy Saturday and I am really hoping this snow holds off for our travels.

Before I get started showing you my Christmas decorations in our lovely abode, I have a few things I think you should read.  First off, if you recall way back in September I posted a book review about one of the books I read for a book club that a fellow blogger puts on.  Well, it just so happens she just put together the list of books for the 2014 book club and you can find it here.  I'm so excited to read all of these!  Secondly, one of my close friends also has a blog and she posted about her Christmas decor earlier this month and it's adorable so you should check it out here.  Last of all, I met one of my best friends from college in Lawrence yesterday for lunch and ate at one of my favorite restaurants Fuzzy's Taco Shop!  I seriously love their food and the atmosphere is awesome.  You should check it out if you haven't yet.  Lawrence has the best restaurants hands down and I miss living in that town so much.

Alrighty, here we go!  We really don't have any wall art or decorations on our walls yet here because I've been too busy with the holidays, working, and everything else we've had going on.  I'm hoping once the holidays are over, I can begin working on our interior decorating.  In the meantime, here are our Christmas decorations!

One of our end tables with the stocking my mom made me when I was babe and a two Christmas Beanie Babies.  The snowman came from the Maple Leaf Festival last year and the Christmas tree is from The Hub.

The centerpiece on our dining room table.  A friend of mine made the candles for me last year and the plate was a gift from my future in-laws and came from Nell Hills.

Our collection of snow globes (which I love!).

This one plays my favorite song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." 

This Advent calendar is Aaron's that his parents got him from Germany.

I love the little window decals you can get now!

Our tree is a little sparse in terms of decorations, but I promise there are ornaments on there!  Thanks to my dad's co-worker for the tree!

This is one my favorite ornaments on the tree!

Of course we have a little rivalry here.  The candle was another DIY gift from a friend.

Aaron's Santa collection.  I've been told this is only part of it!

Next year, we will have so much more as Christmas is my favorite holiday!