End of the year Post

So I have been meaning to get on here and do my "End of the year" post, like I did last year,...but things are too crazy to do a monthly breakdown and add pictures. I'm sorry. This will be the super-ultra-quick version.

January: New year, more wedding planning and bad weather...

February: My trip to AZ to see Paula and Frank and there was snow and a spontaneous trip to Vista House (one of my favorite places-ever).

March: Lots of birthdays and the start of spring, wedding plans and working.

April: More suprise snow, a beach trip and the start of some really crazy weekends where we were just super busy.

May: Jam making, song choosing, bridal shower, helped Shelly and Chris with the retaining wall and dress alterations.

June: More bridal showers, picked up my dress, ordered tuxes for the boys, Steven's beach birthday trip and Colin's birthday party.

July: Celebrated Independance day, rain, as per usual, one last bridal shower, Bachelorette and Bachelor parties, hasty last minute wedding and honeymoon prep.

August: Wedding!!! Finally here, a wonderful day and lots of great memories, Honeymoon- so super fabulous to get a vacation in- we needed it! My birthday and trying to pack our new wedding things into the apartment!

September: Started to think about getting a house, started looking at houses, the economy and USA starts to unravel!

October: More stock market woes, Opera night, cut my hair off and halloween!

November: Lost my job, busier than I ever thought possible!, Thanksgiving, decorating for Christmas, Making Christmas cards with Mom.

December: Found a new job, still super busy, Christmas and parties and seeing old and new friends and breathing deeply!

So that's our year in a nutshell. We seem to be perpetually busy people, but we love our lives and and we love each other and our families and friends. What more could we ask for?

In more recent news- we're looking into moving for my new job. Not too far from where we are now. We think we might have found a nice place and have an appointment to look at it on Friday. Wish us luck- this could be a good deal!

I had thought I would reflect on last year's resolutions in this post, but I think I will save that for tomorrow when I have some free time. Until then- I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's Eve and a wonderful New Year!

The awesome, the good and the stir crazy...

Subtitled: these are the days of our lives! :)

First, the awesome: I got and accepted a job offer last Friday afternoon! I will be starting my new job after the first of the year. I am very excited to get a chance to work again, and this is a better job in many ways. We couldn't be more pleased and we feel so blessed. They have given me what I was looking for and more. This is probably going to mean a move for Steven and I, but we were looking to get out of this apartment anyways. It will probably be the quickest move we've ever done and we'll probably be doing it right after Christmas. Nothing is worked out yet though.

The good news is that there are only 5 more days until I can start opening presents! Also, we're getting ready to prepare holiday goodies for parties and dinners. I hope the weather cooperates so that we can attend the functions we were planning on. I am really looking forward to next week. The time I've had off has simply flown by.

And the stir crazy....

Saturday night we thought we better be head home from Cleona's party just in case the snow came in early...when we got home it was warmer than it had been all day, so we decided to head over to Lindsey's house warming party and take her her Christmas present.

Fun times with Lindsey and Crysie...

Then we woke up to this on Sunday morning...

And it continued to fall all day, more snow than I had ever seen fall in my life here...and on Monday we ventured out with Keith:

Keith is throwing a snow ball at me here...can you see it? Its like "Where's Waldo?"

So Keith braved it over to our place with his all wheel drive (brag about it, why don't you? :) ), then drove us to Fred Meyer's so we could pick up some much needed stuff. We were surprised at how many people were there!

Then he brought us home and, to be honest, I haven't left the apartment since...Steven worked from home a couple of days and yesterday and today he made it into the office. I'm praying for this to melt soon and be safe to go out in...I can't take much more. But I did use the excuse to have a little spa day...I still need to paint my toes, but the wool socks I'm wearing would make it difficult for them to dry. :) and watch a bunch of girl movies and food network.

Now I'm off to make something yummy for lunch and maybe start a girly movie. Hopefully these posts will make up for my lack of recent blogging. But I will have to do one soon about the Holiday Triffle that I'm going to make for Christmas Eve dinner. Stay tunned!

New Hair and Cleona's Party

Its not everyday that someone you know turns 90 years old! Cleona had a special open house and Steven and I braved the "snow storm" and went down to see everyone on that side of the family for her birthday and the holidays. It was really nice to get a chance to see just about everyone and eat yummy holiday goodies.The birthday girl!

Her great-grand son and daughter, such cute cousins!

Me and Grandma on the sofa, probably eating chex mix.

Mom holding new baby Kennadi.

While we were down there, I seized the opportunity to have my beauty school chop job evened out...its shorter (and more sassy) but it will grow.

What makes a good tree trimming?

Several things really contribute to a good tree trimming- lots of lights, funny special ornaments, Christmas music (Steven hates me for choosing Jessica Simpson-but I stand by the fact that it was the first thing I saw and grabbed it) and good hot chocolate.

Our tree all done up and shiny!

Pretty presents all wrapped and tucked under!

Steven is excited to get it set up for ornaments!

But honestly, one of the best things was the light saber fight we got into after the presents were all wrapped.

Look at that totally awesome stance.

He's a keeper!

And if you're wondering- I totally kicked his butt! :)

Dear Melissa,

This morning I woke up to find this in my email inbox:

"Dear Julie,
I am writing in regards to you recent lack of blog posting. This makes me very sad and my heart melts a little (and not in a good way). You should know that it is very hard to make one's heart melt due to the recent cold weather. I would like to see a blog posting in the next 24 hours, or I shall strike. This may be hard for me to do because you live at the top of a rather large hill and there is currently snow and ice on the ground. Perhaps I will put on my shoe chains and walk with my sign to you house. Please don't make me do this, it is cold.
Your Friend,
Melissa"

So, I just wanted to let you know that I will be posting (a big, long one, with pictures) shortly. Currently my toes are ready to freeze off due to the mentioned "Arctic Blast"... I shall return with tea and long johns on!

Best,

Julie
PS: I love the mention of "shoe chains"...I wonder how she would slip those on to one of her many pairs of "driving moccasins"??

Getting into the Festive Spirit...

Steven and I have had a pretty low key weekend...but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy! I got all my shopping done and then moved on to the house...

We have been so busy decorating for the Christmas Season!! Last weekend Steven put up all our lights and then he took a picture of how I have decorated our table...we got a nice new red table cloth, which I thought really complemented our Snowman dishes.

My Mom and I have been busy for the last week and half, or maybe more, making our own Christmas cards this year. It was very fun, because we haven't stamped or done crafts for a loooong time....so it was especially nice to get to do it together. I have a sample of one of the types of cards here. It is a pair of mittens (my sister's stamp, so cute!), and the other type is a French Horn in gold embossing powder. It is beautiful too. The mittens are in a blue/silver theme. The French Horn is in a gold/green/red color scheme. I'm really proud of how they came out...there were sooooo many to do! I also managed to get another craft project done, but I can't say too much about it because its a present for one of my good friends. :) My Mom stamps up a storm!

Yesterday I spent nearly the entire day making Christmas cookies. This is something I have never done, but now I have a stand mixer and a small arsenal of cooking/baking supplies. I used nearly every specialty tool that I have available and it was a lot of washing up, but totally worth it. As if that weren't enough, then I watched the Food Network's Cookie special and Paula Deen's Cookie swap after that. It was a cookie filled day! (Which is right up my alley!)

These are my sugar cookies with powdered sugar frosting. Steven helped me frost the cookies. It was a nice tag-team effort.
Then, after finishing the sugar cookies, I was able to make a new cookie, from my Christmas Cookie book that I bought myself last year. They were some special Shortbread cookies with Rum butter cream filling. They remind me of a hot buttered rum, but I wouldn't really know, I've never had one. All I know is that they melt in your mouth and are super delicious, if not a big pain to make. One side has a hole in it, the bottoms and top are super fragile, but yummy and the butter cream center is the glue that holds it all together. Even with all the steps and effort I put into them- I might make another batch this week. They are sooooo good!

Meanwhile, Steven had a roaring fire going all day for me, and it was so beautiful he took a picture of our stockings, hanging with care, while the fire was full swing. I even managed to get all my Christmas cards done and all my presents wrapped (well, almost all, still have one last guy to do!). We are officially ready for Santa!

Its beginning to look a lot like...what?

So usually the Civil War game is usually a totally cold, rainy, miserable affair. The weather in the great northwest continues to amaze me though...it ended up being 65 and totally fabulous.

Its a great thing we didn't try to put on long underwear like we had planned on, because we were sweating bullets during the tailgate as it was!

Tara's friend Ally and I are preparing for awesomeness.

At the half, Benny the Beaver is taking on Darth Vader during the Band's Star Wars tribute.

Steven and posed for a cute picture before the WORST Oregon fan- EVER sat in front of us.

So its really too bad that the game didn't turn out better. Part of the problem, at least for us, was that despite having amazing seats, the man in front of us was a stoned, belligerent, obnoxious Oregon fan. Let me be the first to say that I have no problem with Oregon. I have no problem with being an Oregon fan. I used to be one myself,....but what I have a problem with is someone who, when asked politely will not extend common courtesies to others around him.

Both Steven and I wanted to sock him the face (which is saying a LOT about the situation), and we heard that he almost didn't survive the bathroom at half time. In the end we just ended up leaving...the best defense in the PAC-10 couldn't hold them back and they won. Rose Bowl dreams crushed...for the moment at least. There will be other times, I have faith!

On a happier note, Black Friday was pretty good. I now only have a few more presents to buy, but 3/4 of my shopping is completely done. I just have wrapping to do now. I am hoping my friend Mel will come make some Christmas Cookies with me this weekend and that we can get a tree sometime soon and decorate it. My loving Husband put up lights and hung the stockings with care on Sunday for me while I was recuperating from a terrible cold and reading parts of "Marley and Me"....which is an amazing book. I'd highly recommend it to anyone. I am loving each chapter more and more. It makes me really want a dog of my own. Patience, however, because dogs need space and that's something we don't happen to have a lot of in an apartment.

I hope everyone had a happy holiday. We got to see some family, Darren and Keith and even ended up sitting next to two guys I went to high school with (small world!), Christmas will be upon us before we know it. I'm trying to make the best of my no-work situation by enjoying the holiday season as much as I can. I still have not heard back on the job, but I plan on calling again tomorrow to check up. I will let everyone know as soon as I hear something. Thanks for all your continued support!