2011 : New Year : New Everything

Wow, I can't believe I have been gone so long! I haven't blogged in a few weeks, but I must say, December 2010 was probably the worst, heaviest month of my entire life as of yet! First, on December 8, my grandfather passed away, this made the holidays especially difficult, then on December 30, my very first and oldest friend passed away. It was a tough thing to swallow on the first day of a new year, to bury someone who is 2 weeks older than me.

Even though December was very tough, the rest of the year was actually the best one yet! In January, Emory and I rang in the new year in New Orleans and The University of Alabama won the BCS National Championship! In February, we celebrated Emory's birthday with snow at the beach and getting ENGAGED! In March, I moved and in June, we were MARRIED and went on a fabulous 2 week honeymoon to FRANCE! The rest of the year was spent getting into the routine of being married! Then, we all know how my December ended up.

But, now that 2011 is here, I am very optimistic! I think there is no reason that this year can't be just as good as 2010! I am looking forward to everything that it has in store! A few goals that I would like to work toward: 1. Blog more. 2. Exercise and get back to my pre-wedding weight. 3. Read more books. 4. Travel more even on little day and weekend trips. 5. Spend more time with my friends. 6. Cook at least three meals a week. (We have been really good at this so far!)

Well, here is to commencing a great year! I know it is already the second day and this if my first blog post, but I am REALLY hoping to blog something everyday of the year!! Maybe one day I will blog twice to make up for missing yesterday! Anyway, thank you for hanging in there with me for 2010, here is to a great 2011!!!

M.I.A., Magic Tea, and Christmas Cards!!

So, as you might (or might not) have noticed, I have been pretty MIA from blogging from the past week or so! Well, things have been a little upside down around here! We got notice the weekend before last that my grandfather was really sick and instead of sending him to the hospital again, they would just allow Hospice nurses to come to his house. On Monday, the family stayed over there all day and we knew things were bad. I came to work on Tuesday and Wednesday and then Wednesday I  got a call from my brother (who lives in Nashville) that he was on his way down and I needed to go to my grandparents house ASAP because things didn't look good. So, I left work promptly and went over there. They called the whole family in. He wasn't doing well at all and it was just a matter of time. So, that afternoon at 5:30, my grandfather passed away surrounded by lots of family and friends. After that, the rest of the weekend was a whirlwind! We had visitation on Friday evening and the funeral on Saturday. It has been a rough week, to say the least.

Anyway, I am HOPEFULLY going to post some pictures of all of my decorations at home soon! I participated in an ornament swap and can't wait to show my ornament. But first, before I get into all of that, I wanted to post a huge shout-out to the folks over at Celestial Seasonings....(no, this isn't paid, I just felt like I needed  to share). So, as to be expected, I haven't slept well at all in over a week now. I take sleeping pills over the counter but they either don't work or make me want to never wake up because they make me so drowsy! But, I HAVE to sleep! I am one of those that goes to bed at 9 and wakes up at 7 or 8. I had trouble finding something that would help me sleep. My husband and I were shopping at a new grocery in town when I noticed a new Sleepytime tea from Celestial Seasonings....(I LOVE hot tea, especially in cold weather). It was vanilla flavored, and Emory suggested I try it. I thought, yeah right, there is no way a tea is going to help me sleep. Well, I have drank a cup before bed the last two nights, and I must say, I have slept better drinking that than I have with anything else, EVER! Emory is even trying it and sleeping well! It is awesome! So, kudos to you over at Celestial Seasonings! You MUST try this stuff! Let me know if it works just as well for you! It is caffeine and gluten free! Anyway, hopefully I will be back soon with a Christmas recap!

The amazing stuff!

****I have lots of extra Christmas cards, if you would like one, email me, rebecca[dot]m[dot]winters[at]gmail[dot]com and send me your address and I will send you one!! They are cute, you know you want one! ;)

12 Gays of Christmas Relient Remix

To Brighten up your day! These guys are too cute! I have had SO much going on, I will post an update soon!

Promises!

Well, I am making promises to catch up with you guys soon! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! We hosted our first married Thanksgiving at our house this year! Emory and I LOVE to cook and spend time in the kitchen! Really, I think if we had the opportunity to quit our jobs and have our own cooking show, we truly would! **If there are any food show execs out there reading this, we would LOVE to chat...give me a shout!** We have so much fun in the kitchen! We usually cook dinner every night together, so Thanksgiving was so much fun! We cooked enough for an army though! We still have an uncooked pan of dressing and sweet potato casserole that we put in our freezer! Emory smoked his first Turkey and man, it turned out absolutely wonderfully! It was SO good! We had his parents, sister and her fiance and my mom and step dad and step brother! Our new dining room table held us all! It was so much fun! Friday, all of the girls got up bright (well, dark) and early and went shopping! There were a few things that we got that we wanted but it didn't seem to me that the deals were that good this year! On Saturday, Emory and I decorated for our FIRST Christmas! We put up two trees! One in our living room that is a 9 foot tree and is beautiful and one in our dining room that is all Alabama! It is too cute if I must say so myself! I will take pictures tonight when they are all lit up and post them tomorrow! We decorated the outside of the house as well with lit wreaths on the windows and a huge wreath on the door and lit trees on either side of the door! I am SO excited! Now to get all of our presents and get them wrapped and under the tree! Our kids here at work have their first holiday show tomorrow, so I am busy helping get ready for that! I also have a busy weekend ahead! I hope you all have a wonderful week! It is Wednesday, so only two more days!! I will be back with pictures tomorrow, I promise!

Just catching up!

Weird little tid bit before I begin....I have my Pandora station on and you know what is playing? "The Details are in the Fabric" by Jason Mraz (um, hello, that is where the title of my blog came from!) How ironic!

Anyway....I had a wonderful weekend! My husband and I got to FINALLY go to a game in Tuscaloosa together! Our story goes like this...we both spent four years in Tuscaloosa, 2003-2007, we didn't know each other one bit! We had mutual friends (kind of) but we never ran into each other! CRAZY I know! So, technically we have never been to Tuscaloosa "together"! And we certainly haven't been there for my favorite part, a football game! SO, this weekend, we went with some friends of ours to the game and had so much fun! Alabama beat Mississippi State so it was a great ending to a great day!

In front of the stadium!!

At the game!

As for this weekend, I am working a Henry Cho (a comedian) show on Friday night at work and then cleaning my house and addressing those awesome Christmas cards I got from Shutterfly (quickly, did I mention)!! Emory will be enjoying opening season! I can't believe Thanksgiving is upon us! Seriously ladies, if you haven't looked at a calendar lately, it is NEXT WEEK! Yikes! We are hosting it at our house for our first married Thanksgiving!

Well, I hope you all have a great rest of the week, it is all downhill from here! Oh, I am going to be hosting a 31 party, and I will be having a "catalogue order" portion, so be looking for more info on that because some of the proceeds go to a charity! In the meantime, go here to see their stuff!

A little survey for a Monday....

So, I stole this from Alyse and decided I would do it as well! It is Monday  , afterall! Although I do have to mention that those cards that I posted below, the free ones from Shutterfly, yeah I ordered them and they were here in less than a week! I am going to have them ready to go in a week! Yay! So excited! Anyway, here is the survey about my family...

1. What are your middle names? his - Emory mine- Marie
2. How long have you been together?  about 15 months (married for almost 5)
3. How long did you know each other before you started dating? we pretty much started dating instantly!
4. Who asked who out? We didn't really ask each other out, it was just an instant thing!
5. How old are each of you? Him - 26 me - 25
6. Did you go to the same school? College, yes but we didn't know each other!!
7. Are you from the same home town? Nope! About 4 hours apart
8. Who is the smartest? He is!
9. Who majored in what? Emory - Electrical Engineering Me - Political Science
10. Who is the most sensitive? Neither really, but I guess me
11. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? France
12. Who has the worst temper? Probably me

13. How many children do you want? No real definitive answer for this one yet....
14. Who does the cooking? We both LOVE to cook! We cook together most often!
15. Who is more social? Probably me.
16. Who is the neat freak? I am the neater of the two, but I am not really a neat freak.
17. Who is the most stubborn? Probably me.
18. Who wakes up earlier? Definitely me
19. Where was your first date? A double date with my parents (who introduced us) to dinner and drinks!
20. Who has the bigger family? Um, I guess they are about equal.
21. Do you get flowers often? No, but I am not really a flower girl. They just die!
22. How do you spend the holidays? At home this year!!
23. Who is more jealous?Neither really.
24. How long did it take to get serious? Instantly. When you know, you know.
25. Who eats more? Probably him, just because I am smaller!
26. What do you do for a living? He is an Engineer, I work for a non-profit.
27. Who does the laundry? I do mostly.
28. Who's better with the computer? Definitely him!
29. Who drives when you are together? Usually him, but I do on occasion.
30. What is your song? I dunno...our first dance was "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Lady Antebellum
 
Ok, that is what I have for you today! I am going to catch you up on our weekend tomorrow! :) Happy Monday!

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