Seriously Snow, a Book for the year and Le Cresuet!

Well, the snow and ice is still here in Alabama. Although, the roads seem to be clear according to my husband who has been to work the past two days. Schools, however, are closed for day number four! Yep, schools have been out all week and will be out again Monday for the holiday even if they are in tomorrow! It has been crazy! I haven't left the house all week. It hasn't really bothered me, because it is SO cold outside. And I HATE to be cold, so I would much rather stay inside with blankets and a heater and as many clothes as I can put on, because let's face it, you can never be too warm when it is something like -10 degrees outside. (Ok, maybe it is like 16 degrees outside, but whatever it is, it is too cold for me!)

I am excited that tomorrow is Friday though, even though it seems like everyday is the weekend when you are home! There is just something about the sounds of Friday and Saturday that change the mood! Since I haven't really been out of  the house I have nothing new to report or talk about really. Other than the fact that I got really bored yesterday and got out the cookbooks and started thinking of things that I could cook with my Le Creuset. Oh, I haven't told you about the WHOLE SET of Le Creuset Emory and I got for Christmas have I? Well, we did. We now have 3 dutch ovens of various sizes, a saucepan, a grill pan, a huge skillet, a stockpot, a casserole dish and a braiser, all Le Creuset! We LOVE IT! We cook alot and this is a set that we fell in love with this summer when we got a dutch oven on sale. It is now just about all we will cook with besides our Rachel Ray stainless stuff. I mean it is AWESOME! So, when I am bored, I try to find recipes that will require the use of the most pieces of our set! We even bought this cute little stand so we could display it and not have to put it in the cabinets because we love it so much! Maybe I will start sharing some of our favorite recipes and our Le Creuset! So, without further adieu, here is our beautiful Le Creuset!

This isn't even all of it, but it was all that would fit on the cute little stand! :) LOVE

Elizabeth over at Musing Experiences is hosting a book club, for the ENTIRE YEAR. It is a book for the entire year to inspire happiness! Hop on over and join us!

Oh sNOw!

Well, as you all know I live in Alabama. We normally have two seasons, cold and hot. Well, Sunday night it started snowing here and didn't stop. They were warning us to stock up on milk and bread, which flew off the shelves. Normally when  they predict snow, it rains. It is when they don't predict it, is when it happens! Well, the weathermen were actually right this time! We woke up Monday to about 10 inches of snow! EVERYTHING has shut down. The banks aren't open, the stores are closed, schools are closed, the mail isn't running. Even the interstates are closed. We just aren't equipped to deal with the white stuff. Especially now, it is starting to melt, yet the temperatures are in the  teens so it is freezing causing ice. Needless to say, we haven't left the house. We can't. There wouldn't be anywhere to go if we could! So, we are going on day 2 of being snowed in! It is actually really fun to be stuck in the house with my husband and two fur boys! We took advantage of the time together yesterday and played in the snow, made soup, made snow cream and took a really long nap. We then watched DVRd shows in order to avoid watching Auburn play Oregon in the National Championship game. We had lots of fun. Who knows what we will get into today, since we definitely aren't going anywhere today either. There are already muffins in the oven!! Enjoy some pictures of our time in the snow! (Which the little ones in our house LOVE!!)

Emory and I in the snow!!

ME and Max! He was taking a break from running like crazy!

A rare moment. Me , Max and Scout!

Pictures I couldn't upload the other day....

Picture of our living room tree...

Ornament we bought on our honeymoon in France!

Eiffel Tower ornament from Target!

Santa Clause my dad carved!

Apparently that is all Blogger will allow for today. Maybe I will get back with some more tomorrow or later tonight!
Hope you all are having a WONDERFUL Thursday! I can't believe the weekend is almost here!

I interrupt your sleep....

.....to sleep on  your face and nuzzle under the covers at all hours of the night. No, I am not talking about my husband, I am talking about my six month old, sixty-plus pound puppy! He has found the bliss in snuggling in under the covers and gets on our bed every night to do so. Multiple times. After we put him back in his bed and cover him up with his blanket! You would think we had a child in our house. He has a bed, he has a blanket, we get up every couple of hours after we go to bed, and there are toys ALL OVER THE HOUSE, no matter how many times I pick them up in a day! Anyway, that is my rant! He is still stinking cute and I don't know what we would do without him. But it is so funny how different the two dogs are! Scout HATES the covers and is really neat with his toys and you hardly know he is around. Max on the other hand is literally always in your face letting you know he is here and you need to pay attention to him!

Now, the real reason for the post is catching up on Christmas and the joyous things that come with it! Since it was our first Christmas, we put up a tree together for the first time. Well, two trees. One thing that was a common theme for people  to give us was ornaments, which I loved! Now here is the part of this post where I would show you all of the pictures, but Blogger is not letting me upload any of them. Maybe I will try again later and you will have a complete, unboring post!

The view from here....

I am loving my new coffee cup that I got for Christmas from Anthro. My bro and his gf got it for me. There is just something about a dainty little cup that makes my coffee taste so much better, and makes me so much more productive (or makes all of your blogs just  that much better). Here is to a new year, a new week, a new view and an awesome new coffee cup! :) I will be updating all week with some of my favorite gifts from Christmas that I am getting to use now that Christmas is over since I didn't get to update much in December! What are some of your favorites?

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! ;)