Remember when my hubby gave me this sweet letter? In it he said that he was thankful for the joy I get from a good cup of coffee.
Well, I am enjoying my 4th cup today and it happens to be a gift from my sister in law. She sent me a really good columbian coffee.
BUT what makes me really smile is this.
This cup makes me happy. I'm easy like that:)
Mel
That is what my backyard looked like. I knew that we were going to get some snow but I really didn't believe it.
It snowed all day long. It started melting some this afternoon and I think that it has finally stopped. All I know is that the sun will be shining on Tuesday. HELLO SOUTH:) No snow on the ground for 2 1/2 months straight and no having 4 weeks straight of gray skies and no sunshine. I am a happy girl.
And I got the tree down. Yeah me!
Merry Christmas everyone. Hope your day has been wonderful and that you received everything that you wished for. We had a quiet Christmas here in our new home, just the three of us. Having a teenager makes for a quiet day. Caden didn't even open presents until 12:30 since he didn't get up until 11:30.
Oh the joys of being a teen;-)
So on to the winner of the Little Brown Pen gift card. It's Staci @ A Life Less Ordinary! Email me your addy and your card will be in the mail.
I have been enjoying my little break from blogging. I have been reading a lot of magazines and deciding what I am going to work on next in the house. I am not sure when I will come back but I hope to feel like it after the New Year.
This morning I was catching up on some blog reading and ran across this horrible news. Edie @ A Life in Grace had her house burn down early Wednesday morning. They lost everything and I ask that you pray for her and her family. They have not been in their home that long and I just can't imagine what they are going through. They need a lot of love and support right now.
Hope everyone has a great New Year and I will see ya soon.
Mel
Girls, I have a sickness and it is called Keurig.
Keurig. As in the Keurig coffee machine.
Y'all know that I love to organize and that is why I have a coffee drawer. No matter that the bonus room was still a mess, I was happily standing in the kitchen organizing my K cups.
They have all kinds of flavors. Different brewed coffee so that if you like bold you can get bold. If you like french roast, you can get french roast. They also make teas and hot chocolates. Just recently Folger's started making K cups. So far, that one isn't my favorite. That would be the Green Mountains Nantucket Blend. That one is delicious.
I love the decaf too. I usually have a cup in the afternoon.
The cappuccino is pretty good but it isn't Starbucks caramel brulee, I tell ya:) I haven't tried the iced vanilla coffee yet but I will let you know how it is when I taste it.
In other news, Gary was on vacation last week and we got a lot of stuff done in the house. I have many things to show you but I think that it will be after the first of the year.
Yes, I am going to take a little bloggy break. I love blogging and I love my readers but I am tired.
I have gained 8 pounds.
I haven't walked on the treadmill in over a year and a half.
I haven't finished a book since July.
I want to read again.
I want to read the many many magazines that have piled up.
I want to finish decorating my house.
I want to cook some new recipes.
I want to get settled.
I want to rest.
I have felt so much support from all of you while I have been going through the move. (or moves:) Y'all will never know how much I appreciate it. Even my mom told me that y'all have been so great to me and it is true.
I don't want to feel guilty because I am not visiting all of you. I can't seem to keep caught up on emailing every one back when y'all comment. I feel guilty about that. I never want to leave anyone out and I never want y'all to think that I don't read every.single.comment! I have made so many true friendships through blogging and I will keep blogging. But for a while, I am going to disconnect from the computer and get back to what I use to do.
I will be back. I will visit y'all. I will miss y'all while I am away, but I have to do this for myself. I will pick a winner of the gift card on Christmas and post the winner that afternoon. Then I will take a break.
I have moved two times in 9 months and have had 4 addresses in a year. I think that I should be tired:) The break will do me some good and I will come back refreshed and ready to show you our new home and what we have done to it so far.
We will be having a quite Christmas this year with just the three of us. Caden and I went to Florida and enjoyed a visit with my parents and celebrated Christmas a little early. I hope that every one has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Y'all will never be far from my thoughts while I am away.
Thanks for hanging in there with me.
Mel
I love Little Brown Pen! I found her on Etsy and just fell in love with her photography. She loves all things Paris (she lives there part time) and she takes pictures of things that she loves.
I decided I was going to buy 4 prints for the kitchen. This is what came in the mail.
The outside of the envelope has a picture of what I bought.
Look how cute the packaging is. See that little envelope that says Little Brown Pen? Look what was inside.
A pack of miniature calendar cards and two gift cards for $10.00 off the next purchase.
Cuteness I say! Cuteness!
Here is a shot of the 4 prints that I bought.
This calendar has 5x5 pictures on each month that can be framed after it is used.
I can't wait to get the pictures hung in the kitchen and I will be doing that next week! Gary was on vacation this past week and we were busy working around the house. I didn't get to hang these pictures though.
Since I received two gift cards in my goodie package, I would like to offer one to my readers. Just go to Little Brown Pen and come back and tell me what you would use your $10.00 credit towards. It expires in January so be sure if you enter that you would be able to use it before it expires.
Happy shopping,
Mel
I am not much of a country music fan. I do like some artist but I watched Keith Urban on Oprah last week and immediately went on Amazon and downloaded Get Closer. Man oh man, it is a love song from start to finish. My favorite track is number 3 but I love 1, 3, 5, and 7. The whole CD is wonderful.
I love Starbucks during the holidays. My favorite coffee is the Caramel Brulee Latte. Yum yum. I just don't think you should look at the calorie content before drinking one;-)
I have been wanting this cookbook for a while. I ordered it a couple of weeks ago and all I can say is WOW! I am loving everything in it and I can't wait to try some of the recipes. It is southern with a twist to make the dishes a bit upscale.
This is a delicious smelling lotion. I read about it in a magazine and went and bought it at Target. It smells like vanilla almond and I love anything that is vanilla.
I love this game! I probably have 10 games going at one time but it has been my mental salvation during this move. At night I have played this game to relax my mind and it has carried me through. I love playing and sometimes I am good and win and sometimes I am not. BUT, I love playing no matter what.
This book is total eye candy. Lovely photos and I can't wait to sit down with it and soak it all in. When we get the house totally set up, I am going to break out my photography books and start reading again. I have a lot of things to catch up on. I took Karen Russell's class last year and I am going to reread all of the material. I feel like I have forgotten a lot of it.
Look what I got in the mail on Friday.
Lisa, from Pickles & Cheese sent me a Christmas towel that she hand stenciled. Y'all know how much I love mail and getting something from a blog friend makes it all the better.
I love it. It is so cute and so is Lisa. She loves all things stenciled, numbered, and french.
It is perfect hanging on my stove. I have only decorated a tree this year so this towel adds a touch of Christmas to my kitchen.
Thanks Lisa for making my day!
Mel
Since we have moved a lot in the last five years, I don't have pictures of every single Christmas for each of those years.
This year I managed to get a tree up but I didn't get to fully decorate the house. I wanted to participate in a couple of parties that are showcasing Christmas home tours.
I thought that I would do it a little different.
This first photo is from our Christmas in December 2005. We were living with Gary's mom while we were building our home in Florida. This is our Snoopy tree:)
That is what I could manage to get put up in her house since we had just moved in.
These next photos are from our last Christmas in our Florida home which was December 2008. It was a wonderful Christmas. My sister in law and her family came in from Texas and we just had a great time seeing each other.
Last year we moved to Cincinnati on November 9 and I didn't get a tree up. This year we moved on November 1 and I did manage to get a tree up.
I got rid of our tree that we have had for the last 15 years and went with a skinny tree. I like that it fits the space perfectly.
And now for some of my favorite ornaments. They are things that Caden has made, things that I have collected through the years, and ornaments of places we have traveled together.
Thank you for indulging me with another look at our tree this year. It was fun taking a trip down memory lane and showing the trees that we have had over the last five years. For those of you who are new to my blog, if you want to read a really sweet story about a gift I received for our Christmas in 2008, you can go here. It is worth your time.
Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are all having a great holiday season.
Melanie
Linking to Met Monday
