12.31.2011

Congrats Kenny & Donnell

This afternoon, I attended the wedding of my husband's uncle. He just so happened to be marrying my cousin (but she's really a cousin waayyyy down the line) and my husband's best friend's mother-in-law. haha Kind of crazy, I know! My husband loves it because now he can say that he and his best friend are really related. And well, his best friend loves it, because he thinks he's the perfect matchmaker since he set Kenny and Donnell up together. But I guess he's right. The two of them could not be more perfect together. When they are together, you can see how happy they are and how much they love each other. I wish them all the happiness in the world and pray that God blesses their marriage as much as he has blessed mine and Kevin's.

Anyways, here are some pictures from their event!










Christmas Presents from my Hubby

Well it dawned on me that I did not post what all the hubby got me for Christmas. So I better share.

1. I got a tanning package to begin to work on my spring tan! Yayyyy!

2. I got the following outfit which I wore in a previous post. The sweater is from TJ Maxx and the jeans are from American Eagle.

3. And my absolute favorite thing.... my new Lexus RX 350!!!

12.29.2011

Organizing Day 2: My Pantry

So as you know I am addicted to Pinterest and after looking at all of the gorgeous pantries I decided to try to redesign mine and make it look a little neater! Unfortunately my pantry and laundry room are combined so I don't have a whole lot of space to work with but I'm pretty happy with the end result of my hard work!

Here is the before picture!


Here is the after!


I am in love! I wish I could have found containers to match that were large enough for the paper plates, cups, and napkins but I couldn't but overall, I think it doesn't look too bad! I'm also going to go back later on and paint the shelving to look better than natural wood but you can only do so much at a time!

12.28.2011

No More Messy Bags!

We all get them... They are given to us every time we purchase something at Walmart, the grocery store, or our favorite store. What are they you ask? Those infamous grocery bags!

If you're like me, you always save them because they come handy to carry your lunch in or to throw a few items in when you're on the go. However, when they aren't in use, they seem to just accumulate and take up alot of space. Not only does it take up alot of space, it's hard to make plastic bags look attractive! However, I solved that problem this afternoon! I found an easy way to make them look neat and attractive!!! 

Here's how!
1. Straighten the bag out.

2. Fold in half

3. Fold in half again.

4. Fold the handle down.

5.Make a triangle

 6. Make another triangle.

7. Repeat several times depending on bag size.

8. Take the end and fold it in half.

9. Tuck the end in the folded part of the triangle.

10. Voila!

See how neat it is!

I just spent the last ten minutes folding 30 bags! haha 

12.26.2011

All Decorated For Christmas

So this post is coming extremely late but I figured I'd share the few Christmas decorations we placed around the house this year!

The Front Door & Foyer




The Living Room









The Dining Room



The Kitchen
I made my table centerpiece and I wanted to do red and clear beads but I couldn't find the red!

Our Charlie Brown Christmas tree!



Our Master Bath





Christmas Presents from the Family

As we've gotten older, my parents and siblings have decided to spend a small amount of money on each other at Christmas and give the rest of the money we previously spent on each other to a certain charity organization or someone who has a need for it. We feel like we have been blessed with more than enough so we like to give money to people who have not been as fortunate as we have been. Despite our new Christmas tradition, I still feel like I wracked up!

Mom and Dad gave me...
a new purple/white/gray scarf!!! (have I mentioned you can't have too many scarfs?!)

A pair of shoes that I ended up exchanging for my new boots!

 It's a tradition... Each Christmas we always get new pajamas for Christmas and this year I got doggy ones!!!

& Mom and Dad gave me $$$$ to use on the down payment on my Lexus!!!(:

My sister and her family gave me...
A new belted sweater vest! I am in love with it!!! It looks gray in the picture but its really a gorgeous dusty purple!

A cute ruched turtleneck to go with it!

& they gave me a $25 gift card to Olive Garden (my favorite!)

The In-Laws got me...
My new Buckhead Bettie laundry bag!!! It matches our closet!

As well as my new Buckhead Betty travel bag!!!! I can't wait to use it in February!

& they gave $$$ to me and Kevin to use for our vacation in February!!!

Reid & Phyllis...
I was SOOOOO excited to get these. They were the only two things left on my registry that I did not get when I got married. I was so beyond thrilled to have the rest of the collegiate collection!!! Can't wait to use them for the Duke vs. Carolina game!!!

Along with these gifts, many of my family members gave us money... which newlyweds can always use! haha But all in all, I was most definitely blessed with gifts that I did not deserve but I absolutely love.

What did you get for Christmas?!

12.24.2011

4th Annual Christmas Eve Luncheon

It all began four years ago on Christmas Eve.  Kevin, Bryan, Daniel, and I  were all working out at the YMCA when Norma, the front desk assistant, came in and ran us out because they were closing at noon. After our hard workout, we all wished each other a Merry Christmas and parted ways to go get lunch. However,  we all ended up at McDonalds and ended up eating together.

And boy was that luck! We had the BEST time. Daniel of course did his traditional farting and blamed it on everyone else. Bryan and Kevin did their best to get everyone on "Hey bud". And then a guy came in that looked just like Daniel and when he walked by we realized his whole butt was showing. I mean seriously! The whole butt portion of his jeans were torn out and he was wearing no underwear. I am not even making this up. The best part was Bryan asked, "do you think he realizes he has a hole in his pants?" Daniel proceeded to tell him that it was 20 degrees, there was no way he didn't know!

Since that Christmas Eve, we have now made it a tradition to go to the YMCA and work out and then go to lunch at McDonalds. We always hope to see the guys with the "chaps" as we call him. But he hasn't made an appearance since that fateful day.

As the years have gone by, we have added more and more people to our lunch date! Emily no longer has to work on Christmas Eve so she comes with Daniel, they now have Samantha, Bryan is dating Brooke, and Brittni has joined our awesome, hilarious group. So the more our group multiplies the more fun we have! I can't wait till next year to see who else has joined our group.. who knows? It may just be a new little Holt!!!(:

Here's pictures from this year's event!