I'm Getting Married in a Week!

The title about sums this post up! In one week, I'll be..

Marrying this man

At this church

with these amazing women by my side..

With that being said, I'll be MIA for the next couple of weeks.. I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off the last week trying to get last minute things together and it has left me very little time to sit down, write and keep up with my blogging buddies. 

I'll be back after the honeymoon with lots of new posts about the wedding and our trip to California (a HUGE thank you to my friend Maegan over at SAHMaegan for all of her help planning our trip!).

Christmas 2012 Recap

Merry Day After Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you're slowly coming out of your delicious/high calorie Christmas food and drink coma--I'm still working on it..

The Christmas fun continues today for my family--we'll be visiting my Grandpa for more fun, food and laughter (it seems like anytime any of the same gets together, it involves gut wrenching laughter--love it!). Since we'll be on the road early, my post today will be a look back on my Christmas 2012! It was a wonderful day and I hope your Christmases were just as memorable and blessed.

Christmas Eve: My Favorite Day of the Year

Merry Christmas Eve, friends!

Today is my favorite day of the entire year so I'm looking forward to getting the day started!

For as long as I can remember, we have spent Christmas Eve and Day with my Uncle Rolf and Aunt Nancy. Through the years, we've kept the same traditions that I always look forward to. Here are a few of those traditions that I am looking forward to today.

Christmas church service

Dinner at whatever restaurant is still open

Driving around, looking at Christmas lights

Giant party poppers from Costco w/crowns

Opening stockings while eating something sweet and delicious

Staying up late chatting

Perfect day in my opinion! 

Here are a few of my favorite memories from Christmas Eves past..

Christmas Lights in Downtown Denver

The Famous Costco Party Popper Crowns

Opening Stockings

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! Enjoy your family, enjoy the fellowship, and never forget the true meaning of the day.

'Beautiful New Year, Beautiful You' Giveaway Reminder

We're down to the last two days for our 'Beautiful New Year, Beautiful You' giveaway!!

It is a fabulous prize package with make up and goodies from Stilla (from Kristine at Heart Shaped Sweat), lotions and body creams from Victoria's Secret (from yours truly) and a fabulous pair of handmade owl earrings (from the one and only Tricia at Mama Marchand's Nest)!

Use the Rafflecopter below to enter--and tell your friends!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The DIY Project from Hell

I had written a post about white elephant gift ideas that I had planned to post this morning but then yesterday's wedding project gone wrong happened. I'm getting ahead of myself--let's start at the beginning, shall we?

The wedding is 16 days away (which I still can't believe!) and we're headed back to CO on Saturday to spend Christmas with my family. Now, if you've ever planned a wedding, you know there comes a time when you run into an invisible wall and just want to say screw it and let whatever happens happen. I've hit that wall. Hard. I'm pretty sure that Brandon has hit the wall too but he is a lot less whiny about it than I am. *sigh* men...

Anyway, we were sitting around watching House Hunters yesterday afternoon when Brandon started talking about how we needed to start working on our wedding centerpieces (I don't want to get into too much detail about them because I want them to be somewhat of a surprise so I will elaborate later). I reluctantly agreed and we got to work on soaking and de-labeling (I think that's a word?) 130 wine bottles.

We live in the worlds tiniest townhouse which means we have the worlds tiniest bathroom.. Oooh, we need to move.

70 wine bottles soaking in the tub.

Once we had the tub full, we decided to give our aching backs a break and head downstairs while they soaked. We were greeted at the bottom of the stairs with the sound of dripping water.

Uh-oh.

Yes, the bathtub leaked through the ceiling. ALL over my wrapped Christmas gifts (luckily, nothing was too damaged--a little water damage on the packaging but I can live with that).

Damage control (this is where the Christmas gifts used to chill).

There was already water damage on the ceiling and now there is a little more (but as far as our landlord knows, it has always been this bad..). We'd never used the bathtub before so we didn't know this could happen so easily.

We're in wine bottle hell-- but we both got a pretty good laugh out of it while we were cleaning up. 

December, 2012 Annie wants to punch January ('Oh my gosh, we're engaged, I'm so happy, let's have a huge DIY wedding'), 2012 Annie in the face.

Party, Party, I like to Party

Bacon Time with the Hungry, Hungry Hypo, Sweet Boutique, Crafty Moms Share, Six Sisters Stuff, Cheerios & Lattes, Tutus & Tea Parties,

Engagement Anniversary & Ninjabread Men (and giveaway reminder!)

Okay, before I get to the Ninjabread men, I have to wish my dah-ling fiance a happy anniversary--it was a year ago today that we were basking in the glorious Florida sun, rubbing elbows with our favorite Disney characters, I was violently sick in the ladies room at Cinderella's Castle (if you haven't yet, you should check out our engagement story--it explains everything!) and Brandon asked me to be his wife.

We plan to celebrate today by going out for lunch and wrapping bouquets--best way to celebrate!!

And now, onto a different topic!

We made Ninjabread cookies to take to Brandon's mom house last weekend--they were tasty, sassy (especially my red headed Ninjabread woman) and adorable!!

This is the kit we used--they sell on Amazon for $29.95 but we found the exact same kit at Big Lots for $5.00!! If you live near a Big Lots, go check it out. We don't have one in our town but there is one in the town my MIL2B lives in--if you don't have a Big Lots near you or they're sold out, I recommend just buying Ninja cutouts (you can find them here on Amazon for fairly cheap).

We wound up just making our own gingerbread and not using the packet inside the kit. This is what they looked like out of the oven--cute huh (Ignore our botched counter tops--we live in an 80s town house and hope to move soon!)?

We also decided to forgo the frosting in the box and made our own chocolate frosting which was delish!

The finished product--cute, huh?

I already told Brandon that when we have a son, I'm going to throw him a Ninja birthday party just so I can reuse the cutters to make cute brownies, cookies, etc.

Switching topics yet again..

I wanted to remind everyone of the beautiful giveaway we have going on right now!

(You can enter here)

Party, Party, I like to Party

Southern Lovely, Adorned from Above, This Beautiful Life, Crystal & Co, We Like to Learn as We Go, Two Yellow Birds Decor, Joyful Homemaking, Bloom Designs, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Delightful Order, 504 Main, The Thriftiness Miss, Happy-Go-Lucky, Chic on a Shoestring Budget, Becoming Martha, The Frugal Girls, Bacon Time with the Hungry, Hungry Hypo, Sweet Boutique, Crafty Moms Share, Six Sisters Stuff, Cheerios & Lattes, Tutus & Tea Parties,

Reflections

This is really beautiful and I wanted to share it with everyone.

'Twas 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38
When 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air;

They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.

They were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say;

They remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.

"Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.

"This is heaven." declared a small boy. "We're spending Christmas at God's house."

When what to their wondering eyes did appear,

But Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.

He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same;

Then He opened His arms and He called them by name.

And in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring;

Those children all flew into the arms of their King

And as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,

One small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face;

And as if He could read all the questions she had,

He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of mom and dad."

Then He looked down on earth, the world far below,

He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe;

Then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,

"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"

"May this country be delivered from the hands of fools,"

"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"

Then He and the children stood up without a sound.

"Come now my children, let me show you around."

Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran;

All displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.

And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,

"In the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

Ninjabread Men, Bachelorette Party and a Giveaway

Well folks, Christmas is in high swing for Brandon and me!

We arrived at my MIL2B's (mother-in-law to be) house Friday evening after Brandon got off work. We spent the day Saturday baby sitting Benjamin and Sara (Brandon's niece and nephew)--they were both sick with colds so we lounged around, napped and watched 'Madagascar'--not too bad of a Saturday if you ask me! Then, on Saturday evening, Brandon's mom and sister surprised me by taking me out for a surprise bachelorette party! We had a wonderful time!

I'm so excited to finally be getting a sister--love her!!

My wonderful MIL2B and Me!

Shots with the girls!

Yesterday, we celebrated Christmas with Brandon's mom, sister, brother-in-law, nephew and niece--we ate, talked, ate, opened presents, ate, slept and ate some more--I probably won't fit into my wedding dress but hey, you only live once.. right?

Ninjabread cookies! These were so fun to make--I'll have to write up a post about them for later this week!

Baby Sara and her new headband from Auntie Annie (I got it from Kendra at A Proverbs 31 Wife--she has such cute headbands for babies and little girls, I definitely recommend checking her out!).

Nancy gave both of the guys a covered fire pit--I can't wait until we have a backyard so can use ours!

I'm sad that our Christmas is half over now, but I look forward to heading home to Colorado next weekend to celebrate with my family. Does anyone else have a hard time believing that Christmas is already here? I've always been told that time goes by faster and faster the older you get--I'm 22 and time is already flying by so I hate to think of how fast it'll go 10, 20, or 50 years from now!

And since Christmas is upon us, that means the new year is fast approaching--and we want to add a little extra sparkle to your 2013! So, Kristine from Heart Shaped Sweat, Tricia from Mama Marchand's Nest and I are hosting a 'Beautiful New Year, Beautiful You' giveaway! We are giving away goodies that will keep your skin soft and glowing, and keep your ears looking beautiful all the way through 2013 :)

Ready to enter? Use the Rafflecopter below!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway