HAPPY 2010

I know I've been slacking a little lately and I have some posts I need to catch up on, but wanted to send one last message for 2010.  It has been a great year - full of happy memories, amazing trips across the country, fabulous times with friends and family and falling in love with Mr. KU.  I've truly cherished this entire year and cannot wait until 2011.  I hope you all have a very fun and safe New Year's Eve.  Make the most of it! 

And don't worry -  I will post about my NYE celebration, the bridal shower I hosted for my best friend (which had a hiccup or two, but worked out fine). 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Recap

This was truly a very blessed Christmas!  I was able to spend the holidays with all of my families which was really nice!  Christmas Eve started out with a dentist appointment, where unfortunately I have a small cavity forming - GREAT!  That will be fixed in a month...

But then MR. KU and I traveled to Strong City, KS to spend Christmas Eve with his family.  We hung out with his entire family, watched the kids (ages 1 1/2 to 16) open presents, ate great food all day long, went to church and then came back and the adults were able to open presents.  It was great to be able to spend the day with his family!

Then on Christmas morning, we got up early, drove to my dad's house for brunch, presents, movies and cards.  Late in the afternoon we drove to my mom's house where we opened presents, drank some more, had dinner (homemade Lasagna!!!) and played more cards. 

All in all, it was a great Christmas, I got a lot of cool gifts, money and the joy of being able to spend the time with my family.  This next week is going to be a little crazy - I'm preparing to host a Pampered Chef Bridal Shower for my friend Miss Atlanta who is getting married next August....a little shopping, dinner with friends who live out of town, and NYE.  But I now have a new Point and Shoot camera, so don't worry there will be more pictures on my blog.  (Thanks to my mom for the Christmas Present).

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the New Year!  Probably one more post for the 2010 year! 

Bells will be ringing....

WE are one week away from my favorite night of the entire year!  Christmas Eve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love the sound of the piano at church playing my favorite Christmas songs, all the candles lit as the congregation sings Silent Night and walking out of church and going home to read "A Night Before Christmas".  (And Yes, my 25 year old sister and I still trade off reading pages of the book every single year.) 

This year will be a little different; I may have to "read" the book over the phone instead.  MR. KU and I will be spending Christmas Eve at his family's house and then driving up to spend Christmas Day with my family.  It will be a little different, I'm actually kinda sad but really excited on the other hand.  It is all about starting new traditions and being able to experience his family's traditions.  If you can't tell by now, I have strong feelings about traditions and being true to what you believe.  Below are some of my favorite family traditions:

1.) Opening all presents on Christmas Day, none of Christmas Eve

2.) Reading a Night Before Christmas every year (and no, we do not put cookies out for Santa)

3.) Sleeping in the same room as my sister on Christmas Eve, we always have a "sleep over".  We used to sleep in sleeping bags in one of our rooms, we have now moved to our beds

4.) Lighting the candles in church as everyone sings Silent Night

5.) Coming out of late night service and it is past midnight so its Christmas Day!

6.) Putting the "ugly Santa" on the Christmas Tree -- it is the ugliest ornament, but it cracks us up and we love it.

7.) Watching Christmas movies in our PJ's

8.) Breakfast casserole on Christmas morning

9.) Snow on Christmas (this one is a little hard to have happen every year)

10.) My new tradition - of spending Christmas with Mr. KU!!!

What are some of your family traditions??

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I never thought Friday would come this week!  It has just been a very long week, there really isn't any other way to describe it.  It was our Line Review at work - which means we have people in from the field and we have all day long/all week long meetings to show them the new line of shoes for every department.  It's very stressful and there is a lot of prep work that goes into it - I'm just really glad that it is finally over!  

I'm very excited for this weekend though!  Mr. KU and I will be doing some Christmas shopping on Saturday after we sleep in till who knows when!  I'm OK with getting up around noon!  I can't think of the last time that I did that and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!  Also on Saturday night we have our annual Casino Christmas Party with our friends from work.  Everyone gets fake money and there is a Black Jack table, Ru-let table and they have mocked up a Craps table.  It is pretty fun.  I lost all of my "money" at the craps table last year.  It's in Lawrence which is nice and close to home, but is always such a grand 'ol time!  I can't wait!

We also sent out our Christmas cards today -- I will not post what it looks like b/c some of my readers will be receiving them and I don't want to ruin the surprise!  

I'm getting into the Christmas spirit!  I am now only listening to Christmas music on Pandora while I'm at work.  It is keeping me in the Christmas spirit even though my job does not put me in a happy mood most days....somehow I still actually enjoy what I do - it is just a very high stress environment most of the time.

HAVE A FABULOUS WEEKEND!

Well...it was the last wedding of the season this past weekend - but don't worry, Mr. KU and I already have about 4 scheduled for 2011.  Saturday was the wedding of my good friend Beth who I went to Kstate with and John, her friend from high school but they actually started dating a couple years after college!  It was absolutely beautiful and they make such a wonderful couple.  I was very honored to be apart of their special day and was a bridesmaid in their wedding.  Not much to say except it was a fantastic weekend, with great friends and family (also kinda ready for my special day, but that will come when the time is right)  :) 

Here are a few pics of the wedding ( my camera also died, so I don't have all the pics of the night ).

Hair & makeup at Beth's parents' house

The bride getting her hair done

Lish & Liz waiting at the church

More bridesmaids with the bride



The groomsmen on the trolley after the wedding



The new Mr. & Mrs. Kearney

Mr. KU & I

GIANT CAKE!

View of the KC Plaza at the reception

First Dance

HOPE YOU HAD A FANTASTIC WEEKEND!

Total Slacker

Sorry - I've been slacking - I'm totally exhausted and feel like I'm getting sick so I've been in bed every night by about 8:30pm.  And its the prep week at work before our line review meetings which happen every quarter at work so that has been a little hectic as well.  So I'll give you a quick run down of the happenings since Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was great!  My grandma was in town from Florida/New Jersey.  It was so great to see her, it had been almost a year!  It was also nice to be able to spend time with both Mr. KU's family as well.  We were able to have 2 Thanksgiving dinners!  I definitely ate way too much food.  Here are a few pics of the Holidays:

Cheers to family!

He's just so darn cute!!

MaDee (my grandma) and I

My sister and I on Thanskgiving

I have some other good news --  I GOT A PROMOTION!!!!  It is finally official, even though I have known for 2 weeks, but I couldn't say anything!  Its been killing me!  My new job is entitled "Merchandise Planner of Accessories in Latin America".  The cool thing is that I get to travel 3 times a year- I'm soo pumped!!!  It is an entire new business and entire new country to even think about!  I'm a little nervous but totally excited!  I can't wait!

This coming weekend I'm a bridesmaid in my friend Beth's Wedding.  Pictures will be posted don't worry.  I will be much better at keeping my blog updated!

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

I did it!  I made the pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving!  I'm so proud of myself and it looks so delicious.  I can't wait to eat it tomorrow evening.    Here are a few pics of the evening.  Mr. KU was a big help!

All the prep work before I start to bake

The yummy streusel sprinkled on top of the pie

It's cooking at 350 for 50 minutes.

The end result! 



What are you making for Thanksgiving?

I'm Thankful For.....

1.) My family being healthy
2.) Mr. KU and I having a supportive, loving relationship
3.) Having such wonderful and supportive friends
4.) Having a steady job and income in this economy
5.) Our armed forces overseas protecting our country
6.) My puppy Ellie
7.) My car being paid off in 1 more month!!!!!
8.) Only driving 30 minutes to work instead of an hour and getting some of my night back to do things I love to do - work out, watch TV, make dinner...
9.) My grandmother coming in town for Thanksgiving
10.) Being off work for a few days and enjoying time with the people I love!


What are you thankful for?

Its a short week - only 3 (well 2 1/2 days) of work.  I'm so excited.  My grandma is coming in town, I get to spend Thanksgiving with my family as well as Mr. KU's family.  I'm excited to see his family's traditions and have him join in on mine.  I love traditions especially around the holidays.  I think its important to keep them going and make new traditions with your own family.

This past weekend was too exciting -- did a little shopping, got lots of much needed sleep and relaxation, worked out a little bit and watched the Eagles beat the Giants!  It was a great game and soo worth being tired on Monday morning.  Which I had to be at work today at 6:30am..it was not fun.  But I think this is going to be a weekly occurrence from now on (more to come on that later). 

Tomorrow night Mr. KU and some of our friends are going down to the Sprint Center in Kansas City to watch Kstate play in in the CBE Classic!  We have 8th row seats in the corner which will be awesome!  Look for us on TV.  (ha)

Hope everyone else has a nice short week at work and enjoys the holidays with their loved ones!

Zzzzzzzzz

No - that is not me sleeping...its Mr. KU.  He is completely pooped folks!  IT is only 9:24 pm on a Saturday night and he is out cold!  He will probably not be too happy that I'm writing about him right now but oh well.  He fell asleep on me so I'm calling it fair game.
Today was such a productive day, went Christmas shopping, ran errands, grocery shopping and even bought a few things for myself - I bought some new skinny jeans for myself with a sweater from Old Navy...






Love them!  So excited to wear them.  I also bought some new shoes from Payless.  Check out the website or stores in your area - tons of boots and fun flats.  Plus its BOGO so buy one, get one half off!!  (Yes I just did a plug for the company that I work for).  But I did just buy 2 pairs of shoes...so I practice what I preach!

I also bought a few Christmas presents and was able to get a workout in and go tanning.  Yes, tanning, which I know most of you probably aren't happy with, but its my secret love.  I enjoy being tan, I hate being pasty white!  But I'm also in a wedding in 3 weeks and I need a little bit of color so I don't blend in with the white dress of the bride. 

But back to my original statement - MR. KU is asleep.  We were supposed to hang out, enjoy a few beers, watch some football and poof -- he's asleep!  Oh well -- I'll just keep shopping online, poking around on facebook and keeping myself occupied until I'm ready to go to sleep. 

Hope you all are enjoying your Saturday evening!

Almost Holiday Time!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

It is almost that time of year - Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I am getting soo excited!  I ordered mine and Mr. KU's Christmas Cards today from Shutterfly.  Because I'm a blogger I was able to get 50 Free Holiday Cards.  Check out their website for the promo!

Its also only 6 days away from my FAVORITE HOLIDAY!  THANKSGIVING!!!  I love turkey and mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and of course PUMPKIN PIE...which I am in charge of this year -- so wish me luck.  I'm trying a new recipe.  I'll post and let you know how it turned out.  

Plus, my grandma is flying in from Florida where she lives with her boyfriend, yes my 82 year old grandma has a boyfriend and lives in Florida.  I hope I'm that spunky and active when I'm 82 years old.

And this weekend also starts off my Christmas spirit -- I'm going to see the Rockette's with my dad, his wife and my sister at the Sprint Center in KC -- it should be an awesome show and I've never seen them before.  Plus I'm starting my Christmas shopping tomorrow -- gonna hit up Kohl's, Old Navy, Gap, Bath & Body...whatever else I can find in Lawrence this weekend.

Have a great weekend!!

What a weekend!  It was jam packed with big events Friday and Saturday night but I had a blast!

Bachelorette Party on Friday evening for my friend Beth.  Her wedding is in December and I am a bridesmaid for her and John.  It was a great night with all my girlfriends - sexy lingerie, yummy drinks and food, and great dancing at a bar on the Plaza in KC.  We really had a great time!

Saturday was my friend Kyle & Nicole's wedding.  It was so much fun!!  I really do love going to weddings!  All of my high school friends were there which was great to see people I haven't seen in a while!  They also had a photo booth at the reception which was hilarious!  I've never been to a wedding where they had a photo booth.  Everyone got to keep one strip of the pictures and then the 2nd strip of pictures went into a book that turned into the guestbook for the couple.  It was such a great idea!  I want one at my wedding (which lets face it won't happen for a while).  But I did look up how much they are - very expensive ($1,000 for 4 hours!!!)  Other types of photo booths can run up to $2,000 or $3,000!!!!  

Both Mr. KU and I truly enjoyed ourselves!  My mother picked us up at the end of the night so we didn't have to drive -- so nice of my mother!  There was TONS of dancing, yummy food, good drinks and great company!  Here are a few pics of the night:

Before the wedding at my mom's

Morgan (Ben's GF) and I at the reception

My Brother (not really but close enough)

Attempt #1 - kinda looks creepy!!

That's the Brian I know!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY FRIDAY!

IT'S FINALLY FRIDAY!!!  This week feels like it has lasted forever!!!  And it's going to be such a fun filled weekend I'm so excited!

Tonight is a friend's Bachelorette Party - so a night out with all the girls.  I think the last time we did this was at a wedding back in September or something crazy like that.  It will be a much needed break from work, moving and everything else.  Of course there are your typical bachelorette party themes - fun straws ;), games, sushi and sangria for dinner and then out on the town in KC.  

Then Saturday I have another friend's wedding.  Kyle and I have been friends since 3rd grade.  We were in the same 3rd grade class and tomorrow he is marrying his high school sweetheart!  I'm soo happy for them.  They are truly an adorable couple and compliment each other so well.  It will be a great night to spend with all of my high school friends!  I think this is wedding #8 out of the 12 Mr. KU and I were invited to this 2010 year!  We already have 4 for 2011 planned.  But back to this weekend -- it will be up north close to my mom's house so a free place to stay and cheap cab ride to add!  Makes me happy!

And yes - I'm writing this blog update at work - still no Internet, trying to figure it out still.  Internet/cable in Lawrence is ridiculously expensive so I have to see if I have the right equipment stored at my mom's house before I can sign up for this cheaper rate.  I'll keep you posted!  But it's my lunch break and I need a break from the work that I'm doing at the moment - a little monotonous.  

Memoir Monday will be a great update full of pictures and stories of the weekend.  Hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend yourself.  I think its finally starting to turn winter in KC so hopefully the weather holds for all my events this weekend!

Christmas Time Already?!?!?

I was listening to the radio on the way to work today and I came across...you guessed it, Christmas music!  In my mind Christmas music should not start until after Thanksgiving.  I understand people have to start thinking about Christmas Cards, getting gifts, travel arrangement, etc...but really, Christmas music right after Halloween....sorry just not my thing.

I was reading my friend's blog the other day, Ruby Red Slippers and I came across a promotion : 50 FREE Holiday Cards exclusively for bloggers!  This is awesome.  All you have to do is click HERE and fill out the form!  It's easy!  Take a look at all of their awesome cards.  Here are some examples.  Other great things you can do on Shutter fly include: Thanksgiving Cards, Wall Art, or or fun Christmas Gift Tags.  Tons of fun and creative ways to celebrate Christmas or any other Holiday for that matter...

Take a look, check it out and have fun being creative!  Thanksgiving is only 3 weeks away and Christmas will be here before we all know it!

My New Apartment!!!

Alright everyone!  I know this is what you have been waiting for.....pics of my new apartment.  This post isn't going to be too exciting -- here's a peak into my new home.  Enjoy!

View as you walk in the front door

My HUGE bedroom (he he)

The kitchen

View of the living room from my bedroom.

Bathroom

Funny story (not really) about the bathroom-- is that they could have made this room in the apartment much much smaller and added a little bit more space to the bedroom or living room, but no...the bathroom is HUGE!

Closet - completely crammed with all my clothes and stuff!

Utility Closet - not technically supposed to be a closet, but I made it one!

Well - that's it guys.  Hope you enjoyed!!!  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

First night in the new place...

Well...this is my first official night by myself in my new place.  Its been such a crazy week with moving, work and trying to get everything organized I think I just finally crashed! I'm so totally exhausted right now.  I went to dinner with my mom for her birthday, stopped by to pick up El Dog at MR. KU's house and came home and am now writing this.  This past week I've been at MR KU's because my house isn't in order yet, but tonight I just wanted some piece and quiet in my own bed by my self! 

I'm also the type of person who likes all the doors closed (bathroom/closet) before I go to sleep -- well, in a studio apartment there are not doors to the kitchen or doors to the living room, everything is WIDE OPEN!  This should be interesting.  I tend to be the kind of person who has a scary dream and then can't go back to sleep because I'm trying to keep my eyes open the rest of the night so I don't  dream again...

I will be posting pics soon of the new place.  The plan for Saturday is to clean, run some much needed errands, get some grub, and finish all of the last unpacking and organizing.  I think once that is all done, its finally going to feel like home and I'll actually start spending some time here. 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  sleep tight!

I know I'm not doing a great job at keeping everything updated.  I've just moved and I don't have internet yet, so I'm having to update everything at work .... which I can't really be updating my blog all day at work, have to get some things done!  But here is a quick peak into my weekend.  It was filled with my best friend coming in town, Chief's Football Game, Halloween Party, and moving...and yes I cram way too much into 3 little days!
Friday night was filled with my friends engagement party.  It was held at her parents's house and we just had a blast.  Oklahoma Joe's BBQ (AWESOME!), good beer, and good friends.  Here are a few pics:

Saturday night was a Halloween Party which I don't have pics of...but it was a Space balls Themed Party and I went as one of the Dink Dink Characters.  It was fun, but I was so exhausted from the move I left early and went to bed.
Sunday then we all headed to the Chief's Game!  Had a blast.  Got there early to tailgate, enjoy a few beers and watch a very good game which went into overtime!  I wish Miss Atlanta and her boy (fiancé) would just move back to KC already, this whole living in Atlanta thing is not making me happy! :(  Here are a few pics of our fun day at the game: 

Yes - that is Buddy the Elf!!

Mr KU and Mr Atlanta

New pics of the apartment will be coming this weekend after I get everything all settled and organized!  Hope everyone had a great weekend and a great week!  ADIOS!

So Long KC....

For those of you who know me, you know I move every year!  I've moved from Topeka to Downtown KC; then across the street to a new apartment; (long story) then out to the burbs of Roeland Park, then way out to Shawnee Mission, and now I make my move further west to Lawrence, KS.....

There are lots of emotions going through my head right now.  I'm sad I'm moving away from KC.  I know I'm not going far, only 40 minutes, but at the same time all of my friends and family are in the KC area.  BUT at the same time, I'm so excited to have my OWN PLACE!! It has been 3 years since I've lived by myself and I have missed it...as you will see, I will only have a whopping 495 square feet to myself.  If you have any helpful storage solutions, please send them my way.  I have never lived in a place so small except for my freshman year at college in the dorms and then in the ADPi house.  I will only be blocks away from MR. KU and only 25 minutes away from work, so I think it will all be worth it! Like I said, any suggestions would be very helpful!!

Options for my apartment with a full size bed....

 

My friend Mrs. Ruby (her blog name) came up with a great idea called "Memoir Monday".  Just a fun post about your weekend and something to look forward to each week, since we all know that we dread Sunday nights and getting ready for the work week.

Well, my weekend consisted of packing!  I'm moving again...for those of you who know me I move about once a year...just from friend to friend, I also seem to be moving closer and closer to work, and this next move (in 3 days) will be to Lawrence, KS.  I'm excited and sad all at the same time.  I'm pumped to only live 23 minutes away from work, instead of the 70 minutes I currently live. And Mr. KU will also only be about 3 blocks away, makes life very convenient!  But at the same time I'm sad about not living as close to family and friends.  Definitely have to make more of an effort to head back to KC (only 40 minutes away).

Back to my weekend...I did go to the KU football game with Mr. KU this weekend.  It was a terrible game, they played awful!  Then on Sunday his brother, sister-in-law and their two kids came over and we hung out, watched the Chief's game and had some home-made soup that Mr. KU made.  It was a lovely relaxing weekend after doing lots of packing! 

How was your weekend?

Random Thought

I'm having a moment -- I normally don't get like this on Sunday nights, but I just really don't want to go to work tomorrow.  I don't want to deal with people's crap, I just want to relax, finish packing and finally move to Lawrence!!  

If you didn't know I'll be moving to Lawrence in about 4 days.  I'm so excited and sad at the same time.  This past year I lived with my sister, and probably the last time I'll get the chance to live with her. :(  But I'm excited to be close (3 blocks) from Mr. KU and only 23 minutes from work!  I've been driving over an hour to and and from work now for the past 3 years, and I'm just worn out and sick of it.  

Anyway, not a very exciting post, just having a moment and enjoying the fact that Mr. KU and I are just lying around watching football and totally relaxing.  Its just enjoyable at the moment!

PHILLY!!!!!!!

I just got back from my AMAZING trip to Philadelphia.  Mr. KU surprised me with a trip to Philadelphia because I'm a big fan of the Eagles and some of my family still lives back East.  Friday after we got in town, we went to a place called Reading Terminal.  It is an old Subway or Bus Station that was transformed into an indoor market.  Here are a few pics of the market and our first night in Philly.

Me in front of City Hall

Our yummy sandwhiches for dinner :)



Mr. KU and I at Reading Terminal

 So then on Saturday we went down to the Historic District in Philly.  We went to the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross's House, and of course went back to Reading Terminal for another Cheesesteak! :)  Needless to say, we had one every night while in Philadelphia!  Here are a few pics of our day learning about our country's history:



Mr. KU and I at the Liberty Bell



Inside Independence Hall

I was also able to spend some time with my grandparents.  I normally see them about once a year, but this year this was the 2nd time!  I love them and miss them very much!

My grandparents and I after dinner

Then on Sunday, we headed to the Philadelphia Eagles Game...really the entire purpose of the trip!  It was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip.  The stadium was packed, the people around us were great (even though we heard Philly fans can be quite rude and crazy) and the EAGLES WON!!!  Here are a few pics of us at the game.

View from our seats



Mr. KU and I at our seats.

I obviously cant' post all the pictures because you all would be reading forever and this whole blog thing takes FOREVER to upload pictures.  So here is a link to my Picasa Web Album.  Just click on the link below and you can view all of the pictures I took on our trip.

Enjoy and thanks for reading today!

Philadelphia Trip Photo Album