December 31

We spent the end of the year visiting my parents and brother (who is leaving tomorrow), and then going to visit our neighbors, who just got back from their family Christmas in Florida. Since I'm getting over being sick, we had a very quiet, very low-key New Years Eve, and it was pretty much perfect.

Happy New Year!

December 30

I felt a little better today... well enough to go to work, though it exhausted me. When I got home, I chilled out on the couch and painted my nails. I could only find 8 of my little french manicure guide stickers, so Jack went and got me some masking tape. He delivered it to the top of my head and then took my picture with my new SLR.

December 29

I was still sick again today (my sinuses completely swelled shut today! Owww!) but it started snowing again, the third time this month. It was nice to watch the big snowflakes fall from my dining room window... a welcome change from watching the TV for four straight days.

December 28

Still sick today. This picture pretty much covers what I did today.

December 27

I started getting pretty sick with a bad cold today, so I didn't end up doing a whole heck of a lot. Maggie is so funny - every time she finds a blanket, coat, piece of clothing, or pillow, she finds a way to make it into a little bed for herself.

December 26

I'm beginning to realize that good ideas do not originate in the drug store hair color aisle.

Last night, when I was with my mother-in-law in the hair color aisle, I picked up a box. And I thought, I've been wanting to make a change for a few months now. I could be blond again. And when I asked Jack what he thought about it, he said "whatever."

And so my mother-in-law colored my hair last night. And it turned orange. Not neon-orange like it did in high school, mind you, but orangey-blond none-the-less.

And I looked at everybody and was all "it'll fade before I go back to work on Tuesday, right? Right? Right?" And they all looked back at me and at each other and were awkwardly silent as if I had just asked them if my butt looked big in these pants.

Needless to say, I made a trip to the salon today.

December 25

It's Christmas! The first "white" one in 96 years, actually.

 If you can call that "white."

We spent the day with family. Nothing better than that.

Merry Christmas!

December 24

It's Christmas Eve! As is tradition, we went to Christmas Eve service and then went out for Chinese food, which we have done ever year for as long as I can remember. This year, we even had Shane and Jack's parents with us!

December 23

We have a dance floor at work. It's kind of a weird story, but basically we moved Erin's desk, had an open space, and of course decided to fill that space with a dance floor. Sometimes, people come by and use it. Makes the day fun.

December 22

We love getting Christmas cards, and I was super-excited to get my blog-friend Sara's card tonight when I got home from work! We have such wonderful friends.

December 21

Today, I had to go to work but Jack didn't, so he came and had lunch with me at Potbelly. It is so much fun to have lunch with him in the middle of the day and have him home when I get home! He called me at 5 p.m. and asked when I was coming home - I guess he missed me. He didn't realize that I don't usually come home until around 7! I did make an exception this week, though.

December 20

We headed back to Dallas this afternoon, but before we left, we found out that Jack's cousin's and uncle's cars had been broken into last night during our family Christmas at his grandparents' house! Bummer! Not the kind of excitement we like around here.

November 19

So, I definitely had a LOT of fun with my new SLR today. As in, I took about 800 pictures at Jack's family Christmas. It is perfect! I absolutely love it.

December 18

Jack got me a Nikon D60! He wanted to give it to me early so that I would have it for his family's Christmas and so I could learn how to use it before Christmas next week, so he gave it to me when we got to Nacogdoches today. I will have fun learning how to use this!!

December 17

We have this tradition at work. It's called "the fruit cake roll."

Many, many years ago, a donor sent us a fruit cake in a tin from Collin Street Bakery. Obviously, nobody wanted to eat said fruit cake. Because, gross. But this fruit cake had a much, much higher purpose. It would be rolled like a bowling ball by everyone in the office, with the object of the game to roll it the farthest.

At some point, management decided that it would be inappropriate to use the donor's fruitcake for such a game, and we began buying our own. And every Christmas season, we all find a parking lot and compete.

And there can only be one champion (of each gender). And that champion keeps the fruit cake in the tin the whole year. And you guessed it: I was the winner.

Depending, of course, on your definition of "winner."

December 16

For Christmas, my friend Eric found the Taylor Swift Christmas CD that I had been wanting on eBay a few months ago and ordered it. Then, there was a delay when it got sent to his old house, had to be sent back, and re-sent. In the meantime, Target released the CD and Jack picked it up for me. So, I had two. Eric said I should just give it away on my blog instead, and it was a super-popular giveaway.

December 15

Tonight, Chris took Michelle and me to a fancy salon at Watters Creek for pedicures. It was an AWESOME Christmas gift!! The most fun I've had in a while.

December 13

Jack and I spent all morning at a local church at a non-profit expo to get some information out about Survival Mode Parent, and we got 9 sign ups, and a lot of people took information about it. It felt good to have people interested in our organization!

December 12

My brother surprised my sister-in-law this weekend with a trip to Dallas for the Cowboys game, and instead of packing a full suitcase for her, he gave her money took her clothes shopping. I went to breakfast with them this morning and then joined them for a little while for the shopping. It was really fun to hang out with them!

December 11

I'm spending yesterday and today at a fancy training session for Apple Color and color correction in Final Cut Pro. I absolutely loved it! I learned so much, and if I could, I'd go to different training sessions every day! (I really doubt my company wants to pay for that, though!)

December 10

After our Apple color training session today, we headed to a choir concert rehearsal at the church. We're on a video crew for a few concerts the next few weeks, and it's nice to get some shooting experience (even though it's extra work).

December 9

One of our favorite things about Christmas is the Starbucks Christmas blend and the Coffee Mate seasonal creamers. As you can see, Jack gets really excited about it too.

December 8

Every morning, when I leave for work, Jack wakes up only long enough to roll over to the middle of the bed and sleep on my pillow. I'm pretty jealous that he gets to stay in bed, but the cuteness makes up for it.

December 7

Every year, the area around where I work puts thousands and thousands of lights in the trees around all the shops, and it's absolutely beautiful when it's all lit up. They also have a giant Christmas tree that's all lit up. I really like working in this area!

December 5

Tonight, Jack finally fell in love with RENT. Yesssss!!! He caught the second half of the Jonathan Larson documentary I was watching, and after that, he was hooked. We did a little cleaning tonight as we watched RENT (again).

December 4

Tonight was my work Christmas party at Eric's house, and we had a really nice dinner together, a white elephant gift exchange, and then proceeded to play Beatles Rock Band. So much fun. Unfortunately, Jack couldn't be there because of black belt testing, but I still had fun with all my friends from work!

December 3

So, I had a super-brilliant idea to bring in stuff for grilled cheese sandwiches to work for lunch. It was a huge hit. And also, yum.

December 2

It snowed today! It doesn't happen much around here, so, that's pretty much the biggest topic of conversation when it does. "Dallas" was even a trending topic on Twitter today since it was snowing. Ridiculous.

Also, today was the last day of Awana of the year/Christmas party, and the kids were completely INSANE. Very good birth control.

December 1

It's December!!

This is our Christmas tree at work. It has kind of morphed into something really strange every year, and this year, we made it into a face. And then laughed a lot about it. Because we are not cool people.

November 30

We have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my friend Ellyn's baby girl, Evany, especially since Ellyn's water broke at 32 weeks and she has been in the hospital for a while. I had the honor of announcing Evany's arrival tonight on Ellyn's blog after a very scary emergency C-section. Thankfully, baby Evany was only in the hospital for 11 days before she got to go home!

November 29

Every year, Jack gets so excited to get the Christmas decorations out. I had to stop him from doing it after Halloween this year. We always love getting our decorations out, especially hanging each ornament on the tree. And we watch Elf!!

November 27

We drove back from Nacogdoches today, and on the way home, we did a little day-after-Thanksgiving shopping at Staples and got me a new point and shoot camera that I had been wanting. I love it! I took a bunch of pictures tonight when our friends came over to visit at my parents' house.

November 26

Happy Thanksgiving! We spent today with Jack's family, and I did some cooking (the mashed potatoes and cream corn). It was a lovely meal with much to be thankful for.

November 25

We spent the day at Jack's parents' house in Nacogoches, and this morning took a little drive and did some shopping at some thrift shops around town. I got 32 spools of thread for $3.74! Score!

November 24

Tonight, after work, Jack and I drove to Nacogdoches for Thanksgiving weekend. I haven't been that car-sick since the Road to Hana in Maui! We took Jack's truck and we were driving at night, so I'm guessing those factors didn't do good things for my motion sickness. But we got there in one piece!

November 23

This is my friend from work, Sharon! This week at work we've been having a ball making a little for-fun video in front of our green screen. Also, today, I mixed three different kinds of Tabasco on my taco bell taco (chipotle, regular, and the green one, if you were wondering.) Exciting day for Mandy.

November 22

Tonight was game night with the Wildmans and Hocks, and I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time. Here are a few things heard at tonight's game night:

"I'm so bored. This is like fishing." -Angela, while playing Yahtzee

"Spank it for the three!" -Jason, on his special way of rolling the dice during Yahtzee

Angela, trying to get us to guess "Trojan Horse" during a game of "Catch Phrase": "It's the guy that wears a toga!"
Me: "Frat guy!"
Angela: "No, it's another word for condom!"
Me: "Rubber!"

"It's poop! From a large animal!" -What I screamed suddenly when I saw that I was supposed to get them to guess "cow pie."

"Oh! Oh! Me! This is me!" -Angela, upon seeing that the "Catch Phrase" was "life of the party."

Me: "I thought you weren't going to wear your competitive pants tonight."
Jack: "No, I said I was going to wear my less competitive pants tonight."
Me: "That's disappointing."
Jack: "At least I have pants on tonight."

November 21

Tonight, Jack and I spent our Saturday night at one of our favorite spots, Watters Creek. We did a little shopping and it was nice to spend some quality time together.

I also bought these socks at Bath and Body Works:

Oh. My. Cow.

They are the freaking Godiva of socks. They are HD blu-ray socks. The ideal-cut flawless diamond of socks. The 5-star hotel in Hawaii of socks. The batch rename of socks. The Taylor Swift of socks. The Starbucks Christmas blend of socks. The Vicks tissues of socks. The Gary Marshall movie of socks. If orgasms were socks, this would be what they'd be like.

Have I made my point?

Just making sure.

November 20

Tonight, Jack took us out for a nice little dinner at Chili's together. I love it when I don't have to cook!

November 18

We haven't had internet for the last few days, and it has been a little rough! But we have it back today, and enjoyed having it back while we also enjoyed my cheesy turkey meatloaf tonight. Yum.

November 17

Today, I made soup for our friends who just had a baby and tried to transport it in a crockpot in my car. Guess what! Soup doesn't travel well! (Though I will say that I drive much more safely with a crockpot full-to-the-brim of soup in my front seat). I think you can do the math on how that one turned out.

November 16

Today, everybody brought in their favorite appetizers for lunch at work, and we enjoyed an all-appetizer lunch together!