Goodbye 2011

So I've never done a year in review post, but was inspired by my 2 best friends and their posts this year.  I don't post on my blog a lot, but it was still so fun to look back on everything I've written this year... almost inspires me to write more in 2012!

January was a busy month as I started back to school and continued with my crazy work schedule.  We celebrated Christmas with my Grandpa and Aunts and I ended the month with a youth group retreat.

February brought a crazy ice storm that had us home-bound for almost an entire week.  It was a wonderful time of resting and recovering from being sick at the end of January.  I also spent a lot of time going to my Grad School classes.

March did not include a lot of blog updates from me, other than finally getting to share the news that I was going to be an Aunt and a reminder of my need for patience in the crazy moments of life.

April included a re-commitment to my weight loss goals, wedding showers, and day retreat (and tree climbing!) with my fun co-workers!

May brought 100,000 miles on my Mazda Tribute.  The loss of a good friend and mentor.  And Erin's lingerie shower.

In June, I headed out to Little Rock on our Mission Trip with the youth group.  We also had Aja's baby shower for Chase.  June is also when I said goodbye to my sweet and spunky puggle Allie.

July was a month full of sweet memories.  I attended several weddings, but was most honored to stand next to Erin as she and Mike were married.  I was able to enjoy a fun week leading up to the wedding with Nicki here.  I also adopted Lily in July.

August was busy and full of change.  I started my new menu organization and moved into a new apartment.  I spent most of the month getting settled in.  The month ended with the birth of my first nephew, Chase.

September brought lots of time enjoying my nephew, my first 5k, and a day at the lake with the 20s group before summer officially ended.

October was all about enjoying Fall after our ridiculously hot summer!  I started the month with a girls' weekend to New Orleans with 2 great friends from work.    The month also included a trip to the state fair with Erin and pumpkin carving which I hadn't done in forever

November was a month full of long days at work, continued involvement with 20s Bible Study, my 2nd 5k and a wonderful Thanksgiving break with my family.

December brought birthday celebrations for myself and friends, a Tacky Sweater Christmas Party with the 20s, and a trip to San Antonio to cheer on the Baylor football team this past week.

2011 was a wonderful year, full of changes, lessons, new friendships, and old friendships growing stronger.  I cannot wait for all that 2012 holds!

Alamo Bowl 2011

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This past week I drove down to San Antonio to see the Baylor Bears play Washington in the Alamo Bowl.  I stayed with Nicki and went to the game with she and Mathis and her parents. 

Nicki's parents were able to get us such amazing seats!!  We were on the 3rd row by the Baylor Endzone and I was able to get some great pictures this close.  Since we got there early, we watched the boys warm up.

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 Suddenly a huge crowd developed because they unloaded....

 THE HEISMAN TROPHY right in front of us!!!  It was crazy being so close to it (which I'm sure may sound a little crazy... but it's been an exciting year for the Bears!)

Mathis showing off our excitement about being so close to the trophy!  

 Oh and there's the Heisman winner himself warming up his arm for the game!  It was a lot of fun seeing RG3 play live in what is possibly (probably?) his last college football game

 Then there was the whole craziness of the game.  I'll just say that by halftime we were not quite as excited as we were when it all got started.  But here is when the Bears turned it around and took the lead back!

 And that is the win!!

And the interviews with RG3 after the game

Alamo Bowl Winners!

Balloons + Fireworks seemed like a crazy combination... but it was time to celebrate Baylor!

A Tacky Christmas

This past Sunday the 20s Group had a Tacky Sweater Christmas Party.  I was part of the group that planned the party and I think it ended up being a lot of fun.  It was a great time of laughter and catching up with everyone... silly games, singing, and a Christmas Message.

But just incase you didn't know.... there is a lot of effort that goes into making things "tacky"

 I started looking for food ideas a few weeks ago and felt like nothing fit the Christmas theme more than Santa and Snowman cookies... so here is just a glimpse of some of the goodies I made for the party.

We found some pretty good sweaters/outfits at Goodwill, but figured we could always "improve" on them... so last week, Katie, Melissa, Amy & I got together to make them even tackier.  Here is Katie adding feathers to the birds on her sweater 

 And Amy sewing jingle bells onto her dress

 Melissa didn't have a sweater to decorate, so she was our consultant...here she is making Amy's bow

And the beginnings of my sweater

Finished Products! (with the Christmas Moose of course!)

Tis the Season for Scarves

So I think I mentioned in my Fall Favorites that I absolutely love scarves.  So I love this fun find from Pinterest (which by the way is rather amazing) with different ideas for tying a scarf

I got a couple of new scarves for my birthday and I can never figure out which way looks best on me.  So I decided that the beauty of living in the digital camera age is I can take pictures of the different ways and compare before deciding how to wear it for the day

This reminds me of Clueless when Cher says she doesn't trust mirrors so she takes polaroids of all her outfits as she gets ready.  I trust mirrors, but with pictures I can compare side by side (I do realize these 2 pictures look exactly the same... it was 2 different ways of tying it though... the 2nd had more and looked cuter around the neck-- see #3 from "how to tie a scarf")

And my fun purple scarf my friend Melissa made

All bundled up for our first truly cold day of the year last week

I love winter accessories!

Webcam Wednesday: Merry Christmas from Laura & Lily

December Fun

So December is here. Such a fun, crazy, busy, exciting month! I kicked off December with great birthday celebrations from my friends. Erin took me out to dinner on my birthday and it was a great time catching up and enjoying dinner!

Friday night I went out to dinner with my friends Katie and Melissa

After dinner we looked at some Christmas lights, then came back to my apartment for a movie
Saturday I headed over to the McCulloughs to help Erin get ready for a surprise party she threw for Mike.

It was a totally awesome 80s party! Complete with Rubix cubes, fun costumes, sunglasses, great music and 80s Scene it!
Then I headed out with Melissa and Katie again for Melissa's birthday!
It was a great weekend filled with sweet friends!