{Thanksgiving Weekend Recap}

Happy {almost} December!  Y'all, can you believe November is almost over & Thanksgiving was almost a week ago?!  SLOW DOWN!!  I am not ready for all this to be over with!!

My 4 day Thanksgiving "break" wasn't much of a break at all because I stayed busy the entire time, but it was filled with lots of family time, fun & yummy food!  I started out by going to our Thanksgiving Eve service at church on Wednesday evening.  I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love going to church in the evening/when it's dark.  It's just something so warm & cozy about it.

We weren't celebrating Thanksgiving until Sunday afternoon so I decided to sign up to help prepare & deliver meals for our local Faith Mission on Thanksgiving morning.  It took less than 2 hours of my time & definitely did my heart some good.

I didn't have a lot of gifts left to buy & there really wasn't anything I needed, but we once again continued our Black Friday {but actually Thursday?!} shopping tradition. Sandra, Amy, Abby & I headed to College Station Thursday afternoon.  

First stop was Kohl's.  We arrived around 4:30...and they didn't open until 6:00.  So we stood in line with all the other crazies for over an hour & a half and all I really wanted was a skillet.  Don't worry, I managed to spend $80 bucks but I did get some really good deals.

After a quick supper at Whataburger {yep, that was my Thanksgiving meal}, we hit up Target, ToysRUs, Ulta & Michael's.   We made it an early night & headed home around 10:30 with a car full.

Can you tell that someone was glad to see me when I finally got home?! She has no concept of personal space. =)

Friday morning, we were back at it bright & early by 6am.  I planned to be home around 10, but pulled into my driveway around 3:30.  We most definitely shopped til we dropped.  I was exhausted!!

 

I am hosting a shower at my house this Thursday so the rest of the weekend was spent putting up Christmas lights, mowing & cleaning house.  

We FINALLY celebrated Thanksgiving at my grandma's house Sunday evening.  That turkey & dressing was well deserved & tasted oh so yummy!  I was in charge of the rolls. =)

 

 

Needless to say, by Sunday night - Nola & I were both wiped out. 

December is most definitely the most wonderful time of the year!  From the decorations to the holiday parties & parades, Christmas cards to candlelight Christmas Eve service - I plan to enjoy every single second of it!

{Thankful.Grateful.Blessed.}

It's Thanksgiving Week!  Who is ready for some turkey, dressing, pie & shopping?!  Hard to believe it's that time already...and it seriously needs to slow down!!  I feel like the most wonderful time of the year is going to be over way too quickly.  =(

November has been a blur!  A few weeks ago {election night to be exact}, a few friends & I attended a lady's night at a local store. Wine, snacks & shopping with the besties...count me in!  It's kinda become an annual tradition & once again, we had a great time.  And it was WAY better than sitting at home & watching election coverage all night. Just sayin.

 

 I've been doing a little Christmas crafting...I have seriously become obsessed with making signs!!

And for all the haters.  Ha! =)

Last Friday, our first "real" cold front blew in!  Like the one where you need a coat & gloves.  Finally!!  Unfortunately it only lasted 2 days, but Friday night our high school football team had a playoff game so it felt like real football weather.  

 

Saturday my 2 favorite kiddos {& Nola's favorite} spent the day with me.  There was lots of lounging around the house watching tv {while eating chips in my bed}.

 

Saturday night I hit up HEB to get my grocery shopping done so I could avoid the crazies this week...with my first Starbucks red cup in hand!

Tomorrow in my last day of work for the week {woohoo!!}.  We aren't celebrating Thanksgiving until Sunday evening so Thursday morning I am volunteering to deliver meals to shut ins.  This is my first year to participate...and although staying in bed in my pj's while watching the Macy's parade sounds REALLY tempting - I figure this is the least I can do.  Then Thursday afternoon & Friday - my cousins and I are going shopping!  There really isn't honestly anything I need & most of my shopping is done, but it's just fun to go...we have the best time.

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, surrounded by family & friends.  And just remember...

{Weekend Wrap-Up}

Happy {or not-so-happy} Election Day!  I'm not going to bring up politics on here, but I think we can all agree this has been the most interesting election year ever.  I'm just going to leave it at this...

We are now one full week into November & the weather has finally kinda-sorta decided to start acting a little fall-like.  It's still not cold by any means, but at least we are in the upper 70's & lower 80's instead of the 90's like we were last week.

I took off work on Friday & we had our annual family garage sale at my house.  It's a lot of work & it makes for a really long day (up at 5:30 & first shoppers arriving before 7am), but we got rid of A LOT of stuff & I made enough cash to put a large dent in my Christmas gift buying fund.  After an 11 hour day on Friday, Abby & I rewarded ourselves with margaritas.

Normally we only have it on one day, but our neighborhood was having a neighborhood-wide garage sale on Saturday so we decided to open it for a few hours.  We didn't have much left, but got rid of quite a bit more so it was worth it.

We called it quits around 10am, packed everything up & then Nola and I spent a few hours doing this {nap for her, football for me}. 

November is also Nola's birthday month so my sweet 4-legged baby turned 2!  We aren't sure of the exact day since she was a shelter puppy but the vet estimated it to be around November 3rd so we celebrated this weekend with doggie cupcakes & a few new treats.

 

Sunday pretty much looked like this all day...

So I took advantage & started transitioning from this...

To this...

Yes, I realize it's only November 8th.  One holiday at a time.  We do celebrate Thanksgiving, but not at my house so why not!  My Fall decor has been out since August so I have had plenty of time to enjoy it.  I love Christmas even more so I want plenty of time to enjoy it as well.  I will slowly make the transition over the next week or two and hopefully have it all complete by Thanksgiving for sure.

This weekend was also the start of daylight savings time.  By 6:30 Sunday evening, Nola was out like a light.  Can't say I blame her, I was ready to join her by about 7:30.

Tonight, I am going out with friends to a ladies' night at a local store.  There will wine.  Lots of wine.  Because regardless of who is declared the winner tonight, America will be losing either way.

{Scarf Exchange}

My name is Casey and I may have a teeny, tiny obsession with scarves
There is just so darn many cute ones that I can't help myself!!

So when I came across a scarf exchange that Elizabeth at Chasin' Mason was hosting, I had to join!!  I was paired with Mandie at BadBrewPac.  Mandie loves sports like I do.  And I am totally jealous that she lives in Wisconsin where it gets cold so there is a true need for scarves. =)

She requested a bright, fun colored scarf so I hope I came through for her!  Let me tell you how hard it is to find a bright colored winter scarf.  So, the one I got her may be a little more spring/summer appropriate but anytime is a good time for a cute scarf.  You can head over to Mandie's blog to see the scarf I got her.

Let me start by saying that since I have gotten my scarf {which I LOVE}, it has not gotten below 85 degrees, most days in the 90's.  Our Fall has sucked.  No if's, and's or but's about it.  It's been miserable.  It's still short sleeves & flip flops.  No cute sweaters, jeans & boots and unfortunately no scarves.  So, I have not had a chance to wear mine...and therefore have failed on taking any pictures of me wearing it.

I was so excited the day I received my scarf!  And as an added surprise, Mandie send me the cutest little matching glass.  Despite the fact that I have been an Aggie the past 20+ years - I do not have one single Texas A&M scarf so this was perfect!  I absolutely LOVE it!  You definitely cannot go wrong with maroon & white!!  Whoop!!

Thank you so very much Mandie {& Elizabeth for hosting}...hopefully it will get "cooler" here one day soon so I can wear it!

{Halloween 2016}

One thing I love most about living in town is having trick-or-treaters at Halloween.  It's so fun to sit outside with my bucket of candy & see the streets filled with kiddos.  I think once our subdivision is finished next year, we will have lots more & I can't wait!

I started out the day by taking Nola to doggie daycare at Barking Ranch.  They were hosting a Halloween "party" so of course she had to have a costume.  Please note it is not easy to find a cute, last minute costume for a 75 pound dog.  Everything was either a size extra small or cost a fortune.  I found a "rufferree" costume at Target for $6 & a $3 Halloween collar at TJMaxx {to girly it up a little}...so a rufferee it was!  Plus y'all know how much I love football so it was kinda fitting.

This year, rather than do individual candy, I decided to do little treat bags for each kiddo...that way I could "ration" better & know exactly how many trick-or-treaters I had.  I made 150 bags...and ran out at 8:00pm {with more kids coming down the street}.

We had our candy ready so then we just had to wait for trick-or-treaters!  I will add that Nola LOVED it!  At first I had her in the backyard, but she was barking like crazy.  My parents came because my mom wanted to pass out candy for a while so while she handed out candy, I had Nola on a leash in the front yard.  She just laid there while all the kiddos loved on her...needless to say, she was in heaven!

 

Several of my favorite trick-or-treaters stopped by!

My bucket was empty & lights were out by a little after 8:00.  By 8:15, Nola was in bed & out for the night. =)

 

It's now November first & this...

No, my tree isn't going up quite yet  {I might start this weekend?!} but I may be listening to Christmas music as we speak. =)
Happy November!