One Little Word 2013 - ENJOY

I know it's so sad when Christmas is over. We prepare for it in our homes, with our kids, in the classroom, and thinking about what to buy each person is pretty stressful! Not to mention all that money that is spent! It's over. 

Today is the day after. I have a fire going with all the wrapping paper and am trying to put away all of our treasures! We are a very blessed family. My husband and I both come from "broken homes". It's amazing how when you embrace your life, it is wonderful! It has been a very long time since I've thought of my life being from a "broken home". We celebrate holidays for weeks. Seriously, it's awesome! We have created new traditions and I love being with everyone! We don't hang out at home. We aren't the hosts for Christmas dinner. That is a good thing, right? We left our house yesterday at 9:30am and got home at 9:30pm last night. We got to see two sides of the family. Connor's Dad's family and my Dad's family. A lot of people, a lot of presents, a LOT of food! I didn't take many pictures and I was sad at the time. Now, I know that without the camera in front of my face, I got to ENJOY every moment. 

We are blessed that we have so many moments. I want that to be a part of my 2013. I want to ENJOY this wonderful life I have been given every single day. I want to be with the ones I love and ENJOY our moments together. I have lots of plans for 2013. Not really resolutions, just plans. I have had so much fun with my blog and lucy lockets. I hope to grow both of them this year. But, I will try to slow down enough to ENJOY all of it. That does NOT mean I will not take photos. I will have my camera with me always and document our lives. Do you have one little word for 2013? Read a little more about it on Ali's blog and let me know if you are going to participate! 

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and will plan a beautiful 2013. 

It's the holidays! Time to celebrate!

How does it get so busy? Every year I say I'm going to be ahead of the game, right? It's just too hard. With all these things to distract me......Pinterest, Facebook, blogs, oh and that job I picked up! Geez. The first month I was a decorator, which was fabulous! I was in and out and working from home. Now, I'm officially full-time and I'm.worn.out!! If you aren't a fan of the Telegraph Facebook page, you should be. We are the coolest boutique ad agency in town! yeah! It's a super fun job...making commercials, designing logos, websites, getting creative with facebook pages..it's all the bomb.com.

I really need a week off BEFORE Christmas, though! Shopping done - nope. Decorating finished - nope. Kids parties at school planned - nope. Cookies and sweets baked - nope. Special touches (my favorite part) - nope. Going to Holiday parties like Alabama Chanin's Holiday Market tonight -  nope. I'm so sad. I wanted to go and I can't fit it in....I just have all that other stuff to do.....I could kinda get all that done in the four hours it takes to get to Florence and back! oh well....I get to go in May for a workshop. I just want to sit around and stitch, ya know?

I did get to go to a fun Cookie Swap last Sunday at the adorable Beth of Unskinny Boppys house. It was so much fun. Do you know she invited me and we have never met in real life! How cool is that? I think she has the magic touch on decorating skills and wanted to be her friend...so, we have been cyber friends for a while now! I also got to meet Lori from Click Workshops. Oh, there goes my Christmas list...it's all things photography now. I want a new D700, a Nikon 1, a new lense (any one will do) and a year's full of photography workshops with Click. Santa? Do you hear me? To make matters worse, I come in to work on Monday and Kevin and Isaiah decide they are going out to buy a camera! Green, I tell ya, I was green. They got the D5100 to shoot video and stills. For the love......I want to steal it and play with it all day! Oh, make that one more thing on the Christmas-I-haven't-gotten-to-it-yet-list. Pictures of the kids for Christmas cards - nope!

I guess that's why I decided to sit down and write out a blogpost. Make myself a list...maybe I will be held accountable....or the time will get here and it will have to get done, or else!

I do have some decorations up...here's my mantel - done!

Hope your Holidays are all in order and you are sitting at home baking cookies with your kids, listening to Christmas music by the fire...which, is not going to happen here...it's 70 degrees out! You've sent out your cards and are finished with all the crafts....probably working on next year's gift list! Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

My FAVORITE thing about the holidays!!

I have had Christmas cards on my mind a lot lately. I am usually a create-your-own-card kinda girl. Then I started looking at Shutterfly! Oh my word! They have the cutest holiday card designs. I can't even decide which one I love the most!!

Not to mention, Shutterfly makes it easy as pie!

This one is ah-dorable, right? I love the little tiny bit of color!

What about this? It's a square.......I know, anything that is perfectly proportioned....perfect!
Ok, the other one was square, too. I like squares. ok?

This one is the fantastic! I do love having lots of pictures on one card. How hard is it to choose just one? This way you can pick lots of pictures.....from throughout the WHOLE year!!


“Shutterfly is offering 20% off all holiday cards”
Don't wait till the last minute! Get your cards ready to send early!



If that's not enough...how adorable are these gift tags? I LOVE these gift tags!
So many Christmas gift tags....this was my favorite!


I'm thinking, pick out a card....then do pictures. Then you can make the colors pop. I love all the pops of color on so many of these designs!

*Disclaimer: I am participating in Shutterfly's Holiday Card promotion. I was offered free Shutterfly cards for my post, but as always, the opinions are my own....and for the record, I love Shutterfly...every day of the year*