Merry Christmas!

November and December are probably two of my favorite months of the whole year b/c I love the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas so much! I love spending tons of time with family and friends, the way the house looks even more homey all decorated for Christmas, and the good mood everyone is in!  This year we once again hosted our Christmas party for all our friends.  We love nothing more than to have everyone here and fill the house with laughter and great memories.  Bryan had the amazing idea of putting a photo booth in our office for everyone to take pictures in.   Here are a few pics of the party decor and the photo booth! 

 Many thanks to the Swartwoods, Whitworths, and Lischkes for arriving early to help with the set-up!! ;) 

 There was a hot chocolate bar, and it was amazing!  I took a total gamble on trying out a brand new recipe the night of the party, and thank goodness it was a big hit. 

 Easily one of my favorite pics of the night! 

Exhuasted. 

Bryan's family is headed into town tomorrow, and we are beyond thrilled to be hosting Christmas at our house for the very first time this year!  We have a fun day planned for Christmas Eve, and then we're headed over to the Klisch's to wish them well before the big move to Chicago.  I know I speak for everyone when I say we'll miss them dearly, but I know I will especially miss them b/c I never grew up with family close by.  Though we don't see them all the time, it has always been so nice to know that they're close by.  I have really enjoyed seeing David and Jessica grow up as well!! But we do know that we'll be making trips up to visit them in Chicago, and they'll be heading down this way as well.  So to the Klisch's - Atlanta will miss you, but Chicago is lucky to have you! ;) 

We're going to keep Christmas Day full of what's important - family time and good food!  Then it's off to Paris! Needless to say, I'm going to take a bit of a break from blogging until the New Year in order to really enjoy my time off!  We hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

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Midweek confessions

Week 2 of midweek confessions:

- I'm sitting at a conference right now. Don't worry, my manager isn't even paying attention.

- Said conference is in Las Vegas. Being at a conference in Vegas this close to Christmas makes me feel like I'm in a time warp. Work is on hold, Christmas shopping is on hold, and I don't feel stressed about any of it. I'm just having fun and trying to learn a lot.

- When I fly by myself I freak out that I'm going to get lost in the airport. This is completely ridiculous bc I've flown a lot and know my way around. I guess it just being by myself. Thankfully my husband very patiently listens to my concerns without laughing at my ridiculousness.

I'll blog more about my Vegas trip when I get home. For now I'm going to learn more about improving the tax provision process. Bunch of nerds.

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Weekend update

This evening, I'm writing to you from a much higher elevation than normal as I'm on my way to Vegas for training.  Apparently the only way they can get people to commit to the tax audit is to send us to Vegas.  I'm in! :)

This weekend was crazy busy, but really fun.  Friday I had the day off, so Bonney and I met up for a girl's lunch, then I ran some errands before a wonderful date night with the hubs.  Nowadays our datenights are comprised of speed decorating (we wanted to get the outside decorations up before we headed out for dinner) followed by a very relaxing dinner at West Egg and then Bridesmaids (hilarious).  I wouldn't have it any other way.  Saturday morning I felt like I was on some type of hidden camera episode.  The goal was for me to head to volunteer at the Season of Giving gift intake while Bryan went to start tailgating.  I would then ride MARTA to meet him there for the SEC Championship.  Well, the morning was completely chaotic.  I managed to set off our alarm when I opened the door to let Keith in first thing in the morning.  Great, but we can recover.  Then we were running late and didn't have any breakfast - time for a Chick-fil-A run obviously.  So we were running around the house trying to get out the door in enough time for me to get to my volunteering destination, and then managed to set off Keith and Mike's alarm when we dropped Bailey off.  Awesome.  So after a very rushed breakfast at Chick-fil-A I dropped Bryan off at the Decatur MARTA station and headed on to the gift intake.  When I arrived everything was already going 90 miles an hour so I just jumped right in.  This was my second year helping with the Season of Giving, and I always enjoy the gift intake. It's completely overwhelming to see such generosity by the community.  The whole gym was filled with yard bags full of generous donations to children in need.

At noon, Keith relieved me of my duties, and I was off to the SEC Championship with Bryan and the Whitworths.  We had the most amazing 3 hour lunch "tailgate" at the Peasant Bistro!! Our waiter even bought us dessert to appologize for how long our lunch took. Please - we were enjoying ourselves!!  The SEC championship game first half of the SEC championship game was amazing! We stomped all over those little Tigers.  We won't talk abou the second half.  I'm still very proud of our Dawgs though, and I have to say - we're going to look pretty good next year if that first half was any indication of our capabilities! 

Today was a very productive day at home.  We enjoyed a great service at Decatur First United Methodist, and tried a new place in Emory Village for lunch (Bad Dog Taquiera).  Bryan did lots of yardwork while I packed for Vegas, we ordered our Christmas cards, and now here I am on a plane.  I hope you all have a great week!  I'm going to be living it up in Vegas learning lots about taxes.

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