A Southern Accent

  Around 3:30 last night, the dreaded THING happened. You know the one, in which the precious little one throws up all over everything and you have to do laundry in the middle of the night? Strip the bed of sheets, pillowcases, mattress cover. Take off the PJs and wipe the little guy down. All while trying not to dry heave all over yourself from the smell of spoiled milk and what is that...macaroni and cheese? from dinner. And pray you catch it before it happens one more time because you don't have another set of sheets for the bed. Even better, you manage to throw the TV remote for the bedroom right into the washer with everything else. Good stuff. Happy end of 2010. Here's to getting it out of the way for the new year.

  New year, new purpose, new goals. I asked Mike last night what his goals for 2011 were. He replied, "I don't have any." I asked it in this way specifically because I know he doesn't believe in New Year's resolutions. I said, "Exactly. That's what makes you such a man." I, on the other hand, when asked, replied, "Well, first I'd like to shed 30 lbs, run my first 5K and get better about money." Which makes me such an ambitious, over-committed, over-achiever. He said, "Wow, a 5K, really?" He's a doubter. I did convince him to finally buy a bike and commit to riding it three times a week. He said he'd go get one this weekend. We'll see about that. Baby steps. *in an effort to start yet another goal for 2011, I'm trying something new on the blog simply called my Man vs. Woman Series. I've got lots to say, so stay tuned.

Hope everyone had a wonderful, blessed Christmas! I know the snow changed a lot of plans for people around here, hope you guys weren't effected as well! So, with the blur of the holidays over, thought I'd take a little time to share some more about our family trip to NYC for Christmas.  We arrived Sunday evening on the train and left Thursday morning, but managed to fit quite a bit into those few days while we were there. First stop was the ferris wheel in the Toys R Us at Times Square. We went around 9:30 Sunday night, so there wasn't a wait at all. Walker could probably have spent the entire four days in that store and would have been just fine, but I did manage to wrangle him out. We did the cheesy tourist thing (which I always do in big cities) and hopped on the double-decker bus tour. I love these things because they are basically taxis that show you all of the sites you want to see! And in the winter, they have clear tops on them so you can still see everything ...

Christmas came so fast this year. I've heard several people say it's because Thanksgiving was so late. I didn't even get the Christmas decorations up on the outside of my house until last weekend. But I did manage to get Christmas cards out this year actually before Christmas, thanks to Shutterfly.

Our trip to NYC was a sorta gift to Mike and Walker from me for Christmas. I've always wanted to go to the city around the holidays and wanted them to experience it as well. One big obstacle was how we were going to get there. Both Mike and Walker do not like the idea of flying. I'll admit, I'm not too keen on it either, but I've had to do it with work enough that I've gotten used to it. So with that option "flying out the door", we were left with two other options: driving or taking the train. I wasn't too excited about driving in the city and neither was Mike, so the train it was. It was a ten hour trip, with several stops, which I wasn't too excited about experiencing with a five-year-old, I'll admit. But we loaded up with our electronics, UNO cards (popular in our house right now), books and a snuggle blanket and it wasn't too bad. For a trip that long, I'd certainly prefer to fly in the future, but it was certainl...

Maybe some of you guys missed me, maybe some didn't realize I'd gone, but we just returned from our whirlwind tour of NYC and we had a blast. I'm catching up on work today and hoping to wrap up all the last minute Christmas to-dos this weekend, so I'll just leave you with a couple of pics today. I'll be back next week to fill you in on all of our excitement in New York City!

I always post a picture of my Christmas mantel each year, and just realized I hadn't put it up yet this year yet! I decided to take my favorite Christmas decoration (Thank you Mary Beth) and make it the centerpiece of my mantel this year. Then I added some extra clippings from the tree (asked if I could take them from the tree lot when they cut them off of mine) and created a cute little Christmas mantel. My mom bought me the adorable ornament decoration and I picked up Mrs. Snowman at Homegoods. I added a short string of lights and some candles and my cute tiny Christmas tree picked up at the Neuse Sport Shop! Here's the whole look put together! What do you guys think? Anyone have their adorable mantel decor to share?

As mentioned previously, I cut all my hair off. I was tired of the surfer gal look and wanted to start over. It's a bit of a dramatic change, I'll admit. And the color change, that's for the season. I typically go darker in the winter, but I miss my blond highlights and tan too. Now I feel boring. But I think I look more professional. Maybe I will even be taken more seriously at work with this hairdo. Isn't it awful that is the case in 2010? But it's true. But I do miss my old hair sometimes. It made me feel like a girl. But then when I can brush and go in the mornings with this short stuff, I don't miss my long hair. But then when I look at pics of myself, I miss my long hair. Why do we women obsess about our hair? Maybe I should invest in some wigs.

Every year in December I venture out to Greensboro along with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and neices to a fabulous jewelry and accessory show for the trade. It's a huge room full of vendors selling sometimes tacky, mostly gorgeous jewelry, scarves, bags and accessories at wholesale prices. Women that are buying for their small boutiques and gift shops show up with huge roll-away bags that they drag from booth to booth trying to find the latest fashion trends. This year I spent most of my time in line, so I didn't get to see everything I wanted and I could kick myself for not purchasing one of the cutest things I saw at the show - one of these adorable head wraps, modeled by Mike's niece here (while it was snowing!!) I think she paid maybe $7.00 for it and it wraps around you head and buttons in the back - how cute is this?? (And how pretty is she????) I'm not sure of the company that made the one above, but I was able to find some similar ones online at Etsy ....

Each year when it is time to deck my halls with boughs of holly, I put almost all of my effort into making a magical Christmas tree for our home. Since I had my very own tree 13 years ago, I've always tried to attain perfection in this area of Christmas requirements. I remember my first Christmas tree was a fake, skinny tree I bought at a local boutique. I covered it with red snowflakes, red balls and dangled gold bows and little delicate drop ornaments from its plastic limbs. I modeled it after one I'd seen in the store and I obsessed over every little detail on that tree. I kept that same tree and style until I married Mike. He and I both love the smell of a fresh Christmas tree, so for the past ten years, we've reached deep into our pockets and managed to find enough to splurge on a live tree. And we typically have a fairly easy time of picking out the tree at the local lot (Translation, I pick out the tree and he pays the guy to haul it onto the car). About five...

I used to be in the Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties - it's actually where I met many of my current friends! We had a blast together, and enjoyed giving back to others and our communities. After I had Walker, it was too much for me to try to work full time, be a mommie and volunteer with the JLDOC, so I took a leave. One of the events started when I was still involved with the JLDOC was the holiday market. The first one was held in a small space and had just a handful of vendors. The JLDOC Holiday Market is now in its 7th year and has grown to more than 50 vendors. If you're in the Durham, Chapel Hill or Raleigh area the weekend of December 11, stop by the Durham Marriott and check out all of the great vendors at the holiday market! Come shop from over 50 vendors at the 7th annual Holiday Market! Vendors will be featuring the latest in food, home décor, gifts, seasonal items, & clothing. Bring your children to visit Santa & get a picture for your holida...