crafty christmas!

As a couple just starting out, we didn't have a bunch of Christmas decore and didn't really notice our lack of festive favors until the beginning of this month. I had gotten a few adorable ornaments from my friends for Christmas last year and a Christmas villiage that was my Pawpaw's so we had a little bit of a start, but not much!

But now thanks to my sweet mamma, Pinterest, and hours in the craft room I now have all the glitz and glam I need for a happy holiday!

Ps. Lighting in our house is really bad and gives all my pictures a weird yellow-y color. Please ignore that.

My mom and dad got us this tree and most of the sparkly ornaments! The rest were all gifts!

You can't see it very well, but we made that tree skirt! Got the idea from here, but I wasn't willing to spend $65 on something that lays on the floor once a year so we Googled tree skirt patterns and made our own version for $20 (10 for the fabric at Hancock and 10 for the monogram in the mall. I desperately want my own monogramming machine! Did you know Singer makes one that sews and monograms! What a dream!) I'm not exactly at the circle-sewing level yet, so mom did the sewing while Sydney and I cut the fringe. It was a lot of fringe!

I love wrapping with brown paper! It gives you so much room to be creative! I'm getting pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. The picture at the top of this blog is one I did last night.

This is Howard. He lived at Hancock Fabrics, but now he's moved in with us! He probably regrets it though because Jack keeps trying to eat him.

My little Christmas villiage! I put batting down so it would be snowy (even though its still like 75 degrees outside...bummer) and used fancy glitter paper from Michael's to make the banner! I thought they kind of looked like icicles, plus they make my fireplace candles blend in with the other decorations. Mom made those cute little stockings to match the tree skirt!

Our living room holds most of the decorations, but we have some little things set up throughout the house. This snowman and sleigh from my Aunt Becky sit on top of Tommy's protein cabinet below the elf painting I made at Sips n Strokes a few years ago.

It's all coming together and making our little house look so nice and warm! I wish Christmas were further away so I could enjoy it a little longer. But who knows, I might just leave it all up for a while!

grown-up christmas wake up call

I love Christmas! And now that I've nearly finished getting presents I can really start to enjoy it!

This is the first year I've been on my own (with Tommy, of course) to get gifts for everyone. I didn't relize how expensive it is and it's making me feel less and less warm and fuzzy about the ever-growing commercial side of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends and family and want to give them gifts they'll enjoy because they certainly deserve it, but buying everything all in one month really adds up! And I didn't even get big gifts! I miss the days that my name was put on whatever my parents bought...

Now that I know what an expensive holiday Christmas is I finally appreciate all the lovely gifts I've gotten over the years. I mean, I had over 150 Barbie dolls, not counting Kens, Skippers, Kellys, and an extremely fit grandma doll! That's a lot of money, people! My parents are teachers so we didn't always have a ton of money to spend on toys, but my brother and I never went without. Now I truly appreciate the sacrifices they made to give us an amazing Christmas every single year. I also feel like a total jerk for the times little kid Bethany pitched a fit about over not getting some rinky-dink toy I thought I needed. What a brat!

I think next year I'll try to make more personal gifts instead of buying a bunch of things because what I wanted to get the person was sold out. Also, it really puts a damper on the season when I have to constantly check out bank account to be sure we haven't overdrawn it while trying to cross everyone off our list. Thanks to Pinterest I now have tons of really adorable gift ideas! But don't peek at my boards because I want you to think my ideas are original!

I still have two more gifts to make, but they're pretty easy to do so I should be able to knock them out in a few hours. Then I will finally, finally be finished! Through all this hussle and bussle I try to keep in mind the true meaning of Christmas and remember that it is a time to spread joy and goodwill to others so that I don't turn into a Grinch. I think Linus says it best:

"And that's what Christmas is all about, Bethany."

tuesday tuneage

So I was listening to the radio today, which I rarely do but Tommy lovingly stole back the iPod cord, and heard a list of music facts that were pretty interesting.

10 Extremely Disappointing Facts About Popular Music

1. Creed has sold more albums in the US than Jimi Hendrix.

2. Led Zeppelin, REM, and Depeche Mode have never had a number one single, Rihanna as 10.

3. Ke$ha's "Tik-Tok" sold more copies than any Beatles single.

4. Flo Rida's "Low" has sold 8 million copies- same as the Beatles' "Hey Jude".

5. The Black Eyed Peas' "I Got A Feeling" is more popular than any Elvis song.

6. Celine Dion's "Falling Into You" sold more copies than any Nirvana, Queen, or Bruce Springsteen record.

7. Katy Perry holds the same record as Michael Jackson for most number one singles from an album.

8. 20 million people bought Billy Ray Cyrus's album "Some Gave All...", more than any Bob Marley album.

9. The cast of Glee has had more song charts than the Beatles.

10. People pay to hear Justin Beiber sing. HAHA!

Buzzfeed.com has a few more than what I've listed, but oh my gosh! Ke$ha can't even spell her own name and she's outselling the Beatles?! THE BEATLES, people! I love a good cover but I can't believe number 9!

I realize a lot of this has to do with how music is produced now and how easily it is to access, after all The Beatles weren't on iTunes until after MJ died. It's probably also the shift in our society. People want party music so that's what they're downloading. Don't get me wrong, I love the new music and I wouldn't know how to dance to "Man in the Mirror", but the older stuff is way better in my opinion!

I hope you're jamming out to something good today, whatever it may be!

Crique Dreams Holidaze

Friday my mom and I were invited to see Crique Dreams Holidaze at the BJCC with our awesome friends Marsha and Leslie! It was AMAZING! There were tight rope walkers, contortionists, clowns (not the creepy kind), dynamic singers, extreame jump ropers, people on flying silks, jugglers, a magician, a mime, dancers, and two ridiculously talented kids that everyone threw around the stage like potato sacks!

Pretty cool, huh? This doesn't really do justice to what it was like to watch everything live. I'm still trying to explain the acts to Tom but I can't!
I spent the entire show in awe of their abilities and terrified that someone was about to die in front of us! My favorite part was watching the contortionists! It's like they had no bones or joints at all! I'm still not over the things they could do! Wow...just wow.

If you ever get the chance to see Crique Dreams or Crique du Soleil, GO! It is fantastic!
We had an amazing time and I love getting an opportunity to hang out with our friends! Thanks Lu and Marsha!