A Christmas Story....Iowa Style...

Since recounting to you our whole entire Christmas would be a tad extreme (or in other words over the top and way uncalled for)...I decided I'd just leave you all with the highlights....mostly in the form of pictures....you're welcome...

My fav thing about Christmas this year was the bringing back of some old school traditions from back in the day with my fam, mixed with some of mine and David's own "newer" traditions....the mix of old and new honestly made my heart as happy as a clam....

Christmas Eve church service with the fam, followed by baking, and the opening of the infamous "one gift wonder" is something my fam and I have been doing for as long as I can remember....

This year we kicked off Christmas with the 4:30 Christmas Eve church service with my parents.....

(The lighting in this picture kills me...please forgive my mother's photo skills)

  After church it was time for some baking!!! Cinnamon Chip Scones were on the menu for breakfast so we thought enough to make them the night before.....(For figuring out my mom's mixer it turned out it was included as a gift to me for Christmas *kidding* ---notice the HUGE set of directions in front of me)

..then it was gift opening time....one gift of your choice....David and I chose to open David's sister Laurie's gift (she drew our name in the Domis Family name drawing)

     ...what I thought all week were snuggies....

SURPRISE!!! No snuggies this year!!!

Laurie did an awesome job!! I had been saying all month that I wanted one of these fleece jackets (because fleece is UBER warm without being uber bulky)...and now not only do I have a super presh Columbia fleece jacket...I have a matching boyfriend to boot! It doesn't get any better than that! Thanks Laurie!!!

........Fast Forward to Christmas Morning.....

My fav part of Christmas morning hands down is the stocking.....but for David and I...this is our first fork in the road. One of the weirdest traditions that David and I differ the most on when it comes to Christmas traditions from our childhood is the stocking....poor little David (coming from a family of 10) never had his own personal stocking (when I learned this I immediately had to make him one...fully decked out in sparkle, sequins and all...adorned with his very on "hand embroidered" name so Santa would never leave him out ever again). Now stuffed with his very own sursy's these are the first things we go for on Christmas morning.....

"de-icer" for the locks on his car (because we've seriously been "stranded" for a good 10 min trying to unlock iced over locks)...and Hawaiian Chocolates! (Funny story...his sister Gina (who lives in Hawaii) got us these chocolates like 2 years in a row as a sursy from Hawaii...and when I saw them in Menards....there was no question...in her honor...I had to get them)

My stocking was stuffed with (not pictured here) Christmas Reece's and pink sparkly ear muffs!!!

Before departing for my parents house and a big Christmas Lunch...we decided to open one gift to each other....

David opened his gag gift from me (Wonder Hangers---long inside joke from a trip "back in the day" to Daytona with his brothers--hilarious)   

....and David's gift to me....

....a presh pink scarf...which to the average reader may not seem to be a gag gift (as I'm sure it wasn't intended to be)...however as I pulled out my basket o' scarves that overfloweth in the closet....

 4 (count them FOUR) scarves that David has gotten me over the past 4 Christmases.....are we starting to see a trend here or what????

Good thing he knows I love scarves...and good thing he picks out perfect ones just for me...or we'd have a real problem on our hands folks!

We then packed up all of our other unopened gifts and headed over to my parents house to finish all the opening gifts maddness after a southern delicious Christmas lunch. I'll spare you the details and give you a quick recap....David got various tools, puzzles, and a golf bag cart carrier thingy (so he no longer has to carry his own golf bag the old fashioned way--- can we say upgrade?!) --- and I got yarn galore and other crafting accessories, and my very own version the condo craft room (the original version being my mothers craft room organizer...mine however is pink and thus better with added matching tote)

 
Those are some happy faces...and that can only mean one thing....Christmas 2011 was a success.....

To our family and friends back home... we missed you all dearly and hope you all had a day full of love, laughter, family, and fun....until next year....

 

....Merry Christmas to all...and to all a good nite!

Fun Day Monday

Since we've been a little busy (read neglectful) and haven't been updating as much as we'd like to these past few weeks...I thought I'd give you guys a quick (emphasis on the word quick) "snip-it" update....

~~~~Enjoy!~~~~

{This Week's Funday Monday}

{1}

With another year wrapping up...we've been talking alot about "New Years Resolutions" (which will be another whole entire post later so stay tuned) --- I know some people think they're silly because nobody ever really keeps them....but this year we want to incorporate some real honest to goodnes, down home, good for you lifestyle changes....so I'll be doing my research to get some good info about eliminating the "junk" from our diet...and I'll be starting with a new fav blog 100 Days of Real Foods....and mixing in some good old fashion nutrition education that I learned in class this past semester! Don't worry...we'll keep you all updated on how its going!

{2}

School is out for a short little break and you all know I'm enjoying crafting it up like the crazy little crafter that I am! I've found a new, easy (we're talking super basic) slipper pattern that I am OBSESSED with....seriously I want to make a pair for everyone I know..... 

They are so comfy and warm...I already have two pairs!!!! With another 2 pairs in the works for a couple of special gals in my life!!! {Suspense}

I'm also working on a new "method" if you will of quilting...it basically uses all of your scraps to make sort of a hodge podge of all different fabrics....I'm trying this out on Jamie and Ashley's lifesize knitting bags using the fabrics we had scraps of from the pillow case dresses and other random projects...hopefully they'll turn out as awesome bags for my favs to remember their trip as well as a bag for them to stash their knitting projects!

{3}

We got some exciting news last week also...in the form of a phone call from my nurse managers. After looking over the schedule they realized I was scheduled to work Christmas and since I had worked Thanksgiving they were willing to swap me out with another NA (who wasn't scheduled for any holidays)  to free me up for Christmas! What awesome bosses!!!! So Christmas this year will be a blast...reguardless of where we are...who we're with...we will be together and that alone will be the most fabulous gift of all!

{4}

It must have been the week for exciting news because we also have a new addition on David's side of the fam....his sister Kristi and her husband Justin just welcomed their second sweet baby girl into the fam...Abby Rose....we can not WAIT to meet her!!! Mallory is a big sister!!! What a lucky little girl! It's always so exciting to watch such awesome families grow! It's sweet fams like theirs that make us excited to get there one day! (Seriously she makes it look so easy!)

{5}

And last but not least...I can't leave out an update on the weather and all of its craziness. Not this past weekend but the weekend before we had wind chills below zero and snow....yesterday it was in the 50's (people were literally in tanktops and flip flops like they were on the beaches of Tahiti)-- Who the heck knows what the weather will be like for Christmas....but I'm secretly wishing for loads of the white stuff!

*fingers crossed*

A vist from my besties!

I know I probably say this all the time...but it's something that bears repeating....I have THE best friends a girl could ever ask for...

Let me catch ya'll up to speed...........

So bff Jamie decided she wanted to come for a visit awhile back .... and I was THRILLED! (I knew she'd come for a visit...I just didn't think it would be until the summer) Once she bought her ticket  there was nothing left to do but IMMEDIATELY started planning. The days were set.... December 8-11th (4 full days)...and I was stoked (to say the least). Our main focus was for this weekend to be a sort of "craft retreat" if you will....she wanted a crash course in sewing and to refresh her knitting skills....basically a relaxing, motivational, inspirational, best friend weekend o' fun. So after a 4 day work stretch (with classes and lots of prep for finals in between) I had worked out our crafting plans and other fun times to be had in between (i.e. winerys, shopping...etc) and I was ready.....or so I thought.....

After class my mom and I drove to the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids to pick her up....I felt like a kid at Christmas!!! We got there just in time to hear that her plane had landed and after a short little while there she was....my bff!! HORAY!! Hugs all around! I was stoked....but then....she forgot her jacket in the bathroom....and the security officer wouldn't let her back to get it...she then immediately got on her phone and I was so confused it wasn't even funny....what the hell was going on....her and my mom both were looking at me and laughing/waiting....and then in the crowd of other passengers walking toward me was a familiar face...and I was thrown for a loop.....bff Ashley??? How is my brain even registering this face in Iowa ??? Am I dead?? Have I gone to heaven???

{¿WHAT THE WHAT?}

*insert waterworks here*

I instantly started crying and hugging them both....I couldn't have BEEN more excited to see my 2 bffs...what a WONDERFUL Christmas surprise (it should be noted here that this is one of the many many reasons I love them both)  After that moment of complete and utter joy (which I'm pretty sure I still haven't recovered from)....the crafting weekend commenced....and we were crafting fools..... for the next 4 days....

After coming down from the shock and surprise and pure happiness that I had TWO of my very best friends visiting for the next FOUR whole days....we didn't skip a beat....

We did a little shopping downtown at the Pedmall.....where they got to experience some very frigid weather.....

...and we ended the night with a little sleep over style knitting session....where bff Ashely learned to knit!!! She is a fabulous knitting student....she picked it up like a hot potato and after that she was a knitting fool!

***it must be said here that my friends are troopers...we had a jam packed schedule and while I'm pretty sure we all would have loved to crash...we maximized every single second we could...and for that I am thankful***

Day 2 consisted of more shopping...but this time for supplies or as I like to call it  "loot."(I wanted them to have the whole sewing experience and shopping for fabric is my fav part)  Our plan was to hit up the fabric shops in Amana (So Ashley could see the sights) and finish up at Fireside Winery (our fav!)

There were a few obstacles to over come first... we had to dress for a forecast of -1 degree weather (which needless to say takes awhile) and then we had to take care of a little snow ....

....but after that we were on our way.....

....we had to stop at the worlds largest rocking chair....for a Choonkie Christmas Photo op!

Then it was time for my fav quilt shop!!! Where I swear I died and went to bff crafting fabric heaven!!!

Last stop....Fireside Winery! They happened to be out of my fav (Matchbox) so we of course had to sample...and I discovered a new fav...it's made from concord grapes and tastes JUST like grape juice....I was in LURVE!

...and this my friends....was our loot...

(which is quite impressive if i do say so myself)

(after this photo we headed to Crazy Girl for knitting supples---so our loot minus yarn)

By Day 3 it was time to sew sew sew! Our project list included but was not limited to: Little Dresses for girls in Africa (which is an awesome "project" to provide little girls with clothes so they can attend school---they're made from pillow cases which also happens to be super awesome quick projects for beginner sewers....everybody wins!), a cute quilted Friendship Bag for our knitting projects, and a few others to pick from time permitting from our boards on Pintrest.

....we wasted no time...

It was divide and conquer....Ashley was sewing it up on my mom's machine...and Jamie jumped on mine.....

...And before long......






....We had pillowcases folks...

 

After all was said and done....we had 4 dresses to our shipment (we still have 6 more to make and ship)

Day 4 was so bittersweet that my heart still aches....we had the whole entire day to finish our crafts (their flight left at 7pm) and that we did....it was bags bags bags....

**I feel the need to insert a disclaimer...if you don't make proto types for crafts ... you may end up with sometimes slightly less than desired results**

(These bags were DEF supposed to be larger....I tweeked the measurements and am now working on real life size knitting bag sursys for my besties!)

One thing that I realized during this wonderfully awesome doubled the fun bff weekend o' crafting maddness.... was how much we take for granted those we cherish most in life. It's so easy to get caught up in life when you know you can have someone's time at your disclosure.... but now that I can't just hop in the car and drive an acceptable distance to see/spend time with my friends.....I hold them and the times we share even closer to my heart. My friends definately made this holiday season one to be remembered for me....it's safe to say that because of my wonderful friends.... I feel truly blessed!

I can't wait until our next crafting retreat adventure!

Keep on crafting ladies!!! Lauve ya'll!!!!

The boy who cried snow....

I'm pretty sure David's favorite thing to do these days (or at least ever since it started getting cold) is to tell me it's snowing out...so I'll get excited/freak out and he can have a good laugh. 9 times out of 10 it isn't snowing...but I fall for it every time. Today however was a little different....he didn't tell me it was snowing....and I woke up to.......

{You guessed it...SNOW!}

Now we've had flurries here and there ... but this is the first accumulation of the season!!! With that said...it hasn't stopped snowing since it started this morning...and I'm slightly terrified that it won't stop until April.

Shrinky Dink Saturday Night

Now that it's getting colder...with highs during the day mostly in the 30's (sometimes it gets into the 40's!) and over night lows in the 20's/teens we decided it was time to take the advice of my parents and shrinky dink our windows. If you're 25+ you know all about shrinky dink (my BFF's and I used to shrinky dink it up back in the day) however if you're older/younger you may not be up to date with your shrinky dink knowledge.  It doesn't matter...because knowing about shrinky dink is completely irrelevant to our Saturday night activity. Normal people would probably refer to it as "winterizing the window's" but we all know I'm way past normal.......I call it Shrinky Dinking our windows....and I probably had entirely too much fun doing it....

This is what the box looks like and sort of explains shrinky dinking in terms of window insulation for all you normal folks....we're hoping the advertising doesn't lie and we do actually save on our energy costs this winter......

David first measured the windows (because we all know me and numbers don't get along)...he cut the plastic shrinky dink and taped it to the parameter of our 4 windows ... I'm pretty sure this was the hard boring part that I opted out of....claiming the need to photo document this exciting event for blogging purposes....

This is what the window looks like pre-shrinky dinking....nasty ugly plastic over the windows...gross.

But wait for it.....wait for it.....wait for it.............................

SHRINKY DINK TIMEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

I think I probably got entirely too excited for this.... but it was sooooo fun!!!! With the simple heat of a hair dryer the plastic simply shranky dank..........

.....and the final product was just a simple window...you can't even tell there's plastic on it....it's nuts!!!!

We're totally hoping that this simple fix saves us money and keeps us warm this winter!!!! I already can't wait for next year to do it again!!! If anyone wants to pay me to shrinky dink their windows....I'm not sayin I'm quiting my day job....but I will shrinky dink alllll day long.......

A night out on the "town"????

I've decided to post about our night out last night....not so much because going out is a big deal to us...but more so because last night was HILARIOUS....in more ways than one....and we even made a few more realizations about these crazy Iowans.....

It's no shocker that David has made "friends" here faster than I have....coming from a big fam I always say he loves having people around him...where as I could really care less....I would much rather sit at home on the couch in my pj's and read a book all by myself than go out to some bar and be around people I could really care less about.....but last night I must say was a little different...I'm even borderline saying I'm glad I went out....I know...it's crazy...allow me to elaborate.....
We also don't have many true "couple friends" (and by true I mean where I get along with the girlfriend/wife and David gets along with the husband/boyfriend) but I think we've honestly found our first fun, really true, honest to goodness "couple friends." David's friend/coworker Adam and his wife Nicole are awesome. They've invited us over to grill out a few times this summer and we had a really great time...so when they called us last night to "go out" with them....we decided to go ahead and tag along.

To convince me to go, they described the bar as a "country bar" (ummmm my thoughts = gross) and they then proceeded to tell us that you drink out of mason jars (ummm really??? is this how they're trying to convince me to get dressed and get off the couch to go out??? are they nuts?!) I of course immediately googled the place....and this is what I found Wildwood Saloon (needless to say I was none too thrilled....but decided to let go of my close minded preconceived notions...and see what happened....I mean if nothing else I would have something interesting to blog about right?! RIGHT)

So we get dressed...plug the address in our GPS, Frankie (because we still have to do that around here...we know where NOTHING is) and we're off.....to the middle of nowhere????? (Frankie told us there was 1 road surrounding the place) I'm terrified.
We pull up to the place and I automatically pull out my mental judgment pad....before I get too far ahead of myself, in case you don't know how to judge a book by its cover, let me go over some rules with you. You can tell what kind of bar/restaurant/establishment you are about to enter based on the cars/people in the parking lot. (we pulled up to redneck trucks---there were literally 3 cars in the parking lot---strike 1). I make David wait in the car with me so I can see what kind of people enter before I even get out of the car....and I kid you not....up pulls a truck and out jumps 2 girls in camo (strike 2). I immediately try and convince David to turn around and go back home but since he LOVES to make me do things I don't like to do he gets out of the car. (He knows I have tons of issues doing things outside of my comfort zone and thinks it's HILARIOUS to make me do things I don't want to do....I usually end up thanking him for it later) So at this point I have no other option but to go in as well, and I wish I could have seen my face as we open the door-- in the middle of the restaurant/bar--- a mechanical bull....with a girl in camo...riding her little redneck heart out  (strike 3).  Unfortunately Adam and Nicole see us about a split second before I try and make my break back to un-redneck freedom.

I have to interrupt this story with a few observations I immediately made. First, back home, if you would have entered a bar like this one without someone you knew walking through the door with you....the music would have come to a screeching halt and everyone in the bar would have immediately turned around and gave you death stares (I kid you not...that actually happened to me once) wondering who you were and why the hell you were in their bar. Thank goodness Iowans DGF who you are and/or where you come from...I don't even think the rednecks in this bar even cared for one second bless their little hearts....let me just say....this my friends was very refreshing.
Second thing I noticed: people here aren't huggers. Back home when we go out with friends, and walk up to the group, it's hugs all around....here....you don't even get a "Hey girl!!!!" It's very strange. I immediately wanted to hug Nicole (and I swear David even went for a handshake with Adam) and for a split second it was that awkward moment where people are like huh? It is my mission to make people here huggers....and I don't care how many awkward moments I have to go through to get there....

{back to the story}

So Adam and Nicole are there with a few of their friends (because apparently this is the kind of bar where everybody knows your name)--- some  of whom we had met before and some Nicole introduced us to. And let me just say it was refreshing to also enter a group of people where they treated you like you were apart of the group....there were no awkward moments where they dove into inside stories and excluded us....everyone was open and welcoming. Even the girls (who I had never met before) included me into their conversations....it was very awesome. From that point on it was drinks all around and a very lovely evening (inspite of some of the redneck-ness going on around me that I gave it my best effort to ignore)

All in all the night made my heart happy....not only because it made me feel like we're finally making this place our home....but because it's amazing how having "friends" and doing "normal things" can make a whole year of feeling awkward/anything but normal worth it. The night made it official...it only takes 268 days to make a place your home...and it only takes a few good people to open their arms and take you in as their own to seal the deal.

{Cheers to new friends}

{ It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas }

After a somewhat depressing Thanksgiving, it is now officially socially legally acceptable to decorate and start celebrating CHRISTMAS!!!

{Get Excited}



Before we proceed with all the Christmas excitement....I first want to share with ya'll a few things we learned this Thanksgiving:

 {1}

Working in a hospital, on a holiday (where disease and illness know no holiday/day of the week/gender/race/sex/age/social status and shows no discrimination or mercy), will prove your gratefulness for more than just your health. As much as I hated working on a holiday...I'm pretty sure all of my patients hated being there way more than I did. period. After an 8 hour shift...I was about 10x more grateful for the things we were thankful for in our previous blog...and then some.

{2}

Don't try and restrict yourself time wise (or in any other way shape or form) when it comes to preparing a Thanksgiving meal. You will fail at something...and there will be tears. My infamous mac and cheese...was pretty close to an epic fail. However, David (bless his heart), ate it anyway...and the left overs too.

{3}

Don't forget the giblets!!!!!!! Just because the packaging that the turkey comes in says "no giblets, no neck" don't trust those crazy Butterballs!!! There will be giblets!!!!! I however learned this a little to late...as in after we already ate and were dividing up the leftovers. There is a little waxy/plastic bag in the front...full o' giblets. Woops! Sorry ya'll...we probably have cancer now.

{4}

David pulls it together when I fall apart....without him I don't know how I'd make it through life. In our relationship...I fall apart about something insanely silly (like wanting regular lemonade instead of frozen blended lemonade) and David pulls me back to reality (by pointing out that when frozen lemonade melts it becomes plain ole lemonade)--- and this is why we're perfect for each other. David is always right.....and I love him for it.

 

Now that all that maddness is over (and by maddness I mean Thanksgiving AND my 3 day holiday weekend work stretch)....it's beginning to look alot like Christmas!!! Today we decorated....and by we...I mean David...and by decorated I mean cried. Allow me to elaborate....

On mine and David's first Christmas together I said "It's not Christmas unless somebody cries." He laughed and probably immediately thought I was crazy...and over the past few years....I think I've proved my emotional craziness on more than one occasion. I don't know what it is about Christmas...but somebody always cries...and by somebody I mean me. Today was no exception.

My fav thing about decorating day is when David goes up in the attic (which we don't have anymore...sad times #1...) brings down all of our decorations, and we get to go through all the boxes and remember all our fun cute decorations that I forgot we had. I then proceed to gush and cry over every single sentimental Christmas decoration/ornament that we own and reminisce about where and when we got it. This year was needless to say a little different...not only did I get to cry once (over our trip down memory lane) but also as David puts up the tree. This too was one of my fav things...putting up the tree.... (sad times #2 ensues here) however this year....our over sized decorations which looked great in our house....are a little too large for our new tiny apartment....our tree might as well be in the middle of our living room (even though it's against the wall and in the corner)...let the waterworks begin again!!!

David's fav part about decorating is escaping my emotional craziness to put up Christmas lights outside  (where we have cryfest #3).... I watched around our huge Christmas tree and through the siding glass doors as David creatively made the best of our sad excuse for an outside space (aka our balcony)...and had another tearful moment as he made our balcony look like a scene from Holiday Lights on the River at Saluda Shoals Park.

 

 I'm hoping to find some fun "traditions" for us to continue while we're here. First on my list is finding somewhere that hosts the Nutcracker Ballet. We went last year for the Columbia City Ballet's Nutcracker at the Koger Center and had the best time.

{On another brighter note} I'm super stoked to actually have a mantel to hang our stockings on this year!! Stockings are one of my fav parts of Christmas morning....mostly because I stuff our stockings with some super fun stuff!

 

While Thanksgiving might have let us down a little...I know our good ole friend Christmas will pull through! And now that all the tears are over and the stockings are hung, we're looking forward to traditions, a white Christmas, and all the magic and sparkle that is the Christmas Season! Bring on the crowded malls, the Christmas shopping,  and the start of a long winter!

 

{Let it Snow}