New Years Eve!

(I took this picture at 3am this morning, before going to sleep. I liked it... so here ya go! Oh and yes, that, under my chin, is a stuffed dog that Rebel chewed the nose off of :( bad dog.)

There are only 11 more hours left in 2011! I just got home from shooting shotguns with my dad :). We're going out with a BANG! I'm excited, tonight Ryan and I are going over to our friend, Brett's, house and "partying" (with five people lol) to bring in the New Year. Filets and Lobster are on the menu, just like every year. We will also get to make sparkler bombs and shoot off some fireworks of our own. What are sparkler bombs you ask? They are a bunch of sparklers wrapped in electrical tape and then... you light one fuse, throw it really far away and run so it doesn't explode in your face. I will try to take pictures of them, as I have not done a very good job at explaining lol. The "dangerous" part is when one doesn't go off, someone has to go check it... Chris, who recently (like 2 weeks ago) got out of the Marines, usually gets nominated for the job lol. There have been a few incidents where he is walking over to check the "dud" and it suddenly goes off. Thankfully, no one has been hurt before... knock on wood. I will try REALLY hard to take pictures as the night goes on, but I am HORRIBLE at remembering to take them! I get to doing something and totally forget, one of the many reasons why I am a horrible blogger lol.

On to New Years Resolutions. Last year my resolution was to start this blog, and I did (note: my resolution wasn't to be good at it lol). Well, this year my resolution is to look, feel and be healthy. Please notice that my goal is NOT to loose weight. I only weigh 117 pounds, so it would be rather dumb of me to say that I want to loose weight. I would much rather worry about my HEALTH than a silly number. So long as I am making healthy choices, everything else will fall in place. Or at least I hope it does lol. My sister and I are going to be joining a gym that is only $12 a month (really excited) and my goal is to work out at least twice a week, hopefully more than that. I want to start eating more fruits and veggies, instead of crap. I want to drink more water and less sweet tea (this one will be really hard, as I love my sweet tea). I want to eat more home cooked meals and less packaged crap. No that does not mean I want gourmet amazing food every day. That means I don't wan't it to come out of a box, with a few exceptions. I am not going to make my own pasta, so that will be packaged. All my meat will be packaged, as I am not nearly good enough with a shotgun to hunt my own, nor do I have the heart do so (yes I'm a wuss and that's ok with me). The occasional boxed meal isn't a big deal, but I don't want the majority of my food to be packaged. Hopefully that means I will have more recipes and such things to post on here!

This isn't really a resolution but I would like to get out and see the city of Dallas and the places around me. I have lived here for 17 years and yet, I haven't done hardly any of they touristy things. I drive down the same roads, eat at the same restaurants, shop at the same malls. I'm really very boring, and I don't want to be. So, this year I want to go DO stuff! I don't know what stuff exactly, but I'll figure it out.

Well that's my Southern Soapbox for the day! What are some of your resolutions? Happy New Year! Kiss someone you love at midnight!

Christmas Day!

So, I realize that I am SUCH a HORRIBLE blogger! It really does make me feel bad that I don't post on here at least every other day. The really sad part is, I'm not actually busy. I'm just busy doing nothing... somewhere else. Lol. Usually I'm watching TV or looking at stuff on Pinterest. Anywho, on to Christmas Day!

Christmas day was SOO BUSY! First of all, I had gotten sick with a really bad sinus infection or something like that. I started feeling bad Wednesday, woke up Thursday and felt HORRIBLE, could barely speak because my throat hurt so bad. I was in the doctors office at 2pm on Thursday so I could get on antibiotics and wouldn't be contagious for Christmas Eve at my sisters' house! I still didn't feel GREAT by Christmas day, but I wasn't contagious and I was going to live. I woke up on Christmas Day around 9:30am (which is early for me lol). I got dressed in my skinny jeans, adorable brown boots, cream sweater and a cute scarf (I'll have to get the pictures later). I put some chocolate covered peanut butter balls, and two different kinds of fudge in a cute Christmas container, put it down on the counter to go get the presents and put them in the car... but I left without the cute container! AND I was supposed to bring the dessert! ERGH! I realized that after I had already gotten to Ryan's apartment. So much for bringing the dessert. We called Ryan's mom and told her what happened, thankfully Ryan's sister in law was also bringing dessert, so it wasn't a big deal lol. Once we got to Ryan's parents house we ate lunch and opened presents. I was disappointed in my gift for Ryan's older nephew. Neither of us know him very well and I just ended up giving him (a 12 year old boy) a gift card to Cabelas :(. I don't like giving gift cards, especially not to kids! Hopefully he can get some good fishing stuff with it though.

After we finished at Ryan's parents house we came back to my house for my families Christmas! We ate supper around 5:30pm which was REALLY yummy! AND THENNNNN we went off to open presents!! Our Christmas tree was flooded with presents! That's not even all of them in the picture! Ryan and AJ got, by far, the most presents! Ryan got Battlefield 3, 2 pairs of jeans, 3 shirts, a coffee grinder, coffee filters and coffee (he had a theme going on lol) and my dad got him a whole bunch of tools! I got a necklace, The Sims 3 Pets(yes, I do play The Sims and have since the original Sims), Earmuffs for when my dad and I got shooting(tomorrow!), OH a mechanical hand haha. The mechanical hand is kind of a joke. Last year I was vacuuming and the vacuum wasn't sucking, so I took it apart and found the tube was stopped up by a TON of stuff. I didn't have anything long or skinny enough to fit up there so I called my dad and asked him if he had anything, and he told me to get the mechanical hand out of the toolbox. I opened the bottom drawer of his red tool box and behold!!, the mechanical hand! Basically all it is... is this long, slinky like rod that can bend and maneuver in all different directions, and when you push the end of it, this claw comes out. I used the claw to grab the stuff out of the tube of the vacuum cleaner. Ever since then, it has been a joke that I should get my own because I'm always trying to find a reason to use it lol (I'm a dork, it's ok). Let's see, what else did I get? Oh, I got several cook books and a scarf.. OH my name present! I forgot about those! We did our name gifts on Christmas Eve but I'll go ahead and tell you what I got here. My cousin Austin got my name and he did SOOO WELL (by he, I actually mean Aunt Kathy and Katy lol). "Austin's little elves" got me a Vera Bradley computer bag for my laptop! It's SO PRETTY! I'm so excited about it! I got Uncle Mike's name and I got him a gift card to Cabela's because he LOVES fishing and can always use more fishing stuff. I also got him a big bag of Twizzlers, because he loves them lol. After Christmas Tree presents we, of course, had to open our stockings! In my stocking I got a flashlight, a travel cup with a monkey on it (monkey's are kind of an inside joke and an even longer story than the mechanical hand, so I'll spare you the details lol). I also got BEFF JERKY, sour patch kids and a gift card to Charming Charlies (which I have already used half of lol). All in all, it was a GREAT Christmas filled with people that I love and lots of fun and laughter.

Hopefully next year the WHOLE family will be able to get together!

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox for the day! Hopefully I will be a better blogger.... I will be posting about New Years and all that jazz soon!

Christmas Eve!

'Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house, everyone was frantically running EVERYWHERE! 

... Not how the story goes? Well it does around here! Christmas Eve we are usually making Christmas cookies, fudge etc. We don't have many traditions for Christmas Eve. The main one is that my mom gives me and my sister our Christmas PJs so we can wear them to bed that night. We run and put them on and come back to the Christmas tree where my dad reads the Christmas story from the Bible. We say a prayer (when I was little we would pray that Santa wouldn't get lost and that he would stay warm). 

BUT this year we're doing something new! AND I LIKE IT! We (me, my mom, dad and Ryan) are all going over to my sister, Maegan's, house. My aunt, uncle and two cousins will be meeting us there. We are going to unwrap our "name presents" (read previous post for explanation) eat pot roast and Christmas goodies! We are also going to be watching Christmas movies and play games! I'm really excited and hopefully this will be the beginning of a new family tradition. It's not the same as when the whole family is together, but it will do. Usually when the whole family is together there is a lot more chaos. And in our family chaos = fun! Usually... 

Well that's my Southern Soapbox. I'm off to put on my Christmas jammies and head over to my sister's house! Merry Christmas Eve y'all! I hope you enjoy spending time with your family and friends! 

Happy Birthday

On December 16th, 2010 Andrew Dixon Withers, JR came into our lives. We knew he would change our worlds, but we never imagined that he would turn it completely upside down.

At about 9:30pm December 15th Maegan started having contractions. Her husband, Andrew, took her to the hospital. Although she wasn't really in the active parts of labor, her doctor decided to admit her because her blood pressure was above normal. At about 12:30am my mom came in my room and told me that Maegan was at the hospital, in labor. I FREAKED!!! I took a shower so I would be ready to go to the hospital the second he was born. I think my mom and I got like 2 hours of sleep that night. I spent the night texting my sister, she spent the night watching reruns of ER and Criminal Minds lol. All day we sat around waiting. At about 5pm we got a text that she was about to start pushing!! And an hour and a half later, at 6:27pm on December 16th, 2010, the world was a brighter place. We rushed to the hospital and joined Andrews family to admire the new addition to our family. So, now with that back story, here comes my "real post". I saw someone that wrote a letter to their munchkin on their first birthday for them to read when they get older, so I am going to do the same thing (except it's for my nephew, and on a blog lol).

Dear AJ,

You are a blessing to this world and to our family. I can't imagine life with out you in it. You are the happiest baby I have ever seen. Every time I see you, you always run up to me squawking and flapping your arms like a little bird. You love to meet new people and always greet them with a smile. This first year of your life has been amazing to witness. You were trying to hold your head up, and doing a pretty good job at it, the day after you were born! Such a strong little man, and an over achiever! You started crawling at about 6 months old and walking at about 10 months! You are so strong willed, even at the young age of one year old. Keep being the energetic, fun loving, sweet little man that we all love.

You are surrounded  by people who love you. Remember to be kind to others and love them. Play hard but remember that hard work is also important. Enjoy your youth because you will only be a kid once. Remember that your family is your biggest fan and we are ALWAYS looking out for you. Your mommy and daddy are not trying to ruin your life, they love you and are trying to protect you. Even if that means not giving you what you want. You are never alone in this world. Not only do you have a family that loves you, you also have a God that loves you. He created you, just the way you are. Perfect. He loves you more than you could ever imagine, more than any human could. He has a plan for you, a wonderful plan. I cannot wait to see that plan unfold.

Love with all my heart,

Your Aunt Julie

Christmas break!

Christmas break is officially here! For those of you who know me personally, you know that I LOVE Christmas! Really, I love any holiday but Christmas especially. In my family we go ALL OUT for this fantastic holiday! Because there are so many of us, we draw names. Whomever you get, is who you buy for as far as the extended family goes. So for example if I draw Aunt Sue's name (there is no one in my family named Sue so that is NOT who I got! lol) then I will buy things for Aunt Sue's Christmas, but that doesn't mean I don't buy for other people. I still get my parents and sister a gift too. And usually I will get my grandparents something too. I will admit, my favorite person to shop for is my Aunt Kathy. I got her name last year and had a BLAST! She loves jewelry so I got to spend a lot of time at Charming Charlie, which I LOVE!!!! Haha. It's really fun buying things and figuring out what they like. Gift cards are a total bore and I hate them! I like putting thought into the gifts that I'm giving. No, they aren't always serious gifts or things that you need. They are, however, always gifts that I put a lot of thought into. My favorite presents are the kind that MEAN something to me and that person. Anywho...

Another of my favorite traditions for Christmas is putting up our Christmas tree (which we haven't done. Well, that's not true. The tree is up, in the wrong room... and it's not decorated lol.). Hopefully we will get it moved into our TV room/den/whatever you want to call that room and have it decorated by the end of tomorrow... fingers crossed. Me, my mom, my dad and my sister used to all gather around the tree and arrange the ornaments just so. You can't leave any "holes" or mom will yell at you lol. We usually decorate the tree while we listen to Christmas music and try not to step on the dogs, and keep the cat from scaling the tree (which is a very feeble attempt, but we try).

Usually, a few days before Christmas we all pile in the car, with cokes and popcorn, and go look at Christmas lights! I LOVE looking at Christmas lights!!! We hit up the fire station because they do a show and then head over to one of the "rich" neighborhoods to see the lights they have put up (or have paid to have put up, but w/e they're pretty). Then we head on over to Frisco Square for another light show!

You thought this was a lot? I haven't even told you about Christmas Eve or Christmas Day! Haha.. stay tuned to see what we do on Christmas Eve and day!

That's my Southern Christmas Soapbox! Good night y'all!

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday

Yes, it's a little late.. but better late than never! So here it goes!

Woot-tastic:

- I only have one day left for the semester! My last final is Friday! So excited to get the Christmas break STARTED!!!!
- The Vampire Diaries is totally woot-tastic. I'm sorry.. but it is. And even more woot-tastic is that I've gotten my mom AND sister addicted to it! My mom and I are going to watch season 3 tomorrow (well.. technically it's today but ya...) and yes, I'm kind of obsessed..
- The love of my life... we spend most of the day together today :). Even after four years I still get excited when I know I'm going to get to see him. I hope I never loose that feeling.

Wonky:

This picture.... yes, that's a desktop.. in a coffee shop (Saxbys is AMAZEBALLS!) One of the guys that works there brought his desktop to work to play games on lol. Apparently laptops aren't good enough for him

If you will notice all the critters featured in this picture. Rebel, the giant grey dog at the top of the picture. Next to him is George, the cat, and then there is Martin, the little dog at the bottom of the picture. They were all laying in my bed when I went to go to sleep last night. Normally, Martin doesn't sleep with me but since it has been so cold he has been bunking with me, Rebel and George. My bed gets crowded at night.



- So, according to my mother "In 1692 Columbus sailed the ocean blue". That is exactly what she said... she's close, only missing it by 2 centuries.

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox for the night. Hopefully will post something tomorrow.

Finals week

I know, I didn't do wonky and woot-tastic Wednesday. Sorry I was busy. I'll do it this coming week!

Anywho, it's finals week this coming week! I'm excited because that means it's the end of the semester. I'm also dreading it because I hate finals lol. They should be pretty easy though. Anywho, on with what I've been up to...

I've been busy getting ready for Christmas. Whose tree is that to the left you may ask? Is it a little girl that thinks she's a princess? Nope... it's Ryans... my 23 year old BOYfriend lol. To make it more "manly" (although he did not mind the pink, at all) he put his x-box controller on the tree and at the top, for the tree topper is a little Daschund ornament lol. We got into a small "fight" over the tree though. Not really a fight, and it was really over the tree. I was really excited that I had found it and he totally ruined my fun. I got pretty annoyed with him and even considered taking it back to the store. But in the end he apologized and, even if he doesn't care, he's pretending to LOVE the tree lol. On the plus side, if we ever have a daughter, we already have her tree lol.

While I was on my Christmas decorating kick my mom and I went to Hobby Lobby and I was looking at the little signs that they have. The ones you hang out the wall. I found one that I really really like (hint hint Christmas present hint hint).. anywho it says "Love is patient. Love is kind. Love never fails." I don't know why I like it so much, but I do. It would be really cute on the wall between Ryan's living room and kitchen :D (the wall you see in the tree picture lol). Anywho, it's pretty and I like it lol.


Fibro update: The night before last I had a really bad flare up. I woke up at about 1am hurting so bad that I had to sleep at Ryan's because I couldn't drive home. By the time I woke up at about 10am I wasn't hurting as much but have still been achy, even today. We have a big cold front coming through (there may even be snow *groans*) it's going to be GREAT (note sarcasm).

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox for the day :) have a good one! BE FESTIVE!