Christmas

Christmas starts early for us.  Every year, we go to John and Kathy's to celebrate with them.  John made us a yummy breakfast!

Then we dug into presents!  We are super spoiled and they go a bit nuts every year!  It's like they like us or something! We had a very nice Christmas and got some cool suprises! 

The joke is that Nick and I are TERRIBLE at suprises, but we were determined to suprise each other this year.  I got him an IPad and he got me my first Coach purse!  Needless to say, we were very suprised!!  John and Kathy got us a Kehrig coffee maker, and X Box with Kinect and dance game, clothes, gift cards, and all kinds of other neat stuff!  We put together a little travel package for them to prepare for our upcoming CRUISE!!  Here are some photos from the morning:

I was wearing a fabulous outfit for the occasion!  LOL!

Then we headed to my Mom's for our Christmas with her.  We had a spectaular dinner.  There is no food in the world like Mom's food and she made all of my favorites!  It was a beautiful meal!  We played and opened presents and had a super fun time!

It was a fabulous Christmas and I can't even describe how blessed I feel that I got to see my family and friends.  There are so many amazing people in my life and just spending time with then is the greatest gift I could ever receive! 

For now, I am looking forward to all of the possibilities of 2012!  It's going to be a great year! 

Holiday in review...

To say that I had an amazing Christmas might be the biggest understatement ever!  It was perfect!  I got to visit with my family and friends!  I got some very thoughtful and special gifts!  I pulled of a suprise for Nick. 

Instead of describing everything step by step, I will share some photos and hightlights.

I already talked about my Hollenbaugh family Christmas and Yuletide, both of which were awesome!  I will start with last weekend. 

The 15th was our 2nd  annual stamp club cookie exchnage.  I have been in this stamp club for a few years and some of the people have changed, but it is still one of my favorite days of every month.  I love the ladies I get to create with and we have a wonderful time together.  This photo is fuzzy, but here were are!  And the cookies were amazing!

The 17th I finally got my hair done!  It was long overdue for a cut and color!  Here's my new "do!



The evening of the  17th, Nick and I went to the Melting Pot with our friends Matt and Trina.  We did a gift exchange and had a wonderful time with them.  Here are some photos from that evening:

The 18th, my Dad and Claire came over and spent the day hanging out with me.  We watched Harry Potter and had a relaxing visit.

On the 20th, I got to catch up with my friend, LouAnna!  She looks awesome and we had such a nice chat.  She is good for my spirit.  I can't beleive we totally spaced getting a picture!

On the 21st, we did our exchange with my aunt Jill's family.  They made Nick and I a really beautiful wall hanging with the words "Loving the Journey" and some meaningful words that Nick and I used to define the journey we are on.  It means more to me than Jill will ever know and it was one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received.  I will post photos soon!

On the 22nd, I did my annual Mommy/Daughter Christmas.  We go to dinner and do a private Christmas each year, just the two of us.  We went to the Cheesecake Facotry and had a nice time.  Here is my pretty Mommy!

The 23rd, Jake and his family and Nick and I celebrated Christmas with my Dad and Claire.  We had such a nice evening and some really fun times!  Dad and Claire gave us a neat frame and a photo shoot certificate.  I can't wait to do a photo shoot with them!

The 24th was the PERFECT Christmas Eve!  Nick and I slept in, we watched Christmas movies in our jammies for the better part of the day, and then we had the annual Doty family Christmas with Nick's Mom's family.  They are such a cool group of people and we had a great time with them!  Here is a photo of some of the silliness of the evening!  This is a sock monkey wearing sock monkey slippers!

The evening of Christmas Eve, Nick and I went on a drive and looked at lights.  We also did a small exchange for each other.  Earlier in the month (because we are impatient!) we exchanged one other gift.  Nick got me a gorgous pair of earrings and I got him a Colts hoodie.  Then, a few days ago, he gave me a very cool scarf and some fuzzy slippers and I gave him a huge elephant!

On Christmas Eve, I gave him a letter I wrote him telling him how much I love him and how much he means to me and he gave me a REAL pair of Ugg boots that I've been drooling over.  We went a little overboard for each other this year, but we had so much fun!

I will do another post for Christmas as I'm afraid all these pictures won't load!  



Fun and BUSY week! Happy Anniversary to my MOM and DAVE!

I am in the midst of my fun and busy week!  Having a great time and making sure to keep my head on so far!

Happy Anniversary to my Mom and David today!  Ther have been married 10 years and I am so happy for them.  They are truly on a journey together and they are so united and commited to each other!  My Mom is so happy and content in her life after her own hard road and David has been so good for her and for our family.  He is an amazing man and is very special to me.  They are an inspiration!

I am having a good day at work today.  The past year has been very bumpy for me, but I recently had a "big girl" chat with myself and I am feeling alive again.  I discussed my future plans with my leader last week and discussed moving in to our training department.  I am very excited about the possibilities of that and my leader was very enthusiatic!  Well, I just found out that I might get an opportunity in that arena sometime soon.  Very fun!

I am going to the doctor today to see how my iron infusion worked and I am keeping my fingers crossed about it. 

Tonight I have stamp club and a cookie exchange with some super cool ladies.  It's always a lot of fun!  My cookies look awesome!  :-)  I will post some photos from tonight.

Have a super day! 

Fun weekend! And Happy Birthday John!

I had a super fun and a super productive weekend! 


Friday night, Nick and I went to dinner with my Aunt and Uncle and our very good friends, Tricia and Jeremy.  We started with dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.  Yum!  Then they surprised me with tickets to Yuletide Celebration.  It's a very fun Christmas concert with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and dancing Santas.  It's a beautiful musical celebration and it always gets my so pumped for Christmas!

Here I am at dinner with my birthday bow: 

Here are Nick and I getting ready for the show.  We had great seats on the 1st row of the mezzanine. 

Here are Jeremy and Trish preparing for the show:

And here are Nick and I holding a present by a huge Christmas Tree:

Saturday was a pretty laid back day.  I wrapped Christmas presents and got all of my Christmas cards ready to mail today.  Nick and I went to dinner at our favorite, Texas Roadhouse! 

Yesterday I had breakfast with my Dad and Claire.  We spent a few hours catching up and we had a nice visit.  Then I went home and watched some fun Christmas movies.

This is a busy week for me. 

Today is my DFIL's birthday.  We are going over to their house tonight for pizza and pressies. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHNNIE!!  I am so grateful to have such an amazing Father-In-Law.  John is an awesome Dad and he is a really great man.  He's a lot of fun and he loves with all he has.  He's sincerely a gift to his family and I am happy to have him in my life.

Tomorrow is class.  I am taking a Health and Wellness class.  It's a lot different than the more "structured" classes I've been taking, but I think I will really like it.

Thursday I go back to the hematologist to see how the iron infusion worked.  Fingers crossed!  Thursday is also my Mom and David's Anniversary!  They are so great together and I am so happy to see them more in love than ever!

Have a great week, everyone!

My ba-ba-ba-ba-ba Birthday!

I come to you one year older!  31...  Good grief!  I'm now IN MY 30s!  Ay, Ay, Ay!  I had a fun weekend! 

Friday night was the Allstate leadership dinner at the Skyline Club.  It's a resteraunt on the 36th floor a building downtown and it was a beautiful view.  The food was good and we had a nice time.

Saturday was my Dad's side Christmas celebration.  We went around to some "Christmas" things around town.  We went to a very cool live nativity.  Nick almost got eaten by a camel!  LOL!  Then we went out to the Christmas version of the covered bridge festival and walked around some.  Nick and I got our picture taken with Santa!  We stopped to look at a neat light display on the way home and finished at my Grandma's house with hot cocoa and doughnuts. 

Yesterday was kind of a strange day.  Nick hurt his back pretty bad at hockey, so we just hung out at home for most of the day.  We went to my mom's last night for a delicious dinner and good times!  My SIL's birthday is the 7th, so we did a combined party.  Fun stuff!

Yay for birthdays!!

Happy December!

It BLOWS MY MIND that it's December already!  Time has absolutely FLOWN this year!! December is my favorite month.  I love it!  My birthday is early in the month and I am so spoiled, I normally end up celebrating for about a week!  Then comes Christmas.  I love this time of year.  I love to shop for my friends and family and try to find something I think they will like and appreciate.  I love the cool, crisp air and the Christmas music and all the neat decorations.  It's so festive.  My month is packed with festivities and I look forward to all of them!

Tonight starts the month out right.  My DMIL and DFIL are taking me to my FAVORITE resteraunt, Texas Roadhouse, for a birthday dinner.  I love spending time with them and I am anxious to catch up with them!

Tomorrow night, Nick and I are having a super nice dinner at the Skline Club downtown with the Allstate managers.  It's always a very nice time.

Saturday we are celebrating Christmas early with my Dad's side of the family.  I am not sure what all we are doing yet, but I am sure it will be a blast! It's always a lot of fun to hang out with them.

Sunday I am having a birthday dinner with my Mom's family.  My DSIL and I are born 3 days apart, so we will do a combined party.  That will be really fun, too! 

Monday night, my good friend Trina is making my favorite dinner for me.  She makes amazing meatloaf and mashed potatos!  Mmmm!

Then Tuesday is class....  Fun times!! 

So much to look forward to!