Yay! The holiday decorations are out. I love this candle from JoAnn’s…saw it a few weeks ago and then it was sold out. So happy to see it the day after Thanksgiving on sale for $5!

This past turkey day…I baked:

….a not-so-good Apple Crumb pie (baking is definitely not my forte)…

…and I cooked….a fantastic turkey dinner for the two of us! I really outdid myself and found all kinds of recipes from allrecipes.com (my favorite recipe source). Herb Roasted Turkey (even brined it overnight), Roasted Garlic Parmesean Mashed Potatoes, Satueed Green Beans & Mushrooms, Stuffing…the works.

…and we decorated…

My other favorite JoAnn’s find this year…my little dough people nativity set! Still am in search of a little manger for them…

…and I met my scrapbooking friend, Ali in person for the first time! Along with our significant others, we met up at Dave & Busters for some food and games…can’t wait for their next visit next summer. Don’t have a pic from Ali of both of us yet, but here is two of B and I she took.  :) She is such a great photographer!!!!!!!!!

Lot’s to do this week…CHA January 2007 isn’t too far away!

Oh and believe it or not, I actually finally have some new digital designs to debut this week! More to come…

It’s 2:59 pm and I’ve been moaning and whining along with some other people in the office…our department hasn’t been let go for the holiday weekend.

And then I realized…I’m sure lucky I even have a job to complain about. One that puts food on the table, a roof over my head and some fun scrapbooking supplies here and then…

And for that I’m thankful.

In this busy holiday season, it’s easy to forget about the giving and charity…but my office today started it off right…they had a huge festival of games ($5 frozen turkey toss – I won!) and food with all proceeds going to a local shelter (along with food and clothing drive). A huge success.

Thankful I work for such a giving place. :)

What have you gave thus far this holiday season? (just a reminder).

Wow. Got a great piece of mail today:

I entered this Kolo layout contest a long time ago. I actually forgot all about it. I don’t really enter contests and I don’t really submit either. Too much work. :)

But I won.

I am the (1) $1,000 pkg. grand prize winner. Wow. I am in shock. And my layout was so simple, but one of my all time favorites:

{this above photo was taken (self timer) on the first night we arrived in Nashville at our new house (no furniture yet)…it was New Year’s Eve and we were celebrating the new house, the new year and our new life….we were actually dancing to Garth Brooks "Goin’ Fishin in the Dark" in this picture.}  :D

They have such beautiful albums! The homepage picture just ‘speaks’ to me: Kolo.com :)

Off to pick out some future wedding albums. ;) Thanks for letting me share!

Yep, here again. This time for work! Arrived on Wednesday, staying till Friday at fun Treasure Island.

Soooo tired. Late night at the blackjack tables.

Shocking, since I’m not a gambler. Grew up around it… I work in gaming and hospitality marketing…the excitement just isn’t there for me. But last night was fun – up $100 fun!

Going to spend my winnings tomorrow at one of my favorite places in Vegas…Nordstrom’s at the Fashion Show mall! Woohoo.

That’s what I call real excitement: Good shopping.

(yawn!)

This is one tired girl.

Had the time of my life this past weekend. The photo sharing has begun and here is one glimpse of the night – THE funnest night I have had in a very long while.  Will get my photos uploaded tonight…sadly, the Rebel doesn’t make it out to nighttime events for fear of losing it or hurting it…so I rely on everyone else for those "special" late night moments. :0)

And a special thanks goes out to all THIRTY-TWO of you who signed up for my holiday album class at ScrapIt tomorrow. I am in shock still as the list grew and grew. My usual monthly classes have about 9 or 10. So thank you very much! I have a lot of paper cutting to do tonight for all those kits!….heehee….