Friday Favorites: A Mix of This and That

Happy Friday!

It's the last Friday before Christmas break. 

After today we only have two more school days until about 2 weeks off!

On top of that we got a snow day yesterday, so I'm feeling all kinds of festive and in the mood today!

As always, I'm linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea. 

We're sharing our favorites from the week.

Grab their graphic and linkup with your favorites from the week, too.

Ornament from the one and only Magnolia

My friends went to Texas after Thanksgiving. 

They invited us to go, but unfortunately, they wouldn't be back before I was to go back to school and we're not allowed to take off before or after a holiday, so we couldn't go!

Bummer!

Unexpectedly, my sweet friend got me something straight from Magnolia!

A cute little ornament and it fits perfectly with my tree decor!

I love that she thought of me and that it matches my tree! 

It's front and center, and I always can see it when I walk into the living room from the kitchen!

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Over the weekend we had our ThanksChristmas with friends. 

I didn't take any pictures but here is the gift I won in our white elephant exchange. 

Some rollers!

Only I would be so pumped to get rollers!

I had my gift opened and use the very next morning and it also came from my sweet friend above. 

Home Tour

Speaking of my Christmas tree, Sarah and Victoria wrapped up their Most Wonderful Time of the Year linkup this week. 

I shared some shots of our home here. 

In addition, I shared our Christmas card here.

I want to say again how much I love supporting a fellow teacher who works so hard during the day to care for wild and crazy teenagers.
I'm speaking for her when I say that, but I teach 8th grade too, and I feel like I can speak for all teachers because 8th graders are just unique.
Laughing and screaming one minute and crying the next.

I admire so much the effort that Andrea puts into her classroom, family and cards.
Slightly Askew Designs is so neat!
I'm so glad that she willingly made our Christmas cards again!

Steelers

I grew up in a family that is mostly dominated by males. 

My dad only had brothers, so when we went to my grandma's house, we watch ball games-baseball or football were primarily the choice!

I grew up watching all sorts of games with my dad. 

My love for baseball wavered and waned; however, I found the sport that I love watching most-football!

Our family has always been Steelers fans. 

I always watched the games with my dad when I still lived at home. 

Now, I try to go out as much as possible but these night games are killing me!

8:30 is usually the time I go to bed, but the past two weeks it has been the time that the Steelers started! 

These games have been nail biters, so I've had to stay up the entire time to see the end result. 

4 hours of sleep hasn't been good for me, so I'm thankful break is right around the corner. 

Here are a few of my latest screenshots. 

I typically screenshot things and send them to my dad, so he can stay up on the Steelers' players lives off of the field! ;)

An extremely unfortunate play occurred during the game two weeks ago. 

Ryan Shazier had an intense hit which left him on his stomach only to flop over on his back and grab for help. 

I saw the play live and knew it wasn't good. 

It's so neat to watch Steelers nation and how supportive not only the team but the fans have been. 

Here is Vince Williams wearing Shaziers jersey at practice. 

During that game, as well, Juju Smith-Schuster had a great block/tackle of a Bengals player. 

Unfortunately, he stayed on top of the guy a little longer than would have been liked. 

He was suspended from last weeks game. 

He posted this video about not being able to leave a tip because he's not getting a paycheck this week. 

I guess there's always a way to put humor in humorless situations!

Snow Day

We got an unexpected snow day yesterday!

I knew it was supposed to snow, but I honestly didn't think we would get the day off. 

First we had a delay-the night before, which is awesome because then I can sleep in. 

I actually chose to wake up at normal time, thought, and grade essays, so I was all ready to go when we got the cancellation. 

  I love early mornings!

I was ready to go with my dark hot chocolate because I thought my classroom might be cold, so instead I sipped a little and then headed out to run. 

This right here makes me so happy!

I love getting snail mail, especially holiday cards. 

I was grinning when I saw this pretty sticker on the back of the envelope. 

I feel like not many people use stickers anymore, and it's something that reminds me of the good ole days. 

I was even more happy when I saw that the card inside matched the sticker!

A good ole Christmas card reminding me of years past and even though I don't feel like I'm getting older-so much has changed in 27 years!

So, that's a wrap.
Some gifts, cards and decor for your Friday.

Tomorrow I am headed to a new spa for our annual Holiday Spa Day with the mom's.
I'm sure my mom, my mother-in-law and I will be in for a treat!
Have a blessed and cheery Friday!

Most Wonderful Time of Year: Christmas Home Tour!

Do you gals love looking at other people's homes as much as I do?!
I love design, decor and thinking of how I would decorate a space compared to what someone has already done.
I enjoy thinking up ideas in my head and then seeing what they look like in reality.
For this reason, I'm so excited for today's post.
Not only will we get to look at each others homes, but we will get to look at them all decked out for Christmas!

 Today I am once again linking up for The Most Wonderful Time of the Year hosted by Sarah and Victoria. 

Today's post is being co-hosted by Michaela. 

Today's topic is Christmas Home Tour!

Welcome to our home!

My decorating isn't quite finished yet. 

I feel like I'm that person who keeps adding a touch here and then until the actual day. 

For now, here's our home..

My grandma gifted me the little teacher nutcracker below.

My other grandma always had these little mouse doorknobs in her house... and now I have one in my house.

Our dear family friend gifted me each one of the nativity pieces below when I was just a little girl. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I can't wait to stop over and see how everyone else's homes are decorated!

Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Christmas Card!

Hello there, Friday!
It's always a joy to see Friday's come along.
The week started out slow, and it is finishing up with lots of activities.

Tonight is Alex's work Christmas dinner and tomorrow is our ThanksChristmas with friends.

Update: I thought this post was for Friday, so I wrote it for Friday, and then found out it was for Monday.

 Today I am once again linking up for The Most Wonderful Time of the Year hosted by Sarah and Victoria. 

Today's post is being co-hosted by Taz+Belly. 

Today's topic is Christmas Cards!

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon Andrea from Momfessionals blog. 

She's a mama, wife, graphic designer and a hard working teacher. 

There's nothing I love better than supporting fellow teachers. 

I was so excited to get married so that I could have my own Christmas cards!!

Christmas cards isn't something that I ever remember my own family doing while growing up, but there were a few friends and family who always sent a Christmas card or letter. 

I greatly enjoyed catching up with them through their pictures and letters.

As the years progress, I hope to one day include a letter, too. 

Right now, we're just not that interesting with it just being the two of us! :)

Last year was so fun picking out what wedding pictures I wanted to include on our cards. 

This year wasn't so much excitement because we didn't have professional pictures taken, but I always love Andrea's designs. 

How this mama has time to be a great mom, decorate a beautiful home, grade papers and design cards is beyond me. 

If you are interested in checking out cards from previous years, click here. 

If you're interested in checking out her regular blog, click here. 

So without further adieu...

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Thanks so much to Andrea for her beautiful design! 

Next year we will take more pictures and maybe even have professional ones done!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Entertaining Tips!

It's day two of  The Most Wonderful Time of the Year linkup hosted by Sarah and Victoria. 

Today's co-host is Classic Catherine. 

Today's topic is Holiday Entertaining Tips!

I have always loved reading about how people entertain, so once I got married I was excited to host our own Christmas dinner.
We are hoping to make this a yearly event, so I'm planning and preparing to make this year better than last.
I have a few tips that I used last year and a couple that I've put in place since then. 

Plan Ahead

I honestly think I started planning for our Christmas dinner this year the day after our dinner last year. 

I knew what I liked about the dinner and what I wished had gone differently, so I started keeping notes on my phone, so I would remember them for this year. 

Over the summer I worked on our menu-what I wanted to keep, add or change. 

I'm a planner, and if something isn't planned ahead, then I tend to forget it. 

My #1 entertaining tip is to plan ahead!

Homemade/Store Bought

My second tip is to make some things homemade and buy some things from the store. 

I didn't do this last year, and I really paid for it. 

I tend to always want everything to be homemade, but sometimes there just isn't the time to make everything by yourself. 

This year I plan to buy some buns from a local bakery and order a salad from a restaurant. 

These aren't major changes, but I think they will save me time and sanity. 

Make Items Ahead

Last Christmas we ended up making unplanned stops, so what extra time I thought I would have to make and bake things I didn't. 

It was kind of a rat race coming down to the dinner, but we made it. 

This year I've planned out our menu so that I can make half of the items a day ahead, so that we won't have to wait and make everything the day of. 

I'm really hoping that having half of the menu ready ahead of time will help to make the dinner less stressful.

Don't Offer Too Many Options

I never want to run out of food, so I tend to make too much food. 

I'd always rather have too much than too little; however, I think I overdid the options last Christmas. 

I had two or more pies that no one even touched. 

Cookies, pies, cake, candies...it was all a little much. 

This year I'm hoping to be more intentional on choosing select items and not getting too many items that it's overwhelming for people and we end up wasting some food in the end. 

Holiday entertaining is so fun!

I'm interested in seeing what tips/tricks everyone else has thought of that I've forgotten.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Wishlist

Happy Monday!

It's beginning to look, feel and smell a lot like Christmas around here!

This weekend I attended a Home for the Holidays event, did some Christmas online shopping, baked some cookies and did a little more decorating. 

The weather has been oddly warm, but it's supposed to drop this week, and there's even snow in the forecast. 

The cold temperatures and snow sure will make it seem like Christmas!

Today I'm participating in one of my favorite link-ups of the year. 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year linkup by Sarah and Victoria is back with some guest co-hosts. 

Today's co-host is Emily. 

Today's topic is your Christmas Wishlist!

My wishlist isn't long or excessive this year. 

I would totally be okay with nothing because I just feel like we're at that point in our life where we don't really need anything and we're saving and preparing for the future, so I would rather do that than get something just to get something under the tree. 

I mentioned this on my blog a week or so ago, but I really really really want these cupboard doors for a built-in shelf in our living room. 

 We had old doors, and we took them off to paint them. 

Unfortunately, a couple coats of paint made it so the doors will no longer fit back together. 

We NEED new doors. 

I keep candles, recipe books, envelopes, binders, etc. in this shelf and you can ALWAYS see all of it. 

The cupboard doors are a custom size, so we can't easily order them wherever. 

I really hope Alex Santa buys, paints and hangs them before our Christmas dinner!

I'm in need of a new pair of long sleeve and long pant pajamas. 

Alex asked me the other day why I wear long sleeves and long pants at night and I responded with a resounding "I'm Cold!"

Alex doesn't understand being cold; he's never cold. 

I'm always cold. 

I'm a big fan of the two below.

I hope they are cozy and warm and go on sale soon!

via

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Last, I could use a couple of belts. 

Leopard, black/brown, glitter

I wear a belt nearly everyday, and it's something that you don't think about getting worn out, and then I look down and see that my leopard belt only looks about half leopardish because a lot of the coloring and fabric has worn off. 

I can remember getting catalogs in the mail as a kid and sitting down and marking it up with everything I wanted. 

How much times have changed, but oh how fun that was. 

I can't wait to read through the posts and see what some of the hot items are for this Christmas!