Weekend Update| January 18, 2012

Good morning all! This is one of those "you know your life is a little crazy when..." moments. Posting a weekend update on a Wednesday?? Unfortunately that has become the habit for me lately. But I figure pictures are pictures and you can share them anytime you want...especially if it's your blog and you can do what you want with it. :)

Saturday morning I woke up with my panties in a wad. I mean, the really bad side of the bed. I don't really get mean when I'm in a bad mood. Meanness is usually associated with hunger for me. Nope, a bad mood means I'm careless and unemotional...I'm as cuddly as an ice cube. John knew I was having a bad day and made me pancakes. And then told me to close my eyes for the best surprise of my life....

Yup, that about turned my day back around. Seriously, isn't he the sweetest man you've ever read about?

Around lunch time my mom and step-dad came up from Vero Beach to help me get ready for a bridal shower I was throwing for one of my best friends. One of our projects were making little marshmallow pops for the hot chocolate bar I put together for the shower. Aren't they cute?

Sunday morning we lounged around the house and did some cooking and preparing for the afternoon shower. My mom made this spectacular white pizza....recipe to follow this week. Aren't I such a tease? It was so good!

The afternoon was delightful and the bridal shower went off without a hitch. I can't wait to share my post on the shower and all th creative things we came up with! We had a blast putting it together. This little lady deserved all of it and so much more...

Question of the Day:

What shower has been your favorite and what made it special?



Winter Break Update

Good morning!

How are you? Man, it feels like I have been out of town forever. I miss you all and thought about you often. I really did, that's not just something to say. I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years!

As you read in my prior post, Christmas was wonderful. We enjoyed our time together so much and it's amazing how fast those kids are growing up. Well, amazing isn't the right word...scary is.

Here's some more pictures from our time in Virginia...

John and the kids AND our friend Xiaoxin playing Apples to Apples. We met Xiaoxin 3 years ago in Orlando when she was studying there and came to an international student event. We became great friends and hung out weekly for 1.5 years. Then she moved....to the same town our family moved to! Imagine our luck. We love you Xiaoxin!

We also did a 2.8 mile hike to White Rock Falls off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Wonderful to connect with nature and get our workout on!

John and the kids conquering a rock!

Oh the joy of a child...

And the joy of love... :)

See? I told you we had a great time! We got back into town last Saturday and rang in the new year with our friends Caitlin and Ben and their cats Boomer and Dip. I didn't get any pictures of the night...argh! Since then I've been at home, sick with a cold and laryngitis. Not a cool way to end my vacation. But, I am happy that it has caused me to slow down today at home long enough to write an update here and reconnect with you all.

Question of the Day: 

How are YOU? Tell me all about it...what was the highlight of your holiday?

A Tree Full of Memories

Good morning! Did everyone sleep well?

Today, I'm continuing the Christmas tree conversation over at Happily Ever Healthy. Hilliary was kind enough to let me spread some Christmas cheer to her dearest readers, so please go check out her blog today to read about my favorite Christmas ornaments and the stories behind them.

See you over here! 

O Christmas Tree

I'm delighted to share with you our 2nd annual Christmas tree lighting! John and I both grew up with fake trees and now that we are big kids and can make our own Christmas tree decisions we've started buying them fresh. Just a few extra dollars, but a whole lot of difference it makes! We love walking into the house and smelling the evergreen, and getting wafts of it up the stairs when we wake up in the morning.

It's a very smelly douglass fir!

We have ornaments from our childhood all packed around it. I have ones that family friends handmade me when I was just a baby, ones from my travels, and the ones given to me as a gift every Christmas growing up. John has some of the same, but also some special ones from his mom who passed away when he was just nine years old. Those are the most special ones on our tree! They are all teacher themed as she taught elementary school when she was living.

We love going through all our ornaments and retelling the same old stories we told the year before. It helps us remember all the great people in our lives, the people who got us to wear we are, and the memories we'll be able to tell in the future as we grow older and older together as a couple.

Question of the Day:

What's your most special Christmas tree ornament?

My favorite is a beautiful cherub ornament that my grandpa bought for my mother one year when we traveled to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. It's one of the only things I have related to him, and he passed away on my 9th birthday. 

Weekend Update| December 5, 2011

Good morning everyone! Did you have a fabulous weekend? We sure did! My mom and step-dad came up for a visit and we had such a great time. The weather couldn't have been better for the activities we had planned, either. The mornings were really cool but by mid-day the sun was out and we were enjoying temperatures in the mid 70's!

They drove in Friday night and we enjoyed some dinner I had prepared. We played a couple rounds of rummy and I was destroyed at the last minute by David (step-dad). That hurt as I have been the reigning champ in our house lately. John was overjoyed at my loss. ;)

Saturday morning we got up and ran around the neighborhood together. We are all running a 5k in Melbourne (FL) in February, so it was fun to do a little training together. My family is fast! They've got quite a few years on me and still managed 12 minute miles! I discovered that I run much faster on land than on the "dreadmill", is that the same for you?

After the run we made breakfast and packed up a picnic for our day out. My parents just got a new D-SLR so we took them out to Lake Eola to practice shooting with it. They got some really great shots! Everyone and their brother was out at the lake, putting up Christmas decorations and running around the trail. Above is a picture John took of my mom and I. Below is a picture that my mom took of us. She's getting the hang of it!

 I think she really captured our love... :)

Our next stop was going to be Whole Foods for a little stocking up on the grain wall. (My parents don't have a Whole Foods in their town, so it's a ritual when they come up.) We made one last stop at the ice cream truck before we left the lake, but came away empty handed as the ice cream was way over-priced and wouldn't have done our tummies any good...we all have the same whole foods, mostly veg diet. Nonetheless, we were sad about our loss...

David had quite the smile though, he must have looked into the future to see what would happen when we went to Whole Foods. We came away with two ah-mazing smoothies! They got a PB&J fruit smoothie (almond milk, berries, peanut butter, bananas, etc.) and we got the Kalicious smoothie (kale, spinach, bananas, apple juice, lemons). Our smoothie was so good I drank it in 30 minutes. And just to give you a comparison, it usually takes me 3 hours to finish my smoothies in the morning.

I was in love!

We finished our evening with a trip to Bass Pro Outdoor World and then came home and chowed down on homemade butternut squash soup, red onion and tomato paninis, and an assortment of goodies picked up at the hot counter at Whole Foods.

I spent the evening stressing over a final group project for my online Strategies in Teaching ESOL class. Praise the Lord we finally got everything done (last minute) and were able to turn it in last night for a grade. I can't tell you how ready I was to be done with this class! I need a break!

Sunday we went to church and hung out around the house for a while playing with out pictures and teaching my mom and David to edit photos with Gimp 2. It was a nice, relaxing day before the craziness of this weeks started up again.

Something tells me this week will be a little more than I can handle.

Question of the Day:

What kinds of things do you do with your parents?



Baby, It's Cold Outside

VIA

It's December which means I can officially wish you all a Merry Christmas! I woke up this morning to temperatures of 47 degrees! Not bad for Orlando, Florida. It looks like Father Christmas has come early and he's piling on the Christmas spirit here in sunny o-town.

I love the cold down here (we only get a month of so of it), but now that I'm running that means I'm freezing my little patootie off in running shorts. Over the Thanksgiving holiday my aunt gave me an early Christmas present- a giftcard to Kohl's. As luck would have it, I already had my eye on something and snatched it up as soon as we got back into town...

FILA Running Tights

I got them for a good deal, too! When I went to the gym on my lunch break the other day I thought I would try them out. Hey, it was cold outside, so it was a good excuse! Note to self- just because it is cold outside does not mean that it will be cold in the gym. I was sweating up a storm! Lesson learned.

Anyways, since it's Christmas time, I thought I would share some other items on my "want" list for Santa this year. And if someone wants to secretly send this link to my husband, too, I wouldn't complain. ; )

Great for running in the dark! Women's Tri-Viz LED Running Hat

Nike Women's Storm Fly Jacket

FILA Running Shorts

A few more pairs of Thorlo Experia CoolMax Socks

Vibrams Five Fingers

iPod Nano Watch! (Keeps pace, miles, and music!)

A Crafty Christmas

So, you know I promised Indiana pictures this week, right? And I'm sure you have figured out that I've been procrastinating the post this whole week, too. It's another one of those days. Last night, I really did have big plans to finally finish editing and uploading my pictures. But then we started watching a Modern Family episode and that turned into an Office episode followed by laughing over clips of An Idiot Abroad and finishing up with our favorite show- Cheers!

Instead, I wanted to share some interesting craft projects I've found while knocking around on Pinterest. These crafts are perfect for the holidays, and I have plans to bring a few into fruition.

                                                                   Source: thepartystudio.wordpress.com via Hannah on Pinterest

I love these for Christmas goodie bags. Just swap out the tag with a "Merry Christmas!" and you've got yourself a sweet little gift!

                                                              Source: tinyapartmentcrafts.blogspot.com via Hannah on Pinterest

The awesomeness of this ornament really needs no explanation. I've watched all the movies, and am now on book three of the Harry Potter series and I'm thinking of making this ornament as a gift to myself this year. (And maybe a few others for the serious fans I know...)

                                                                        Source: goodhousekeeping.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Here's another sweet ornament idea! I think you could have a lot of fun with this. You can stick with the traditional fabrics, find a pretty sheer golden toole, or even find some funky Dr. Seuss style fabric to bring a little How the Grinch Stole Christmas into your Christmas tree.

                                                                   Source: deliacreates.blogspot.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Here's another great gift idea for people on a budget (like me). It's perfect for that special someone who values going green and who loves shopping for their fruits and veggies! Aren't these fun? I would feel so cool checking out with these bad boys.

                                                              Source: junkgardengirl.blogspot.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, here's a great idea for a DIY garland. Maybe you're a SERIOUS crafter and, unlike me, you already have miles and miles of mis-matched ribbon laying around. Here's a great way to put it to use and bring some holiday cheer into your home. This is on my to-do list as it's easier to store than fake greenery type garland and is probably a bit cheaper too!

Question of the Day:

When it comes to Christmas presents, do you buy your gifts or make them yourself?

Our First Christmas Tree

Everyone, meet the very first Christmas tree of the Malone household...

Yes, we have matching jackets. No, we aren't that kind of couple. And YES, we DO rock them.

Little Things: Owl Ornaments

     Here are one of those little things that make me smile- owls. This past week I did a lot of looking around on the web to find cute ideas for homemade Christmas gifts. These little ornaments stole my heart, and I have plans in the future to create some homemade owls of my own. They can be found for purchase on Inhabitots, a very cool site offering boatloads of "green this" and "organic that" for your children. It is definitely worth checking out.

Stewart the Owl