Christmas has ARRIVED!

Christmas has arrived at the Hendrickson household!! We spent Sunday getting our tree, setting it up, and getting out all our Christmas decor. We lit our Christmas candle and "dressed" the tree. It lasted all of about an hour, but it was too much fun!

First, I made this wreath!! I was very impressed with myself! I followed the directions that Thrifty Decor Chick gave and improvised some...love the colors! All I used was a wire hanger, cheap Christmas ball ornaments, and ribbon! I should have used a little hot glue though...if you decide to make one, head over to her website and check it out!



Here is our tree :) I love getting out all the ornaments and remembering fun times. We have a Rockettes ornament from our trip to New York City last Christmas, many Gator ornaments, and Danny's favorite, "Festivus for the Rest of Us" Sienfeld ornament. I will have to show you all more later on...


Here is our sweet little train...


This is my bookcase where I added little bits of Christmas with some globes up top and my favorite shelf below with my Gator handtowel and the loving mice.



I adored these mice when I was little. They were always a staple in my room growing up. They are just so sweet!


Here is our TV stand where we are hanging our stockings with care....they say hope and peace. I got the stocking holders at Target and they are so cute! $20 for 2 and they are nice and heavy.



There you have it! Our Christmas tour is complete. I don't normally go all out for Christmas inside the house, but we have some plans for outside that I will keep you posted on :)

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I WON!

I won something!!! This is the second giveaway I have ever won ya'll, and I enter A LOT! I can't wait to receive my adorable Christmas photo album :) Thanks Bride4Life!

You all should check her out--she is TOO cute!

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Seriously Silly

I have so much to be thankful for that I decided to compile both a serious and a silly list, because that's just who I am :)

Here is the serious list:

My family
My husband's family

Our new home

Our baby, Lola
The Gators, yes I am serious about that one...


My great girlfriends




And here the silly list begins:

Pioneer Woman, because she allows me to bake delicious cakes like this one


The hole in our bathroom floor, because it allowed us to have this beautiful bathroom



Having the best view in school

Lobster!


There you have it--I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving with your loved ones!!

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Big Night Out

Teddi, my good friend from Atlanta, and Ryan, my good friend who is finishing up law school in Gainesville visited us this weekend! It was so good to see them both. They both have boyfriends and we all got to hang out and have a delicious dinner at a steak house on Friday night. This is actually a picture from the day after, unfortunately we were too full to take a picture the night of the "event".

Our waiter was awesome! He brought out all kinds of little goodies--this was a mini french onion soup.

Here is Allan enjoying his :) You might remember him as the guy who comes over to our house every few weeks to have dinner.

This was a sample of the lobster bisque...which was in three words...TO DIE FOR. I have never, ever, had better bisque IN MY LIFE.

Cute little pieces of bread...

My meal halfway through...steak, green beans, french friend onion strings, and mushrooms.

We bought a bottle...or two...or so, of this wine from OUR BIRTH YEAR!

Loaded backed potato to boot.

The dessert took the "cake" ha...homemade macadamia nut ice cream in a waffle bowl with homemade hot fudge sauce.

It was SUCH a great dinner. They took us on a "field trip" through their wine cellar which held approximately 150,000 bottles of wine. We got to go through the kitchen and see their meat locker. WOW, it was such an experience...literally a 4 hour tour. We ate at 8 and left at 12! Such good times with good friends :)

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New Moon

I am not going to lie...I am torn. I have friends coming in from Atlanta this weekend to stay with us. I am SO happy they are coming! Honestly...THRILLED! I finally get to meet my good friend's boyfriend who we hope is the one :) We are going to dinner somewhere fancy tonight...more on that later...but I don't think they want to see New Moon...and I REALLY want to see it! I might just have to slip out and see it myself at some point--has anyone seen it already? Let me know what you think. I wasn't crazy about the first movie...but also not crazy about the second book.

I also HAVE to tell you about an ADORABLE giveaway LLM is having...check her out--she is absolutely hysterical--makes me laugh nearly every day!

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My First Turkey!

I made my first turkey EVER this past weekend. We are spending the Thanksgiving holiday with my mom so I will let her cook (phew) and I will just supervise and make sure she is making my sweet potato casserole correctly and with enough marshmallows :)

All I did was buy a small turkey breast (not the entire thing, people) and put it in the slow cooker with some seasonings and a can of gravy. So easy! The gravy turned into a dark delicious sauce that we could pour over the turkey. That stuffing is just that boxed stuff...you know, the real goodness!

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Yum Yum Pumpkin Muffins!

Ya'll have probably seen these floating around the internet, but I have made them so often this past month, they fill my freezer! They are DELICIOUS and easy to freeze/thaw/warm. If you haven't tried them, you have to because they are so soft and yummy!

I always use a measuring cup to fill the muffin pans...

Our new "oven" because ours is no longer in use...grrr...

Yes, we can only make 6 at at time...please don't laugh.

YUM!

Ingredients: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil (yes, 1 1/4 cups)

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (Regular or mini, I like mini best)

Directions

In large mixing bowl beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla and oil until smooth.

Mix dry ingredients together and mix into pumpkin mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.3

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full.4

Bake at 400 F for 16-20 minutes.

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Beautiful Bag

I splurged last week on a GORGEOUS new bag. It is very large, lots of pockets, and has the most FUN rose design on the front of it. It is modeled after a Valentino, wich I will never own nor do I want to. I can put this bag down in a spill and simply wipe it off and not think twice about how much I spent on it :)

http://www.funsac.com/pshop/254-big-buddha-rose.html

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Coupon Love!

Sadly, going to Publix on the first day of the sale is almost like Black Friday for me...I look forward to it all week, plan for it, and become as excited as a child about to ride their first roller coaster when I watch the prices drop on the screen.

Here's how this week went:

By the way, this is the kitchen we can't wait to rip out! More on that another day...would love your suggestions when I post some pictures.

2 chinet napkin packs--FREE

2 glade candles-1.50 (I have a secret santa in Dec. these will be perfect for!)

2 Progresso Soups (.30 for both)

2 Emerald nuts containers (3.50)

2 Mueller's whole wheat pasta (.19 for both)

Men's multivitamins (6.00...grrr--biggest purchase)

Cascade- (3.50)

Apples (2.99)

4 yoplait yoplus yogurt packs (1.00!!!! for ALL of them!)

2 Kraft cheeses, one shredded, one block (1.67)

Kashi breakfast bars (FREE, emailed the company)

Softsoap (.40)

Dove bars (1.99)

TOTAL: $25!!!

Saved in coupons and advertised special savings: $50!!

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Ikea "Fun"

The hubs and I are on the lookout for kitchen inspiration. We recently decided that we wouldn't be leaving anything in the kitchen for the remodel, but completely starting over. So, that takes a lot more planning than our original plan: reface cabinets and replace counters and appliances.

We headed off to Ikea on Saturday. First, let me say that never have I been to a store in which I felt like I should have gotten a free train ride at some point during my visit. This place is like an amusement park!

Here is one of their beautiful kitchens:

Love the floor tile, although we already replaced ours so that isn't in the budget.

Here is a white version, I think we will end up doing wood that matches the wood we have in the main part of the house since we have tile in the kitchen. The tile is light so the white cabinets just might make the room too white.

I love those undermount lights...they would be so useful and cozy.

Overall, we decided against Ikea for the following reasons:

1. All cabinets must be put together by the purchaser

2. You must design the kitchen and cross your fingers and toes that you measured correctly and picked the right cabinetry.

3. Costs extra for them to install it (almost $100 a cabinet, more than the cabinets are actually worth)

4. Wood is particle board.

5. Many of the pull-outs are made of plastic.

I think this would be a great option for a condo, but we think we might need to spend a little more to have our house stand out for a future buyer. Sad that we are always thinking of that, but hey, what can ya do?

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Fireproof

Ok, kind of corny...but overall we liked the message that the movie Fireproof sent (especially for $1). We have The Love Dare and did it over the summer, and now we are doing it again...it honestly changes the way you look at your marriage over and over again! Kirk Cameron--too cute. Acting...not so cute, but still--good message!

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Date Night

So Friday afternoon we decided we would go see "The Box" at the local movie theater. We haven't been to a movie in a long time, so we thought it would be a treat. Well, we got there and they said tickets were $9.75 each!! Is that not incredible for a 4:30 showing? We just couldn't do it, it wasn't worth it...so instead we went to a local tapas cafe and sat outside for happy hour and tapas--for the SAME PRICE!

How cute are these booths?

Here is the little coy pond that was next to our table--you can sit in or out--here is a peek at the inside through those glass windows

Here is my happy hubby that we paid $20 for a DELICIOUS mushroom cream sauce dip, a beer for him, and champagne sangria for me :)

How do you all feel about the price of movies?? We were at Publix today and saw a Blockbuster Kiosk and rented Fireproof for $1!! I will let you know what we think :)

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I've Got My Shades On...

We got new blinds for the house..and WOW does it make it look brighter and BETTER! I am thrilled with every cent we spent. The old ones were vertical and yellow colored, which made the whole house seem like a dark hole.

I think I need something for over the window--some interesting valance maybe?

Before:

After:

Before:

After: (and Lola)

Love it!

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