and now it's okay...

...to wish you a Merry Christmas.

To some, I'm known as Scrooge or just as anti-Christmas, which I don't think is fair. I like Christmas, but I just think we should cross off one holiday before celebrating the next. While I'm guilty of buying a cute ornament or two before Halloween, I'm definitely not going to put up my tree or whip out the Christmas music until Thanksgiving has cleared the calendar.

CJ happens to love Christmas though. I've never spent more than a few hours messing around with Christmas decorations, but CJ spent most of the day making sure we ended up with a well-lit tree (to say the least). You'd think after all of that time that we'd have a matchy-matchy tree, but we both had mothers and grandmothers who built up massive collections of ornaments for us, so we have one of the most random trees out there, mixing Star Wars with elephants (what type of Republican would I be without some?), and teddy bears with football players (Peyton Manning is at the top), and I Love Lucy with airplanes...

Backtracking a little, I had a nice Thanksgiving. We spent a few days last weekend with CJ's parents down south, and I had Thanksgiving with my mom's side on Thursday and with dad's side today (CJ had to work both days though). We spent Saturday lounging around, mostly watching movies -- Smart People (it was full of dry humor, but was a bit too slow and we didn't finish it), Mama's Boy (funny enough), and Space Chimps (I fell asleep, but CJ said it was his type of funny and not really mine).

In wedding news (since everyone always asks): I love CJ and I'm very much looking forward to being married to him, but I've decided that I'm not really the type of person who gets super excited over planning a wedding or anything like that. So I'm really not doing too much in preparation, but just waiting for those RSVPs to come in... Just five weeks to go though!

catching up

As Amy reminded me today, I need to update. I feel like not a whole lot has been going on, but at the same time, things have been more busy lately.

For my birthday on the 7th, CJ took me out to eat at Palomino's, which was good. My fake present was a Christmas tree. I confessed last night that I already knew what my birthday present was, and that the look I got on my face (the "Oh crap, he bought me a Christmas tree for my birthday" face) was mostly due to the fact that I thought I might have been wrong. My real present was a picture of the painting he proposed in front of this summer. He definitely made up for his little joke by being so sweet and thoughtful.

Last weekend was the weekend of bridal showers -- one Saturday and one Sunday. We got some W things to help me get accustomed to my future last name, including some monogrammed towels, coasters, a wooden W to hang on the wall, and a Whitehead picture (one of those where the different letters are of different architectural things). I also got a lot of kitchen things...rather, CJ got a lot of kitchen things. And we also got a fire pit. Bless his heart, CJ put it together, we ran to the grocery to get some fire starters, and then we sat outside in about 25 degree weather roasting s'mores over our sad little fire of two logs. Anyway, to everyone who came and/or sent something, please know how much we both appreciate your thoughtfulness.

I don't have much planned for this week, but when CJ isn't working or finishing up the (fingers crossed) last test before officially landing the Plainfield job, he's going to be busy doing some woodworking. We're going to meet with our minister and his wife on Saturday and then it'll be down to his parents' for Thanksgiving on Sunday. It's a little crazy trying to juggle my family with his family, I'll admit.

Okay, it's back to doing laundry -- all those towels, tablecloths, and blankets we received this weekend...

election day recap

I'll spare the election commentary and just show you pictures of the celebration part of the night instead.

I've been told firefighters don't smile in pictures.

My co-worker, Rachel, and I with Becky shortly after the race was called.

Becky & Mitch celebrating.

2 month countdown

Less than two months to go before the big day. Really, I'm not nervous, but more like, "eh." I'm very excited to marry CJ, but I'm more focused on the life than this one particular day. My dress is altered, so I'm just waiting on the finishing piece. Invitations will go out in the next few days. Only a few more things need my attention. The best decision I've made so far -- aside from to actually marry CJ -- was to tell my mom I didn't care about the food any longer and that she could surprise us the day of. That took away an enormous amount of stress.

On the job front, CJ has one job lead in Plainfield, and he's currently taking a two-week long course on hazmat training, which could open up a good part-time job up here as well. I keep having to remind myself that God has this great plan in store for us (Jeremiah 29:11). While I believe that probably refers to Heaven, I like to think it also applies for life on earth. So God will provide the right job for him at the right time. We just have to learn to be patient. (We're the most impatient couple you'll ever meet though.)

I have Tuesday off of work, so I plan to sleep in, make a trip to the BMV, vote, pick up my jeep at my parents', and then make it back to Indianapolis so I can go to Mitch's election night party. If you haven't seen this yet, and if you happen to check my blog on Tuesday, if you go into Starbucks and tell the barista you voted, you can get a free cup of coffee. So I'll be cashing in on that too.

Here are some pictures from my bedroom overhaul from a few weeks ago. For my birthday, my parents bought me the new bedding and curtains (although we registered for the rod, so the curtains will have to wait). No pictures for the walls yet either. Anyway, I'm a big fan of the colors, and I finally feel like I have an adult bedroom.

trick or treat

I love DST. Love it. I still maintain it's sort of a dumb idea, but I like the extra hour of sunlight in the summer, and I enjoy the one day when we fall back and I get an extra hour of sleep. Thank you, Mitch.

Amanda and I welcomed trick-or-treaters at my house on Friday night. There were some cute ones, and then there were some strange ones -- a teenager (maybe?) dressed up as a woman (maybe for Halloween??) who yelled at us in a whisper (yeah, it was weird) asking for a tampon, and then there was the kid who wore padding, a mask, and a cape and didn't know what he was. Oh, and then there was the kid -- probably 10 years old -- who came to the door, and when I told him to pick out what candy he would like, he just gave me a blank look and said, "Uhhhh..." I don't know whether he didn't like what I offered or if he was just confused. And then there were the fourteen year old boys who stopped by, not dressed up, but wanting to cash in on the candy. I didn't want to get TPed or egged, so I told them they'd have to come up with something creative, so the one kid says, "I'm a stud." Then he flexes his muscles and says, "Want to feel?" "Yeah...pass."

Last night, we hosted a Halloween party.


Get it? The dalmation goes with the firefighter...


The award for best costumes goes to Eric and Leah who came dressed as us! Eric had a little dalmation dog with him, and Leah pulled her hair back and wore silver hoop earrings and flip flops just to complete the look.




Chelynne (as Waldo's girlfriend -- I thought it was clever), me, Amanda (as a bridesmaid -- who says you can't wear your bridesmaid dress again?), Jill (Travis, her husband, came as James Dean, so she came dressed in 50s clothes), and Leah.


CJ, Eric, Brad (as a Colts fan), and Travis.