On My Wishlist Today

Every girl should enjoy her morning tea from
a cup inscribed with Mr. Darcy's proposal, no?



via the fabulous Brookish on Etsy.

{She tells me that she hopes to have these
back in stock by the end of the week.}

Brad ♥'s Christmas lights.

So I had the bright idea for us to drive around and look at Christmas lights tonight. Brad did some googling, and this is what we came up with. What you are watching below is a house in Fort Worth, and It. Is. Awesome.

The Surprise Mix 2008 from chapelcreeklights on Vimeo.

Above is the 2008 Surprise Mix. This year it's the Black Eyed Peas, and you will NOT be disappointed. Seriously we watched it for 25 minutes, and the neighbor across the street has his own show going as well. Call if you want the address!

And So They Fell in Love, Over Processed Sugar.

This time of year is so fun for me because these were the first months of dating for us back in good 'ol 2003. On one of our first times to hang out, we went to Wal-mart (the glamorous life!) and ended up purchasing white chocolate covered oreos. My husband LOVES these, and so every year we are very happy when we find them in store. It's become our family tradition to consume them at Christmas.



First you bite a hole in the shield that is the white chocolate.

Then you dunk.

The white chocolate holds all the milk in and your fingers don't get mushy chocolate cookie on them--a very clean and delicious way to eat oreos.

I Met The Pioneer Woman

For any unfamiliar, The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) is a lovely house/ranch wife from our neighbor to the north, Oklahoma. She has a beautiful blog that has morphed from simple to a serious work of technology. Her posts vary from life on the ranch to makeup, and she is a HOOT. My description sells her blog short because I know you would love it.

{And she has awesome giveaways, but that's just a bonus.}

She has a fabulous new cookbook out that any lady on your list would enjoy receiving for Christmas with beautiful photography and great home-cooked recipes. If you've been following her Griswold Family-style book tour, you know that last night was the much anticipated booksigning at Borders in Dallas. From what I gathered from the the Borders staff, they anticipated anywhere from 400-500 people showing up. Instead, they got EIGHT HUNDRED.

Ashley and her mom were there for a little while, but the line just got way too long. They finally called our color group to line up for the signing (behind 5 other color groups of 100 people), and I decided that I'd give it 30 minutes and leave if the line wasn't moving.

What happened next was something I did not anticipate.

After about 15 minutes of waiting in line, the girl behind me asked about my Aggie ring, which in turn led me to forming a line friendship with 7 other ladies waiting it out. The line friendship morphed into facebook friendship, and then facebook friendship started us talking about starting a P-Dub Supper Club. We had so much fun, and it made the time pass a lot faster!

Ashley and me. We are like 10 feet from PW.

Crazy line ladies amusing themselves
before they became the P-Dub Supper Club.

This was taken at 12:30 AM.
She had been signing books for 5 1/2 hours at this point
and was still so gracious and smiley. I have to imagine that
3 years ago she never imagined her blog would turn into this.

{I'll update soon with a picture of the charter members of the P-Dub Supper Club along with P-Dub herself. It was so nice to meet you ladies!}

Full is Right.

On my mom's side of the family, everyone was in for the holiday at some point during the span of 4 days. We celebrated new lives given to Christ, new friends, new adventures, and being together. We also made something like 5 trips to Wal-Mart. I wish I were kidding.

Thankful for home.

Thankful for my grandparents' home and table.

Thankful for Grannie's dressing and
that man helping himself (my daddy!)

Thankful for my mother, and that I
didn't have to put the ice in the glasses.
(Seriously, my least favorite chore ever.)

Thankful for family.
{Grannie, Aunt Sheri, Pop, and Mom}

Thankful for my super husband. I am a blessed girl.

Public Service Announcement

{From Etsy seller 3LambsGraphcs}Their stuff is cool.

He Makes the Impossible Possible.

I lost my engagement ring and
wedding ring this past week.

Thinking about it makes me want to throw up even now.

We were at a park having some family pictures made. We set up for a tossed leaf picture, and on three, we threw the leaves up in the air. As soon as we were done, I looked at my left hand which no longer had rings on it and said to my husband, the man who gave me these rings, "MY RINGS ARE NOT ON MY HAND. I HAVE LOST MY RINGS."

I am convinced that those must be the most feared words for any man who has worked and saved to buy his fair lady a beautiful, shiny diamond.

Immediately he told me, "DON'T MOVE."

I froze like a statue while he and our wonderfully talented photographer began canvassing the area that was covered in leaves and grass. Feeling dumb for not helping, I finally marked my spot with my scarf and tried to search between pleas like, "Lord, help us" and "I'm so sorry."

Within 5 minutes we had retraced my steps, and Brad found my engagement ring. SWEET RELIEF. Praising God for that HUGE MIRACLE, we set about looking for my wedding band. The sun was setting, and after a while we were unable to look any more. The "Citizens on Patrol" car in the burb we live in came rolling through the park, asking what we'd lost. He mentioned that he had metal detector, but it was too late for him to come back that night.

After a long night of me sobbing over my sweet little wedding band, that patient, kind, and wonderful man of mine went back to the park at first light with a flashlight. The thought of him out searching makes my heart melt even now.

Unfortunately, he did not find it.

A few hours later, our citizen on patrol and his wife met Brad back out at the park with metal detectors. After two more hours of searching, the wife glanced down and saw the sun bounce off of something in the grass. What was lost was absolutely found. If you saw this park and the ground they were searching, you would understand that what I am talking about is an absolute miracle.

I am absolutely convinced that God cares about even our small things. This was a moment--a tangible reminder to me--that He is GOOD and faithful in all things, whether the answer is yes or no. Praise His Name.

(P.S. My rings were insured for loss, but who wants replacement rings?)
(P.P.S. I love how our pictures turned out. Check them on Facebook.)