Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was originally planned to be held at our home because of our crazy work schedules. 

Then we realized we'd actually have the weekend after Thanksgiving off leaving us time to travel north to Columbus and enjoy dinner on Saturday once everyone was home. (Kaite had to work Black Friday.)

Then we realized the Egg Bowl was also on Saturday, playing on channel ESPNU. Mom and Dad don't receive that channel, but Marianna does!

So Thanksgiving was moved to a third location, Tupelo! Marianna was a wonderful host in her new house. (Her house is gorgeous! It's going to get its own post.)

Mom and Kaite working on Italian spinach and realgreasyfloured gravy.

Marianna setting the table. She made that tabletop with ceramic and glass pieces. 

Her choice of china for the dinner was Fiestaware. 

Jared carving the turkey while Kaite supervises and instructs.

Dad, Mom, Lydia, Jared, Kaite, and Marianna before the meal that was a huge success!

The Coffeys don't have many holiday traditions, but naps after any holiday meal are definitely a tradition!

Christmas Greetings 2010

Cinnamon Damask Christmas Card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Blogger Spotlight.

This is the first BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT held every Tuesday. Unless I have a granny-memory-moment and forget, then it will be held whenever I post it. :)

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I know this girl named Katie. She's a real cool kid. Katie and Jared went to school together back in the day. Katie was also the first person we saw after we got engaged. I don't think we even told her! We wanted to tell the parents first. 

Anyways.

Katie blogs and tweets and always has something important to say. For example, 

And she's almost a bigger Mississippi State fan than me. I guess she sorta is since she's an MSU alum and I'm not. 

I really fell in love with Katie after this tweet. (Notice that I retweeted it!)

Katie is real in her blog and tweets. She's upfront and transparent with what she's experiencing in life. I really like that…it makes me feel normal knowing there's someone else questioning career paths and life in general. I feel ya, Katie! :)

I really wish she lived closer. We could totally be BFF and beat up on Jared all.the.time. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We are thankful for . . . 

1. Skype so we can continue the Coffey Family tradition of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade together even when we're apart on the day of.

2. Family that are willing to move holiday celebrations so we can all be together.  

3. Jobs that we love even if we have to work Thanksgiving. 

4. A husband that makes me laugh even when I'd rather cry. 

5. A promotion at work!! My first "big girl" job.

6. An entire weekend off to go to Columbus and Tupelo to see family and friends.

7. Puppies that always make me smile.

8. A husband that cooks! And a wife that cleans up behind him. 

9.  Most of all, Jesus, that continues to provide for us because of our faith and trust in Him.

What are you thankful for??

Guess what?! Another GIVEAWAY!!

The awesome sisters at Shanty2Chic are giving away a SIHOUETTE machine, too!!

Check out the post and enter the giveaway! :) Yay for FREE stuff!

Tatertots and Jello GIVEAWAY!!

Tatertots and Jello is giving away a SILHOUETTE machine!!

Click here to enter and check out what a Silhouette machine is. :)

FiveQuestionFriday.

1. What Christmas song do you loathe?

Hmm…I don't really loathe any Christmas song. I like them all! One that makes me sad when I hear it is Newsong's "Christmas Shoes." I usually turn the channel when it comes on because I alwaysalwaysalways tear up. 

2. Do you and your significant other cuddle at night or sleep on opposite sides of the bed? 

We cuddle at first then end up back to back. I can't sleep cuddled up on him unless I'm super exhausted. And he doesn't care for it either. 

3. Have you ever had surgery?

Do wisdom teeth count? I had a pretty good experience with that. The worse part was that it took them several times to find a vein to put the IV in. Then I was out and woke up facing the opposite way than when I went to sleep. Which means I walked to another room and sat down in another chair. Weird. I do sleep walk sometimes… :)

4. When do you typically have your holiday shopping done?
A week or two before Christmas. Traffic is CRAZY in this area starting the day after  Christmas so I do a lot of it online due to my road rage tendencies. :)

5. If money were not an issue (and you HAD to pick something), what would your ultimate luxury item be?
A vacation around the world. And I mean all over! Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Morocco, Sicily, Scotland, Ireland, Russia, Peru, Brazil, etc. I'd probably break it up into several vacays!

To send or not to send? Send!

Every year I always consider sending out Christmas cards. I love receiving Christmas cards. Especially the ones that have the page long letters about what each family member achieved in the past year.

I'm not nosy…just interested in other people's lives. :)

I have yet to send out Christmas cards since we've been married. But this is definitely the year.

Wanna know why?

Because I can't resist a good deal!

Shutterfly is offering 50 FREE Christmas cards for bloggers! YIPPEEEEEE!!

They have 805+ styles. I narrowed it down to 3 favorites, which was super hard. You can choose a flat card or a folded card. Cards with one photo or 6+ photos. A card with lots of color or black and white. Lots of choices!

My 3 faves:

I prefer a card that says "Merry Christmas." None of that "Happy Holidays" stuff.

I love the untraditional brown and the red bird.

I like that I could write a small paragraph here. A lot of cards have a character limit…not this one!

If I choose a folded card, it will probably be this one:

Shutterfly also offer greeting cards for any and every occasion you can think of. 

Baby Announcement and Stationary

Birthday Cards

Or if you are looking for a gift, calendars or photo albums may be the way to go!

I love personalized calendars! *hint hint, Jared!*

How cute is that baby! I know grandparents would love a "brag book" of their babies. 

So Shutterfly rocks. And is the place to go for Christmas cards, stationary, calendars, photo albums and anything else you may think of dealing with photos.

And that's that. :)

*All images courtesy of Shutterfly*

Blogger Spotlight

I've been pondering with the idea of spotlighting one of the bloggers I follow once a week. I would select a blog and tell about him or her and why I follow, what makes me come back to the blog, etc.

(Does anyone else follow blogs and sometimes unfollow later because it's not as interesting as before? I do!)

Thoughts? Ideas? Cries of outrage?

Now. Which day should I do my Blogger Spotlight? I like Tuesdays because I think they are the most forgotten day of the week! People dread Mondays. Look forward to "Hump Day" which brings Thursdays, which puts us one day closer to Friday and the weekend. At least for the majority of people.

I need to figure out a "button" for my blogger spotlight too! YAY for projects! :)

fivequstionfriday.

1. What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you?

The dentist filing my teeth. I hate that feeling! I haven't had many physical things happen to me. Never even been to the ER. *knockonwood*

2. How much sleep do you get at night?

Last night was 10 hours. Technically, it was this morning. Night shift throws me off so I didn't go to bed til 2am and woke up at noon. (See the time stamp? Yes, that's AM. And I'm just now getting sleepy!)

3. How long did you believe in Santa Claus? How did you find out that he does not exist?

Until I was 8 or 9 years old. I remember laying in bed with Mom and logically explaining to her why there was no way Santa could be real. "No one but Jesus could visit every child all over the world in one night!"

4. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?

Geez….Avatar? No…there's been one since then. I don't remember though. Jared and I go about three or four times a year. We'd rather rent a movie and have the ability to pause it. And it's cheaper! 

5. What do you wear to bed?

No comment. :)

Ode to Xena.

Xena is my first real car. Real as in she was bought specifically with me in mind. She had 7500 miles on her and the most comfy seats you will ever sit in. 

I didn't want her at first. She only had two doors! I knew this car was going to have to last me to marriage and maybe even my first kid. There was no way I would be hauling a baby seat (with a baby in it!) in and out of the back seat. 

But then I sat in her. And those seats. Xena, you had me at your comfy seats.

Six years and 70,000 miles later, it was time to say goodbye.

Her air was gone. She had dings and scratches from all the good times we shared. And memories, sweet memories. 

Like Kaite, my sis, falling out of the backseat onto the ground because her legs got tangled in the seatbelt. 

Or playing S-Stop with a bunch of Lockheart pledges. 

Remember Marianna changing your flat tire on the interstate in downtown Nashville?

Or belting made-up lyrics to the latest song because I have no idea what they're really singing. 

And driving all around the Golden Triangle because we no longer want to sit in the dorm and study. 

Our last drive was exploring Lamar County. We hit I59 with Taylor's latest hit blaring and tears streaming down my face. 

I keep thinking how silly it is for me to be upset over trading you in. "It's just a car, for crying out loud, Lydia!" 

But, no. She's not just a car. 

Xena was the last big purchase my grandmother made for me. She gave us soo much over the years, both tangible and intangible. In my head, letting go of Xena means I'm losing a part of Grandma.

So is it silly for me to be so torn up over saying goodbye to Xena? No. I don't think so. Because she's more than a car . . .

Miscellany Monday.

{one} I'm crafting (probably more like nesting, but nesting in my head means I'm preggo and that's so not true) a lot lately and I am LOVING it. I really want to decorate the entire house for Christmas/Winter this year. Here's to hoping it forces me to clean our guest bedroom/office/Mary Kay store/catch all room. 

[two] I pray I receive really great news later today. Or at least news that will point me to the next path God wants me to walk. Sorry for the vagueness. 

*three* After being on 2nd shift for awhile, I'm on night shift for 3 nights in a row with 1 off night in between and then working a 1st shift this coming weekend. My sleep is all messed up. Madness, I tell you, madness.

-four- I will get to see my husband for more than an hour today! Yippeeeee!! I have lots of plans for us…walmart, laundry, dusting, hanging art on the walls…

|five| I have about 80 more minutes of work and I could crawl on the floor and go to sleep right now. This is so not good. 

Fall Wreath

I found a really cool, easy-to-make wreath at Craftaholics Anonymous. I'm not a huge fan of Halloween like Linda is so I decided to make mine more autumn-friendly.

She used tied strips of black burlap around a wreath. Then added the wooden letters B-O-O to the wreath and hung it on her door. Simple! 

{{ Remember that I live in an apartment complex so taking great pictures of our door are pretty much impossible unless I have portable spotlights or really high-tech camera equipment. Since I have neither, my pics are bleh. I did my best with what I had. And that's what counts, right, Mom? :) }}

{With flash}

I chose brown burlap and the word FALL. 

{No flash}

I mod podged the letters in pretty fall leaf scrapbook paper.

{No flash}

I used a orange ribbon to hang it from the door hanger.

{No flash}

Whadaya think? These pics really don't do it justice! I love it. :)

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