Christmas Tree Decorating...

After we returned from Thanksgiving, we went out on our Christmas tree hunt. After an attempt at one of those Christmas tree farm places, we quickly proceeded to Wal-Mart & Home Depot to find some more affordable trees. I had no idea how expensive a decent size tree had gotten. Last year was our first Christmas together and we were not going to be home much so we bought a tiny tree that could not have been taller than maybe 5 foot. We only needed 2 strands of lights so that gives you a good idea how small it was! Anyhow, we found our 9 foot Noble Fir that we were looking for at Home Depot. Their prices are extremely reasonable and had some nice looking trees. It was a REALLY big 9 footer too! Jarrod suggested that the guy cut the trunk shorter b/c of its thickness, but the Home Depot dude insisted that where he was cutting it was fine. Well, when we got home, the trunk wouldn't fit in the tree stand as Jarrod had suspected so being the great husband that he is, he got out his hand saw and began sawing away. After some minor setbacks, we finally had it standing straight up, but no time for decorating this weekend. Here is the before:

After I returned from Dallas the following weekend, Jarrod helped me string the lights, and I had fun finding just the right spot for all our ornaments the rest of the evening. One night later that week, Jarrod began hanging candy canes on the tree & I was like "what are you doing?" He was appalled that my family did not put candy canes on the tree every year. We laughed, he only put 2 of the boxes on instead of 4 he had bought and he took the other 2 boxes to work. His co-workers were very thankful that our family didn't put candy canes on our tree. LOL The tree was not finished off until my mom and grandmother came in town for my birthday this passed weekend and I climbed to the top & added the gold star. Here is the after picture of our decorated tree: As I mentioned, mom and Patsy were here for my birthday. We drove up to Salado to their Christmas Stroll on Saturday and did some shopping at the cute antique stores there. It was a fun day. We returned back home to some great smelling steaks being prepared by my wonderful husband. He grilled up some steak, pork, vegetables & baked some potatoes for us. It was all yummy! I opened up my gifts and then on to dessert! My mom baked my favorite chocolate cake (which has become a running joke amongst us, but not room to go into the details about that now). It was delicious!

Guess, that gives it away -- this is my last year in my twenties! Better make it a good one!

Do I hear 30....

Sold! To the couple on the back row who has no clue what they are doing! Ok, so recently we were finally able to go to this antique auction near our house that we have been wanting to attend since we moved here. There was some stained glass windows being auctioned off at this particular sale and we had our eye out for a piece for one of our windows. However, once arriving, there was sooo much more! I went early to scout out what we might want to bid on and picked out the piece of glass I wanted and a couple other things -- one of which was this adorable piece of furniture that would fit perfectly in our half bath downstairs. After the scouting, I called Jarrod immediately to tell him we had to go to the auction that night. So we both finished up most of our errands and met back up at the auction at 7pm. What an experience it was! It was more than just shopping -- it was entertainment! People watching was great! Jarrod loved the fact that the couple sitting next to us opened their picnic basket to an array of cheeses and a bottle of wine! Hilarious! But, definitely fitting as we found out as the night progressed -- no lack of entertainment. So back to the buying -- well that adorable table I just had to have was auctioned off 5th so I had not had a chance to learn how to do this yet and I let it get away. I should have had a price in my head of how much I was going to bid, but it all just happened so fast!

Auction Lesson #1: write down max price for all items wanted.

After my table got auctioned away, I was so sad and just couldn't forget about it so we sat back and watched for a while, and a while longer and longer....they were not bringing out the piece of stained glass I wanted. 2 hours later they still hadn't and our stomachs were growling.

Auction Lesson #2: Bring snacks! The popcorn at the concession doesn't do it!

We bid on this painting that came up that retailed originally for $1000 & we won it for $85 + tax & 15% auction charge. We thought it might work in our entry (and it did! but is so high up that we can't hang it just yet until we get a taller ladder.)
Finally about 10 o'clock, the auctioneer had lost lots of buyers and bidding was getting scarce so he asked us to go pick out the things remaining that we wanted to bid on. Finally! I could bring my stained glass up! He began auctioning some of the items and a very cute old lady sitting toward the front was trying to bid on something she really wanted, but was not very confident about her bid so the auctioneer didn't see her hand and sold it to someone else. Wow! Was she mad! I hate to admit it, but old ladies are so cute when they are mad.

Auction Lesson #3: Be confident about your bid and stand up to get his attention if you are being ignored.

So my stained glass was finally up there and the bidding began. Luckily there were not many bidders left and since quite a few other pieces had gone earlier in the night, I didn't have to put up much of a fight and got it for $30! If you have looked at stained glass windows at antique stores before as I have, you know they are not necessarily cheap! Especially for one in good condition. I'm guessing the piece we got would retail for at least double what we paid, but some larger pieces can get up into the 100's. Anyway, we were quite proud of our purchases and the stain glass window fits perfectly in the bathroom window where we wanted to put it.

It's Magic...

Ok, men, this is a post you can skip over, but if any of you women out there have ever experienced fading or creasing of your eye shadow, look no further as I have found the magic solution -- "shadow insurance" by Too Faced. I was introduced to it by a lady at Ulta who highly recommended it, I have been using it for the past couple of weeks & I love it so far! It really makes my shadow more vibrant and my shadow doesn't seem to fade by the end of the day. Usually when I get ready to take off my makeup at night, it looks as if I never put any shadow on in the first place, but when I use the shadow insurance primer, my shadow looks the same at the end of the day as it did in the morning when I just applied it! I just thought I would pass on this secret that I have discovered using eye shadow primer, which many of you may be thinking "man, that girl is behind the times, we've been using that stuff for years!" Even if so, you should check out this brand because it is really magic! I haven't used other brands, but I know this one works. It is a new fave for sure!