My Favorite Things

1)Modern Family. It comes on ABC on Wednesday nights. Very amusing.

2) I just ordered this Christmas wreath for my front door. Ours, of course, will be a G.
3) The time change. I love that the sun gets up at the same time as I do now. It was too hard to get out of bed when it was still dark outside. I don't even mind it getting dark earlier either. I love night time and it makes me feel like Christmas time is approaching.

4) Farmville. I used to make fun of people for playing this on Facebook. Now it is kind of an issue for me.

5) Christmas Music. I love the classics. Frank, Bing, Judy, Burl...I try to explain to Ben that to me this is like football season is for him. It only comes once a year and I have to get as much out of it as I can while it is here.

6) Brown Craft Paper. Every year I pick a theme for my gift wrap. This year I found the perfect red and white houndstooth paper and was trying to decide what coordinating pattern could go with it. Once again I chose craft paper. It is classic and will always be my favorite. I guess that means I could actually sing the song for this one..."Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things."

7) Christmas Catalogs. I have loved them since I was a kid. It used to be the Toy's "R" Us catalog that would send me racing to the mailbox. Now it's a more grown up version like, Ballard Designs and Pottery Barn. But the excitement hasn't changed.
8) Spicy Coconut Soup from Surin. Aint no other, ain't nothin' better!

9) Homemade Christmas Gifts. I have some pretty rockin' ideas for Christmas gifts this year that will finally employ the use of my sewing machine. Shhh...

10) Madisyn James Faucett. She was born October 27 (same day her daddy was born 29 years ago). She is sooooo precious and absolutely beautiful! Just perfect.

Visions of Christmas Decor Dance in My Head

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I wish we were having Christmas guests so I could rationalize decorating our guest room for the holiday season.

So bright and cheery.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I am sitting at my desk, listening to Christmas music without an ounce of guilt and counting the minutes until I can go home and sift through Christmas decorations. I LOVE this time of year. I realize I have bypassed Thanksgiving already, but that doesn't bother me...to me it is more of a dry run for the "real" holiday. Call me a Thanksgiving Scrooge, I don't care. Nothing can bring me down...it's the holiday season!

I take that back. Something can bring me down.

My husband has apparently found the perfect Christmas gift for me.

Good news, you say? You don't know me. Or my husband.

1) I love to be surprised. But I can't stand the suspense. We are talking 8 weeks of suspense, people.

2) We have a fun/competitive nature to our relationship. This means I have eight weeks of suspense accompanied with taunts. Here are some excerpts from the emails I have received today alone:

"I'm playing with your Christmas gift right now. It's sooooo good!! You are going to owe me a PS3 when I'm done."

"Once I give it to you, everyone you know will want one. Everyone that finds out you got it will ask where you got it & how they can get it themselves. It's that good. "

"I'm starting to like it so much, I might just keep it for myself. I can hardly work b/c it's keeping me busy. "

How am I supposed to deal with that for 8 more weeks?

3) Now the pressure is on to find the "perfect" gift for him. Which isn't easy to do when it comes to my Mister. Especially when we try really hard not to spend a lot of money at Christmas. He hints at a PS3, but the truth of the matter is - he would flip if I actually spent that much money on him.

4) He is really good at getting me presents. He sucks. I always end up being outdone. And I do NOT like to be outdone in the gift giving department. I rationalize that I am just easier to buy for (which I am), but that doesn't seem to soothe my competitive nature.

I need your help. ANY SUGGESTIONS??? What is the perfect gift for a 36 year old kid?

Ben's Birthday Weekend

Last weekend we traveled to Lexington for the Bama game and to celebrate Ben's birthday. We drove up Friday night and arrived to the Horse Capital just a little passed my bed time.

Ben was so excited to be in the horse capitol that he took a little pre-birthday ride.

We scored a pretty nice deal on a Holiday Inn Express on hotels.com. We weren't expecting anything fancy (just clean) but were pleasantly surprised when we arrived to our destination. Not too bad for a HIExpress. It just opened in March 2009, so the newness had not worn off yet.

Saturday morning we headed to Commonwealth Stadium to see the Tide show UK how football is played! It was absolutely perfect weather. Mid 60's and clear skies. That's what I call Football Weather!

We were able to get right up on the field before the game and watch the players warm up.

Coach Saban wasn't cooperating with us for a photo opp.

The Kentucky fans decided not to stick around to watch us beat them. They seemed to lose interest after the basketball team left?

After the game we went back to our room to take a a quick nap and freshen up for a night out on the town.

We celebrated Ben's birthday at DeSha's restaurant in downtown Lexington. It really is a beautiful city and the sites from our upstairs window-side table were quite nice.

Sunday we met my parents at Keeneland Horse Track. Keeneland doesn't open until this weekend, but the grounds were beautiful!We also drove to the the legendary castle Lee Majors bought for Farah Fawcett.

And we saw some of the beautiful horse farms in the area.

Mom and Dad took us out to lunch and then we headed back to Sweet Home Alabama. It was a nice little get away and the Tide brought us a "W" for our efforts! Roll Tide Roll!

Indescribable

I know this is an old one, but these words are ringing in my head the past few days.

From the highest of highs
to the depth of the sea
Creations revealing your majesty.

From the colors of fall
to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings.
All exclaiming...

Indescribable!
Uncontainable!
You placed the stars in the sky and you know them by name.
You are amazing God!

All powerful!
Untameable!
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim.

You are amazing God!
You are amazing God!

Who told every lightning bolt where it should go?
Or seen heavenly store houses laden with snow?
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night?
None can fathom!


Indescribable!
Uncontainable!
You placed the stars in the sky and you know them by name.

All powerful!
Untameable!
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim.

You are amazing God!
You are amazing God!

Incomparable!
Unchangeable!
You see the depth of my soul and love me the same.
You are AMAZING God!
You are AMAZING God.

Moving On Up...

the hallway that is.

I recently moved 2 doors down to an office with the exact same layout and dimensions as my old one. However, this gave me the opportunity to choose a new paint color and floor plan. I forgot to take before pics but just imagine a room full of junk with navy blue and cream walls.

The new wall color isn't nearly as bright as it appears in the photos.

This is the view I have from my desk chair.

Amy Butler is at Bed Bath & Beyond

Check out a store near you!