2009 - Year End Review

January

Started the year off on a very sad note. My beautiful cousin, died on New Year's Eve. Today I am remembering the beauty of her smile.

February

Mason Tinsley Smith was born. What a blessing he is! Such a joy to be his aunt.

We decided to build a house! We had no idea what a roller coaster that would be...
March
Started marketing The Paper Nest. More than a hobby now, also a source of income. Yay for more income!
April
Pretty boring month. Spent most of it saving money for our house and trying not to kill any builders along the way.

May

Took a trip to South Carolina to visit the Grizzles. Always good to spend time with them.

June

Closed on our house. Home Sweet Home.Headed to The Ohio State University to watch my Sister graduate. Such a proud moment.


July
Spent the week of Independence Day hosting my parents and sister in our new home. Boy did I make them earn their keep! Yay for handy parents!
Celebrated 2 extremely happy years of marriage to the perfect man for me. I honestly don't know how I got so lucky.

August
Turned 27. Ouch.

Happy to have Mr. & Mrs. Grizzle for a visit. They helped me celebrate my birthday in style.

September
Spent most of the month watching the Tide dominate on the football field, hoping that it would last the rest of the season.

October

Welcomed Madisyn James Faucett into the world. Such a joy to have a niece!

Ben got another year older in Kentucky. The Tide brought him a W at the game that day and we both decided Lexington is a great town.November
Spent Thanksgiving in Ohio with my family. A truly great visit. I couldn't ask for a better family. They mean the world to me.
December
First Christmas in our new home. Enjoyed hosting 2 parties (CORE Group and Supper Club).
Enjoyed my first Christmas with the Grizzles. Had a great time with Steve & Anna and the boys and Bob & Elaine. I am blessed to have married into such a wonderful family.

2009 was a special year for Ben & I. These are just some of the blessings and events from this year. We praise God for all of them and look forward to another year to serve and honor Him.

Merry Christmas

Baking with My Sweet

Preparing for the task.We decided to make 5 different types of cookies.
1) Gingerbread Men (and some gingerbread snaps too)
2) Graham Toffee Crunch Bars
3)Peanut Butter Crackers dipped in Chocolate
4) Sugar Cookies
5) Cranberry & Orange Shortbread

My one and only action shot.

Round 1

PB Ritz Sandwiches dipped in Chocolate

Graham Toffee Crunch (My favorite)

In Round 1 we made batches 1-3 and decide to take a break before attempting batches 4 & 5 and decorating. We were pretty lazy in Round 2 and decided to forego batch 5 (Cranberry & Orange Shortbread) and were pretty lame with the decorating...

These were the only 2 gingerbread men that got any attention...and their decorations are barely worth mentioning.


Another lame attempt on the Sugar Cookies.

After all of the cookies were made/decorated we made goody bags for our co-workers, hair stylist, neighbors and mailman.

I hope our hair stylist and mailman don't take the cookies as an insult instead of a Thank You...

The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

I am about a third of the way through it. Very interesting. If you don't believe me just ask Miss SJP.

My Favorite Things

1. Perfectly Pink TuTus. My friend Jessa just started her own Tutu biz. They are super cute! Check them out. Great Christmas gifts.

2. Aquafresh Isoactive Toothpaste. Super foamy. Just like I like it.


3. Having my team win the SEC Championship game. Not only did they win, but they played this season with extreme talent and discipline. They looked great against the gators and I am so proud of those boys for playing the way they did, not only last week but the whole year!

4. Magic 96.5. Non-stop Christmas music in the car until sometime in January.

5. Country Living Christmas Magazine. This year's edition was really good. Lots of great ideas in there.

6. Christmas Cookies. Buckeyes are a tradition but I found quite a few new good recipes in the magazine mentioned above.

7. Door Numbers. I got mine here. Cheap, easy to apply and super cute (if I do say so myself).

8. The Blind Side. One of the best movies I have seen in a long time. A feel good holiday movie with a dash of SEC football at no extra price.

9. Blackberry Pomegranate Yoplait Yogurt. I love yogurt, but have a STRONG aversion to fruit chunks. There is nothing worse to me than to be eating (or drinking) something smooth and suddenly come upon a slimy chunk of fruit. The blackberry pomegranate flavor tastes great and has no chunks. Or seeds, even.
10. ABC' 25 Days of Christmas. There is no need for me to go out and buy all of my favorite Christmas movies as long as this little genius of an idea is around. My DVR catches them for me and I have a plethora of movies to watch while I wrap presents.

Supper Club Christmas Party

I was running around taking photos before the party but forgot to actually take some DURING the party! This was our first year with babies and we all had full hands...pictures are hard to capture that way. Mason and Madi were wonderful additions to our group! And we had a blessed evening...as we always do!

My grandmother's Christmas dishes. I ended up with a set of 4 and I cherish them so much!

Hot cocoa to go with our delicious desserts that Betty brought, tiramisu and egg custard pie.

My gift to the girls.

They each received a colander filled with cooking gadgets and yummy goodies tied up with a pewter Christmas Tree spreader and a Kate Spade book.

Bethany's gift bag contained a onesie for Madi that had "Supper Club" monogrammed on the front. It was from none other than The Monogrammin' Momma.

Amanda's bag contained a live copy of the Will Hoge concert we attended together last month. I swear you can hear us screaming in the background!

This was our 5th Supper Club Christmas Party and I daresay that it was our best yet due to the newest additions!

Getting ready for our CORE Group Christmas Party

We started this weekend off with a rough start. My car battery died and we thought we were going to have to have it towed to get it fixed. But have no fear, Trey is here! Thank you so much, Trey, for coming over Friday night and lending us your battery charger. Thanks to you our weekend was on a quick upturn!

We woke up Saturday morning to a light dusting of snow. A good sign for the SEC Championship game. It was very cold outside so I made us a big pot of beans and some sweet corn bread to munch on while we watched the game.

Side Note: Alabama WON 32-13 over Florida to win the SEC Championship. We are now Pasadena bound to play in the National Title game on January 8. I have to say the Tide looked great out there and I was so proud of the whole team!


Ben has finals this week so I had to do the decorating by myself. He wanted to help, but our CORE Group Christmas Party was last night and I couldn't wait on him. Sorry, honey.

During the decorating...


After the decorating...

More pictures to come from the party!