In case you're interested....

A sweet reporter from the Missourian Newspaper wrote a piece on the staff at Missouri Girls Town and I thought I'd share it. There is a large section from yours truly talking about the holidays.

What a Lovely Year I've had

We're all moved in thanks to the muscles of many of our friends and family members. Aside from one small breakdown last night when I realized that all of my clothes and shoes do not have a chance of all fitting in my closet, I am thrilled/relieved at how smoothly everything went. I'm not embarrassed to say that this breakdown included tears. Since "moved in" is NOT the same as "unpacked" I'm not quite ready to share pictures of the apartment in it's current state.

I'm overwhelmed by the thought of learning my way around a new {much larger} city and making friends and finding a job- but at least JJ and I are going through it all together.

It is hard to believe that today is the last day of 2010...and then wraps up one of the most eventful year of my life. What a LOVELY year I've had! 2010 was filled with my first full-time job, weddings of dear friends, wonderful trips, a move to a new city and my wedding to Mr. Bennett.

I hope all of you have a lovely New Year's Eve. I'll be wearing all black to a party tonight because I've always imagined that is what you do when you live in a big city.

M-Day

Check out our new digs! Today is the big M-Day: moving day. While you are nice and toasty inside, think of us carrying a sofa bed {who's idea was it to buy a sofa bed anyway?!} up and down flights of stairs in the snow. In fact, please drink some hot chocolate with mini marshmallows because that is inevitably what will be on my mind most of the day. Add some Kahlua and you've got a 98% shot of hitting my exact deepest wishes at this very moment.

Famous holiday lights on the Plaza in Kansas City

Anywho, I'm excited to show you photos of our new apartment as soon as we get settled. We {obviously I mean "I"} have accumulated a ridiculous amount of stuff over the years so it is taking a small army of friends and family to make today's M-Day happen. I'm going to owe so many people beer!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve! We made it home to my parents from vacation very early this morning (3:00 am to be exact) and get to spend the day relaxing with family. The honeymoon was extremely honeymoon-ish and I promise to tell you all about it when it's not Christmas Eve. It's an icy, white Christmas here in Kansas!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday- and don't forget why we are celebrating. JJ and I are so excited for our first Christmas as a married couple. I'm sure I'll have quite a few stories to share next week. 

Check out my Frosted Tips

Want to know what I'm doing instead of packing right now?

I'm currently laying in bed, drinking tea, and looking through these ridiculous pictures of boy bands.

Please, join me...

 

I can't even imagine what type of cohesion had to take place for these boys to pose for these pictures. I am SO glad they did though. It is providing a perfect comic relief to packing boxes!

Time to pack, big boobs!

Today was my last day of work. Now I actually have to get serious about packing up our apartment. My sweet friends have been saving boxes for me and now it's time to fill 'em up! 

Everyone at work gave me the biggest bra known to man and a pair of super sweet granny panties that they had signed for me to take on our honeymoon. 

Am I lucky or am I lucky?? They stuck Santa in there because I was having trouble filling out the bra. 

Truth Pillow

If I had listened to this pillow I wouldn't be so embarrassed to be putting on a bathing suit on Saturday...

Via Jonathan Adler

Home-made Wine of the Month Club

It is a near impossible task to shop for your in-laws. Especially the first year when you a.) are trying to impress them and b.) you are super poor.

JJ's parents love wine so for Christmas we gave them a subscription to a wine of the month club- a club that we created. We bought a variety of different wines {a combo between ones with a high rating and ones with really cool labels}. I made little tags for each month and tied them to the bottles with Christmas-y ribbon and put them in a long basket with a rate-that-wine notebook.

I'm pretty proud of us!

JJ's younger sister seemed to love the Kate Spade planner I got her. She's a graphic design major so the art in the planner was perfect for her.

And here is a sneak peak of my Christmas gift from JJ's parents. More to come on this project later. Isn't she a beauty?!

I've moved from packing boxes to packing my mouth full of reddi-whip

I don't so much mind the winter, or the cold, but today the yoga pants and extra hot coffee just weren't cutting it. According to the local weatherman we got a "nice dusting of snow" this weekend. He makes it sound pleasant. To me, it looks like a white nightmare outside.

Wrapping up every glass we own in newspaper {which I had to have my mom bring me from Kansas because JJ and I haven't read a print version of a newspaper since we graduated high school} got really, really old so I moved on to cleaning out the fridge. I knew I had hit a low point when I was sticking the nozzle of reddi-whip in my mouth and seeing how much I could squirt in there before my cheeks buldged. JJ didn't dare take the bottle away.

I'm pretty sure I need some entertainment {or a multi vitamin} in my life.  Next on my agenda: making the batter for some home-made cinnamon rolls for the work Christmas brunch. Just three more days of work left before the big move. We're down to paper plates and reject tshirts at this point.

Get it while it's hot

The new issue of Lonny magazine came out this morning!

I want to be able to read it cover to cover so I'll have to wait until Sunday afternoon to read the issue. The anxiety will probably give me heart-burn until then. I'm not kidding.

Printable Gift Tags

You're going to love me {more than you already do}. Here are a freakin' bunch of free printable gift tags for you to download. Even West Elm is in on the deal! Your gifts are going to look like a million bucks.

Happy wrapping, friends!

Virtual Dessert Party

I have the greatest friends. I took a packing break earlier this week to have a "virtual dessert party" with one such friend.

I ate cookie dough, she ate a cupcake and we caught up on the other's life. Skype is a wonderful thing!


I told her I wasn't taking this picture. I think she'll get over how bad of a friend I am when she sees how funny it is that we're both licking every last ounce of sugar from our fingers. So much for my diet before JJ and I leave for the beach next week!

Story Time

Want to hear a story about my first Thanksgiving with my new in-laws?

I suppose I knew the whole family was going to take an "old time photo" but this did not occur to me when I chose which undergarments I wore that day. When we arrived there was a large open room filled with every type of western/saloon/revolutionary war costume you could imagine. We each picked something and the girls headed to the one dressing room.

Now, if you have ever taken an "old time photo" then you would know {unlike me} that all of the costumes have an open back to help accommodate any size woman. I took off all my clothes, put on my dress and froze: my only option was to have JJ's mom pin up the back of my dress. Why is this a problem? Because I was wearing a thong.

There I stood, caboose exposed, for my husband's mother to pin up the back of my dress. I am pretty sure this is family bonding to the greatest extent.

Que the "thong song" now, please.

Amazon heard my deepest wishes

It's almost as if Amazon.com is reading my blog! The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Portrait of a Rider by Vicky Moon. I'm pretty sure I need this. 

Amazon.com, if you're listening, I'd also like an ipad. Thanks.

No time for crappy thoughts

This weekend we doubled the number of boxes we had packed. We also doubled our stress levels.

Here is what is getting me through:

via

Tomorrow starts my last full week at work. There's so much left to do to make sure 50 little girls have a magical Christmas. Just call me Santa.


And, if you didn't already know, Apartment Therapy is giving away some pretty amazing holiday goodies everyday until Christmas. I am in LOVE with this candelabra they are giving away today.

Go enter. It's free! 

Craigslist Christmas

I love listening to the Kidd Kratic in the morning radio show on my way to work each day. I've been listening to them for years and feel an embarrassingly wierd connection to them. This morning they were talking about all the people you could check off your Christmas list by picking up all the free items from Craigslist.

So, I decided to see what's available in my area. I found some gems!

Crappy TrampolineI dont have a truck to haul, so u will have to pick up.
its a 10 ft trampoline. its black. The actual mat is coming off. About 10 springs have broken off
it will need a new mat, which can be ordered online.
if would like a pic please text or email. thanks

Halloween VestThe picture is of an XL Halloween sweater vest. In great condition, just don’t need it.

10 Husky Dress Pants2 pair dress pants. Each pair has a small stain on them, one is very faint the other is very small. Still decent dress pants.

2 New Moon Poster ThingsIt was an advertisement cover from walmart that I cut into two pieces. Just don't want them anymore!!!


WalnutsFree Walnuts. You pick up. Between I-70 and Pilot Grove on Hwy 135.

Who wants to be on my Christmas list this year?