Friday, where are you!?

I am literally going crazy waiting for Friday to get here. I cannot wait to have another three day weekend, followed by another three day weekend for new years!!

This is hubs and I's first Christmas as a married couple! I can't wait. I went a lot little overboard... We set a limit as to how much we could spend on each other, but I kept finding things I wanted to give him... So now, the cats are giving Sean a gift, and Santa is making a debut with MONSTER JAM TICKETS! I can't wait! So maybe that's more of my gift to the both of us :)

I'm also craving some shopping, which is ridiculous considering how packed it is out there. But there is a blazer at Kohls that I am pining after...

So maybe I deserve a Christmas present to myself, riiiiight?? I thought so too.

I am trying to convince Sean that we need a fancy date night, because I bought a dress from Macy's that I will never be able to where unless we have one. But it was on sale from $150 to $17! Who could say no to that?? (exactly. that's what I'm sayin').

This weekend was OK. Actually, I'm just irritated with small parts of it. Nina (Sean's best friends' fiance) and I went out on Friday night to a local bar by her house while the boys played poker and had a great time! Then Saturday I went and had lunch with a few coworkers, and wasn't really feeling too hot so Sean and I stayed in. <3 He is the best. We watched Inception and State of Play - both of which were pretty good, though I'm going to have to watch Inception again.

Sunday was kind of bleh, except for meeting up for some deeeelicious mexican food with my parents and Sean's parents... I am SO grateful that everyone gets along, we had a great time! (and always do!!)

Traditionally Christmas Eve is a big deal in my house and Christmas Day is a big deal in Sean's house - so Christmas really times out perfectly. And this year, for Christmas Day Night (does that make sense??) both our parents are coming to our house! I am very excited about this!

Anyhow, since it's MNF and I don't really care about the teams playing, I may sneak out and do a little shopping ;) I think I need some presents for myself...

I also need some prayers. Since I'm not sure who all reads my blog, just please keep me in your prayers. If you want to know why, I will tell you outside the online world :)

THANK YOU!

xoxo

Rachael

I'm sitting here in the ever-fading light, listening to "Little Saint Nick" and every other Christmas song that jingles its way through Sunny 99.1's holiday tunes. Leo is curled up into my side with his head tucked under my arm purring softly, giving me discontented looks every time I move my arm too much. And in this moment of extreme solitude, for whatever bizarre reason, I'm just a little bit sad.

It's funny, every morning on the way to and from work, I've been waiting for "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" to come on the radio so I can sing cheerily along. And right at the very moment that I'm feeling the teensiest bit melancholy, the radio breaks into this specific song. 

God works in mysterious ways, huh?

We had an unexpected day off work today. I should clarify - we had an unexpected day out of the office today. Our power was shut off in our building, so we are supposed to be working from home today. I've dabbled in and out of work-related items, with pauses to do the massive piles of laundry that have accumulated in our house, and a lot of baking. I found out today that I make excellent ginger crisp cookies, chili pecans that have no ounce of spice to them, and pumpkin spice cookies that taste more like pumpkin bread. ::sigh:: Baking is one of those house-wifey things I'm still working on perfecting.

I know so many people that aspire to be certain professions in life. And as unimpressive as it may sound, my one big aspiration has been to be a housewife, that stays home and takes care of the kids. Cooks dinner every night and forces everyone to sit at the table together for 45 short minutes to share a meal. Cleans the house, does the grocery shopping, and still manages to be a fabulous mom and wife. Is that weird? I work at a law firm where I get paid fairly well for being two years out of college (two years? already? that is sad in itself). My boss is constantly pushing me to go to law school. I love my coworkers. And yet, there are days that I'm still unsatisfied. I had big dreams at one point, dreams that I now don't think I'll ever accomplish. 

I read somewhere that if you really want something, you go for it. If you don't really want it, you just continually make excuses. I'm scared that I'm just making excuses all of the time. 

This post is depressing ME. 

Sorry guys, no cheery post today. HAPPY FRIDAY. 

I hope everyone has a blessed weekend.

xoxo

Rachael

my LEAST favorite thing about holidays in an office

I am probably about to go against what most people love about holidays in an office.

But my very least favorite thing about working in an office during the holidays:

All the treats that make their way into the door. You see, I have no will power. Zero. If there is something that I like a lot (like candied, chocolate, or salted pecans - and yes, we have a tin of all three sitting in our kitchen right now) then every time I walk into that stupid kitchen I have to have some. A few here, a few there, and before you know it I've eaten 27 pecans. And yes, I know the exact number, because I've walked in there on three separate occasions and each time I've grabbed three of each. Thus, 27.

GO AWAY FOOD. I'm going to have to skip dinner tonight in order to make up for this.

How many people are dying to see this movie:

photo courtesy of

Because I am dying to see this. And I've talked Allison into going with me ;)

Sean and I, courtesy of one of my clients, got to see a screening of:

photo courtesy of

Um, yes please. Let me tell you why. Better yet, let me show you:

photo courtesy of

I know a few people that are not Marky Mark fans, but let me tell you, I swoon for him. Maybe it's because him and my husband have a lot of the same characteristics. And Sean? Well, he may have a slight man crush on him. We both liked the movie. It comes out Friday, for anyone wondering.

I also decided that by taking Sean to see that movie, I was quite possibly the best date ever.

Wanna know why? :) I figured. Because I took Sean to dinner, bought him margaritas and dinner, took him to a movie - and not a chick flick, but the movie he wanted to see (yes, yes, I got the screening tickets for free, but that's beside the point, it's the best perk I've gotten so far for my job) - and after all that, I didn't even make him drive me home, I drove myself ;) (we met at the restaurant/theater after work). Ha ha ha. I am AWESOME.

Anyway, back to work I go.

xoxo

Rachael

I am full of Christmas cheer right now!

Yesterday was a wonderfully relaxing day - Sean went to play golf so I had some much appreciated alone time yesterday. There is something so relaxing about sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee, knowing that the house is already clean, the groceries are already bought, and the only thing you have ahead of you is a day filled with Christmas activities... :)

I spent the morning browsing the newspaper ads and cutting coupons before I bundled up and faced the (beautiful, might I add) day. I had to go to two different Academy's before I found the gift my brother and I are giving my dad for Christmas and then I stopped into Michael's for some more Christmas items, ran into Target to get tape and rounded off with a (non-fat) Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks. Delightful! I listened to Christmas music all day - both in the car and at home - and spent the afternoon wrapping presents. Now our stockings really are hung by the chimney with care, and there's a nice spread of gifts waiting for eager hands to unwrap them beneath our tree. When Sean got home we piled back into the car and went to Michael's again (had to get some more wrapping related items, hehe) and then to Ross to look for gifts for his family's Christmas exchange. (And yes, we listened to Christmas music the entire time).

Then it was home to decorate our tree, light a fire, cuddle up on the couch and watch football. Sounds pretty perfect to me. (Have I mentioned that I have the best husband in the entire world? Well, I do.)

To back track though, we had a girl's dinner on Friday night that was quite fun and always needed. I truly cherish being able to spend time with girlfriends away from the guys. Everyone needs that escape time, and there's something so comfortable about swapping stories and catching up.

Saturday was nothing too notable, I did a lot of Christmas shopping, house cleaning, and grocery shopping. My parents came over for dinner and we had homemade fajitas (they were so good!) and wine. I love catching up with family as much as I love catching up with girlfriends. We went out for a little bit on Saturday night and met up with some friends, but neither Sean nor I was really feeling like being out so we didn't stay for long.

I'm hoping for a quick week this week, because next week is Christmas week! I am really looking forward to all of the family time and every one's cheerful moods.

I hope everyone else is enjoying the holidays as much as I am!
xoxo

Rachael

iiiiiit's FRIDAY!

It's finally here! My favorite 'week'day!

And today is going to be a good one. I have a super cute new scarf, courtesy of my BFF Jen, that I am IN LOVE with and it's girl's night! WOOHOO!

A couple of us are getting together at our friend Amy's house for some dinner + wine, a little gossip, and a lot of fun - what could be better than that? Then tomorrow, Sean and I are putting up OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE EVER! I'm slightly excited ;) I am also going to try my hand at homemade guacamole tomorrow, let's all say a little prayer that it turns out well... my little brother makes some pretty darn good guac, so hopefully it's in the genes and I make it as well as he does (I'll settle for not as well, but still good too).

I finally finished off Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch today. I realize that I probably should have thrown the food out (it didn't taste bad at all though!) but the thought of tossing such delicious food literally made my heart hurt, so I ate it instead. Sean and I vastly differ on if food is still 'good' or not. He'll toss it after a day. I will still eat it a couple weeks later if it still smells fine and looks good... I haven't gotten sick yet, so I must be on to something. I think he is just wasteful! (haha, kidding hon...)

I am really pumped about tomorrow for no especially good reason. I have nothing terribly exciting on the agenda (OTHER THAN THE TREE!!!!!)... My day is pretty much looking like: run, grocery shopping, house cleaning, Target (<3), finish Christmas shopping, TREE, dinner with parents... Then Sunday, oh Sunday, I am going to be a Christmas wrapping fool. Let's pray I get it all out of the way, because the backseat of my truck can't handle me tossing anymore bags into it... I may have gone a bit overboard this year... :-/ Oops? I'm just full of good cheer this year, and I can actually afford to but my family lots of gifts... so I did... (my mom specifically told me not to do this, but I didn't follow instructions very well :-/...)

I hope you all have a spectacular Friday and weekend!

xoxo

Rachael

I Love Everybody

For those of you out there that are as obsessed with reading as I am, if you are looking for a quick, hilarious read, you should definitely pick this book up:

thanks, Google

Actually, you should look into picking up all of her books - they have had me rolling with laughter. And I mean that quite literally. Sean has walked into the room because I've been laughing so hard I'm crying going "what are you laughing at?!?!"... then as soon as he sees the book he just shakes his head. :) I love funny reads.

Anyhow, the point is that one of the chapters in the book is called "I Love Everybody". It's a riot. And as I was driving to work this morning in the traffic that would give someone a heart attack I was slowly chanting in my head I love everybody. I love everybody. I.Love.Everybody....

I've been repeating it all day long (I am well aware it's only 9:30).

My house is in full Christmas swing. Ohmygoodness I am in love with all of our decorations. It took me four different trips to Hobby Lobby and Michael's both, a trip to Big Lots, and several places in between, but now we successfully have sweet little stockings hanging above our fireplace, decorations galore, and the BEST wreath EVER hanging on our front door. It's made entirely of jingle bells and I am THRILLED with it! I fell in love the second I saw it and I can't wait to take and upload a picture of it here. This weekend!

We are having an impromptu girls night tomorrow night (yayyyy!!!) that I'm very excited about!

I'm going to work now though :)

Have a great Thursday!

xoxo

Rachael

It's the start of something...

I'm not even sure where to begin with this post, I feel like it's been quite some time since I've posted. I actually had a long post typed out on Friday, but by some freak accident I deleted it and I didn't have it in me to go back and retype everything, nor did I think I could capture what I was trying to say...

Last week wasn't the best for me. Nothing bad necessarily happened, but I started having eye infection problems again towards the middle of the week and by Friday I wasn't feeling well at all (being a girl is no fun sometimes!) I ended up having to skip going out to celebrate my dear friend Allison's birthday, which I was upset about, but sometimes sleep is what you need! And sleep I did, I was asleep by 9 on Friday night! That NEVER happens, but really, it was nice to catch up.

Needless to say, Saturday I woke up early (who would've thought? haha)... I worked out (easy work out though) and then went and did as much Christmas shopping as I could. I bought everything! I'm now done Christmas shopping for my brother, mom, and Sean. I bought cute little boxes to put cookies in for my coworkers ($1 at Walmart? Yes, please!) and started on some gifts for some close friends. I'm hoping to finish up this week, I hate waiting until the last minute to finish!

After, I did a little bit of house cleaning and then the hubs and I went to his family's house to celebrate his dad's birthday and take family photos. After that we went home and I was in bed early again... I don't know what is with me lately! I have just been craving sleep. But it's been wonderful :)

Then SUNDAY!!! I was so excited and nervous for Sunday because I ran my first 5k ever! I ran the Mistletoe 5k, which was only 3 or 4 exits away from our house, and let me tell you, I LOVED it! I left early and naturally it was freezing when I got there, but despite how cold it was when I finished I just wanted to be in shorts. My sweet, sweet friend Jenn tried to surprise me there, but couldn't reach Sean in time, but her words of encouragement pre-race kept me going throughout.

Saturday Sean had asked if I cared if he went golfing Sunday morning... I said I didn't mind, but deep down I was a little sad that he wasn't going to be at the finish line when I ran in. Well, let me tell you just how wonderful my husband is! I ran into the finish line and as I was walking off the high of running I looked up and there he was, standing there smiling, waiting to give me a hug! Have I mentioned how crazy I am about him?!? He is the BEST.

I had a pretty lazy Sunday after that. Came home and chatted with Jen on the phone for a while (it had been TOO long since we'd really talked!) then came in and chatted with my other JenN online for a while (also, way too long since we'd talked!)... Sean left to play golf and I went and bought some more Christmas decorations and decorated the house a little more, did some laundry and cleaned the house, watched football and made lasagna (which was delectable, I might add). Then we finished off the night watching the season finale of Boardwalk Empire and hubs finished watching football while I went to read.

All in all, it was a GREAT weekend. First weekend in a while I haven't gone out at all, but I wasn't sad about that in the least. It was actually really nice to just stay in and off the radar for a while!

I'm thinking about running a 5k in Sugar Land this weekend. Haven't quite decided yet. We shall see!

Hope you all have a spectacular Monday!


xoxo

Rachael