Rewinding 2011

Happy New Year's Eve world! I've decided that people fall into two distinct categories: they either loved the previous year and are hopeful for the new year, or they are totally over the previous year and are hopeful for better times in the new year. Regardless of which camp people fall into, no one ever wishes to stop time. People are always hopeful for the new year, and I am no different.

2011 was a year of crazy for the Mobleys. To name a few. . .

• celebrated our first wedding anniversary
• wrapped up my first year of teaching
• we bought our very first house (Discussed here and here)
• went on a summer of trips
• my sweet husband was deported to Alabama for work for almost six months
• received a diagnosis of minimal change disease (Discussed here, here, here, here, and here!)
• kick started my second year start
• we both picked up different church responsibilities

Whew, even listing it is exhausting! I am so grateful for everything 2011 brought us, but I must say I am ready for 2012. I am ready for new experiences and new opportunities. I feel like we both learned so much this past year and that growth of knowledge will aid in amazing 2012. Here's to a new year of being merry!

Cover 2 Cover Book Club #1

 Today I am linking up with the wonderful Ashley and Crystal for a book club link-up! The marvelous book?

 How to be a Hepburn in a Hilton World

by: Jordan Christy

1. What do you think is the most important piece of advice that Jordan Christy gave in this book?

 I think the most important piece of advice that the fabulous Jordan gives us is to consider how we are living for our daughters. I don't have any daughters yet (or children for that matter!), but it is certainly something to consider. Why don't we live a better life for them now so when they come along we are ahead of the game?

2. What do you think is the most obnoxious “Stupid Girl” characteristic?

Selling out to please others!

3. There were SO many great quotes in this book. Do you have a favorite?

I loved quote at the beginning of the Conclusion form Eleanor Roosevelt-"It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness". I think this is telling us to stop whining about what is wrong with the world and do something to make it right!

4. What do you hate most about how our modern day media portrays women? Which celebrity do you dislike the most?

I hate that women are portrayed as stupid and materialistic. What's even worse is when women play into it and make that stereotype worse!

 5. Jordan Christy said that one of the best ways to cultivate a healthy self-image is by celebrating your positive and unique qualities. If you have the time, take the “9 Types” Personality Test here: http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/dis_sample_36.asp Did you discover anything new about yourself? Which type are you? Which traits do you feel are most representative of you?

I am split evenly between Type Two (The Helper) and Type Nine (The Peacemaker). Both of these fit right into who I am! As an oldest child I have always been a nurturer and the mama duck keeping all the ducklings in a line. Here is a little more on each of the descriptions:  

-Helper: The caring, interpersonal type. Twos are empathetic, sincere, and warm-hearted. They are friendly, generous, and self-sacrificing, but can also be sentimental, flattering, and people-pleasing. They are well-meaning and driven to be close to others, but can slip into doing things for others in order to be needed. They typically have problems with possessiveness and with acknowledging their own needs. At their Best: unselfish and altruistic, they have unconditional love for others.

-Peacemaker: The easy-going, self-effacing type. Nines are accepting, trusting, and stable. They are usually grounded, supportive, and often creative, but can also be too willing to go along with others to keep the peace. They want everything to go smoothly and be without conflict, but they can also tend to be complacent and emotionally distant, simplifying problems and ignoring anything upsetting. They typically have problems with inertia and stubbornness. At their Best: indomitable and all- embracing, they are able to bring people together and heal conflicts.

 

 6. What are the top 5 things on your Smart Girl list? (goals to become a more articulate, knowledgeable, and well-rounded person.. see Jordan’s list on page 62)

This is actually something I've been praying about a lot recently. A few items on my "smart girl list":

1. Pursue higher education-not quite sure how or when, but do something!
2. Connect more often with our families
3. Go on a mission trip
4.   Travel to new places
5. Become more creative in my cooking

 7. One of Jordan’s suggestions for staying out of a rut with your group of friends is to travel together to your “signature cities.” If you have time, take the signature cities quiz here: http://www.testq.com/career/quizzes/84-whats-your-signature-city You will have to make an account to get your results, but it’s definitely worth it. What’s your signature city? Have you ever been there? Do you ever see yourself visiting your signature city in the future? Would you ever consider traveling to your signature city with your group of friends?

My "signature city" is Savannah, GA. I have never been here, but was talking to David the other day about making a point to visit Savannah in the new year! Savannah as my "signature city" makes sense, though. I mean, I love anything and everything about charming Southern cities with great history. Can't wait to visit soon!

 8. Overall, what did you think about the book? What was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite?

Overall, I thought this was a great book! I really enjoyed it and plan on passing it on to a few friends. My favorite parts were the ones on manners and living with class, because that is something I think all women can achieve. My least favorite part was the part about dating because it wasn't really applicable to me anymore! 

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

Audrey Hepburn

Guest Post-Ashley at The Christian Wife Life

Today's guest post comes to ya'll from Ashley at The Christian Wife Life. Be sure to pop on over and check out her sweet blog about newlywed life!

Hello to Lauren's lovely readers! It's awesome to be here! I know why you're here - you love Lauren's blog. I do too. So I hate to disappoint you with my own ramblings but she was sweet enough to ask me to guest post, so here I am. :)

I'm Ashley and I blog over at The Christian Wife Life.

The most important thing for you to know about me is that I am nothing without Christ - I am saved by grace through Him! My #1 priority in life is to give Him glory. I am thankful for His redemption every day and I will praise His name and write about it forever. :)

I just had my first Christmas with my husband and it was FABULOUS. Being a newlywed is a blast. I basically had three different Christmases because of my other side of the family now. So, so blessed.

Now that Christmas is over, I'm left saying, "Now what??" For the past couple of months my mind has been on decorating, Christmas parties, shopping, planning, and getting ready for this awesome celebration of our Savior's birth we just had. I love that time of year, and now it's over. Kinda sad. Except for those 75% off Christmas decorations in stores....now that's not sad at all. :)

Now onto the next big thing: New Year's. You know what that means...resolutions. But what if I don't want to make resolutions? What if they're intimidating and overwhelming? What if I would only worry about them for a couple days and then forget them?

That's why I'm not going to make resolutions. No siree. Instead, how about some much more satisfying and realistic GOALS? Yes, goals. Okay, they might be kind of like resolutions, but less scary.

But how should I go about this? I've decided that before I make goals, I need to make categories for my goals. The things that are most important in my life. That way I don't sit down to make goals and think umm...stop picking at my nails. Umm...get my closet organized. I can have them prioritized.

So here are my goal categories, kind of in order of importance:

1. Faith - my relationship with God.

2. Ministry- loving others and sharing the Good News.

3. Relationships - with my husband, family, and friends.

4. Home - cleaning and organization.

5. Health - cooking, fitness, and appearance.

6. Finance - budgeting and saving.

7. Work - being efficient at work.

8. Blog - blogging and relationships with bloggers.

That about covers it. Now that I have this list, I can prioritize my goals and figure out what is truly important for me to work on. It's less overwhelming for sure!

Do you make resolutions/goals for the new year? Do you have any goal-making advice? Please do share!

If you want to know my specific goals...well, you'll have to visit my blog later. Because I haven't set them yet, haha. Maybe Lauren can tell us some of hers! :)

Thanks, Lauren! Hope you're having an amazing trip and I know we'll all be looking forward for you to get back!

 Many thanks to the fabulous Ashley for posting here!

Guest Post-Crystal from Coffee at Nordstrom

While my sweet husband and I are off visiting family a few very special ladies have agreed to guest post for me! Today's post comes to ya'll from Crystal at Coffee at Nordstrom. Be sure to pop on over and check out her precious blog!


Hey everyone! I'm Crystal from Coffee at Nordstrom

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season! I am honored to be guest posting for Lauren while her and her hubby are traveling this holiday season! She had given me the opportunity to blog about what makes me, me!

I thought I would just share a little story about my exciting life. I am sure many of you have seen the show on TLC, "Say Yes to the Dress" Well, I had the incredible privilege to go to Kleinfeld to pick out my wedding dress. First and foremost, it was a dream come true! I cried my eyes out the first time I saw Randy. And even harder when Randy gave me a hug. I was embarrassed. But he informed me that he is used to girls crying over him everyday! Clearly, he lives a rough life.

Randy was my consultant during the time I was there. He helped me pick out the most incredible Pnina dress. He delivered flowers to me from Matthew, and he even had the camera's record the entire thing. I wasn't on TV, because at the time that I went to Kleinfeld, they were only recording plus-size brides. After the wedding, I will upload videos onto my blog to share with everyone!

Here are some pictures of the trip! 

Obviously, I won't upload pictures of

 the dress yet . . . First week of June . . . Those beauties will be up!

Promise, ladies!

 My little sister, Arielle, me, Mom 

 The best mother in the entire world.

Don't know what I would do without her!

 You can't really tell in this picture, but I definitely cried when I saw him for the first time. Pathetic. YES!

Us with Randy!

 I was literally jumping up and down in this room because of my excitement!

Stop by my blog to stay updated on this girl's wedding!

Thank you, Lauren for allowing me to appear on your little corner of this blog universe! 

Hope you all have a wonderful New Years!

Many thanks to the fabulous Crystal for sharing her story!

Guest Blog-Brianna at Adventures of the Southern Wife

While my sweet husband and I are off visiting family a few very special ladies have agreed to guest post for me! Today's post comes to ya'll from Brianna at Adventures of the Southern Wife. Be sure to check out her adorable blog about her life as a newlywed Southern belle!

Hi I am Brianna and I blog over here at Adventures of the Southern Wife

I was so excited when Lauren asked me to make a guest post.
I met Lauren in college in one of our wonderful education classes and she is such a doll
in real life as well as in the blogging world!

Lauren asked me to blog about my the crazy hectic life that I live and sometime
I don't even know how I do it
But I do it everyday with a smile since God has given me all these wonderful opportunities
I might as well take full advantage!!

My first role is that of a wife.
I am a newlywed to the most Amazing Man!
Andrew and I got married on May 21, 2011.

I have been with Andrew since I was 17 and never have I been so sure about a decision before in my life
I am so excited for the journey we have been on and the one we will continue to take for the rest of our lives

2. I am a student
I am in my final (and 5th) year at North Carolina State University
and I am going to be a teacher :)
Its hard cause I have major case of senioritis..
You think your first senior year is bad wait till you do a second one
YOU GO INSANE WITH GRADUATION ANXIETY

3. I am a full time teacher’s assistant
I work with 4th and 5th Grades at a private school and I love it
The kids are wonderful at times and hard at times
But if they weren't they wouldn't be kids right??

How I do it you ask
I am not sure?
But my husband needs me.
He’s in his 3rd year of his PhD at UNC Chapel Hill
Andrew is a biomedical engineer and is working on breast cancer research
                         
He doesn't amazing things and I am so proud of him
One day he will do the same for me and lead a crazy hectic life
(If you don’t count that soon he will have to write a 200-page paper hectic)
So that I can accomplish all of my dreams
Aka stay at home mom :)
Its part of being married and if I knew this is what I would be doing after we got married
I'd still do it all over again!!

Well I hope you enjoyed my post while Lauren was away exploring the country during Christmas
:)

Many thanks for Brianna!!

Guest Post-Robin at Our Semi Organic Life

While my sweet husband and I are off visiting family a few very special ladies have agreed to guest post for me! Today's post comes to ya'll from Robin at Our Semi Organic Life. Be sure to check out her sweet blog and follow her adventure through a semi-organic life!
 
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the lovely blog readers out there! My name is Robin and I blog at Our Semi Organic Life. I was so happy when Lauren asked me to guest blog for her! Lauren and I went to college together and it's always fun to keep in touch; especially through blogging!

Today I'm doing a fun holiday recap of my top 5 favorites! Here ya go!

Many thanks to Robin!!

Guest Post-Abbie at Eight Days a Week

While my sweet husband and I are off visiting family a few very special ladies have agreed to guest post for me! The first post comes to ya'll from Abbie at Eight Days A Week. Be sure to check out her precious blog!

Hi there everyone! My name is Abbie from Eight Days a Week, I'm here to give the lovely Lauren a break during her busy Christmas vacation. I'm just going to tell y'all a little about myself.

I'm about two weeks away from turning 21 and just recently married the love of my life, Jon, who is a Pararescueman in the Air Force. I am also about to start my journey as a full-time nursing student, with big plans for the future. I grew up in beautiful North Carolina and lived there up until the summer of 2010 when Jon got assigned his permanent duty station (after 3 long years of training all over the US) and I decided I would leave everything behind and move to the middle of the desert (Tucson, Arizona) with him! I went to NCSU for a short year, which is where I met Lauren and David, and then made the huge decision to follow my then boyfriend far far away from all that I've ever known. I don't regret it one bit. We've been out here for the past year and a half and we absolutely love it. Although I do NOT love being 2,000 miles away from my family. We don't have any children yet, just two adorable doggies.

Jon and I have already been through one deployment together and the next one is coming up in less than two weeks! It's been a bumpy road learning how to be a military wife. I've learned that the military comes first and can take my husband any time they please, he always has a bag packed ready to go and that you have to learn a whole other language to keep up with all of the things that are going on. He's away from home about half of the year so we make the most out of every moment that we have together and are thankful for every single day. It's definitely an adventure!

Learn more about me and my hubby over at http://love-eightdaysaweek.blogspot.com. 

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Tradtions

This year David and I are blessed enough to celebrate our second Christmas as a married couple! Part of being a young family is combining family traditions and creating your own. Since we don't have children yet most of our traditions are tailored ones from our families. One that we have started together has to do with gift-giving.

In our society it is very easy to get caught up in the hullaballoo of gifts. Instead of focusing on receiving the greatest gift of all, a Savior, we instead focus on all the gifts of this world. I am a huge culprit of this. Many of us are. The problem isn't our want of worldly things. The problem comes when we place these worldly things in front of Him. As a way of celebrating the season of gift giving, and the birth of a Savior, David and I started the tradition of three gifts.

Instead of allowing ourselves to become overwhelmed and overrun by the crazy at Christmastime, and in turn losing sight of the true purpose, we give each other three gifts. One gift is something we want, one is something we need, and the final gift is something Biblical. These loosely match the three gifts the wise men brought to the baby Jesus upon His birth. We already have so much more than we could ever want, so why do we need to give gifts just to give gifts?

This is a tradition we plan to bring to our family when we have children. Will it be easy to explain to our children why they don't have as many gifts as their friends? No. Will it be worth it? Without a doubt. We are not depriving ourselves of anything, we are just not allowing ourselves to get caught up in superfluous things.

This is the first of many traditions David and I are creating together. What traditions have you started??

Caught Up In The Crazy Guest Post

Good morning readers! Today I am guest posting for the sweet Jessie over at I'm a Wife and Mama Now? about how to not get caught up in the crazy. Join me over there and check out her fabulous blog! Until then. . .

Thankful Thursday-O Come, All Ye Faithful

O come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of Angels!
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

I have so much to be thankful for each and every week, but this week seems especially so. I have been blessed enough to have a VERY open schedule this week which has given me the opportunity to really sit back and observe. All of my blessings have soaked in, and I am in total awe of all I have. A few things that I am thanking Him for today:

time off

not only is it wonderful to have an open schedule, but it makes me appreciate the incredible job that I get to go back to in the new year!

sleep

I cannot stress how amazing it is to be able to fall asleep whenever I want, wake up whenever I want, and then fall back asleep again. There is definitely going to be a rough adjustment here when I return to school!

family time

we are so blessed to live close to both sides of our families and I cannot wait to celebrate with all of them in the coming days!!

my wonderful husband

he continues to amaze me with his generous, giving heart

the Christmas season

what a glorious time to celebrate and remember our Savior!

our sweet puppy
she loves us with no strings attached, just as He loves us! What a great reminder in this season!

What are you thankful for this week??

Reverse Engineering

Before David and I graduated and "grew up" we were part of a great church in Raleigh, NC. That church, Vintage21, was a Jesus-centered place where our faith was challenged, and grew in leaps and bounds! We are both very grateful for our time there and all we learned from our experiences. One of the things we learned while we were there is something called "Reverse Engineering". If you're anything like me, you hear the word "engineering" and you turn to the math-minded person in your life for explanation. Lucky for us, there is no math involved! The concept of Reverse Engineering is prompts us to take charge of our lives instead of just letting it all happen. We are challenged to be more missional and purposeful in all that we do so we are constantly glorifying God. Sounds like a pretty stellar plan to me!

One of our goals of this Christmas break was to reverse engineer 2012 in the Mobley house. If you know us, you know we're not "by the wayside" people. We don't typically sit back and let things happen. But in our young marriage we've taken some time to figure out who we are and what we want from each other, our marriage, our faith, our families, etc. We figured we figured out the growing pains (for the most part) and it was time to be more purposeful with all that we do. We reverse engineered our lives when we were engaged and still in school, so we knew a bit about what we were in for, but man-oh-man things have changed!

There were many different topics to consider from the template. To name a few: guiding principles, guiding practices, marriage, family, friends, health, financial, learning, ministry, changes, and people. I told you it was detailed! We knew it was going to take a while so we made a date of it and headed to a local coffee shop (love supporting the locals!) and settled in.

We went through each category question by question. It seemed tedious at first, but we kept reminding ourselves of the importance of it. If we didn't write it out, would we really stick to it? So, we kept at it and almost three hours later we finally finished. It felt so good to have a plan in place! A plan for our house (yay for listing out new projects!), a plan for our budget (essential in a marriage!!), a plan for our future family (keyword: future), a plan for our ministries, and plans for so much more. This Type-A organizer was over the moon (and very jacked up on coffee, I might add).

Would I call our reverse engineered plan for 2012 a success? Definitely! Will it change? Possibly, but at least we have a place to build from. Too many relationships get away from putting God at the center and instead focus on worldly things. Today, David and I were challenged to put him at the center of everything we do and I am super excited to see what comes out it! How are you planning for 2012??

If you're interested in seeing the template shoot me an email, I'd be more than happy to connect you!

Chocolate Peppermint Cake

I don't normally post two times in one day, but I wanted to share this with all before Christmas left us for another year! As I've mentioned a time or two before I adore anything chocolate and peppermint flavored. So when I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest I knew I had to give it a try! Let me know what y'all think!

Cake

1 box Betty Crocker chocolate fudge cake mix

Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 oz cream cheese

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

a few drops of red food color

Garnish

Crushed up candy canes

Make cake as directed on box for two 9-inch rounds; cool completely.

Beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and fluffy. 

Reduce speed to low; gradually add sugar, beating until smooth. 

Add vanilla, peppermint extract and food color, a drop at a time.

Split each cake horizontally to make 2 layers. 

Place 1 layer on serving plate; spread top with thin coat frosting. 

Repeat with remaining layers. 

Frost side and top of cake with thin coat frosting; refrigerate 10 minutes to allow frosting to firm up. Frost side and top of cake with remaining frosting. 

Arrange whole peppermints then sprinkle crushed peppermint around side and top of cake.

Enjoy!

Blog Love!

I am elated to report that I have received my first blogger award-wahoo!! Many thanks to the marvelous Brianna over at Adventures of the Southern Wife. I know I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again (and probably a bunch more times!) I am so thankful for all the wonderful people I have connected with in the blogging world. Who knew so many stellar ladies were out there??

The Rules for this award:

1-Nominate 15 fellow bloggers.

2-Inform the bloggers of their nomination.

3-Share 7 random things about yourself.

4-Thank the blogger who nominated you.

5-Add the Versatile Blog Award picture on your blog post.

The following are my must-reads. Don't know them? Make them a part of your list too!

1. Addison over at Carolina On My Mind

2. Abbie at Eight Days A Week

3. Ashley over at The Christian Wife Life

4. Robin over at Our Semi Organic Life

5. Abbie at So Ouisie

6. Ryann over at joy, joy, unspeakable joy

7. Lauren over at Wifestyles

8. Caitlin over at Peaches and Pearls

9. Pamela at Pamela's Place

10. Lauren over at Finding Community

11. Kara at Matt and Kara Adopt

12.Lauren at Not Your Average Southern Belle

13. Rachel over at just peachy

14. Claire at Life in the Sweet Virginia Breeze

15. Last but not least The Life of Delta Daisies

Seven random things about me. . .
1. I'm a bit of a homebody and love nights curled up on the couch with my two loves!
2. I love to bake-anything and everything!
3. I do not like the cold weather. In fact, I think that after Christmas it should be summer again.
4. It's not a good day until I've made a to-do list (hello, Type-A personality)
5. I positively adore all holidays and am constantly looking for things to celebrate.
6. Charleston, SC is my favorite place in the world to visit!
7. I am so immensely blessed by the wonderful people in my life!

Thank you again to Brianna and to all the wonderful ladies whose blogs help keep me merry:-)

Christmas Came Early

It's already been a very MERRY Christmas here at the Mobley house. Why, you may ask. What has made the merry Mrs. Mobley even more merry?? Well. . . Christmas came early and it came in the form of an ipad2!!!

My posts for the next few weeks may be few and far between until the newness of our new toy wears off. I apologize in advance! I already have an iPhone and use a Mac (yea, you could say I'm kind of obsessed with Apple products. . .), but I'm new to the iPad. My question for y'all is, what are some good apps for the iPad? We've already picked up a few for news (USA Today and CNN) and a few for viewing (Netflix and Crackle), but we're in search of more! Any suggestions??

Also, I'm linking up with the wonderful Latte Love on an awesome Blogger Map. Want to see what local bloggers are near you in your travels?? Link up too!

Christmas Vacation!

After a few days of R&R as our little family we will be hitting the road for the next week and half. We'll start the great Christmas Vacation of 2011 by heading to see my awesome in-laws and celebrate Christmas just the five of us. I still can't believe how lucky I am to have married into this family!! Then, we'll head back up the road to see the Wards for a few days. It's never easy to get all the Wardlets together so the fact that we will be under the same roof for more than 24 hours is enough to have me jumping for joy! 

We'll wake up at my parent's house Christmas morning and then go see all my mom's extended family and celebrate with them before hitting the road yet again to see all of David's extended family. The next morning we will wake up and head out for the longest leg of the break-Florida! Here we will get to visit with even more of David's incredible extended family! Wait, it doesn't end there. After a few days in Florida we'll head back to my parent's house to celebrate my dad's birthday-he's a New Year's Eve baby! The final part of our trip will send us back to David's extended family for a special southern New Year's Day supper filled with collards, hoppin' John's, and more! The next morning will have me back at school and in the swing of things again.

Will it get crazy at times? Absolutely. Will I love every minute of it? Absolutely! The good news is both of our families are filled with amazing people. I realize how truly blessed we are to be able to say that! Any advice on fun things to do in the car and how to stay sane during the crazy??

Christmas Movie Madness

Aside from a teacher workday on Monday, I am officially on Christmas break-WAHOOOO! Can you tell I'm excited?? I mean, I love my students (I really do!), but it is so nice to have the next two weeks off to spend time with my sweet husband and our families. That's right I said families. We are fortunate enough to get to see both sides of our families over break!

The first few days of break will find us relaxing around the house. I have grand plans of sleeping, baking, and catching up on Christmas movies. I don't hate it. The movies on the list?

A new classic and must-see in the Mobley house!

I love all three of these movies and make sure to have a marathon session every year!

 A classic! It has to be the cartoon though.

Not quite sure what sweet treats will be concocted yet, but if they're a success I'm sure they'll find their way here! How are YOU planning on relaxing during this time??

Sugar Cookies

It seems that everyone has their own special recipe for sugar cookies. The one that I finally decided to call my own took some tailoring and tasting, but I think it's finally worthy of a post. Let me know what you think!

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. 

Beat in eggs and vanilla. 

Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. 

Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). 

Preheat oven to 400.

Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. 

Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. 

 Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  

Bake 6-8 minutes.

 Frost or leave plain.

Enjoy! 

 

Thankful Thursday-Silent Night

Silent night, holy night!
Son of God love's pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth. 


productive weekends

while I am very sad that college football is over, I am excited about all the productivity that will return on our weekends. An example? We hung pictures around the house for four hours on Saturday! Who cares if it was four months after we moved in, at least it happened!

blog friends and followers

I have been overwhelmed by the kindness and support of many of my new friends and followers through the blogging world. Who knew all the good that could come from airing your dirty laundry on the internet?;-)

community

I am so grateful for all the people in our community who are there to support and lift David and I up when we need it most

students

their kindness and generosity in this season has completely overwhelmed me. How did I get this lucky??

break!

our two-week break officially starts tomorrow-wahoooooo! While I will certainly miss my children over break, I am positively stoked to have two weeks off to celebrate this joyous season with family and friends

my sweet husband

I know it may get a little redundant hearing about him, but I just can't believe how truly blessed I am to married to this incredible man!

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday [12.14]

I know there are some words in the song, but I thought this was still worth the share. Let me know what y'all think!

Short Hair, Don't Care

Well the straight-hair girls, they all want curls

And the brunettes wanna be blonde

It's your typical thing, you've got yin, you want yang

It just goes on and on

-Sara Evans

When it comes to hairstyles, I can never seem to make up my mind. I am the worst when it comes to what I want to do. The funny thing is, you could never tell I'm so wishy-washy. In fact, 99% of the time my hair looks the same! I just dream of doing other things.The most common dilemma? Long or short. Long hair is definitely in right now. Every starlet from T. Swift to Lauren Conrad is rocking the wavy long hair these days. Then again a few braver souls, such as Dianna Agron, have ventured out and chopped their locks. 

I go through phases with what I like. One month I'll make David promise not to let me go to the salon. The next month I'm begging to fit it into the budget. I can never make up my mind! It really comes down to when I see people with cute hair. If I see someone with a really sharp short 'do, I'm ready and roarin' to go. Then the next minute I see someone with beautiful, wavy locks and I'm rubbing my head to try and make it grow faster. Exhausted trying to keep up? Me too.

About a week ago I got tired of doing the dance and hit the salon. I tried a fabulous new place near me and couldn't be happier with the end result! I went in with a loose idea and my stylist, Karen, took it to the next level. I am so pleased with it! 

Picture from later that night

Have I second guessed it yet? Nope! Will I eventually? Probably. I'm not worried though. I love what she did and I think I'm going to stick at this length for a while. What do y'all think??

Merry Christmas From The Merry Mobleys!

Remember when you were young and you used to race to the mailbox around your birthday to see if anyone sent you anything? Every time your mom said you had a piece of mail you couldn't help but be curious as to who cared enough about you to send you something. It was like Christmas in your mailbox! Well that excitement never left me. I still race David to the mailbox in the afternoon to see what sort of goodies our mail lady brought us that day. Maybe it's the fact that all of our bills are paperless, so only "happy" things come in the mailbox. Who cares; I still love it! That transfers to this season and the continually arriving Christmas cards and makes for a very merry Mrs. Mobley!

Not only do I love receiving Christmas cards and reading each and every personal Christmas letter, but I really enjoy sending them as well. When we were at my parents' house at Thanksgiving we had my mom take a few shots of us with the princess. Sorry to disappoint, but they are not the elf pictures. I'm thinking my sweet husband would not enjoy me mortifying him any more than I already have!

I went ahead and ordered them from Snapfish on Thanksgiving Day and impatiently waited for them to arrive. The wait was worth it-they turned out great! I was so pleased with the quality of the card and the font. I will definitely be ordering cards from them again. Without further adieu. . .

Merry Christmas from the Mobleys!

Christmas Questionnaire

I saw this precious questionnaire over at Matt and Kara Adopt and I thought I'd give it a go!

1.  Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate all the way, especially with a little peppermint flavoring!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa never wrapped presents. They were always decoratively placed around the room.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White all the way. On the tree and on the house! I love the classic look when it comes to Christmas decorations.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I did last year when I got some from a family member's farm, but haven't gotten any this year.

5. When do you put your decorations up? As soon as I can get home from our Thanksgiving travels!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? My aunt's sweet potato casserole. It's absolutely delicious!

 7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? The very first Christmas David and I celebrated as a married couple:-)

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I honestly cannot tell you. What I can tell you is that I remember getting in trouble for telling the little girl next door! I guess I couldn't believe that it was true so I had to check with the other kids in the 'hood.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When we were little we would beg and plead until The Momma gave in. Now we exchange our secret Santa kids between the Wardlets on Christmas Eve.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Our tree is a mish-mash of us. We have some ornaments from our childhoods (like the MASSIVE collection of Star Wars ornaments-I'll give you one guess who those belong too!) and some from our lives together. Something we started doing is getting an ornament from every trip we go on together. In our collection now? A few from Disney, one from Charleston, one from Waynesville, one from the Biltmore, etc. It's so neat to see them on the tree and remember the wonderful time we had in those places!

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Both! I love it for like a day, then I'm over it. It's really the anticipation of the event that gets me.

12. Can you ice skate? Oh heavens no! Do I strike you as a coordinated person? Because if so, we're going to need to talk. . .

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don't think I have a favorite. Each gift has been special for its very own reason.

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? The two uninterrupted weeks of time with all my loved ones.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Ooo this is a toughie. I love making and sharing homemade sugar cookies with homemade frosting. Nom nom nom.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? For as long as I've remembered we've always gone to Christmas Eve service and then come home and celebrated just the Wards (and now David!). We'll get out all our old favorite board games and pig out on snacky appetizer-type foods. It's one of the few times we're all together!

17. What tops your tree? A beautiful bow given to us by David's grandmother.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving all the way. I love seeing the look on people's faces when they open it up and discover what they wished for. 

19. Candy canes: yuck or yum? Yum!! I'm the crazy one who stocks up at Christmastime and snacks on them all winter.

20. Favorite Christmas movie? The Santa Clause series or Elf

 
21. Saddest Christmas song? "Christmas Shoes" has me bawling every time.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Oddly enough I love "Last Christmas" by Wham! I can't help but start to dance and sing along when it comes on!

Now it's your turn! Link back in the comments section with your answers!

The Line-Up

I've never been a die-hard fan of TV. Yes, I've found some shows over the years that I've really enjoyed, but few that I would rearrange my schedule for. Until now. My sweet husband has me hooked on a few shows. Due to my early bedtime (yes, I am ninety years old in a twenty-somethings's body) we watch them the next day on hulu. For those of you not familiar with hulu, I would like to formally introduce you to our cheapskate way of avoiding cable fees! What's the point of paying for cable if we can find it all fo' free online?!

Glee!

 Who doesn't love the upbeat takes on new and old songs?

New Girl

 A hysterical take on an awkward girl's adventurous fumbles through life.

Once Upon A Time

 A modern twist on all the fairy tales we grew up on. The best part? We have no idea what is coming next! 

Side note: This is from the creators of LOST.

The Office

  It's not the same without the bumbling Michael Scott, but the crew has kept up with their hilarious antics.

and last but not least. . .

Modern Family

 It's sad how much we can relate to the ridiculousness of each and every one of these characters.

What are you watching these days?

Thankful Thursday-Joy To The World

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven and nature sing,  

And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Some things I am thanking the good Lord for this week. . .

cozy evenings in with my love

such a nice refresher after busy days at work

church family

so grateful for all the volunteers at Hope Church and their dedication to furthering His word!

online shopping

makes sharing the Christmas spirit significantly easier

fresh fruits & veggies

I have really enjoyed picking up our crop share each and every Thursday, and then brainstorming recipes to use them all. It's been an awesome experience so far and has really brought David and I out of our foodie comfort zone.

supportive school family

any one in the education field will tell you how crucial it is to have support. Our jobs require us to constantly be positive and engaging. Without my co-workers and admin team I would not be able to do this!!

no final exams!

there are many things I miss from my time as a college student, but one thing I do not miss is the craziness of preparing for final exams while also trying to enjoy this blessed season. Praise for being past this stage in my life

What are you thankful for this Thursday??