Nov 30, 2010

we're going on vacation

Thanks to Travis' mom, the 3 of us are packing our bags and heading North to the Christmas Capitol of Texas- better known as Grapevine, Texas.

We'll be visiting the Gaylord Texan Resort for two days. This place looks amazing. 

Here are the stats on how BIG Christmas is at the Gaylord.

52 foot rotating Christmas tree
12,000 ornaments
1.5 million LED lights
5,600 feet of garland
a life-sized gingerbread house

While we're there will be having milk and cookies with Mrs. Clause, taking a ride on the Polar Express, touring a life size gingerbread house and blowing our own glass Christmas tree ornament.

Sounds like fun to me!

Nov 29, 2010

Thanksgiving

So I realize that I should have posted this before my Black Friday post but who really reads this blog anyway... I think I know of 3 people... maybe 4.

Wow. 4 People in the whole world stop to read "MY" blog.  That's pretty cool.

Anyway,  I wish I could say that I took tons of photos but I didn't.  I can tell you that I made an awesome turkey.  I highly recommend it and I'm even thinking about roasting a chicken the same way next week. 

My cranberries were awesome! However they didn't gel up as much as I had hoped but they were still yummy.  The sweet potatoes were good... I like Travis' and my Mom's recipe better.   Stuffing and green bean casserole were great as usual.  

Dessert looked amazing.  Kind of heavy on the pumpkin cake part... would have liked less cake.

For my table scape I used my "good" silverware, silver napkin rings/place card holders, silk fall leaves and candles.  It was simple yet stylish. 

On every one's place card I had there name on one side and then a funny Thanksgiving quote.... "did you know that it takes 18 hours to prepare Thanksgiving dinner and only 12 minutes to eat"  and then another one said, "I had the hardest time stuffing the turkey, I went through the beak."

We then spent the afternoon decorating my tree and watching the Cowboys almost win.  Saying almost win sounds better than watching the team lose.  Ya'know?!

My tree looks great....still have a few ornaments to set out and then I'll be done for the season.

This week we're heading to the Gaylord Texan, Lone Star Texan Christmas in Dallas.  Should be fun.fun.fun!

black friday fun

Mission Accomplished!

Julie and I did it again but this time our mission was much more successful with the addition of 2 newbies, 2 mapped out store floor plans and super fast grocery cart navigation skills.

I decided to try something new and map out Toys R Us and Kohls to get a general idea on where everything was going to be.  I definitely recommend doing that for any and all stores you plan on shopping at.  Target had a cool feature online where you could download a Black Friday floor plan of your particular store.

Our night began at 7:30 pm at Toys R Us.

Susan, Julie, Dawn and I all had our lists in our hands as we made our way up to the entrance.  We were the 3rd group of 50 people allowed in the store. It's a really great system so everyone isn't rushing the door. Once in we grabbed our buggies and took off! I think everyone got what was on their lists.  You have to be quick at TRU or else you'll get caught up in the check out line.  Once you're stuck in a line you can't get out of it, which is kind of frustrating. 

Tip:  Always bring the TRU BF ad and wish booklet to compare prices.   Keep these ads with you at all stores you visit because those stores might make a price adjustment.

Once we were done there Julie and I headed to Wal-Mart.....never again will I go to Wal-Mart on BF. They are completely unorganized and no one of any status knows where anything is, or even what they have on the shelf. The check out system consisted of 8 cashiers.... ok that's an exaggeration but it was really bad.  At one point, Julie and I looked at each other and questioned if we really wanted to buy what was in our hands.  I think right after that we saw an open lane and made a dash for it.

We finally made it out alive and headed back to meet the others at Target.

We made it back to them around 1 o'clock or so.  They were practically frozen. They had heard that Chic Fil A was open so they went to get something warm to eat and drink.  Once they got back we worked out our plan of attack. 

We decided to split up the list and all go separate ways.  It was awesome! Susan got her vacuum, Julie got her scooter, Dawn got her keyboard and I got my things.  Divide and Conquer.

Black Friday was a success!

Susan checked out after Target.  Dawn headed to Academy.  Julie and I went to Kohls. 

I was home by 7:30 a.m.  I would love to say that I slept all day but I really didn't get to sleep until later that evening but somehow I managed to get through the day with a 30minute catnap! Cade and I went to the movies to see Tangled and then to lunch at Berry Hill.  We spent some time playing at Market Street and then made our way home to rest for a little bit.  Travis finally came home from his mom's house around 5 that evening.  He was helping install hardwoods (originally I was going to go up there for brunch and to sleep but something came up and the plans changed).  Needless to say I fell asleep by 8 pm and slept soundly until the next morning. 

Thanks girls for a fun evening of shopping and staying up talking! All that was missing was the wine!