Paul Family Maternity Shoot Pt 2

Without further ado, on to the rest of my beautiful friend Abby's maternity shoot. We had such a blast taking these photos and I hope they bring her and her family much happiness.  Stuart has Blue Steel DOWN, wouldn't want to run into that look in a dark alley. :)

In all seriousness, they are one beautiful family (how freaking cute is there son Jonas?!) and I couldn't be happier for their soon arriving expansion by one tiny member.  Cant wait to meet Christmas baby Knox!

 

40 Days and 40 Nights

That's right friends, Christmas 2012 is just 40 days away!  ARE YOU PUMPED?  I'm thinking of buying cute Christmas tins with my sweet 20% off your entire order Joann's coupons and making this amazing looking recipe from Ina Garten for my and Jonathon's co-workers this year. 

Cinnamon, Coconut, Almond Granola with Cherries (NOMS)

Ingredients

• 4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
• 2 cups sliced almonds
• 1 1/2 cups dried cherries, chopped
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup good honey
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Toss the oats, coconut, almonds, and cherries together in a large bowl. Pour the vegetable oil and honey over the oat mixture. Add the cinnamon, and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated with the liquids. Pour onto a sheet pan. Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the mixture turns a nice, even golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool, stirring occasionally. Store the cooled granola in an airtight container.  Different options for this recipe here.

Have you started shopping or gifting?  I HAVE :)

Paul Family Maternity Shoot Pt 1

Last weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to honor my friend's incoming baby, Knox by doing a family maternity photo shoot.  We went out to the Space Coast of Florida for these pics and I think they turned out really beautifully.  Here are a few of the highlights, with a few more coming later this week.

Can we just pause and mention how fast time is flying at this point in the year?  It will be Thanksgiving next week!!!!!!!!!  SAY WHAT?!  My beautiful friend Abby is due at the end of December (hooray for Christmas babies) but we are thinking little Knox will be making an early arrival.  We shall see!  Enjoy the pics...

National Collection Week is HERE

Have you packed up your shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child yet?  If not, time to hop to it!  This is National Collection Week for OCC and you don't want to miss out!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, please take a moment and check out the OCC website or watch the following video (if you don't mind possibly shedding some tears). 

If you have a shoebox and you just aren't sure where to drop it, proceed to this site to search in your area.

Happy Packing!

Proud Wifey

Good Morning!  It is a beautiful day here at UCF

I'm assuming by now you all have seen the world's greatest YouTube video, but if you haven't yet seen it... STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND MARVEL:

I would especially encourage you to check out minute 2:45.  So proud of my sweet, handsome, funny, talented husband.  So hardworking too, poor baby...

I would also encourage you to enjoy this Christmas Oldies station on Songza. 

Have a great day!

High Five, America

Guess what?  NO MORE POLITICAL ADS for a while... Sigh of relief?  Did you stay up last night watching the election results? 

I was terrified of waiting in Florida's historically ridiculous voting lines so I left work early, got caffeine and snacks just in case and I got to my polling place right around 4:30pm expecting a substantial wait.  I think that I had a voting angel on my side because there was literally no line, I just walked right in and they handed me my ballot.  I asked, and they said it was the only time that day it had been quiet and sure enough, as I was voting, the line grew.  So thankful for that.  If you are thinking I'm crazy... some of the voters in Florida waited at the polls for 6 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WHAT. That is dedication. And bureaucracy at its worst.  And a shining example of Florida in action.

NONETHELESS... I voted, Mama voted, Sissy voted.  The President is back! 

 

More than anything I am hopeful that this brings some much needed balance to our country and a longer-range vision of helping Americans and the world than the short-range one we have embraced lately.  We are no longer a country of pure democrats and republicans.  A lot of people I talk with do not feel well represented in those two camps and feel they are just working to avoid the worst case scenario and not FOR the best case scenario.  Personally, I'm pretty tired of working toward mediocre and am hopeful we can move on from here toward greatness.  We all deserve it.

God Bless the USA! 

This One's For the Girls

I'm feeling very grateful for my girlfriends this week.  Not only was I blessed to get to speak with my sweet cousin/BFF and one of my most beautiful (inside and out) friends Courtney, I also got to celebrate Abby's baby shower for her soon to be here son Knox, I ALSO got to spend the day celebrating Lindzee's 30th birthday.  It was an epic weekend for Girl Time and I loved every minute of it. 

Happy Mommy

FaceTime is the Best... Pretty sure she'll kill me for this pic :)

About to get our shopping on

The Long Lost Blond Kardashian Sisters

Kickin it live in the nail salon.  Happy Birthday Bestie!

Hard to believe these two pictures were just a few days before and after Lindzee's 20th birthday... THAT WAS 10 WHOLE YEARS AGO. Feels more like 5 years ago.  We have gone through a lot in those ten years!  So happy to call her my best friend and to be able to celebrate so many milestones in each others' lives.  Here's to celebrating our 40th birthdays in about 5 minutes sister  :) LOVE YOU!

Halloweenie 2002!

Some lovely ladies right here... 20, 19 and Yumiko :) hehe

Knights Win!

Happy Monday everyone!  This past weekend was Homecoming for UCF and our wonderful friends Dave and Noelle came out to visit for the festivities! 

UCF has a long standing tradition known as Spirit Splash (that you should Google if you aren't familiar with it) that event kicks off Homecoming weekend in a big way.  After celebrating the Splash with my co-workers on Friday (do you like our What the Duck shirts???), Dave, Noelle and I celebrated a huge UCF football victory on Saturday night.  Enjoy the pics of us eating Jeremiah's (yum), cheering our guts out at the game, and the after glow with the Coach himself.  It's been awesome having our friends around this weekend :)

Spirit Splash 2012!

They LOVED it

Ready for Battle ~ Back in Black

Aww Snuggies :)

We're cute, yea?

This is what we really look like... love these two

We cleared the stands fast

My handsome Knight