It's the Holiday Season!

Black Friday shopping was a success. We even made it home by 8:30am, in time to go to the Christmas Tree Farm!!!

My family has been doing this ever since I can remember. We used to chop down about 5 trees, but one-by-one everybody converted to artificial, and this year we realized no one actually wanted a tree! But, tradition is tradition, so off we went to the farm!

My grandparents. They're so supportive of each other, and they approach everything as a team. J and I are so blessed to have such wonderful examples in our families of how marriage is supposed to function, and these two are definitely one of them.

What's that? Someone cutting a tree? Yep. We caved. What's a Christmas tree farm without the chance to use that saw? My wonderful uncle finally decided he needed a tree to go outside by their driveway, and this is it!

My beautiful sister with her poor-college-student version of a Christmas tree. I think she's putting it in a vase.

And, of course, we got the Christmas card shot. This is going out to all of our family and friends in a few weeks!

What's your holiday tradition? Does anybody still use a real Christmas tree in their house?

Coats! Success!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had! It's such a blessing to have the family all together. I have to share with you the fruits of our Thanksgiving Day shopping!

COATS!

We found one for me (the red one, only $30!), and one for my sister (the cream one, only $50!). I think Granddad was pretty proud of his bargain-shopping-granddaughters. Then again, maybe he was just happy we were home to start our part of the cooking. He does really like green bean casserole. For our first-ever T-Day shopping, I'd say we did pretty well! Plus, we were only gone for about 30 minutes, so it didn't really mess up our happy Thanksgiving time!

We're going Black Friday shopping for the first time tomorrow, any tips? I think we're starting with Kohl's at 4:00am!

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for this year. My life has been a little crazy (applying to law school, etc.), and it's been hard lately to find time to realize how blessed I really am. So, I'm especially thankful that this country has a day set aside for thinking about how wonderful life is, and I'm planning on really enjoying it.

I made three pumpkin pies yesterday, so my most important holiday job is done! Today I'm going to watch the parade, head to Old Navy with my sister for 50% coats (wish me luck!), and then come home and get to work on my 2nd-most-important holiday job: green bean casserole!

Tonight the whole giant family's getting together, and I can't wait. I'm missing J this year (he's in SC for the holiday), but I'm thankful that he's finally graduating and coming home. It's going to be a wonderful new year.

You can take the boy out of Texas...

...but you can't take Texas out of the boy! Which is why J's moving back home after 4+ years of living in South Carolina.

Since moving day is a little under a month away, we decided it was time to find an apartment. And find an apartment we did! We spent an entire day driving to and from apartment complexes, townhomes, and condos. I would NOT recommend doing this entirely in one day, but you gotta go what you gotta do!

So without further ado, take a look at our lovely little 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment in Houston! ((is it weird that I keep calling it "our" apartment? I don't even live there! And I won't for another 7 months! But I still feel like it's mine...)

I'm swooning over this kitchen. And pretty soon, I actually get to cook in it.

I've actually been leaving facebook comments to the kitchen on its picture on J's album. Every so often I stop by and tell it that I love it, and that I can't wait to make cookies in it soon. It's a little absurd. I'm pretty sure my own kitchen feels awfully jealous.

My love affair with the kitchen is nothing compared to J's love affair with this balcony.

This picture doesn't even do it justice...that little courtyard is lovely, and there's a nice big area where we're going to put a table and chairs. J loves it.

See how happy he is? It was a pretty successful apartment-hunting day!

I CAN'T WAIT until J moves in after Christmas. I'm just dying to fill that cute little apartment with lots of cute little things!

Anybody else feel a little too attached to your SO's house? Do you have a special kind of love set aside just for your kitchen?

Yearly Pictures

Every year my sorority has an Initiation. And each time we do it, my friend A and I take a picture showcasing our shoes. I'm not sure how it started, but I love it.

2007

2008

2009

It's funny to see how we've grown (and how our taste in shoes has changed over the years!!). Now the trio's complete, unless I decide to come back and visit next year as an Alum. Oh, memories.

Puzzled?

My last post was about making crazy memories with my best friends. And this one is just the same. Want to know what we did this time? Drum roll please...**dum da dum da dumdum dum da da dum* PUZZLE NIGHT!

Yeah, I can hear you. "What the heck is puzzle night? It sounds lame." Well imaginary blogger audience voice, you are wrong. It was fun. And there were "puzzle-ritas." And I documented it for your viewing pleasure. Katie - 1. Disbelieving imaginary blog audience - 0.

We finished this bad boy first. And boy, we were motivated!

And then we got started on a second! This was serious puzzle business!

But eventually I got bored with the puzzles...and decided to play with my camera instead. Which resulted in the following:

Macro settings! Yay!

Aggie Rings are fun to photograph! Yes, I realize that second one is upside down. I must have been puzzled (shameless pun horribly intended).

I feel so silly getting all nostalgic about my college friends. But these people have been with me since the day we moved into the dorm together, and they've supported me through thick and then. I'm so blessed to have friends like these, and I'm trying to savor these last six or seven months that we have all together in good old College Station. Sigh...growing up is hard.

Warm Fuzzy Feelings and Cold Icy Treats

Now that I'm officially graduating in May, it's starting to hit me that I need to be cherishing the moments I have right now. Yesterday some of my best friends and I took some time out of our busy schedules to stop at Cold Stone and use some ice cream coupons. Now, normally ice cream is a summer food. Sure. But, when you have Buy One-Get One coupons, you simply must use them. Even if it means ice cream on a cold night. Use those coupons! To prove how cold it was (and yes, I'll admit, this was "cold" by Texas standards...I'm slightly wimpy), I'll show you what my roommate left our apartment wearing:

Toms, and fuzzy thick socks. Classy.

When we got to the ice cream shop we encountered a dilemma: no empty tables. Normally, no big deal! We'll sit outside! But yesterday...it was just much too cold. So what are four coupon-savvy college kids to do?! Answer: Sit in the shopping center's elevator to the parking garage. I'm not kidding. We did.

We just plopped our little bums down on the floor and ate our ice cream.

And we were happy.

Plus, it was kind of like an adventure, because every time the elevator would start to move we would jump up and grab all of the ice cream supplies so strangers wouldn't see us being so silly! Sadly, no actual strangers witnessed this...just a few false alarms.

Thank God for moments like these with my best friends. Memories are so important.

I saw Pac Man today!!!

The funny thing about being in college at a school as huge as Texas A&M (probably any college) is that you never know what you'll run into walking to and from your classes. Today, I saw Pac Man.

He was just getting his bike out of the rack. Minding his business. And I was just snapping photos like a crazy woman. Ahh, college campuses.

Note: If you have an explanation for this, I'm all ears!

I Have a Surprise!

Okay, so it's not a secret that I've been a bit of a bad blogger. You know...putting up the Halloween pictures about two weeks AFTER Halloween...it's been rough. But, you'll understand why when I tell you the surprise. I'll give you a hint...

These are my latest "splurge" purchase...

Figure it out? I'm going to law school! And not only am I going (because that wasn't such a surprise), but I'm going next Fall!! Turns out my double majors overlapped wayyy more than I thought, and Surprise! I'm graduating in May. Life. is. crazy.

Halloween Post. Better Late than Never!

Okay, I didn't want to blog about this since I sort of missed the window of opportunity on Halloween hype this year, but I can't get over some of these costumes! My sorority threw a pumpkin carving party, and girls were supposed to come dressed with their big/little sisters. Take a look at their creativity, and save these ideas for next year!

Three Amigos. It's hard to see, but they have mustaches drawn on their fingers! Adorable!

Cuuute.

Bundles of Joy. This is one of the cleverest costumes I saw this year!!

Cutest DIY constume ever! The back had a sign that said "Put a Little Boogie in it!"

Alien, Spaceman, Galaxy.

If you give a mouse a cookie...

Doesn't this make YOU want a Fanta??

What's a college party without a Snuggie or two?

This little guy stole my heart. I don't even know who carved him, but I wanted him to come home with me!

Happy Belated Halloween!!

Backtracking...

We're going to just rewind a sec back to a couple weeks ago. Okay with you? Good. Moving on...

There's a lovely park by my parents' house, and they host a Fall Festival/Carnival thing each year. So we used my sister as an excuse to go to a kids-centered event, and had a blast!

I love this shot of my littlest sister...everyday there's less "little kid" in her, so it's special to capture it on film while it lasts.

Horses, always a crowd favorite!

I LOVE coming home to spend time with my family!

The wannabe photographer in me is a little eensy weensy bit proud of this photo...you know, with the duck wings flapping in the water and all...*blushes*

Nothing like a game of Toss-A-Toad to liven up your afternoon!

I love that the area my parents live in puts on community events like this...I'm a suburb girl at heart, so it'll be interesting to see how I do in a few months with the move to the big city! Any city girls want to pass on some advice?

I'm back from beautiful South Carolina, and my goodness...we just don't have leaves like that in Texas! Hellloooo, Fall!! We got to visit a bunch of J's family in Charleston and in Edisto, which was wonderful as always, and just between you and me, I'm so beyond happy and oh-so-overly-excited that we're finally in November, which means J's graduating and coming home NEXT MONTH! EEeek!

Okay, done with all the excitement. Phew. Anyway, I just HAVE to show you pictures of all these mountains and trees. Because maybe some of you live in Texas like me and have no seasons. And because posts without pictures are like ovens without cookies. Sad.

This is Lake Lure. It's pretty. I like pretty things.

We got to spend hours together in the car, just enjoying the sunny day. Happy much? Why, yes!

He spent quite a bit of time writing in the dirt with this stick. I spent quite a bit of time taking pictures. It worked out.

I felt like these gorgeous red berries were whispering in my ear, "Winter is coming! Fall first, but then...December! December!" Oh how I love you, pretty red berries.

And of course, we had to precariously sit on a ledge on a mountaintop and take a self-portrait. You know, to prove we were there and all.

So, that's it! The trip to the mountains! I would definitely reccommend a trip down Blue Ridge Parkway through the Land of the Apple Orchards and over to Lake Lure if you've never been. I'd suggest going in November. :)

I have so much to blog about from before I left...Halloween posts = unfinished. Bad blogger! But, it's coming!!

This Weekend!

I'm leaving in a few hours to go spend the weekend with Jeff, and I'm just beyond excited! Last time we saw each other was September 20th, and its been a long time!

We're planning on going up to North Carolina on Saturday to see the pretty mountains and fall leaves and stuff...cute, right?

So pretty!! (source)

And then on Sunday we're going to see his aunts and uncles and cousins and stuff, and I'm so excited!

Anyway, I probably won't be posting this weekend, so I hope everyone has a great couple of days!

A Fall Tradition

Every fall my family takes a trip to a Christmas tree farm that doubles as a Pumpkin Patch during October. When I was middle school, I absolutely HATED going. My sister and I would complain the whole way there...it was a long drive, and then we had to sit in hay, and be outside for a long period of time in the heat (yes...its usually hot in October in Houston), and we just were horrible about the whole thing.

But, my mom and dad always made us come along, and now that I'm older I can look back and appreciate how hard they worked to preserve this tradition. Ironically, the pumpkin patch trip is so important to me now that this year I drove the hour-and-a-half to Houston just to be there when they went. My younger sister goes to school at TCU and couldn't get there, but I think my youngest sister was happy at least one of us was there.

It was so sunny!!

They have lots of fun Halloween decorations to take pictures by...

Eek! A spider!

And of course I had to get one of everyone "in the patch!"

Want to see the pumpkin we picked out? Here it is!

Perfect, right? Hehe.

After selecting the best pumpkin, we walked around to look at all the decorations and such.

I love moments like this because as she gets older they get fewer

and farther between. There's something about a playing

child that brings pure joy to my heart, but she's not

such a "child" anymore!

I found a bunch of "misfit" pumpkins, and they captured my attention for quite some time...

Weird pumpkins.

See its little face? Mom and I were quite amused.

K and I went off and had a little photo shoot while waiting in line for the train ride...

This picture makes me happy.

And then it was time for the train! The train drives around the property through the rows and rows of Christmas trees getting ready for December. When I was younger, I thought it would be so cool to be a Christmas tree farmer. The train ride always makes me feel a little nostalgic.

It was so nice to just spend some quality time with my family...and the weekend wasn't over yet!!