Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Early mornings by the tree & a few more of my favorite things


Waking up to a Christmas tree in the house is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season!  I'll admit I'm not exactly a morning person, but surprisingly early mornings by the Christmas tree are what I love most.  

Dark outside, warm inside, hot coffee, and glowing lights.  What more do we need? 
Maybe a little music....: ) 

*Bing Crosby is my favorite!* 




I am not the first one up in my household, but I am the first one to switch all the lights on.  
The quietness of the early morning combined with the glow of the Christmas tree is something that I enjoy all season long.  It sets the tone for my day and reminds me to slow down and be mindful of the season.

What gets done gets done, and what doesn't...doesn't : ) 


Have some coffee (or tea) and relax.  It will be OK.  I promise.  




Christmas trees are like scrapbooks, aren't they? Each ornament holds a special meaning or memory.  
I smile every time I walk by my tree. 




These are two of my favorites ornaments.  I bet you can guess why! 

(2 of my favorite things! lol) 




Little touches everywhere give such warmth to our home. 




I am constantly moving things and pottering around, but it's what I love most.  
Nesting is my favorite hobby. 





And this.  

My heart, my heart.....




Two special things from my childhood are this ceramic Christmas tree (you probably have one too!).
It's been part of my Christmas as long as I can remember.




And these carolers, that were hand painted by my mom several years ago.  There is a music box hidden in the back. 
I adore them!

Just looking at them brings me back to my childhood and I am filled with the magic of Christmas.  
(and just so you know - the magic is still alive in my house- if you know what I mean...wink, wink...) 
Yaaaaay! 




Why not tuck a snow man in your plant.....





Or hang a mitten on your hutch....





Or a star on your window....

These are the little touches that add to the beauty of the season.  


(No snow yet, but I'm waiting!) 




The cutest couple! ~




And....the arrival of my first Christmas package made me so happy! : ) 

Tis the season of friendship and love!  





And here's a quick glace out my window this morning.  We've had so much rain the river is overflowing.  But it looks pretty and soon it will be frozen over. 

Winter is knocking on our door. 

I hope as you enter this holiday season you are filled with peace, love, and joy!  I'm sure all your decorated homes are as homey and as cozy as can be. 

Especially in the quietness of the early morning <3


And remember....

Don't let holiday stress get to you. Just enjoy the time at home (and let Amazon do all the work...: )  


Love & chocolate peppermint kisses! xoxo 



Friday, November 23, 2018

Disney World 2018


Hello Everyone!  Happy Friday! 


 For all my American friends who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday I hope you all had a fun day eating and spending time with family & friends.  I am still feeling stuffed, but surely will have room for leftovers today! Actually, isn't that the best part? : ) 

And since Thanksgiving is all about being thankful and counting your blessings, today I thought I would share with you some pictures from our recent trip to Disney World.  I am so thankful for my husband who works so hard to be able to take us on these trips that we enjoy so much!!  You don't see him too often here on my blog, and that's mainly because a). he hates having his picture taken, which I don't understand at all because he's so cute....and b). because he doesn't understand blog land at all. But that's okay... he also still carries a flip phone and refuses to have an ATM card.  He's one of a kind and we love him! That being said, we had an awesome time of our trip! John says it was the best one ever!!!  




John was super exited to see the newly opened Toy Story Land in Hollywood Studios!  As soon as we checked into our hotel and got all settled in, Toy Story Land was our first stop! 




One of the best parts about Disney is there is always something new to see.  We are creatures of habit and enjoy visiting our favorite rides and spots again and again! But it's always a nice surprise when there is something new.  John is a HUGE Toy Story/Pixar fan, so this was what HE CAME to see.  





It was pretty amazing!!!! 




Disney is a master at details! 

How can you not love this? 







One of the things that I was looking forward to was seeing all the Christmas decorations.  Once again, I was not disappointed.  They were epic.  I am going to do a separate post and show you all of the Christmas décor that I noticed around the parks and our hotel.  For now here is a little sample...


So pretty!!! 




We stayed at the Pop Century resort again.  We stayed here a few years ago and really loved it so we decided to go with it again (I told you we were creature of habit : ). 

Pop Century is broken up into decades from the 1950's-1990's.  When I made the reservation I didn't know where we would end up.  I was secretly hoping for the 50's (of course I was) and guess what?  We got lucky! 

This was our building.  That's a giant bowling pin! 




It's because the pool area is themed after a 1950's bowling alley.  

At the end of the pool is a giant jukebox! 

There was 50's music playing all the time.  We swam to Elivs! 






This is how we spent most evenings....: ) 





Vacations are the best! 







 Magic Kingdom is my favorite park. 

The sight of that castle still makes me teary, even though I've seen it so many times.





It was even more magical with the Christmas trees.....:) 





Tap dancing and singing Christmas songs....love, love, love!!!!





We ate Mickey shaped everything!!!!!




Everyday!!!!




We hated to leave!! Can't we just stay forever???  





Speaking of forever, John was forever in gift shops!  He had his own money to spend on this trip and quickly learned the value of a dollar (which in Disney unfortunately is not that much....) 

He ended up coming home with a hefty bag of loot, though!  He used him money wisely! 




The waterfalls at Epot are so cool!  I could stare at them all day :)   




I did a bit of shopping myself! (note the photo bomber to my right....lol) 





One night we had dinner in Italy (in Epcot) at a restaurant that I've always wanted to try. It was called Via Napoli and their pizza came highly recommend.  OMG was it delicious!!!  
Hands down my favorite meal of the week! 





Followed by gelato!  The best! 

Vacation life ~ 





And then the best thing ever happened!  The highlight of my entire trip!

Billie Jo and I met through our blogs and have been blog besties for years!  What a wonderful discovery to learn that we would both be in Disney with our families at the same time! How magical would it be if we could meet there, for the first time?  Well, we made it happen!  And it was the best night ever!

We met in Epcot on our last night in Disney.  When we saw each other we hugged and it was as if we've know each other our whole lives! We talked and spent the next 3 hours together, with our families, walking around the park, going on rides, and we were even able to share a pumpkin ice coffee together! (thank you Steve for that!! : )  Rob, John, and I had the best night that evening.  John absolutely loved the whole family, especially Flynn, who made him laugh so many times that night.   

I only wish we got a group picture with all of us!  But as I said to Rob, that's another reason why we'll have to get together again someday!  

You can visit Billie Jo's blog here and also her daughter Madison's blog here..... who by the way, is even more sweet and gorgeous in person....just so you know! 




It really was the best night and I was walking on cloud nine all evening.  It made saying goodbye to Disney a little less painful (because I was so happy) and we honestly couldn't have asked for a better way to end our trip! 




Disney is a magical place, in more ways than one.   People ask me all the time why do we keep going back over and over when there are so many other places in the world to visit.  Why? With the heat, crowds, and high prices, why Disney?  And my answer is always the same.  Because we love it.  We feel at home here.  A feeling comes over you in this place that can't be explained.  Once you step on Disney property you don't want to leave.  


We (and by we I mean John and me:) had tears in our eyes at the airport, already scheming to talk Rob into another trip.  We'll keep saving our pennies and be back soon! 





We love you Disney! 

Thanks for the memories!!! 




See ya real soon! 

xoxoxoxo



Monday, November 19, 2018

Here comes the holidays! : )

Hello Everyone!!

I'm back from Disney! We had an absolutely amazing time and I can't wait to tell you all about it! That will be coming later this week.  I have pictures to show you and a few very exciting stories that I am still beaming over! Disney is indeed magical!!! We were very sad to leave, as we made so many wonderful memories.  John actually shed a few tears at the airport, but I assured him that we will be back very soon!  





Just like I dreamed it would be, Disney was all decked out for the holidays!  Wait until you see the decorations!  I was in awe!

By the time I got home I was so ready to put my tree up. And that's exactly what we did yesterday.  

Down came the Christmas buckets from the attic.  I packed all of my precious fall stuff away for another year and then......





Ta...da.....! 

We put on Christmas music, made hot chocolate, and decorated the tree.  I know it's early but I'm so happy we did it.  The glowing lights and sparkles make it all worth it.  Today is the start of Thanksgiving week and I can't think of a better way to kick off the holiday season than waking up to a Christmas tree in the house!

My heart is full ~ 




I'm so excited it's finally the holiday season!

Thursday will be all about the turkey, pumpkin pie, and eggnog (yes, I love eggnog! : ) 





I hope you all are enjoying your Monday and the start of this holiday week!  I have so much to share with you in these upcoming weeks so please do check back.  I'm also thinking about rebooting my YouTube channel (which is pretty much dead as a doornail right now...).  Would you like to see vlogs? I'm thinking about it.... We'll see!  

Love you all!!! xoxo 



Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Lovely November

 Lovely November....you are not disappointing me.  In fact, I think November is outdoing October in the foliage department this year.  In my back yard, anyway : ) 

It's been raining for what feels like forever and today the sun finally came out, reflecting off the wet leaves on the trees....it's pure gold.  

More and more leaves are falling and blowing in the wind.  It will only be a matter of weeks until they are all gone and the frost has come.  I'm enjoying it while it lasts.  




Forever reminding myself to slow down time, take deep breaths, and live in the moment.

So far I'm doing a good job :)  





This past week we've been busy packing and preparing for our Disney trip.  We are off to Florida on Saturday couldn't be more excited! 

I've seen online that Disney is all decked out for Christmas!  My two favorite things rolled in one!  I've never seen the Christmas decorations at Disney so it's making this trip extra magical ~ 
(that and some other reasons that I'll tell you about later ;) 





I'll say goodbye to crunchy red and yellow leaves for a bit, but I'll be back....ready to jump right back into to my coziness!  

With Thanksgiving just around the corner I'm excited to put my tree up next weekend.  Yes, I put my tree up before Thanksgiving....I'm one of those people! (don't judge me :) 

The reason I do it is simple.  The morning after Thanksgiving I can wake up and behold....my tree is all decorated! I'm ready for Christmas! No stressing out.  Also, I feel like the Christmas season is so short, why not make it last just a little bit longer? 





So off I go on vacation.  With good times and memories to be made!   

All knowing that I'm coming home to the holiday season.  My favorite time of year. 


And afternoons like this.....: ) 




Happy November my friends! I hope all is well in your corner of the world <3




Love & kisses! xoxo