House Progress!!!

First, I am going to have to apologize (for the millionth time) for the poor quality photos....these were all taken on my phone.  Second, these were all taken at least a week and a half ago, some over two weeks ago, so they need to be updated even now!  But...here they are...progress!

Brad's closet:

My closet:

Our shower (don't pay attention to the floor...it is getting fixed.  It is a little too gray on one side and white on the other in this photo):

Standing at the front door looking back toward the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom:

 Cabinets going in in the kitchen!!!!

The bar side of the butler's pantry:

The beginning of the cabinets in the laundry room:

My vanity on the left and Brad's on the right:

Girls' vanity on the left and Bubbie's on the right:

 They have started putting up lighting and have done some work on the mantel since I took this pictures, so I will post more soon.  I feel like the ball is really rolling now!  However, Brad and I made the decision the other day (forgive me if I am repeating myself -- I can't remember if I already posted about this...) that we are not going to try to move in before Christmas if they finish the house.  It would be too stressful in an already-stressful and busy time of year, and that is the last thing that Christmas is supposed to be!  The kids did ask for Santa to maybe bring their presents to the new house...it just depends on where things stand on Christmas Day, I guess.  And if the big guy can find our new place!

More pictures soon!

My Hair May LOOK Brown...

Hello!  First of all, thank you to everyone for all of your sweet comments, texts, homing pigeons, etc. about my new brown hair.  I really like it.  It is funny -- people are either totally shocked by it, or they completely ignore the fact that my hair is a different color.  I guess they are going by the old saying of "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Anyway, as my title states, my hair may look brown, but I am still totally a blond.  I have pulled some really stupid moves since we got home from Peter Island, and I could just kick myself when I do stupid stuff. 

The really big one is I completely forgot to show up for jury duty last week!  I didn't realize it until last weekend, and when I did, I had that horrible, sinking feeling settle into my stomach like I was going to get into trouble.  I called first thing Monday morning, and the lady who answered the phone told me that I would be visited by a Sheriff's Deputy who would serve me with a subpoena to appear in court next Monday to explain to the judge why I didn't show up -- yikes!  Those of you who know me in real life know that this would be my worst nightmare -- being the put on the spot, in the center of attention, for something I did wrong?!?!  No, thank you!!!  As of this morning when I left for work, I had yet to see said subpoena.  Why hasn't it shown up?  Did that lady know what she was talking about?  Can the Sheriff's Deputy not find our house?? (I know we live in the boonies, but that is a scary thought if we ever had an emergency...)  Now I am wondering if I should call back.  I am definitely not begging to go to court, but I don't want to fail to appear again.  Ugh!  Stupid, stupid Christie!!!

The second thing I did was show up to drop off the girls at ballet Tuesday ready to buy tickets to their Christmas recital only to see that all tickets for both shows (yes, they have to dance two nights) were sold out.  I thought they went on sale this week, but they went on sale last week.  So I am sitting there thinking that I am going to have to bring the girls to rehearsals, bring the to the recitals two nights, and not even get to watch them?!?!  Thankfully for me, the teacher had two tickets for each night saved for someone else who already had tickets and was willing to sell them to me, and I was able to scrounge up another ticket for the first night.  So now I just have to figure out who is going to use those tickets.  And, evidently I wasn't the only parent who didn't get tickets -- some parents got more then their allotted amount, and the theater is really small -- so now the teacher has added a third show that all dancers must attend.  Shoot me now.

So...hair color?  Brown.  Common sense?  Blond.  Definitely blond.

Peter Island Resort, BVI

For Thanksgiving this year, thirty-five of my family members went to Peter Island Resort in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.  It was heaven on earth.

Because there were so many of us, and not everyone could get off of work and school at the same time, we left in shifts.  Brad, my brother Graham, my sister-in-law Elizabeth, and I left on the Friday before Thanksgiving and flew down to St. Thomas and met up with the crew who was already there.  We spent Friday night at a hotel in St. Thomas, and then got up Saturday morning to take a ferry to Road Town, Tortola (the other end of the island where we stayed last year).

Once we got to Road Town, we spent a little bit of time shopping and sightseeing before we were picked up by a taxi and taken to the Peter Island ferry dock and whisked away...

Peter Island is an all-inclusive resort (except for your alcohol -- oh, and bottled water at meals -- found that out the hard way for $12 a bottle!), so basically anything you want to do is included -- kayaking, snorkeling, sailing, windsurfing, etc.  Of course, the spa is extra -- and I took full advantage of that!  However, because we were all staying for a week, we got a nice room credit that we could use at the bar, the spa, or the boutique, so that went a long way to defray those costs.  

We stayed in the ocean view rooms.  We had thought about renting the three villas that they have on the grounds of the resort, but they weren't available for the whole time that we were staying.  The ocean view rooms were nice, though -- and I liked that Brad and I had a room to ourselves:

This was the view from our room:

Most of our days were spent on Deadman's Beach.  We would grab as many beach chairs as we could, and plop ourselves down right in front of the beach bar.  There we would read, listen to music (our own -- that was one thing they didn't have much of in the daytime), hang out in the water, sip beachy drinks, and watch the boys try their hands at sailing/windsurfing/paddle boarding/etc.

This was the view standing on Deadman's Beach, looking back towards the beach view rooms:

And looking toward the other direction:

And out toward Tortola and Deadman's Chest (another little island where Blackbeard supposedly dropped other pirates off to die with only a barrel of rum for comfort...):

The following pictures are from the day we went to White Bay beach.  It was a more secluded beach, and we had to be dropped off there by the Peter Island staff.  They brought us a picnic lunch, and we mostly had the beach to ourselves -- in addition to some Germans who we managed to make angry within the first three minutes of being there:

One of the villas:

One evening we went to watch the sunset from one of the highest points at Peter Island (the island gets as high as 5000 feet).  It was beautiful!

While eating dinner one night, this humongous boat pulled up in Deadman's Bay.  We were amazed by this boat and tried to guess who in the world could be on it.  I tried to get pictures of it at night all lit up, but it wouldn't show up well.  So, I took pictures of it the next day.  Turns out this boat is called Fortunato, and you can rent it if you so desire, for $450,000 per week plus expenses!  That yellow thing coming out the side of it is a slide...

Looking onto Deadman's Beach from Deadman's Grill:

The pool:

Deadman's Chest:

It was really a beautiful place and a really relaxing vacation...overall; we did have our share of craziness, though.  Tomorrow I will tell you about all of that!

Who wants to go with me back to Peter Island?!?!

I Like To Surprise Myself

Today I went to get my hair done, which was nothing out of the ordinary.  Except I came home looking like this:

Can you tell I love posing by myself?

I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go dark with my hair!  I was really nervous about it once I committed, but I am loving it so far!  I have had a lot of different cuts from long to super short, but this is the first time I have done any color other than blond.  This is something I have wanted to do for a while, but honestly the thought had not crossed my mind any time recently until about half a second before it came out of my mouth.  We'll see how it goes!

Reality...Blech

Hi, my name is Christie, and this is my blog...

It's been a while, but I have my reasons.  Last week, Brad and I were on a fabulous vacation with 500 of my closest family members (or 34, the number is fuzzy) minus the kids, and the week before that I was a big bundle of stress getting ready for vacation. 

Why is it that getting ready for vacation is so stressful?
But, now we are back and trying to get back into the routine of real life.  Reality has been fun.  Fun, fun, fun.  Clemson lost to the dang Gamecocks.  For the third year in a row.  Duke the Dang Dog tore all of the insulation out from under our house while we were away.  It rained all day Monday.  It rained especially hard while I was putting groceries in the car.  Our cabinet guy has still not even built some of our cabinets, and I really wanted to be in the house by Christmas -- and he's known about these cabinets and has not had another job in front of ours. 

I liked vacation much better.  I would even let the kids come visit sometime!

Anyway, I have lots to blog about...vacation, house, Christmas...so I will be back soon!

For now, I leave you with the view from our room at Peter Island:

Ahhhh....

Birchbox: Super Fun!

Margaret knows that I am a total sucker for anything that has to do with beauty products -- she is, too -- so she knew that when she signed up for this new (or new to her) program called Birchbox, that I would be all about it, too.

Birchbox is a program where you pay $10 and receive a box of beauty samples each month.  It is always something different, and you never know what you will get.  You just fill out a little survey when you sign up about your skin condition, hair color, eye color, and what type of beauty products you buy most -- and then you just wait for your first box!

This is so fun because it combines two of my favorite things -- getting a package in the mail and beauty products!

My first box came the other day:

Inside it has a list of all of your samples for the month and how much they would cost should you want to buy the full size (which I guess is the idea behind sending the samples):

My goodies for the month:

Here is what I got:

1. Lavanila: The Healthy Body Butter in Vanilla Blossom + Lavanilla: The Healthy Baby Lotion

2. Mama Mio Skincare: Boob Tube Bust & Neck Firmer (It says "Don't be fooled by the cheeky name -- this award winning cream uses collagen-boosting CoQ10 and nourishing shea butter to keep skin youthful."  Who doesn't want youthful skin?  Especially as we (I) are getting into our 30s?!?)

3. Tay: Cucumber Day Moisturizer with Mango Butter

4. Zoya: Nail Polish in Izzy (a really pretty hot pink sparkly color)

Treat: Chuao Chocolatier: Firecracker Chocopod

Margaret and I compared our boxes, and we got totally different stuff -- she got a mud mask, a lip gloss, and I can't remember what else.  I think it is fun to know that they pack different boxes for different people.  It is nice to know that we don't all get the same products each month since we don't all have the same skin and hair.

If you would like to join Birchbox, you can go straight to their website, OR you can leave your email address in the comments, and I will send you an invite!

 

It's The Most Wonderful Time...

I know not everyone shares my love of Christmas music or Michael Buble, but these are two of my favorite things -- and now they are combined!!

image

If you haven't heard this new Christmas cd -- and, no, I do not think it's too early to listen to Christmas music, thank you very much -- then I have to say it's a must!  Really -- go get it!