Tour of Lights

Last week, I went on a date and he took me to a neighborhood here in Arlington that is famous for their fabulous displays of lights each year. It was so much fun to be a passenger instead of the driver for a change - and it gave me two hands free to take lots of pictures (and I had to monkey around with my camera to get good pictures at night)!

Unfortunately, there are always a few houses on the block that think decorating means "put a ton of obnoxious yard art and scary-looking oddities in my yard, and make them all blink, flash and move at different speeds...make it so that people have seizures when they look at my yard!". I just couldn't bring myself to take pictures of those yards, but I bet their tastefully decorated neighbors are just cringing as they drive by every day. They are probably counting the days until January when the yard-art-vomit-job comes down until next year....

Merry Christmas, Y'all!!

A Year In Review

This Christmas, I think I am going to be reviving a tradition I started when I got married in 2003, but dropped in 2005. The tradition is this: On Christmas Day, you use a blank Christmas card (perhaps from the design you sent out that year) and essentially write out a summary what happened that year - both the good and the bad. You can make it as private or public as you want, you can do it as a couple, family or individual - whatever you want.

The idea behind it is to have a fun record of what happened in a particular year and you can save all of those cards through time and reminisce. When I started it, I decided that once I wrote out the card for a particular year, I would put it in my Christmas stocking and keep all of the accumulating letters in there. Then each year when I take out the Christmas decorations, I can pull out the letters and remember the past years and what I was up to.

After my horrible Christmas in 2004 when my marriage ended, I stopped that tradition because I no longer wanted to celebrate, remember or reminisce about these past few years. However, now that I am slowly finding joy, peace and happiness again, I think I'm ready to start up the letter tradition again. I'm looking forward to writing this year's letter on Christmas Day!

Let's Hear It For The (Cow)boys!

I learned something recently - the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders' uniform is trademarked and cannot be recreated without permission! It definitely is universally recognizable, but I didn't realize how serious they are about keeping it sacred and safe! Here's a little history from the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders website (http://www.dallascowboyscheerleaders.com/):

The Uniform...The uniform itself is a carefully guarded trademark and may not be duplicated in any way without the written permission of the DCC. The internationally recognized blouse, vest and shorts were originally designed by Paula Van Waggoner, of the Lester Melnick store in Dallas.

Since first introduced with the formation of the squad in 1972, there have been only six modifications to the uniform. In May of 1989 the original "go-go" boot had gone out of style and a more western oriented design was selected. In 1991, the large buckled belt was left behind in favor of shorts with a more flattering cut. 1992 brought a cowboy-style boot to the uniform, and in 1993 crystals were added to outline the fifteen stars on the vest and shorts. 1994 brought a more western shape to the blouse lapels, and finally, in 1999 crystals were added to the fringe line of the vest.

Each modification, after careful consideration by Director, Kelli McGonagill Finglass, was implemented to enhance the image that the uniform has represented from the very beginning - an image made all the more consistent through the efforts and dedication of Ms. Leveta Crager, who for twenty four years made and hand tailored every uniform worn by a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. Upon her retirement, designer Greg Danison was selected at the start of the 1996 season to continue the tradition of individual craftsmanship in each Cheerleader's uniform.

Santa Came Early!

When Mayce was moving, she came across the cutest little Santa suit for her dog, Percy. Here he is in all of his jolly Christmas glory. SO CUTE!!

Finding The Elusive........Happiness!

This week I had an epiphany of sorts....I think I am finding happiness and contentment for the first time in about 6 years. For a variety of reasons, the past 6 years have been tumultuous, unsettling and a struggle to find hope. There have been many times where I thought God just forgot about me and took my portion of life's blessings and divided them out among others....and made me watch. I really questioned God and struggled with my faith....how could a loving God who made promises to take care of me in my darkest hour just bail on me?

Since I moved to Texas earlier this year, I have slowly started feeling joy again and enjoyed many blessings. Sometimes in small ways, sometimes like a wave that knocks me over. I knew that by moving down here, it wasn't going to be like snapping your fingers and all of the hurt, sorrow, anger and disappointment from the last few years would just evaporate....but I REALLY underestimated how much healing was possible by just taking this leap and doing something for ME that I have really wanted to do for YEARS.

This year I fulfilled 2 huge goals of mine - moving to Texas and buying my first house. Both of those were scary, frustrating at times, and stress-filled, but in the end they were exactly what I needed. I gained so much from moving down here and tackling those goals on my own, I can't even tell you. I finally feel like I'm coming into my own and becoming truly comfortable and confident in my own skin.

And as much as I would like to take all of the credit for the successes, triumphs, and achievements in my life this year...I really need to thank God for all he has given me, shown me and taught me through not only this year of blessings, but the last few years of struggle, darkness and sadness. It was during those times when I thought God had left me, forgotten about me, and given up on me....but in all reality, God was there and preparing me for bigger things he had in store for me, but I was too impatient to see that.

In a lot of ways, my life in the last 6 years reminds me of the "Footprints" poem. I only saw the one set of footprints in the sand and I felt betrayed and abandoned...but what I failed to recognize was that God was there during that whole time. He was carrying me and trying to mold and prepare me for the huge blessings that were coming.

Ho Ho Ho!

I love seasonal decorations - and this year I broke the rules and put up my Christmas decorations PRIOR to Thanksgiving. No lightning bolts struck me dead, so I figure the whole "rule" was a total crock anyway!

This was a tricky Christmas decoration year since I moved in the last year and I had to figure out where everything should go (and also make room for a Christmas tree somewhere!). I was also afraid to open up my 2 Martha Stewart wreaths that I made in the last 2 years in Toledo. They are basically straw wreaths that I wrapped in green ribbon and then glue-gunned Christmas bulbs all over it. Seems simple enough, but they take a LONG time to make.....but I love it! I packed them very carefully and delicately, but since they are glass bulbs, there is always risk involved in moving them.....The damage wasn't too bad when I opened them up - only a few casualty bulbs that I need to replace. Woo hoo!

And this year, I found a place out of Maggie's reach for my silver-painted pine cones. In previous years, Maggie has always been really good about not getting into the decorations or messing with the tree......but she has a fascination with chewing on these pine cones. I imagine that's not too healthy for a dog, so I solved my problem this year - put them up on the wall in my big star!

The decorations turned out great and I found a place for everything. I love my tree and all of the candles and fun stuff - I won't want to take it all down at New Year's!!!

Cute Quotes

I love quotes and I just found a couple cute ones this week:

"Follow an old path and you find the expected. Blaze a new trail and you have an adventure."
--Evelyn Loeb

And for my 'northern' readers:

"May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart."
--Eskimo proverb

Rock n Roll History Lesson

I'm sure every one of you has heard Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" (and loved it!)...well, here's a link to a video that someone did that matches all of the lyrics with a picture of what Billy Joel is singing about. It's very interesting and I will admit - I don't know the story/history behind about half of them!

ENJOY!!

http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html

PS - Here is a link to a website that explains all of the references from the song. I LOVE LEARNING!!

http://www.teacheroz.com/fire.htm

Melrose Place----oops----I mean, Mayce's Place

Over the weekend, I helped Mayce move from Irving to Dallas into a new apartment. She hired movers to move the big furniture and the really heavy stuff, but over the weekend, we were taking care of some of the little stuff. We packed up our cars and I followed her to the new apartment in Dallas, which reminded me of Melrose Place.

I loved her new place - it's in a very cute and charming complex/community. Her apartment faces the pool/hot tub area and there's a fountain (that feeds into the pool) right across from her patio (or rather, Lanai, as we like to call it - she's a Golden Girls fan too!)

Here's Mayce and Percy on her lanai!! We have lofty goals to decorate her lanai - maybe some awesomely bad rattan furniture with pastel floral palm pattern cushions??? Who's with me - any Golden Girls fans out there?!

While I was there, I found the kind of tree I want to put in my backyard - it was gorgeous! Most of you know of my obsession with the color red, so it was only natural that I took a liking to this fabulous foliage! Isn't it amazing?!

Now THAT's Planning Ahead!

OK, has our capitalist society gotten to the point where we think it's a good idea to put up billboards offering sales and discounts on cremation?! Don't get me wrong - I'm all for capitalism and I'm a big supporter of cremation (we cremated my Dad 6 years ago, according to his wishes, and my Mom, sister and I plan to do the same thing when that time comes)......but there's something odd and slightly disturbing about seeing a billboard on the way to work that is trying to sell me on incinerating myself or my loved ones - at a discounted price, no less (this is just a picture of a billboard for illustration purposes - the actual one I saw was for a different company in Texas - but I was driving 70 mph and couldn't whip out my camera to get a picture at the time).

Am I way off base??

Who Needs a Wii When You Have This Beast?!

I'm not sure what prompted me, but I just remembered the other day that I have my original Nintendo system and games......I should whip it out and play some old-school Super Mario Brothers!

The games that I saved are Super Mario Brothers 1, Super Mario Brothers 2, Super Mario Brothers 3, Tetris & Dr. Mario. I LOVE MY NINTENDO!! As soon as I hooked it up, I just had to play a level of Super Mario Brothers 3. I only had to do the castle 2 times and passed all other parts of that first level on the first try!

Here's Maggie with the Nintendo - she wanted to be Player 2, but that whole "paw" thing prevented her from pushing the A and B buttons. Oh well.........

Missing: 1 orange wiener!

I am convinced that my dog, Maggie, is the weirdest little creature I've ever met. One minute, she's running all over the place, playing with her toys, stealing my socks.....and the next minute she is nowhere to be found. This freaked me out the first few times it happened, but now I know the drill.......she's hiding in my bed to take a nap in peace!

When you look at my bed, which is almost always made, you wouldn't be able to tell that an 11-pound dog was in there! She wedges herself right up against my pillow (the long way, of course - see pic below) and all of this is under my comforter and a decorative pillow that is on top. What a stealth little wiener!

More and More Hockey

On Sunday, I went to another Dallas Stars hockey game - I'm getting addicted!

Here's a picture of them introducing the team - I love the star that they jump through....


The special effects and lighting has come a long way - it's awesome!

And like all good hockey games, there are fights. Apparently the rule is that they won't break up a fight until a knee hits the ice. This fight that I saw at the game lasted for about 5 minutes (a LONG time for a fight when they lost their helmets and were punching each other!).

I'm sure other NHL teams have this too, but I thought it was cool that they had two functioning zambonis working in between periods, as well as a 'fun' zamboni that holds a bunch of fans that won a contest to be able to ride in the pimped-out one. How awesome!