ho, ho, oreo

last week, my best friend kate gave me an awesome idea for a present/recipe for oreo bark. ooooh so good! i had one bite of hers, and i knew what i had to do...make some and bring it to each of our family christmases. i decided to hand it out as one of our presents to joel's side since we sit around and open presents, and for mine on sunday, i'll just make a big batch and set it out to munch on since some of the people in my family are on never-ending diets.

i couldn't find a cheap enough tin or jar to pass out to everyone, so i found this link and decided to make my own boxes. it was so fun, and i highly recommend making these boxes if you ever want to give out small items like candy, cookies, etc. one, they are a chance to personalize it with any kind of paper you want and just be creative, and two, they are oh so cheap. i mean who doesn't want to make their gift even more special and from the heart?

the boxes ended up being such the perfect size. i used 12 x 12 inch cardstock paper for the top and 11.5 x 11.5 inch for the bottom; i also made the band an inch thicker than what the tutorial suggests. personal preference. :) i made 12, spent about $7, and it took me a couple hours to make them all. granted, i wouldn't suggest doing them all in one sitting because i'm pretty sure i temporarily lost feeling in my finger tips from all the folding of the paper. but they came out so cute, and everyone LOVED them!

jenny green giant

i thought i'd share a pic of some of the ladies i work with. i am by far the youngest and apparently the tallest, but some of them have been working at LTRC since they were my age...which is a good sign, right? this was taken at our latest conference in lafayette. LTRC hosted a seminar at the hilton, and i learned that our department (communications and publications) usually goes to help with registration. it was actually a lot of fun because after registration was over, we just hung out in the lobby, talked, and made sure everything was taken care of if something came up. it was great getting to know them better and hearing some of their hilarious yet sometimes scary stories (e.g., wild child birth stories). i can already tell that i will learn a lot from these women, haha.

the good part about traveling to lafayette was getting a chance to go home for a bit. my mom's excitement was through the roof and my dad and brother were excited in a normal, healthy way, haha. my mom complains she's the only girl in the house now, but time did not stand still, so she had to see this coming. kids grow up and move out. i think she's still in denial that i'm off and married. :)

when i got home, i went to my bed and saw my mom had put a travel size shower gel and small bottle of lotion along with one of my favorite treats--chocolate covered cherries--on my pillow. she's so cute. we had supper and talked for hours while i was trying to dodge their stinky dog, louie, that seems to get hair on you even if you just look at him. it was great having the whole family together, catching up, and laughing. and of course the trip wouldn't have been complete without my dad's famous french toast and coffee in bed. yum. that man can cook. i'll get to see them again in a few days, and that makes me happy. i can't wait for them to see what we got them for Christmas. :)

second installation

it’s time for installation #2 of things you may or may not know about me. here is my first one...in case you need a refresher. :)

::i have a complete obsession with blogs. almost unhealthy. i’m currently subscribed to over 70, and that’s after I go in every now and then and delete the ones I don’t read. which even then, that doesn't seem like a lot to me. google reader is the best thing that ever happened to me. it makes it so much easier to read your blogs since it lets you subscribe to however many you want, and then tells you when each blog has a new post. pure bliss. here are a few of my favorites (i know this because my heart jumps a beat when I see I have unread items):

Vintage Glam
How About Orange
snippet & ink
2000 Dollar Budget Wedding
This Young House
decor8
ikea hacker

::i have a slightly deformed ear. i usually forget about it, but my left ear has an overabundance of cartilage on the top part. don’t worry—it sounds waaay more gross than it actually is.

::my favorite number is 15. it started when i was in 6th grade, was number 15, and made the cheerleading squad for the first time. it continued my freshman year in high school when i was number 15 and made varsity for the first time. later, joel gave me a shirt from when he played baseball and on the back was number 15. recently, i lost my job on the 15th, which wasn’t so lucky. but then exactly a month later on the 15th i was offered a full time position somewhere else. so as you can see, 15 and i have had quite an interesting relationship over the years. i was very tempted to get married on the 15th of a month, but i decided that might be overkill.

::sometimes when i sing in my car, i open up my phone and pretend to be on it, so i don’t look ridiculous to other drivers. but then i worry that one day i’ll accidently answer a call and not mean to while i’m singing my heart out. that would be embarrassing. i’m a terrible singer, but what’s worse is that i used to think i could sing. now, i’m having flash backs of all those middle school solos… ”swing low, sweet chariot…”

::i have a weird thing about my purse touching the floor in public. i cringe at all the germs that are on the floors of public restrooms, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. yuck. i’ll usually just hold my purse in my lap if I have no other option. i've spent many meals or movie nights awkwardly clutching on to my purse.