pictures, presents, and pillows

i can't believe Christmas has already come and gone. i had such a blast hanging out with friends and family and am sad it's already over. here are a few things we did over the break:

we finally put up our pictures. i LOVE them and they make me so happy when i see them.


my high school girls came in. they wanted to see the house, so over the break while jamie was in town, they all drove up. it meant so much to me that they came. i've known most of these girls since elementary school, and it's always so fun catching up and seeing where life has taken us. we have another wedding coming up (yay betsy!), and i can't wait! she's going to make a beautiful bride.


santa came! i, unfortunately, was sick during Christmas but still enjoyed it to the fullest. me and joel woke up, made coffee, opened our presents from each other, and lounged around until we headed to his family's place to eat and open/give more presents. i just love seeing people's reactions when they open gifts...it never gets old!


this was what i gave joel. in case you don't know, we LOVE coffee. he tried a machine similar to this one that made a cup of coffee in no time at my aunt carla's house and he was in love. so i did some research and found a great deal on this machine that makes coffee AND espresso, cappuccinos, macchiatos, and lattes. he loves it and has dedicated an entire cabinet to his discs and mugs. he was so hilarious to watch setting it all up.





the sunday after Christmas, we had Christmas with my mom's side. this is us in front of my nana and papa's house. it was lots of fun and we got to see baby stella that was born a couple weeks before.


we then went back to our house and had my family's Christmas. i was especially excited to give mal her present since it was her and james' first Christmas engaged and hers was the only handmade gift i was able to make this year. she has a little dog and pledged phi mu this past fall, so i knew just the thing! it was so fun designing and making it with her in mind. i think she loved it...or else she's a really good actress. :)




and last but not least, i finally finished the pillow i'd been working on!! i saw this tutorial a few months back and knew i HAD to make one myself. it was pretty easy but time consuming. i LOVE ruffles and this same thing can be done for headbands and belts. i love how it came out!!