Good start.

It's only been 2 days, but so far this new year I've got a pretty good start creatively. I've done my two days worth of pages for the Get a Load of This Challenge on bigpicturescrapbooking.com and I'm excited to keep working through the rest of the month. I've also journaled a bit- although that creative component is coming along slowly. And tonight I doodled a journal cover. It's just on a piece of copy paper, but I used the technique shown in a book Mom gave me for Christmas to fold it over the cover of my journal- really a technique I already knew, but hadn't thought of for a journal cover with a spiral binding. This doodle style drawing is something I've been doing for a long time, but I think I'll start trying to do it more. It's really fun to see what happens when I put a black pen to paper... and of course adding color makes it even better, at least most of the time! This still has a bit more white space than I wanted, but I can always add on later.

A big 2008.

Happy New Year. It is now 2008 and my mind is bubbling with all the resolutions I'd like to make and things I'd like- and am going- to do. In just a few months, I am going to move into my first owned place. And in the fall, I'm getting married to one of my best friends. In addition to those big events, I also want to be more creative and healthy. I don't want to waste too much time in front of the television and I want to take walks with Casey like we did a bit this summer... plus much more. For the creative part, I'm starting the year right with a scrapbooking challenge on BigPictureScrapbooking.com. Mom invited me and I'm really excited to participate- it involves doing a scrapbooking page each day in the month of January- that's 31 pages in 31 days. It will be a great way to get my creative path started for this year. I also want to post to this blog more, but hopefully I'll find a more direct path to take with that as well. All in all, it's going to be a big year, and I'm so excited for it!

Christmas Tree.

Yesterday Casey and I went to get our Christmas tree. It didn't start off too well. First we went to the place we went last year and had a bit of sticker shock- as well as disappointment in the quality of the trees. We left and stopped at another place on the way back to the apartment- again, the sticker shock. Casey was talking about just getting a fake one, as we had discussed several times, or just getting a pre-cut, but real, one at Walmart or Lowes. As we drove away from the second place, I was in tears. I guess I didn't realize how much a real tree meant to me until then- and how much I really didn't want to get a tree at Walmart, for goodness sakes! While we were at the second place, a woman asked us if we'd been anywhere else and she mentioned a place called Ticonderoga Farms. Well, after the second place we went back to the apartment and Casey looked up more places to go, including Ticonderoga Farms. I was being pouty laying in bed while he was looking all of this up. He says from the other room that "duh, the trees are more expensive because of the drought we've had this year." Good point, I guess. Anyways, a few minutes pass and he comes in with a few sheets of paper and a grin on his face. My spirits lift a little because I can see he's got something in mind he knows will make me happy- his only goal- but I'm still kinda sad about our day so far. We get in the car and head back out. He says that at Ticonderoga Farms, you can cut your own tree- just like back home... as well as being out in the woods... on a dirt road! It may seem silly to be excited about such things, but I'm a Vermont girl- where dirt roads and cutting your own Christmas tree are what I've always known- and it was so sweet that Casey found a place for me to experience these things, even though I'm in Virginia. It turned out that we didn't even get our tree at Ticonderoga Farms, where they charge by the foot and all the trees were tall, but went back to the second place and settled for the most inexpensive, but pretty shaped, tree we could find. I was really happy to get the tree back to the apartment and decorated. There is something about a lit and decorated Christmas tree that just makes me happy inside. The memories you share with your family around a Christmas tree from the time you are little. The special ornaments you put up each year- remembering each sentimental moment those ornaments hold. Christmas trees remind me of home and of family. Although I'm away from home, I'm so glad to have Casey to share my Christmas tree moments with for the rest of my Christmases. He really turned a not so great morning into a expression of the love and devotion he has for me. That's a great thing to experience during this season... better than any material present, that's for sure! I also love how he will only put up "us" ornaments- as in ornaments with our names on them. He hangs them next to each other and leaves the rest of the ornaments to me. It's great to share such moments with him- and to eat the yummy pizza he makes while I decorate the tree! That may become a tradition... one that we share with our future family... in our home away from home.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

So, I didn't exactly get all the cleaning done that I wanted to this weekend, but I did get most of my Christmas decorations out. I am especially pleased with the dining room. Christmas decorating put me in a great mood- listening to the festive music and placing out joyful symbols of the season. Last year, my first year away from home, Mom sent me details on how our family has traditionally put out the most important symbol of all- the nativity. My pieces are few right now, but I have "all the important dudes." ;) Today I put out my angel and my "extra" animals... as well as a few miscellaneous pieces I've aquired. My nativity is made up of Fontanini pieces, which my Grama and several of my Aunts also have. The cresh was made for me by my Dad last year. I look forward to expanding my pieces as years go by, but more importantly I look forward to sharing the tradition and Christmas meaning that goes along with a nativity with the family of my future.

In the living room, the nativity sets the stage for the season.

Pretty glasses and mugs, as well as the beautiful, and unique, advent calendar Mom gave me last year.

A table partly set- I'm hoping I can get through the season without the cats pulling the tablecloth off- along with the plates and other decorations.

My favorite part of the room- the "window treatments." It's very simple- all I've done is hung small ornaments and put wrapping paper over cardboard for the top trim, but I just really love how it turned out. I also love the framed paper from a Pottery Barn bag. I love that pattern, and this was an inexpensive way to get it in my home! Oh, and of course there is Lucy playing with the blinds.

Getting into the Christmas spirit!

This weekend is going to be a busy one. I've already started cleaning up the apartment- it will truly be an overhaul- to prepare for Christmas decorating. I say it will be an overhaul because as I'm cleaning, I'm also going to be moving some stuff around and purging things I don't feel will make the move to the new condo. Maybe I'm planning too far ahead, which I doubt, but the condo closing is during tax season, meaning the boy will be working LONG days (over 12 hours a day during the week, probably!) and I'd really like to get started preparing for the move... especially because a lot of it will be done by me and me alone. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind that much- it's the control freak in me! :)

Anyways, I'm really getting into the Christmas spirit the past few days- I guess going anywhere shopping right now will do that to you- and I'm ready to get creative in the decorating. We don't have the budget for new decorations, but I'm looking forward to taking what we have and making a cozy Christmas home for us. I only get one full day in Vermont for Christmas this year, so I want to make our apartment here in VA as warm and welcoming as possible for those days I come home from work during the holiday season. Plus, Mom, Dad, and Sister are coming for a little Christmas at our place this year, which I'm really looking forward to, and I want it to be pretty and un-cluttered when they visit. Hopefully I'll have some pretty decorating to take pictures of and share- but we'll see where my creativity takes me!