christmas apathy

well, wasn't this just a christmas for the books? i was a bit of a scrooge. well, more apathetic really. below, my christmas apathy in parts:

we didn't put up a tree. my mother bought me a fake tree when i was in an apartment in college. it served me faithfully through college and 4 years of marriage. but when we moved, i was tired of packing and really couldn't fit another thing into my car. so i left our faithful tree in the hall closet with intentions of buying a new one here. glad we didn't, because we had no room for one anywhere.

we didn't put up a wreath. when we moved to small town, mom got us a cute wreath hanger and a fall wreath. i'm not much for decorating, and the pretty christmas wreaths are insanely expensive, but last year i did finally get a cute pinecone wreath for christmas. pretty sure it's sitting in our storage unit right now, along with other life items.

we didn't put up a garland. because we've never put up a garland.

we didn't put up ornaments. no tree, remember? not even a tiny one. kind of sad, because we have some cute ornaments, and when we got married, my m-i-l gave me a whole box of ornaments that belonged to the lawyer as he grew up. awwww. however, a little christmas did sneak through via my mother. (are you picking up on that theme?)

the lone ranger

we didn't put up lights. even though my house is covered in christmas lights that no longer work, if they ever did. but i promise you we're not about to climb up and down ladders unstringing them. the only thing we could have decorated is the washing machine out front that lowe's didn't haul away. i think it would have been kind of awesome. it's a good thing we do not live on street front property, because i'm pretty sure our neighbors would have sued us or something.

we didn't put out the nativity. i'm actually a little sad about this one, because it's really pretty and i actually took it out of storage a few months ago. plus, it's the whole reason we even celebrate christmas. but it's just been hanging out in the boxes by my bathroom door/rack with the dog food.

we didn't get to see my mom and sisters on christmas day. for the first time in my entire life. it sucked, and i cried. twice.

the only upside to this whole christmas-decoration-avoidance? i don't have to put up a. single. thing. booyah! now, off to run (more on that later) followed by light dusting/vacuuming and more bulldog nation. happy new year!

valentine's post

in honor of the hallmark holiday based on a massacre, here are 14 (random, not exclusive) things i loooooooove, in no particular order.

1. a snack of lays potato chips and a cold coke. sweet and salty.
2. cherry 7-up
3. weekends at smith lake with sunset cruises and water skiing.
4. horses. riding horses, drawing horses, the smell of horses, baby horses, horse races, you name it. i am a horse freak.
5. my daily dose of dear prudence, margo howard, and celebrity gossip on msn.
6. snow skiing. my favorite activity. it's been over a year since i've been.
7. the golden girls on dvd. i watch them incessantly and it never gets old.
8. joe's jeans. they fit so well. i'll never wear another brand.
9. organic eating, and mouthing off all kinds of information about it to friends and family so that they look at me funny.
10. my grandmother's dream cookies. oh my gosh, we marshall grandchildren just go NUTS for them. i just made my first batch, and they came out more than ok. the law student says i've opened pandora's box.
11. roxy and rowena.
12. hysterically laughing at absolutely nothing with best friends. i miss you and all our random jokes, nights out, slumber parties and lazy afternoons.
13. curling up with a good book that i can't put down. except to eat lay's potato chips or dream cookies. except in bed.
14. the law student. he's my favorite. and i'm his. i'm incredibly blessed.


p.s. i have not worked out in 2 days and i just scarfed down 2 extra-large dream cookies. i put extra frosting on the second one (shame, but only a little). the scale will not be so generous tomorrow, i'm afraid.

long overdue update

hello, laura. are you happy now?

so, update. here are a few photos of thanksgiving (also known as the christmas card outtakes):

sweet sisters

kissey, law student and the roxy

family at the egg bowl

thanksgiving successes: i brought wine and made a dish, so i felt grown up. my 5-year-old cousin jay is the cutest thing ever. my grandmother gave me her dream cookies recipe, so i will let you know how they turn out. msu won the egg bowl and i got to see tons of friends.
thanksgiving fails: dad being a jerk and the law student's cowbell was confiscated at the game. boo.

next up: nfp. we are successfully in month 2. no babies yet, thank you jesus. hopefully, this will get easier and more predictable, because right now i really miss birth control.

third: visiting friends. i got to do a lot of it this year! here are a few (more) photos of me most recently at jessica and chet's christmas sweater party, and a few others:

yay for pictures! now if i can just find my camera charger...

and lastly, christmas. can y'all believe it is already the middle of december? where did it go? and i still have so much to do. well, mostly just painting and wrapping gifts that come in the mail. yes, it is another amazon christmas for the langs. i love it--no shopping, no lines, no headaches (that i always get from shopping). just a click to ship and they are dropped off on my doorstep. i even have my tree up already--last week, in fact! this time last year, there was still 1 more week of law exams and the tree did not go up until the week of christmas. soon it will be flanked by brown paper packages tied up with string. i've probably spent too much again this year (more on that later), but am pretty satisfied. this week and next will be made up of parties, wrapping paper and packing, and best of all, JULES and MANDI!

haven't seen this girl in MONTHS

or this one.

we won't all be together this year for the first time EVER. so i'll finish this post (finally!) with a photo of what happens when we get together...


see y'all tomorrow. i'm just BURSTING with blog posts.