And so goes 2009

Well, here it is December 31st and I’m not sure what I think about that. Time passes so quickly and in some ways it makes me sad. I see my aging mother and in-laws, my baby girl who is now a wife and my cotton-top boy who is now a man. That’s not a bad thing. In fact, it is a good thing. Time just passes. It’s life. While I’m not big on resolutions, let’s just say I’m pondering some changes in my lifestyle.

I want to de-clutter my life. I want to get rid of the stuff I don’t need and give it to someone who does need it. Much to my husband’s dismay, I seem to want to keep everything. “I really might need that someday,” I tell him. And he gives me that look as to say, “I don’t think so, please get rid of this stuff or I’m going to put it in my truck during the night and take it to an undisclosed location where you will never, ever see it again.” Excuse me for a moment while I look up the definition of paranoid.

I want to read more. I want to know more. When I think about all of the things I don’t know, well, that’s humbling. I want to read about the lives of people I admire. I want to read about subjects I don’t know much about. Would you believe that my 80-something year old mother still reads the encyclopedias? She has a set that I think, no kidding, are from the 70s but she says, “most of what’s in here doesn’t change – not historical events or people, not science, not dates or places.” You know, she probably has a point. Does that make you think of a book that never changes? That still remains current, relevant, and sharper than a double-edge sword? One I need to continue to delve into every single day.

I want to give more to others . . . whatever this looks like. Whether it be time, encouraging words, talents or financial resources. I want to be more intentional about using the gifts and talents that God has given me. It’s all His anyway. I just want to be a good steward of what He has entrusted to me. I will never forget the first words from Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life: “It’s not all about you.” When I first read that, I thought, well, no kidding. Any decent, responsible person who has ever tried to parent a child for more than five minutes can tell you that one. But there’s more, so much more. Please read carefully this first paragraph from that same book:
“The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.”

And I want to listen more. I want to listen more carefully to what my husband says to me. You know sometimes when your loved one is talking about grocery carts, coffin cases (those are those frozen food cases that are long and open at the top – creepy right?), u.p.c.’s; a.w.g.; h.b.c. – oh, have mercy. But, I know it’s important to him and thus to me, so I will listen more carefully. He deserves that from me. Listen to my children – not just to what they say, but what they don’t say and what I see in their eyes and on their faces. Listen to my friends – to their hearts. I want to not offer advice to family or friends until I hear them out completely and until I’m asked. Okay, I’ll try. I’ll really try.

So, as we end 2009, let’s look forward in anticipation of what God has for us in 2010. I’ll leave you today with this passage from Matthew 6:32-34 from The Message:

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. “

On the Air Waves

Well, it seems I didn't totally embarrass the radio station a couple of weeks ago, as they have been kind enough to ask me back. I'll be doing a segment on our local AM station, WDUN in the morning during the Bill and Joel Show. These guys are so great to work with as is their producer, Anna. The topic of discussion for tomorrow will be New Years Celebrations - food, decor, traditions, etc. I've posted my notes for this segment on our business website, http://www.wonderfulevents.net/, just follow the blog link.

Oh dear goodness, can you believe we are talking about the beginning of the year 2010? That we are beginning the 2nd decade of the 21st century?

Making any New Years Resolutions?

Our Christmas

Since it is currently the 4th quarter of the Independence Bowl and Georgia is leading 44-14, I'm going to leave it with them. I think they have this one in the books.

A lot has happened since I posted on Christmas Eve. We had such a great Christmas! My sweet momma came over on Christmas eve for dinner and presents. As an added bonus, E and her hubby came late and spent the night with us. So all five of us had breakfast together on Christmas morning. By the way, I made the traditional French Toast Casserole and it did not disappoint – it was awesome, probably full of fat, sugar and calories but I’m not thinking about that at the moment. We opened presents together Christmas morning and then the grandparents joined us for lunch. After lunch, the grandparents along with E and her hubby headed out, G went to the movies with a friend, so D and I decided we would mix it up a little -we played with the wii. Now G got the wii last year for Christmas but we pretty much hadn’t touched it since. G texted me after the movies to touch base and asked what we were doing. I said we were playing with the wii. His response – "just you and dad?” Yep, just us. Can I just say I whooped D’s butt at tennis only to have the favor returned when we bowled. I about pulled out my back doing it.

My "day after Christmas shopping buddy" (and daughter) was out of town and I wasn’t really in the mood to go out by myself, so I gave myself a self-imposed break from that. I stayed home and did something I hadn’t had time to do in a couple of weeks – sat by the fire and read. Oh, it was heavenly. But now it’s Monday and I'm back to the real world and its regularly scheduled programming. Thought I would share a few pictures from our Christmas.

Mimi and my precious children.

Can I just tell you how much I adore these four people?

Every Christmas since he was born, G gets a nutcracker for Christmas. He has quite the collection now. He says this year's choice may be his favorite. If you look closely, you can see this nutcracker is a drummer - wearing sunglasses with a curly ponytail. Too funny!

E has received an angel every Christmas since her birth. This year's addition is the 2009 Willow Tree angel ornament to go on her tree!

Love this man.

Merry Christmas Eve!

The Cookies Speak for Themselves:

It has become a tradition in recent years for E and I to dust off our creative baking abilities and decorate Christmas cookies a few days before Christmas. Well, yesterday was our day. A very special young lady joined us and it made for a totally fun girls day! E and I started the day by wrapping some gifts, making a couple of pecan pies and some no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies. No, let me tell you the absolute truth. The first thing we did was visit our local Mexican restaurant and fuel up on a "Speedy Gonzales" and grilled chicken salad and 2 diet cokes, thank you very much. Okay . . . so after that . . . we started.

This is the result of all of our labors.

Our pecan pies.

This is what G did while the girls decorated cookies:

Christmas in Dixie

Can't you just hear Alabama singing that? "Christmas in Dixie, it's snowing in the pines. Merry Christmas from Dixie to everyone tonight." I used to just love Alabama . . . but I'm a sucker for plaid shirts, lots of facial hair and mullets. :)

As we were driving home from Tennessee this weekend, that song just kept running through my head. Maybe because the path from Gainesville to Tennessee is full of beautiful and interesting Southern things. First you pass the carpet capital of the south, Dalton, where huge mills are still processing vast amounts of carpet on a regular basis. Then as you head up toward Chattanooga, you start seeing those famous words on the roofs of barns, birdhouses and billboards - "See Rock City." I can remember as a child looking forward to going to Rock City on Lookout Mountain just to verify that I could actually see 7 states and fit through Fat Man's Squeeze. The incline railway about scared the bejeebbers out of me, but you have to admit, it was an adventure. My dad loved to go because on the trip down there and back we stopped at every Stuckeys (which were about at every other interstate exit at the time) and by the time we got home, we had pretty much consumed a entire case of Pecan Logs. (oooh). Chattanooga is a beautiful city as the Tennessee River runs right through the middle of it. Just north of Chattanooga, is just one of the prettiest drives ever as you wind through the Appalachian and Cumberland mountain ranges and along the shores of Nickajack Lake. And then there's Monteagle Mountain to cross. Monteagle, by the way for you trivia buffs, is the highest point at 2100 ft. above sea level between Chicago and Miami. So this is where the Alabama song really hit the high note. On the trip back, sure enough there was snow in the pines on the top of Monteagle. You know us Georgians don't see too much snow, so this was a huge thrill for us. All of that to say, our weekend in Tennessee was wonderful. Time with family was great. Just a few pics to share:

The four grands.

Me and my precious hubby.

E and her precious hubby.



These two are gifts.

The boys with "the Nana."

Don't ask.

Cookie - The Swap

Last night was our annual cookie swap - one of my favorites evenings of the Christmas season. It is when the Iron Roses, along with a blossom (daughter of a Rose) come together for food and fun. Here's the drill: First we ate soup and BLT wraps (of course, priorities you know) and then I decided this year we would play a few games. Oh, my goodness. Do you know what it is like when you get a few 40/50 somethings in a room together playing games? First, one has to get her glasses out, then one has to go to the bathroom and then the next one needs a fan. It was too funny! We played the right/left gift exchange game and Christmas Bingo (that's when we decided we were officially getting ready for the old folks home!). Then the much-anticipated gift exchange game where you draw numbers and choose a gift either unopened or from another person. We used to be nice - last night? not so much. But, no punches were thrown or hair pulled, and everyone left happy. Seriously, this group of women could have fun together if we were stuck on a rock.

Then, of course, the reason we came . . . the cookies. This year we packaged our cookies in individual containers to exchange. It was so fun to see each of the ladies creative ideas. Thought you might enjoy this too.

Also, if you are interested in the recipe for Sante Fe Soup or Cowboy cookies, link over to our business website and click on the blog tab.

http://www.wonderfulevents.net/. By the way, I was on the our local mornng radio show this morning discussing entertaining tips for the Christmas season. I'll be posting those tips either here or on the Wonderful Events blog next week!

This is a vegetable can one of the ladies painted - amazing!

Have a great weekend!

"Marry" Christmas

No, I'm not clever enough to come up with the cute little title all by myself. That was the name of the Lifetime movie D and I watched last night. And guess what? It was about a mother/daughter team who were wedding planners. Isn't that cool? I loved it but I love sappy Lifetime Christmas movies . . . and weddings. Speaking of weddings (how was that for a really bad transition), we had a wonderful weekend of weddings! Oh my goodness! I have officially recovered thanks to an all afternoon sleep induced coma yesterday.

This is one of my dearest friends who was married Saturday morning in her beautiful home! I have known this precious woman for years and let me just say, she deserves every ounce of happiness she has found. Love and much happiness to Melissa and Roger!

In Hiawassee, we were in for a full day and night of wedding festivities with this fabulous young couple. The best thing about our job is meeting the coolest people we would have otherwise never had the opportunity to meet. These two are just precious and their wedding was, well, perfection. Funny story about this wedding, though. All day things had gone like clockwork with only a few very minor hiccups which honestly, is unusual. It is not uncommon for something to go a little off track but not this one, not a hitch (no pun intended!) . . . until the exit. The plan was for the couple to exit through a hallway and out into the parking lot where their guests would line the walls waving streamers with jingle bells attached over head as they walked right onto a horse-drawn carriage that would take them off into the moonlight. Perfect plan. Okay, so everyone is in place - guests, photographer, videographer - here we go. As soon as they get to the carriage . . . the. horse. bolts! Runs like the wind. We all stood there stunned not knowing whether to laugh or cry. So we all look at the bride (who you always look to for your emotional que if you know what I mean) and she cracks up! Whew! So, in a few minutes, after the horse with carriage and driver in tow has taken a few laps around the parking lot, the bride and groom successfully make their exit!

Before the run for the roses:

And after.

Thanks to Josh and Laura for allowing us to be a part of your special day!