updates

- Christmas eve I woke up feeling fine and within about 3 hours I was sick and in bed.

- Despite being super sick, I had a very nice first married Christmas with Ray. We spent the morning at my parent's house, the afternoon at his and Christmas evening at his grandparent's house. Highlights: showing Ray's parents how to use a Roku, my sister gifting my dad a spear she got in Kenya, Aunt Paula's buffalo chicken dip.

- A few super awesome gifts we received: cannon rebel t3i, projector screen (finally, now we can watch movies!), new shoes, new make-up, lots of native american earrings, various guitar/recording things, etc.

- I've spent the last few days trying to recover and was finally able to go back to work yesterday. So much nyquil. So much vitamin C. So much soup.

- New Years Eve fancy date night! Last year Ray and I attended a sweet little New Years party at a friend's house, but prior to the party we went to our favorite restaurant and had a fancy dinner date, something we don't do very often. I'm definitely looking forward to it!

How was your Christmas? What are you planning for New Years?

Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas eve! Remember a few weeks ago when I posted about my missing tree? Well, Ray surprised me with a trip to pick up a live tree! It's been really nice to walk into the living room and have that fresh pine smell greet you. Tomorrow will be a really full day for us so we're trying to take it easy and rest today. What are you doing on this Christmas eve?

Georgia Aquarium

Yesterday, Ray and I woke up before the sun to drive to Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium! It was a late birthday gift as his was on Wednesday. Several years ago Ray had a huge salt water aquarium in his tiny little apartment. He would literally sit and stare at it for an hour like it was a tv... so I knew he would love going to the real thing. We saw thousands of fish (including the guitar fish), penguins, whales, and I think we even spotted a Jaguar Shark.

We had lunch at The Vortex in Five Points and if you're over 18, like hamburgers and aren't easily offended, I definitely recommend it. We also walked over to a little record shop where we unfortunately found nothing we desperately needed. Have I mentioned Ray has a record collection of literally hundreds and hundreds of records? It's kind of ridiculous. We spent the rest of the day taking our time driving home, drinking coffee, watching the pretty pink sky (ok, that was just me) and doing some last minute Christmas shopping. It was such a great day.

Favorite Blogs of 2011

As you probably know, reading blogs is one of my favorite things to do. I was introduced to the blog world around 2007 (late, I know) and have never looked back.

10 of my Favorite blogs from 2011

Cakies
The Daybook
Dear Friend
The friendly Fox
Hi-Fi Weddings
Inside a Black Apple
Rockstar Diaries
Skunkboy Creatures
Vanilla and Lace
The Very Worst Missionary

I'm always looking for a new favorite blog. Please share your favorites from this year!

weird-o

Things that happened last night:

- I held a 3 hour old baby.
- Someone told us that their favorite character on Parks and Rec is Ann. ANN, the most boring person on the entire show. My mind was blown.
- I had buffalo chicken strips for dinner. This may not seem weird or exciting, but I was a major buffalo sauce hater for the better part of my life. Like up until 1 month ago.

sad tree

Several years ago I bought a beautiful white pre-lit Christmas tree at a sale after Christmas. I loved it. It was the first Christmas tree that was my own. Last winter I was living with 2 other girls in a very brownish blah house, but the tree made it wonderful and festive. Somehow, in the midst of me moving or my previous roommates moving, the tree went missing. Or maybe it was stolen. We have no idea. I'm not really sure how one loses track of a 6 foot Christmas tree... but I managed to do it. Being part of a young newly married couple who bought a house in the last year, it's hard for me to justify spending $70+ on a tree that will be around $30 AFTER the holidays. I know we could purchase a live tree, but is it silly to do that and then turn around and buy an artificial tree for the upcoming year? I don't even know. Isn't that the saddest Christmas tree story you've ever heard?

neglectful

Dear friends/readers/bots,
I know this blog has been somewhat neglected recently and for that I am sorry. I could blame part of this on the packing, preparing and actual leaving of the county... but that was last month. I could also blame this on busy work days and only wanting to be lazy at night. I could also blame my neglectfulness on sickness and holidays. But whatever the reason for my absence, I'm here now.
Here's a little phone photo update.















Happy first day of December!

Angels

This weekend I watched 2 of my all-time favorite movies. The first being The Trouble with Angels. I can't even begin to tell you the number of times I watched this during my childhood. This 1966 comedy follows the antics of two teenagers in an all girls Catholic boarding school. The movie is full of pranks and girly mischief including sneaking into the sisters' bedrooms, smoking cigars, shopping for bras, pulling fire alarms, etc... an obvious choice for me. Also, did I mention it stars Hayley Mills?

The second movie I watched this weekend was the sequel, Where Angels Go Trouble Follows. This one follows two other girls as the school takes a road trip (field trip?) to California for a peace rally. Along the way they encounter numerous bus issues, cowboys, indians and lots of boys!

I love these movies SO much! I mean, who can resist nuns in the 60's?

back!

 

We're back from Guatemala! The trip was indescribable and frankly, as much as I like flushing toilet paper and eating American food, I wish we were still there. We worked with a ministry called DeepStream which is focused on spreading the love of Jesus and improving the lives of the citizens of Magdalena and Buena Vista, Guatemala. Deepstream builds homes, delivers food, tends to the poor and sick and recently started a Boy's Academy. It was a wonderful trip and after I process it all I will be sharing more about it.

new favorites!

Aren't they the cutest? I actually have this same pair in red and light blue, but these are soft souled which I really love.

yard sale

Here are a few of the things you missed out on by not coming to our yard sale this morning:

A POD tshirt circa 2002

And this beautiful clock that Ray's grandmother gave me for Christmas last year.

Aren't you sad you missed out? ;)

Things on my mind:

This work day has been pretty terrible, so to try and stay positive I'm letting my mind wander to other things. Here are a few:

We're having a yard sale on Saturday. I hate hosting yard sales but I also hate junk taking up space in our house.  So, if you live in north Florida please come buy all of our junk... I mean treasures. =)

Guatemala. We're leaving in a week. I'm slightly horrific at packing and now I get to pack for 2.

Thanksgiving. Ray's family has a gigantic Thanksgiving celebration every year. Last year was incredibly overwhelming with so many people I had never met before. Sometimes I'm shy and I get awkward when lots of people are talking to me. Or not talking to me. Anyway, this year is round two and I'm less shy because I know everyone's name. Also, I want to bring a delicious side dish so I can trick everyone into thinking I'm domestic. Suggestions?

Christmas decorations. I either want a tacky silver tree or a live tree. I haven't had a live tree since I was about 5. I want lights on the outside of our house. I want to make our stockings out of left-over wedding burlap and vintage sheet fabric.

I would like to go to Disney World. Or Harry Potter world. Or a museum.

How is it only 4:00?! Ugh.

Halloween costume!

As most of you know, I've been rather enthralled with Parks and Recreation lately. A few weeks ago I saw a post by Lauren and knew I needed to be a Pawnee Goddess for Halloween.

Because I'm pretty terrible at sewing, my mom actually made the vest.

I made all the patches out of poster board. I painted them and hot glued safety pins to the back.

This is a tragic iphone picture, but it was one of the only ones taken at the party that shows the entire vest. Also, I realized today that I totally forgot to put on the bandanna!

Here we are being silly. Ray dressed as our pastor which probably isn't funny to anyone except us. Hahaha.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

I sure hope everyone had a great Halloween! I woke up with a migraine yesterday but ended up feeling pretty well by last night. Our house isn't exactly in a neighborhood so we ended up only having 4 trick-or-treaters. They were all really sweet. Ray and I are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas!

spooky

I'm in love with these vintage Halloween images. All are from my pinterest.

10 things I love about... fall!

Fall is my absolute favorite season. Here are some of the reasons why:

1. my birthday! I'll be the big 2-6 this Saturday.
2. halloween! Halloween is obviously one of my favorite holidays. I love dressing up! You can see some of my previous costumes here and here.
3. fall colors. dark green, cranberry, mustard.
4. fall flavors. apples, cinnamon, nutmeg.
5. cooler weather. I live in Florida where we have summer about 8 months out of the year. The fall breeze is much appreciated.
6. sweaters  and cardigans.
7. tights and leggings... mostly because they keep me warm AND I never have to worry about a dress being innapropriate or too shorts.
8. Micanopy Fall Festival! It's this Saturday!
9. moccasins all day everyday.
10. 2011 fall playlist... which I will talk more about soon.

What are your reasons for loving fall?

10 things I love about... Ray!

"10 things I love about..." is going to be a new on-going feature on my blog. I'll pick a thing/person/place/etc and tell you 10 reasons why I love it. Simple huh? I decided to start with Ray because he's my favorite thing and I love him the most.

10 things I love about Ray
1. He rubs my back when I'm cranky and have a headache.
2. He dresses like a cowboy.
3. He's the leader of our tiny family and he makes good decisions.
4. He listens to me even when I talk about the same silly things over and over. Like needing a haircut or nail polish or camp stories.
5. He has the prettiest eyes a boy could ever have.
6. He cooks and cleans all the time. Like way more than I do.
7. He gets me. Even when I'm weird.
8. He introduces me to new things all the time. I mean I never would have watched Walking Dead without him. =)
9. He encourages me in all aspects. Spiritually, creatively, mentally, etc.
10. He loves me even when I'm a big old jerk. He puts me before himself and I usually don't deserve it.

Bonus - About 6 hours after I originally wrote this I was dying with a migraine. He stopping in the middle of a recording session to get me caffeine from one restaurant and a sandwich from another because he know's they're my favorite.

Music Monday: Ryan Adams

I love Ryan Adams. I've talked about this before... but for a whole year (maybe a year and a half) I only had one cd in my car and it was Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams. He's such a soulful song writer.

New Obsession Thursday

Well, this weekend I kind of became obsessed with Parks and Rec. Season 1 was a little rough, but once I got past those first 6 episodes I loved it!

My fave characters and why:

Ron Swanson - mustache, meat, high hair, libertarian, breakfast. He's ridiculous and I feel like he absolutely exists in real life.

 April - I mostly like her because she hates working and she wears fun clothes. I also really like her eyeliner circa 2006.

Tom - He's a male version of Kelley from The Office (and you guys know I love the office).

Amen

Yesterday Jenna and I were emailing about life in our various cities, friends, sketchyness, prayer, love and Harry Potter World. Somewhere tucked into that email she said this:

"I know however that this is ministry and you don't get to pick what kind of people you love and live life with always, and I need to become ok with that. I actually need to flourish in these times because that's when the Lord will be glorified most in what is happening in my life."

Amen.

September Letters

Dear creative friends,
What should I be for Halloween? What should Ray be? We need help! We don't want anything too typical (no pirates/fairy/slutty thing) and we don't want to spend $2348782 on costumes.

Dear sister Brie,
I know you read this blog. GET A PINTEREST!!
ps- friends, feel free to encourage her. =)

Dear heating pad,
I love you. A lot. Stay with me.

Dear my hair,
Please work with me. I just want gigantic Dolly Parton hair. Or 1960s huge volume. Or at least some body. Is that too much to ask?

Dear Pumpkin Spice beverages,
You're the drink of the season but I just don't get you. I don't know what the fuss is about. I mean, you aren't terrible but also not great. Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe I'll get back to you.

Dear weather,
Please please get cold! Or at least cool. I want to eat soup and wear tights.

Dear September,
See ya later, alligator!

Guatemala Update

We're going to Guatemala in November. And somehow it's paid for up to this point. And somehow my boss let me take a week off work. And for some reason God decided to let us go. It doesn't make sense to me, but I'm really excited about it.

I think this trip is going to be more than just a trip. What does that mean? I have no idea. All I know is that the other day I read the book of James. James got me through the summer of '09. I read it almost everyday. It kept me going. Anyway, I read it the other day while I was bored at work and I remembered Guatemala. And then I prayed for Guatemala. And then for my husband. And then for our tiny 2 person family. And then for our future.

I don't know what the future holds and sometimes that is really scary to me. And by "sometimes" I mean mostly all the time. I mean, what happens when God takes away your job? Or forces you to stop being so selfish? Or asks you to moved away from the small town you love and grew up in? Or has you give up your dreams of living in a mid-century-modern house and having the best vintage apron collection there ever was? Or wants you to adopt a baby from Africa when you have extremely racist family members? Or transplants you to a country where it's always hot? I don't really know. All I know is when you're loving Jesus things will be hard... but they will also be good.

Allison's fall lineup

I'm currently watching 3 shows.

1. Pan Am. I watched the pilot Sunday night and thought it was pretty good. I mostly just loved all the hair-dos. You know I can't resist a 1960s flip. I think I want to see a few more episodes before I make a final judgement though.

2. Carnivale. I've been wanting to start watching Carnivale for several years now (remember my circus/freak show obsession?) but just started it. It's way creepier than I thought it would be. I can't deal with that bearded lady.

3. The Office season 8. The season opener was WAY better than what I was expecting. I like how Pam went from being one of the only normal people to a crazy. I also like how James Spader was the mean guy in Pretty and Pink.

What's your take on these shows?

music monday: David Bazan

David Bazan is one of those people I've liked for years and years (hello, pedro the lion) but he's always kind of been in background. Recently, Ray and I have been listening to him a lot. He just has such extremely sad/thought provoking/beautiful lyrics. His songs give me a burdened heart.

scary movie fest

Growing up, I never watched scary movies. Until I was about 14 Jurassic Park was the most frightening movie I had ever seen. And while a T-Rex running at you is in fact terrifying, I felt like I was missing something. Sometime in 9th grade my friend, Lauren, convinced me to watch Scream, her fave movie (hahaha). Since then, I've continued to be brave (sort of) and tackle a few other movies of the not-so-sweet and pleasant genre.


A few I've seen that scared me but I liked them:
The Omen (original)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
Halloween (original)
Freaks
Carnival of Souls -actually, maybe I didn't like this one. It was really creepy.
Psycho
Rear Window

A few I've seen that were kinda dumb and/or not scary:
Amityville Horror (original and re-release)
the new Friday the 13ths
the new Halloweens
Saw -ugh, I only saw the first one and I hated it so much.

Anyway, it's finally starting to feel like fall, which means it's almost Halloween time, which means I need to watch some scary movies. Give me all of your suggestions!

we love bargains

 The other day we found this table at a yard sale for $5. There isn't anything super special about it,I just really like it. We found a never before used juicer for $5 at the same yard sale. We also recently found a vintage kitchen cart for about $7. The cart needs some love and paint, but I think it'll be a really cute addition to our kitchen. I have a love/hate relationship with yard sales. I feel like generally I only ever see baby clothes, strollers and nicknacks. But, once in a while I find something really awesome.

songs I've listened to in the last 24 hours

I like music, but I'm super guilty of getting in music ruts. I only listened to the Ryan Adams' Heartbreaker album in my car for over a year. A YEAR. I mean, it's an incredible album, but a year is a long time. Ok, it might have been a year and a half. Then the next year I only listened to a Bob Dylan greatest hits album. So, in an effort to change it up I've been listening a variety of jams. It also helps that my husband has been obsessed with spotify lately. And apparently rap... so...

Songs I've listened to in the last 24 hours:
Gangsta's Paradise - Coolio
Amish Paradise - Weird Al
F*ck You - Cee Lo Green (whoa, I thought this blog was family friendly... apparently not.)
Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz
What We Lose in the Fire - Mynabirds
Hate to Say I Told You So - The Hives
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
All these Things I've Done - The Killers
Take On Me - MXPX version (10th grade time travel)
various songs played on the pan flute that massage therapists love to play
random clips from various rappers and some of my husbands musician friends

Who am I?

wedding video!

 I got married in April. It was perfect. My super talented friend Nathan made this video for us. I can't even explain in words how much I love it. There are some really beautiful shots of family, friends, big brown, dancing, decor, etc. I hope you enjoy it!

Allison and Ray's Wedding from Nathan Willis on Vimeo.
This is my favorite thing right now.

game of thrones and hair

Recently, my husband convinced me to start watching the HBO series Game of Thrones. At first, I didn't think I would be into it because I'm not always a fan of fantasy. However, I'm a a huge fan of almost any show HBO throws together. Their attention to detail is almost ridiculous. Well, I gave it a shot and loved it. It feels like a slightly dirtier more grown up fairy tale. I love it!

Mostly what I want to talk about though is the hair styles. They are (mostly) so fun! Lots of braids and half ponytails for both genders.

"Fantasy mean about a braid." - Ray

 

Also, lots of beard tails. What do you think? Love the show?  Hate the show? Like the braids?

recording

I don't know if I've mentioned this on here yet, but we have an at-home recording studio in our house. Big Brown Record Town. Appropriate name, huh? The room looks so good and I plan on posting better pictures of it in the near future. Anyway, today The Flamigos are recording. It's been pretty fun... and loud. 

Ray set the drums up in one of our extra bedrooms upstairs. Ladies, please ignore Brett's shirtlessness.