Sore Loser!

My office is very competitive! We have contests all the time and this Christmas season was no different. Last year we had an office decorating contest and I came in 3rd place. If you could only have seen the office that won last year, you would have been shocked! All I can say is that three little kids were the judges....so just imagine that! There were much better offices than the one that won. Enough on that!

So this year when it was announced that we were having a door decorating contest instead of an office decorating contest, I immediately started racking my brain on what to do. No fear...I had an awesome idea. I tell Daren of the idea and he said, no problem we can do it (I needed his help to construct it). Everyone had a fresh wreath on the door and they had to be incorporated into the design. My ideas was to build a fireplace, paint paper likes bricks to cover the door, hang the wreath over the fireplace and then have Santa's legs hanging from the fireplace as if he got stuck coming down.

As of last week, I was not going to do it. Time just got away from me and Daren was leaving to go hunting and the judging was on Friday morning. So on Tuesday, after seeing some of the other doors, I had to participate because I knew mine was going to blow them out of the water! So Daren and I got to work and came up to my office and spent about two and a half hours putting it together. We constructed the fireplace out of cardboard, painted bricks on paper, assembled santa and hung all of the accessories. Needless to say, it looked AWESOME and I was sure to take 1st place.


So Friday rolls around and Santa comes to judge all of the doors. He looks at all of them, rates them all and then tallies the scores. We all anxiously await the results. He announces 3rd place...not me...phew! Then 2nd place and I hear my name...WHAT! I knew what doors were left in the competition and they did not look nearly as good as mine. Then comes 1st place, and sure enough it was the one that won the office decorating contest last year....and the door was just as bad as the office. And just a note - the door that got 3rd place looked way better than the winner!

So...i'm a sore loser. I got 2nd place...not too excited about that but it was a lot of fun doing it. Next year, they all better watch out, because I'm going for first!

Here are pictures of the winning door, my door and 3rd place. I know...no need to say anything...there is no comparison!


Merry Christmas all!

The Winner



















2nd Place - My door


















3rd Place

Deck The Halls

I love Christmas...from the decorating to the food and family gatherings to the presents! It's the best time of the year. Our house is decked...inside and out and to continue the spirit, I have even decorated the blog! It now has a Christmas look. To make it all complete, we even had snow a couple of weeks ago (I know, hard to believe it snowed in Houston!). It was so beautiful. I wish it would snow a couple of times a year.

We are just about done with our shopping and ready to enjoy the season with our friends and family. Merry Christmas all!

Christmas Project

My sister-in-law and I have been busy little bees making some really cute picture holders (I can't forget Daren..he cut the wood for us and helped paint!). It started out as a small little project to make a few gifts and now we have made close to 60 of them. They turned out sooo cute! They make great gifts...I'd be happy to sell some of them if anyone is interested!! Here are some pictures of what they look like. Complete slideshow of all images is on the right.

Boiler Up!

Even though the Boilers didn't pull off a win last weekend, I still had a great time with my college friends. It had been way too long since we had all seen each other. I love going back there and miss it so much when I'm there. So many things have changed since I was there 10 years ago (yeah, i said 10 years!) but it is still the same place I remember and love. I took lots of pics from the weekend and here are a few. I'm off again later this week for Washington, DC.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Daren! We celebrated Daren's 32nd birthday this week...he's getting old! Wishing you many, many more!!

I'm heading off to West Lafayette, IN today to visit with college friends and to go to the Purdue/Michigan State game and I cannot wait! My college roommates and I try to make it back each Fall for a football game but it has been a few years since we have gotten together, so I am really looking forward to seeing them and going to the game. Purdue didn't start out the season playing too well but with the win last week over Michigan and Ohio State a few weeks ago, this should be a great game and I'm hoping for another win. I'll post pics next week. Boiler Up!

Bake-Off

At my office, we love a good competition and we have them for just about everything so it was only fitting that we have a Halloween bake-off. I love to cook and a good competition, so I hit the cookbooks for the best Halloween entry. I found tons of things to make and decided on a cupcake Frankenstein, so Daren and I got to work on him! He looked pretty good and tasted good too. He was by far the best entry and I WON!! Next up...Christmas door decorating contest...stay tuned!!

Birthday Girl!

Kaydence turned one last week and we celebrated with a party this weekend. It was a Halloween themed party and she was a ladybug...super cute! Her eating the cake was the best part...she had it all over her! Here are a few pictures from the day.

Bocce Champ

This weekend at the Italian Festival, Daren and his friend Mike competed in the Bocce Ball Tournament. It was an all day event with the winning teams from each round advancing to the next round. They kept advancing and guess what....they won it all!!! Daren is so excited. Two years ago they were in the tournament and came so close to winning it.

The festival was at a new location this year and everything was perfect. We had a great time spending the day with our friends and family.

I See London

I spent last week in London for work and I got to see quite a bit of the city's famous landmarks while I was there. It's a great city and I will definitely go back. I wish Daren would have been there to experience it too.

While there I took a ride on the London Eye (the huge farris wheel) and saw amazing views of the city. I also did a tour at Parliament and saw the House of Lords and the House of Commons..very neat. Toured Buckingham Palace and saw several of the State rooms where the Queen entertains guests. The tours are only done during the summer and I happen to be there right before it ended. It was really neat to be inside there. I also got to experience the changing of the Guard. That was crazy..there were people everywhere! I have some good photos and video of that. I visited Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral. Both were so beautiful. I can't imagine how they built them so long ago. St. Paul's Cathedral is where Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married. I also saw the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.

Here are a few pictures and video from the trip.


Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Westminster Abbey

Dome of St. Paul's Cathedral

Changing of the Guard

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

Parliament

London Eye

National Gallery Museum

Tiny Dancer

I have the cutest niece ever and I just can't get enough of her!! She just turned 11 months old and she has quite the personality. I get to pick her up from the babysitter on Wednesdays and we have all kinds of fun. Check out the recent video of her dancing! Watch out Dancing With The Stars...here comes Kaydence!

(I can't figure out how to rotate it!)

Fourth and Final

This summer out of nowhere, Daren's brother David, was diagnosed with bladder cancer. We were stopped in our tracks when we heard this news. Thankfully, the cancer has kept itself to the bladder and hasn't wreaked havoc anywhere else in his body. He has been doing chemo for a few months now and this past week, he received his 4th and final round! YEA!!

It gets pretty lonely sitting in the hospital room for 3 days at a time so we paid him a visit. Amazingly enough, that was my first trip to MD Anderson....we are so lucky to have that in our backyard here in Houston.

David has been a trooper and has done really well, but the most daunting task is yet to come. He'll have surgery in October to remove his bladder. The road ahead will be a tough one following the surgery, but we are very confident that David will fully recover and move on with his life. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Here is a picture of Daren, David and their sister, Dena from our visit to MDA.

Texans Half-Time Performance

Yesterday I got to perform with all of the Houston area Jazzercisers at the Texans game during half-time. It was so much fun! At the very beginning I forgot one of the moves but recovered nicely! It was also really exciting that we were playing the New Orleans Saints and Drew Brees was there. I never saw him though...:( Here are a few pictures and a video from the show.

Here Goes

I never thought I was a blogger, but this could be kinda fun! I thought it would be neat to set this up for Daren and I and share it with friends and family. I know what you're thinking - just one more thing for people to follow and keep up with! Hopefully this will be a fun, easy way to share our life with those near and far. (Not that I think our life is sooo interesting!)

I have been working on this for some time now and I think I'm finally done changing and rearranging things...so here goes to my first blog post! Enjoy and stay tuned for more to come!