Holiday Goings

We are truly blessed to live so close to so much family (sorry Gansta Barbie, you made me appreciate it even more). The holidays are an automatic family event. Even though I have a small part of me that wants to start our own little family's tradition, I figure I better enjoy the extended family while we live close to them.

Thursday morning we took it easy, baked some pies, and mozied on over to Plano after lunch. We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings. Those are the meals I wish my stomach fit more food. By the time I'm full, I'm definitely not done eating yet. After letting it settle for a few hours, we had an array of pies to choose from. Pumpkin chiffon, Pumpkin cheesecake, banana creme, choloate pudding pie, and pumpkin cupcakes, just to name a few.

I hit the sack early, because of course the next day was Black Friday. Again, I was unsuccessful in finding a shopping buddy, so I longingly watched those others in the mile-long lines as they chatted and enjoyed themselves just so much more than me. This year was the first time I didn't have any specific things I just HAD to buy. I mostly bought clothes, and some linens, and just 3 little toys at Walmart. Part of the fun is just watching all the other crazies. I came "this" close to buying a $60 GPS at walmart. Not because I need one, but just because it was only $60! It would cost me more than that to update the maps on mine!

After 7 hours of shopping, I headed back to my in-laws to help decorate their house. My Christmas decorations consist of a tree, and the ornaments that go on it. It's just too much work to put it up, and store it the other 11 months of the year. Liz however, has a completely different point of view. Her whole house is transformed. And somehow she fits all of those decorations under the stair. I am wondering if she secretly has a Mary Poppins bag stashed under there!

The party kept going at Uncle Bill's house. A "leftover" lunch, turned into a whole day of eating yummy food, watching movies, chatting with cousins, and swimming for the kids. Several of Joe's cousins were in town, and Joe was excited to spend some time at the movie theater with Johnny. This gave me the opportunity to chat with Mamie, Kelsey, Billy, and Sarah. I feel so blessed to know all of Joe's cousins. (on his mom's side). All those Benac reunions really paid off.

By the time Joe got back, it was pretty late, and uncle Bill bribed us to stay with the promise of a big breakfast. He wasn't joking, and we enjoyed a bunch of good fixins. Winter has adopted aunt Barbara as her third grandma, and was just tickled to death to hang out with her, go on walks with her, and play at the park. Somehow, time disappears when you spend time with the Benacs. We finally made it home after 1 today.

I was freaking out just a little, because I have to speak in church tomorrow, for the first time in 8 years. I had gotten started on my talk just a little bit on Monday, but still had a lot of work left. No wonder I try to get out of speaking by bribing to play the harp (Br Hadsall didn't go for that!) Also, I have 3 harp performances this next week, and not enough practice time under my belt. I feel much better now, with my talk written, and some good practice time done.

Itching for change

I've been surprised by how many reactions I've gotten about my new hair. It didnt' seem like a big deal to me. Sure, I've been a blonde forever, but not because I consciously chose not to be a brunette. I was mildly scared that it wouldn't turn out right, but I've been known to make drastic changes to my hair before.

It was 1993, at Sabrina's house. Wouldn't it be fun to have strawberry blonde hair? Sure! Of

course we didn't know anything about hair, and as a result, it turned orange.

Sorry, no picture of this Beauty

1995. Perms were all the rage. Of course I wanted to be cool too. Turned out to be more poodle than cool....

1996 Chopped of my hair. I'd had it short before, but never this short. This was actually a pretty good move. It looked good on me.

1997. Wouldn't it be fun to be a brunette? You would think I would have learned something from 1994, and go to the hairdresser. But no, I did it myself (again!). Brown on blonde = green!

2000. The smell of a perm got to me again. This perm almost resulted in an almost run-away Joe. The first time I met him, my hair was straight. When he picked me up for our first date, it was poodly. He almost walked right back out of the door.

(I couldn't find a headshot with my hair down, I guess I was smarter than that!)

2002. Short hair looked good on me in 1997, so why not in 2002. Well, maybe because I was 15 lbs heavier, and because I didn't have a professional cut it.. I call it my molly cut. Horrible!

I seemed to be getting smarter, and went all the way from 2002 to 2009 without any major changes. The most drastic difference was my first bangs in 2004.

I've been growing out my hair since about 2004, so when I was itching for a change, I wasn't about to undo 5 years of hard labor. I've also learned my lesson about perms. They do NOT, EVER, look good on me! Color is perfect! You can always go back to blonde. I am still getting used to the look, but I think I like it.

Legally Brunette

With the Family photo shoot out of the way, I was free to do something fun and new with my hair. I've been a blonde all my life (unless you count the one time in high school when my attempt for brown hair turned into a green mess). I was actually kind of scared to try it again.

When I first looked in the mirror, it just seemed like I was wearing a wig. I love the color! I call it my Bella hair.

Ginger asked me what I had done with my old hair. I told her it was gone, and she went to chair the trash can. She was just very confused. Joe's reaction was priceless. He kind of staggered backward, and gave me the "holy cow". I can't tell if he hates it and won't tell me, or if he's still undecided.

Family Photo Shoot

My good friend Renee took our family pictures the other day. I am soooo exited to finally have good updated family shots. Here's a quick sampling

Sleep \

I never remember to take pictures when the Morphi' are here. Maybe it's because we always have too much fun. Last night they came over for dinner and we then continued to talk until 12.30am. Why do I keep doing this to myself?? Don't I recognize that I'll be short on sleep this week anyways, with Black Friday shopping just around the corner?

Neon Orange

We have been in our house for over 2 years now. I've never really decorated it. I don't know why. Maybe it's because we've spent so much time and money in just renovating it, that decorating just seemed too low on the priority list. Now that we are winding down on the renovating, and we are getting ready to sell it (how ironic), I felt the kids' bathroom really needed some umpfh. As I was (finally) finishing painting the breakfast nook, I figured that while I had the paint out, I would tackle the bathroom too. It was a lovely shade of blue, but I dont' have any extra paint, so I painted it the same color as the rest of the house. I love that color brown, but was feeling a little monotone depressed. That bathroom needed color. So I headed over to Ikea, and found some super cute fabric. Then, I found some matching orange fabric at Jo-anns for the top and bottom strips. I don't enjoy sewing large things like curtains, but I'm excited I made this anyways. Add some matching towels, bath mats, art, and some cute accessories on the counter, and voila! A bathroom that I actually enjoy being in.

The color in these pictures doesn't do the brightness justice. I had to take out a florecent color cast in Photoshop, and wasn't able to get the neon orange back in. It's bright, and I love it!

Which Team?

I'm am still trying to recover from my all-nighter on Thursday. My Bonham friends are a wild bunch, and we decided to join the throng of youngsters at the New Moon midnight release. The small town of Sherman had New Moon playing in all their 12 theatres. There was a 12.01, 12.02.... 12.12 showing. The first person from our party got in line at 5.30pm, and we were still a little ways back. By the time I got there at 8pm, the line was all the way around the building. They had everybody from all the different showings in one line together. When our showing got to go into the building, I had that same wonderful adrenaline rush I get on black Fridays.

When you squish 300 women and 4 men into a movie theater for a 3 hour wait, it's bound to get rambunctious. The theater staff would come in once in a while for some announcements. Our whole group had glow bracelets, and I had just gotten my camera out of the car. The announcement was clearly directed to us, when they informed us that no pictures or videos were allowed in the theater. Also, if we would "all" please remove our glow bracelets, as they would cause too much light and be distracting. Really??

To keep entertained, Renee, Dee, Anja and I all pulled out our phones and tried to sync them through blue tooth. I didn't even know my phone could do that (and I'm still hoping I won't get charged up the wazoo for that). Dee had started this thing a few weeks ago, where she gave each of us a "barbie" name. Renee is Gansta Barbie. I am Farm Girl Barbie. Dee is Mama Barbie. Of course we all need to have a special ringtone! "Barbie Girl" by Aqua (1997) is the perfect song! Dee tried forever to send that ringtone to all of us, only to find out she couldn't because she had bought it. I feel like such a phone dummie, as I don't even know how I would buy a ringtone.

After reading that movie theater popcorn has the same amount of fat as 6 hamburgers, I brought my own air-popped popcorn. Let me just warn everybody not to leave your drink (or popcorn), or it might be spiked. Even if you thought you were surrounded by friends. Yeah, apparently they thought my popcorn tasted like packing peanuts, and mixed in theater popcorn. As if I wouldn't notice.When Renee gets tired, she gets "drunk" and says funny things.

"Do you have a chocolate chip in your hair"

"OMG, we should totally pass notes"

"I used to be Piper's Milk Dud" (her candy of choice)

"What is this? Peoples court? (as I was writing her quotes down)

Dee chimed in with her funniness too: "This theater is like Estrogen Soup"

After the movie finally started, I was surprised at how quiet it was. I guess I was expecting a bunch of high school cheerleaders gasping, laughing, and screaming. The only thing that got any audible reaction was when Jacob first took his shirt off. I must admit: HOT!!! I am totally on Team Edward, but he just looked nasty in this movie. He was way too skinny, white and hairy. Jacob on the other hand, was buff, tan and smoking.

Why end a fun night after the movie is over at 2.30am? Why not party like it's 1999 at the local Ihop? We so totally did. As we were leaving the people at the next table made a snide comment about how it would finally be quiet after we left. What do they expect at 3.30 in the morning at an Ihop? We ate and talked until 4.15am, and then I still had a 45 minute drive home. That's what I'm still paying for 2 days later. I didn't hit the pillow until 5am....

Now the 7 month wait starts