The Help

I had heard a lot of great things about the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett so I put my name on the hold list at the library. I was number 451 on the list!!! Kay took pity on me and bought it for me Christmas. I have to tell you, I'm loving it (about 1/3 done). I can't stop reading it and thus getting nothing done around here. Add this one to your list! xo, Brie

Year in Review

Does anyone else love seeing these as much as I do? This is the best I've found so far... they always make me cry!

Yahoo!'s 2009 Year in Review @ Yahoo! Video

Who's ready for 2010? bring it :)
xo, Brie

A disjointed post about all the happenings

I want to wish all my faithful readers (mom and Keely) a very Merry Christmas (just kidding, I really do mean all 10 of you and you know who you are)! Company will begin arriving sometime this afternoon and I can hardly wait to see everyone.

I've got a lot done around here the last couple of days - just when I thought I was drowning in my to do list there it is, the light at the end of the tunnel! (Greatest site ever by the way - thank you to the blogger who showed me it, exactly which blog is escaping me, but please know you have made life easier for me and I thank you xo)

So here are some things I've crossed off the list:

I finished this book

I loved it! It's not exactly an easy read, you need concentration but I found it well worth it and would like to give a shout out to the librarian who took pity on me and allowed to renew for a 3rd time (you're only allowed 2 renewals). I love memoirs and this is a good one!

I cooked up all my shrimp for shrimp cocktail and have it chillin in the fridge. This is the best cocktail sauce ever by the way... available seasonally (as in now) at my home away from home, Costco!

I've made this, these and even this! Not too shabby, right?!

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas, from the bottom of my heart... so I'll leave you with this holiday favorite. I'm sorry, it's just not Christmas without New Kids on the Block :)



Who do you feel more embarrassed for in this video? Jordan when he tears off his leather jacket or Joey Joe when he does that booty dance? Discuss amongst yourselves :) xo, Brie

Signs of Christmas

My favorite Christmas cactus

Decorated sugar cookies

By the way, would anyone like to clean my kitchen table?

and you know dasher, dancer, prancer, and vixon... comet and cupid and donner and blitzen... but do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all????

Rudolph the red nosed minivan!!! Love him, love him! xo, Brie

Final Tallies

Snow appears to have finally stopped and our totals are about a foot. Thankfully all activities have been canceled and today I'm wrapping and making Christmas cookies. xo, Brie

Hour 7

It has been snowing steadily for seven straight hours! No sign of letting up - the pics aren't looking too different at this point but we are up to 8 inches. The Cape is supposed to really get a ton tomorrow. I am going to wrap a few gifts and call it a night! I am very thankful for our electricity and heat in working order! Sweet dreams xo

Brie

Hour 5

Approximately 6 inches fluffy, sparkly, powdery snow! xo, Brie

2 hours into the storm

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow :) xo, Brie

Preparing for the Big Snow Storm

The timing of the big blizzard of 09 is kind of sucky. I have packages to mail, food shopping to do, and a minivan to decorate like Rudolph (if the darn thing ever arrives!)

I did make it to Costco this morning and my advice to you is stay away.... stay far far away! It was a nuthouse and a lot of the crowd appeared to be very hungry and even willing to create complete Costco gridlock in the name of 1/6 of a hot dog wrapped in a Pillsbury crescent roll! It was a lot of fun, I could feel my blood pressure rising. My thoughts were unChristmaslike.

We're home now and just in time. Snow is starting....

At least I will be forced in tonight and might even start wrapping some gifts! Stay warm!! xo, Brie

39 Candles

My sweet boys presented me with this today

Would anyone like to take a stab at my age? :)

Complete with a crossword puzzle on the back!

The fact that they took of the liberty of filling in 1 across is making me think they don't think I am very good crossword puzzles!

Stealing this quote from LifeisGood on Twitter b/c this is how I plan on spending the day :)

Dance like the photo's not tagged, love like you've never been unfriended, tweet like nobody's following

Have a good one! xoxo Brie

Ebay Tuesday

What was more fun than playing My Dog Has Fleas? Nothing, that's what! My dog has fleas... playing is a breeze!! xo, Brie

The Griswold Family Christmas Tree

We went to pick out our Christmas tree this weekend. We had trouble agreeing on the perfect tree. We finally found this one, I thought it bordered on the huge side but everyone else really liked it. Majority ruled.

Here she is all decorated. It's huge, I'm guessing about 9.5 feet. I almost fell off the ladder putting the angel up. Good times, good times.... It does look great all lit up though. I can't figure out how to take it's picture correctly without the flash.

you get the idea, right? I sure hope that there is no squirrel living in it! Show me your tree! xo, Brie

Field Trip to Gingerbread Land

Long time, no blog. These last couple of weeks have been NUTS. Take many Keeks and Brie shows, add one part class room mother, two parts Christmas shopping and decorating and a million basketball practices and what you get is one crazy over extended lady!

Our local arboretum hosts an annual gingerbread making contest and it's quite the hot spot to visit this time of year! Ms. C and her Daisy troop went last Thursday and they loved it. There are rules to enter. I don't know what they are but they vary by category - I think everything has to be edible. There are several categories: individual, family, special needs, school/troops etc etc. Ms. C's troop leader said they will enter one next year - can't wait to see that :)

We only had to remind the girls "no touching" about 267 times. I also figured out the secret of how to get a cute and normal looking picture of my C. Candid shots!! If she knows you're taking the photo - it's all over!!



Here is a great example of why you do not say "smile"

Check out some of our favorites - there sure are some creative people in NJ!! Here are some of the "individual" exhibits.

If C could have stuffed this one in her pocket and walked out undetected, she would have. This was her favorite and got her vote. She kept commenting how adorable the dog was that was drinking his mother's milk - wasn't touching that topic at the Daisy event with a 10 ft pole.

I liked this one a lot - here is the backside of the diner....




Here is the flip side with Santas serving up the reindeer! Very cute!




Here is what I suspect will be the winner - this entire thing is edible. There were noodles and cookie dough parts and hours upon hours of awesome crafty work! I honestly thought it was decoration and not an exhibit.

This is last year's winner with Cinderella's castle

Here are some Family Entries we liked

Candy Land!

as Froot Loop lovers - this one was appreciated

This one behind C (again I prompted her to say cheese) is a dog and dog house made entirely of doggie treatsWe like Santa climbing up the side on this one plus the dollhouse like furnishings complete with a ceiling fan

Last but not least some clever girl scout troop entries......

brownie vest complete with badges! This one sparked a great conversation that went something like "why doesn't my vest have any patches" and my response "because your mother with a sewing business has been too busy to sew any on but promises to do so soon"

this is a friendship garden done by a 6th grade troop

this one was my favorite! Done by a kindergarten daisy troop, each girl decorated their own gingerbread girl and they are roasting mini marshmallows on pretzel sticks!

Hope you enjoyed the tour :) xo, Brie

Holiday Snacking

I can't stop eating Trader Joe's 1000 layer crackers and wanted to tell you to pick some up next time you're there. My mother had them over Thanksgiving and they are beyond good! They are a cross between a cracker and a flaky biscuit. Each cracker comes individually wrapped which in this case is very very good because it slows me from eating the entire box in less than 5 minutes. Go get some :) xo, Brie

Ebay Tuesday

Quite possibly one of my favorite toys ever in the history of ever. I would have gone for it but I can't stand jacked up shipping charges. I was particularly enamored with Big Bird's nest and Oscar's trash can :) xo, Brie