It's The Little Things

It's been over a month since I blogged... you can tell it's the end of the semester. I'll spare you the details, but I will say that I feel like I've been running a race and I can just now see the finish line. I'm winded and weary, but it's so close I can taste it-- yet far enough I have to keep one foot in front of the other.
Seriously I have been working on something every day. And that something is usually studying for a big test, preparing for a big presentation, practicing for a final speech, pounding out news articles or planning out the baby shower I'm hosting this weekend. Usually I have a few days in between deadlines and assignments, but these last two weeks have been nuts. Thank goodness my math test is over and I can relax the rest of the day. It feels like the first time I've come up for air in a while. :/

I've become a work-horse lately, just pounding it out. And I've become so focused on the next task at hand I feel like I've rarely had time to enjoy the beautiful time of year it is. So today I took a look around and picked out a few things that are currently making me happy.

Number 1 on my happiness list is me and Jason's first Christmas tree. On family night we broke out the tree, unwrapped the ribbon and hung up some lights. Jason spotted this little tree among the chaos of Black Friday for an incredible price so we added it to our shopping and got the heck outta Target. Saturday after an Outback dinner with the fam, Jace and I went on a little date to Tai Pan where we got a few boxes of sparklies for the tree. I had a lot of Tai Pan decor from the after-Christmas sale last year, so seriously we spent like a third of what we had budgeted for Christmas decorating. More money for presents right??!

I used teal, purple and silver in our tree-- my favorite color combination for Winter lately. I have really thick, purple ribbon and big silver ornaments that are so sparkly that when you turn on the lights the glitter illuminates the entire tree. Jason was so great when we put it up. He designated himself as the tree setter-upper and branch separator, then he put the little hangers on each ornament, leaving the actual decorating to me. He must have known it would be a more peaceful process that way. :)
He's said three or four times as he goes up the stairs, "Wow babe our tree is so cool!" It's cute that he takes that much pride in it.

So last night my friend Leana took me to see Handle's Messiah. It was a beautiful concert to start off the Christmas season in the right way. Usually we get ice cream after these kind of things, but it was unusually cold, so we locked elbows and scurried to our cars. Usually I stay indoors when it gets colder than 50, haha yeah right, but I was excited to wear my new Kenneth Cole coat-- one of those fancy long ones that you feel you can't wear unless you're going somewhere special... with shiny black buttons and a thick belt to cinch around my waist. I got the black one, but it looks a lot like the one in this pic-- wool and so warm! Macy's had an 80% sale or something last winter and with a Christmas gift card I had I scored this $325 coat for... well, a whole lot less. :) You've gotta love buys like that!

So me and my sister-in-laws have started a monthly ladies night that is going surprisingly well considering two of us live in St. George and four of us live in Las Vegas. Sheridon and I decided we don't get to spend much time just getting to know our sisters when we're with them, so we started doing a craft/get-together in alternating states every other month.

In November we went to Melissa's for lunch where we got to know each other better as we tied quilts for Becky's soon-to-come baby. Since we knew we'd never get our husbands to the theater for Breaking Dawn, (just kidding Jason actually wants to see it can you believe it??) we left them with the kids and headed to one of the casinos--so weird to go through a casino to see a movie-- to line up for Breaking Dawn. Katie literally laughed out loud at the Honeymoon scene, and she was easily the loudest person in the theater. Haha thanks Katie. You made a totally awkward moment much easier to see. ;)

Anyways, this weekend everyone's coming up to St. George. We've never had the whole Tippetts fam come to US, so it'll be so good to have them here. Hopefully it becomes a regular thing! ;)

So as lame as this sounds, my shampoo has totally brought happiness into my life lately. I strayed from my usual Matrix to try Organix brazilian keratin therapy, and I love it. The coconut oil turns my shower into Tahiti. :) Seriously every time I pop upen the bottle Jason ooohs and awws over it. What can I say, coconut smells transform my day! ;) I recently got an evergreen and sugar cookie scentsy bar, so even in the desert we feel a bit like Christmas.

Oooh you wanna know what else is heaven on earth? Our room was getting so stuffy and hot all the time that I pulled open a window and have pretty much just left it that way for weeks. The fresh night air and the evergreen scentsy make me feel like I'm sleeping in a forest, not a barren desert. I love waking up in the middle of the night just a teensy bit cold, then snuggling up to my hubby under the comforter... I don't know why I like that so much. Probably because it's so surprising to me that we can keep windows open in December. I love it.

On that same note, my mom had me take this big blossoming flower pot of hers when the cold set in up north, so I've been taking care of it ever since. It started on my back patio, but it was so gorgeous I set it out front where our pumpkins once were. Every day I arrive home to its' bright red flowers happy as ever, despite the winter weather. Plants really do boost your mood.

 

So on Saturday I got my first Bountiful Basket. If you don't know what that is, click here to read my article all about it. :) I figured now was as good a time as ever, since all those holiday treats really do a number on ya. After twenty minutes or so I was done 'shopping' and the fridge was fully stocked with better treats like blackberries, kiwis, pineapple, tomatoes and lettuce. I was curious, though, if my $15 was really as great a deal as everyone says. Because after all, I don't always buy radishes, pears and cucumber. So I headed off to Walmart to compare prices, and man was I pleased. To hear about my savings, check out my link above. It's nice to have healthy options during one of the unhealthiest months of the year, as well as a few more options for dinner. :)

It's really the little things that make us happy isn't it?