MERRY CHRISTMAS

First off, Merry Christmas Everyone!! Second, this post is going to have TONS of photos so get excited = )

Today has been WONDERFUL! Just to recap you, Andrew and I left yesterday and headed to Conway to see my parents. We opened presents and visited then mom, andrew & I went and saw "Yogi the Bear 3-D" it was a cute kid's movie and had good 3-D affects.  Back to the presents- if you remember maybe last post or so I posted pictures of Baxi opening up presents early!  He loves opening them- I'm going to try to upload a video of him opening up one.  Hopefully it works, never done this before.

The next morning we got up early and headed back to Farmington to go to Andrew's parents! We also got to bring little Baxi with us = ) My parents came down to go to my grandma's but they're staying at the casino tonight, so we get to keep little Bax! Here's a picture of him on the way back today.  Yes, you will see blankets in the background- we covered the seats so he wouldn't scratch them. Poor thing he only had a little square, the car was very full!

We got to Andrew's parents and snacked on goodies and then opened up lots of goodies = ) Had some lunch, then went and visited both of Andrew's grandma's and then my grandma. Here's a picture of most of our goodies- I thought I got just about everything, then went downstairs and found others ha! But didn't feel like taking another picture!
I'm going to try to name everything in the photo: boots, ice scraper, make-up bag, 2 Hobo Clutch's, blow-dryer, 2 pull-overs, pj bottoms, robe, picture, frying pan, drill & stuff for drill, sheets, gun wipes, saw & Chik-fil-a calendar

 Here's another picture of the boots from above- I'm sure a lot of you are thinking OMG Kara- but you know they're me! They're just like Uggs, so super comfy, but they're Gianni Rich- New York. Don't ask, never heard of them. My mom found them for me!

Next thing is some TOMs I forgot to put in my present picture up above. These were from my furture in-laws. Like i said thought I got everything and I didn't = ) I love these as well...no one can ever go wrong with these shoes!

As you can see, Andrew and I came out pretty good with all of our gifts. After we visited with grandparents we had to come back home and get Andrew's truck to go pick up Nala girl. We boarded her last night and didn't want her riding in my car- a little too big! Before we left, we opened up our stockings from each other. Since we got the TV we just did stockings but I put a $50 limit on it! I got a workout shirt, iTUNES gift card and Eclipse! So excited- I will be watching it tonight. When we got home from picking up Nala, I had her open up some gifts, but she's not into it like Baxi. Here's some pictures though

I love this picture of her. She got this toy from her "Nana" aka my mom = ) This is the only toy that the girl has not destroyed!!! She has one just like it but it's getting nasty, and we left it at the boarding place so I'm glad we have another. She also got a "bully stick" from her parents, and some other treats from Diesel (Kara and Shelby's Dog)

Now going back a few days- on Thursday night a bunch of us girls got together and had our Christmas Party at April's house. We all brought an appetizer and/or dessert. TONS of good food and great company! I think Whitney has been putting on these Christmas parties since she was about 6. So yes we've all been friends forever. We just decided instead of doing gifts, we would buy a $20 gift card. I read "Charlie Brown Christmas Story" and when we heard the words "Charlie Brown, the" we had to pass the gift. I ended up with a gift card from Impressions in Fayetteville (thank you Kara W.). I haven't been there in forever, so now this gives me an excuse to go and spend $$$. Here's some pictures from the night. First one is of Harley passed out in April's lap- I guess we were all talking too much and boring her. Next one is a group picture!

This year we got to have 2 little new additions- Hudson Romeo and Rosalynd = ) April took a cute picture of Hudson and I but she took it on her camera so I don't have it.

I finally got my wedding shoes in last Thursday and the right size! They fit good- I've shown everyone above because I had them with me BUT here's a picture for everyone else.

                   Here's the bottom of them- One shoe says "I" the other says "DO"
                    And I just realized I took this picture backwards- ha typical me. You get the point = )

Sorry such a long post! Hope everyone had a great Christmas.
~Kara~

~Great Weekend~

Hey Everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was pretty good. Friday night I went and saw Melanie a friend from high school that lives in OKC now. It was good to see her and catch up! On Saturday I went shopping with Kara C. and her daughter Spencer.  We went shopping at Pinnacle- and it actually wasn't too crowded. Probably since it's an outside mall everyone wanted to go to Fayetteville, but the weather saturday was pretty nice!

I have to admit and I'm like my friend Whitney- I love Christmas time, and all the craziness! Except for driving in it that is  = ) I hate driving in traffic- but here in Rogers I haven't noticed traffic being all that bad. But I love how everything is crazy and everyone is looking for xmas stuff! I also went to 3 monkey's w/Kara and Spencer! OMG- I've never been to this store and it just made me realize how poor I'll be whenever I do have kids (which yes will be awhile!!!) They have the CUTEST stuff in there though- pretty good sales too!

House Update- WAHOOO!! Andrew is meeting with the builder on Tuesday afternoon around 3:30, and they should start this week or next laying down foundation, or getting ready to lay it down! I'm not going to be able to make it due to work, but I told Andrew I didn't care. It's not like we're going to be picking out stuff, we already did that. It's more like telling the builder where we want the extra cable outlets we added- um yeah I don't care, I'm not good at that stuff = ) But I'm very excited- hopefully it gets built soon and everything works out to where our closing date/move in date will still be March 30th!

This week work will be SUPER busy! I think I had more cancellations during Thanksgiving than Christmas. Which I find odd- but I'm glad = ) But I have a feeling parents will be calling and canceling this week, just realizing they have a lot to do with the Holiday.  I took off Christmas Eve though so had to move around some clients so I could see them earlier in the week.  Andrew gets off at 2pm on Friday- we're going to head to Conway to spend the night with my parents. YAY!!! Then Saturday morning we'll head back and go to Andrew's parents for Christmas.

For all of you that know me well- I usually open up Christmas presents starting like Dec. 6th or so ha! Seriously!! I've always opened up presents early at my parents- but this year since they live in Conway that didn't really happen. But little Baxi thinks he gets to open presents early haha! My mom calls me earlier this week and said Baxi went and got one of his presents under the tree and just started tearing up the paper and took it to his room and finished opening it! He's done it TWICE, and ripped a hole in poor Nala's present! I told my mom he better not start opening mine or else we'll be fighting = ) Here's some pictures she's e-mailed me of Baxi opening up the presents.

What a stinker!

Also, Andrew and I went looking at TV's saturday night- because that's suppose to be our Christmas gift to each other. Well it's almost Christmas and we haven't gotten one. I went and worked out today and came home. We were talking about gifts Andrew had gotten for Jonah and all of a sudden he says, "Merry Christmas". I was very confused, and thought he better not of gotten me anything because we aren't suppose to. Oh but no- he bought a TV and already had it set up and I didn't even notice! I didn't really pay attention to the TV though- but I kind of wish he wouldn't of said anything to see how long it would have taken me to notice = ) It's a 42" and will go above our fireplace in the new house! But of course we want it now too!  I really like it and it has a great picture

Last is just a photo of Nala girl. I was playing with her and she turned around to finish her food and I barely brushed against her tail but it scared the daylights out of her and her food just went flying! I'm just glad it wasn't her water! So this is her eating her food off the ground

Hope everyone has a great week!
~Kara~

Baby it's cold outside

Geez I've been slacking on my blog! Sorry for all you 5 readers I have ha- but like you said can I write everyday to entertain you? I'll try my best- ok maybe not everyday though! Anyways...Hope everyone had a good weekend. I didn't do too much- my major outing was my work Christmas Party. It was at the Springdale Country Club and it was so much fun- secret santa gifts, games, great food/drinks, and dancing!! The DJ read a "story" and all of us therapists got in a big circle, every time we heard the words "and" or "the" we had to pass our gift either to left or right of us. I ended up winning "Skipping Christmas" by John Grisham. I haven't started reading it yet but heard it's good. Here's a picture of Mandy, in the black (an SLP= Speech Pathologist, any my CF-supervisor) & Lacey, in the white, one of our Office girls

Sunday was a lazy day, it was freezing out! It wasn't so much the temperature as the wind!!! Andrew and I went to Wal-Mart, our weekly shopping trip. We came home and Andrew made an awesome dinner!

Yes I just posted a picture of my dinner = ) Pork chop, green beans, yummy garlic potatoes and garlic bread! I was taking a picture of my meal and Andrew said "What are you doing, taking a picture of your dinner?" I said yes I need something to blog about...haha- so he thinks I'm crazy too

This week has been pretty good with work. I've gotten lots of goodies from my clients and I LOVE everything!! Andrew and I decided to go to Conway Christmas Eve day after he gets off work and come back Saturday for his family Christmas. I called about 5 places today until I finally found somewhere that could board Nala! I was just glad I found somewhere- plus it was cheaper than where we usually take her- um yeah even better!!!

I went Tuesday to meet with Festivities to go over Wedding stuff of things I might want to rent- I need to find an arch for us to get married under- but haven't decided if I want to rent/buy one yet. I've found one I really like at SAMs (well online with free shipping).  I don't want a typical arch, I want a square one- so we'll see what happens. Other than that wedding planning is still going fine- I know it'll get a lot busier when we get like 2 months away with all the decorations stuff! I'll be needing everyone's opinions- because like I've said, I stink at making decisions. I think I know what I want, but then someone throws another option out there and then I can't decide!!!! The main thing I'm worried about now is my DRESS coming in!! I just want it to be here = )

Anyways everyone have a great weekend!!

Another Day

Well where do I start- how about how all the great friends I have make fun of my blog = ) JK- i know you love it and find it entertaining- that's what I"m here for is to make all of you laugh!! So I'm going to continue to make you laugh and blog about my life.

Monday night I went to Fellowship here in Roger's to ladies night. I went with some girls from work. They had soup for all the ladies and then a singer. Then a lady spoke about important things to remember, especially during the Holidays. It was a fun night. I thank God every night for the many blessings he has blessed me with, especially just within this last year with everything! I found this on a girl's blog I work with and loved it so wanted to post it here too!


"Dear Lord, give me Your eyes to see and Your ears to hear the needs of those around me; not just at Christmas, but always. I long to share Your passion for the poor and the needy. Help me remember true wealth is not measured by the size of my bank account, but by the size of my heart. 
In Jesus’ Name, Amen."


Tuesday night I went over to my friend's April's house.  A group of girls from high school got together for dinner. We have all known each other since about 3-5!! Some of us went to bible school together when we were "weee little babies" ha! We have all been friend's throughout grade school and high school and still keep in touch! I love it and think we're very fortunate to still be close and be able to get together anytime and just pick up from the last time we all got together. There's never a dull or awkward moment with us = ) April made pizza spaghetti, Kara W. brought over some salad, Janae brought the bread, Christy & Rosalynd brought the cokes and cookies, I of course had to make some brownies (may I add I think I ate 6 total, ugghh- need to go to CrossFit waaaay more) and Whitney brought some chocolate kisses hehe.  We kind of all took everything so she contributed some candy.  We all had a great night gossiping and catching up! Below is picture of lil' Hudson Romeo passed out from all of our talking! Hudson you made my blog- you'll be star now someday ha!

Tonight was my work's TEAM Christmas Party for the little kiddos. It was so much fun and I got teary eyed just watching the kids perform. The kids at Bentonville performed a dance (I got to help them prepare for the dance & it was so much fun) to "Run Run Rudolph" and Fayetteville kid's performed a play. They were all perfect! It was a great turn out as well- tons of parents they're supporting their families in the show and other clients and parents showed up to support them and visit Santa! One thing I LOVE about my job- seeing these kids do a fantastic job and the smiles on their faces, because I know they have all been practicing for the last month or longer just for this night!
                     Here's 2 of the kids on our dance team- we had a total of 7 perform

Now I'm at home and watching Top Chef Master's- I love it especially master's. Oh yes, and if any of you people watch One Tree Hill- holy smokes that show was so intense this week! CRAAZZYYY!
Hope everyone has a great rest of the week and don't work too hard!

Lazy Weekend

It's still the weekend but it's been a lazy one so far. Yesterday I got off work early and went to Eventures to get some prices for decorations for the reception.  Then got a manicure (by the way I'll never go anywhere again besides Sunny Nails- they're the best) then went to Spoiled to get my haircut by Kara (my bff and Andrew's sister).  Then last night Andrew and I cooked (well he cooked ha) before he went to work.  He's working midnights right now so doesn't go in until 10p.m. Then today I stayed in my pj's til about 3!! It was so nice, I can't remember the last time I had a weekend where I did NOTHING. I watched the Auburn vs. SC of course!! Woohoo way to go Auburn!! To the Sugar Bowl we go- I'd love to go, but do not need to take off work and need to save for house (which everything is still going good just still going through the paperwork process)!! But it's okay I'll be watching it and rooting on my HOGS!!

Here's some pictures of my wreath that my friend Kara (different Kara than above, this is Kara C.) made for me.  Ok I did actually help just a tiny tiny bit ha! She's just way quicker and better at crafty things than me! I absolutely LOVE IT!!! I also added a couple more ornaments to my tree besides gold.

                                   Thank you again- I owe you some tini's = )

The wreath probably cost me at the most $30!!! I didn't buy a green wreath, instead I went different and bought a wooden one at Oops and I got the red/white tulle from there too. Then I got all the ornaments from Hobby Lobby (can't beat 1/2 off ornaments). Now I need to wrap some presents and put them under my tree = )

I wanted to get Andrew & I monogrammed cute stockings this year- well mine came in but his didn't. So here's a picture of mine- I love it! I wanted to get Andrew a matching one but this was their last one to do before holidays. Now I need to figure out where to hang it and Andrew's- we don't have a fireplace so I don't know what to do- got any ideas??

Tomorrow I'm going to a Welcome party for Kym's daughter (part owner of where I work). She just adopted a girl from China- and she's so cute!! I'm excited to see all the goodies she gets!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Brrr...It's cold

Yes it is freezing outside!! It snowed in Bentonville today- crazy! I was getting a client from the lobby and his mom said "Oh the flurries are bigger now" I'm like what is this lady talking about? Sure enough it was snowing pretty good.  So I made chili tonight- love chili & winter.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I had a good one and a very busy weekend- there was no break or time for rest! Thursday I met my parents at the Pig Trail and we went to my Aunt's house. Then my dad headed back home to Conway but mom came with me and spent the night. We went and saw "The Social Network"- it was a very good movie. The next morning we got up at 3a.m. (yeah i'm crazy) and went and waited in the long line at Target to get the 40" TV for $298! Yeah very good deal- well they only had about 15, and people were saving some for their friends! I was not a happy camper because in the ad it said 1 per person, but there wasn't an employee to monitor this!!! AHHH- oh well i should've gotten up earlier i guess = ( Mom and I did find some good deals though and shopped all day long! We waited for my friend Whitney to get off work and she rode to Conway with us. Whitney and I headed to the Razorback Basketball game Friday night but we lost = (

The next day was the big day- ARKANSAS vs. LSU!! Whit and I didn't have tickets but we didn't care we were going to tailgate and try to find some- BUT when we got there everyone was looking for some = ( And people were buying them for $200 or over = ( GOOD NEWS though!!! My friend Kim texted me and said she had 2 tickets for FACE VALUE!! I thought Whit and I were going to have a heart attack! Not only did we get to go to this awesome game but didn't have to pay over face value either! Love you Kim thank you so much!! The game was awesome- so loud and packed- and the best part WE GOT THE BOOT!
                                              Tailgaters on the Golf Course

                                                               The HOG

                                                                The "BOOT"

Sunday morning we headed back to the "ville"- I met Andrew and we met with the realtor to pick out everything for our house. It was very exciting picking out everything, but signing everything was a little scary as well. We still have to meet with the banker this week to go over financing stuff- SO hopefully everything works out- prayers would be greatly appreciated that everything works out for the best!

Oh- also on Thanksgiving night Andrew and I decorated our Christmas tree. I had gotten a black one this year that's pre-lit from Wal-Mart. I love it and you can't tell it's black at all!

I still have some ornaments I want to put on the tree- some pink and lime green ones = ) My mom got me the little presents underneath the tree- i love them! Also, Andrew made the bow on the top ha! He was very good at it, we had to YouTube how to make one with the tull stuff, but he did awesome! Way better than I could do!

Tomorrow night I'm going to my friend Kara C.'s house to make my wreath. I'm very excited! Stay tuned for some pictures of it = )

excited, scared, nervous, anxious- D-ALL OF THE ABOVE

That's right D- all of the above! SO I hadn't planned on blogging until after Thanksgiving because a lot going on BUT I just had to do a quick short blog =  ) Andrew and I went and looked at a house yesterday, filled out paperwork and found out today we our APPROVED! YAHOO! We loved the inside of the house we toured but not so much the outside ha (like the brick color w/stone)! So we will be getting ours built just the way we want! We will still living in Rogers, but if we get everything on the go and it's NOT a bad winter than hopefully we can move in before the wedding! YAY!! It'll be a lot more exciting registering for everything for a new house instead of just the townhouse. This way I know what I want each room to look like- HOPEFULLY. Oh but of course I stink on decisions and we decide on everything for the house! EVERYTHING! AHHHH more decisions- I'm sure andrew will help me with that  = ) I'm still trying to not get overly excited just in case it falls through for some reason- I always hear about people doing house stuff and then everything falls through = ( SO hopefully not for us! Have a good night

Busy but FUN weekend

Well the title is true- I had a very busy weekend! It started Thursday night- I went to "Ladies Night" at the John Q. Hammons Center. I had never been before but had fun. They had a bunch of booths set up to buy things, then they had a fashion show and gave away door prizes.  Too bad I didn't win anything =( oh well!
Friday night I headed to Tulsa with a friend from work to go see "Wicked". I had seen it before in NYC, but I fell asleep. I know, I know, you're probably thinking what? fell asleep? But i was exhausted from sight seeing all day long and the plane ride.  This is why I wanted to see it again, and it was great of course! If you ever get a chance to see it I definitely recommend it.  However, my favorite is still "The Lion King"!
                                                     The set of "Wicked"

Saturday morning I met up with my matron of honor, Big Kara (we call her big Kara because she's quite a bit taller than me, that way in class we knew which Kara they were talking to) and her daughter Spencer at Springdale Convention Center to do some shopping at another craft fair.  It was similar to the one I went to Thursday night but they had a lot more booths set up at this one.  We got there early which was nice to beat the crowd! I saw a bunch of cute stuff but have been looking for a Christmas ornament that says something like "Our first Christmas" even though Andrew and I aren't married yet.  Well Kara saw something even better! A "Just Engaged" ornament- so of course I had to get it!

                                                  Here's my cute ornament

Next, we went to Oops in Tontitown to get Christmas decorations. I ended up buying stuff to make a Christmas wreath. Well let me rephrase that, for Kara to make it = ) BUT I want to learn how to make them because I refuse to pay $150 for one that's already done.
Spencer (Kara's daughter) is going to be my flower girl. I don't want a white dress though, I want a blue one. That's been hard to fine, so we headed to Hancock Fabrics to pick out fabric and Kara knows of a lady that can make her the dress. I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but throughout this whole wedding planning I kind of stink at making decisions! I knew I wanted her dress to be blue but that was it. We found a great pattern for a dress that will have a sash. Here's where I get indecisive- I can't decide if I want her to have a silver sash or a black one!!! AHHH...So what do I do? Yep, buy enough fabric so I can see both on and then HOPEFULLY decide ha.

                                        Here's the blue with silver

Now with black- Which do you think?

My bridesmaid dresses are black, but silver is a color in my wedding too. Decisions, Decisions!
After getting the fabric we headed to Rick's Bakery for lunch, met Whitney (my MOH) and did some cake tasting!! YUMMY! My poor mom was suppose to come but got in a wreck Friday night, so her car was not drivable. She is fine though, just not the car. Of course cake tasting was amazing!
Not finished yet...then off to Hobby Lobby for more Christmas decoration shopping- I have no ornaments for Christmas, and since all of the decorations at Hobby Lobby are HALF OFF (that's right half off) I had to take full advantage. I know I didn't get enough and will go back after I start decorating my tree to get more I'm sure.

Saturday night Andrew and I went to a wedding at the Garden Room. The bride was a sorority sister of mine. She looked gorgeous and her wedding was very pretty- she did a great job decorating. After the wedding we went and said hi to Kara Woody (this is not the same Kara with the daughter, this is Andrew's sister, so yes when I marry Andrew there will be 2 Kara Woody's) and her boyfriend Shelby.
Oh and of course we had to stop by Bordino's to get my Key Lime martini- they are to die for, but I'm a huge tini' girl too!

We valeted at Bordino's and I guess they had turned off my headlights, well I turned them back on but not on automatic so today when I get into my car, yep that's right it wouldn't start = (  But we got it fixed just a dead battery = ) I drove Andrew's truck to Sarah's house (a friend from high school) who does an amazing job on invitations. So we talked about invitations for my wedding.
Told you I had a busy weekend, but very fun! Now just 3 work days before Thanksgiving and BLACK FRIDAY!! Oh and of course LSU game! GO HOGS! Can't wait for some shopping. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

         I'll end the blog on a picture of my sweet Nala girl (Ignore the crazy eyes due to flash on phone)

Another Night

Well day 2 of blogging! Today was a pretty good day, i didn't have a client until 10a.m. so i got to sleep in = ) always love that! work was pretty busy though with clients, after i got off I went to workout at CrossFit.  Ok people, if you don't know about CrossFit it's awesome! It's classes but not classes like you go to at a gym.  It's hardcore workout- very hard, but pushes you. I joined about 2 months ago, and i love it! The workouts are always something different and they never get easy ha! They keep challenging you, which i love, and i love that it's different workouts. I tried P90X- but i hated doing the same workouts over and over! BORING!! Everyone should definitely give CrossFit a try.

After workout i wasn't so good and went to eat w/Andrew. We went to Guido's (which is now some weird name, i guess they all had to change their names because of something legal). It was very good though of course, i got a turkey salad and pepperoni pizza (YUMMY)!! If you don't know me, then you don't realize how much i love to eat! I wish i loved seafood and fish because my second career would be a food critic!

OH yes, and a friend had read my blog yesterday and thought when i was talking about getting stressed about wedding dress shopping that something had happened to my dress. No that's not the case, it just took me forever to pick one! Thanks again Mom and Big Kara for dealing with that ha! I know it wasn't easy. I had went to Proposals and tried on one and fell in love, BUT didn't want to buy it because I had already made an appointment at Low's Bridal in Brinkley, AR. Well the dress i loved was at Low's but I found another one I loved- it seriously took me about an hour or over just to decide between 2 dresses!!! It was not fun and I was almost in tears over it! But like I said I stuck with my first choice- now I just wish it would come in = ) Well this Blog is long enough! Have a good week, probably won't be back to blogging til next week-got a lot going on rest of week and over the weekend!

Bored

Hello everyone! I'm new to this whole blogging world so give me to time to spruce things up = ) I was introduced to blogs about a year ago and keep up with lots of people.  I love reading them and thought maybe someday i'll start my own.  Well tonight I'm bored watching my TV shows and thought I'd start one.  This will help all my friends/family keep up with what i do (not like they don't know through my Facebook statuses) but oh well. 

 Just in case you don't know me, my name is Kara. I've grown up in Farmington, AR my whole life. I recently moved to Rogers. It's a nice change, I moved away from the small town but not too far away from friends. I like it a lot in this area. I moved up here because I just started my big girl job as a Speech Pathologist at Children's Therapy TEAM. I absolutely love it, and feel very blessed to have an amazing job and work with a great group of people.  I can't imagine having any other job, and there's no way I'd go back to school to get another degree either = ) I had to go 6yrs. to get this degree! I'm sick of school, so much better being out!

I recently got engaged in October to Andrew my boyfriend of almost 4 years. We will be getting married in April 2011- i know some people say "that's quick", but i wanted a spring wedding and didn't want to wait over a year.  Honestly, it hasn't been that bad planning the wedding. I was extremely stressed trying to find a venue because it's sooo expensive, but after i found the venue i was fine.  No more stress, until wedding dress shopping (but that's a different story ha).  I don't see why some people say it was just a mess, too stressful to plan, don't have a wedding- because it hasn't been that bad yet. Hopefully i don't get stressed when it gets closer.

Well there's my first blog, it's just a little bit about me. I'm sure you'll find out a lot more if you continue to follow = ) I'm going back to watching my TV shows (yes i have tons that i watch, but i'll talk about that some other time)! Night everyone