My First Week Back In Minnesota

Happy Friday!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas & was able to spend time with loved ones!  For those of you that are back at work, the weekend is almost here again!  I'm over here living that teacher life & not really knowing what day it is ever so here is a recap of what I've been up to since I got back to MN a week ago.  I'm still on break for another week & a half.  #TeacherPerks  Linking up with Amanda!

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Friday morning & I got a later than planned start, but we were still back home by 3 pm.  I woke up, laid in bed for awhile tired as all get out because I had gotten less than 5 hours of sleep, then did some yoga, packed to car, grabbed a muffin & coffee, went back for Nash, & about 7 am we were on the road again Minnesota bound.  Nash was not having it.  While he still slept a lot, he got extra whiny towards the end of Iowa & most of Minnesota.

Once back in Minnesota we just lounged around with my family, ate one of my old favorites that I hadn't had in years (Southwest Casserole), & went to bed early.

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On Saturday morning I met up with my best friend from high school (Kristie) and my best friend from elementary/middle school (Taylor), who I hadn't seen in YEARS, so that we could get our nails done & get lunch.  It was so nice to catch up with both of them, especially the friend I hadn't seen in years.  It was also nice to finally get a manicure & pedicure since my nails were looking really ratchet.

That night we decorated the Christmas tree, where the annual battle of which baby picture gets to be displayed higher continued, & Nash napped with his new duck toy courtesy of my friend Kristie.

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Sunday was filled with baking cookies & driving around to see Christmas lights.  We made chocolate pixies, peanut butter blossoms, reindeer sugar cookies, mint brownie bites, & snickerdoodles.

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As always, Christmas Eve was spent with my dad's side of the family.  This year it was at my aunt's house & all but 2 cousins were able to make it.  I got to meet one of my cousin's youngest child for the first time, she's 1.5 now, & we were almost instant friends.  The cousins played Cards Against Humanity, which I won because I am obviously the funniest one.  My brother came in second.  #Winning  That morning I *finally* wrapped my presents.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute to get stuff done!

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Christmas morning was just my parents, my brother, & me.  Well and Nash of course.  Nash-o got some treats, although not from me.  I failed & didn't buy him a Christmas present.  However he got a Black Friday present & gets stuff from me all the time.  Plus, I got him to Minnesota safely.  I got a new coffee maker, a couple of gift cards, heavier weights, collapsible strainers, an Ancestry DNA kit, a Waylon Jennings vinyl, & an Instant Pot.

Christmas Day was then spent with my mom's family as always.  We used to alternate houses for it to be held at, but my mom's side of the family has gotten so big that as of last year we started renting out a place to hold it at.  This year we had an Olive Garden/Italian theme as far as food went.  Lots of soups, salads, pastas, & breads.  There was also a super cute hot chocolate bar.  Because our family is so big, and spread out, we no longer draw names or do a white elephant gift exchange.  Instead we now play games for prizes.  This year one of my aunts did up different Minute To Win It games for people to compete at.

I was so exhausted when we got home that I ate a little bit of supper, watched a show on TV, & then called it a night.

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My brother & I had planned on getting tattoos the day after Christmas but sadly we weren't able to get an appointment.  So instead I spent the day doing nothing.  Well, Nash & I did take advantage of the nice weather & went for a walk.  I did also manage to get a couple days of yoga in since I hadn't worked out on Christmas.  Other than that the day was spent on the couch, in my yoga pants, creating a blog plan for 2019.  Changes will be coming to the blog!

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Thursday was another chill, not do much of anything, day.  It snowed pretty much the entire day so it was a great day to stay in & do nothing.  I got an Ancestry DNA kit for Christmas so I spit in the tube & it's ready to be sent out.  By March/April I should find out more about my ancestry.  Next up, a DNA test for Nash!  I got a few blog posts scheduled for 2019 as well.

My Amazon Christmas Wishlist

Christmas as an adult is hard.  There is nothing that I *need* & for the most part if I want it, I buy it.  My actual Amazon Wishlist is a lot longer & a lot more random.  Pretty much anytime I see a blogger recommendation that interests me I make sure to save it to my list.  I was however able to come up with a few things to add to my Christmas Wishlist.

1. An Instapot

2. Collapsible Colanders

3. A new Coffee Maker

4. A Coffee Canister

5. Heavier Weights

6. Candles

7. 23 & Me DNA Test

8. A DNA Test for Nash

9. Ancestry DNA Test

Merry Christmas To All

I hope that y'all are having an amazing time with your loved ones!

I'll see y'all back here on Monday for a recap of my Christmas weekend!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  I hope that you have a great day!  I'll leave you with a Christmas song that brings a smile to my face everytime I hear it.

Christmas 2010



There definitely wasn't a shortage of food over the holidays.  On Christmas Eve my dad's side of the family came over to our house.  We had prime rib, cheesy potatoes, green bean caserole, and of course desserts.  On Christmas Day we went to one of my mom's sister's place.  There was even more food there.  Turkey, ham, meatballs, dips, bread, other appetizers, and once again... desserts.  Yesterday was my dad's mom's birthday so once again his side of the family was over at our house.  We made an assortment of stirfrys for dinner & ate ice cream cake and the many remaining desserts from the days before.  Needless to say I'm definitely not starving by any stretch of the imagination.  As a matter of fact it seemed that my stomach decided to shrink right before the holidays so I didn't eat a whole lot of anything actually.  Enough to know that the food was excellent but not so much that I over indulged.  Nothing wrong with that at all.

These were just some of the decorations on our tree and around the house.  I love when the house is all decorated for the holidays.  Every year we get a new family decoration for the tree & my brother & I each get a new one for when we get our own places some day.  (None of these decorations are shown.)  This year we got a picture frame decoration for the family one & my brother & I each got a snowman for our individual ones.



I got great presents this year.  My favorite by far being my new camera which I have become more than obsessed with.  If anyone thought I was obnoxious with my picture taking before they are in for quite the surprise.  All those wrapped presents aren't mine by the way.  In my stocking I got some candy, UV Blue, gas & iTunes giftcards, & the movie Dirty Harry.  From my brother I got the game What's A Dame To Do.  From my parents I got the camera, Chelsea Handler's book Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang (I love her so much!), the book Wildwood, Ice Age 3, & Kung Fu Panda.  My parents and brother got some pretty awesome things too I might add.

That is my family & our Christmas tree.  That picture took a half a dozen tries I kid you not.  First my timer went off to soon so I was barely sitting down, then the other times one or more of us looked utterly ridiculous.  Finally we said enough after this one.  It's not a terribly picture by any means.  We were all laughing at this point & sick & tired of waiting for the flash to go off while trying to get it right.  As for the tree, it's a fake.  We used to get real trees but my mom couldn't help decorate because the needles make her skin break out.  So we now have a fake one.  Fine by me.  Sure the house doesn't smell like pine & we don't get to go cut one down, but we don't have to pay for one every year, it doesn't make a mess, & my mom gets to help decorate.

I hope that you all had great holidays & that you have a great New Years Eve as well.  Perhaps I'll post again before then, I know I'd love to, but lately I've been having a writers block or when I do think of something I don't have the time & by the time I do I no longer write about my idea.  So in the event that I don't return to this blog before 2011... have a great New Years Eve & see you all next year!