Happy New Year!

I will be in Georgetown tonight for a new years party at the Bennett's. I am sure pictures will follow. I hope everyone has a good night!

LOST

If you have watched all 3 seasons and want a good recap, ABC has one that is 8 minutes and 15 seconds (imagine that). If you have not seen all 3 seasons and are trying to catch up...DO NOT watch the recap, it will ruin it for you. This means you Brittney Bates. Don't be tempted to go watch it, just rent seasons 2 and 3 and get going on it :) You have a month to catch up.
As you can see it comes back on January 31st. I'm already planning the first LOST Thursdays (it is taking Grey's spot for now)

Complete Christmas Re-cap

I had a wonderful Christmas :) I spent Christmas Eve with my family. We went to church and then had a chili dinner, yumm! My sister is about to pop, only 6 more weeks until Baby Breck is here. I think we are all ready for him to make is debut.
Christmas day was spent with the Bates family for a wonderful diner! We had French onion soup, broccoli salad, twice baked potato's, asparagus and fillet mignon ...it was quite the spread. After that, I headed over to Jon's house to beat up on his mom and aunt in both marbles and rummy.
Then the day finally arrived....the day of the After Christmas Party! As I expected, it was a great success. Santa even made an appearance again this year. He must have been tuckered out from the night before, but still managed to come.
The next morning, E, Ria and myself had a hot date at Fazolis, followed by going to see P.S. I love you. Just fyi, it is not a pick me up movie. I thought it was almost depressing and really didn't care for it. Probably because I don't have a significant other that I can use to relate to it and I didn't really know any part of the plot going into it. On the other hand, my counterparts cried the entire time and loved it. So I say check it out for yourself, you may really like it.
Here are some pics from the party....some of these are mine, but a few came from Rias camera, she has a ton more.

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I will be having dinner with the Bates family and then playing games with the Holcombs a little later. My mom and dad left this morning for WaterColor so I am doing some house hopping for the holidays.
I love you all and hope you have a very merry Christmas this year....life is good.
I'm sure I will see most of you tomorrow at the after Christmas party :)

Postsecret

I JUST got around to checking this weeks postsecrets.
I love this one!

Countdown to the after Christmas Party

4 more days until the 2nd annual party. I am getting very excited!

Today I finalized the menu...

Sausage balls
Chocolate Chip Cheese ball
Dr. Petes praline mustard glaze over cream cheese (soooo good)
Captain Rodney's cheese bake (also, very good)

I'm sure E and Ria will bring some culinary creations of their own as well

The boys are in charge of drinks :)

This picture was taken at last years festivities

Kerry Tuttle...you need to come!

NYC Re-cap

New York was great! Our flight left at 6:05 so we got up around 3, yawn, it makes me tired just to think about. We got home about midnight, it makes for a long day, but is well worth the trip :)
Here is a list of all the fun things we did.
-Visited the tree at Rockefeller Center
-Went inside St. Patrick's Cathedral...so amazing
-Saw the snowman story window display at Saks
-Had pizza for lunch in Little Italy
-Rode the subway...everywhere
-Had Frroozzzen hot chocolate at Serendipity (Probably my most favorite spot in NYC, you can find there website here)
-Saw Times Square at night
-Went and visited our fat purple friend (see previous post)
-Went to Washington Square (This song is why I wanted to go)
-Went and watched the ice skaters at Bryant Park, we were going to skate but right as we got there, they closed the ice for a show :(

Here are a few pictures from the day. The entire album is on facebook. Try this link.

Dave Barnes Christmas Extravagana 2007

I posted last years Christmas Extravaganza a few days back. This is the 2007 edition. Too funny.

Crossroads Christmas Party Re-cap

Last night was the 2nd annual Crossroads Christmas Party. The evening began at Chipotle, Emily (my hot date) and I met the Bennett's for a lovely dinner. Then off to the party we went. There was Christmas music, desserts, pictures, friends, hot chocolate, and Christmas trees everywhere...what more could a girl ask for? After the party, and a stop at the gas station, we traveled to Target in search of a cute top we saw at the party (with no luck, we couldn't find it anywhere). I think Mark was about to kill himself by the end of the night, oh well, it was fun :) Here are some pictures from the adventure...Enjoy!

K-Tutt

So, last night at the Crossroads Christmas party (blogging with pictures to follow) I learned that the one and only Kerry Tuttle reads all of our blogs. This gives whole new meaning to blogging. Kerry was my small group leader in high school and my parents paid her to be my friend (well, thats not totally true, but its what we determined). Here is a picture of Kerry as well as some interesting facts taken from the Crossroads website. Ive even included her contact information if anyone wants to shoot her a quick e-mail.

How long have you been at Crossroads?
I've been at Crossroads since 2000.

What exactly do you do?
I support Student Ministries...so I do a lot of different things!

What is your favorite: a. tv show, b. band, c. food?
a. tv show - The Office and Grey's Anatomy
b. band - not a "band," but Keith Urban's probably my favorite
c. food - cheeseburgers!

Little known fact about you.
I prefer to eat "dinner foods" for breakfast.

If you could be on any reality tv show, what would it be and why?
I would be on Big Brother - it only takes place in the summer and all they have to do is eat, sleep, and lay out.

Contact:
ktuttle@xroadschurch.org
263-4633 ext 245

New York, New York

Last summer Britt and I took a day trip to New York to explore the city. After that trip I decided that I needed to go back during Christmas to see all of the decorations. I'm pretty sure we have decided on Tuesday (December 18th) for the trip. One of the joys of having a friend that works for Delta is that I can fly for dirt cheap. Our flight will leave Lexington at around 6am and get home sometime around midnight. It makes for a great day. I'm really looking forward to it :)

Also, just a little known fact about this fat purple guy you see below. Maria met this little fellow a few years back when she ventured to the city. He resides in the ToysRus in Times Square. I made it a point to go find him when I was there and say hello. Emily just returned from New York and also went to say hello. I will have to stop in this trip and see how his holiday season has been going ;)

Im also just noticing that he appears to have had some work done on his head. It seems that when Maria first met him he had 3 "antlers" on his head. Now he only has two. Hmmm, it seems like everyone is turning to plastic surgery these days, literally.

The After Christmas Party

The party has officially been set for December 26th...here is a picture of the invitations I have been working on. They will go out this week!

I figured it out!

This post is mainly for Emily and Maria but I thought I would share anyways. I figured out the song during the ending credits of the Nanny Diaries. I will be adding it to the i pod in hopes that a dance party will ensue at the after Christmas Party! It is called Shine by Laura Izibor you can find her myspace and the song here.

This picture is a perfect example of why NOT to be a Florida fan.

Too funny!

Diaper Cake

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to attempt to create a Diaper Cake for Kristin's baby shower on Saturday. I think it turned out pretty cute. I used green and red ribbon seeing as it is nearing the Christmas season :)

Mocha Club

Nashville was great, as usual. I am already itching to go back, I just love it. If you are friends with me on Facebook or MySpace you may have already read this blog. I just wanted to post it on here as well. This is at the forefront of my mind because Wertz and Barnes talked about it at the concert on Saturday. Also, check out the video :)

So, heres the deal. A few months ago I got involved in something that has the potential to be life changing for thousands of African women. It's called Mocha Club. The concept is that you give up 2 mochas (or anything that you don't need) a month, which equals roughly $7, and you give it to a cause that is greater than yourself. My initial thought was that $7 a month really wouldn't do much good. I was amazed to find out that....

WHAT CAN $7 DO IN AFRICA?
In the U.S., $7 = 2 mochas

In Kibera, Kenya, $7 =
3 meals in a day for 9 orphans

In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, $7 =
1 school term for 2 children

In all of Africa, $7 =
clean water for 7 Africans for 1 year

Its amazing that such an insignificant amount of money in America can go so far in Africa. The real decision for me to get involved came when I found out the specific project that the money was going toward. Right now they are building "The Village of Hope." Which is a safe place where women who were once sex slaves of the LRA (militant rebel group in Northern Uganda) are given a second chance at life. There are a total of 500 of these women who will benefit from the Village of Hope - some will live there and all will use the medical facility, the job training center, the school and all the other facilities - and the money raised through the mocha club is used for just that.

For me, this demanded a response.

For more information, check out www.mochaclub.org. I'm sure that website can explain the whole thing in a more clear and concise way. Feel free to also message me if you have anymore questions. The website is set up as an online community. If you want to join, we can start a "team" and partner together with however many people want to join us. Whether its mochas, diet cokes, eating out or movies, I encourage you to prayerfully consider giving up something you dont need to help these women. We are so richly blessed!

Matt Wertz just got back from Africa, and wrote an update on the progress of the Village. Check out the blog at www.myspace.com/mattwertz or his website at www.mattwertz.com and read it.

Thanks for reading

Nashville!

I'm Nashville bound for the weekend to see a Wertz and Barnes show. Also getting the chance to go to a Titans game! Be back Sunday night...Have a great weekend :)