Christmas 2010

This is a Christmas to Remember! And no, not like the song…It is actually comparative to a Lampoon’s Christmas Family Vacation or something like that!

My hubby and I were just coming off of a huge performance of "It’s A Wonderful Life" for our church production. Both of us were…kind of involved…maybe just a little bit! LOL! Ted played George Bailey and I played Mary Hatch Bailey. It was wonderful and exhausting all at the same time. Our home was in complete disarray! In fact, we had bought our very first TV and didn’t plug it in for 3 weeks due to the fact we were never home! LOL! We had 3 days to rest before we would be completely enveloped in family funness!







This is the one!



 We also bought our very first Christmas Tree!! This was sooo fun! It snowed the day we went out, which just added to the experience! 

And our little tree was just perfect for our apartment, we just loved it!

Well our holiday actually started off lovely. My Aussie cousin, Vaughan, came in to celebrate the holiday season with us. That same night we picked up my beautiful sister Anna. A few days later, my fabulous brother, Andrew, came in to town. It was a wonderful family reunion! Christmastime is just so wonderful! Decorating the tree, wrapping presents, giving presents, receiving presents. (Let’s not forget that the season is about Jesus’ birthday, but I’d like to think in some small way, we bring glory to Him when we are giving and charitable to others!) Can you tell that I’m a “Gifts” person?? :-) I about had a melt down…no actually, I did have a melt down trying to decorate our tree. It was miserable. We were just too shy on the lights that we put on our tree, so the top half of our tree had no lights. In attempt to fix it, (because mind you all of the stores had sold out of white Christmas lights by this point…) we were going to put some other lights in the middle so we UN-decorated everything we had just decorated! Our tree was sadder than Charlie Brown’s Tree! Only the bottom part had lights and ornaments…WELL, the middle lights did not work out...

so for 3 days our tree looked pathetic. My melt down came when we tried to redecorate the tree and I had NO vision for the way it was supposed to look! So I laid on the floor in deep depression while Ted decorated the tree…again…And it turned out beautifully! He did such a fabulous job! :-)

After our home was decorated and things were cleaned and put in order, we wrapped up our gifts to the family and put them under the tree. That made me soooo happy! :D We had the family over for dinner, which was exciting and nerve racking at the same time. Hosting is something I'm working on getting better at, meaning, it's not my strong suit.  Hey, I mean, Ted cooked!! He's better at it than I am! But anyway, we had a great time with the family. We had our gift exchange which is always fun! We got some awesome pressies as well! :D (New Luggage!! Thank you mom and dad!)

Next thing we know, it's Christmas morning! Presents under the tree, family all around, even Sunny the Christmas cat came our to join the fun! :) We did our tradition of singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus (I mean, it IS His birthday!) Then we played Santa, handing out gifts! Now we have an amazing family tradition which, no matter how old we become, will never die. In fact, we all kind of did this to each other this year, which made it even more amazing! We don't put our real names on our gifts...We use code names! LOL! This year, Ted and I's were themed from Burn Notice! So for example...We used the names: Michael Weston, Fiona Glenanne, Sam Axe, Madeline Weston, and Charles Finley... Those translate to Dad, Mom, Andrew, Anna, and Vaughan! So, the point of this tradition is to try to guess who you are! So fun, we've done this since we were kids and the tradition has lived on and will continue to live on! 

After presents were opened, we all settled in for an mid morning nap, then ate a scrumptous Christmas Dinner. Once the evening began to settle in, a Christmas Miracle occured...It started to snow!! It hasn't snowed on Christmas day for over 50 years! So we had an official White Christmas! Dreams really do come true! :D

 

Snow...so lovely, so beautiful, so...flight delaying!!! Up until now it has been the perfect holiday...Until Christmas evening say around 4:00. Ted and I were scheduled to fly out Christmas evening to be with his family for the latter part of the evening when we get the phone call that our flight was cancelled. I was bummed, but a little relieved because it had already been a bit of a long day. The snow came down alllllll night. It was beautiful! So we got packed and ready to go for our flight the next morning. We wake up to find our flight was cancelled...again. Not so bad!

  

Much to our surprise even though snow completely covered the ground by several inches, the mall and stores still opened with their post-Christmas sales ready to go! They were like ghost towns! The clothes I got Ted were all too big and much to my surprise we got him all of the EXACT same things in the smaller size! Crazy, huh?! So we go home log online and find that our flight was cancelled for ANOTHER day!!! Not only that, but we weren't going to fly out for another 2 DAYS! NO WAY!!! So that evening, I was getting a little fidgety. Ted's family was going back home and we were going to miss them almost entirely and I was getting frustrated because it was not going according to schedule! So I call the airline...at 11:45 at night. That was my first mistake. Calls that late at night are outsourced and while I have nothing against that, the people on the other end of the line really can't do anything about anything. So I call saying Hey! Our flight has gotten cancelled 3 days in a row now and isn't leaving for another 2 days, I need to get on a flight ASAP!" Well the man on the other line informed me there was one seat open the next day, but the only flight that had 2 seats was 2 days later...OH MY GOSH!!! A 5 DAY DELAY!!! You MUST be joking!! But no...he wasn't, much to my despair. :( I was pretty mad because I did not want to disappoint my in-laws, but settled down once I realized it was just more time with my family. We all actually got to hang out with Vaughan and take him to the airport. We had a blast with him and love him dearly!

FINALLY we get to leave! The flight is at the ungodly hour of 6:30 in the MORNING (SOOOOO not a morning person!)  On the plane, excited to get going so I can get back to sleep, we were met with the pleasant sound of the captain coming over the speakers apologizing for the delay...as it was 6:45 and we still hadn't left yet. He said someone forgot to refill the oxygen tanks, which are important, but not difficult to fix...Except, of course, that they are located under all the LUGGAGE!!! They had to take allll the luggage off the plane, refill the tanks, and put it allll back on! It delayed us an hour and a half. Our flight left at the time it was supposed to leave our connection in DETROIT! Needless to say we missed our flight and our 20 minute layover turned into a 3 hour lay over! On the bright side, the Detroit airport has a tunnel joining the terminals, it's pretty much awesome! And we HAD to take it because complete randomness happened...We met our friends Ben & Becky for lunch because they, too, had just landed in Detroit! :D Back to this tunnel. It changes colors and plays music...I loved the tunnel!

  


This is the only picture I dare take...
the traffic was driving by at 80mph!



Well, the tunnel and an unexpected visit with friends was a nice break from the madness we had been experiencing...but alas, that is all the season could afford. A break! On our flight to Nebraska, it was delayed...only slightly, but still... We land with little incident and find our long missed family! One of Ted's aunts and his uncle came to greet us and pick us up! Finally! Nebraska! We made it!! It's about an hour and a bit drive to Lincoln from the airport. And about half way there, we RUN OUT OF GAS!! Yes, indeed. After days of cancelled flights, delayed flights, missed flights, being snowed in for a week, we run out of gas! We waited about an hour for AAA to get there. We got checked on by a Highway patrol who sent some help...They actually beat AAA. And after about 30 minutes of waiting. Ted's uncle went with the highway patrol help and by the time they made it back (it's Nebraska...the nearest gas station was about 15 minutes away...) AAA was just pulling up! Finally, we have gas, we are ready to go!! We go to start the car and nothing. Someone left the lights on while we were waiting! And now a dead battery! This was the icing on the cake! I just busted a gut! I was so tired and sleep deprived that I got slap happy! It was just funny at this point! Fortunately, we discovered this BEFORE AAA left, so they gave us a jump! But I'm pretty sure we laughed the whole way home! After this point, it was still eventful, seeing as we had 5 days to cram in 10 days worth of visiting and vacation, but not nearly as crazy! We visited with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins for 2 days, then we took on the task of driving to Texas! At night...on New Year's Eve...What were we thinking?! We picked up a new passenger along the way, the newest member of the Scheve family. Meet Gracie, an 8 year old Corgi who came along for the ride!

She is such a sweet and funny little dog and fit like a glove with the family! So we started our little drive at 4ish...it was said that this drive would only take 9-10 hours. That would put us in between midnight and 2am... That's ok  we can handle that...Yeah, no. 12 hours. It put us in a 4AM!!! I was sleep driving, sip of coffee, sip of water, sip of coffee, sip of water...Just a note...The water woke me up more than the coffee, but that's another topic for another day! We had 2.5 hurry, flurry days in Dallas before getting back to the grind! Even though it was craziness to the max, it really was a Christmas to remember and memories that we will hold dear forever. Merry Christmas Everyone!



The Nebraska Sky, beautiful.

How was your Christmas? Any crazy stories?? :)

2010

2010 was a great year filled with adventure, love, fun, memories, experiences, and did I mention love? It started off December of 2009 when the love of my life asked me to marry him! I said yes (obviously!) and after that the sinking feeling of "We have a lot of work to do" came over me. In January, the madness began. Planning and colors and dates and decisions and excitement! Ted and I were asked to lead our College and Career group which has become a great adventure! February we found the dress!!! Important! February we also took a blitz trip to Dallas for wedding ideas and shopping. We shopped for flowers, favor bags, decorations, ribbon, flower petals, dresses, and on and on! And we had a blast! March we had some close friends get married which took us to Seattle, Washington for a fun blitz of a time there! We saw Deception Pass, Tulip Fields, Seattle Space Needle, Snowqualmie Falls, Pikes Place, and Mt. Rainier in the distance. It was a blast! We got to see my spectacular sister and Ted’s awesome aunt while we were up there which was a fun bonus! We had bundles of fun tearing up the town! After our jaunt to WA, it was back to our own wedding plans and growing madness! April flew by taking Easter and our Engagement Pictures with it and May did about the same! June brought some fun times. Our wedding decorator came in for a week of bouquet making frenzy! She pumped out 11 bouquets in a week! Amazing! And they were gorgeous! When she arrived, so did Sister from WA for the summer and I caught the flu. No, seriously, summertime flu...Yeah I’d never heard of it either! I was on the couch for about a week but worked up enough energy to go to the surprise party my wonderful Fiancé threw for my 24^th birthday! He’s so sweet! And so was the White Chocolate cake! YUM! After that, summer flew! July was fun with bridal portraits done and everything coming together, September was right around the corner! September 5^th finally showed up! A great day! It would’ve been my grandmother’s 99^th birthday and it was Ted’s grandparents 56^th Wedding Anniversary and it was Ted and I’s wedding day! It’s a blur but it was a dreamy day! The weather was perfect, we were surrounded by all of our friends and family and loved ones, good food, great venue! It was perfect for what we were wanting! Our honeymoon to Puerto Rico was amazing! It was so nice to just rest and relax and catch up from the past 9 months of madness! So worth it! After our honeymoon, we hit the ground running. Ted and I were in our Christmas production of It’s A Wonderful Life. Ted played George Bailey and I played Mary Hatch. It was a ton of fun but also a TON of work!! But it all paid off! The best show we’ve put on pretty much ever! October we celebrated Ted’s 25^th birthday and we SURPRISED him! It was Awesome! He has NO idea it was coming and we had a great time celebrating with some of our closest friends! November I mastered making pumpkin cakes! (More about that later) And we visited the family for Thanksgiving! December, well, December Ted and I officially celebrated 3 years together. Oh how time flies! The rest of December is far too entertaining to put at the end of this long post so it gets its own title!

But how was 2010 for you? What were some memories that you will stay with you from this year?

(Possible Pictures to come soon) :)

The Freedom of Change

Have you ever had those days where you’re looking in your closet and you say, ”Self what do you want to wear today?” And from there you have a 10-minute discussion with yourself determining what it actually is you’re in the mood to wear. Who you want to be today. I had this moment while walking around the mall last week. I haven’t been one who really focuses much on how I look or what I wear. After I went to school, I seemingly lost my sense of style and I am now trying to gain it back. So I’m walking around the mall trying to find a brown sweater...That’s really all I’m looking for...a brown sweater. Apparently, this year, brown sweaters aren’t in because I’m not finding them ANYWHERE!! I looked in all of “my stores” in the juniors’ section trying to find something that resembles what I’m looking for. Nothing. Nada. Then I decide to go to the “Ladies” section. I’m pretty insecure at first because I’m definitely not “old” enough to be considered a “lady” in my shopping. Or am I? 

It’s a hard transition going from “Juniors” to “Ladies”. It’s a complete mindset change. It goes from having the limited options of a “Junior” where the only options you have are the ones the world of fashion gives you to the limitless options of being a “Lady”. Where, as a grown individual, one has options to mix and match and pull from this and that to create who they become and not necessarily try to squeeze themselves into a box they were never meant for.  The transition time is tough and yet beautiful. That time of branching out and trying ones wings. We flutter from style to style, section to section, and we bring with it the things that we are comfortable with to make the transition easier. We take what we’ve tried to conform to, throw out the stuff that doesn’t matter and blend in what we like with what we find and eventually we find ourselves. I’m still in transition. While I was on my adventures at the mall I walked into a store I had never been to in my life. In fact, in my mind it was marked as an “Old Lady Store” that I would NEVER go to even when I got older because heaven forbid I dress older than I actually was! And even if I was that “old” I wouldn’t want anyone to know so...yeah I’ll just stay with my Juniors section because that’s where all the “Cool” clothes are! So I walk into this store and my calculations were correct...It was an “Old Lady Store”... A lot of the women in there were in their mid to upper 40’s, 50’s, and possibly even 60’s. And they had the CUTEST clothes on! I was actually a little green with envy because I want to look that good! And not just "when I'm their age I want to look that cute"...I wanna look that cute now! I looked around and realized, that the clothes were just as trendy as the “Junior” stores I go to, but they were dripping with maturity and sophistication.  It doesn’t have as much to do with style and age as it does attitude. 

I had a hilarious conversation with a friend of mine about how we both now like this store and we both had the same thoughts about it and she says, "Oh no! We’re getting old!" I’m not exactly afraid of growing up and becoming “older”, but I will probably never lose my zest for newness and freshness. I want to stay current! It’s the creative side of me that won’t let "the old" happen! I’m not exactly classy and will probably never be. It's not a box I fit in well and I'm ok with that. It's more boho chic I’d say...a free spirit. With that said, I haven’t gotten it all figured out yet, but I’m well on my way. I’m beginning to figure out that I don’t have to make a choice about who I want to be in the morning...I can wear whatever I want and know that I’m still me, because no matter what I wear or how I wear it, the ultimate point is that I wear the clothes, they don’t wear me. And because of that, I don’t have to be stuck in one box, but I’m free to float from box to box and pick and choose what I would like because no one is there to tell me I can’t.


How about you? Where are you on your journey to self discovery?

Simply Unique Inspirations

Feeling the need to start a blog for a while, I spent much of my time agonizing over what to call it. Sounds like a frivolous thing to fret about, but it did hinder me from allowing my writings to flow out. A blog helps defines a person or an organization so whatever it was had to be something that showed a bit of who I am and what I’m about. To define myself and what I’m really about is something I’ve been attempting to do for most of my life and to no avail, mind you, but I will attempt to share.


So some things about me… I am me (whoever that is). I enjoy the small things in life, a beautiful sunset, a full moon, snow on a freshly bloomed rose, a beautiful day at the beach. My love language is Surprises! I love them! In the breakdown, it’s quality time and gifts but it translates into surprises! I am not quite a caffeine addict, but I do love me some Starbucks! I believe White Chocolate Mochas are God’s heavenly kiss to me. I love Jesus with my whole heart and soul. I am an extremely creative individual. Not bragging, just a fact. I love scrapbooking and crafting. I also enjoy the stage and all things that go along with it. My favorite foods are pizza and ice cream, yet my favorite lunch spot is Moe’s. I have the world’s greatest family. We are all so different but love each other dearly. My husband is my hero. I love him so very much and I am so blessed and honored to be his wife. I am excited for all of the adventures we will do together. I love animals. Dogs and cats mostly. Though I had to leave my cat at my parents’ when we got married, I hold on the strong hope of getting my own sometime soon! :) I love to travel and hope to do so more often. Right now, my goal is to see Europe. I have many interests in lots of things and dreams and ambitions, but don’t know how they will all come together. Pretty much this is me in a nut shell. The best way to describe me is Simply Unique. Not that I’m simple to figure out, but simply put…I’m Unique. So all that to say: Welcome to Simply Unique Inspirations. My hope is that you enjoy my perspective on this journey called Life.