2010 Year in Review

I am not going to be able to do any blogging for the next couple of days, so I thought I would do my year end post today at work.  It's maintenance week here, and I don't have anything better to do!  Warning: Lots of pictures ahead.  :)

So here is a list of the main things that I did during this year (in mostly chronological order):
- I bought a house.  (and emptied my savings account...)
                                      
- Went to Oaklawn twice.  pretty sure I didn't win, but the point is to have fun right?  See the man in the purple had and fur coat that Lyndsey is pointing at?  I think he looks like Flava Flav. haha.  The people watching there is the best.

                                  

- Went to Guadalajara for 9 days with the IBUS class.  Got sick in Mexico- who hasn't??  This picture is of me and a giant agave plant, which is used to make tequila.  This was my favorite field trip.  After this, we went to the Jose Cuervo plant.  It was awesome.
                                  
- Joined jasmere- which I love and I am a "SuperFan."
- Baby brother was born.
- Went to a few Travelers baseball games.  Got several sunburns.  :)
                                  
- Went to 2 Razorback football games.  Woo pig!  Wish I was going to the Sugar Bowl to cheer them on!
                                  
- Donated my hair for the 3rd time.  This is an after pic.  See how long it is in the Mexico picture??
                                        
- Went to the Greek Food Festival.  Bought more cookies and baklava than I should have.
- Liza and Lisa threw me a house warming party.
                                  
- Went to Elizabeth and Adam's wedding.  This is me and Desi at the wedding.  p.s. It was hot!!
                                  
- Went to Memphis with some friends.
                                  
- Went to the Lake of the Ozarks with the family.
- Started volunteering with Stone Soup.
- Started doing the EDGE for the 5th and 6th graders on Wednesday nights at church.  Here we are playing a game.
                                  
- Went to Nashville for the first time for Laura's bachelorette party.
                                   
- Went to Kansas City and stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge.
                                   
- Had an overhead light put in my living room.  yay!  we can finally see!
- Went to Laura and Hal's wedding.
                                    
- Did Race for the Cure with my mom, who is a survivor!
                                  
- Hosted the Sunday School class Halloween Party at my house.  Here we have a nerd, Little Red Riding Hood, and a pirate.
                                  
- Went to Branson with some of the girls.
                                  
- Went to see Wicked!
                                  
- Started job hunting.
- Went to that dreaded speed mixer.
- Went to the Christmas Frolic at the Historic Arkansas Museum.
- Attended my first ever ugly sweater party.
                                  
- Was Mother Mary in the Living Nativity.
- I graduated!
                                         
- Got my sorority pin made into a ring- almost 4 years later.  :)
                                         
- Went to Mississippi to see some relatives.

That's my year in review.  I am looking forward to the good things to come in 2011!

Sally's giveaway

Sally is doing a giveaway of the game Telestrations.  It looks like a really fun game!  Go check it out!

Another Christmas Post

So I've been slowly taking down my Christmas decorations.  This one is one of my favorites.  I have been making a Christmas tree with my Christmas cards as they came in.  There were some times when I was not really sure if it was going to look like a tree, but somehow it all came together.  They are more or less in the same order that they came in the mail, with a few exceptions to try to balance out the sides.  What do you think?

Christmas Events

I really wish we had just one more day off of work for Christmas!  I have been very busy.  Thursday I went to my grandad's house and we had a chili lunch.  I managed to come home with an extremely ugly orange chair and about 15 fake plants.  How did I get so lucky?  That was not my present, but just that he wanted them out of the house.  I have found a use for most of the plants (some went in the trash) and I am trying to donate the chair. 

Friday, we had Christmas with my mom.  I got lots of presents, including a coffee pot, so now I know how to make coffee.  It's about time haha.  I also got some new sheets so that I can now have a matching set.  My old ones got a huge hole in the bottom sheet not very long after I got them.  I was so mad, but my grandmother made it into pillowcases, so at least it was not a waste.  I tried to make some wreaths out of butter, marshmallows, and corn flakes- but unfortunately they didn't turn out right and looked like slime balls.  haha- but at least they tasted good!!  I got lots of other stuff too!  I only had to take back one dress that did not fit.

I spent the night at my dad's house Christmas Eve because I was concerned about the weather since I live on a very steep hill.  I ended up wrapping presents until about midnight for my dad and stepmom(can you say last minute?).  I didn't sleep much because I was so excited for Santa to come.  Just kidding- I was actually getting sick and I couldn't breathe and had to get up every 5 minutes to blow my nose.  We didn't get up to do presents until about 7.  My sister got a paper jamz guitar and I just have to say that I am glad I don't live there.  It was annoying me, and I was only there one day.  :)

Then we went over for lunch to my grandmother's house for lunch at 1, that actually ended up as lunch at 2.  I got more good stuff there.  I got one shirt that was too short, and I took it back today on my lunch break and got a glass drink dispenser (so now I need to have people over to use it) and a pie plate from Dillards.  And I also happened to stop into Bath and Body Works since it is next to Dillards, and I got a lot of stuff there too!  They had the Christmas scented hand soaps on sale for $1.25!! I was so excited because I love the peppermint scent!

Today at work starts our week of maintenance, and I am so bored.   Everyone else in my office has used vacation time for today because it is so boring.  At least I am off Thursday and Friday!

What's New?

I was just sitting here wondering if I have done anything new to blog about.... oh yeah- I graduated.  haha.  I graduated on Thursday night with my MBA, so it is now ok for you to call me Master Jessica.  kidding- maybe.

That's me after the big event.  It was really freaking cold out and between 3 cameras we managed to have only one with enough battery left to take 4 pictures.  You can tell my family loves me.  :)

So now my life is not so crazy, as all the church events that I am involved with are on a break, school is DONE, and my Christmas shopping is done.

Saturday my sister and I went to this Christmas event at a church close to my house that had ice skating, roller skating, marshmallow toasting, and carriage rides, and alot more.  The ice skating was weird because it was not actually ice, but some kind of floor (it was outside) that they put up that was not even cold!  The roller skating was a mad house because it was inside where it was not so cold!

I finished up my Christmas shopping, and now I have everything wrapped except for one thing that I ordered on etsy, which I am still waiting on.

I am super excited to have Thursday and Friday off!

Full Weekend

Friday night was my Sunday School class Christmas Party.  You have already seen my glittery outfit for that occasion. haha.  I made a mandarin almond salad that was way more trouble than it was worth.  I even melted a spoon when I was making it.

Saturday was very busy.  First I babysat my littlest brother and sister while a Christmas tree was bought and assembled for their house.  Then the sister and I went for a short trip of delivering fundraiser items that had just come in.  I got some really cute cupcake wrapping paper- well, actually I got 2 rolls of that paper because my mom unknowingly bought me the same paper from another kid.  Then we went to the most awesome place ever for lunch- McDonalds PlayPlace. Ha- That place drives me crazy but it is free entertainment at its finest!  Then we did some shopping for some goody bags for my Wednesday night 5th and 6th graders since tonight is our Christmas party.  The bags are super cute, but I forgot to take a picture of them.  Too bad all that cuteness will be wasted on kids who really only want the candy inside.  :)  Then we went to see the move Tangled in 3D.  It was very cute!  Normally I don't care for 3D movies since they hurt my eyes with too much running around, but this time it seemed to be ok.  Both of us liked the movie, and the movie theater was PACKED.  Then we went home and played SSX Tricky on XBOX which is leftover from when my oldest little brother was little.  The poor game is almost worn out.  It is a snowboarding game, and it is not too bad.  My sister would play it for hours on end if we let her.  Then we tried to make cookies, but I didn't have any eggs, so we had to run to Target.  By the time we got home, there wasn't enough time to make the cookies, so we just had dinner and I took her home.  After I dropped her off, I had to make the cookies myself to take to church the next day.

Sunday I played handbells and flute in our two traditional services at church.  I don't think it went too badly.  there was one song that was pretty bad in the 2nd service, but overall I think it was ok.  Then I went to eat lunch with my mom and grandma at Chilis.  Then Sunday afternoon was my church's Christmas kids event, called Cookies and Milk.  I had to be Mary with my littlest brother as baby Jesus in the Live Nativity.  Basically we just sat there for 2 hours and let people look at us.  :)  The event was very well attended and there were lots of fun activities such as ornament making, cookie decorating, and even real horse drawn carriage rides.

Monday night my bell choir played at an assisted living center for the residents.  It was not our best performance, but hopefully they enjoyed it.  The facility was much nicer than I was expecting.

I am still fighting off some kind of sickness, but it seems to be going away.  Hopefully I will be 100% before Christmas!

Season of Giving

Two posts in one day???  I am super blogger!!  :)

So today while I was catching up on some blogs that I follow, I went to the Cake Wrecks website.  I love this blog and it almost always brings a smile to my face.  They are doing a thing from now until Christmas where they are highlighting a different charity each day and asking everyone to give $1 to that charity.  Now, I don't have a lot to give this year, but I can certainly swing a dollar.  You don't have to give every day- just to the ones that you decide to support.  If you are looking for somewhere to help out this year, check out the Cake Wrecks website.  Some entertainment and some giving!  Today's charity is Give Kids the World.

Because I like to laugh at myself...

As promised, here is my award winning  super awesome outfit from my Sunday School Christmas party on Friday night.  Laugh all you want.  :)

What could be better than a gold and silver sequined "Oh Christmas Tree" shirt?  Not much my friends.  haha.

Aren't you glad you are my friend?

So tonight is my SS class Christmas party, and we are doing it as an ugly Christmas sweater party.  I am super excited about my outfit.  I have an ugly sweater that was dug up out of my mom's closet, my gold skirt from senior year of high school, and I'm trying to hunt down some awesome shoes.  Let's just say it is ridiculous.... and I'm sure you will laugh.  I'll try to get a picture to show you!

Last exam!

Tonight is my last exam for my MBA!  The test is online and we can take it whenever, but I am not sure if it closes today or tomorrow, so I am going to take it tonight just in case.  The first two were not that bad, so I am expecting more of the same.  I haven't studied yet, but it is an open notes test so I think I will be ok.  I have an A already in the class, so hopefully I can just keep it that way!  I'm pretty sure it is not going to keep me from graduating next week either way!

In other news, I went shopping on Tuesday night and got a fabulous new dress and shoes to wear to church on Sunday for the handbells performance.  I figured if everyone is going to be looking at me in the front of the church, I deserved some new clothes.  :)

Weekend- Better late than never

I have had a busy few days!  Friday night we celebrated Christmas with Aunt Speedy since she had to go back home to Missouri.  Then on Saturday we left to take her to Branson at 6 am (!!!) where someone else would meet us to take her the rest of the way home.  The plan was to do some shopping, but there were about 500 million people there so we decided to just eat lunch and then head on home.  I got pretty car sick and didn't do much on Saturday night other than cook some spaghetti and watch the last half of the Auburn-South Carolina game.  I couldn't even think about riding in a car for a nice long while.  :) 

Sunday was the craziest day by far!  I was in charge of my Sunday School class lesson, and then after church we moved the handbells to get ready for our performance.  Then my sister and I grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to the Christmas Frolic at the Historic Arkansas Museum.  We had a fun time looking at the exhibits and playing tug-of-war.  I am not very good at walking on stilts, in case you were curious.  haha.  Then we had to hurry back for my handbells practice before the church potluck, where the handbells played a bunch of songs and I even played the flute with them.

This is also a busy week with some big things happening- like taking my last test ever for my MBA.  Woo-hoo!  I will be done on Thursday, and graduation is next Thursday.  Can't wait!