serene...... that is what I think of when I see this wonderful place covered in snow.

for last couple of days winter has dropped it's blanket of beauty on my side of the world.

what did I want to do today?

take a drive to the arboretum...

I knew it was going to be this lovely. no doubt in my mind that it was..... perfect, just perfect.

quiet and serene - my kind of place when my stress and anxiety levels are up 100%.

can't believe that all that planning and anticipation for a wonderful day has now come and gone.

it came and went by so fast. at least that is how it felt to me. the new year is just around the corner.

I am excited for the new year to come, but at the same time what will it bring?

will it bring happiness/joy, resolutions to some peoples problems? will it bring pain to others?

NO, I am not being a Debbie Downer, I am just being realistic. a few days before the new year comes, I always start wondering what it will bring me - me and my family.

there is still one more week of 2009 left to live.
and we will live it day by day. and I will live it wanting 2010 to be a great year for all of us.

2009 has been a crazy year for me. it's brought many blessings as well as ups and downs, but that is part of life right? ups and downs, good and bad.

so this next week, I will start preparing for the New Year.... trying to have my mind set towards the positive that it will bring. waiting for it with open arms no matter what it brings. because another year lived is a blessing.

A BLESSING FOR ALL!

shhhhhhh...... not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.....

I am off to my mother's house to celebrate this Christmas eve......

I shall be back tomorrow...

the guests came and went.... I hope they all had a fun time. everyone was so kind chocolates, cakes, food was brought to share.

we still had food left over to share with my family the next day.

we are truly blessed and for that I am grateful.

the house is now serene.

my little doll is now enjoying the twinkling of the Christmas lights against the Angie room windows.

bits and pieces of ME

here are a few pics I took this morning, I think every bit of this represents ME.

the beautiful DOLL was my Christmas gift to myself.
I work my butt off every day and gosh darny I deserve that beauty.

she now is under glass nicely decorated waiting to receive a few guests tomorrow for a small gathering.

to be honest, I am really worn out by now. I feel that if I even lay down a bit to watch TV that will be it for me. I will be down for the count.

I shouldn't of stayed up so late last night watching movies. that's what I get.

I hope you enjoy these pics of some of my most prized possessions.

hope you have a wonderful and blessed weekend.

good morning to ya....

CHRISTMAS is right around the corner.

I am off today... yay... I am sorry but I needed it.

Off and running this morning getting one of my kiddies to school, preparing dinner for a few coming to visit tomorrow....

Ham, Lasagna, Salad, WINE...... and let's not forget BREAD....

so instead of sleeping in and relaxing I need to get a move on... delivering the last few cards to the post office. not knowing if they will make it to their destination on time.

Okay y'all just wanted to remind you that Christmas is just around the corner.... need to get a move on.

have a wonderful day!

I love Holly and I wanted to share this picture I took last year. This was from my back yard in MO. I definitely want to plant some in this yard hopefully this coming year.

It's so lovely and festive for this time of year. You can bundle it up with a nice ribbon and place anywhere. I actually still have this holly but of course in it's dried up formation.

I hope you are all well..... Here is a shout out to my friend PATTI....

Hello Patti, thanks for checking in on me...

All is well just working alot like usual, but off on Friday..... YAY!

Oh and by the way if you live in my area the Wheaton Antique Market is this Sunday, 12/20...

with heart in hand....

this is me everyday and I run a risk of getting hurt everyday.

when I left gods presence many years ago and decided to come down here, did I agree to that?

Sunday again yall so I have something to ask..

have you gone through a mid life crisis...

I am in a major struggle right now. I have always been a rule follower, don' t break the rules Angie, everyone always sees a smile. lately it's been crazy. My closest friends ask me what I am feeling and I am not sure. I can't answer or maybe the truth is just very scary to me.

like Shakira says in her new song:

I AM GOING THROUGH A PHASE....I DID IT AGAIN NOW I GOT IT ALL WRONG BUT IT FELT SO RIGHT I CAN'T BELIEVE IT..... WISH THERE WAS A WAY I COULD DELETE IT... IT MAY SEEM TO ME THAT I AM IN A PLACE WHERE I AM LOOSING THE DIRECTION OF MY LIFE... BUT I AM SURE THIS IS JUST A PHASE....

DID IT AGAIN BUT I GOT IT ALL WRONG...

not a good time to be going through this with the Holiday just around the corner...
not a good time to have a good angel on one shoulder and the bad angel on the other battling between each other and me stuck in the middle.

WOW I had five days off and I swear they flew.

Where did they go? Who knows. The hubby left yesterday for two weeks. He will be in Tokyo for a week and then traveling to China.

So it's me and my boys.

Love my boys.

Yesterday we spent our day at the zoo and then we went to one of our favorite places Barnes and Noble. Got a great 2010 cal for my desk at work that looks like a vintage ledger... so cool. Then we took a detour to Pet Land to buy a few doggie Christmas gifts, off to Home Goods for some gift bags that were needed and then to McDs for some ice cream.

Then finally home for little relax time, well not really as dinner had to be made, some gifts were wrapped, washing is in the works and cards are being addressed.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Don't forget to get a move on with the decorating as Christmas is just around the corner ya'll.

I hope you are all enjoying this time of year.

PEACE

Thanksgiving came and went and it was a wonderful time with my mom and dad and a few other family members and friends.

I hope you all ate a bunch and do save yourself as Christmas is right around the corner.

Speaking of corners, here are a few other little corners decorated in my home. I found a two more vintage bottle brush trees and a cute little gold glittered santa booy that I will have to show you soon. I hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend.

the last of my fall decor

honestly this is the one and only last trace of fall decor that graces this house....

don't think I will be putting this away any time soon.
I love Fall as much as I do Spring so I would love to hold on to it a little bit longer.

long winters are kind of hard for me. of course, some winter days are beautiful and maybe this year I will try to spend a few more days outside not being scared of the cold....

I just wanted to write and wish you all a BLESSED THANKSGIVING...

have I told you recently that I am truly blessed.

GOD KNOWS my HEART!

I AM TRULY BLESSED and for that I am 100% grateful.

Peace to you

buenos dias, boys are still sleepin, I am off to work in an hour, but wanted to share that the Christmas tree is up and in front of the Angie Room Window... not decorated yet, but in the window waiting.

hey all I went to bath and body and you need to try the FIRESIDE candle oh my gosh it smells delightful when lit an also their new product called TWILIGHT WOODS you need to run and get some seriously.

okay I will write more soon since I work this past Saturday it was definitely a very short weekend for me, but I am off from Wed to Sunday 5 DAYS.... I am blessed.

oh and Patti if you are reading I went to see the FOURTH KIND now that was a good....

Peace

twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder where you are.

I have three of these sparkly stars, but to be honest not sure where I am going to put them.

a bit more

so this Sat for the first time in a while I did not have to run to work or have to be at any soccer games.

what were we to do with all our free time.

well this is what I did, other then just the usual cleaning, I got to do a bit more decorating.

this Santa is my fav. I got that in MO years ago.

this cute tree was a Hallmark buy many years ago as well. it's one of my favs as I always take it out and place it in a special place. it has little silver bells attached so when a little bit of wind hits it you can hear them jingle.

the holly wreath bought in Old St. Charles, MO at the Flower Petlar, if you ever are in MO you need to go there. they have wonderful wreaths.

well that is a bit more I wanted to share. it's all coming out slowly.

stay tuned for more.

soccer season comes to end

outdoor soccer if finally over for my two boys, but the saga continues.

Indoor soccer, yes, indoor soccer.

Thank God that my older child has a break of soccer till January.

The Wheaton Antique market is today, I am going to try and run to go for just an hour as I have to go to Indiana and see my mother in law this morning.

Look at this wonderful farm I spied with my little eye in St. Charles, IL.
BEAUTIFUL...

Well by looking at the clock here it's 7:25 and I am still in my p.j.s and all is quiet upstairs.. I think the anqtique market will have to wait till next month.

corners decorated in my home

so when I was on my way home from work on Friday, I got a second wind and I started pulling boxes out of storage... as I was oohing and aahing and thinking oh my I forgot I had that my smart ass husband always has to make some kind of comment and this is how it went.....

Angie, YOU don't have to go to the flea or Home Goods to go buy any more decorations just invite your cousin over and both of you can go shopping in our garage... I, of course, just ignore him and continue unpacking, unwrapping, and running all over the house looking for the right place for the right piece.

So here are a few of the decorations I put up this Sat. I love decorating the edges of mirrors or door handles.

well I am off to work tomorrow. the decorating will continue as I have my dinner table upstairs full of stuff that needs a special place. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and come by to see more soon.

okay so I know Halloween was just this past weekend and I am totally jumping over Thanksgiving, but last year all my Christmas decor was in boxes.

so what am I getting at, well since I was off this past Friday, I started digging through my Christmas stuff and already started decorating.

I know I am getting way ahead of myself and by the time the holiday comes around I might be bored, but I am so excited to start putting all my stuff out. so here is a little sneak peak.

I also forgot to mention that I snuck away to the Kane County flea where I found a bunch of dried berries from a few vendors. I did not buy much as I am really waiting to see what the next few flea markets around town will have available for Christmas...

I am just really excited for this Holiday to come soon.

No, I am not excited about the cold weather and snow and ice, but this year I have decided that I will go all out with my decorations. Why save it for next year....

Are you SCARED?

fun was had by all last night on Halloween. our two nephews joined us for a fun filled night.

last year we trick or treated in the south side of Chicago, but this year my boys wanted to stay in our area.

We have been in our house now for 11 months today so I can understand why they wanted to just hang around here.

candy was collected, little people were tired.

it ended by going back to our house for pizza and candy and pop. they played till they wiped out around 11:00.

oh and yes they were up bright and early this morning.

hope you had a very ghoulish night like we did.

it's a bit eeeery

here are a few pics I took at
a ghoulish night they had at Naper Settlement.

our little family went and we had a great time, except for my 8 yr old that kept saying he wanted to go home and go to sleep....

Thanks Patti for the suggestion we had a great time and hopefully this will become our little family Halloween tradition every year to come.