I'll Be Home for Christmas

Henderson and I will be spending Christmas day in Texas, just the two of us.  As hard as it is to be away from family during a special time, we're excited about our first Christmas together!  His parents and sister are coming a couple days after Christmas and staying for several days, and I'm going to Mississippi right before Christmas to hang out with my family.

Since we have family coming in, we did do some decorating.  But because it's our first Christmas and we had to start from scratch, we tried not to go completely overboard (as in spend a ton of money.  I'd rather spend it on presents!)

Here's a few things we've done so far.  I still have to get a few items from my mom and grandmother when I go home, and our mantle isn't installed yet (don't worry, I'll have those pictures plastered over every social media site available!) so no stockings hung by the fire.

After lighting the tree, Henderson topped the tree with our new angel topper.  I got her at Belk for $10! Score!  She's not lit, so we had to make sure we had enough lights at the top of the tree.

All of our wedding ornaments, clockwise from top left: cowbell from the wedding, wedding cake ornament from Mrs. Annette, ornament from Kathy Bailey, our invitation made by Aubrey and Mary Beth Caldwell.

All done and lit!  I wish it had twice the amount of lights, but it was a hassle lighting a real Christmas tree for the first time.  Maybe next year I'll have the hang of it!  

These are the dogs stockings I ordered from Etsy.  I'm in absolute love with them!  I ended up buying Henderson and my stockings from Belk for $7.50.  Ran out of time and everything I liked was ridiculously expensive.  

Here's my china cabinet filled with my Lenox Holiday China and my AnnieGlass pieces.  The garland will be used on the mantle.

Here is Henderson being all Clark Griswold hanging the lights on the outside of the house.  Love him!

We bought this live wreath on our expedition to Canton to hang over our mantle.  Unfortunately, since we haven't had a mantle, we didn't even think about this 4 foot monstrosity being a little large.  So, I found 900 feet of this Stewart plaid ribbon (it's all over our house now) and we hung it on the front of the house.  

Here it is in the light of day.

I bought this beautiful burlap ribbon wreath to go on the front door, but I decided I liked it better on our fireplace.  So, I ran to Lowe's, found this wreath, and added some ribbon.  

I wanted to do small lit trees on either side of the door, but since I already had these two items inside, I just used them.  I got the gold, lit branches from Bed, Bath & Beyond.  All the other filler came from Hobby Lobby.  Henderson's mom bought me one of the metal vases for my birthday.  They go perfectly with our red door!

Here it is in the dark.  

Love, love!  The spotlight automatically turns off at dawn and comes on at dusk, so every night I get to come home to it already on.  The flash on my iPhone isn't great, but you get the idea.

I can't wait to get the rest of the decorations and celebrate our first Christmas together!  

Saturdate - Canton, Texas

Last Saturday, Henderson and I woke up bright and early and headed to Canton, Texas, for their monthly First Monday Trade Days.

Henderson rented a cart and then proceeded to carry it all day long.  I wish I would've gotten a picture with it loaded down!  We couldn't even grab the handle at the end of the day!

This is our brand spanking new cedar mantle!  We are getting it installed in the next couple of weeks.  Henderson told the contractor that it had to be up before Christmas or I wouldn't have anywhere to put our stockings!  :) 

After looking at junk the trade days for 3.5 hours, we decided we had seen everything and went tree hunting!  This is my first year to have a real tree; Henderson's family always had a real tree and we decided to continue this tradition.  It was sooo much fun to go.  We went to a Christmas tree farm in Canton; not only did they have trees, they had live garland and wreaths as well!

We found her!!  She's 8 feet tall and about 4 feet wide at the base.  We are in love...

I had to get a picture with Henderson's truck loaded down.  I wish I had taken a picture of his back seat; it was full of wreaths, garland, and lots and lots of items from the trade days.

We had such a great day.  I'm hoping this will become an annual tradition.  I love going and exploring Texas with my favorite person.  And, if we get to come home with lots of goodies, that makes it even better!

The Fam came for Thanksgiving!

Cheyenne and Mama came to Texas the Friday before Thanksgiving and stayed until early Wednesday morning.  We had an absolute blast while they were here!  We were able to get some shopping done, some turkey eaten, and some fabulous girl time!  Henderson worked Monday and Tuesday while they were here, but Saturday we hauled him with us to the Galleria to do a little shopping.  He was not happy, so we rewarded him with a trip to Cabela's!

On Sunday, we celebrated Thanksgiving by taking a walk to the nearby lake, having lots of fun cooking, and enjoying each other's company.

Henderson and Kate watching the ducks.

In the kitchen

While they were here, our new dishwasher was delivered and Henderson installed it!  I'm in love.  It's so quiet, the only way you know it's on is by a light that shines on the floor!

Monday, we went into Dallas and toured the Dallas Arboretum, did a little more shopping, and headed to the Farmer's Market.  Tuesday was a fun day of exploring the smaller areas around our home.

It was so great to have them here to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be Thankful for!

Fine China Friday

We have instituted a fun Friday night tradition at the King house: Fine China Friday.  I was looking for a reason to use our beautiful fine china on a more regular basis.  If you've ever met me, you know I have a mild obsession with dishes.  Right now, we own four sets of china.  So, since we don't have family over a lot, we decided to use our nicer things on Friday nights.  This won't necessarily be a weekly thing, but so far we've done it four weeks in a row!  Here's what we've been making:

Our first fine china Friday, I made Pioneer Woman's Spinach and Artichoke Pasta.  I cooked some shrimp to have - we have to have meat at every meal here!  We got to use our Lenox Opal Innocence for the first time, and a couple of the AnnieGlass pieces.  

We made steaks during this Fine China Friday.

The next week, we made Confetti Chicken.  It took up every eye on our stove, but it was worth it!  After this Fine China Friday, we headed to the local drive-in and watched "Argo."  So fun to have a drive-in right up the road!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since my daily thankful posts didn't go so well, here's what I'm thankful for this year:

My hard-working husband.  The three sweet dogs that are snoring in my ear right now.  Our new home (but being a home-owner is hard, y'all!).  The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  A job that allows me to take off the whole week of Thanksgiving.  My girl-time with Mama and Cheyenne this week.  My grandmothers.  Target and Chick-fil-a Saturdays.  New friendships.  Old friendships.  My love of cooking (wish I could love cleaning a little more).  The men and women who are sacrificing time with their families today to protect us.  National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Coca-Cola.  My family's health.  My gigantic up-right freezer which will be more full after this weekend's planned freezer stuffing festivities.  The fact that we have not had to buy a single piece of furniture for our new home, thanks to wonderful family.  DVR.

I hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends.  Henderson and I are cooking up a Thanksgiving feast for the two of us.  Can't wait!

A Month of Giving Thanks - Day 3

Today, I'm thankful for handwritten recipes from family.  I was feeling a little homesick today and decided to make Mawmaw's potato soup.  She gifted me a recipe book full of her handwritten recipes.  It make our house smell like Mississippi!

A Month of Giving Thanks - Day 2

I thought it was only appropriate since Henderson is on a call right now that today I'm thankful for Henderson's job.  He gets to do something he absolutely loves every day.  I'm so proud of all of the hard work he put into the last eight years to get where he is today.  His job brought us to the DFW area and we are loving it!

A Month of Giving Thanks - Day 1

I thought that since November is the month of Thanksgiving, it would be appropriate to spend the month writing down a different item a day I am thankful for.  Sometimes, I feel like I get bogged down in the "negatives" and all it takes is saying "Thanks" for me to realize how blessed I am.  Here goes nothing -

November 1, 2012
I am so thankful for my job.  This week has been long and, at times, frustrating.  But I work with an amazing team.  I'm challenged pretty much daily (no such thing as being bored!)  and since I've transferred to Dallas I've learned more about the oil and gas industry than I ever thought possible.  I'm so thankful that I have the ability and the education to be able to work and help provide for us.  And 5 weeks of vacation don't hurt!

What are you thankful for?

Happy Fall, Y'all!

I'd been wanting to do something to our front porch stoop to make it a little more welcoming and "fallish." After searching for some inspiration on Pinterest and at Lowe's and Home Depot, I decided to buy planters and put different plants in them.  Here's how they turned out!  I had the idea, and told Henderson where to put things, ha!  I found the wreath at a gift shop here in Ennis.  I wish it was a little lower on the door, but the hanger holding it is the only one I could find at Walmart.  I'll work on getting another one soon!  

I hope the trick-or-treaters like it!

Saturdate - Farmer's Market and State Fair of TX

Yesterday, we headed into Dallas to the Farmer's Market - one of our favorite stops in the big city.  I cannot explain to you how overwhelming this place is.  We always end up with lots of fresh produce.  Here are some pictures showing how great this farmer's market is.  

One of my favorite pictures.

These pumpkins were about $130 each...we did not get one of these.

After buying enough fruits and veggies to last us two weeks, we headed to the State Fair of Texas!  Sad to say, but this place reminded me of Disney World!

They had a tram that picked you up in each parking area.  There are 15 lots with a total of 20,000 parking spots.  We parked in the very last lot.  This place was hopping!

We had to get a corny dog from Fletcher's - a State Fair of Texas tradition, apparently!

We headed to the petting/livestock area where we learned that pigs are the fourth smartest animals in the world!  I had to have my picture taken with this sign.  

We also met this monstrosity...info about this hog in the next picture...

Then we headed for the Ferris Wheel (which was $7 each to ride!  I about had a heart attack!  Oh, btw, you had to pay for everything with "coupons" kind of like tickets.  Even food.  This was really annoying because I felt like we were always standing in line to get tickets.)

Up...

Up...

And away!

Next, we hung out in the beer garden.  Yes, you read that right.  They also had a wine garden, but 85 degree weather and fried foods didn't make drinking wine that appealing.

We hit up the automobile building...this truck is one year model older than Mimi's!

Finally, we paid homage to Big Tex.  Here you can see where flowers were laid in his memory.  

If you haven't heard of the Big Tex tragedy (what are you living under a rock??), you can click here.  Sad, sad day in Dallas, Texas.  However, I heard they're already planning on a better Big Tex for next year's fair!

We ended the night with some cajun food at Alligator Cafe.  Delish!

Such a fun day, but we were absolutely exhausted!!  I'm already planning our next Saturdate!

Homeowners!

Lots of changes have happened in the King house this month, including a new house!  Henderson and I closed on our very first house September 28 and we haven't relaxed since!  Luckily, we've had great family members come and help us through this transition (more on that later).  In the mean time, here is our new home!  These are the photos that the seller's agent made.  I'm hoping to do a few posts on the different rooms in the home showing photos before we moved in, photos after we moved in, and what changes we plan to make in that particular room.  

Without further ado, here she is!

 I have to say, we have already done some changes with the landscaping and we have plans for lot more!

 Planning on painting the trim a different color and soon!  Any ideas??

 Screened in back porch - one of my favorite things about our new home!

 Yes, that is a wet bar.  Be jealous.

 Living room going out to the screened in porch.

 Love the windows across the back!

We have so many ideas of things we want to change/improve and can't wait to get started on our starter home!  We feel like this is the perfect place to plant our feet now!

Now, when are you coming to visit??