2012- A Look Back

2012 was a great year.  It wasn't filled with major life transitions or monumental events, but it was filled with the people I love.  

January: We went to 12 straight nights of Code Orange Revival at church and it was an amazing way to start the new year.

February: We celebrated Love Week at church.

March: We went to the NeedtoBreathe concert.

April: We traveled to Atlanta for a few days during Spring Break.

May: We traveled a lot.  We went to Wilmington for my sister's graduation and then to Edisto for Brandon's cousin's wedding.

June: We went to San Diego and I volunteered at Camp 658 with some amazing kids.  Oh yeah, and Brandon broke his ankle.

July: I watched one of my closest friends get married. We celebrated the Olympics and were glued to the t.v. for the next month.

August: We celebrated our second wedding anniversary!  Oh and school started back.

September: We went to Myrtle Beach for Labor Day and my cousin got married.

October: We went to Raleigh for our annual Wolfpack football game and we got tickets to the Panthers game that same weekend.  Brandon began traveling for work and was in Florida for two weeks, so I went to visit!

November: We ran the Color Run!

December:  We went to the Panthers game, celebrated Christmas, and prepared to ring in the new year.  

                           Bring it on 2013!!  I know it will be great!!!

December Cara Box Reveal

Okay, it's that time for the Cara Box reveal over at Wifessionals!  This month's theme was "Holiday Sparkle".  So fun!  This month was a little different because you did not swap with the person who sent you your box.  You had one person send to you and a different girl to send a box to.  That way you get to know two amazing women!  I had the pleasure of sending my box to Nicole and this month the lovely Katy was my sender.  She sent me such a cute and thoughtful box.  I loved it!  Both of their blogs are adorable and you should go check them out.  Katy sent me such a thoughtful box and it truly brightened my holiday spirit.  Here are the cute goodies she sent. Thanks Katy!!

 

Christmas Recap

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas yesterday.  I know we sure did.  It started Christmas Eve when we spent the afternoon with my Grandma.  She has Alzheimer's and we were blessed to be able to spend the afternoon with her at her assisted living center.  Following lunch with her, we headed to Christmas Eve service at church.  This year's theme was Timeless Christmas.  The message of salvation was preached and after the weekend was done over 2200 people proclaimed new life in Christ!!  Glory!! The service was amazing and the message was timeless.  They also did this really amazing video involving a piano which you can see HERE. 

 We woke up Christmas morning and shared our traditional breakfast just the two of us.  Brandon always makes his famous french toast, which almost didn't happen this year because at 11:00 Christmas Eve I realized we didn't have any syrup,but being the loving husband that he is, Brandon ran out to the only store that was open (Walgreens) and bought some syrup.  Love him!  Anyways, so we had our delicious french toast breakfast and then it was on to our presents.  We always swap gifts Christmas morning before heading to our families' houses for lunch and dinner.  This year, Brandon was way too good to me.  Y'all!  I got a Canon T3i!!!  I'm so pumped.  It is intimidating because I know nothing about photography, but I am eager to learn.  I also got tickets to see the Lion King when it comes to town, which happens to be the night before our anniversary, how perfect is that?!  He seriously is the best!  I made Brandon do a scavenger hunt around the house to find his big Christmas gift and he finally found out that we are going to see Jeff Dunham's comedy show in a few weeks!  Of course we couldn't leave out of furbabies and they each got some fun treats as well.   

Sheldon Cooper Quote mug, we are huge Big Bang Theory Fans

After Christmas morning, we headed to Brandon's mom's house for lunch.  We got some pretty sweet gifts there as well, including a new Keurig!  Also, I get to go see Wiked!!!!!  Tickets to see two shows!  2013 is going to be the best.  Following lunch, we went to my parents' house for our annual steak dinner.  I got lots of clothes and oh yeah, my mom got me tickets to see Taylor Swift, who is in concert the night before my birthday!!  Seriously 2013 is the year of shows. 
 

Christmas was an amazing time to spend time with family and to receive lots of fun gifts, but the most amazing gift of all was sent by way of our Heavenly Father.  Time stood still as a little baby cried in a manger and it was announced that our Savior had come.  I am so thankful that Christ was born and that He died to redeem us.  What an amazing Christmas gift!!

Insta-Christmas

This is just a look around our house and at all the holiday decorations!  We love decorating for Christmas, but I refuse to put anything up before Thanksgiving.  So, the weekend after Thanksgiving it was an all go!  All the lights, sparkle, and warmth are so fun!  I finally caved this year and let Brandon have a SMALL blowup for the front yard.  What have I done??!!  Anyways, here you go Christmas at the Brown's via Instagram!
 

 

On another note, this is our Christmas card photo and I think it's super adorable!  I love my little family!

 

This is Awesome

I just had to share what Brandon got me for Valentine's Day.  Yes it's awesome, my second husband.  Hubert husband to be exact.

True Love is...

Happy Valentine's Day friends.  I hope it is a day filled with true love.  True love is not a puppy dog kind of love, it's a beautiful mess and the journey is full of twists and turns.  Ultimately true love is unconditional and bears the good and the bad.  

True love is not getting upset when my mascara ruins your t-shirt when I cry.  It's not hesitating to take care of me when I am terribly sick (including the snot and everything else gross that comes with it).  True love is telling me I'm beautiful when I don't feel it in the slightest.  It's praying for each other in times of need.  It's arguing and then him making me smile when I'm trying my hardest to be mad.  It's laying in bed at night and just talking in the dark.  True love is realizing your partner's faults and loving him anyways.  It's pulling out your partner's potential in everything they do.  

It's encouragement.  It's joy.  It's frustration.  It's laughter.  It's loving so hard it hurts.  No, it's not perfect, but it's beautiful all the same.  Happy Valentine's Day.

    

Top Eleven in Twenty Eleven

I cannot believe we are already saying Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012.  This past year feels like a blur, but it was full of so many amazing moments and true blessings with a spattering of some unavoidable low points.  We embarked on the journey of homeownership, adopted a new little one, celebrated one another's successes and comforted each other in the hardships.  We have met many new people and have worked through the exit of others.  We have grown up in many ways while still finding time to play.  We grew closer in our marriage and learned more about one another.  We examined the past and planned for the future all while holding close to each other.

I think at the end of the year it is important to reflect on the last 365 days in order to prepare for the next 365, both the good and the bad.  I am a firm believer that our past moments are stepping stones for the future.  Even though I recognize and learn from the low moments, I like to focus on the best moments and carry that joy into the new year.  When you truly realize the amount of blessings in your life your complaints slowly diminish.  So here we go, my top eleven moments of 2011 (in no particular order).

What are some of your favorite memories from 2011?

Also, don't forget to join us for the 21 Day Challenge to bring in the New Year!  "Sign up" by Dec. 31 to participate!

Merry Christmas

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

 

Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

DIY Deco Mesh Wreath

 So, as promised in my last post, we finished our wreath!  We bought the basic green wreath from Michaels for a low price of $12.50.  What a steal!  In order to spruce it up a bit we decided to go for the deco poly-mesh.  It is really popular right now and makes a fun and easy DIY project.  

Here's what you need:

• 1 wreath- we bought a large one to go over our mantle.  It has full greenery around it, but you can just buy a frame or one with less greenery

• 1 roll of Deco Poly-Mesh- we bought ours at a local Christmas shop for about $11.  It is red with metallic silver thread through it

That's it!  

Instructions:

1. Start on the outer ring of the wreath.  Pull out a little of the mesh roll, DON'T CUT!  use the greenery on your wreath to secure the end of the mesh.  Simply twist (like a twisty tie) two "branches" of greenery together around the end of the mesh to tie down.  

2. Gather the mesh together/pinch about 6-8 inches down to make a poof and secure with branches again.  

3. Continue to gather these poofs and secure them around the outer edge of the wreath.  

4. When you reach the starting point move to the inner ring of the wreath frame.  Try to position these poofs so that they are between the poofs on the outer ring.  This eliminates whole/gaps in the mesh on the two rings.

5. When you reach the end cut the mesh and twist tie the end down.  

6 TA-DA!  You have a beautiful wreath!  Ours only cost us about $25.

Fa La La La La

We are officially 5 days from Christmas, people, FIVE days.  I can't believe it.  We have been so busy with work and other things that Christmas has snuck up on us a bit this year.   We did decorate our house a few weeks ago.  It was so much fun!  We bought our house in March and this made our house feel new all over again.  I love building a home with Brandon and actually getting to decorate this year.  We put lights outside and of course decorated our tree.  We actually have a mantle this year, so we made the garland to go on top and got to hang our stockings over the fireplace.  We also bought a large wreath at Michael's for 50% off.  We plan to add poly-mesh to it.  It's still a work in progress and I plan on hitting the after-Christmas sales to add to our decoration collection.  Here are some of our decorations.

Poor Piper's stocking is taped to the mantle because it is impossible to find a dog stocking hanger.

On another note, we have also done some other fun Christmas-y things.  My sister and I baked our first batch of Christmas cookies, chocolate cookies with mint M&Ms.  We also had the amazing opportunity to give back this holiday season.  With our E-group at church we adopted a family through an organization called Hope Match.  We went to Target to go shopping together for our sweet family.  We were able to spend $100 on each person and give the family a $100 gift card.  I know they will be blessed through this just as much as we were as we did it.  

 

 What kinds of fun things have you all been doing this Christmas season?