My top 20 memories of 2009....

20.Moving my kitty cats from inside to outside for good. This necessity broke my heart.

19. Attending my first boat parade.

18. Discovering the recipe for our new favorite dessert, Blueberry Apple Cobbler.

17. After watching Julie vs. Julia, ditching the Country Crock and cooking with "real" butter.
16. Seeing the lights at Bellingrath Gardens.
15. Going to see Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time.

14. Eating oysters. Yes, they were raw the first time. :)

13. One disaster after another at our 99 year old house when we were trying to sell it. Yippie!
12. Learning how to re-plumb a toliet.
11. 10, 000, 000 mosquitoes covering my body and Wes' at Crater Lake.

10. Discovering Mignon Faget.

09. My first Mardi Gras parade, The Bacchus Parade.

08. Being close enough to touch a baby sea lion on a beach on the Oregon Coast.

07. Going to the Grand Ole Opry.

06. Lounging by a pool that I own!!!!

05. Getting a job at a wonderful school with a fantastic, established library program.

04. Meeting the awesome people that work at that school that I now call my FRIENDS!

03. Living 5 miles from the J. Crew outlet and the BEACH!

02. Going to the Jewel concert with my sisters and mom.

and finally.....

01. The grandness and stillness of the Redwood Forrest.

2009 was a great year that blessed Wes and I with many things. I am welcoming 2010 with open arms, and I am hoping that you are doing the same.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dear Santa,

Thank you so much for my gifts. I am, especially, thankful that you brought them a few nights early so that I could look H.O.T. while taking photos of the fam and snacking on some popcorn. I love, love, love all of my gifts. You might want to know in the future that worms are harder to tame, than you might think at first. They are like prisoners just waiting to escape, and they are good at it. ;)

I am looking forward to hearing from you again next year. Keep checking out those fashion magazines. You are doing a great job!

(Back story: Santa brought me wormery this year. I was sooo happy because you all know I am into recycling and such. Now, I can make my own compost. That is if all the worms don't escape.)

Here are a few photos for you to share with Mrs. Claus.

Much love,

Brooke

I'm dreaming of a....

Morehead Christmas.

Oh, what fun it is to open PRESENTS!

Holidazzzz

Boy, oh, boy aren't the Christmas holidays GREAT!! So far, I have gone to bed early, slept late, eaten a lot of sweets,  and at this very moment, my husband is out shopping for me! This is living the dream! : )

Beginning with Halloween, I truely do love the holiday season. I enjoy decorating, cooking, parties, presents, and giving. This year, however, I really haven't been in the "holiday mood." It is probably because of all the new things in my life right now. No worries, this rest and relaxtion is getting me in the spirit pretty fast. If you did not get a Christmas card from Wes and I this year, don't fret, I did not send any cards. I am so sad about this, but there just never seemed to be time to get them together. Don't worry, I will not miss sending them next year.

Of course, the holidays mean hitting the road for Wes and I. This year we will be spending Christmas with the Moreheads and the New Year with the Ramages. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up.

I have a pretty good hunch that Santa is bringing me a new camera for Christmas, so finally, I can get back to posting photos of our life.

Wes and I have found a new church that we are really excited about. The last few sermons we attended were about letting our light shine so that others see Christ in us. This is a lesson most of us have heard from childhood, but the reality of this simple command is sometimes very difficult to fullfill. During the holidays and throughout the next year, don't hide your light under a bushel, but let the world see the truth in you.

"Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven." Matthew 5:16

I am wishing you a very Merry Christmas. Until next time....

XOXOXOXOXO

Happy Thanksgiving Holidays!!!

It has been over a month since I last posted! WOW! Lots of exciting things have happened. I will do my best to catch up.

My digital camera completely stopped working. I bought a temporary camera, but I have not had the pictures the developed. So, I will get some new pics up ASAP.

October
Wes and I carved a jack-o-latern for Halloween. It was very scary! I decorated our door with a ghosts, and boy oh boy did the trick-or-treaters come. I wasn't sure what to expect because this is our first year in this neighborhood. We had kids knocking on our door forever! Our whole neighborhood was overcome with mini ghosts and goblins. There was even a hayride in our neighborhood. It was FANTASTIC! Needless to say, I ran out of candy pretty early in the night. Next year, I plan on having gallons and gallons of candy to give. I am already extremely excited about it!

On the baking side of things, I roasted the pumpkin seeds from our jack-o-latern and baked pumpkin bread. It was a wonderful kick off to the fall season.

November
This month started out with a BANG! My mom, dad, sisters, and brother-in-laws all came to the coast to celebrate Angela and Jessica's birthday. We had so much fun. Friday night, all of the ladies went to the Jewel concert at the Beaux. Jewel is even more amazing live than on her albums. I love her more now, than ever before. Thanks, Wes, for making this happen! While we were jamming out at the concert, the boys went to the Biloxi/Gulfport football game. Saturday, we started the day with a Vetern's Day Parade. Then we headed to Ocean Springs and had a blast at the Peter Anderson Festival. We ended the day with a big dinner of crab legs and seafood at Captain Al's. YUMMY! It was a great weekend, and I can't wait to do it again.

Over the weekend, I made a big pot of chili and BBQ chicken legs with green beens, homemade apple sauce, and couscous.

At work, I planned and hosted my first ever Reading Fair. Overall, it was very successful. We had 260 projects submitted. I learned a lot, and now, I certainly know where I can make improvements next year! My school is also hosting the District Reading Fair this year, so I will get to put some of my newly learned knowledge into practice in a couple of weeks! :)

The cats for the most part have adjusted to their new outside life. However, they have had some unwanted guests stealing their food. I noticed that every morning all of the cat food was gone. At first, I didn't really think anything of it. One night when taking the recycling out, I discovered the culprit. A possum was sitting in the garage eating his heart out. Lillie and Ivey were sleeping in their bed just letting him take all of their food. LOL! The possum was not scared, did not run, and barely left even after Wes got the broom after him. A couple of nights later, I discovered, much to my surprise, Lillie and Ivey asleep in their bed while a big yellow cat and a giant raccoon were eating out of the cat food bowl, together. I AM LIVING THE MOVIE, OVER THE HEDGE! Well, of course, this had to stop. I started bringing the cat food inside and only feeding Lilly and Ivey at certain times, much to their dismay. My parents brought an animal trap so that we can catch the pesky thieves. So far, we have not caught a single animal. hahahahahah! This is hilarous to me!

I am super excited to be off work for an entire week! I have a few days of resting at home before hitting the road to Kosciusko, Atlanta, Alabama, and home again.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Until next time.........

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Happy Birthday Grand Ole Opry!

The first weekend of this month Angela, Jessica, Mom, and I took our 2nd annual ladies trip to Nashville, TN. It was Jessica's turn to plan, and she did a fantastic job! We stayed at the Opry Hotel, ate great food, and had a blast at our first Opry concert! We even walked away with a few FREE things! I am a little late posting these pics, but I had to wait for them to be sent! Thanks for the great time, ladies!

When things are broken, FIX them.

Things are going to break, and we must always be diligent to fix them. This is what I keep telling myself. As I type this, I am laughing out loud at the amount of my things that have broken over the past week. My camera is broken, my computer is broken, my polaris robot for the pool is broken, and the fireplace ran out of propane. Oh well, one thing at time, one day at a time things will be repaired and other things will break. When things break, we fix them. And somehow, this gives us a purpose, provides us with something to do, and gives us things to type and talk about.

Until next time . .. . .


XOXOXOXOX