A Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas sure was a fun one with the kiddos. I got to spend a whole bunch of quality time with my nieces, especially Adelyn, who is already “TWO” (as she will tell you)! 

Addy loves her mac & cheese

Since my camera is missing in action, we used Amy’s fancy new one to take our yearly pictures in front of the tree. Clearly, we needed a lot of “takes” to get this one right with the timer on Amy's new camera.

take one..

I'm lovin' Kylie's face!

the best part of this beaut is not Adelyn's awkward wriggling.
It's the overcompensating my mother is doing for everyone else's struggles.

Noticing the awkward bandage on my dad's face? No, he didn't get in a Christmas Eve bar fight... he is the victim of a "scope bite" which he got the night before Christmas Eve when he was hunting with his buddy. That's right, my dad's now a hunter in his North Carolina retirement adventures.

The girls eagerly awaited Santa’s arrival in their new Christmas pajamas and were up at 4:50 a.m. to see what he had left for them. Fortunately, my sister was able to hold them off for a few hours!

Christmas pajamas, yippee!

And no puppies were found under the tree... but I do have an approaching birthday on January 8th!

this little treasure was found in my dad's stocking, though... ;)

My momma's good friend Andie tried to solve all my problems with a Christmas gift... it was a solid effort, Andie!

I still like my stuffed pup.

I have to say, all the long distance family members were very missed. Every year, I long for the days everyone would crowd into our little Medford house.  There were SO many presents under that tree!  I will always dream for the return of big Christmases, complete with the Poppop, Jones and Jones family, and all those other long distance family members I miss so much. I love you all!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, magical Christmas!

Learning my way around a limited kitchen

There should be an instruction manual for learning to cook yourself healthy, satisfying meals on a low budget, a limited kitchen, and limited time to cook. Doesn't every new college grad need to learn those basics?

I was pretty psyched about the little dinner I made myself last night, especially considering the way I've been eating when responsible for cooking just for myself.

The thing is, I get home late from work, typically don't have much time to run around a grocery store, and usually root through my refrigerator to find that something I bought fresh three days ago is already bad. Boo!

Last night, I threw a little something together (WITH MY NEW STOVE!) that looked a little something like this:

Ronzoni smart rotini pasta, spinach, smoked turkey breast, chopped pico de gallo, laughing cow
light garlic & herb cheese, some sprinkled feta cheese, and a pinch of garlic salt!

[apologies for the very poor photo quality as of late. I left my camera in James' car over the weekend, and I've been making do with my phone's camera.]


I've been on a big feta kick lately (I must just want to be greek like my favorite greeks, The Kraniases), and I am always in the mood for pasta.  After a good run at the gym, this really hit the spot!

And who believes it takes a second round of a recipe to make it look SO much better? This girl!

oreo balls take two - with crushed peppermint toppings!

Isn't that Christmas platter adorable? My good friend Cynthia got this for me for Christmas, and I love it!

James and I are having our Christmas tonight since tomorrow we both leave to go to our respective families for the holidays. I'm excited!