February in Texas

I awoke this morning to find a winter wonderland outside our apartment window. The great wintry mix that was predicted did in fact end up snowing us in for today... less than 72 hours after the pictures from my last post were taken!

I love that I can be at home in my pajamas right now. Its funny how snow days are the one time during the year that repeated weather alerts and traffic pictures become intriguing. We all enjoy watching the lone SUV glide over the highway, though most of us are feeling sorry for that poor schmo that had to drive somewhere - you never know, it could be a doctor headed to the hospital, and I respect that - but its not exactly like watching a high speed chase. It also makes me remind myself that I never want to pursue a career as a weather reporter or sand truck driver. How awful does it have to feel to be the few people that have to go to work when the rest of the metroplex stays home? I don't know why but I also enjoy seeing the school closings scroll across the screen, even though I'm not teaching this year. When I saw that Denton ISD was closed, I cheered for my old friends!

This was the view from our balcony this morning. Don't worry, I didn't even step outside, I just held my camera out. On the news I just saw that the windchill outside is 0 degrees! I'm pretty sure that shouldn't be an option in Texas!

So I will enjoy being safely bundled up inside. I am about to start working on some work stuff online, but at least I can be wearing my fuzzy slippers!!!

January in Texas

It's been a whole month since I blogged! I bet all of you thought I had given up - well you're wrong. There just hasn't been much to blog about lately. Until we were blessed with a beautiful, warm, sunny Saturday right here at the end of January. Not to be boring and talk about the weather... but I'm going to talk about the weather. Seasons are such an amazing thing to thank God for! Can you imagine if you had to live through the 100 degree Texas heat ALL year? Or wear your snow boots and freeze for 12 months instead of 3 (or rather 1 1/2 here in Texas). I am so grateful each time the weather changes. I love the crisp-ness of fall. It is fun to get bundled up for a little bit in the winter (though by the end of January I'm all done with that!) I feel the rush of joy when the temperatures warm up and I can play in the park in spring. And I LOVE sitting by the pool in summer. Side note- when I say I love seasons, I definitely mean TEXAS seasons!!!

To celebrate this warm Saturday, Ryan and I drove to Historic Grapevine, Texas. We had a sweet afternoon having lunch in a cafe and browsing through shops. We also looked through the Grapevine historical museum to learn about pioneer life in Grapevine. (I also LOVE pioneer life). At the end we tried to take a few fun pictures. With the sun in our eyes and the wind blowing us away it was a little difficult to take a good picture, but at least we got some good laughs out of it. I probably should have posted all of the mess up pics instead, but wanted everyone to enjoy the few good ones we got. This was one of the best Saturdays I've enjoyed in a long time!

Of course, this week we are in store for a wintry mix to hit around Tuesday. Like the old saying goes, "If you don't like the weather in Texas, stick around a day and it will change!"

You Look Like a Pink Nightmare!

Have you ever seen a little kid in those cute footie pajamas and joked, "I wish they had those for grownups...."? Well, your wish came true. Target actually sells grownup footie pajamas! Oh no.... I promise that I tried these on just as a joke and did not purchase them. It was all I could do to keep from bursting out laughing as I nonchalantly carried them into the dressing room and told the attendant that I just had 1 item. I specifically selected the pink onesie because it reminded me of the pink costume that young Ralphie has to wear in The Christmas Story. Shockingly, these pajamas were very hot and made me feel a bit claustrophobic. I'm not sure now if I could even put these on a child anymore.

On a completely different note, today marks the end of my first year of blogging. If you look back at my first posting, I decided to start a blog as my New Year's resolution. Lucky for you, I LOVE BLOGGING, and will definitely continue to share my adventures with you! (Also important - Cosby fulfilled his resolution to live another year, keep it up buddy!) What is my New Year's resolution for 2011? Probably to never wear footie pajamas again! I know that's one I could actually stick to. Happy New Year!!!

A Holiday Tradition

Every family has its own special traditions. A favorite from mine is putting "Uncle Harvey" on top of the Christmas tree. Years ago (30 maybe?) my grandfather's brother, Harvey, had crazy ornaments made out of a picture of him. He gave them to everyone in the family. He probably gave one to everyone he knew. And several years ago my parents and I began the tradition of using the Uncle Harvey ornament as their tree topper. It hasn't always been like this. Before that I remember we used a crooked angel that looked like she was about to shoot off into space and was therefor affectionately named, "The Infinity and Beyond Angel." I'm not sure what happened to her, maybe one New Year's she finally blasted off.... but since then we've used Uncle Harvey. It is so weird, but so perfectly quirky. By the way, Uncle Harvey is still alive and well, so it's not like we're memorialising him. The holidays just wouldn't be the same without him!

Christmas Eve Eve we enjoyed another tradition of having all the Bradley's spend the night at Ryan's parents house. We spend all afternoon and most of the evening playing high competitive board games. Ryan's mom mentioned casually that she had a few boxes of old things to for the siblings to sort through. Most of them were trophy's and awards that they had won in school.

Oh.My.Gosh. Apparently, those Bradley kids were the best at everything growing up. They must have been raised with expectation for greatness because they all had TONS and TONS of trophies! Trophies for sports. Trophies for math competitions. Amanda even had a trophy for being born! I think I've received 2, maybe 3, trophies in my lifetime, and that by now they are all long gone. After much bragging and even more laughter, it was decided that the trophies be thrown out. It was a bittersweet sound the next morning to hear them being crushed by the trash collector.

Christmas Eve morning we all woke up and did present time! Kiersi and Kayden got new bikes! I think every adult has a great memory of getting their first "real bike." Mine was purple with streamers on the handle and I remember how excited I was. I hope Kiersi and Kayden remember this morning too, even though there wasn't much space to ride them and it was pouring rain outside.

Christmas Day we continued the tradition of Ryan and I hosting everyone for brunch. As we were all seated at the table enjoying the meal, I looked around and was overwhelmed with thankfulness. I know my grandparents won't be here forever, and I was grateful to make and share this special meal with them. They are always so appreciative of me making them one meal, and I think about all of the holiday memories that they created for me. I am so blessed to have such a great family that loves each other.

I actually forgot to get the camera out until everyone was getting ready to leave, but I wanted to snap a few shots to remember how we spent Christmas Day. Thanks to all my family for driving all the way to our place and being willing to start new traditions!

The 12 Days of Christmas

Ryan and I have done so many things this weekend! Some people talk about how stressful the holidays are when you have lots of places to be (AKA Delilah from 103.7 FM "The Holiday Station"), but I think that is crazy. Even when our schedule gets busy it's fun to spend time with people we love.

Friday night we had a fancy dinner with our Bible study friends. We all got dressed up in our most festive attire. We played Taboo and the girl team won... even if we did cheat a little bit. My friend Holly got out her nicest dishes and cooked a wonderful meal- steak, potatoes, pie... it was delicious! She was the perfect hostess for our special evening!

Saturday afternoon we headed to Royse City to see all of Ryan's family, including lots of aunts and cousins. We headed out the door right around noon thinking it would take about an hour. We did not account for there being construction and traffic on every major highway. Oops. We had a slight 2 1/2 hr traffic hold up, but at least we got to see SANTA!!!!!! He drove by us in a shiny red convertible with his dog. It was quite the sight! (And a nice surprise when we'd been in traffic for so long.)

We finally made it to the celebration and had a day full of games, food, and presents. Below is a picture of Ryan's grandmother, Mamaw opening her gifts with our nieces and other cousins. It was so sweet to see all those little girls around Mamaw and hear her talk about how deeply she loves her family and how thankful she is the God has never left her, despite some difficult times this year. When you hear older people share what they are thankful for it is usually much more focused on faith and a love for family rather than material things. Thanks for reminding us about what Christmas is really about, Mamaw. We love you!

And while we do agree that Christmas is about love.... presents are pretty fun too! We do a family gift card exchange with everybody and it always gets a little chaotic! Have you ever played a version of the exchange game where everyone gets to choose whether they will open a new present from under the tree or steal someone else's? I think I am too nice at this. It's funny to see things get stolen from other people, but I never want it to happen to me! And as a general rule, I try to consider if the person I'm about to steal from really wants what they have. For instance, I wanted the Outback card that my sister in-law Amanda had, but we were the ones who brought it, and I know Amanda and Brian love Outback, so I chose to open a new gift instead. Others were not so kind... Ryan and I got our gift cards stolen twice- to Cheesecake Factory and Saltgrass- but ended up with On the Border which is fine by me! Who doesn't love a little Mexican date night?

This afternoon (Sunday) I had the privilege of being invited to a Christmas party for 5th grade girls. They did a silly sock exchange (like our giftcard one, but much longer with 23 giggling girls!) They get super excited about everything and it was so much fun!

Would you believe there is actually a sweet little 5th grader inside of there? They had a contest to see which team could use toilet paper to wrap one of their teammates up and turn them into a snowman and this was the winner! It's amazing what you can do with 4 rolls of toilet paper. Notice the Dorito used for the mouth. It was the perfect touch!

We have more holiday events to come this week! What's a busy Bradley to do? I think go eat another cookie. Goodnight.

In The Bleak Mid-Winter.... Long Ago.

It was a cold night in December. Actually the coldest night of 2007. My boyfriend came to my house to pick me up for a date. This date was a big deal because we had both been saving money and not going out alot. So of course I wasn't suspicious when he said that he wanted to take me out to celebrate "the end of the semester," especially when I still had a week of school/teaching left. When Ryan came to pick me up at my house for our date I leaned in to give him a hug, but he pulled away and said he was "too cold to hug."

We drove out to the pier in Rockwall. We walked around in the freezing cold. Finally we stopped by a beautiful fountain. Ryan started talking about us and our future. He got down on one knee. And then.... he asked me to marry him!!!!! 3 years ago today. He was so sweeet and not at all obvious that he had the ring in his pocket when I tried to hug him :) I love how he put effort into planning it and had my sister in-law there to tape it and our parents waiting at a nearby restaurant to celebrate! It was an amazing night and I'm definitely glad that I said yes. I love you Ryan Kent!

Merry Christmas from the Bradleys

Ryan and I aren't sending out a holiday card, but we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!! I love the holiday season. We have been so blessed to get to celebrate in many fun ways with lots of people. The above picture was taken when we went Tacky Bowling. What is Tacky Bowling? Its like regular bowling, but you wear tacky clothing :) We went to celebrate my friend Ashley's 25th birthday and we got all decked out! Note: dressing up did NOT improve my bowling score!

Saturday, my mom came over for a day of cookie making. I was so excited to get to spend a whole afternoon baking in the kitchen with my mom! Here are the cookies we made!

Ha ha, oh I wish! The cookies actually turned out a little less than extraordinary. I always have dreams of making perfectly decorated cookies and then reality interferes. The icing isn't thick enough, it drips all over the kitchen, it doesn't pipe out smoothly. I tried, but the result was several crazed looking gingerbread and snowmen. I know they will still taste good, but I really want to learn to decorate them better. I still have a bunch of sugar cookie dough in the fridge so I'm hoping that later this week I can tackle decorating again and use the picture above for inspiration. These are my actual cookies below.

We usually host a Christmas party for all our friends, but since we had so many other things going on this season we don't think we'll have time for that. So instead of having everyone over, I wanted to post a few pics of our Christmas decorations. We will be hosting my parents and grandparents for Christmas morning brunch.



Our festive Bradley Christmas tree! I love our cute ornaments. One day I want a beautiful tree with ribbon and matching ornaments, but I still enjoy this tree. I guess our tree matches my cookies!

Our Christmas table setting. Everything is actually silver, but the picture looks slightly gold. I saw these candle holders and the tree at Target way back in October but waited until Black Friday to get them. Ryan gave me the chargers for my birthday.

Our Santa advent calendar. Only 13 days 'til Christmas! Each morning we open the box for the day and hang a little ornament on Santa.

I made this wreath to hang in the kitchen. I had several of the miniature Lolita hand painted martini ornaments (that match my collection of real martini glasses) and I wired them onto the wreath. This was my mom's idea and I was happy with how it turned out!

Our stocking our hung on the bar top with care... instead of the chimney. Sorry Santa, I guess you'll have to climb in through the patio door. My kitchen is decorated with a gingerbread theme so I put up a small tree with gingerbread ornaments to go with our gingerbread house stocking hangers and my new gingerbread Scentsy jar! Most years we make a real gingerbread house, but I'm not sure yet where to put one, so that hasn't happened yet.

Since the best part of Christmas is spending time with people you love, that is what I'm going to do right now. Spend time watching a movie with my 2 favorite boys!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!