de-stressing

Are we done? Are all my responsibilities over? You know the one's women. Laundry, cleaning, shopping, cooking, gift buying, etc. Is it OVER? I'm ready to just enjoy it. Wait. I did.

Last night.

I met Gayla, Julie, and Elizabeth for a de-stressing evening of drinks, entertainment and most of all, my personal favorite, laughing. We had a wonderful time! No photos folks. Sorry! I left the camera in the car and just didn't feel like going back to get it. Besides, I'm sure I would pay heavy liability charges among friends if I posted any dance photos or pigging out photos from IHOP. I'm already on thin ice for a "passed out" Santa, from and earlier blog moment.

We started the evening out at Melt. A lively little mature bar downtown in the Buddy Holly District of Lubbock. I go to the Buddy Holly District all the time for haircuts and photo sessions, but have never gone for the night life.

The Christmas Martinis were wonderful! Very fun and festive and yummy.

Then, my wonderful "cheech" mobile friend, Stephanie, text messaged us about the bull riding out at the Rodeo. So of course we must go and check that out too. I must say, seeing the LIVE bull riding at a bar, just made me think a bit about lawyers, emergency techs, etc. But hey, whatever it takes for a business to survive in Lubbock, Texas right?

The point is, I enjoyed myself and now I'm ready to finish my last minute gift buying and hey, may even squeeze in a pedicure. I want to leave you blog readers with a view of my tree and some favorite things that hang there. So read on!

Oh, and my phone says that the storage is running low, so I'm thinking I've missed voice mails again. IF YOU CALLED YESTERDAY or the DAY BEFORE, I may have missed your message. Please try again! (In a few hours after I figure out how to dump the memory onto the very expensive 2 gig card the salesman said I needed for things like this. UGH! This phone!)


This star on top of this tree? I made it from tree twigs that laid in our yard the first winter we moved into our home. I was so proud that we had TREES! West Texas isn't known for trees and when a girl grows up in Eastern OK, well, the green was missing from her life. I thought it was soooo cool (at the time) that we had twigs and shrubs and limbs, etc. all over our winter yard and how I would bring the outdoors in.

I don't think that so much anymore when I help Devin prepare the yard for mowing. Gee... BUT they do make good tree stars.


This cute little number is from my Nana and she gave it to us our first married Christmas. It reminds me of the chipmunks. You know, Simon, Alvin and Theodore? "Christmas, Christmas, Time is Near".

Ahh...LOVE this snowman! When my girls attended St. Joseph, one of my favorite things is that they decorated the school tree as a WHOLE. Each class hand made ornaments and included them on the tree and when they dismissed, they brought them home. Kalyn made this cute one in Mrs. Cooks class one year. It's one of my favorites!

MD Anderson ornament from the first year Devin was home after his cancer.

Enough waxing poetic for now. Share your favorite ornaments on your blog. Oh, and notice the fruit loop garland all over our tree? Can't believe it made it a year in the cellar. Wow. That makes you feel good about eating that stuff for breakfast, huh? LOL

To keep the techno-freaks happy, all images of the tree and ornaments were taken at 800 iso, with my favorite lens the 85 @ 1.8. Wide open baby! Only way to live!