The best of the holidays...

The past few weeks have been incredible. I am so grateful for the time we get to spend with friends and families during the holidays. I had so many fun things to share, so I thought I'd combine them into a little "best of the holidays" post!

1. Project Angel Tree shopping with friends

Few things are better than finding a way to give back and doing it with friends. We had so much fun shopping for a cute little girl, and finding a way to make her Christmas incredible. This is going to be a new annual tradition, and I'm already looking forward to next year!

2. Starbucks at the holidays
I mean, really. Red cups, and the gift cards even get cuter than normal! Need I say more?

3. Finding the perfect Advent calendar

Yep. I found a Disney Advent calendar on sale at K-Mart of all places this year, and it is going to start to run backwards in a few weeks as we count down the days to Disney, so this sucker gets to do double duty!

4. Ice skating and sliding

Our precious supper club headed down to our outdoor holiday ice rink for some ice skating and sliding, and it was one of the best best days ever. The slide was new this year, and that 20-foot slide was breathtaking!

5. A lazy Christmas afternoon

Christmas was always over by 8 a.m. when we were little, but now presents in the morning are just part of the fun of the day. Curling up with family - and my fabulous and funny husband - by a fire pit for Christmas afternoon of mimosas, wine and reading goes down as one of the great ones in my book.

I love the holidays. Don't you?

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...

From our family to yours, we hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It has been a wonderful 2013, and we are excited for all that 2014 will hold.

XOXO,

Mrs. Jones

25 days of Christmas ornaments (Part 4)

Merry Christmas! Before I tell all of our Christmas fun, and finally show pictures of our actual Christmas trees....

I guess I'd better finish sharing my 25 days of Christmas ornaments! Here are days 21-25, which include some of my favorites!

Day 21: 

This beautiful, fragile glass tube has always been a favorite since I was a little girl. 

Three of them are on my little pink tree.

Day 22: 

My beautiful pink ballerina on my little pink tree. My sister has the matching white one.

Day 23: 

An ornament I painted for EB to have this year! We love our lil pup to pieces!

Day 24:

One of the few ornaments of mine mom has not relinquished. 

She loves my Simba. {Mom's tree}

Day 25: 

One of my all-time favorites, Eve and Wall-E. {Disney tree} 

More holiday fun soon! Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas day with family and friends!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

25 days of Christmas ornaments (Part 3)

Well, this month has been FLYING by, that's for sure. I can't believe how fast the holidays got here. And now it's almost time to celebrate!

To keep things rolling, here's part 3 in my ornament show and tell!

Day 15:

This precious little guy joined our tree on day 15 thanks to dear friends and supper club! 

Day 16:

In honor of Monday morning, it's just one of my lovely Starbucks ornaments today!

Day 17: 

Oh bother... One of our new ornaments this year, thanks to Mr. Jones. {Disney tree}

Day 18: 

Just a little Mickey magic on the Disney tree... This one is a new one Mr. Jones gave me this year!

Day 19: 

My version of #TBT to remember a fabulous trip across France in 2009.

Day 20: 

Five years ago today I married my best friend. Then we went to Disney World. 

Just one installment left! Merry Christmas everyone!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

25 days of Christmas ornaments (Part 2)

Well, I got a little behind in sharing my daily Instagram posts over here, but I'm officially on Christmas break, and it's time to get caught up! Here is the next batch of my favorite ornaments from this holiday season!

Day 8:

A sweet little wooden pink Santa from the pink tree....

Day 9: 

A beautiful hand-painted Alabama ornament from my aunt! Love how unique it is.

Day 10:

A 30th birthday gift for my sweet husband. Figment, one of his childhood Disney favorites. 

{Disney tree}

Day 11: 

This shiny little ornament is in honor of the first car that was ever 

"mine" - my navy blue VW bug!

Day 12: 

One little ornament, but this place is everything - 

my home, my career and my family. Roll Tide forever.

Day 13: 

Remembering our very first pup, Butterball! This is his ornament.

Day 14: 

Brett's ornament celebrating graduation from college.

He skipped his ceremony in favor of my family's extended Christmas celebration.

Just 11 days left of ornaments! I'll be back with the final installments soon! Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Just hand me my Starbucks...

... and no one will get hurt.

Ever feel like some version of that? It's where I've been all week. Holiday prep, office parties, stuck in that perpetual almost-to-Christmas-break state. It kills me.

But today? Today my Christmas break begins. After work, I'm wrapping presents, getting organized, working out and enjoying the holidays.

Here we go. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

A little Christmas pup...

I love December. I love holidays. I love decorations. I love Christmas.

But what I love more than just about anything this time of year? Is my little Christmas pup. We got her on Dec. 18 four years ago. We brought her home on our first anniversary on Dec. 20. So while her birthday is in September, I find myself extra grateful for the snuggles, love and fun we have this time of year with our little EB.

I wanted to share some fun little pictures of our puppy love with her new Christmas hedgehog. Seriously. Hedgehogs are her favorite, so when I saw a Christmas one when I was out shopping with my mother-in-law? We couldn't resist.

Eve Belle is kind of hard to resist, isn't she? Merry Christmas and happy holidays! The countdown to Christmas break stands at just four more workdays for me! Hip hip hooray!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

A Thanksgiving to remember...

Thanksgiving was so much fun this year, and we certainly had a lot to celebrate. Just a couple of weeks after my uncle had heart surgery, we were all gathered in his house to cherish another holiday together.

Add in finally getting to meet my cousin's sweet little baby, and there was a lot of smiling, hugging and laughter all around. Our scare certainly left us even more grateful for a long afternoon spent with our extended family.

And the food? The food was really good too. I can't take much credit at all though. All I was responsible for was the salad!

{My plate}

{Mr. Jones' plate}

Also, the only thing about my cousin's baby that I don't like? That our actual relationship is "first cousin once removed." What the heck? That doesn't sound fun and sweet at all. It sounds more like there has been a divorce, and that's for sure not the case. So, can I just call him my little cousin, and no one mind? Mmkay, thanks.

And per my Instagram, the thing I am most grateful for this year? Mr. Jones. I love this man with all my heart, and we sure do have a lot of fun together! :-)

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Happiness is a red cup...

There's something about the calendar flipping to November, pulling out the first sweaters of the year, and heading to Starbucks to find that the red holiday cups have made their debut.

It makes me so happy. I smile. I instagram the heck out of my cute little cup. And then I drink my non-fat peppermint mocha as I turn into an incredibly happy holiday person.

It's not just me, is it? Tell me you love the red cups too. Please?

I may or may not be ready to buy my Starbucks holiday ornament for the year. I love the red cup ornaments and how they are different every year. One day I'll have a tiny Christmas tree on my desk at work, full of cute little Starbucks ornaments. :-)

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Sunday morning thoughts...

Happy Sunday morning, y'all….

I've got a lot of posts in the works, but it's a quiet morning at our house so far, and I'm enjoying coffee and listening to the laundry and dishes get clean.

It felt like the perfect time to actually sit down and write a little bit, so here I am. My sweet husband and  pup are curled up under the covers still asleep. They are definitely enjoying Daylight Savings Time already. Watching the two of them early in the morning is definitely one of the cutest things ever, that's for sure. And I totally envy how easy it is for both of them to roll over and go back to sleep whenever they want. I do not have that as a skill, sadly.

I'm ready for the laundry to be done so I can put my favorite sweatpants back on. I've worn them as PJs every night for the last 5 nights already, so I thought they may need a night off. I live in them during the winter.

It's taking everything in me not to start decorating for Christmas just yet. The weather is cool, and I just don't have a lot of Thanksgiving decorations. Mr. Jones' was a Thanksgiving birthday, so when we got married it was all about "respecting the turkey" but now… now we usually both give in and start decorating early because we love it so very much.

I'm extra excited for decorating this year, because for the first time we will have our separate Disney-themed tree. Few things excite me more. It's going to be so much fun. I just have to figure out where it will go….

This weekend has been a lazy one so far at our house. We've got church in a few hours - we HAVE to get back in the habit of going. We've been bad. And there might be a little landscaping in our future as well. But yesterday we watched lots of episodes of The West Wing, and I cleaned out my part of the DVR while I did laundry and cleaned up our room. It was heavenly.

Here's to the first lazy weekend in months and months. It's been good for our souls…

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

A very Georgia Christmas...

Well y'all, it's almost time to wish everyone a Happy New Year, but I'm not there yet. I've still got to get caught up on Christmas, right? It was a wonderful holiday again this year. We spent a few days at my in-laws in Georgia, and headed back home on Christmas day.

Our time in Georgia was just wonderful! Look at the beautiful tree we got to spend our time by!

And, really, is there any better view during a workout than this? Because I really don't think there is.

And one of the trees at the clubhouse. How beautiful? Side note, I need to blog about Camera Plus. 

Do any of y'all use this? It's amazing. I'll share soon.

And finally, our happy little family on Christmas morning! I love my sweet EB. And my precious husband. This picture makes me smile. It's such a Christmastime look!

I'll share about the rest of our Christmas tomorrow. But for now, I just wanted to share the precious highlights! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well.

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Christmas Eve...

Get it? Christmas Eve.... Even if it is said "Eve-ah" when I talk about my Christmas puppy girl, it makes me smile. I know, I'm slightly dorky like that.

Anyways, I sprinkled a few little Christmas toys around for EB to kick off her holidays early, with a few more we gave her on Christmas. It's fun to give her 2-3 toys at Christmas, but I get some Christmas shaped ones and let her play with them for the month leading up to the holidays too. That way even the dog toys make it feel like it's Christmas. Anyone else do silly stuff like that?

I love this little furball so much! And today, three years ago, we hugged her for the first time, so I think it's a perfect day to blog about my little Diva Belle.

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Tis the Season...

Well, a little head cold put me slightly behind on the blogging (again. go figure), but I'm back to share our little Christmas tree setup for the year!

EB loves sitting under the tree, and that just makes me smile so much. Christmas is my favorite time of the year! I love getting everything decorated early enough where all we have to do is enjoy it for a few weeks!

Are you decorated for Christmas already? I really want to drive around and see lights this year, and have a Starbucks hot cocoa date with the husband and EB.... and build a gingerbread man for the first time together. Wouldn't that be fun!?

What's on your holiday to do list this year? I want to take a little more time to enjoy it this season. That's the goal! Merry Christmas everyone!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Sunday everyone, and HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY!!!!!

I hope it's been a great day for you. I wanted to recognize today, and thank our wonderful Veteran's! Freedom truly isn't free, and I'm grateful for those who have made sure I'm free!

Shutterfly is helping us thank our troops this year, and I wanted to encourage you to join in and thank them as well - at no cost to you!

Thank the Troops

Shutterfly says "It's more than a card, it's a thank you for our freedom. Over 1.5 million troops serve our great nation. Many of them will be overseas, in harm's way, and away from their families over this holiday season. Our mission is simple - to send a thank you card to every American hero. To succeed we need your support. Just select a card from our 4 different designs, add a personal message or photo, and click send. Shutterfly will print and ship your card to the troops at no cost to you."

Really? How amazing is that?! I hope you join in and send them a card to say thank you. I've got big news to share, so I'll be back tomorrow with more news!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones

Here come the holidays...

I know it's just Nov. 1, but to me today kicks off two months of holiday celebrations. Thanksgiving to New Years just isn't long enough. So I start early. I don't quite pull out the Christmas just yet, but I start planning. And doing little things. And I love EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT!

There are a few things I'm pining after to kick off my holidays this year. Item number one.... this new Yankee Candle lovely. It smells DIVINE. I want a couple of them, so they can last all. season. long!

I am also pining after the Fiesta Christmas Tree Jumbo Mug. I have two of the plates, and we don't need much. But I WANT THIS MUG FOR MY MORNING COFFEE! (Does the all caps express my desires? I hope so.) The only thing is I haven't found it on sale locally yet. I may have to order it, but we will get there. Isn't it cute?

Just wanted to share my holiday planning love this morning... Are you ready to start celebrating already? Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years.... it's all wonderful! Tis the season, y'all!

XOXO,
Mrs. Jones