second family

In my last post I mentioned my second mom Mari-jane. She is one of my mom's oldest friends from high school and I have known her my entire life. She is an amazing woman who does it all for everybody. She makes delicious meals, blogs, is a mother of three, who adopted her nephew's son and then took in her daughter's two children after she passed away. She will also take in any animal that needs help. She is superwoman!

On Christmas Eve we went over to her house and she made us a most scrumptious meal of cranberry- turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, cheesy rice and broccoli, and southern style green beans. I have loved her cooking my entire life. She makes a stellar green bean casserole and a to-die-for caesar salad. I always look forward to meals at her house, you will not be going home hungry!

I just had to share with you all who she is and what she does. She rarely gets the recognition she deserves.

The spread

Tristan, one of her daughter's two kids.

Alexa, her daughter's other child

Her son, Hunter

Her great dane, Calypso

Calypso's partner in crime, Callie-Hanna

Alexa doesn't appreciate the paprazzi

Since when....

did Christmas become a week long activity?!?! I guess it comes with age. But seriously, it lasted all week!! 


On Monday my Uncle and his girlfriend came to town to stay until Wednesday. On Tuesday I worked all day for my mom and did some Christmas shopping. Wednesday was spent between work and home. I went to work in the morning to get payroll out then ran back home to do Christmas with my Uncle and his girlfriend. I then ran back to work to finish before the office had the annual Christmas lunch. Back to work after lunch followed by more Christmas shopping. The relatives headed out Thursday, Christmas Eve, morning. We did our presents on Thursday morning because my dad had to work all day Christmas Day. 


Side note: my presents were probably the most amazing ever! Besides the lovely, wonderful, perfect trip to NYC, my parents also got me a new lens for my new baby (my camera), and a record player! I've been wanting one for a while and it was a complete surprise. I didn't realize that they took me seriously! They also got me the fully re-mastered Beatles album from the Cirque du Soleil show Love. Now I have to start collecting albums! 


Back to our regularly schedule programming...


On Christmas Eve afternoon we went over to the house of my mom's most amazing friend from way back when, Mari-jane. She made us Christmas lunch. And boy, does she ever make the most delicious food! I'm not joking, she is wonderful and should probably have her own show! Not to mention her kids are terrific and the cutest things ever! She is really like my second mom, I love her and love being around her. 


Christmas Day was spent with my mom at the movies. It was rainy all day and my dad was working so it was the perfect day to spend 6 hrs. at the movie theater. We did a double feature. Sherlock Holmes and It's Complicated. Who knew the movie theater would be so crowded on Christmas Day. It appeared that the entire town was at the movies. But it is St. Augustine, there isn't much else to do. It's either the movies or the bowling alley. 


It's Complicated was hilarious, I almost choked I was laughing so hard! Sherlock Holmes was great. Beisdes,  who doesn't want to stare at Jude Law for 2 hours? I know I didn't mind it! 


Back to real life after Christmas and the job hunt continues.....

the holidays

It's the eve of Christmas eve and I find myself not so excited about the holidays this year.

For one, my Dad has to work on Christmas Day. He is a firefighter/paramedic and he works 24 hrs. on and 48hrs. off. It just so happens that this year his 24 hrs. on is on Christmas. His schedule hasn't worked out like that in about 6 years, and I don't like it!

I remember Christmas morning when I was a kid. I would always wake up insanely early and wait for him to get home from his shift at the firehouse. He usually got home around 9am so my mom had to placate me with a gift to open. It was never a good one, or the really big one that I was dying to open, but it was something to keep me from bouncing off the walls. But this year we are doing Christmas on Christmas Eve morning....ugh! It's just not the same. I've never understood the why some people open all their presents on Christmas eve. What do you do on Christmas day?

Me and my mom have come up with a plan to spend the entirety of Christmas day at the movies. We're going to do a double, possibly a triple, feature. We want to see It's Complicated, the new one with Meryl Streep, and Sherlock Holmes, with Jude Law (yum!!). We might also see Up In The Air, it's gotten such amazing reviews, and who doesn't want to stare at George Clooney for 2 hours.

On a side note I am typing this while watching Footloose. And guess what! They are at the part where Kevin Bacon tries to teach his friend to dance.....the BEST part! Oh man was that kid rhythmically challenged! Let's hear it for the boy! Let's give the boy a hand! I digress...

On a second side note...I am sitting at my brand new homemade desk! When I moved back from school I really wanted a place to put my laptop. I had a desk in my room at school and I lack that piece of furniture in my room at home. I just recently re-designed my room and I was looking for just the perfect desk. Have you ever tried to find a cute, rather well priced, desk? If you have you know it's kind of a difficult job. They were all sooooo expensive! I blame it on my good taste. I always pick out the most expensive piece of jewelry in the store! My dad saw that I couldn't find what I wanted so he suggested he build me a desk. I wasn't sure that it would come out the way I wanted but he assured me that it would be perfect. We made the trek to Home Depot and got all the pieces and parts. It's really cute! All that is left to do is sand it an paint it. I'll post pictures as soon as it's done! I already love it!