the hiltons: 2008

12.31.2008

dear year 2008,

thank you for a most wonderful time and days full of exciting change:

i moved to a better part of atlanta all on my own
made a huge decision to leave my job
which was mostly thanks to the even bigger decision to move BACK to tennessee
survived a one day move across states & began my new job the very next day
i turned another year older { aka closer to 'my mid 20's' }
celebrated reid turning another year older
realized how smart my generation is
became a peacock for a day
survived {and followed closely} the most important political season of my lifetime { thus far }
completed new projects
celebrated thanksgiving {twice} & christmas {5 times} with reid and our families
stayed healthy and thankful
realized how blessed we are to have each other, be just across the street from each other, and the love all around us everyday

thank you family & friends for a great 2008!

much love to you & be safe in 2009

12.24.2008

Bearden Christmas

merry merry cookie factory

hallie, chloe, me

my youngest sister chloe being silly

12.22.2008

taggie blanket

Finished!

for my first quilt ever, i'm pretty satisfied with the end result...

12.21.2008

8 tiny reindeer...or 3

so maybe on our little Christmas shopping adventure after church and lunch at a favorite
we ran into live reindeer!

amazing & spectacular

the owner/farmer (?) said he brings them to this little golf shop every year

and has for the past 5 years
you know it's Christmastime when antlers look like this!
maybe this will become a tradition...

12.14.2008

stud alert

look out all you mommies with little girls, this one will be a heartbreaker.

we went to atlanta this weekend to visit the hiltons. jameson is SO adorable. russell & julie trusted us enough to babysit for a little while saturday night before they made us chili. i got the little guy giggling! he liked me enough to be happy the entire time we played, but definitely was not a fan of reid's mountain-man-beard. so lovey :)

12.10.2008

skirt!

i made my own this year for $1.50! the fabric is like jacket or skirt liner from the clearance section. turned out pretty good i guess for a 'no sew' project.

12.08.2008

its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

...everywhere you turn...

i made a wreath & swag with left over christmas tree parts (that sounds a little gross for some reason, sorry) and finished decorating the place. my mom gave me the old candied fruit on my table, which i still love even though they just collect dust. still planning on making napkins for the empty rings & some kind of table runner before we start traveling. what else is there to do when your boyfriend is studying 24/7?

12.07.2008

its not rockefeller

i'm still really surprised i bought this...and actually liking it. i'm not really into tree toppers usually.my first real tree!

my favorite: crackled blue glass from restoration hardware

i had to rearrange a little

cheesy, but thats our 2008 photo ornament

12.06.2008

fantasy of trees

an overhead shot of all the trees in the convention center

we went to the 2008 Preview Gala of Knoxville's Annual Fantasy of Trees to get into the Christmas Spirit. I almost forgot to mention it because the gala was back before Thanksgiving! People go all out for this charity event for east tennessee's children's hospital (i'm talking long evening gowns, tuxes, and fur coats), because it is a black tie optional gala. since we are poor, barely-out-of-college kids, we just wore what we could find. I scored this sequined black dress from belk for fifteen bucks! the best part of the dress was the receipt that said "you saved $101.06 today" at the bottom. so maybe i'm a little bit thrifty?

christmas countdown

is it weird that this makes me want children?

12.05.2008

are we done yet

its not fair when he has to stay up all night studying and then go take finals on SATURDAY!?

pretty bird

check them out here

http://www.pswisherportfolio.com/

12.01.2008

riding in cars with boys

...and a tree!

Ugh, it took us 3 & 1/2 hours (about an hour too long) to get back home yesterday from my parents house in Murfreesboro. We got stuck in terribly backed up traffic from an eight car pileup "coming 'round the mountain" between Rockwood & Harriman. Since UT was playing basketball in the Old Spice tournament all weekend and we watched every game, we listened to the championship game during the ride home. They lost. At least my tree is pretty! First 'real tree' is over six feet tall! I plan on buying some new decorations and making my own tree skirt. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...

the red tent

well, i just finished reading The Red Tent and surprisingly, i seriously didn't want to put it down. kate s. recommended it to me and even let me check it out from her library, for which i am oh so grateful. it's definitely a quick historical fiction read that's worth your time. i love recommendations from friends with wonderful taste. thanks kate!

11.29.2008

too much turkey day

why dont you just stop on by and eat some of this leftover food? we have way too much.

11.28.2008

gobbling goodness

I managed to make the 2nd Annual Turkey day sugar cookies at the Hiltons! The middle photo is actually of a batch of peanut butter cookies (which burnt) that I made for Reid & friend Marshall. Several technical issues this year besides not being able to be in my own kitchen. The icing bags burst at the seams, my brown came out more of a brownish-caramel, and the cookie sheets available really kinda burnt the bottoms. Oh well, at least they tasted good.
Thanksgiving day is supposedly the biggest movie day of the year (probably because everything is closed and people are too tired to do anything besides sit) so we went to the movies the day after, a great idea for the Hiltons plus two. Marshall came with us to see the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace which was decent. Definitely not the best of the Bonds.

11.27.2008

turkey day

happy thanksgiving!

i hope you are able to spend the holiday with friends & family, and eat so much that you nap all afternoon. reid & i are in west tn at his parents house. they recently invested in a new ping pong table (mostly for the excercise & reid's nephew's) which has taken over their garage. though it's a chilly 33 degrees outside, we managed to warm up around the table & waste a few hours playing. some of the hilton family came by for turkey and dressing that afternoon, but nothing was as much fun as playing Connect Four with little Hunter. i hadn't thought about that game in probably 10 years, but as soon as he mentioned playing, the old commercial stuck in my head. i let him win best 2 out of 3 or course.

11.26.2008

thanksgiving

reid & i are traveling home together today for the thanksgiving holiday. the vacation will be 3 days in west tn, 2 days in middle tn. hopefully we'll get to see everyone & eat way, way too much. hooray for being off of work/no class for 4 & 1/2 days!

11.20.2008

tacky or functional?

this is my 'dangle earring' jewelry lamp. it really happened by a happy accident. for a long time i kept my earrings that were too big or loopy to lay inside my jewelry box on a wired mesh ribbon scrap (i hung the ribbon vertically on the side of my dresser). in college this was also the only way to i had store them and one day, probably when moving from one apartment to another, i safety-pinned the two ends and threw it over the lampshade instead of laying it down to keep from jumbling a mess. and presto! earring lamp.