It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Copeland home. The tree is up and the stockings are hung. The finals are finishing, the shopping is done.
I even got a little early Christmas gift from my mamma:
Isn’t he a cutie? I can’t believe I’ve gone 24 years without hearing the sweet, sweet sound of Justin Bieber rapping The Little Drummer Boy….because honestly, who hasn’t been waiting for a rap version of that song? He really puts the rum-pum-pum-pum in my drum-um-um-um.
I love thanksgiving. I love the food, I love spending time with family, and I love the Black Friday ads. I love that everyone is especially grateful for things they might not normally express, I love that the air is crisp and that the leaves are crunchy under my feet. This year, I had to sign up for a holiday call shift at work and picked the night before/morning of the big day. I thought that even if I got called in, I would not have to work on Thanksgiving and could catch up on some sleep before the event. My call shift began at 11pm on the 23rd and sure enough, I got that call that I was needed at work at 11. I struggled my way through re-dressing and driving the long route to the hospital but was excited to participate in the surgery that would be starting at midnight. There had been a patient who was on life support and who made the selfless choice of being an organ donor upon her passing. I had the great opportunity of participating in her organ procurement that night where her heart and both of her kidneys were taken and immediately sent away to be given to others. I was overwhelmed in those late hours with the spirit of God- seeing one life end but also knowing that the lives of 2 others would be prolonged because of the generosity of this woman and her family. What a lucky opportunity for me to see this happen and to participate in such an honorable cause- I truly felt thankful for organ donors that night.
Though I was grateful for the experience, working through the night is not easy. The last thing I wanted to do at 5am was to go home to prepare for the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5k that I was signed up to run at 8am. For anyone who knows my sister Erin, you know that she is one persistent cookie. I knew that she would not be happy if I ditched out on the race 3 hours beforehand. So..here we are, happy as clams to run in the cold. I will say that I am glad that I went- we had a great time. I am glad for a sister who is always pushing me to be healthier and supporting me even when all that I want to eat is a cupcake.
If it looks like I haven’t slept in 24 hours, that’s because I hadn’t slept in 24 hours.
After going home and sleeping for a few hours, James and I made our rounds for Thanksgiving dinners and (my personal favorite) Thanksgiving desserts.
When we got back home, I got to work on my favorite part of the whole weekend- Black Friday. It all started when I was little…I blame my mother for my shopping addiction. Nothing makes me happier than spending money (much to my dear husband’s dismay). As soon as I could fend for myself, my mother had be fighting through crowds for deals. Sometimes she would send me in and she would stay in the car (“You’re smaller, you can squeeze through easier”, “They’ll be nicer to you, you’re a kid!”). Needless to say, I learned quickly the ins and outs of having an effective and efficient Black Friday. I started dragging my friends along as soon as I could drive. My Junior year of high school, we made it into the newspaper because we were first in line at Target. When asked what we were there to get, I think that all of our responses were, “Nothing really, we just came to be apart of the madness”. Though that was fun, I must say that I enjoy shopping now even more than I used to. Now I have people to shop for, and now I have money. I don’t even care who I go with- this year I just went alone!
Yes, I have a problem.
All in all it was a great weekend. In lieu of Thanksgiving though, I feel that I should publically acknowledge the things I am grateful for. First, my husband. I am so proud of him and love him more and more every day. Second, my family: My mom and dad, my step-dad and his family, Erin and Travis, Courtney and Canden, Gentry, Connor, my in-laws, and all of our extended family. I would be nothing without them. Third, my job. I am so lucky to have my dream job and to love going to work every day…I know what a rare blessing that is. Forth, I am surrounded by the most amazing and supportive friends. I love each of them and their husbands and couldn’t be more grateful for their examples and support they give to James and I. Above all, I am grateful for a heavenly father who loves me and my husband and who has blessed us more than we deserve.
Bring on Christmas!!
11:11:11 on 11/11/11
Thank you to Marty for snapping this picture at the exact right moment. I’ll forgive you for chopping off one of my fingers.
We spent this weekend with great friends, great food (and lots of it!), and lots and lots of snow.
We are so grateful to the Willmore family for opening their beautiful cabin to us, Natalie and Bryce for the invite and the help they (and Britt and Joe) gave us when bad luck was sent our way. We had a great time in the Idaho winter wonderland!
4-wheelin’ in style through the first snow of the season.
Pretty girls.
Feeding the fish
Can you see our fishy friend?
Britt and Joe by the warm fire.
Lookin’ good, Nat! (and Rob!)
Thank goodness Rob and Suzie had a big truck to tow our car out of the snow!
Thanks for a great weekend ladies!
If it weren’t for Pinterest, my apartment would not be decorated and I would have nothing to do on my days off. Also, I’m sorry that I don’t have cute children to blog about. Until I do, you have to deal with multiple pictures of my craft projects.
Behold, the college football wreath of all wreaths:
This was the cheapest project I’ve ever made. Yarn, felt, glue and some pipe stuff I found at Home Depot that was way cheaper than a foam wreath. (See picture below)
$1.00= 2 wreaths. Yay!
You can also see the original on my DIY Pinterest board. If I were to do it over again, I would choose a thicker foam pipe like the one they used.
Also, I love Halloween decorations but I can NOT wait to start decorating for Christmas. Yay for days off!
I spent last Saturday evening with my baby sister.We had fun hanging out at Gardner Village and then attempting to make Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory’s version of an apple pie caramel apple. I love this girl and am glad to have her living so close.
Making pretty caramel apples is much harder than I thought. We could not get the caramel to stick to the apples- in fact, it seemed like it ended up everywhere EXCEPT the apples!
Here’s how the apple was supposed to look.
Here’s how ours turned out- definitely not as pretty….but, possibly just as tasty.
We were pretty proud of our hard work but didn’t waste too much time before we finished off our end results.
Erin and I both worked this day and obviously didn’t put much effort into getting ready. That’s the best way to hang out with sisters though, right?—in your sweats. :)
The walls of my apartment have been pretty bare for the past 6 months. I had a bad attitude about having to move again and thought I would show the apartment who was boss by not doing any decorating. Well, I don’t know if it’s the cool breeze or the smell of fall in the air but something has got my crafty bones dancin’. Here is the transformation that has taken place in my apartment in the last week:
Here is my living room. The walls are naked.
Also, these are terrible pictures. I had awful lighting but didn’t want to wait until my next day off to take better ones.
This is the shelf that I bought at Roberts, I forgot to take a picture before I painted it. But it was just plain and boring. I thought it turned out pretty cute afterwards:
My first attempt at distressing furniture.
These are the old knobs. I took them off and bought similar metal ones.
I also made a little friendly owl and a yarn-wrapped C for my shelf.
Here is the finished product:
Ta-da! I printed a 16x20 canvas of one of my favorite pictures from our wedding and found the cute bicycle at Hobby Lobby.
I also picked up some curtains on clearance at World Market a few months ago. The curtain rod was way too short for the window so I tried the little half-curtain thing I had seen in the Parade of Homes this summer.
My next project is to make a wreath to hang from the middle knob. Anyone interested in a craft night?
It’s amazing what a little bit of décor can do!
