Happy Holidays!

I've been saving this bit of holiday cheer to share with you closer to Xmas. Every year at work, I head up the "adopt-a-family" program at work. A local charity that helps families in need throughout the year assigns families for adoption that need help over the holidays. This year, we adopted 4 families with a total of eight kids ranging in age from 4 to 15. They send over their wish lists for Christmas gifts, and we collect what we can, wrap everything and donate to them. Even with the economic downturn this year, my co-workers were generous as always and we put together a ton of toys - from Barbie dolls to an iPod, plus gift cards to Target, Best Buy, Blockbuster and a variety of other places. We also do a food drive to collect non-perishable goods and top it off with a grocery store gift card for each family. I thought it might be fun to share some photos of the process. =)
On that note, HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you all!!

One Year Ago Today

It's crazy to think that one year ago today was my wedding day. I'm wondering how the time passed so quickly and thinking of all the things we've done in the last 12 months - most importantly buying our first home.We banished my parents, who are visiting from England for the holidays, to my brother's house so that we can have the day to ourselves. This evening we're going out to dinner at the restaurant where we had our reception for out of town family (best filet ever!) We'll be enjoying some live jazz and a bottle (or two) of wine - normally wouldn't be drinking on a Monday night, but special occasions don't count.

He's been trying to guess what his gift is for the last week since I snuck it in the house, wrapped it and shoved it in the downstairs storage closet. Seeing as first anniversary is traditionally a paper gift, I keep telling him that I wrapped a 24 pack of toilet paper for him. I don't think he believes me though. On the other side, he got me something "shiny", which I'm pretty sure is jewelry. Pictures of my new "shiny" gift to follow!