Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a spectacular New Year's Eve!

Mine was exactly as I wished it to be...

quiet and low key!

Although I do love a party...

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Our family had a wonderful holiday,

but tomorrow it is back to reality for me (work)

although my children have off of school until Monday.

I am not a big New Year's resolution maker...

mainly because I expect too much from myself which usually results in failure...lol.

This year, however, I have decided to try and make a few REALISTIC ones.

Here they are...

1. Take better care of myself.

This is all inclusive...I mean it in a physical, emotional, and spiritual way.

This will be the hardest one for me to work on.

2. Grow my faith.

I have had a very difficult time finding a church family since we moved to Richmond.

I have missed this part of my life.

After a lot of visiting, I think we have found a church that we all feel comfortable with,

and I look forward to joining this winter.

3. Write more letters.

I love writing letters.

Real letters...the ones you write on beautiful stationary and send snail mail.

Of course I am still on top of my thank you notes and other correspondence,

but at some point I stopped writing letters...

just to tell family and friends that I am thinking of them.

4. Start a gratitude journal.

I am horrible at focusing on everything I did not get done

and everything that is not going well.

I need to force myself to write down all of the things that are going RIGHT.

Well...we'll see how this works out!

Do you have any New Year's Resolutions?

Happy New Year!

It Was A VERY Merry Christmas...

We had a wonderful Christmas!

Here is our Christmas in pictures...

Christmas Eve at my Virginia parents' home

The crew

Virginia parents with the grandchildren

My sweet children

 D with his mother and his children (minus his #3)

 

And of course I forgot to charge my camera battery and got almost no pictures Christmas morning...

 

Cramming everyone in the dining room for supper!

I hope you had a VERY Merry Christmas as well!

Holiday Shoes!

I came across some festive holiday shoes during my cyber shopping...

Here are a few of my favorite ones!

Love the jeweled toe!

I would wear these with dark wash jeans and a red sweater...

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Plaid....perfect!

I would wear these with red cords, a white oxford, and black quilted down vest...

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These are just adorable!
Would be cute with black velveteen pants and a red cashmere sweater...
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Perfect for a New Year's Eve party!

Jazzes up the basic black dress...

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Love these but gone are the days I can wear a heel this high!

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Do you have any holiday shoes?

I have pinned these fabulous shoes on my Shoe Love Pintrest board!

Weekend Recap!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Fourth of July weekend!

Mine was pretty quiet...as I mentioned my husband took the kids (minus my #1) to the Delaware beach to visit his mother...she is probably recovering as I write...she is such a good sport to have the entire crew for a few days!

 from L to R...my #3, D#2, my #4, D#3, D#4

They dug a giant hole and made a "hot tub" in the sand with four seats!

I spent the actual holiday doing nothing and watching NCIS re-runs...exactly what I needed...and I slept in! My #1 had plans with her friends so I spent the entire day accountable to no one but myself...it was perfect.

 

I worked Friday and then my mother, my #1, and I headed for the outlets in Williamsburg...looking for sorority rush clothes...is there any time that my daughters are NOT looking for some type of clothing? I actually love shopping with them...and I finally got to check out the Kate Spade outlet! The entire store was 50% off and I had to use serious restraint to not purchase a new handbag!

I did score these ADORABLE Kelly green and navy ballet flats at the J Crew Factory Store thanks to my mother! I tried them on and wanted them so badly, but the only thing in my budget right now is college tuition so my sweet mama bought them for me!

 

D and my twins got home Saturday afternoon after dropping his children off for a vacation with their mom. We spent the afternoon at the pool and then it was date night...it seems like forever ago that D and I had dinner together at the ANC (see here) and our "alone" time is at a premium right now, so we had dinner with the twins and then went on a long and relaxing walk together.

Sunday morning at 2:00am, my #2 and my "Louisiana Daughter," R, got home from Saranac, New York where they spent a glorious week at Young Life Camp. They are still recovering from the 15 hour bus ride home. R is my #2's BFF since childhood, but R moved to Louisiana last summer, which was a loss for our entire family. R is with us for six weeks this summer!

My "Louisiana Daughter" and my #2 at their last night of camp.
(this was clearly a "swanky camp"...I don't recall dressing in Lilly Pulitzer for dinner at camp)

50's night at camp...my #2, her BFF, A, and Louisiana Daughter

 

 

Sunday was LAUNDRY...only eight loads...and it was back to BASEBALL, with practice in the afternoon...they play in the state tournament beginning on Thursday in Arlington, Virginia and we will be up there for a long weekend.

Looking forward to my #1's BFF from the University of Kansas and sorority sister, S, arriving from Kansas City on Tuesday! She will be with us for a week!

Maybe you are starting to get an idea why our home is affectionately called
"Hotel Chadsworth"

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend!