Plenty to be THANKful For - Blog Swap Revealment

For the blog swap, I was teamed up with Kristine at Living a Barefoot and Crazy Lifestyle, and she did such a great job with my goodies.  After being off work all week last week, it was so nice to come back to the office on Monday to this package sitting on my desk:

And when I opened it up, it was even cuter:

The gifts inside were exactly the type of stuff that I love:

I got some yummy Peppermint candy... 

...some Iced Gingerbread handsoap from Bath and Body Works...

...a Gingerbread scented candle...

...and this beautiful snowflake candle holder...

I LOVE Christmas scented stuff, so I am so excited for all of my goodies!  I can't wait to test them all out!  Thanks so much Kristine!  You definitely know how to please this girl!  =)

Plenty to be THANKful for -- Black Friday and Leftovers!

Black Friday...this was the first year I was able to convince someone to go with me to get some Christmas goodies on Black Friday.  For years and years, I have wanted to participate in this shopping extravaganza, but everyone in my family is anti-black Friday shopping!  However, this year, my sister and I ventured out of the house at 10:30 on Thanksgiving evening and headed to both Wal-Mart and Target...we tried to go to Old Navy, but that was the biggest mess I have ever witnessed and the sales weren't all that great, so we decided to call it a night!  I think we both agree that we're glad we went on this adventure, and that we'll probably participate again next year.

My sister -- Ready to go with PLENTY of coffee!

As for leftovers, I have somehow managed this year to not eat a single piece of turkey on this day after Thanksgiving!  Which makes me very happy!  It was an excellent meal, don't get me wrong, but one turkey meal a week is enough for me!

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of your weekend!  Happy Turkey Day!

Plenty to be THANKful for -- Thanksgiving!

This is MY family's Thanksgiving table:

And everything was DE-licious!  We had turkey (made in Patrick's new contraption), dressing, gravy, ham, mac 'n cheese, homemade mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, home grown green beans, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs and pumpkin pie.  So, so yummy!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I'm sure each of us realize how much we have to be thankful for!

Plenty to be THANKful For - Special People in my Life

Well, I have already told everyone about the special people in my life in this post, so I will try to keep it short here, but I still wanted to say a little something special about each of these wonderful people:

Patrick, my fiance -- This guy is always there to make me laugh and to be my rock and my best friend.  He also does a wonderful job raising our little fur child, which I find extremely encouraging for when we have real children!

Zoey, my doggy -- This little girl only came into our lives a few months ago, but she is the sweetest gift I think Patrick or I could have asked for at this point in our lives...and she loves to cuddle, and her mama loves that! =)

My Mama -- I'm sure you've all figured out by now (if you read my blog at all) that my mother can only be described in one word...wonderful!

My Daddy -- No matter what the situation, or how busy my dad is, I can always count on him to drop anything to work on a project for me!  He puts his mind to something and no matter what, it WILL get done!

My Sister -- Laura is definitely the best MOH ever!  She has already started planning my bachelorette party, she is always there to offer any suggestions with wedding plans, and she even sent me a "wedding cake" Pandora charm after we got engaged!  Yep, she's pretty awesome!

My Brother -- Daniel has always been the sweet big brother who is always there to offer a hug or a kind word.  He is very soft spoken, but is always extremely sweet and caring.

Of course, there are also many friends who could be added to this list!  Hope all of you have many special people who love you very much, like I do!

Plenty to be THANKful For - Thanksgiving Traditions

Traditions are a pretty big deal in my family!  We always eat the same (delicious) meal for Thanksgiving dinner and then we ALWAYS go see a movie together as a family!  When I say always, I really mean it...some years have been better than others...like the year we went to see The Blind Side.  Everyone wanted to see that and absolutely LOVED it...some years though, don't work out quite as well...like last year when there was nothing to see so we all settled on seeing Due Date...you know, the completely vulgar movie that makes you freak out in a "I can't believe I am watching this movie with my parents 2 seats away" kind of way.

No matter what we go see though, we always have a great time!  We very rarely get to spend 3 hours with all of us in the same room, and therefore, this tradition makes Thanksgiving a happy day!

Plenty to be THANKful For - The Blogoverse, The 21st Century, and Favorite Thanksgiving Recipe!

Since I missed a couple of days last week due to being a little under the weather, I thought I'd do some catching up today.

The Blogoverse -- I am so thankful to have become a blogger...It has allowed me the perfect outlet to express my feelings, and more than anything, it has given me a daily journal that I hope to have for many years to come.  The Blogoverse has also allowed me to find all of these fabulous blogs:
Happily Ever Faster
Fitting Into the Windy City...and My Clothes
Michabella at Living a Life of Love
Nothing Rhymes with Rachel
The Sweet Life
analyze this
Hello! Happiness
Justin & Marcie Morris
Kelso Thoughts
Lovin' My Life
Simply Smithwick

The 21st Century -- Oh, geez, where to begin with this one...I think there are so many pieces of technology that we can be thankful for, but the top of my list right now is my brand new iPhone.  I seriously don't know what I have done without one for so long...All I can say is that it is by far the coolest piece of technology I own, and I am so glad I got it!

;  

My Favorite Thanksgiving Recipe -- Several years ago, I decided to try to follow in my Grandmother's footsteps and make a homemade pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner.  Well, after that one meal, it has become an essential addition every single year!  Here is the EASY, EASY recipe:

Whisk together a 15 oz. can pumpkin, 2/3 cup light brown sugar, 2/3 cup heavy cream, 1/3 cup milk, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice, an 1/4 tsp. salt.  Bake in a 9 in. refrigerated pie crust at 375 degrees for 55 minutes.  Sprinkle hot pie with 3 chopped milk chocolate-butter toffee bars (such as Skor or Heath; let cool and serve.

Have you been linking up with the Plenty to be THANKful For posts?  If not, it's never too late to start!

Plenty to be THANKful For - My Hometown

Today's link up involves describing your hometown.  I am from the tiny, tiny town of Strawberry Plains, TN (otherwise known as the best place to stop for cheap gas on your way to the Smokey Mountains)!

I'm not going to lie...there isn't a single part of me that wishes I lived there now...however, it was a nice, safe place to grow up.  It had a small town feel where everyone knew who you were, but it was also only 20 minutes away from Knoxville, so there was plenty of stuff to do.

My parents still live there and probably always will...I love their house...it isn't the biggest house in the world, but it's so quait and it sits wayyyyyy back off the road, so they have tons of privacy...also, it has the perfect front porch for taking pictures...trust me...there were PLENTY of prom/Easter/Special Occasion pictures taken on that porch...in fact, here's one example from this past Easter:

That's really all there is to say about Strawberry Plains.  It's a very nice place, and I am thankful for being from there!

Plenty to be THANKful For - YouTube and Other Internet Fun!

Can you believe I am actually posting Day 2 of this Blog Challenge on Day 2?  I'm on a role, I tell ya!  Today I am thankful for all of my "internet" guilty pleasures!

1.  Facebook, of course!  I am sometimes amazed at how addicted I have become to this website...I'm also amazed when I meet someone who ISN'T on Facebook...I always wonder "How do you know what's going on in the world?"

2.  Blogger!  I am so thankful for my blog and what I have accomplished with it!  I am so happy to discovered Blogger.

3.  iGoogle -- This is the most ingenious website for people who sit at a computer all day!  You can check the weather, your e-mail, the news, your blogs, and twitter all from the same website.  It's amazing!

4.  Google Reader!  This is another website that I absolutely love!  If you love blogs and you don't use this, then you need to check it out NOW!  It allows me to read all of my blogs in one place, which I LOVE!

What are you thankful for on the internet?

Plenty to be THANKful For - Guilty Pleasures

Welcome to Day 1 of the Plenty to be THANKful for blog challenge.  Today we are sharing all of our guilty pleasures...and boy do I have those!!!!!

1.  Frozen Yogurt!!!!! I'm stuck in one of the worst places EVER this week for training and this sweet treat is the only thing I have enjoyed about it!  (Yes, I am being a baby AND a drama queen...everyone is entitled every once in awhile, right?)

2.  The Biebs!  So sue me...I like his music and I MAY think that his movie is amazing, too!

3.  Lauren Conrad's novels -- Yes, I know they are written with high schoolers in mind, but I can't help but read ever page and wonder which of the true life characters she is "writing about" in each story...

I'm sure I have many, many other embarrassing loves in my life, but as you can probably tell from Item #1, my brain is fried for the night...I'll try to come up with something more riveting tomorrow night.