Secret Santa Swap Reveal

Today is the secret Santa reveal and I'm so stinkin excited!

When I saw three of my favs were hosting a
Christmas swap,
I JUMPED to participate.

I love shopping for people and I love receiving surprise packages too.

I sent a fun package to Brieann and I really
hope she enjoys all the fun gifts I sent.
[Should have taken a picture, drat]

I was waiting like a kid for my box and possibly squealed
when I saw this baby outside my door!

What a cute wrap job right ;)!?!?

Wanna know what's even cuter?!?!

 The present inside the box.

CHECK THIS OUT!

A gorgeous leopard print INFINITY SCARF!

MY FIRST EVER INFINITY SCARF!

STOP.THE.WORD!

Fashion chicks, am I doing this right?!?!?

I absolutely LOVE IT, thank you so much SECRET SANTA!

SO.....now reveal yourself, pretty please :)!

Thanks Janna, Kelly and Tabitha 

for hosting such an awesome linkup!

Merry Christmas friends!

**************************************

FYI: I'm participating in my FIRST EVER 

GROUP GIVEAWAY over at

MACKEY MADNESS!

You could win a $440 prize pack, say WHAT!?!?!?!

Hope on over there and enter mmmmkay!/

[follow me and Enthusiatic Bitz of life]

HAPPY THURSDAY FRIENDS!!!

All I Don't Want for Christmas

That's right, all I DON'T want for Christmas.

I've had this post sitting in my drafts for quite some time,

and had plans to have pictures or illustrations

to convey my point.

But now, all of that seems trite and unnecessary.

Even before the tragedy of Friday,

my heart had been hurting.

There is a lot of hurt in our world,

and we see it every day.

The children who's only meal comes from school.

The homeless men and women on the corners.

People are sick around Christmas.

People are being killed for drugs,
turf wars, shoes, clothes and tvs.

People are being senselessly killed,
for no reason.

People are dying from cancers and other

fatal diseases.

This year, our world just seems more broken
around Christmas than ever before.

And I'm not a fan!

Throughout December I've seen
multiple WHAT I WANT
for Christmas posts.

And, originally I thought of posting my own.

But, every time I tried,
I realized it just didn't feel right to me.

I assisted the homeless in November
and thought
" All they want for Christmas is a warm
place to stay and sleep, with
warm food".

How does that compare to me wanting
a workout heart monitor?

SportySpice works in a Title 1 school,
which basically means
most of her students are poor
and receive free or reduced lunch
at school.

Obviously, these children won't
have tons of gifts under the Christmas tree.
So, her school sets up a
Christmas Angel Tree
and teachers buy presents for each kid.
OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKET!

Sportyspice grabbed four
and our family helped sponsor the kids
and bought the presents.
It was so much fun shopping for the kids,
but at the same time,
I felt SOO SPOILED
and ungrateful for what I had.

A 13 year old girl asked for a
LONG SLEEVED shirt.
That's what she wanted for Christmas.
THAT'S IT!

Another six year old asked for
a green Ninjago!
Let me tell you, that $10 toy was
THE HARDEST thing to find.
One of the hottest toys for lil boys
and we looked everywhere.

C was able to find it in Maryland
last week, which was amazing.

Even though it was super stressful,
I'm so glad this kid will get what
he asked for,
because it might be
the ONLY thing he gets under the tree.

I can't imagine just getting
one lil toy.
I want to buy him 4324803 toys.
But, I can't.

I know this post is all over the place,
but all of these thoughts
have been in my head
and I needed to get them out.
I wish I could fix the sadness in the world,
but I can't.

However, I can be grateful for all I have
and I can try to make the world
a better place, one act at a time.

I'm joining the #27actsofkindessmovement
to try and do my part.

NOT THE DAY FOR SILENCE!

Today I'm not being silent.

Today I am speaking the names of those lost.

I'm posting them online, and I'm praying for their families.

I may be missing people's good intentions, but I honestly

DON'T understand how a blog button

or being SILENT today will help the victims.

Post their names so they aren't forgotten.

Now more than EVER our world needs PRAYER!

LOTS AND LOTS OF PRAYER!

GOD is all knowing and here, we just have to speak His name.

Heavenly Father above,

bless the families of the 20 young souls lost

on Friday.

Wrap your loving arms around them

while they grieve.

In your Son's  holy name,

Amen.

TODAY AND EVERYDAY, WE REMEMBER:

Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06

Daniel Barden, 9/25/05

Rachel Davino, 7/17/83

Olivia Engel, 7/18/06

Josephine Gay, 12/11/05

Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06

Dylan Hockley, 3/8/06

Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65

Madeleine F. Hsu, 7/10/06

Catherine V. Hubbard, 6/08/06

Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05

Jesse Lewis, 6/30/06

James Mattioli , 3/22/06

Grace McDonnell, 12/04/05

Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60

Emilie Parker, 5/12/06

Jack Pinto, 5/06/06

Noah Pozner, 11/20/06

Caroline Previdi, 9/07/06

Jessica Rekos, 5/10/06

Avielle Richman, 10/17/06

Lauren Rousseau, 6/1982

Mary Sherlach, 2/11/56

Victoria Soto, 11/04/85

Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06

Allison N. Wyatt, 7/03/06

 

You can DONATE *HERE* to the Sandy Hook Support Fund

TOO soon people will forget the names above,

don't let TODAY BE THE DAY!

 

Choose to SPEAK UP

and DO SOMETHING

"What the world needs now
is L < 3VE sweet L< 3VE"

Ornament Swap Linkup

Christmas is my favorite time of year.

People care EXTRA about one another.

Everything is festive and bright.

I love shopping for gifts to give to others.

Hot cocoa, family, friends, decor
and CHRISTMAS TREES!

And you know what goes on Christmas trees?!?!

ORNAMENTS!

I love Christmas tree ornaments
so when I saw Megan's ornament swap
I knew I HAD TO ENTER!!!

I was partnered with the lovely Amanda,

[HI NEW FRIEND]
and immediately went ornament hunting.

I tried to find ornaments that would
match her tree motif's
and be fun to look at.

I HOPE YOU LIKE THEM AMANDA!!!!

After I sent mine off,
all I could do was sit back and wait
for my fun package to arrive.

I was so stinkin' excited to see this baby outside my door!

She totally put my packaging to shame. I LOVE the wrapping paper!

But, I loved what was inside even more!

Love at these beautiful and festive ornaments!

How precious and awesome is Santa's beard?

Amanda was so generous, she sent a set of 4 ornaments.

They are all dazzlingly beautiful on my tree!

Thank you Megan for setting up the swap!

Thank you SO MUCH AMANDA! I hope you enjoyed your ornaments!

I LOVE MINE!

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS!

**********************soapbox***********************

I've see around the blogesphere people talking about a SILENT blogger day tomorrow

and I 100% disagree with the idea. 

Our blog pages SHOULDN'T be filled with a BLOG BUTTON tomorrow,

but with the names of those lost.

Too soon people are going to forget those 20 lives lost.

We should do everything WE CAN to keep their names at the fore front.

Tomorrow I WON'T BE SILENT!

Tomorrow I will be posting the victims names on my blog.

I may be ruffling feathers, but I'm doing
what I think is right.

I hope you're wearing green today!

SHES

My Heart is Heavy

My eyes are over flowing.

In case you have yet to hear [and I doubt anyone hasn't] there was a horrific shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut this morning.

Some messed up man, went into the school, into a kindergarten class and open fired. 

KILLING multiple children and adults trying to stop the tragedy.

Thankfully, he he is dead. But, so are so many innocents.

Here is the story so far, keep refreshing to read more.

As I read I find it hard to breath, to think, to not cry, to eat. 

How does this happen?

Who could do such a thing?

WHY?!?!!?!?!?

I feel like I've been punched in the gut

All of those lil babies gone.

Parents sent their children to school and now, they will never come home. 

There are presents under trees that will never be opened.

Dreams that will never be achieved.

Hearts that will never heal.

People are going to start the blame game:
It's guns
It's TV
It's video games
It's lack of mental health testing
BLAME BLAME BLAME!

But they are all wrong, it's none of that.

It is someone having a LACK of regard for life.

A lack of hope in their life.

A lack of God in their life.

His twitter account was full of depressing tweets
quotes and full of signs.

He needed help.

I can't bring those children or adults back.

I can't heal their pain.

I can't fix anything and that breaks my heart
even more.

All I can do is pray!

All I will do is pray!

Father in heaven, 
Look down on those suffering below. Grant them your
everlasting peace and love. Send your Holy Spirit
to wrap them in your loving arms.
I pray for America, I pray for our world.
Bring us peace once again. 
Amen

Confession Friday

I confess... I'm a teensy bit nervous about being part of my FIRST giveaway group. I hope it goes well.

I confess... When I heard THEE COLOR for next year is some shade of green [really, again?!?!] the first thing that came to my mind was "BIRCH PLEASE"!

Source: Uploaded by user via Kelley on Pinterest

I confess... C had to postpone our movie night because of work and I wasn't even upset about it. A night in, means early bedtime, who am I to complain?!?!?

I confess... My bank account wants to murder me right now and I'm a lil worried about all the money I spent on gifts. I'm 123408302480 times thankful I don't have a mortgage to worry about this year!

I confess... I'm not planning to be very productive today. Our system is getting an upgrade so, no work for me ;)!

I confess... I STILL don't understand jeggings....just...NO!

Happy Friday Loves!!!! Only 11 Days till CHRISTMAS!!!

Source: dailycupofcouture.blogspot.com via Kyra on Pinterest

Thoughts on a Thursday

[source]

1] Those flowers are JUST FOR YOU! SMILE :)

2] Yes, I know I still owe y'all recaps, but gosh darn it, blogger is being a REAL PILL! I've reached my 'quota' for pictures so I can't straight upload them anymore. Since I couldn't upload all my vacay pictures, I thought, why not make a slide show?!!? Did it and almost pulled my hair out, was happy with it and now the video won't load. GAH! My girl, CLo, told me how to use photo bucket, which I am doing now, but it's a pill too. I'll be happy to share my 'photobucket' knowledge with anyone who asks and I also found a great blogpost about stickin' it to Blogger ;)! [jerks]

3] Y'all made me laugh with your comments regarding my makeup in the car post. Thank you for not yelling too much, but I will allow the Tsk Tsking.

4] People in this world are CAH to the RAZY! Have you heard about the story regarding a crazy inmate that plotted to kill the Beibs?!?! He had men driving to NY to snatch him from Madison Square Gardens, strangle him and then Lorena Bobbett him. WHAT THE FRISBEE!?!?! Poor Justin, that just sounds scary!

5] I realize I complain too much about trivial things. Traffic, the cold, lines, people talking over me, work, all small things when you think about the world. I'm reading the NY Best Seller "Unbroken" and wow is all I have to say. Do yourself a favor and pick that book up. Amazing!

6] My dad introduced me to a new APP and it's awesome. Search for "Sleep Time" [i got the free one] and prepare to be amazed. Well, if you sleep alone that is. "Sleep Time is a smart alarm clock that analyzes your sleep patterns and will wake you up at the perfect moment of your slightest sleep phase" App store. Basically you turn the APP on, set your alarm and then place your phone face down on the bed and it will analyze your sleep patterns. How cool is that?!?! I used it once this week and check it out:

Cool right?!?!? Y'all without bed buddies [winkwink] should try it out, let me know what you think!

7] My mom's Kitchen Aid mixer makes baking SO MUCH EASIER! I had to make cupcakes last night and was able to multi-task like a champ with that blessed invention. Now, I just need the willpower to NOT eat any cupcakes before they leave my house.

8] I think it's my turn to win the lottery! Yep, it really is my TURN!!!

Have a great day kids!