Christmas Eve

We started out our Christmas Eve night with our church's Candlight Service.  We go every year and one of my favorite Christmas moments is singing "Silent Night" and looking at the glow of everyone's candles in the dark.  Then, Parker & I exchanged gifts as we've always done on Christmas Eve.  I got a gift card to Ann Taylor Loft (favorite store!) and he got jeans, Calcutta sunglasses, and a new framed photo of us for his new office.  I know, I'm such a good gift giver - not.  It's what he asked for though!  The good part comes next....

One of the traditions that Parker & I started over the last few years is our "Christmas Light Tour."  It started one year when we made a bet on the DH Conley (his high school) vs. South Central (my high school) football game.  If SCHS won the game, he had to plan a date all by himself.  If DHC won, then I had to wash and clean out his truck - then a K5 Chevy Blazer.  Luckily, SCHS won (woot woot) and Parker cooked dinner, we ate by candle light, and we went on our first ever "Christmas Light Tour."  Sometimes we go to a house in Vanceboro, a nearby town, where a family has a whole field of lights and music.  You can park your car and get out and walk around, it's pretty neat.  We had planned to go with Candice & Jacob, but since I had to work and make aprons/wrap presents/cross stitch Grandma's stocking, we had to take a rain check.  Next year though!

We did get to see this awesome house that had lights turning on and off to the music.  It was pretty sweet...

We also took our annual trips down Toy Soldier Lane, Christmas Tree Street, and Candy Cane Lane.  When I was little, each of the families that lived on these streets had a painted wood cut out of a toy soldier/Christmas tree/candy cane, so when you turned down the road, it lit up with soldier after soldier, or tree after tree, you get the point.  In recent years, Toy Soldier Lane has really stunk it up... the soldiers are scattered here and there, but with no structure.  But as always, Christmas Tree Street and Candy Cane Lane were on point... See?

Not the best pictures, I know... but you get the point.  When I was little, I use to think of what my street could do and I had these big ideas.  I thought my dad could cut all the things out and paint them, and our neighbors would put them up and all... well, so much for that.  I mean how awesome would Nutcracker Street be?  Or Santa Claus Lane?  Or Reindeer Road???  Probably a bit too involved, huh?  We should've thought up Candy Cane Lane first... that would have been much easier.

I digress.  Here is the end of our "Christmas Light Tour."  It's my sweet home!  Didn't my mom do a good job??  That spotlight made cool shadows on our windows that freaked us out when someone came to the door (it made people look like enormous scary monsters), but it was definitely worth it.

So that was our Christmas Eve!  I hope you enjoyed hearing reading about it.

Christmas Eve Eve

I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Christmas!  I have so much catching up to do, so I'll start with what we did first...

Parker & I spent time with his family on Christmas Eve Eve.  We had a delicious dinner with his parents, two brothers and their wives, and our niece & nephew.  It was a lot of fun.  With Candice & Jacob and Parker & I are trying to fit his & her family traditions together, and Martha Lynn & Preston adjusting their usual holiday schedule after the recent death of her father, we've had a tough time meshing our traditions in a way that works for all of us.  So this year, it was Christmas Eve Eve and it was a great way to kick off Christmas celebrations.

Can I just say that I love having Abi & Cody around?  It is so fun to hang out with them!

Each year I make some of the gifts that I give.  This year I decided to make aprons for Mrs. Lydia, Martha Lynn, and Candice.  My sweet friend Katherine made me one for my birthday a few years ago and I copied her pattern to make the others.  Are they not stinkin cute?

They took me way too long to make, but I'm pretty proud of them!  I have already vowed to myself & to Parker that next year I won't get any big ideas.... or at least I won't carry them out.  :)

So that was Christmas Eve Eve for us.  Coming up next is Christmas Eve!

Hello there!

Hello,

My name is Laura, and yes, I am alive.  Just thought you might be wondering where my blog posts have been...

They've been on the bottom of the To Do Lists these days... below sewing, cross stitching (almost done with the stocking!), cleaning, Christmas shopping, gift making, gift wrapping, bow making, email checking/sending, and working at the pharmacy.  Seeing that most of my To Do Lists haven't been half way completed..... blogging definitely hasn't made it.

Did I mention I have "Chambers" family Christmas cards to send out??  I don't have stamps.  Need to get stamps.  Need to mail.  No way will they make it before Christmas.  Oh. Well.

Tis the season!

Home for the Holidays!

Well, I survived exams.  More than that, I survived an 18 credit hour semester (with my senior history paper) with a job.  Praise the Lord!!  I can't believe that I have only one more semester of undergrad! Is that crazy or what???

I finished my last exam today, (took a nap), packed up, and came home for the holidays!  Here are a few pictures of my apartment decorated for Christmas...

My roomates and I had our "Chamber's family Christmas dinner" on Monday night.  Yes we are a family - we got mail, so it's legit! See??

We had a ham (that we may or may not have gotten from Honey Baked Hams, I can't rightly say), macaroni & cheese, rice, yeast rolls, and green beans from the garden!  It was DELICIOUS and we've been munchin on the ham all week!

Merry Christmas from the Chambers Family!!!!!

'Tis the season

'Tis the season for cramming, exams, papers, little sleep, junk food.... and Christmas parties!!

We've moved our Christmas parties from the dorm, to the apartment, to a house in just 3 years!  Saturday night we gathered at Katherine & Eric's new home (which was cosy, cute, and perfectly decorated!)  Here are our annual group Christmas pictures...

Getting ready....

Stop giggling y'all!

There we go...

Gosh, I love these girls!

Let's take a look back over the years...

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas loves!

My Friends are Prettier than Yours, Part II

Introducing My Friends are Prettier than Yours, Part II *

My friends are way prettier than yours...

...it's true!

See?

*Did you miss Part I? See it here!

Happy Birthday Roman!

I don't have much time... but I wanted to give a "Happy Birthday Shoutout" to my sweet friend & roomate, Roman!!

She is the smartest, prettiest, most thoughtful and caring person I know! Really! Anyone who knows her thinks so! Out of our circle of friends, I have known her the longest, and I know we will be friends for many, many more years to come! She's already named my first borns - Azabuki and Caconiquaniqua & that shows you how influential she is in my life! :) Hahaha! I'm so glad to be your friend & roomie! Happy Birthday Sweet Friend, I love you!

Also... guess what else has a "birthday" today? One year ago, I started this blog! Thanks for stopping by!

Semester Review

Since Wednesday is my last day of class, I thought I'd reflect on the past semester. It has been a crazy semester and the best way I can put it into words, is well, to put it into numbers. So here we go!

In 15 weeks this semester, I...

• Read about 20 books, in addition to loose articles - totaling about 5,367 pages in all (not including all the stuff that I was supposed to read haha)
• Wrote about 85 pages of papers in final drafts, not including rough drafts or written responses
• Spent 15-20 hours in UNC's archives doing research, 60 hours in the library studying/reading/writing papers, and 10 hours observing at Chapel Hill High School
• Drove about 400 miles a weekend (about 6,500 miles total) & spent about 60 hours in my car – Which means I spent about as much time driving as I did in the library… I should really look into books on CD…
• Ands it's been 2,296 days since Parker asked me to be his girlfriend and 566 days until I’m his wife! (Just thought I’d throw that in here!)

It feels so good to be on this side of my syllabi! I made it through a semester with 18 credit hours, observations, a job, and my senior history paper!! Not to mention I applied to grad school, was in wedding #2 of my friends, and got engaged! What a crazy semester! I'm so glad it's almost over! Thank you Jesus!

Before I pat myself on the back too much... I better get through exams.... yuck.

Special message

Rolling bookbags, noisy kids at nice restaurants, drumming on the table... whatever your pet peeve is, there are always things that really grind our gears. For me? Guys leaving the toilet seat up. I hate it. It is not supposed to be left up. For one thing, it looks funny up. And, I don't understand how a guy can aim well enough to shoot a ball in a hoop or pitch a ball to a glove, but can't keep from peeing on the lid. Anyways, the lid should not be left up. Out of the four ways the toilet is used (2 for women, 2 for men) only ONE needs the lid up. Therefore, it should be put back down. Now, Parker is very good about this and I greatly appreciate it. Thanks honey!

Don't worry... I have a point, read on.

Parker also has a sweet way of showing that he thinks about me during the day. Evidence: Today he forwarded me an email called "Amazing Simple Home Remedies" and he added a special note. Read on...

Amazing Simple Home Remedies:

1. Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold the vegetables while you chop.
2. Avoid arguments with the females about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.
3. For high blood pressure sufferers: Simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure on your veins. Remember to use a timer.
4. A mouse trap placed on top of your alarm clock will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
5. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives... then you'll be afraid to cough.
6. You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.
7. If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem.

His special message?

"Check out #2. I LOVE YOU!
Love, Parker"

Good Monday Morning!

A theme-less post...

Mom is doing alright, her white count is down, so she’s trying to stay away from germs as best as possible. Dad is leaving tomorrow to go on a business trip to California until Friday. Weston has a cold, which means he has germs. Germs that Mom needs to stay away from… like that’s possible. Please pray for them!

Guess what we did Friday?


We went to get our Christmas tree. Weston picked it out and it is gorgeous! See?



The Mountain Boy (literally, we got it from “The Mountain Boys” in Overton’s parking lot) picked it up and carried it off for us.



Speaking of Christmas, remember our Christmas pictures from a couple years ago?? Well, our church is making a new directory and since we didn’t schedule a session, we had to submit our own photo. See?


It's not the best, but it'll do... Next time the church makes a directory me and Parker will be married!

Anyways, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving break with my family and I hated driving back today. The sun was in my eyes like Dad said it would be… and I’m too short for the visor thingy to block the sun. It doesn’t really work out.

Speaking of driving back… I counted 8 dead deer on the side of the road. Yikes. Better dead than running, eh?

Oh yeah, I forgot to show you my cake I made for Thanksgiving. It kind of fell apart… it happens to the best of us I guess. I just iced right over the cracks! HAHA! I’m not quite Suzy Homemaker yet! It was still yummy! I also made homemade macaroni and cheese!


I brought back a some Christmas decorations so we can decorate our apartment this week! Yay! It’s Christmas time! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, I am thankful for family traditions! We had a wonderful lunch at my Aunt Kay's today and dinner at my Grandma Margie's tonight. I ate so much that I almost made myself sick! It was soo good - everything! I love having family traditions and spending time with extended family. I can't wait for Parker & I to start our own family traditions!

We're going to get our Christmas tree tomorrow too, I can't wait!

Happy Thanksgiving y'all! God Bless!

Day 14 - I am thankful for...

I am thankful for my amazing fiance, Parker. Over the last 6+ years we have grown as individuals, a couple, and children of God. You can read about most of our story (minus the last 1/2 year) in this post.

I am so thankful that I met this wonderful man. Not only is he strikingly handsome, he's kind, devoted, caring, and protective. He is a pretty funny guy and he can always make me smile. He's strong and athletic - in high school he was on the wrestling team, football team, track team, and swim team. Crazy, I know! In college, he graduated with honors, was the Senior Class President, and leader in FCA & BCM. Now he is a business man & volunteers as an FCA leader at a local middle and high school. I mean, his resume puts mine to shame, its ridiculous.

Over the years, his hair has gotten a little thinner, his truck a little newer, and his voice a little deeper, but one thing has not changed - his devotion to me, to God, and our families. I know he will be a wonderful husband, and one day, father. I am thankful to have the opportunity to love such an amazing man!