Merry Christmas

Hey guys! I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas Eve with your families and friends. Will had to work tonight so I've been keeping myself occupied watching HGTV and Food Network! He'll be off at 10:00 though and we've got plans to drive to the Town Square (which really is only 2 blocks away but it's too cold to walk!) and take some pictures of the pretty lights and the snow.

Yesterday morning after Will came home from work and caught a cat nap, we got up and headed to the DQ for some lunch and then drove up to Grand Teton park. It was deserted and simply amazing. I cannot believe how much more beautiful the park is in the winter than in the summer. I mean I thought it was absolutely breathtaking in August, but that was nothing compared to yesterday. Everything was coated in thick, powdery snow and it was just so pretty. I almost thought I'd cry! I was really hoping we'd see lots of wildlife but no such luck! We saw this guy right before we left the park though.



After the trip to the park, we came back into town and tried to find our missing package that is being held hostage at the local post office but that was pointless! After standing in line for half an hour, we got the same answer we received on Monday. Basically, our package is here at the post office, it was marked undeliverable to our hotel (this is after we called before ordering and confirmed w/ the hotel that we could have something shipped and checking to see if we had the right address!!) but the Post Office has told us that our package sits among approximately 1000 others that have been marked undeliverable and that they don't have the time to search for it. UUUUUUGH!! I hope they make time to search for it before we leave!!

Anyhow, after the Post Office fiasco, we came back to the room and rested for a while before heading to another one of our favorite restaurants, Teton Steakhouse. Our plans were to eat dinner and then head over to the Snow King tubing place but we ate so much that the snow tubing didn't happen! Our dinner was fabulous though and we'll go snow tubing later this week!

We had a nice breakfast here at the hotel this morning and then went walking around downtown. The stores are all having fabulous sales which is nice but there weren't many people out shopping. Will had to go to work at 2, so we didn't have much time to hang out downtown but in that short time we were out walking around, my face managed to get wind burned and I look like a big old lobster now! Take a look at the friend we made today down at the Town Square:



Here are a few other pictures from the Grand Teton Park that we took yesterday.

A couple of pictures!

Hey y'all! Will and I had a wonderful day here in snowy Wyoming. After breakfast and running a couple of errands, we headed out to the Gros Ventre Road that we loved traveling on last summer. It's the area we saw the most buffalo and the charming little barn on Mormon Row. We drove down the road for a couple of miles before we hit a little buffalo-jam and had to turn around! We drove down the road a couple more miles and stopped into the Grand Teton Visitor Center and took some pictures and threw some snowballs at each other! We came back to town and headed to Bubba's BBQ for a late lunch and then came back to the room and took a nap! Will is working an 8 hour shift tonight and the weather is still cold & snowy but it's so beautiful! I read earlier that another huge storm is coming this way and should arrive on Christmas Eve and stick around through Christmas Day and that night too and they're expecting a lot more snow than this storm produced! Eeeeeeeek! I am so in love!! Anyhow, here's a few pictures I was able to take today. They aren't the best quality but I hope you enjoy them anyway!!

Y'all! I leave in 2 days...

and I haven't even started packing. Keep in mind all of my bags have to be packed no later than tonight since Will is taking them with him tomorrow morning. Did I mention that I haven't even started packing? Yeah, it's going to be a busy, busy day!!

Oh, and I haven't really even started Christmas shopping either. I mean it's a little late now and I didn't want to have to take all our gifts out there and then bring them back here so I'm guessing we'll just do Christmas sometime in January. I've picked Will up a few things that I'll take with me and I'm taking some pre-lit garland and stockings to hang up so it'll feel a little more like Christmas while we're there.

I'm trying to not stress out about all of the stuff I need to get done today but I feel like I just don't have enough time. And it's my fault really, seeing how I've had ALL week to get my stuff packed. I was talking with my sister about this yesterday though and we agreed that it's just too hard to pack a week out. Especially considering that if I packed all of my clothing on Monday I wouldn't have had anything to wear all week. I'm sure it'll all work out though. In the end, I'll survive if I forget something and it it's something really important, I can buy it when I get out there.

I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that I'm going back to Wyoming and I'm finally going to see REAL SNOW on Christmas!! Wheeeee I'm really looking forward to taking the sleigh ride through the elk refuge too! I should be able to get online regularly while I'm out there and I'll have tons of pictures to share with you all too!

I Bought the Dresser!! Oh, and I'm heading to Jackson for Christmas!

Amazingly enough, the dresser was still there! And I bought it with my 25% discount so I only paid $23 including tax. Man I love a good bargain. I've already started loading it up with all of my stuff and I took my work table out of the room because I don't really use it. I mean the top is always full of junk but I needed the storage from the dresser and I can still use the top for crafting or wrapping up purchases!

And I finally broke down and bought my ticket out to Wyoming today too! I'm glad I waited because I found an even cheaper flight out there. I double checked a few things and found out that for $28 dollars more I could stay a day longer and fly home the same day as Will!

So, I haven't even started my Christmas shopping and it doesn't look like I'll get much done before we leave. Just as well. We can do Christmas when we get back in January. I do need to go pick up a few things before I get out there. Like good quality thermals and some appropriate footwear for cold and snowy weather.

I think I'm done listing Christmas items in my Etsy shop. I hope I can find some time next week to do a little thrifting before I head to Wyoming. I need to find some new stuff to list when I get home. I would say I could do some thrifting while I was in Wyoming but I know how those stores are in Jackson so that's not looking promising at all!

I *heart* the New Thrift Stores AND

I especially *heart* the Value Village. I'll show you why in a minute! So, yesterday afternoon I went in search of the two new thrift stores I'd found while googling. One is about 11 miles from my house, the other 14ish. The first one was HUGE! Alas, it was mostly clothing but I still managed to find a few must haves. There was a fabulous old dresser there - it had an enamel top on it and it was only $30 but I couldn't fit it in my car so I had to leave it behind. Oh, I forgot that I get 25% off in there so I guess it would be less than $30! I really, really hope it's there on Saturday because I want Will to go with me (in his truck) so we can buy it. It would be fabulous here in my office. Yes, I'm still having trouble organizing my stuff!

The second thrift store, the one I thought was a VV, turned out to be called Village Thrift or something along those lines. I did major damage in that store! I found tons of linens and housewares I just had to have! I'm very happy to have found new thrift stores near my house! I'll miss going to the Ghetto Thrift but I'm very happy to have good stores in good areas where I don't feel like I'm going to be carjacked at each intersection. ::knocks wood::

Anyhow, so the husband left again today for a couple of days and to pass some time I decided to run over the the Value Village. I was trying to figure out what would be on sale today. I may have to go each day for a week just to see what is on sale when! lol Today's sale items included "showcase", jewelry and bikes. Blah! But, you know me!! I didn't leave there empty handed. Oh, no sirree! I found tons of good stuff! My favorite find of the day was this guy:



As I'm sure you all know, this is a Gurley Santa! Now, lemme tell you. I'm almost embarrassed to admit, but I had no idea what a Gurley candle even was until a few months ago when I started reading all of y'alls blogs! And since then, I've always wondered where you guys kept finding these candles and how you knew they were Gurley's. I don't know why I didn't just Google that info, but for some reason I didn't. Well, today I saw a little baggie full of misc. Christmas crap hanging up at the VV and inside I saw this paper tag stuck to the bottom of a half-melted snowman. And the tag said "Gurley" and I had one of those light bulb moments! So, I looked through every single baggie I could find in that place hoping to find more Gurley candles. Perhaps some that weren't all melted and disfigured! Well, I never did find anymore inside of a baggie, but I found that guy up there stuck way back on a shelf! Wooooot! He's a big boy, almost 9" tall and although he's got a few dings and some paint missing, I'm happy to finally own a Gurley candle!

Tonight I'm going to be super busy listing some more goodies in the Etsy shop. I found some cute little elf knee hugger things today so those are definitely going in the shop, along with some other kitschy retro ornaments and other goodies! I'm also going to try and make up my mind as to whether or not I'm flying to Wyoming next weekend. We got a Christmas card in the mail yesterday from Lynn & Dick Cheney and the front of the card is a picture of the Grand Tetons all covered in snow and there is snow all over the ground and I really really want to go but I'd have to see if my parents will watch my dogs and I still need to find a flight! Uuuuuuugh so many decisions!

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas...

But I still have a way to go before I get everything exactly how I want it. The tree in our foyer is up and half decorated. It looks great so far but I need to finish it tomorrow. And *MY* tree, the one in my scraproom/office is up and mostly decorated and I am totally in love. I went out and bought a 6.5' tall, white, pre-lit tree and it's decorated with all of my old Shiny Brite's and other vintage ornaments. I cannot wait to get it done so I can take pictures and share with y'all!

I cannot believe it's already 7 December either. This month is already flying by!! Of course I had a fashion crisis last week which had me at the various malls in the area shopping for 11 hours one day and another 5 the next. I was in desperate need of finding something to wear to the Holiday Reception we had to attend tonight at Vice President and Mrs. Cheney's house. Do you have any idea how much I hate to shop for clothing? Uh, I was so frustrated after spending 11 hours in the stores that I literally started crying. I was tired and ill and nothing fit right and I couldn't find anything I thought would be appropriate for this little shin-dig. Ugh. I didn't even make it to the Value Village on Thursday to try out my new card which gives me 25% off on Thursdays!

The aforementioned party was this afternoon and it was pretty swanky! Granted, it was held in a huge white tent but damn, that's the nicest tent I'd ever been in! The Air Force band (orchestra?) was playing the entire time, there was an open bar(!!) and the food was decent, although kind of weird for a cocktail party! I didn't expect to see mini cheeseburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs cut in half, bowls of popcorn and macaroni and cheese, but whatever. lol There were quite a few kids there so I'm sure the food choices pleased them but I think it was, I dunno, not tacky but weird. Even the port-o-potty trailers were all swanked out. Heck, those toilets in trailers were nicer than the bathroom of the first house we rented here in Maryland! We were shuttled in to the actual residence and then we had a photo with the VP and the Mrs and then went into the tent and socialized. I just assumed that the VP and his wife would come into the tent at some point but they never showed! Of course our party was their second of the day and at that point they'd shook hands with roughly 1000 people so they probably just wanted to go sanitize their hands, take some Airborne and get some sleep! All in all it was a nice time and I've figured out that NW DC is way nicer than the ghetto parts over near the Base!

I am still debating if I'm going to fly out to Jackson for Christmas. I've found an even better price for a flight than I found last week (and much less than the 2,200.00 one!) and I really really want to go back out. While at the party today, there were all of these pictures of Mr. Cheney out in Jackson during the winter, and just pictures of the scenery itself with tons of snow and I tell ya, I felt a tug in my heart because I really do want to be there. I told Will the other day that if I had known in August that I probably wasn't going back out for Christmas that leaving would've been much, much harder. If I had known when I drove away that that was the last time I'd see that area I would've been so sad. And I've been kind of in a funk lately because I thought I'd be here alone and my husband would be there seeing all of the beautiful snow and winter wonderland and maybe I was feeling jealous.

So, do y'all think I should go? If I have to stay home, I'll be sad but I'll make the most of it too. I can thrift as much as I want, I can hit up all of my favorite antique stores, I can go to DC and go ice skating or up to PA and go snowtubing. On the other hand, out in Jackson I can see so many fabulous things I just can't see/do here in Maryland. I can't drive down the road and see herds of buffalo or elk. I can't drive down the road and see the amazing Grand Tetons. And snow. I don't see much of that here, although it did snow (and stick!) yesterday. Ugh, I am just so cheap that I hate spending that much money on a flight. Not to mention the total pain in the ass that flying has become. If I do fly out, I'm sending all of my bags with Will on Air Force 2 just so I don't have to check any luggage or deal with any of that crap.

Anyhoo, tomorrow is of course Monday and we all know by now that the VV does 25% off on Monday which means I need to get to bed early so I can be up/dressed early. I also have to stop by the post office and mail off another package. Someone bought that totally cool Halo Tree Topper I posted last week on my Etsy page. I had almost decided to keep it and put it on my tree but I'm happy to have made another sale too!

I hope to get things somewhat organized tomorrow so I'll have time to visit all of my bloggy friends. I'm starting to go through withdrawals since I haven't had time to visit lately. Hope you're all doing fabulous!

So, I've ran out of time...

I managed to get to one of the two thrift stores near our hotel yesterday afternoon. It was a HUGE disappointment. It was full of junk and so disorganized that you couldn't even move in there without feeling like stuff was going to come crashing down!

In other news, I seem to have come down with some sort of stomach virus over the last couple of days. I feel so sick! Kind of odd because when I talked with my mom yesterday she told me that she and my sister are both sick with a stomach virus thing. And they're 2500 miles away so it's not likely that I caught it from them over the phone! haha And earlier today my husband started feeling ill too.

Did I mention that I have to leave in the morning? And drive several hundred miles back to Cheyenne? Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that! I mean I *am*, but not while I'm feeling so gross. I'm hoping tomorrow will prove to be a better day though.

And I still need to go load up the car. Yes, tonight, because the husband is leaving at like 4:00 tomorrow morning and well, I'm not and I need his help loading the big bags.

I still have a few things I need to get done tonight--a few more gifts to buy, a few more stores I need to get to, a few more things I need to pack. I am otherwise ready to go. I will miss Jackson but it's quite likely that we'll be back here in December for a couple of weeks, so that makes leaving a little easier.

I am looking forward to seeing my dogs and my family and eventually getting home and decorating for fall. Oh, and getting back to the thrift stores that are actually worth going into. I really miss thrifting and yard saling so I'm *really* looking forward to that!

Well, I should go. I have a lot to do and the daylight is running out! I'll check in soon and hopefully I'll have some new goodies to share!!

Lots of new pictures...

On my other blog, of course. Check them out if you get a chance! Westbound Wandering

I've got new pictures!!

Not on here, silly, on my other blog: Westbound Wandering. Unfortunately I haven't done any thrifting recently but I did spend time in Yellowstone yesterday and have lots of pretty pictures to share. Please stop by and check them out if you have some time!

So...

I found a thrift store yesterday morning as we were leaving a restaurant where we had breakfast. I made a mental note of the location and after the husband left for work, I drove back over there. Now, someone please explain to me how a thrift store that doesn't price ANYTHING works, because I'm sort of confused. I mean do you just ask the price of each item? Do you just tell them what you're willing to pay? lol It was so confusing. And junked up and crowded with too much stuff so I left without buying anything. There are 2 more thrift stores close to my hotel and I am going to check those out tomorrow. I'm really hoping they are better than the place yesterday!

My husband is heading back to DC tomorrow and spending the weekend there so I'll have some time alone to explore the city. We went into some stores today and I could not believe how expensive things are out here. I mean there is no way in you-know-where that I'd pay $184.00 for a pair of jeans. Even if I were a billionaire. I am just too cheap for that! My favorite parts of the day were going into these stores that were having sales and seeing things on the sale rack that were marked down - final clearance- for over $150.00. I'm talking just a plain cotton button-down shirt. Damn things better be sewn with 14k gold thread for that price. Good grief.

Oh, and there aren't any Wal-mart or Target stores near here. I found a K-mart yesterday so I'm assuming that's where all the regular (read: not billionaires) shop. The K-Mart was a lot bigger than the ones back in Maryland so that was nice.

The weather has been crap pretty much all day. It started storming last night and continued most of the night. We had a small break in the clouds around 11:00 and it was nice for a few hours but by 3:00 it started raining again. We've been here at our room relaxing most of the afternoon so that's been nice. I am IN LOVE with this area, despite the ridiculous price of clothing, and I could see the husband and I moving somewhere like this one day. The temperature is fabulous out here. I love it being chilly at night and warm (not hot) during the day. Our suite has a fireplace so it's nice to sit here at night with the windows open and the fireplace going!

So, that's about it for now. Here are a couple of pictures we've taken over the last few days. Check my other blog Wesbound Wandering for more pics!!

I'm having a great time in Wyoming!!

I've been so busy since I got here last Saturday but I did find 2 thrift stores here in town that I'm going to check out tomorrow.

Hope you all are having great weeks!

Greetings from Indiana!

Well, I've stopped for the night here in Indiana and I am about to pass out! I didn't realize how tired I was until I ate dinner and got into bed. I drove 600 miles today and I can definitely say I won't be doing that tomorrow.

I didn't stop at any thrift stores or antique stores along the way but I did spot a Goodwill just down from my hotel that I'm hitting tomorrow morning!

Please check out my other blog Westbound Wandering, where I'll post more about my first day of travel!!

My obsession with polka dots continues!

Last week after I ordered my new luggage (which *just* arrived!!) I was out doing some shopping and ran across cute polka dot make-up bags at Wal-mart. There was a set that had bright dots and then another set that had some browns mixed in. I chose the latter of the two and just hoped it would sort of match my luggage. Then a few days later I was at Target looking for a lunch box and ran across one that has the same color dots as my make-up bags! Wahoo!!

I have been so busy the last couple of days trying to get everything done but here I sit, about 16 hours before I leave and I have about eleven billion things to do still. At least my luggage arrived on time so I can start packing my clothes here in a few minutes. I already packed my little lunch box for tomorrow and that's in the fridge. I started packing my picnic basket too and I am going to pack the small cooler later today. Will is brining out the big cooler with all the meats on Saturday so that's one less thing I have to worry about.

I didn't really get much accomplished yesterday since we had to take the dogs down to NC to meet my parents. The drive took a lot longer than we thought due to really slow drivers on the way down and torrential downpours on the way back up. Then we both took a much needed nap once we were home. I started packing up some toiletries last night but I still have more to do today.

I cannot believe that the time has finally come and that I leave tomorrow. It seems like it was just April like last week!! I honestly thought I'd be more prepared than this but what can I do? I'm just going to roll with it and hope for the best.

Ooh, I started a new blog just for my trip. I didn't want to clog this one up with a bunch of travel details so I hope you all will stop in and check out the new one. I'm going to post tons of pictures and info on the new one but I'll still post here when I have something fabulously "vintage" to share too!! I didn't have a lot of time to make it look all fancy so please overlook that if you stop by! Here's the link: Westbound Wandering I think the title describes perfectly how this trip is going to go- I have no real timeline, no real schedule I'm going to follow. Just gonna mosey around and hopefully end up in Jackson sometime next weekend!

I have a confession.

I am a compulsive list maker. And I swear, the older I get, the more I am convinced that without a list, I'd never get anything done. I make lists for everything. From regular grocery lists to lists of things I need to do around the house to projects I need to start/finish- it's never ending!

My latest lists are all centered around my big ol adventure I'll be taking in just a couple of weeks. My husband found out in April that he'd be going out to Wyoming for a month this summer. And that I could come along, too. So, as you can well imagine, I've spent the last 3 months making lists!! When I found out that I could come along I immediately decided that I wanted to make a road trip. Sure, I could just as easily fly out, and it would probably be cheaper to do that, but then I'd miss so many great things along the way.

I've searched Google so many times for things to see, places to stay, routes to take that my mind is absolutely spinning with all the possibilities. I've made so many lists- things I need to remember to pack, the mileage between big cities, Mom & Pop motels along the way. And here I sit, 3 weeks before my journey is to start and I am so overwhelmed by all of the information that I can't even decide which route I'm taking to drive out to Wyoming.

When I first told my Momma of my plans I think she thought I was either joking or insane. Maybe a bit of both. I guess she's just worried about me driving over 4,000 miles round-trip alone. I can understand that. I'm a little nervous myself. But I am also so excited that I find myself actually squealing out loud when I discover another cool place to visit! Yes, squeal. Like a pig. I'm not perfect, okay?! Anyhow, my Momma also wishes she could take time off from her job because she'd go out with me. She can't take that much time off though so she's going to watch my two doggies for me while we're gone. My doggies *LOVE* staying at Nanny & PaPa's house. Love.It. They get away with so much crap down there- I can't say I blame them.

Now I'm just waiting for some actual concrete dates from my husband, and he's waiting for dates from the people at the Vice President's office. And this is the military we're dealing with and as anyone that has ever been affiliated with the military will tell you, nothing is ever set in stone. Basically, I'll probably find out the actual dates about a week before we're supposed to be in Wyoming but hopefully it will be sooner than that.

My plans for now are to drive down to NC a few days before I'm supposed to leave & meet my mom to drop off the dogs. Then I'll come back up here to MD, load my car with all of my junk, check my eleven billion lists and then set off for my month long vacation. Well, I guess it's going to be longer than a month. I'm taking about 5 days to drive out there. I'm allowing myself plenty of time to stop along the way so if I see any concrete tee-pees or corn mazes that I simply must check out, well, I'll have time to do that.

And then last night at dinner the husband asked me what my plans were in September, after we got back from Wyoming. Uh, I didn't really have any plans. He told me that as soon as they get back from Wyoming that they'd be leaving again for 8-10 days to go overseas. So, now my plans are to take a different route from Wyoming and head to SC from there. Instead of coming back to MD first and then driving down to SC to pick up my puppies. Ack! That means I can see even MORE of the country than I thought I would. Plus that extends my adventure another week or 2 at least! Eeeek! (yes, that's me squealing!)

So, that's that. I still have so, so much to do. I need to get my car tuned up, I need to actually sit down and (gasp!) make a list of everything I need to get done over the next three weeks, I need to make reservations for the places I'm going to stay. Three weeks really isn't that much time to do all of the stuff I need to but I think it'll all work out. I hope.

Anyone have any fabulous ideas of places I need to add to the "MUST SEE" section of my lists? I haven't decided yet if I'll take I-80 or I-70 but the difference is only about 100 miles. I'll probably base it off of which route has more things to see along the way. Any suggestions? Anyone ever driven cross-country? Any tips you can offer? Thank you in advance for any suggestions/ideas/tips! I'm hoping I'll have internet access while I'm gone so I can bring you all along on the journey!